News and Events
Book Discussion: "The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin" by H.W. Brand
Wednesday, April 20, 7 p.m.
Modesto Library Conference Room (downstairs)
Amazon.com Review
Benjamin Franklin may have been the most remarkable American ever to live: a printer, scientist, inventor, politician, diplomat, and--finally--an icon. His life was so sweeping that this comprehensive biography by H.W. Brands at times reads like a history of the United States during the 18th century. Franklin was at the center of America's transition from British colony to new nation, and was a kind of Founding Grandfather to the Founding Fathers; he was a full generation older than George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry, and they all viewed him with deep respect. "Of those patriots who made independence possible, none mattered more than Franklin, and only Washington mattered as much," writes Brands (author of a well-received Teddy Roosevelt biography, T.R.: The Last Romantic). . -- John J. Miller
StanSpeaks Forum Previews "Future of Our County" on March 30
Stanislaus County's newest speakers forum,
StanSpeaks, will feature local leaders looking at the future of
Stanislaus County on the evening of Wednesday, March 30th at the
Downtown Library.
This will be the kickoff session of this new monthly speaker forum
sponsored by Stanislaus Library Foundation, the volunteer organization
supporting the county's 13-facility library system.
StanSpeaks will feature local experts espousing their views on key
topics affecting the health, wealth and contentment of all citizens.
The nonpartisan forum will showcase the ideas of the county's best and
brightest leaders.
On Wednesday, March 30th, from 6-8 p.m. Modesto Councilmember Joseph
Muratore, County Supervisor James DeMartini and Michael Douglass,
President of Advancing Vibrant Communities (Modesto non-profit
connecting 3000 volunteers) will share their future look at Stanislaus
County at the Downtown Library Auditorium (1500 I Street).
Admission is free and is on a first-come first-seated basis. The
Downtown Library Auditorium has a seating capacity of 120 persons.
"We created StanSpeaks to provide diverse ideas and opinions and
stimulate responsible thinking to solve our biggest problems....And of
course, this is exactly what our libraries do everyday, providing all
citizens with ideas and knowledge to make the county a great place to
live," said Carol Shour, President of the Stanislaus Library Foundation.
The Library Foundation, a non-profit organization, supplements existing
library funds through fund raising, grants, and/or donors who wish to
sponsor a specific project. Educating county residents about the
library’s fiscal problems is also an important aspect of the Foundation.
Currently 85 percent of the library’s budget comes from a 1/8-cent sales
tax last approved by voters in 2004. Voters will be called upon to
renew the tax in 2012. Declining sales countywide during the economic
recession means less sales tax generated for the library.
For additional information, contact Bob Dowd, Library Foundation,
595-9799.
Book Discussion: "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel
Wednesday, January 19, 2010, 7 p.m.
Modesto Library Conference Room (downstairs)
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, October 2009: No character in the canon has been writ larger than Henry VIII, but that didn't stop Hilary Mantel. She strides through centuries, past acres of novels, histories, biographies, and plays--even past Henry himself--confident in the knowledge that to recast history's most mercurial sovereign, it's not the King she needs to see, but one of the King's most mysterious agents. Enter Thomas Cromwell, a self-made man and remarkable polymath who ascends to the King's right hand. Rigorously pragmatic and forward-thinking, Cromwell has little interest in what motivates his Majesty, and although he makes way for Henry's marriage to the infamous Anne Boleyn, it's the future of a free England that he honors above all else and hopes to secure. Mantel plots with a sleight of hand, making full use of her masterful grasp on the facts without weighing down her prose. The opening cast of characters and family trees may give initial pause to some readers, but persevere: the witty, whip-smart lines volleying the action forward may convince you a short stay in the Tower of London might not be so bad... provided you could bring a copy of Wolf Hall along. --Anne Bartholomew
Author Spotlight: Anne Fortier
Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010, 7 p.m.
Nick W. Blom Salida Regional Library Community Room
4835 Sisk Road, Salida
Juliet, an ambitious novel on the scale of The Thirteenth Tale and The Birth of Venus, follows a young woman who discovers that her family’s origins reach all the way back to literature’s greatest star-crossed lovers. It is an original and unforgettable re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic tale, of which Publishers Weekly says “it reads like a Da Vinci Code for the smart woman”.
A native of Denmark, Anne Fortier has shared a lifelong love of Shakespeare and Italy with her mother. For years they traveled to Verona to visit Romeo and Juliet’s balcony—until a whim took them to Siena instead. When they discovered it was the real setting of the original story that inspired Romeo and Juliet, the novel was born—and so was an unusual collaboration. While Anne wrote in the United States, her mother did research in Italy, serving as her eyes in Siena. In their hands, this medieval city comes to life as a vibrant, passionate, and richly imagined character in its own right.
Ms. Fortier’s novel is fiction steeped in historical fact. The earliest version of Romeo and Juliet was set in Siena. Perhaps more than any other Tuscan city, Siena was torn by fierce family feuds all through the Middle Ages, and the Tolomeis and the Salimbenis were famously pitted against each other in a manner that very much resembles the bloody rivalry between the Capulets and the Montagues in Shakespeare’s play.
When Julie Jacobs inherits a key to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy, she is told it will lead her to an old family treasure. Soon she is launched on a winding and perilous journey into the history of her ancestor Giulietta, whose legendary love for a young man named Romeo rocked the foundations of medieval Siena. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families involved in Shakespeare’s unforgettable blood feud, she begins to realize that the notorious curse—“A plague on both your houses!”—is still at work, and that she is the next target. It seems that the only one who can save Julie from her fate is Romeo—but where is he?
Ms. Fortier emigrated to the United States in 2002 to work in film. She co-produced the Emmy-winning documentary Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia and holds a Ph.D. in the History of Ideas from Aarhus University in Denmark. She now lives in Canada.
The book has received accolades from authors such as Kate Mosse (Labyrinth and Sepulchre). Susan Vreeland (Girl in Hyacinth Blue), Jamie Ford (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet), and Katherine Neville (The Eight and The Fire).