Thursday, May 30, 2013

check this out: FPL staff picks



Sutapa Chatterjee, Library page/circulation

Oleander Girl: A Novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni


…a sweeping, suspenseful coming-of-age tale about a young woman who leaves India for America on a search that will transform her life. ---from the book jacket










Donald LeBlanc, Reference Librarian

The Birth of the 787 Dreamliner by Edgar Turner

The Birth of the 787 Dreamliner by Edgar Turner portrays the next step in commercial air travel. Oversized full page photographs establish not only the enormity of the plane but also the task to produce it. The pictures are of a high professional quality created by Boeing’s company photographer.  The Birth of the 787 Dreamliner is a work of contemporary aviation art but has even more to offer, providing detail into the new world of manufacturing high cost products. ---Donald LeBlanc


Christina Hicks, Young Adult Librarian

The gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

"The launch of a brilliant new mystery series, set in 1845 New York City: Irish Potato Famine, the birth of the police force, brothels and bedlam."--- Gillian Flynn











Matthew Riley, Assistant Director/Adult Services

The Big Screen: the story of the movies by David Thomson

More than just a history of the movies, film critic David Thomson traces the influence of screens in our lives from the first silent films to the multiple small screens of Facebook, video games, YouTube, smart phones and tablets.  Thomson finds correspondence between the big screen of an earlier cinema and the narrative force of liberal education:  Whereas he finds the small screens of digitization propelling a more fragmented and dislocated society.  His tone is one of concern, but he strives to appear neutral finding potential among the rubble of cinema and in the outcropping of new technologies and artists. He questions these effects on viewers, then and now, through the analysis of film genres, cultures, histories, artists, and innovators.  David Thomson is also the author of, Have You Seen? A personal introduction to a 1,000 films, and A Biographical Dictionary of Film. ---M. Riley


 

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Friendswood author Harold Raley at Friendswood Public Library: June 17



Meet the author of Louisiana Rogue, Harold Raley, on Monday, June 17 at  7pm. A native of the Deep South, Harold Raley spends much time observing people in all levels of society. His thorough command of English, French, and Spanish greatly helps him understand and write about the people he moves among. He has traveled widely in the Americas and Europe and studied the literature, history, and philosophy of France, Spain, the United States, and England.  A published author of a dozen books, Dr. Raley also has academic credentials and has taught for universities in Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma.  He and his wife Vicky live in Friendswood, Texas.

Harold Raley's novel tells a delightful story of a rogue every bit as charming as Tom Jones. I can see Louisiana Rogue as a first-rate movie with a leading actor --someone like Johnny Depp-- who can play the full range of human feelings from the outrageous and bizarre to the touchingly tender and especially to the wildly humorous. 
 --Carroll Wilson, writer and editor

 

 
Below is an excerpt from Harold Raley’s wonderful novel Louisiana Rogue published by Lamar University Press:
 

Part I: Touching on Peter’s early years; his parents and family, companions, education and circumstances; the curious tale of Alain DuClos (Sixfingers) and his odd demise; his mother’s story; how he avenged himself on brother Henri and escaped the slavers


         Perhaps none, or few, of my misfortunes about to unfold in this tale would have happened had I not betrayed my brother Henri to the slavers. Yes, you heard me aright, dear reader; I delivered my brother into their hands for the lucre of a few coins, thereby setting in motion a series of events and their consequences beyond any capability on my part to foresee them.  But I will repeat to the end that if the blame was mine, the fault was his, or so I felt at the time without any sensible sting of remorse.  You may judge the affair differently but I hope fairly.  At least have the patience to hear how the matter was circumstanced against me before you issue a condemnation.
     The only likeness ever I saw of my father Joseph Prosper, or Prospère, as it was written in our French tongue, was a framed artist’s sketch my mother kept hidden in a drawer by her bed. With cosmetics or crayons she had completed as faithfully as she could the approximation of his features. Whether in truth he was or not my father, God alone knows of a certainty, but with this public claim my mother inscribed and baptized me in St. Martinville parish as Pierre Prospère, adding as a second name Tourmoulin in memory of a relative, her father, if her account can be believed.
     Picture then, if you will, a gaunt, long-necked Frenchman sunk into weeds too large for his lean frame; fierce blue eyes; untrimmed, blond hair---and by the look of it all but virgin to comb and brush---descending to his shoulders; a high forehead; bristly yellowish eyebrows; large, wafery ears set at a low, wide angle to his head; ruddy, freckled skin too fair for browning in the New Orleans climate; an uncommonly large nose hooked over a thin-lipped mouth etched by exuberant red mustachios; and a wispy, reddish pointed goatee that completed  a long, narrow face.  With these features you will have a true image.
     I was long incuriously ignorant about his origins and whereabouts, for before I reached the age of memory and sensibility, he fled New Orleans for the Spanish territory of Coahuila-Texas, clutching a bag of purloined funds, lashing a lathered stallion, and---so it was rumored---taunting pursuing constables.
     No description could be more unlike my youthful recollections of Mother’s appearance.  She was soft of feature and form, saffron in complexion, and the apex of her fair glory was her waist-long hair that undulated in lustrous and luscious ebony over her smooth arms and shoulders. Her dark eyes sparkled as her high merriment and extravagant charms earned her entry into the passions and purses of old New Orleans.  Her voice was melodious with the accents and words of the languages we all spoke and commingled with casual fluency: French, Spanish, and Old Quarter English.
     Though beyond the meridian of her life at the time of this telling, yet she retained charms sufficient in their effect to rouse the patrons to whistling, thunderous applause when she played the harp and sang French and Spanish songs. At times in a more ebullient spirit she danced Spanish boleros and fandangos and French contra dances and waltzes with selected partners in Père LaChaise’s venerable cabaret or, later, in Madame Sonnier’s more raucous Sojourner Inn and Tavern. She had a passion for the minuet learned in her years in St. Martinville but for want of accomplished partners and stately locale seldom danced it in New Orleans.
     On fair afternoons as she customarily issued forth into the streets of the Vieux Carrè men halted to view her passing, hats doffed and hearts secretly or openly offered to her feminine splendor. As she glided by staring male onlookers, serene in her seductive beauty, skirts and petticoats a-rustle in short, form-hugging and puffless cirsaca and matching casaquin, many an angry lady berated husband or companion for his helpless bewitchment. Outwardly indifferent to their silent or spoken provocations, which she accepted as the natural homage men pay great beauty, yet she seemed to enter into a tacit complicity with each gentleman by leaving him with the singular impression of having been favored by a fleeting smile, a subtle hand signal, or an inviting tilt of her head.  As a poet of the English tongue has sung:
          Grace was in all her steps, heav’n in her eye,
          In every gesture dignity and love.
 
 
 

Friday, May 17, 2013

Mark your calendars: Spring & Summer programs for adults at FPL



Wednesday, May 22nd at 7:00pm

WWII: Wartime existence in the Jungles of New Guinea. Join us as we take a journey back to wartime 1943-1944. Author Rene Palmer Armstrong will be giving a presentation on the realities of wartime existence in the jungles of New Guinea. Rene will be sharing the official, now declassified, government documents of the 345th Bomb Group. She will be showing actual film footage taken by the 345th plus seldom seen footage of the Japanese peace emissaries as the 345th escorts them from Mainland Japan to Le Shima at the request of McArthur. After viewing this film footage, she will share actual pictures of the 345th group and discuss the daily life of a bomb group as they fight their way across New Guinea.  

Monday, June 3rd at 4:00pm

Introduction to Road Scholar: educational travel experiences for adults.  These programs include an extraordinary range of topics, formats and locations in every state in the U.S., in more than 150 countries.  Sandy McHone, a Friendswood resident and Road Scholar Ambassador, will share her experiences with participating in this program for several years. 

Wednesday, June 5th at 7:00pm

Music Performance by North Harris County Dulcimer Society. NHCDS is an ever growing group of music lovers that plays just about any instrument that doesn't have to be "plugged in"!


Monday, June 17th at 7:00pm

Author Talk with Harold Raley, author of Louisiana Rogue. A native of the Deep South, Harold Raley spends much time observing people in all levels of society. His thorough command of English, French, and Spanish greatly helps him understand and write about the people he moves among. He has traveled widely in the Americas and Europe and studied the literature, history, and philosophy of France, Spain, the United States, and England.  A published author of a dozen books, Dr. Raley also has academic credentials and has taught for universities in Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma.  He and his wife Vicky live in Friendswood, Texas.

Harold Raley's novel tells a delightful story of a rogue every bit as charming as Tom Jones. I can see Louisiana Rogue as a first-rate movie with a leading actor --someone like Johnny Depp-- who can play the full range of human feelings from the outrageous and bizarre to the touchingly tender and especially to the wildly humorous.  --Carroll Wilson, writer and editor

Thursday, July 11th at 7:00pm

Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA’s Record-Setting Frequent Flyer by Jerry L. Ross.  Author Jerry Ross will speak about his book and experiences as an astronaut. Jerry L. Ross is an Indiana native, a graduate of Purdue University, a retired United States Air Force officer, and a former astronaut who retired from NASA in 2012.  Colonel Ross is a veteran of seven US Space Shuttle missions and holds an individual world record for the most spaceflights flown.

Spacewalker is the book for anyone who ever dreamed of flying in space. –Neil Armstrong


Wednesday, July 17th at 7:00pm

FPL's Off the Page Poetry Series presents John Milkereit: reminiscing about matchsticks. John Milkereit is an award-winning, juried poet who has been featured at Houston Poetry Fest and Inprint's prestigious First Friday poetry series. 


Wednesday, July 24th at 6:30pm

Navigating the Web to Great Medical Information presented by UTMB Medical Librarian, Anne Howard.  Learn the best methods to find creditable, authoritative information on health and medicine. Learn how to use the National Library of Medicine's PubMed/Medline online resources.


Wednesday, August 21st at 7:00pm

The Dangers of Manned Spaceflight: Sy Liebergot, Apollo era former EECOM Flight Controller speaks about the dangers of manned spaceflight. He relates the circumstances of the fatal near miss of Apollo 13 and the three tragedies of the U.S. space program: the Apollo 1 pad fire, the in-flight destruction of Shuttle Orbiters Challenger and Columbia. 


Wednesday, September 25th at 7:00pm

Divas of the Written Word: A Literary Evening with authors Barbara Carle, Kay Cox, Nanci Engle, and Diana Dettling Buckley. A police woman, a family therapist, an artist, and a nurse offer you an evening of wonderful stories.




Tuesday, May 14, 2013

The world’s largest newsstand now available from FPL website!



Zinio, brought to you by RB Digital and the Friendswood Public Library, provides: 

• Complete Digital Magazines
• Hundreds of Publications
• Simultaneous Access
• Easily Viewed on Any Internet-Enabled Device 

Zinio provides digital editions of the magazines you love, delivering the exact same material you get in print‚ plus exclusive features like video, audio and live links, on your iPad, iPhone, desktop and laptop. Find magazines for Art, Automotive, Entertainment, Home, Lifestyle, Men and Women’s magazines, News, Science & Technology, Sports, and Travel. Get started today by visiting the Friendswood Public Library website and clicking on the Zinio icon. An online user guide and video are available from Zinio's login screen. For more information, contact the Friendswood Public Library at 281-482-7135.



Saturday, May 11, 2013

Denver's Cherry Creek by Sybil Pitmann Estess



 
Denver’s Cherry Creek 

is in the middle of this city. Water has
a bike and walking path beside it for twenty- 

six miles.  Marathons are run here.
But we are here to be near 

a hospital, since someone close
to me is now ill. We must stay here 

in the out-patient motel a long
time.  The creek gives me comfort 

and often rabbits hop these green
lawns and gardens.  On Friday evening, 

I stroll alone by the stream, Cherry
Creek, in near darkness.  Traffic stops 

and goes at the light. Horns honk.
But the water rushes over the stones. 

I look up from my sorrows to see a mother
doe, crossing the creek quickly 

to hide in willows, a barrier between her
and me.  Her small but fast fawn follows 

her, not at all far behind.  Not at all
exposed for long.
 
 
 
 
Sybil Pittman Estess, Ph.D., was one of eight finalists for Poet Laureate of the State of Texas in 2009.  She is the author of her new fourth poetry release: Maneuvers, 2010, by Inleaf Press. Estess has taught at the University of Houston, the University of St. Thomas, Rice University, Houston Community College, and Blinn Colleges.  Sybil Estess, along with Laura’s Poetry Group members Vivian Macias, Kelly Patton, and Sally Ridgway, gave a reading in our FPL Poetry Series in September of 2011.  
 
 
 

Thursday, May 9, 2013

last night: A Conversation on India



Poet and fiction writer Kathryn Lane presented poetry and photographs from her book A Conversation on India; a travel narrative created in collaboration with photographer Brenda Gottlieb. After presenting this cultural, historical, and artistic narrative, Lane took questions and discussion from many in attendance.