Local wisdom on books
By Contributor
“Books of My Life”
Here’s more inspiration for reading to carry us through the dark days of this pandemic winter, away into other worlds and other times while tucked up safely at home.
Q and A with Eileen Daniel, Rossland Public Library Board Member, Publicity:
1. My favorite childhood books are any of the Adventure series by Enid Blyton: The Island of Adventure; The Circus of Adventure; et cetera. Four young protagonists had exciting adventures and implausibly solved mysteries in post-war Europe.
2. My favorite movie versions of great novels are the three Lord of the Rings movies. Although I sometimes wish I lived in the idyllic Shire (Rossland is the closest), it’s mostly Faramir: “I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”
3. The last book that made me cry is Finding Dorothy” by Elizabeth Letts. The real-life nineteenth century protagonist experiences hardship and just one too many tragedies before things get better.
4. A book I consider to be grossly overrated is Moby Dick by Herman Melville. I spent an entire summer — determined to finish it because it came highly recommended — but I kept falling asleep.
5. The books people might be surprised to learn I love are Patrick O’Brien’s Master and Commander series. These historical fiction novels are set on various ships of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. At the time, I used three different lexicons to help me understand the highly specialized nautical terms. Russell Crowe plays Captain Jack Aubrey in the movie and it’s the only reason I like him.
6. A book everyone should read is All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Although it is a fictional account of life in the trenches in WWI, Remarque experienced trench warfare himself. If everyone read that book, no one would ever go to war.
7. A book I read over and over is A Good Man by Guy Vanderhaeghe, the third in his nineteenth century Canadian prairie novel trilogy. Unforgettable historic and fictional characters, an ingenious plot, and beautiful descriptive language: “Facing the head of the wagon train is a line of scarlet tunics, spaced like fine stitching on the hem of the khaki landscape.”
Rossland Public Library Announcements:
The “People in Our Neighbourhood” Storytime continues with Emily Roberts of the Rossland Museum reading The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. Google the Rossland Public Library on YouTube.
The Book Club will reconvene on January 28thwith The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor by Sally Armstrong. Register online at ravenreadsbookclub@gmail.com. Unless there’s a rapid reduction in Covid cases, the meeting will take place via Zoom.
Rossland’s Abigail Steele will be hosting the March 2021 KLF Book Club featuring I am Herod by Richard Kemick.
From our website:
We are still accepting applications from local artists to display their work in the library.
You can subscribe to stream Acorn TV on any web-connected device. Select from world-class mysteries, dramas, comedies, and much more.
Gale Courses offers a wide range of highly interactive, instructor led courses that you can take entirely online. As a library card holder, you are entitled to these courses at no cost. Courses run for six weeks and new sessions begin every month.
Remember, you can let the librarians curate a bag of books for you. Fill in the form and you will be contacted when your books are available for pick-up.
Click on the teddy bear on our homepage to connect to “Looking at Books” with Children’s Librarian Lynn.
