Your May 2024 Newsletter

Volume LXVVIII, May 2024

Your Monthly News & Updates

Programs @ Lanier

As artist and nature preservationist Scott Varn pages through his rare 1872 2-volume edition of Picturesque America, he tours 19th century America through

950 steel and wood engravings. From natural treasures and wilderness secrets to proud cityscapes, this was the United States as found and preserved by eminent

artists who explored the country.

Wondering about the fate of the many locations in his books, Scott set out on a mission to find the sites and preserve current views through his ink washes and wood cut prints. He has visited 311 sites and his passion has become a non-profit organization of

artists in seven states.

Adventuresome artists explore and find some sites unspoiled and others lost in development. Their art and fundraising help the Appalachian Conservancy, Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, Pisgah National Forest, and similar groups.

Chess Moves

Interested in learning to play chess or

improving your game? Join Lew Martin and other players on Tuesdays at 1:00 pm in the Holmes Room at Lanier.

No experience is necessary and

chess boards are provided.

Membership @ Lanier

Membership Renewal Time

Is your membership about to expire? No need to come in to the library, just visit the library website by clicking on:

https://thelanierlibrary.org/membership/online-membership-form/ and renew online.

If you aren’t sure when your membership expires,

please contact the library at 828-859-9535.

A Note from the Board President

I live on a small farm with my husband, our two dogs, two horses, and a naughty pony. The dogs like to go out fairly early in the morning, and the horses are always eager for their chow- so we have our mornings up at the barn. One of our routines is a morning cup of coffee on the porch there. It is a great time of day, made even better by the sounds of the equines munching on their breakfast. My coffee is mostly hot milk and stevia, while Tom takes his coffee black. A few years ago I bought a small stick blender - called an Aerolatte, and I use this to froth up the milk which I have heated in the microwave. It really does a good job of imitating a latte from one of the local coffeeshops. The only problem is that the dogs have developed a taste for my version of coffee- and I end up sharing once it has cooled off. I probably should make a thermos, so we can all have enough. At least the horses are not asking for a taste!

Until next time, Vicky

Book Lovers Meets May 4 @ 10 am

Book Lovers - May 2024

The first Saturday of every month, avid readers meet at Lanier Library to discuss books

they’ve enjoyed (or not)! It’s casual, enlightening, and there are no rules.

Fiction

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Old Abe by John Cribb

Hunting Time by Jeffrey Deaver

Hot Time by W.H.Flint

The Nubian’s Curse by Barbara Hambly

A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor

One Night Two Souls Went Walking by Ellen Cooney

Comedy in a Minor Key by Hans Keilson

The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro

The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks

Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj

A Southern Exposure by Alice Adams

Stockholm by Noa Yedlin

The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen

The Bookbinder by Pip Williams

Absolution by Alice McDermott

Kala by Colin Walsh

The Farewell Tour by Stephanie Clifford

Evil Eye by Etaf Rum

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet

This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell

Sun Damage by Sabine Durrant

The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis

Drive Your Plough Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

The Women by Kristin Hannah

The Hunter by Tanya French

The Extinction of Ireana Ray by Jennifer Croft

Three Inch Teeth by C.J. Box

Ilium by Lea Carpenter

Mystery

Still Life with Murder by P. B. Ryan

Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

Thereby Hangs A Tale by Spencer Quinn

To Fetch a Thief by Spencer Quinn

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano

Biography/Memoir

Breaking Through by Katalin Karako

There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib

The Lives of the Wives by Carmella Ciuraru

Althea: The Tennis Life of Althea Gibson by Sally H. Jacobs

Class by Stephanie Land

Nonfiction

The Wager by David Grann

The Book Collectors by Delphine Minoui

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

What We Remember Will Be Saved by Stephanie Saldana

The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

Nonfiction Book Club

The Nonfiction book club will meet on May 12 to discuss

How to Know a Person by David Brooks.

Orders & Acquisitions

Below are the links to our April Acquisitions & Orders. Feel free to contact the library to put your name on the hold list for

any you would like to read.

You can call us or log in through the catalog on the website using your library card number for ID and PIN.

And, as always, let us know if there is a book or DVD you think

would enhance the collection.

Click here for Acquisitions.

Click here for Orders.

April Book Review

Ranger Confidential: Living, Working and Dying in the National Parks

by Andrea Lankford

Have you ever visited one of the 429 national parks? Maybe you are planning a trip to one of these parks. In that case, you will enjoy reading Ranger Confidential by Andrea Lankford.

For twelve years Lankford lived and worked as a park ranger in Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and Denali. It was her job to protect the park from the people and the people from the park, and the people from each other! In these candid and humorous accounts, Lankford writes about the lives of park rangers, the work they do and the hardships they face. It's not all fun and games in the great outdoors.

The Felburn collection at Lanier Library includes several very good books on our national parks. Make a point to check one out before you head out on your next park visit.

Submitted by Eilene Morgan

Last Month @ Lanier

Poetry Delights

Dasan Ahanu delighted the audience at Tryon Fine Arts Center with his reading on the morning of April 19. In the afternoon, participants in his poetry workshop were given an opportunity to work with him on some of their own writing ideas.

Thank you to the Kirby Fund at the Polk County Community Foundation for supporting this

collaboration with TFAC.

Author Captivates

On April 18, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer captivated the audience with the story behind his book, The Other Dr. Gilmer. The conversation moved beyond the story to challenges in the ways society addresses mental illness in prisons and hospital systems. Dr. Gilmer continues to work as an advocate for change within these areas, both for the other

Dr. Gilmer and for others.

Pets @ Lanier

Lanier Library welcomes all library-friendly dogs & cats,

but asks that they remain on leash or in their carriers at all times.

Meet Prosper!

Prosper stopped by Lanier with his owner,

Nova Carlton.

Displays @ Lanier

Sandra's Shelf Display

The May book display will be Celebrate our Regional History and will feature both fiction & nonfiction titles and some audio-visual media.

May Display

Our May speaker, Scott Varn, will fill the display case this month with images and artwork inspired by Preserving a Picturesque America. Come check out his display case

and the program on May 16 at 1:00.

Thank You!

Thank you to miniaturist Debbie Keaveney for filling the April display case with part of her collection of

intricate miniatures.

We enjoyed watching visitors

discover the tiny treasures while studying the case.

COMING SOON!

Video Tour of Lanier

Raw video is finished for “More than Expected,” a video tour of Lanier Library scheduled to premier online in mid-June. With a drone for outside and inside aerial scenes and a gimbal-

mounted camera for smooth walk-through effects, local videographer

Erik Olsen brought to life the words of a

3-minute script that begins:

“In the heart of Tryon since 1890, at the top of the Chestnut Street hill, at the corner of Melrose, waits the town's oldest civic organization...

Lanier waits to surprise visitors with more than expected...On entering, you will feel...”

Poem of the Month

The Lanier Library Poetry Committee is pleased to introduce a poem of the month program. Each month we will be posting a different poem that we hope will inspire you. The poem will be in the monthly newsletter and posted at the library. Please let us know what you think of each month's selection.

A Bird, came down the Walk - (359)

By Emily Dickinson

A Bird, came down the Walk -

He did not know I saw -

He bit an Angle Worm in halves

And ate the fellow, raw,

And then, he drank a Dew

From a convenient Grass -

And then hopped sidewise to the Wall

To let a Beetle pass -

He glanced with rapid eyes,

That hurried all abroad -

They looked like frightened Beads, I thought,

He stirred his Velvet Head. -

Like one in danger, Cautious,

I offered him a Crumb,

And he unrolled his feathers,

And rowed him softer Home -

Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam,

Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,

Leap, plashless as they swim.

Trivia Answers

1. Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw

2. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

3. Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill

4. Luther by John Osborne

5. Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen

Lanier Library | 828-859-9535| thelanierlibrary@gmail.com