”Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.” -Neil Gaiman
Book Party/Confederates in the Attic
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz happened to encounter people who reenact the Civil War–men who dress up in period costumes and live as Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks. Intrigued, he wound up having some odd adventures with the “hardcores,” the fellows who try to immerse themselves in the war, hoping to get what they lovingly term a “period rush.” Horwitz spent two years reporting on why Americans are still so obsessed with the war, and the ways in which it resonates today. Horwitz has a flair for odd details that spark insights, and Confederates in the Attic is a thoughtful and entertaining book that does much to explain America’s continuing obsession with the Civil War. (Amazon)
Join us on Wed., Feb. 1 at 7 PM to hear a little background information, eat some Southern refreshments and have a relaxing discussion on the issues raised by this book.
International Film (and Food) Festival /”Volver” by Almodovar
Volver s a 2006 Spanish thriller film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Headed by actress Penélope Cruz, the film features an ensemble cast starring Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, and Chus Lampreave. Revolving around an eccentric family of women from a wind-swept region south of Madrid, Cruz plays Raimunda, a working-class woman forced to go to great lengths to protect her 14-year-old daughter Paula. To top off the family crisis, her mother Irene comes back from the dead to tie up loose ends. [Wikipedia]
The movie will be shown on Friday, February 10, at 7 PM.
Free! Refreshments!
Perspectives /Edie Clark speaks on “Fried Clams and Baked Beans: How Food Defines a Region”
Baked Beans, fried clams, fish chowder, Indian pudding – so many foods are distinctive to New England. This talk offers a celebration of these regional favorites along with perspective on how contemporary life has distanced us from these classics. What makes them special and how do these foods define our region? This talk will draw from such diverse resources as Fannie Farmer, Julia Child, and Haydn S. Pearson for enlightenment and amusement as well as on Edie Clark’s own experience writing and traveling for Yankee magazine over the past thirty years to places where baked beans are still featured prominently on the menu.
This program is free and will be held at the Community Church on Friday, Feb. 17 at 7:15 PM
With the Historical Society / Steven Closs on “Willing Sacrifice: Granite State Valor during the American Civil War, 1861-1865″
Steve has been a serious student of the American Civil War for the past twenty years. He is a member of the Civil War Round Table of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the Merrimack Historical Society. He will speak on the contribution of New Hampshire men to the war effort in general, and on contributions by New Boston men in particular.
This event will be held at the Library on Thurs., Feb. 23 at 7 PM
Free! Refreshments!
