Wednesday, October 30, 2013

NaNoWriMo

Pipestone County Star 11-07-2013

NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month – have you ever wanted to write the next great American novel?  Now you can!  November is the month to get started and NaNoWriMo challenges you to write 50,000 words in 30 days.  It doesn’t have to be the best literature to be written in years – you can always edit later.

NaNoWriMo started in 1999 in San Francisco and had just 21 participants that year.  It has grown steadily each year since and more than 200,000 people took part in 2010, writing more than 2.8 billion words.  Any sort of novel can be written, from fan-fiction to verse novels, and in any genre – the only requirement is it be at least 50,000 words.   Instead of completing the novel, participants can write the first 50,000 words of a novel that can be finished later.

A novel is any sort of fictional work that is more than 40,000 words long.  Less than that and you’ve written a novella.  The Great Gatsby and The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy are both novels of right around 50,000 words, to give you an idea.  Those aren’t particularly long books, so that may make this entire thing seem more doable.  Of course, to even think of starting, you have to realize you need to write on average 1,667 words a day.

Starting on November 25th, participants can start uploading their entire novels for word count and verification.  If they have succeeded, they “win” and get a printable certificate, a special desktop icon, and inclusion in the list of winners.  There’s no protection against cheating, but since the only reward is basically the knowledge that you’ve done it, not many people actually cheat on their results.

Believe it or not, there are some pretty famous books that started out this way:

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen (Great book!)
The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern (this month’s book club selection!)
The God Patent, by Ransom Stephens
Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell
Persistence of Memory, by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
BreakupBabe, by Rebecca Agiewich

There are a few writers (or wannabes in my case) that are participating this year – we might even have a few write-ins in the library just for fun.  Come by and join us!!

If you feel the inspiration, go ahead and sign up at their website, www.nanowrimo.org.  It only takes a few minutes and if you don’t make it to 50,000 words this year, there’s always next year!

Book Club Reminder: The book club meets the fourth of the month and the next meeting will be November 21st  (the fourth Thursday this month is Thanksgiving).  The next book is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  If you don’t have a copy, let the library know and we would be happy to order one for you.  Everyone is welcome!!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.


Saturday, October 19, 2013

Friends of the Library

Pipestone County Star 10-24-2013

This week is National Friends of Libraries week!!  Libraries always need friends.  And most libraries also need Friends, a library-specific group of people that work hard to support the library’s needs.  For Pipestone, that group is the Pipestone Area Friends of the Library.

Why does a library need friends?  Because there’s only so much the library staff can get done on their own.  A friends group supports quality library service in their community through a large variety of ways:
·         They help with fund-raising – if they are a 501(c)3, then any donation made to them is tax deductible, unlike donations made straight to some libraries.
·         They help with volunteering – sometimes extra hands are needed for special events and the friends group usually helps with that.
·         They advocate for the library and the programs sponsored by the library – they help spread the word about what the library is currently working on.
·         Friends groups also help with long-term planning for the library, both with physical help and financial support of projects, and are kept in the loop about those projects.  They also maintain a liaison to the Library Board, which means they are included in all library decisions.

Friends groups are invaluable to the library.  Not only are they a group of smiling, supportive faces, they work hard to make sure that the library’s special needs are met, thereby taking good care of the community.  A large friends group means even more programs and services available to the people of the town or county in which the library functions.

In Pipestone, the Friends group hosts an annual book sale in December which helps to fund special projects.  They also apply for united Way money to help with the Summer Reading program, offer special programs and authors for patrons, and assist with special events that the library hosts.   They are an amazing group of people.

Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is always looking for new members.  If you want to participate in volunteering or just want to give financially, you are more than welcome to join!  We have membership cards out at the library or you can mail membership fees (listed below) to PAFL, 1401 7th Street SW, Pipestone, MN 56164.

PAFL Membership Fees
·         Student $5
·         Individual $20
·         Family $30
·         Benefactor $100
·         Life $250
·         Patron $500

PAFL  will be having a fundraiser at the Pipestone Pizza Ranch on Wednesday, October 30th, from 4:30 until 8:00 PM.  From 4:30 until 5:00, the library will be having a craft activity for any interested children to celebrate the season.  Come join us for great food and a spooky fun craft to take home with you!

Book Club Reminder: The book club meets the fourth Thursday (my apologies that the past few months have said Tuesday) of the month and the next meeting will be October 24th.  The next book is In The Woods by Tana French.  If you don’t have a copy, let the library know and we would be happy to order one for you.  Everyone is welcome!!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

True Crime

Pipestone County Star 10-10-2013

Most people enjoy a good mystery novel.  For most of those readers, part of the charm is that it is fictional and the story didn’t really happen.  But some mystery and crime readers prefer to read the true accounts of murders and crimes that are found in the non-fiction section of the library.   Here are a few true crime novels that might spark your interest.

Safe Harbor: A Murder in Nantucket, by Brian McDonald
Elizabeth Lochtefeld thought she had found Mr. Right.  Thomas Toolan III was a Wall Street mogul, handsome, rich, and devoted.  Supposedly.  As it turns out, Tom had lost his job after trying to steal a very valuable piece of art from an antiques show and that was only the tip of his bad behavior.  As she began to notice the downward spiral, Beth made the decision to end the affair and two days later, she disappeared, never to be seen alive again.  But who did it?

Cruel Doubt, by Joe McGinniss
On a hot summer night in 1988, Bonnie Von Stein and her husband were brutally attacked in bed.  The husband died and Bonnie herself was stabbed and beaten, left for dead.  McGinniss set out to work on the crime at the request of Bonnie, and discovered a whole world of information she wanted to hold in denial.  Bonnie had defended her 21 year old son, a student at North Carolina State even when the evidence began to mount against him and pointed toward a bizarre attempt to recreate a Dungeons and Dragons adventure.  But was it really him?  Could it have been one of his friends or someone who coveted her 19 year old daughter and the fortune she might stand to inherit?

While They Slept: An Inquiry Into the Murder of a Family, by Kathryn Harrison
It was a lovely April morning when Billy Gilley Jr murdered his sleeping parents.  When his little sister Becky walked in on him, he killed her as well, then went upstairs to wake his sister Jody and tell her the good news.  They were free from a life of abuse – but could two people ever be free from such an act of violence?  Harrison writes a compelling narrative based on interviews with Billy and Jody, friends, police, and social workers to determine the true story of what really drove the young man to land himself in jail and make his sister an orphan.

A Cold-Blooded Business, by Marek Fuchs
Olathe, Kansas was made famous by Truman Capote when he wrote In Cold Blood about murders that happened in 1959.   But in 1982, another murder happened – David Harmon was bludgeoned to death while sleeping.  Suspicion fell on his wife and his best friend, but the church protected both and the case was quickly dropped.  Twenty years later, new evidence came to light and the two suspects, now leading law-abiding lives, suddenly found themselves once more in the spotlight.  Would the detectives be able to close the case once and for all?

Too Late To Say Goodbye, by Ann Rule
Ann Rule is rather famous for her true crime novels – we have more than 10 written by her alone.  This particular story centers around Jenn and Bart Corbin, a loving wife and a successful dentist, with two beautiful boys, a nice home, a houseboat, and everything a family could want.  But what was idyllic on the outside was dark on the inside.   Just before Christmas, 2004, Jenn is found dead, a bullet in her brain and a gun on the floor.  Suicide?  Ann untangles the story with interviews and evidence until the reader is left reeling with information and a stunning conclusion that involves another “suicide” years before…

The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
The World’s Fair is supposed to be the pinnacle of society – a place to showcase the talents of the famous minds of the day.  In 1893, the man in charge was Daniel Hudson Burnham, a brilliant architect who was responsible for the Flatiron building in New York and union Station in DC.  He brought the best minds of the decade together to build the White City, transforming Jackson Swamp into a thing of beauty.  Little did he know that a serial killer, Henry Holmes, would use the Fair to attract his victims and lure scores of young women to their deaths in his nearby “World’s Fair Hotel,” complete with a gas chamber and crematorium.  This story is peopled with famous figures, all of whom attended the fair, and a story that will glue you to your seat.

These stories are disturbingly chilling – they really happened and, in most cases, very little is made up (they are all found in the non-fiction section 364.1).  The crimes that were committed were committed by real people and the story reads like a train wreck – you can’t stop reading, can’t look away, no matter how disturbing it is for you.  Excellent reads for this spooky time of year.

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  Call us for the date of the next meeting!

Pipestone Area Friends of the Library will be having a fundraiser at the Pipestone Pizza Ranch on Wednesday, October 30th, from 4:30 until 8:00 PM.  From 4:30 until 5:00, the library will be having a craft activity for any interested children to celebrate the season.  Come join us for great food and a spooky fun craft to take home with you!

Book Club Reminder: The book club meets the fourth Thursday (my apologies that the past few months have said Tuesday) of the month and the next meeting will be October 24th.  The next book is In The Woods by Tana French.  If you don’t have a copy, let the library know and we would be happy to order one for you.  Everyone is welcome!!


If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.