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The Family History Hunt is a wonderful opportunity for children of all ages to explore Ridgefield and learn about local history throughout our community. Sponsored by the Keeler Tavern Museum. Family History Hunt books will be available at Keeler Tavern Museum and many locations in town. The book will guide you to sites of historical interest and provide information and thought provoking questions that are designed to broaden your knowledge of local history. Your completed Family History Hunt book will entitle you to prizes and a special invitation the Keeler Tavern Museum's 300th birthday party on June 15, 2013. Check the Keeler Tavern Museum website for more details.
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Calling all 3rd - 5th grade muggles! Let's get together and read "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." We'll discuss the book, make sure you're registered on Pottermore and participate in some fun activities. It's o.k. if you've already read the book (we have too). We're ready to go back to Hogwarts. Join Mrs. Tichey-Staack, Mrs. Cerrato and Ridgefield librarian Mary Beth Rassulo to discuss all things magical! Registration required on our website.
Join us for a talk with Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.
A former child soldier from Sierra Leone, Ishmael Beah moved to the United States in 1998 and graduated from Oberlin College in 1994. He is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee and has spoken before the United Nations and the Council on Foreign Relations. He lives in New York City. Copies of his memoir A Long Way Gone will be available for sale and signing thanks to Books on the Common.
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Your grandchildren have learning tools that were not even imagined during your school years. This program is designed to introduce you to computer concepts and provide an opportunity to experience hands on computing with our own Fritz Mundorff, whom many of you know from computer courses at Founders Hall.
Tech Fridays
Do you want to use an online resource or a new technology but feel overwhelmed by the learning curve involved? Then, drop in to Tech Fridays. Each month, we’ll pick a topic related to technology, and one of our staff will be available to answer your questions and demonstrate how to become an empowered user of online resources and electronic devices.
We want your input. Email us your suggestions for topics to cover in the future or contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at 203-438-2282 x1003.
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Collateral Damage by Alice K. Boatwright
Winner of the 2013 Bronze Medal for Literary Fiction - Independent Publisher Book Awards.
In Collateral Damage, three linked novellas explore the lasting effects of the Vietnam War on people living in its shadow – including both those who fought and those who didn’t. These stories from one of American history’s most divisive eras show us that Vietnam may not be as far behind us as we think. Who goes to war and why – and the consequences for them and the people who love them are issues that we still face today.
A Small Press Distribution summer bestseller in 2012, Collateral Damage received the Bronze Medal for Literary Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in May 2013. It was also a finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.
“These are engrossing stories told with considerable artistry, full of recognition and sympathy.”
Diane Johnson, Author of Le Divorce
Alice K. Boatwright is the author of dozens of short stories that have appeared in journals, such as the Mississippi Review, Paterson Literary Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, Penumbra, America West,Storyglossia, and Stone Canoe, as well as anthologies of women’s writing published by Crossing Press.
Her first book, Collateral Damage, was published by Standing Stone Books in July 2012. A Small Press Distribution summer bestseller in 2012, Collateral Damage received the Bronze Medal for Literary Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in May 2013. It was also a finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction.
In a career that has always focused on writing, Boatwright has won numerous professional awards and traveled around the world. She formerly taught writing for the University of New Hampshire and UC Berkeley and now runs an occasional private workshop in Paris. Since 2004, she has worked as a freelance writer, dividing her time between Paris and the U.S.
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Author, journalist and film producer Todd Brewster will discuss Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Todd Brewster served as Senior Editorial Producer for ABC News and co-authored three books with the late Peter Jennings: The Century, The Century for Young People, and In Search of America. Brewster has served as a Knight Fellow at Yale Law School and as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Government at Wesleyan University.
He has written extensively on constitutional issues and is the Director of the National Constitution Center's The Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution. A native of Indianapolis Indiana, he was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. Today, Brewster is the Director of the United States Military Academy's West Point Center for Oral History and the Don E. Ackerman Director of Oral History for West Point.
Todd Brewster is currently writing a book on Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation.
This program will take place at the Schlumberger Auditorium at 36 Old Quarry Road, Ridgefield. Please register.
This program made possible thanks to the Wadsworth Russell Lewis Fund and is part of Ridgefield Remembers the Civil War: A town-wide, six-month series of programs and events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Click here to visit our Civil War webpage or here for our calendar of events.
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Please contact Eileen O'Halloran, eohalloran@zeiss.com 914 681 7488 for more information. L
Join us for a reading by the Ridgefield Writers Workshop, featuring:
Paul Bissonette is a former TV executive who lives in North Salem, NY, with his wife, Barbara. Barbara is eternally grateful to workshop leader Chris Belden and the members of his workshop because Paul has stopped talking about writing some day and is now actually doing it.
Cynthia McNamara owns her own insurance business in Pound Ridge, New York. She volunteers as an EMT and is also working on her first novel. Cynthia comes from a long line of women who have had paranormal experiences, so it is fitting that the story she is writing is a paranormal mystery that also includes a little romance and some humor, not unlike her own life.
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Calling all students in grades 5-8, Join Ridgefield resident , science teacher and coach of the Sleepy Hollow Middle School Headless Horse-bots, a First LEGO League Robotics Tea, Mike Garguilo to work with robots, and learn programming .
Thanks to the generosity of the Donofrio family the Library has been able to offer an
ongoing series of programs, workshops and events that aim to inspire young people,
especially girls and minority students, to pursue science and engineering through
school, college and beyond.
The Donofrio Technology: Inspiring Kids in Science series has also helped the Library receive several prestigious grants to develop other science related programs such as the International Year of Astronomy 2009 program and the Einstein's Big Idea program for which the Library won an Outstanding Library Service Award in 2005.
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Please register.
The Nonfictioneers meet on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss classic and contemporary non-fiction titles. Click here for more information and to see the upcoming discussion selections.
Note: The first half of the book will be discussed at the May 7 meeting and the second half at the June 4 meeting.
New members are always welcome. L H
“Writing Milestones” is a four-session writing workshop for new and experienced writers. Each participant will select a “journey” that has personal significance, tracing its path from a chosen starting point to the present day. One person may trace the journey from childhood to adulthood; another the journey through parenthood or relationship; another the journey of a career or avocation; the journey of self-discovery, or the journey as an evolving writer that has led to participating in this workshop. We will map our journeys with their significant milestones—turning points, moments of revelation, or times of accomplishment. Then, prompted by poetry, and passages from memoir and fiction, we will write the stories of some of these milestones. Through the act of writing, we will discover fresh and unexpected views, and new insight and understanding of the themes that inform our lives.
Phyllis Ross has taught, facilitated and coached writing in academic, community and organizational settings. She is faculty emeritus at Western Connecticut State University, and currently facilitates writing as part of Rehabilitation Through the Arts at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women. She is a member of the Network faculty of the Bard Institute for Writing and Thinking.
Please register as space is limited. This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson (2003, 447 pages). The popular non-fiction writer intertwines the stories of celebrated architect Daniel J. Burnham, responsible for the building of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair site, and the sinister Dr. Holmes, believed to be responsible for scores of murders in the vicinity and at the time of the Fair.
Note: This book discussion will take place at the Library at 21 Governor Street at the new time of 11:15 to 1 PM.Click here for upcoming Murder by the Book selections and to check our catalog. L
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This program is part of Ridgefield Remembers the Civil War: A town-wide, six-month series of programs and events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Click here to visit our Civil War webpage or here for our calendar of events.
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The Ridgefield Library's photography group the Shutterbugs meets on the second Saturday of the month to discuss their craft and/or head out on their many field trips. They will meet in the parking lot at 21 Governor Street at 9:00 to then go out on field trips.
New members are always welcome. Please contact Mary Harold at 438-7350 or e-mail ridgefieldshutterbugs@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining the group and to find out the location of the field trips.
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About whatever movies or TV shows they've been watching lately.
About whatever games they've been playing lately.
Basically, we talk about whatever media we've been consuming, all while consuming pie.
Sometimes cake, but most often pie.
Soldiers Fair - Saturday, June 8, 1 – 4:30 PM (rain date - June 9) @ Ballard Park. Featuring period music, singing, re-enactors, hands-on activities and games for children, a display of Civil War artifacts, local actors portraying men and women from the Civil War era and much, much more!
This program is part of Ridgefield Remembers the Civil War: A town-wide, six-month series of programs and events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Click here to visit our Civil War webpage or here for our calendar of events.
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Join us for our monthly chat about our favorite books. Members of our staff will share of their personal recommendations and then we hope you'll share your memorable reads. Beverages and snacks will be provided.During the Library's construction phase Books and Breakfast will take place in the lovely Garden House of the Keeler Tavern Museum, 132 Main Street, Ridgefield.
Registration is not required.
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“Writing Milestones” is a four-session writing workshop for new and experienced writers. Each participant will select a “journey” that has personal significance, tracing its path from a chosen starting point to the present day. One person may trace the journey from childhood to adulthood; another the journey through parenthood or relationship; another the journey of a career or avocation; the journey of self-discovery, or the journey as an evolving writer that has led to participating in this workshop. We will map our journeys with their significant milestones—turning points, moments of revelation, or times of accomplishment. Then, prompted by poetry, and passages from memoir and fiction, we will write the stories of some of these milestones. Through the act of writing, we will discover fresh and unexpected views, and new insight and understanding of the themes that inform our lives.
Phyllis Ross has taught, facilitated and coached writing in academic, community and organizational settings. She is faculty emeritus at Western Connecticut State University, and currently facilitates writing as part of Rehabilitation Through the Arts at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women. She is a member of the Network faculty of the Bard Institute for Writing and Thinking.
Please register as space is limited. This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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Children going into grades 2 and 3 read a book and meet to eat lunch and have a discussion and do an activity about the book. Children bring their lunches. Registration required by signing up at the information desk and picking up a copy of the book to be discussed. Book will be held at the circulation desk.
“The sinking of the cruise liner that was once the pride of Hitler’s Strength Through Joy program has long been overlooked by maritime historians. Yet when the Wilhelm Gustloff disappeared beneath the freezing waters of the Baltic in January of 1945, she took with her more than six times the number of people lost on the Titanic.Through careful research and interviews with the few remaining survivors Cathryn J. Prince vividly recreates the chaos and terror of this epic maritime disaster.”--Hugh Brewster, author of Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic’s First-Class Passengers And Their World
Cathryn J. Prince is the author of three previous non-fiction books. Her third book A Professor, a President, and a Meteor: The Birth of American Science won the Connecticut Press Club's 2011 Book Award for Non-Fiction and received an Honorable Mention in General/Non-Fiction at the 2011 New England Book Festival Book Awards. She worked as a correspondent to The Christian Science Montior in Switzerland covering the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the Nazi Gold Crisis. She is an adjunct professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University and a frequent contributor to The Christian Science Monitor and Ridgefield Magazine.This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library. It is also co-sponsored by Books on the Common.L
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Click here for more information about upcoming Critics' Circle selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group.
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Registration is not required.
“Writing Milestones” is a four-session writing workshop for new and experienced writers. Each participant will select a “journey” that has personal significance, tracing its path from a chosen starting point to the present day. One person may trace the journey from childhood to adulthood; another the journey through parenthood or relationship; another the journey of a career or avocation; the journey of self-discovery, or the journey as an evolving writer that has led to participating in this workshop. We will map our journeys with their significant milestones—turning points, moments of revelation, or times of accomplishment. Then, prompted by poetry, and passages from memoir and fiction, we will write the stories of some of these milestones. Through the act of writing, we will discover fresh and unexpected views, and new insight and understanding of the themes that inform our lives.
Phyllis Ross has taught, facilitated and coached writing in academic, community and organizational settings. She is faculty emeritus at Western Connecticut State University, and currently facilitates writing as part of Rehabilitation Through the Arts at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women. She is a member of the Network faculty of the Bard Institute for Writing and Thinking.
Please register as space is limited. This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
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Diane Johnston will present a program for Baby Boomers who are dealing with the challenges of caring for aging parents. Among the subjects to be covered in this seminar are:
Cognitive Changes in your parent – Identifying, Accepting and Dealing with Mental Changes
Coping Strategies: Getting through the difficult times with grace
Use of Humor
Increase Self Care
Meditation and Mindfulness
Enjoying your parents even when this seems impossible
Helping Your Parent Maintain Dignity
Finding Resources – Making Your Way through the Maze
Medical professionals
Mental Health professionals
Geriatric Care managers
In Home Services
Independent Living vs. Assisted Living
Diane Johnston PNP is a Nurse Practitioner in Psychiatry in private practice in Westport, Connecticut, specializing in psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. She is licensed in Connecticut and New York to assess and evaluate clients and to prescribe psychotropic medications as appropriate. In her psychotherapy and psychopharmacology practice in Westport, she works with adults, adolescents, couples and families from all over Fairfield County.
Diane Johnston has been in private practice for 15 years, specializing in the field of Behavioral and Integrative Medicine. She was Medical Director at Insight Counseling in Ridgefield, CT. She was also a clinical supervisor in the Department of Complementary Medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Ms. Johnston is also Director of the Mind-Body-Fertility program which focuses on using mind-body practices for fertility treatment and wellness.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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School age children, teens and adults are invited to join in the library's summer reading program that begins today! Prizes and incentives are awarded for reading during the summer months. Check our website for more information.
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We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk about books. You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
Note: This book discussion will take place at the Library at 21 Governor Street at the new time of 11:15 to 1 PM.
No Registration.
Click here for upcoming A.M. Book Group selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group -
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“Writing Milestones” is a four-session writing workshop for new and experienced writers. Each participant will select a “journey” that has personal significance, tracing its path from a chosen starting point to the present day. One person may trace the journey from childhood to adulthood; another the journey through parenthood or relationship; another the journey of a career or avocation; the journey of self-discovery, or the journey as an evolving writer that has led to participating in this workshop. We will map our journeys with their significant milestones—turning points, moments of revelation, or times of accomplishment. Then, prompted by poetry, and passages from memoir and fiction, we will write the stories of some of these milestones. Through the act of writing, we will discover fresh and unexpected views, and new insight and understanding of the themes that inform our lives.
Phyllis Ross has taught, facilitated and coached writing in academic, community and organizational settings. She is faculty emeritus at Western Connecticut State University, and currently facilitates writing as part of Rehabilitation Through the Arts at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women. She is a member of the Network faculty of the Bard Institute for Writing and Thinking.
Please register as space is limited. This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
Experienced spelunker Diana Messer will show you how to go beneath the surface of the earth to see all the beauty hidden there!
We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk . You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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Join us for a honey tasting and paring along with a book signing with Marina Marchese, author of the just released The Honey Connoisseur: Selecting, Tasting and Paring Honey. Drop in to Books on the Common between 6 and 8 PM.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is presented by Books on the Common.
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We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk about books. You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
The Nonfictioneers meet on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss classic and contemporary non-fiction titles. Click here for more information and to see the upcoming discussion selections.
New members are always welcome. L H
As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
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Please contact Eileen O'Halloran, eohalloran@zeiss.com 914 681 7488 for more information. L
Join us for our monthly chat about our favorite books. Members of our staff will share of their personal recommendations and then we hope you'll share your memorable reads. Beverages and snacks will be provided.During the Library's construction phase Books and Breakfast will take place in the lovely Garden House of the Keeler Tavern Museum, 132 Main Street, Ridgefield.
Registration is not required.
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We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk about books. You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
Children going into grades 2 and 3 read a book and meet to eat lunch and have a discussion and do an activity about the book. Children bring their lunches. Registration required by signing up at the information desk and picking up a copy of the book to be discussed. Book will be held at the circulation desk.
As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith (1981, 365 pages). Chief Homicide Investigator Arkady Renko
must contend with the bitter cold of the Russian winter and the long arm of the KGB as he seeks to do his job, in the first installment in the series that popularized the genre of “Moscow noir.”
Please note that the July discussion will take place one week later than usual due to the IndependenceDay holiday.
Click here for upcoming Murder by the Book selections and to check our catalog. L
We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk . You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
B.A. Shapiro is the author of The Art Forger, a literary thriller about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist that spans three centuries of forgers, art thieves, and obsessive collectors. Writing as Barbara Shapiro, she is also the author of five suspense novels The Safe Room, Blind Spot, See No Evil, Blameless and Shattered Echoes as well as the non-fiction book, The Big Squeeze. She lives in Boston and teaches creative writing at Northeastern University.
This program is presented by Books on the Common, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and Ridgefield Library. It is part of the Library's Adult Summer Reading program that is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
No registration
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The Ridgefield Library's photography group the Shutterbugs meets on the second Saturday of the month to discuss their craft and/or head out on their many field trips. They will meet in the parking lot at 21 Governor Street at 9:00 to then go out on field trips.
New members are always welcome. Please contact Mary Harold at 438-7350 or e-mail ridgefieldshutterbugs@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining the group and to find out the location of the field trips.
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We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk about books. You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
Click here for more information about upcoming Critics' Circle selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group.
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Registration is not required.
As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk . You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
L
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We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk about books. You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
Click here for upcoming A.M. Book Group selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group -
L
As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk . You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
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Tech Fridays
Do you want to use an online resource or a new technology but feel overwhelmed by the learning curve involved? Then, drop in to Tech Fridays. Each month, we’ll pick a topic related to technology, and one of our staff will be available to answer your questions and demonstrate how to become an empowered user of online resources and electronic devices.
We want your input. Email us your suggestions for topics to cover in the future or contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at 203-438-2282 x1003.
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To preserve and share our personal collections of digital photos, documents and videos we must manage them with care. At this event we’ll discuss the challenges of personal digital archiving and some considerations for planning your own personal archiving project. We’ll discuss organization and preferred formats for photos, records, audio and video, and also strategies for long-term storage.
Jon Eriksen is a Technology and Reference Librarian at New Canaan Library. He has a special interest in personal information management and its impact on the creative process.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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Take your seat for a fascinating talk sponsored by The Aldrich, Ridgefield Library, and Books on the Common about the design of chairs. Coinciding with the Museum’s presentation of the Extreme Drawing exhibitions, two renowned design professionals with over sixty years of combined experience, Niels Diffrient and Gordon Bruce, will discuss their creative processes, including the acts of drawing and sketching, and seminal projects from their careers in the design field. A book signing with Diffrient, whose new book, Confessions of a Generalist, encapsulates his perspective on design and the life experiences that inform his practice, will follow the talk.
Inventor, product designer and Ridgefield resident, Niels Diffrient has spent the last thirty-plus years focusing on the most universal tool in the office environment, the task chair—a category in which he has pioneered numerous breakthroughs. Most important to his design process are the prototypes. Consideration of both the contour/composition of the human body and the force of gravity creates the interface that determines comfort. His chairs are developed to help the users—sitting for long periods of time—handle their jobs with health and comfort. A master in the field of ergonomics, Diffrient is always looking to make more appropriate and useful products.
New Milford resident Gordon Bruce, principal of Gordon Bruce Design LLC, has been a design consultant for forty years, with clients in Europe, Asia, and the United States. He has worked with numerous multi-national corporations, including IBM, Mobil, Siemens, Samsung, Lenovo and GE, on various kinds and scales of products—from airplanes to computers to medical equipment—as well as design strategy and planning. The design standards he has written for major corporate programs have included defining product, graphic, interior, and exhibit design problem statements, specifications, research, and concept design.
This program is co-sponsored by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Books on the Common and Ridgefield Library. It is also part of the Library's Adult Summer Reading program. Free to Aldrich members and for the price of admission for non-members.L
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We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk about books. You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
In 1895, emissaries from the New York Yacht Club traveled to Deer Isle, Maine, to recruit the nation's best sailors, an "All American" crew. This remote island in Penobscot Bay sent nearly thirty of its fishing men to sail Defender, and under skipper Hank Haff, they beat their opponents in a difficult and controversial series. To the delight of the American public, the charismatic Sir Thomas Lipton sent a surprise challenge in 1899. The New York Yacht Club knew where to turn and again recruited Deer Isle's fisherman sailors. Undefeated in two defense campaigns, they are still considered one of the best American sail-racing teams ever assembled. Read their fascinating story and relive their adventure.
Mark J. Gabrielson is a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed master and a trustee of the Marion-Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race. He is a graduate of Princeton University and after more than three decades in business is now a graduate student at Harvard University, in extension, concentrating in history. He also serves as a research intern at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He is a New Englander, dividing his time among Ridgefield, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; and Deer Isle. This is his first book.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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Children going into grades 2 and 3 read a book and meet to eat lunch and have a discussion and do an activity about the book. Children bring their lunches. Registration required by signing up at the information desk and picking up a copy of the book to be discussed. Book will be held at the circulation desk.
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As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
The Raphael Affair by Iain Pears (1990, 191 pages).
Jonathan Argyll is an English art historian and dealer; Flavia di Stefano is a detective with the Italian National Art Theft Squad. Together they investigate murder and mayhem in the international art world, in a witty and fast-paced series with an appealing Roman setting and just a touch of romance.
Click here for upcoming Murder by the Book selections and to check our catalog. L
We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk . You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
This program is aimed at parents of high schoolers but students are also encouraged to attend.
Through her seminars, Stephanie Goldberg-Mauro has helped hundreds of families understand what it takes to get into college and understand the financial aid process. She has personally helped numerous families through the entire process of getting their student to the right college at the right price. She is a graduate of Berkeley College in White Plains, NY.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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Please contact Eileen O'Halloran, eohalloran@zeiss.com 914 681 7488 for more information. L
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We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk about books. You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
The Nonfictioneers meet on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss classic and contemporary non-fiction titles. Click here for more information and to see the upcoming discussion selections.
New members are always welcome. L H
As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
Registration is required.
We will meet at Dimitri’s to eat and talk . You must bring $5 - $10 to pay for your own food. No registration is needed.
Gil Fagiani is a translator, essayist, short story writer, and poet who grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. His poetry books include: Serfs of Psychiatry (Finishing Line Press, 2012), Chianti in Connecticut (Bordighera Press, 2010) and A Blanquito in El Barrio (Rain Mountain Press, 2007). Gil is the Associate Editor of Feile-Festa and co-curates the Italian American Writers’ Association’s readings at the Cornelia Street Café in New York City.
Chris Belden is the author of the novel Carry-on (Rain Mountain Press, 2012). His short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals, including American Fiction, SN Review and Skidrow Penthouse. A graduate of the Fairfield University MFA Program, Chris is the founder of the Ridgefield Writers Workshop, and co-organizer of the upcoming Ridgefield Writers Conference.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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The Ridgefield Library's photography group the Shutterbugs meets on the second Saturday of the month to discuss their craft and/or head out on their many field trips. They will meet in the parking lot at 21 Governor Street at 9:00 to then go out on field trips.
New members are always welcome. Please contact Mary Harold at 438-7350 or e-mail ridgefieldshutterbugs@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining the group and to find out the location of the field trips.
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High school years are critical in the college planning process. There are so many items that need to be done and dates that you need to be aware of. This class will give students the time line for high school years that will get them ready to apply for colleges. Students will also learn how to keep track of important events and successes in high school and create a resume they can continue to work with as they progress through school. In addition, they will learn the about the differences in the ACT & SAT tests and gain an understanding as to which test they would do their best on. This program is aimed at high schoolers but parents are also encouraged to attend.
Through her seminars, Stephanie Goldberg-Mauro has helped hundreds of families understand what it takes to get into college and understand the financial aid process. She has personally helped numerous families through the entire process of getting their student to the right college at the right price. She is a graduate of Berkeley College in White Plains, NY.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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Join us for our monthly chat about our favorite books. Members of our staff will share of their personal recommendations and then we hope you'll share your memorable reads. Beverages and snacks will be provided.During the Library's construction phase Books and Breakfast will take place in the lovely Garden House of the Keeler Tavern Museum, 132 Main Street, Ridgefield.
Registration is not required.
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Books on the Common and Ridgefield Library present an Author Talk with Mark Slouka who will discuss his recently released novel Brewster.“This beautifully written coming-of-age story sings with wisdom and heart. Slouka’s characters struggle to survive against a backdrop of remembered pain, routine violence,and the threat of being drafted to Vietnam, fighting to retain a friendship that may just be able to save them.” — Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of Once Upon a River
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mark Slouka is the author of Lost Lake, a New York Times Notable Book. His short stories have appeared multiple times in the yearly anthology Best American Short Stories. He is a contributing editor at Harper’s and lives in Brewster, New York.
This program is part of the Library's Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
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As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
Mahasati meditation is a form of insight meditation originating from Southeast Asia. It involves the cultivation of mindfulness through attention to the movement of the body and the mind in the present moment. As one’s self-awareness grows through this practice, it becomes possible to see for oneself how the mind gets caught in suffering; this enables one to naturally let go of the mental processes that perpetuate mental and emotional suffering in one’s life.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
HF
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Click here for more information about upcoming Critics' Circle selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group.
L
Registration is not required.
Children going into grades 2 and 3 read a book and meet to eat lunch and have a discussion and do an activity about the book. Children bring their lunches. Registration required by signing up at the information desk and picking up a copy of the book to be discussed. Book will be held at the circulation desk.
As part of our 2013 Adult Summer Reading Program, the Ridgefield Library will be delving into the world of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs. The New York Times called 2012 “The Year of the MOOC,” and we hope you’ll join us as we explore this new way to engage in lifelong learning.
What is a MOOC? A MOOC allows anyone with an internet connection to take college courses for free. Last year, companies such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX began partnerships with major universities and colleges to offer a wide range of courses online.
How is the Ridgefield Library participating?
This summer the Ridgefield Library will be a meet-up destination for a course entitled The Fiction of Relationship taught by Dr. Arnold Weinstein from Brown University and offered through Coursera. For ten consecutive Wednesdays beginning on June 19th, we will gather at 7 PM in the library’s program room to watch Dr. Weinstein’s video lectures and then have a facilitated discussion about what we’ve learned. You will be asked to sign up on the Coursera website to be a participant in the course and also to register at the library website so we know how many people to expect.
What will be the focus of the course ?
Here is how Dr. Weinstein describes the course: “What is the nature of our relationship to others and the world? How can literature help us see these relationships more clearly? This course seeks to explore such questions through adventurous readings of ten great works of narrative fiction from the 18th to the 20th century.”
What are the course readings and how much of a time commitment is involved?
Your commitment can be as much or as little as you like. The selections to be discussed in the course are listed below. We will have multiple copies of these titles available beginning the last week of May, and many of the works have free eBook versions. Audiobooks of the works will also be offered when available. You may attend all or some of the lectures (once you sign up with Coursera, you will also be able to access the lectures from home). Many of these works may be familiar to you, and you are welcome to come and listen to the lectures without making a greater time commitment.
Here are the works that will be explored:
June 19 - Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prevost
June 26 - Bartleby the Scrivener and Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
July 3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
July 10 - The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and The Country Doctor by Franz Kafka
July 17 - To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
July 24 - Light in August by William Faulkner
July 31 - Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
August 7 - The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas
August 14 - Beloved by Toni Morrison
August 21 - Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
For more information contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at dlpawl@ridgfieldlibrary.org or by phone at x1003. Please register at the Library using this link and also on the Coursera Website (link below).
This program is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Ridgefield Library. comtec L
Mahasati meditation is a form of insight meditation originating from Southeast Asia. It involves the cultivation of mindfulness through attention to the movement of the body and the mind in the present moment. As one’s self-awareness grows through this practice, it becomes possible to see for oneself how the mind gets caught in suffering; this enables one to naturally let go of the mental processes that perpetuate mental and emotional suffering in one’s life.
This program is part of our Adult Summer Reading program and is made possible thanks to the Friends of the Library.
HF
SP A2 A3 A4 .
Tech Fridays
Do you want to use an online resource or a new technology but feel overwhelmed by the learning curve involved? Then, drop in to Tech Fridays. Each month, we’ll pick a topic related to technology, and one of our staff will be available to answer your questions and demonstrate how to become an empowered user of online resources and electronic devices.
We want your input. Email us your suggestions for topics to cover in the future or contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at 203-438-2282 x1003.
comtec hf
SP A3 A4 A5 A6 GK G1 .
SP A3 A4 A5 A6 GK G1 .
Click here for upcoming A.M. Book Group selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group -
L
More information coming soon.
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The Nonfictioneers meet on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss classic and contemporary non-fiction titles. Click here for more information and to see the upcoming discussion selections.
New members are always welcome. L H
Hearts and Bones by Margaret Lawrence (1996, 300 pages). Hannah Trevor is a midwife and healer in late 18th century Maine who turns her sharp observational skills and experience of human nature to the investigation of unusual deaths in her small community, in a series noted for its atmospheric complexity and unusual setting.
Click here for upcoming Murder by the Book selections and to check our catalog. L
Local history buff George Hancock will discuss his latest book, A Killing at the Inn, a fictional tale of Ridgefield set in the years 1858 through 1862. The program will take place where it is set - at the Keeler Tavern Museum!
George Hancock has been a student of history for most of his life. He is an historic re-enactor, having portrayed the character of Timothy Keeler, noted Ridgefield citizen and barkeep. He is a frequent volunteer guide at the Keeler Tavern Museum and is a member of Ridgefield Historical Society.
This program made possible thanks to the Wadsworth Russell Lewis Fund and is part of Ridgefield Remembers the Civil War: A town-wide, six-month series of programs and events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Click here to visit our Civil War webpage or here for our calendar of events.
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Please contact Eileen O'Halloran, eohalloran@zeiss.com 914 681 7488 for more information. L
Join us for our monthly chat about our favorite books. Members of our staff will share of their personal recommendations and then we hope you'll share your memorable reads. Beverages and snacks will be provided.During the Library's construction phase Books and Breakfast will take place in the lovely Garden House of the Keeler Tavern Museum, 132 Main Street, Ridgefield.
Registration is not required.
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The Ridgefield Library's photography group the Shutterbugs meets on the second Saturday of the month to discuss their craft and/or head out on their many field trips. They will meet in the parking lot at 21 Governor Street at 9:00 to then go out on field trips.
New members are always welcome. Please contact Mary Harold at 438-7350 or e-mail ridgefieldshutterbugs@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining the group and to find out the location of the field trips.
Click here for more information about upcoming Critics' Circle selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group.
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Registration is not required.
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Click here for upcoming A.M. Book Group selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group -
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Tech Fridays
Do you want to use an online resource or a new technology but feel overwhelmed by the learning curve involved? Then, drop in to Tech Fridays. Each month, we’ll pick a topic related to technology, and one of our staff will be available to answer your questions and demonstrate how to become an empowered user of online resources and electronic devices.
We want your input. Email us your suggestions for topics to cover in the future or contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at 203-438-2282 x1003.
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The Library will co-sponsor this reading, which is free and open to the public. Join us for readings by local authors Pete Nelson, Nalini Jones, Chris Belden and Linda Merlino. Enjoy some light refreshments! This program will take place at St. Stephens North Hall, 351 Main St., Ridgefield.
No registration.
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The Nonfictioneers meet on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss classic and contemporary non-fiction titles. Click here for more information and to see the upcoming discussion selections.
New members are always welcome. L H
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (2003, 294 pages). Heroine Maisie Dobbs is a former servant who served as a nurse during the First World War and now has started her own private investigation firm, M. Dobbs, Trade and Personal Investigations. While they share much in terms of setting and circumstance with the Golden Era cozies, Winspear’s novels are admired for their more complex characterizations and plots and their darker undertones.
Click here for upcoming Murder by the Book selections and to check our catalog. L
Please contact Eileen O'Halloran, eohalloran@zeiss.com 914 681 7488 for more information. L
The Ridgefield Library's photography group the Shutterbugs meets on the second Saturday of the month to discuss their craft and/or head out on their many field trips. They will meet in the parking lot at 21 Governor Street at 9:00 to then go out on field trips.
New members are always welcome. Please contact Mary Harold at 438-7350 or e-mail ridgefieldshutterbugs@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining the group and to find out the location of the field trips.
Join us for our monthly chat about our favorite books. Members of our staff will share of their personal recommendations and then we hope you'll share your memorable reads. Beverages and snacks will be provided.During the Library's construction phase Books and Breakfast will take place in the lovely Garden House of the Keeler Tavern Museum, 132 Main Street, Ridgefield.
Registration is not required.
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Click here for more information about upcoming Critics' Circle selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group.
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Registration is not required.
Ridgefield Library, Keeler Tavern Museum and Books on the Common are very honored to welcome Michael Korda to discuss his biography of Ulysses S. Grant, which has just been republished. MICHAEL KORDA was the Editor in Chief of Simon and Schuster and is the author, among many other books, of Ike, Hero, With Wings like Eagles, and Charmed Lives. He lives in Pleasant Valley, NY.
Book Description
In a new illustrated and oversized edition of the acclaimed biography of Ulysses S. Grant - a man who managed to end the Civil War on a note of grace, serve two terms as president, write one of the most successful military memoirs in American literature, and is today remembered as a brilliant general but a failed president, Michael Korda, former Editor in Chief of Simon and Schuster and author of more than 20 books, offers readers an in-depth look at the uniquely accomplished life of our 18th President.
Ulysses S. Grant was the first officer since George Washington to become a four-star general in the United States Army, and the only president between Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson to serve eight consecutive years in the White House. In this succinct and vivid biography ULYSSES S. GRANT: The Unlikely Hero (on-sale October 15; Hardcover Nonfiction; $35.00; Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins), Michael Korda considers Grant’s character and reconciles the conflicting evaluations of his leadership abilities.
Please register.
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Click here for upcoming A.M. Book Group selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group -
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From the brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Donald Margulies, comes another funny, yet rich, thoughtful drama that focuses on conflicts ranging from profession to family life to the extremes of global strife. Times Stands Still examines the challenges that face two wartime correspondents: Sarah, a photojournalist—recently injured—and her overprotective partner, James, a floundering, freelance writer. He wants to settle down and resume some sense of normalcy while Sarah finds herself torn between the stagnancy of healing, a lingering sense of guilt, and the persistent, emotional needs of James. Walking into the middle of this battle are Sarah’s photo editor and former lover, Richard, and his new girlfriend, Mandy, 30 years his junior. Mandy, whose shallow, provincial nature stands in stark contrast to Sarah’s war-scarred street savvy, finds herself quickly outmatched. Still, she brings with her a charming, good-heartedness that turns out to be a rarity in Sarah and James’s NYC apartment.
Directed by Larry Schneider, who also brought M&M’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Almost,Maine, Collected Stories (another Margulies award-winner), Jake’s Women, Rabbit Hole, Fiction, and Three Tall Women to the stage, is excited to present this wonderfully charming, comic, and thought-provoking play to libraries throughout New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
“A powerful drama...Time Stands Still is Donald Margulies’s finest play since the Pulitzer Prizewinning Dinner With Friends.” —The New York Times
“Smart, stylish, and timely. ...Donald Margulies’s play is layered with an intriguing seriousness that inspires discussion long after the curtain comes down.” —Associated Press
“Time Stands Still soars!” —USA Today
Please register as space is limited.
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Tech Fridays
Do you want to use an online resource or a new technology but feel overwhelmed by the learning curve involved? Then, drop in to Tech Fridays. Each month, we’ll pick a topic related to technology, and one of our staff will be available to answer your questions and demonstrate how to become an empowered user of online resources and electronic devices.
We want your input. Email us your suggestions for topics to cover in the future or contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at 203-438-2282 x1003.
comtec hf
Please contact Eileen O'Halloran, eohalloran@zeiss.com 914 681 7488 for more information. L
The Nonfictioneers meet on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss classic and contemporary non-fiction titles. Click here for more information and to see the upcoming discussion selections.
New members are always welcome. L H
Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg (1993, 450 pages). Long before Stieg Larssen, Scandinavia was well represented in the world of crime fiction by this suspenseful story of “snow expert” and native Greenlander Smilla Jaspersen, who becomes suspicious about the death of a young Danish boy she has befriended.
Click here for upcoming Murder by the Book selections and to check our catalog. L
The Ridgefield Library's photography group the Shutterbugs meets on the second Saturday of the month to discuss their craft and/or head out on their many field trips. They will meet in the parking lot at 21 Governor Street at 9:00 to then go out on field trips.
New members are always welcome. Please contact Mary Harold at 438-7350 or e-mail ridgefieldshutterbugs@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining the group and to find out the location of the field trips.
Join us for our monthly chat about our favorite books. Members of our staff will share of their personal recommendations and then we hope you'll share your memorable reads. Beverages and snacks will be provided.During the Library's construction phase Books and Breakfast will take place in the lovely Garden House of the Keeler Tavern Museum, 132 Main Street, Ridgefield.
Registration is not required.
L
Click here for more information about upcoming Critics' Circle selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group.
L
Registration is not required.
L
Tech Fridays
Do you want to use an online resource or a new technology but feel overwhelmed by the learning curve involved? Then, drop in to Tech Fridays. Each month, we’ll pick a topic related to technology, and one of our staff will be available to answer your questions and demonstrate how to become an empowered user of online resources and electronic devices.
We want your input. Email us your suggestions for topics to cover in the future or contact Adult Services Librarian Dorothy Pawlowski at 203-438-2282 x1003.
comtec hf
Click here for upcoming A.M. Book Group selections and to check our catalog.
Or click the following link to find general information about the group -
L
The Nonfictioneers meet on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss classic and contemporary non-fiction titles. Click here for more information and to see the upcoming discussion selections.
New members are always welcome. L H
Please contact Eileen O'Halloran, eohalloran@zeiss.com 914 681 7488 for more information. L
The Ridgefield Library's photography group the Shutterbugs meets on the second Saturday of the month to discuss their craft and/or head out on their many field trips. They will meet in the parking lot at 21 Governor Street at 9:00 to then go out on field trips.
New members are always welcome. Please contact Mary Harold at 438-7350 or e-mail ridgefieldshutterbugs@yahoo.com if you are interested in joining the group and to find out the location of the field trips.
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