Alexander McCall Smith At Emmet O'Neal Library

Join us & Western Supermarkets

in Welcoming

New York Times Bestselling author

Alexander McCall Smith

To the Emmet O’Neal Library

Sunday April 29th

1-4 p.m.!

Tickets are $25.00 and will be available at the

Library’s Adult Services desk.

Friends Members will be able to purchase tickets

beginning in February!

Tickets will be available to the general public beginning March 1st!

1:00-2:00 * Southern Reception with the Author

2:30-3:30 * Author Lecture
3:30-4:00 * Book Signing

Books May Be Purchased At The Event

For more information

contact Katie Moellering

Phone: 205-445-1118 or

Email: kmoellering@bham.lib.al.us

Visit our website at www.eolib.org!

FaNtAStic Book on CD!!!!

Ever read titles by Neil Gaiman? I had not, but my interest was piqued by his book on CD Stardust which the author himself reads. The story is sweet and romantic and exciting and scary all at the same time! Here's a brief blurb from the author's website:

In the tranquil fields and meadows of long-ago England, there is a small hamlet that has stood on a jut of granite for 600 years. Just to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here, in the hamlet of Wall, young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. And here, one crisp October eve, Tristran makes his love a promise -- an impetuous vow that will send him through the only breach in the wall, across the pasture... and into the most exhilarating adventure of his life.

Here is the first sentence:

"There was once a young man who wished to gain his heart's desire."

How poetic.

Also, if you would like to see Neil Gaiman's list of the Top Ten Mythic Fantasy books to read, click here, you'll go to Amazon.com's website where you can read the list. Also, did you know that if you go through the Jefferson County Library Cooperative's website to order a book, our cooperative can receive a portion of the sale? It's true - try it!

Friends of the Emmet O'Neal Library 2006-2007 Literary Contest

Hey Teens!
That time of year has come around again - the Friends Literary Contest! Take a look at the rules below for more information. Don't miss out.

Genealogy In Birmingham

I just read a great post on Active Culture about a Birmingham Genealogical Society meeting for those interested in doing more to map that family tree! Visit their website for more information if you are interested!
Holley

Congo Art & Artifacts Presentation

Morning Everyone!
The Bookies will meet on Tuesday morning, February 13th to discuss the engrossing non-fiction title King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild. Here is a brief description from the publisher, Houghton Mifflin:

Adam Hochschild’s award winning, heart haunting account of the brutal plunder of the Congo by Leopold II of Belgium presents a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a royal figure as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of Shakespeare’s great villains. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave, committed handful of idealists, missionaries, travelers, diplomats, and African villagers who found themselves witnesses to and, in too many instances, victims of a holocaust.

In the late 1890s, Edmund Dene Morel, a young British shipping company agent, noticed something strange about the cargoes of his company’s ships as they arrived from and departed for the Congo, Leopold II’s vast new African colony. Incoming ships were crammed with valuable ivory and rubber. Outbound ships carried little more than soldiers and firearms. Correctly concluding that only slave labor on a vast scale could account for these cargoes, Morel resigned from his company and almost single-handedly made Leopold’s slave labor regime the premier human rights story in the world. Thousands of people packed hundreds of meetings throughout the United States and Europe to learn about Congo atrocities. Two courageous black Americans—George Washington Williams and William Sheppard—risked much to bring evidence to the outside world. Roger Casement, later hanged by Britain as a traitor, conducted an eyeopening investigation of the Congo River stations. Sailing into the middle of the story was a young steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming over all was Leopold II, King of the Belgians, sole owner of the only private colony in the world.

Also, at our book discussion on the 13th, one of our book group members (and a museum docent), Vicki H., will bring a PowerPoint presentation put together by the Birmingham Museum of Art on art and artifacts donated to the Museum from the Congo and surrounding areas. Vicki's presentation is very good, so if you are interested in this book, or African art & culture, please join us!