July 31 update: Online sales have now closed. A limited number of physical tickets are available at the Main Library lending desk and at Longfellow Books for purchase. Only 100 tickets will be sold at the event when the doors open at First Parish Church at 6:30 pm. If you have will-call tickets, please check in at the door at First Parish Church at 6:30 pm.
Portland Public Library and Longfellow Books present a book talk and signing by Louise Penny on Thursday, July 31st at 7:00pm at First Parish in Portland. Penny will speak about her newest in the Gamache series, How the Light Gets In. Ticket holders will receive 20% off one Louise Penny book at the event. Tickets are available online at Brown Paper Tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/735793 or at Longfellow Books and the Main Library in Monument Square.
About the book
Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it’s a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn’t spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna’s reluctance to reveal her friend’s name, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo.
As events come to a head, Gamache is drawn ever deeper into the world of Three Pines. Increasingly, he is not only investigating the disappearance of Myrna’s friend but also seeking a safe place for himself and his still-loyal colleagues. Is there peace to be found even in Three Pines, and at what cost to Gamache and the people he holds dear?
About the Author Louise Penny is a Canadianauthor of mystery novels set in the Canadian province of Quebec centered on the work of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. Penny’s first career was as a radio broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After she turned to writing, she won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha Award for best mystery novel of the year for four consecutive years and the Anthony Award for two novels. Her novels have been published in 23 languages.
On Tuesday, June 24th, Portland Public Library’s Choose Civility Initiative and City of Reader’s Team hosted Dr. Susan Feiner, USM professor of economics and gender and women studies and Garrett Martin, executive director of Maine Center for Economic Policy to help us better understand the work of Thomas Piketty and the book Capital in the 21st Century.
Panelists
More than 40 people attended the event, out of curiosity about the ideas in the book and also curiosity about why this particular book became such a bestseller at this time. Those who couldn’t make it can find some tidbits and links at our dedicated Twitter hastag #pplpiketty.
Anyone who would like to sink teeth into text, please contact Jason who would like to organize a reading group around the book (this is NOT a library sponsored call but a private one).
If you’d like further information or an opportunity to explore the ideas more, please let us know in the comments section or by email. Similarly, if you have ideas for other programs based on current nonfiction, we’d love to know what you’re curious about!
And, for more reading suggestions, check out our book list, updated to include suggestions from the panelists.
The Portland Public Library is celebrating Pride Month with exciting and informative exhibits, films, and events. Here’s a run-down of what’s going on with Pride at PPL in June, as well as some resources you can access all year round:
Wednesday, June 18, Portland Public Library is partnering with Portland Pride to bring “Pride Maine LGBT History: Life and Activism in the 1970s,” a panel discussion and exhibit. Hear from the early LGBT activists whose efforts to organize polarized Maine and made national news.
Saturday, June 21,look for PPL’s Bookmobile in the Pride Parade! Volunteers from the PPL staff and community will be marching with the Bookmobile and passing out bookmarks with lists of great LGBT-related reads. We’ll have a special display of PPL’s Pride-related materials on the Bookmobile ready to be checked out when the parade stops at Deering Oaks.
If you duck away from the crowds on June 21, the Main Library will be having a Pride Film Festival, showing classic titles all day in the Rines Auditorium.
Pride-related films will also be showing on Thursday nights at the Main Library each week in June.
In addition to our calendar of special events and programming, Pride Month is a great time to explore the library’s historic and up-to-the-minute collections.
Another archive we’re tapping into during Pride Week is the Portland Press Herald Still-Film Negative Collection. A display of photographs from past Pride Weeks (including some shots from Portland’s very first Pride Parade in 1987) will grace the hallways of the Main Library around the Lewis Gallery.
Our staff have created handy catalog lists of Pride-related resources from throughout the library for Children, Teens, and Adults (which you can check out any month of the year!).
● Our Reader’s Advisory team offers a list that celebrates Pride at PPL: Fiction, including Stonewall Award winners as well as other complex and compelling works that tackle love, gender, sex, identity, and more. Take home a copy of Kim Fu’s just-released 2014 novel, “For Today I am a Boy;” 2013 Stonewall Winner Ellis Avery’s “The Last Nude;” or pick up a classic like Leslie Feinberg’s “Stone Butch Blues.”
Remember, these lists are just a selection of materials at the library! Sleuth our catalog or check in with the librarians and staff at the Main Branch, Burbank, Peaks, Riverton, and on the Bookmobile for more resources and information.
That’s a wrap! As always, we look forward to seeing you at PPL.
Portland Public Library and Longfellow Books present a book talk and signing by Louise Penny on Thursday, July 31st at 7:00pm at First Parish in Portland. Penny will speak about her newest in the Gamache series, How the Light Gets In. Ticket holders will receive 20% off one Louise Penny book at the event. Tickets are available online at Brown Paper Tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/735793 or at Longfellow Books and the Main Library in Monument Square.
