Loomings by Christopher Volpe:
Art that connects today's environmental conditions to our literary past.
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Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 6:00pm
Join us as we welcome artist Christopher Volpe to Sturgis Library to discuss his artwork, Loomings.
Named after the first chapter of Moby-Dick, Loomings suggests disquieting parallels between our own oil-driven industrial age and Herman Melville’s apocalyptic vision of the American quest, as illustrated through the doomed commercial whaling voyage of the Pequod.
Loomings invokes Melville’s novel as a cautionary, foundational myth for our own age of accelerating climate disruption and social unrest, highlighting today’s reliance on fossil fuel– the modern day whale oil.
“We’re still tempting Ahab’s unknowable gods and flouting signs and portents of extinction. And like the captive crew aboard the Pequod, we remain adrift in troubled, inscrutable seas.”
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Donate Your Holiday Ornaments and Decor | |
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Sturgis Library's annual holiday ornament and decor sale will be held starting November 28th and will continue through December 10th, 2022.
We are now accepting donations of winter and holiday-themed ornaments, decor, and other items. Donations should be in great condition, and may be left at the Circulation Desk during regular Library hours.
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New Hats & Totes in the Gift Shop | |
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Sturgis Library hats are now back in stock! The adjustable garment-washed hats come in five colors: forest green, periwinkle, tamale/Nantucket red, navy, and khaki. The hats proudly announce that you are a Sturgis Library supporter! They sell for $20 each. Purchase at the Library or in our online store. Prices in the online store include shipping.
https://www.sturgislibrary.org/shop-online/store/
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Constructing History from Fragments | | |
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Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at 6:00pm | |
Calling all History Buffs!
Join Len Travers, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts for a discussion about the process of constructing history from the fragments that survive centuries. This will be a great discussion for fans of historical nonfiction and for those conducting their own historical research.
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In his fascinating book Hodges' Scout: a Lost Patrol of the French and Indian War, historian Len Travers tells the long forgotten story of an ambushed fifty-man patrol and the fates of the survivors including a young man from Cape Cod. Join Travers as he recounts this captivating story and describes the ways he pieced it together using diverse and often conflicting centuries-old evidence.
To register email [email protected]
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Pair O' Jacks: Victorian Terror
Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at 6:00pm
Of the fanciful and frightening characters who haunted 19th-century England, the most enduring was Spring-Heeled Jack. This first Jack—urban legend, folk-tale, media sensation—was noted for his leaping prowess, appearing in several guises, mostly diabolical. Was he a hoax? Was he real?
The second Jack was Jack the Ripper. He was real.
Join Gregory Williams for chilling tales about these two Jacks!
To register email [email protected]
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Artists of varying ages and abilities will gather monthly at Sturgis Library, chat, sip coffee and tea, nibble on breakfast treats, and (of course) sketch. Professional artists will lead a sketch session on select months!
The library will provide art materials but artists are welcome to bring their own materials and own sketchbooks.
Registration is not required. Questions? email Christy at [email protected]
Gathering Time & Dates:
October 1st; 10:ooam-11:30am
November 5th; 10:00am-11:30am
December 3rd; 10:00am-11:30am
January 7th; 10:00am-11:30am
February 4th; 10:00am-11:30am
March 4th; 10:00am-11:30am
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Barnstable Council on Aging:
Understanding the Family Caregiving Connection
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October 18, 2022 at 10:00am-11:30am
This program will provide an overview of the different types of caregiving families. Caregivers often imagine the perfect caregiver family, then are disappointed by lack of support. This program will promote communication tools and a better understanding of caregiver's roles.
Questions? Contact Stacey Cullen at
[email protected]
or call 508-862-4765
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American Whaling in the Age of Sail
Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 2:00pm
Come learn about US whale fishery from the 1600s to the early 20th century and see whaling items from the Sturgis Library archives.
Curtis H. Martin, Ph.D. will trace the industry’s historical development and explore several key topics including the:
- purpose of the fishery and its economic importance
- risks associated with whaling
- most important species hunted
- products of whaling
- whale ships
- hunt, capture and processing of whales
- experiences of the crew and the leisure arts of whale men
To register email [email protected]
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History & Society Book Group | |
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This book group looks at history, politics, and society on the third Thursday of every month at 2:00pm. Books are available for check out at the Library.
October 20, 2022
The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
November 17, 2022
Fight Like Hell by Kim Kelly
For information, please contact Maria at [email protected]
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Wednesday, October 12, 2022 10:30am
Join Barnstable firefighter Brian Tyson for an informative, fun, and extra special Storytime!
Brian will discuss the importance of fire safety and kiddos will have an opportunity to check out an actual fire truck!
Registration is not required!
Questions? Email Christy at [email protected]
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Wednesday, October 26. 2022 at 10:30am
Join us at library for this special edition Not-Too-Spooky Storytime! Kiddos are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes if they'd like! We'll be doing Halloween-themed activities and having jolly good fun, as always!
Registration is not required.
Questions? Email Christy at [email protected]
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Beginning October 1, 2022
Beginning October 1st, kiddos can swing by the children's room at Sturgis Library and pick out their own mini pumpkin to take home (and maybe a spooky book or two, too)!
Mini pumpkins will be available while supplies last!
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Wednesdays at 10:30 am
Swing by to read a story, illustrate a picture, talk with little friends, and learn about nature at Sturgis Library's Storytime!
Registration is not required.
Questions? Email Christy at [email protected]
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Meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month from 3:30-4:30ish
Master Builders are invited to gather at Sturgis Library to imagine, create, and make friends!
No registration is required. Questions? Email Christy at [email protected]
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The Sprightly Bright Book Club | |
Held in-person on the first Wednesday of every month at 4:00pm
Are you between the ages of 8ish to 12ish years old? Do you love to read? If you answered yes to these questions, then The Sprightly Bright Book Club is the place for you!
Let's choose, read, and discuss books together.
The discussion will take place in-person on the first Wednesday of every month at 4:00pm.
Registration is required!
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Adult Fiction to Check Out this Month | | |
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Demon Copperhead
by Barbara Kingslover
Demon Copperhead is set in the mountains of southern Appalachia. It’s the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.
Click here to reserve
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The Night Ship
by Jess Kidd
1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks.
1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck…
With her trademark “thrilling, mysterious, twisted, but more than anything, beautifully written” storytelling, Jess Kidd weaves a unputdownable and charming tale of friendship and sacrifice, brutality and forgiveness.
Click here to reserve
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Our Missing Hearts
by Celeste Ng
Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.
Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is drawn into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.
Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can pretend to ignore the most searing injustice. It’s a story about the power—and limitations—of art to create change, the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and how any of us can survive a broken world with our hearts intact.
Click here to reserve
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Adult Nonfiction to Check Out This Month | |
The Devil's Half Acre by Kristen Green | |
In The Devil's Half Acre , New York Times bestselling author Kristen Green draws on years of research to tell the extraordinary and little-known story of young Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who blazed a path of liberation for thousands. She was forced to have the children of a brutal slave trader and live on the premises of his slave jail, known as the "Devil's Half Acre." When she inherited the jail after the death of her slaveholder, she transformed it into "God's Half Acre," a school where Black men could fulfill their dreams. It still exists today as Virginia Union University, one of America's first Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Click here to reserve
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The Healing Garden by Juliet Blankespoor | |
This is the ultimate reference for anyone looking to bring the beauty and therapeutic properties of plants into their garden, kitchen, and home apothecary. Both informative and accessible, it covers how to plan your garden (including container gardening for small spaces); essential information on seed propagation, soil quality, and holistic gardening practices; 30 detailed profiles of must-know plants (including growing information, medicinal properties, and how to use them); foundational principles of herbalism; step-by-step photographic tutorials for preparing botanical medicine and healing foods; and 70 recipes for teas, tinctures, oils, salves, syrups, and more.
Click here to reserve
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A Waiter in Paris: Adventures in the Dark Heart of the City by Edward Chisholm | |
Edward Chisholm's spellbinding memoir of his time as a Parisian waiter takes you beneath the surface of one of the most iconic cities in the world--and right into its glorious underbelly. He inhabits a world of inhuman hours, snatched sleep and dive bars; scraping by on coffee, bread and cigarettes, often under sadistic managers, with a wage so low you're fighting your colleagues for tips. Your colleagues--including thieves, narcissists, ex-soldiers, immigrants, wannabe actors, and drug dealers--are the closest thing to family that you've got. It's physically demanding, frequently humiliating and incredibly competitive. But it doesn't matter because you're in Paris, the center of the universe, and there's nowhere else you'd rather be in the world.
Click here to reserve
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Kids' Books to Check Out this Month | |
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Brand New Boy written by David Almond; illustrated by Marta Altes
From the boundless imagination of David Almond comes a thought-provoking question, packaged in a lively illustrated chapter book: what if a robot went to school? When a new boy joins their class, everyone thinks he's . . . odd. George doesn't behave like other kids. He doesn't think like other kids. But Dan and Maxie resolve to make George feel welcome.
Intended for readers ages 8-12 years old.
Click here to reserve
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I'll take Care of You written by Maria Loretta Giraldo; illustrated by Nicoletta Bertelle
A tiny seed finds itself lost in the world, but with care from the Sky, Earth, and Sun it grows up to be a beautiful apple tree. When the tree meets a bird in need of help, it offers its branches as shelter and shows little readers the magic of being cared for and taking care.
Click here to reserve
Danie
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Sturgis Library
3090 Main Street P.O. Box 606
Barnstable, MA 02630
www.sturgislibrary.org
508-362-6636
Our hours are:
Monday 10-5
Tuesday 10-8
Wednesday 10-5
Thursday 10-5
Friday 10-5
Saturday 10-4
Sundays and holidays CLOSED
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