Milton Public Library announces fun list of programs throughout August

Stay cool in the summer heat with these programs at the library

During the month of August, the Milton Public Library is hosting some enjoyable programs for adults. On Thursday, August 1, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in the Trustees Room, the Celebrity Book Club will meet under the guidance of staff members Sally Lawler and Sara Truog. The book to be read in advance is The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin (c2019). When the renowned poet Fiona Skinner is asked about the inspiration behind her iconic work, “The Love Poem,” she tells her audience a story about her family and a betrayal that reverberates through time. It begins in a big yellow house with a funeral, an iron poker, and a brief episode forever known as the Pause: a free and feral summer in a middle-class Connecticut town. This is a sweeping, yet intimate, epic about one American family, the ties that bind us together, the responsibilities we embrace and the duties we resent, and how we can lose – and sometimes rescue – the ones we love. This novel pierces the heart and lingers in the mind, to also help us understand the past. Please join them for a very enjoyable read and discussion about the book. No registration is required. Please call the Reference Dept. to place a hold on a copy of the title.

On Tuesday, August 6, 2019 starting promptly at 6:30 p.m., there will be a free showing of the excellent movie “The Mule” starring Clint Eastwood, Dianne Wiest, and Andy Garcia. This is Eastwood’s newest feature film, which he directed in 2018. The film is a drama about Earl Stone, a man in his 80s who is broke, alone, facing foreclosure of his business and home, when he is offered a job that simply requires him to drive. Easy enough, but unbeknownst to Earl, he’s just signed on as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. What transpires will keep you on the edge of your seat! This is a fascinating look at a man who is trying to do the right thing, but does what he has to do, to survive. It’s 116 minutes long and is rated R for language and brief sexuality/nudity – so is not appropriate for children. Please check out this film if you haven’t seen it yet.

Then on Wednesday, August 7, 2019 at 6:30 p.m., there will be a fun talk called “Marie Kondo’s Tidying-up Fundamentals” by organization consultant Cristin Condon. We are fortunate to be able to offer this program based on the KonMari method developed by author Marie Kondo who wrote the book called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (c2014), and then she published a follow-up title in 2016. Ms. Kondo teaches people how to organize their closets and belongings after sorting out what they want to keep, and to then store items in the best possible way for neatness and efficiency. Cristin, our program presenter, is a consultant who has been trained in Kondo’s method and she will give the talk with an accompanying slideshow to cover the basic principles, the benefits of the method, and how to do storage and folding. She will also do a folding demonstration, with questions and answers at the end. The workshop will be about 90 minutes long and staff member Sally Lawler will host. Please come to this inspiring talk, and get some organizing help! No sign-up is required and you can also place reserves on Marie Kondo’s books by calling the Reference Dept.

Chris Callaghan continues his “Drop-in Device Help” sessions on Wednesday, August 21, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. and Tuesday, August 27, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. in the lower level Conference Room. Stop by with your electronic device for assistance downloading books and AV materials from our website. Chris has all the tech answers for you! No sign-up is required for these twice monthly workshops. Last but not least, on Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in the lower level Conference Room, Library Director Will Adamczyk will hold a session of his Local History Book Group. The book to be read in advance is Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder (c2003) and copies will be available to check out at the first floor Borrowers Service desk. This title is Kidder’s engaging biography of the selfless, tireless, good-humored and still relatively young physician, Dr. Paul Farmer. Kidder, who won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1981, has been following the 44-year-old Farmer’s work on behalf of the poor since 1994. Born in Massachusetts, Farmer grew up on the coast of Florida, where his family lived in an old bus and on a salvaged boat. Despite these privations, he graduated at the top of his high school class and won a full scholarship to Duke University. He devoted his life to working with the downtrodden and began helping them in Haiti in 1983, the year before he entered Harvard Medical School. You can read more about this fascinating book at our website. Please join Will for a lively discussion in August.

For more information about these events:

All of these events are kindly sponsored by the Friends of the Milton Public Library, and are free and open to the public. They are held in the lower level Keys Community Room unless otherwise specified here. For more information, go to www.miltonlibrary.org and click on “events” from the main page, or call Jean Hlady, Head of Adult Services/Reference at 617-698-5757, x.3.