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The President's Column

While I was having lunch with a good friend the other day, the discussion turned to movies and actresses. We had both seen Sandra Bullock in The Proposal, a romantic comedy, and enjoyed her performance. During our discussion of the film, I said something to the effect that Sandra always acts in romantic comedies, and she should be capable of acting in more varied roles. My friend said, "Are you kidding? Why should she change her image? She has to be one of the highest paid actresses in the business." Being a curious individual, I began to research the salaries of the actresses in Hollywood. After I did my initial research, I followed the money trail and researched the salaries of successful actors.

Topping the list of highest paid actresses were Reese Witherspoon and Angelina Jolie, but my friend was right ---- Sandra Bullock was number six on the list making a mere ten to fifteen million dollars per movie. After I read the salary of the highest paid actor, Harrison Ford, who made $65 million, I understood why children and young adults want to venture to Hollywood to become famous and wealthy. I then began to wonder if a creative individual with a gift with words --- an author-could ever match the huge salaries earned by movie stars. My curiosity led me to more research: this time on the salaries of successful authors. What a surprise I encountered in my research! (I'm glad that life has made me so curious).

Last year's top author dominated the competition and made six times what the second place author did 1 The highest paid author was J.K. Rowling with estimated earnings of $300 million. Poor Harrison! (Even the highest paid executive in America, Eugene M. Isenberg, Chairman and CEO of Nabors industries made a paltry $71 million.) J. K. Rowling, the creator of the Harry Potter series, has enthralled the youth of the world and received a substantial reward for her contributions to the literary world. In addition, she has received recognition for her modem example of a success story. One of the wealthiest women in Great Britain once was a welfare recipient. Through her creative abilities, she gained success and used that success to help individuals and to support numerous charities with her vast wealth.

J.K. Rowling is not the only author who can be called wealthy. Consider James Patterson who earned $50 million dollars; Stephen King, $45 million; Tom Clancy, $35 million; Danielle Steel, $30 million. (Hopefully, Lisa Genova, successful first¬time novelist, will join this prestigious group of authors. Those who heard her speak at the Third Annual Author Event will be following her career.)

In light of such successes in the field of writing, why don't more children and young adults consider writing as a career choice? Perhaps we don't encourage that "natural talent," that special gift with words that we see in our young relatives and acquaintances. We don't encourage the gifted child to read voraciously or to try his hand at writing stories and poems. We don't encourage the novice writer to challenge himself. As readers, we know the magic of the written word. Let's encourage our young acquaintances to enter that magical world by reading and sharing their creative thoughts.

Postscript: A good way to stimulate creativity is to have young children and young adults write Poetry. Remember that the Friends sponsor an annual poetry contest each April.

John Treleaven
President

From The Book Nook

OOPS .. I THINK I MISSPOKE in the last news letter. Dorothy Grogan is the gal who will do our Office Secretary duties. That includes filing, checking and ordering of supplies, and other responsibilities that are usually heaped on the secretary in any office. Dot has already worked on adding up our volunteer hours and is beginning to organize the files. She is knowledgeable and reliable and will make a fine job of it.

Dorothy Ferguson will be replacing Shirley Hosking as Volunteer Coordinator. Using the list of those who have volunteered to work as cashier at the desk, Dot will fill in the open spots when our regulars have to take time off for one reason or another. Everyone working has been supplied with this Stand-By list and we encourage those who need to find a replacement to at first try on their own to find one. If this does not work out, then they will call Dot Ferguson and she will take it from there. This will ease her burden some, especially during the busy winter season.

WE WISH TO EXTEND many thanks to Shirley Hosking for an outstanding job and for all the time she has put in keeping the Nook running smoothly. Shirley retired once already until we begged her to corne back and help us out when that position again became vacant. So, double thank you, Shirley, and good luck on this retirement!

WE WERE OPEN this summer, in conjunction with the local Farmer's Market. It was not as busy as last year, however. Considering the weather that we had it is surprising that we had customers or produce for the market. Every little bit helps and Saturday is one of the only days that working people have to shop and do their weekly library visits, etc. We made a lot of new friends this way and hence added to our list of those who wish to receive flyers regarding our three big sales.

THIS IS A GREAT TIME to stock up for winter reading and to do your holiday shopping for those book lovers on your list. Don't forget that we have Gift Certificates. These make great stocking stuffers and old and young alike love to corne in and make their own selections of their favorites. Books having to do with the holidays will be out the first part of November. Remember, the December Half Price Hardcover Sale is corming up - see the enclosed flyer.

NOTE: Be sure to pay particular attention our BIG table by the front door. This is where you will find out of the ordinary books for sale. The prices of these items will be somewhat higher than our average. They have all been well researched in order to establish a price worthy of the book. There are some very nice buys to be had especially for collectors. These will NOT bemarked to half-price at any time. We will be putting some other of our better collectibles on EBay in anticipation of the coming holiday seasons. We will start with a select few to see how sales are going in the present economy. Check us out on "bonlivros" on EBay.

THE LIBRARY AND THE FRIENDS are weeding out. We will be cleaning out the magazine room behind the children's book section. For many years this was the repository for numerous magazine subscriptions, phonograph records, auto repair books, etc. used by library patrons for reference or perusal. Most of the magazine information is now found on the internet and of course phonograph records are practically extinct.

We have sold a small number of records and are in the process of selling magazines with special covers. Once this is done the room will be completely cleaned out and one center shelf will be removed to make a clean, open space for our sorters and pricers to work. While this is a plus and will contribute to increased sales, another objective is to provide much needed storage space which will be shared by the book store and the library. This is just another way for us to better serve our customers and the library's patrons.

BE SURE to read and save the enclosed flyers - we are looking forward to seeing you at our annual December holiday luncheon and at our December half price hardcover sale!!

Queenie Mraz
Book Nook Chairmen

Friends Read Together

The 3rd Annual Friends Read Together was a tremendous success. Lisa Genova spoke
on Wednesday, October 14th to a "full house" at First Congregational Church. She told the audience the fascinating story of getting her book published and how it has gone on to be translated into many languages and even movie rights have been purchased. What a success story!!

Lisa Genova was a single woman with a small child, a degree in neuroscience, and a desire to tell a story about Alzheimer's after watching her grandmother suffer with it. She began her research and started to write a book. After completing her novel she submitted letters to more than a hundred agents and heard back from four. She then send her manuscript to those four and received rejections from three and nothing from the last. So she decided to self publish her book and then started her journey with Still Alice. After making the New York Times best seller list it was purchased by Simon & Schuster for a two book deal.

During the book signing reception, hosted by the Women's Fellowship, Lisa Genova took the time to talk with everyone that came. She told us about her next book Left Neglected which is coming out in January 2011. If you were unable to attend, as so many of you weren't, the evening has been put on DVD for your viewing. It is available at the library, just ask at the Front Desk.

It will be interesting to see who we will find for next summer's Friends Read Together.

Linda Merriman

News From The Friends

The Friends of the Watertown Library, the fundraising arm of the Watertown Library Association, announces the following activities for the months of November and December 2009:

BOOK GROUP: The Friends Reading Group will meet at the Oakville Branch of the Watertown Library on November 3 at 2:30pm to discuss Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. In this mystery thriller, detective Jackson Brodie takes on three cases involving past crimes that occurred in and around London. On December 8 at 2:30pm, the group will meet at the Oakville Branch to discuss the novel The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor. A tale of love and loss, the novel tells of a family forced to leave their home in rural Cork, Ireland in the chaos of the 1920s. Books will be available two weeks before the reading group. New members are welcome to join the Reading Group, led by Robin Osborn, to discuss their personal reactions to the selected readings.

MAGAZINE COLECTIBLES: During the month of November, the Friends will be offering magazine collectors an opportunity to purchase vintage magazines that will be removed from the library files. Many old editions of magazines such as Time and Life can be viewed by appointment. Contact Barbara at (860)274-5643 for further information or to make an appointment to view the magazine collection.

HOLIDAY PARTY: The annual Holiday Luncheon will be held on Thursday, December 3. Additional information about the Holiday Luncheon will be published in the near future.

BOOK SALE: The annual December sale of hard-covered books will once again offer Book Nook patrons the opportunity to purchase holiday presents and winter reading materials at a significant discount. Hard-covered books for both adults and children will be half-price (unless noted otherwise). The proceeds from the sale support the goals of the Watertown Library Association.

Be a friend to your Watertown Library by joining the Friends of the Watertown Library.

Barbara Vensel

Membership News

I would like to thank the businesses in our community who became a Friend of the Watertown Library. Their commitment to our community's literacy programs is reflected in their membership. One of membership's goals. is to bring our message to more businesses resulting in new members. Renewals continue to come in. Our telephone committee made several calls reminding past members to renew. Thanks to Shelia Kahn and Paula Crean for all their efforts! As of this date we have a total of 201 members and 4 business members.

MEMBERSHIP CATAGORIES:
INDIVIDUAL ($10.00), FAMILY ($20.00), SPONSOR ($50.00), PATRON ($100.00)
Make checks payable to The Friends of the Watertown Library

Christine Guiditta
Membership Chairperson

WELCOME TO OUR NEW BUSINESS FRIENDS!

Allyn's Cleaners
Matthew Baker, DDS
Thomaston Savings Bank
Angelo Farenga, LPC LIFEWORKS

HOLIDAY LUNCHEON

On Thursday, December 3rd we are hosting our Holiday Luncheon at the Watertown Golf Club.

The enclosed flyer has all the necessary information!

Entertainment will be provided by Watertown students and will be sure to put you in the Holiday Spirit. Performing will be:

The Watertown High School Jazz Band
The Swift Middle School String Ensemble
The Swift Middle School Flute Trio

Queenie and her little elves have been working hard organizing a wonderful table favor for everyone and lots and lots of items for the table of goodies. So bring your dollars and your holiday spirit and we promise that you will have a good time.

Please note the date and send in your reservations early this year, as the luncheon is the Thursday after Thanksgiving.

Linda Merriman

The Friends' Forum