Events for the Week of January 1….

Please note that the library will be closed on both Sunday, January 1 and Monday, January 2.  Events going on at the library this week include…

• Lectores meeting on Tuesday (1/3) at 6:00
• Toddler Storytime on Wednesday (1/4) at 10:30
• STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
• Baby Storytime on Thursday (1/5) at 10:30
• STAR Reader on Thursday at 3:00
• OIC Computer Boot Camp on Friday (1/6) from 1:00-4:00 (en español)
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday at 3:30
• STAR Reader on Saturday (1/7) at 2:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches

Trivia of the Month --- Answer

The question was what is meant by the phrase “free rider.”  To quote directly from our source: 

Free riders are those who are content to partake of the benefits of some cooperative enterprise, without contributing to it.

The question, and answer, were taken from p. 141 of the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy by Simon Blackburn.  The book was published in 2005 by the Oxford University Press.

Library Events in January…

(Mark your calendars accordingly)

The library has some interesting events planned in January.  As always, I thought I’d take a minute and give you a run down so you can plan ahead.  Let’s start with the non-repeating events:

- - - - - - - - - - 

1/3 @ 6:00
Club de Lectores
Hay café, pastel casero, ye conversación amena sobre el libro que estamos leyendo

1/6 from 1:00-4:00
LA OIC Boot Camp
This program puts low cost computers in the hands of low income people.  This session is in Spanish. Call or drop by to sign up.

1/9 from 2:00-4:00
LA DOT Tap Card Information Session
Stop by with questions for the LA Department of Transportation.  Get your TAP card reloaded while you’re here.

1/9 @ 4:00
Make it Monday: Color Science
Have fun with science and learn all about colors with local Cal Tech Scientists.

1/10 @ 3:00
Teen Program
Join us for a fun activity of some as yet unspecified kind.

1/17 @ 6:00
Club de Lectores
Hay café, pastel casero, ye conversación amena sobre el libro que estamos leyendo

1/23 @ 4:00
Make it Monday: Building Block Challenge
What can you make from building blocks? Come impress us with your skills.

1/28 @ 3:00
Arroyo Book Club
Join us for a lively discussion of Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan.

1/30 @ 4:00
Make it Monday: ph Experiments
Come have fun experimenting with acids and bases with the help of local Cal Tech Scientists.


- - - - - - - - - -

Each month the library also has a number of ongoing classes & events.  They are:

Toddler Storytime - - - Wednesdays at 10:30 
Little Ones’ 3 and under & their grownups are invited to join us for stories, music, & games. 

Baby Storytime - - - Thursdays at 10:30 
Bounces, rhymes and songs for prewalkers (age 0-12 months) and their caregivers.  (No session on 1/26)

STAR Volunteer Readers - - - Available on Wednesdays at 3:00, on Thursdays at 3:00, & on Saturdays at 2:00 
STAR readers present the fun of storytelling and reading to children one-on-one or in small groups. Kids earn a free book to keep after 3 visits. 

Drop in Computer Lab - - - Fridays at 3:30
Bring your questions about computers, tablets, eReaders, or other electronic devices.  We will do our best to help you figure out answers. 

- - - - - - - - - -

Please do not hesitate to call the library at 323-255-0537 if you have any questions or would like more information.  Remember that you can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

The Road to Little Dribbling

Bill Bryson provides a personalized tour of Britain in The Road to Little Dribbling.  Bryson, an American who has spent most of his life in Britain shares his love of the county and it’s eccentricities in this book.  Now my favorite book of Bryson’s is In Sunburned Country (an exploration of Australia) so I come to each of his books hoping to find that book’s equal and this book did not rise to the challenge.  Bryson appears to be settling into a curmudgeonly old age if this book is any judge.  He is constantly bewailing the deterioration of society, the proliferation of stupidity, the prevalence of litter and reminiscing about how things used to be more sensible, this gets a bit tiresome even when I agree, however, every now and then a bit of the Bryson I enjoy would appear as he shared some fascinatingly amusing fact or story.  On the whole while this is not a book I would tell people not to read I would probably recommend another work by the author instead.

Events for the Week of December 25….

Please note that the library will be closed on both Sunday, December 25 and Monday, December 26.  We will also be closing at 5 pm on Saturday, December 31.  Events going on at the library this week include…

• Toddler Storytime on Wednesday (12/28) at 10:30
• STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
• Baby Storytime on Thursday (12/29) at 10:30
• STAR Reader on Thursday at 3:00
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (12/30) at 3:30

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

Solar Express

In Solar Express L. E. Modesitt, Jr. tells a story set in 2114.  The Earth, beset by global warming, is divided into three political blocks roughly corresponding to North America, India, and China and the political wrangling among these blocks forms the backdrop and the between chapter spicing of the book.  The principal storyline follows the discovery of what is at first thought to be a comet but later is realized to be an alien artifact by an astronomer working out of an observatory on the far side of the moon.  She has been corresponding with the pilot who brought her up to the observatory and that man, coincidentally, is the pilot sent to intercept and investigate the object before it reaches perihelion.  The story alternates between her point of view, as she continues her investigation of a particular solar phenomenon, deals with a bureaucracy that proves that nothing is any better 100 years up the time line, and keeps up her correspondence with the pilot, and his point of view as he tries to investigate something that is truly alien while dealing with the competing interests of the other political blocks.

The book is quite interesting though I did find its pace a bit slow.  Recommended for those with a taste for SF that don’t require an action packed story line.

The Arroyo Book Club’s January Pick

The Arroyo Book Club will be reading the book Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan for their January meeting.  Booklist described the book as follows in their review:

McEwan’s attentive audience can never anticipate what his next novel will be about, but because his fans know that any McEwan book will offer a wildly creative plot carried by complex characters and an elegant yet ironically muted writing style, they are willing, whenever a new novel appears, to go with the author wherever—historically and psychologically—he leads. This time that place is the spy world of British intelligence in the early 1970s. (Remember, although WWII is over, the Cold War is definitely not.) With grace, assurance, and credibility, McEwan assumes a female persona in this first-person remembrance, narrated from the vantage of 40 years later. Serena Frome is a smart, attractive, Cambridge-educated young woman who is recruited by her older lover for the MI5 intelligence agency. She is slotted into a secret program called “Sweet Tooth,” designed to cultivate writers likely to produce novels ideologically in tune with the government. Spydom is, of course, fraught with betrayal, and Serena is not immune to that common pitfall. McEwan readers can rest assured that, in common with its predecessors, this novel has a greatly compelling story line braced by the author’s formidable wisdom about—well, the world.

Stop by for a copy and join us for discussion on January 28 at 3:00.

Events for the Week of December 18….

Please note that the library will be closing at 1 pm on Saturday, December 24.  Events going on at the library this week include…

• Make it Monday features a Christmas storytime and craft on Monday (12/19) at 4:00
• Lectores meeting on Tuesday (12/20) at 6:00
• Toddler Storytime on Wednesday (12/21) at 10:30
• STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
• Baby Storytime on Thursday (12/22) at 10:30
• STAR Reader on Thursday at 3:00
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (12/23) at 3:30

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches

Trivia of the Month...

This month’s question comes to us from the world of philosophy and is --- what is meant by the phrase “free rider?”

The Grave Soul

In Ellen Hart’s The Grave Soul Jane Lawless is hired to by a man to investigate the death of his girlfriend’s mother.  Kira knew her mother had died in an accident when she was five yet had been troubled all her life by nightmares that her mother was strangled.  Jane sets off to a small in Wisconsin to investigate and soon finds herself mired in the middle of a tightly knit but highly dysfunctional family and faces some dangerous consequences.

Recommended to fans of Ellen Hart as well as people who like a low key mystery with interesting characters.

Events for the Week of December 11….

Events going on at the library this week include…

• LA DOT Information Tables on Monday (12/12) from 2:00-4:00
• Make it Monday features a Special Program on Tide Pool Animals on Monday at 4:00
• Teen program on Tuesday (12/13) at 4:00
• Toddler Storytime on Wednesday (12/14) at 10:30
• STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
• STAR Reader on Thursday (12/15) at 3:00
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (12/16) at 3:30
• STAR Reader on Saturday (12/17) at 2:00
• Arroyo Book Club meets on Saturday at 3:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches

The Job

In The Job Steve Osborne tells tales from this 20+ years working as a policeman in New York City.  While the book was interesting enough to keep me reading until the end I was left with the sense that if this is what police are like then I’m not surprised there are so many who are “bad.”  The author, who seems nice enough, displays a combination of excessive machismo, worship of the profession to the exclusion of even granting value to other jobs, and a total us against them mentality.  If his fellow officers think & feel the same then it’s not surprising that bad actors are shielded from consequences and everything is perceived as an attack or a threat.  It looks to me like the best reform the police could undergo would be to break individuals from the group think they seem to be mired in (based --- I’ll confess solely on my impression from this book).

An interesting book worth the read both for its anecdotes and for its picture of how our police think.

History of Highland Park

If you’re curious about past plans for improvement for the Northeast Area of Los Angeles take a look at this 1972 “Northeast Los Angeles Preliminary Plan” 

http://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/11/520693.pdf.  

This is particularly interesting to read since you have the ability to compare what was proposed with what turned out to happen.

Events for the Week of December 4….

Events going on at the library this week include…

• The NELA Holiday Parade is on Sunday (12/4). Join us and march. We’ll meet in the library parking lot at 11:45.
• Make it Monday features a building block challenge on Monday (12/5) at 4:00
• Teen Council meeting on Tuesday (12/6) at 4:00
• Lectores meet on Tuesday at 6:00
• STAR Reader on Wednesday (12/7) at 3:00
• STAR Reader on Thursday (12/8) at 3:00
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (12/9) at 3:30
• STAR Reader on Saturday (12/10) at 2:00
• Classical Guitar Performance by David Margolis on Saturday at 2:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches

December’s eResource of the Month….

The December eResource of the Month is Universal Class.   Universal Class contains over 500 free, online, non-credit, continuing education courses that can be taken through the library’s website. Courses are self-paced but there is a teacher leading them.  This teacher is there to answer questions and to monitor and assess your progress.  The courses are designed to be completed in 10 to 20 hours. Subjects available for study include: business, career training, computer training, cooking, real estate, crafts & hobbies, and psychology.  You are given 6 months to complete the course once you sign up and may take up to 5 at a time. 

Find Universal Class via the library website’s Research & Homework page under U (http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/research-and-homework#U).  You will need your library card number for access.