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"I am completely smitten with the Lunch with Books patrons...who welcomed me like a long-lost cousin. It takes two to have a successful reading: an enthusiastic presenter and an engaged audience, and boy did the stars align for us." -Marie Manilla, Still Life with Plums

"Lunch With Books is an outstanding program -- one of the best in the country." -NPR Journalist Matthew Algeo, The President is a Sick Man


"With a new book in hand, I’ve visited a lot of libraries lately, and I think the Ohio County Public Library is my all-time favorite. People are kind and welcoming, and deeply appreciate a visiting writer." -Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule (National Book Award)

“I wanted the book launch to be at Lunch With Books because it is the best library book program in West Virginia and because Wheeling and the Wheeling area was centrally involved in so many of the firsts in West Virginia sports.” –Bob Barnett, Hillside Fields: A History of Sports in West Virginia

This blog is being discontinued.

This blog is being discontinued.
Please visit: www.ohiocountylibrary.org/calendar

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

From West Virginia to Rome and Back Again...


On Tuesday, December 4th at noon, local author Silvio “Joe” Perilli will visit Lunch With Books to discuss his new book From Rome Italy to Wheeling, WV. Though born in West Virginia, Perilli grew up in Italy, and settled in Wheeling later in life. The book began as a simple biography intended only for family members and grew over eight years into a fascinating chronicle of a life’s journey. It includes Perilli’s struggles with English upon returning to the U.S as well as his military service in the U.S. Army. As Perilli spent most of his life in Wheeling, the reader also experiences some of the history of the city through the author’s eyes. Copies will be available for purchase. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Tuesday, Nov 27th at NOON


FDR

Renowned historian and Marshall University political science professor Jean Edward Smith will appear at Lunch With Books on Tuesday, November 27th at noon to discuss his new biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt, called FDR. The reviews of the book have been ecstatic. Publishers Weekly, in a boxed, starred review (their highest category), called FDR “a magisterial biography.” Smith’s “eloquent synthesis of FDR’s complex and compelling life is remarkably executed and a joy to read.”

Library Journal, in another starred review, labeled FDR “essential.” “This page-turner is the best single volume biography available of America’s 32nd president.”

Kirkus Reviews also gave FDR a star and said, “An outstanding biography of ‘the most gifted American statesman of the twentieth century’.”

Other reviewers have been equally enthusiastic. John Meacham of Newsweek author of Franklin and Winston, called FDR “a towering new biography.” Syndicated columnist George Will wrote, “Jean Edward Smith, author of acclaimed biographies of John Marshall, the definer of the nation, and Ulysses Grant, whose sword saved the nation, now provides this study of Franklin Roosevelt, reviver of the nation. It will secure Smith’s standing as today’s foremost biographer of formidable figures in American history.”

Random House, Smith’s publisher, apparently shares that view. It ordered a first printing of 75,000 copies – almost unprecedented for a scholarly biography.

Professor Smith, who was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer prize in 2002 for his biography of U.S. Grant, is the author of twelve books, including a biography of Chief Justice John Marshall. Professor Smith earned his undergraduate degree fromPrinceton University, received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and served as a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto for many years.

More glowing reviews of FDR from across the nation:

“FDR is practically a Cliff Notes bio. This is a terrific one-volume comprehensive look at an extraordinary life.” --USA Today

“Smith’s FDR is a model presidential biography...Now at last, we have the biography that is right for the man...Smith “is that rarest and most welcome of historians, one who addresses a serious popular readership without sacrificing high scholarly standards.” --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post
“Smith vibrantly captures the complete drama of an American original.” --Newark Star-Ledger
“Jean Edward Smith is an accomplished biographer, and he lays out in the most charming prose the dynamics of a gifted politician”. --Michael P. Riccards, The Washington Times

“Jean Edward Smith has dug more deeply into the Roosevelt collection of books and documents than all of his predecessors. The result is a picture of the 32nd President richer in detail and explanation than any other work. Even Smith’s footnotes throughout the text, not to mention his 153 pages of endnotes, are instructive and absorbing.”

--Professor Henry F. Graff
Columbia University
The New Leader

“Smith, in this remarkable, sympathetic biography, doesn’t flinch at Roosevelt’s mistakes….The Roosevelt who emerges here – neither a stranger nor a painted icon – is flawed and magnificent.” --The New Yorker

FDR will secure Smith’s standing as today’s foremost biographer of formidable figures in American history.” --George F. Will

“A magisterial biography…Smith’s eloquent synthesis of FDR’s complex and compelling life is remarkably executed and a joy to read.” --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A rare combination of history and narrative prose.” --Buffalo News

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Buffalo Bill in Wheeling!


Nov 20th, 2007, Kate Quinn, Buffalo Bill

On Tuesday, November 20th at noon, Kate Quinn will be at the Ohio County Public Library’s Lunch With Books program to discuss the life of the legendary scout, hunter, and Pony Express rider Buffalo Bill Cody, who brought his famous Wild West Show to Wheeling on August 31st, 1895 and several other times. The Wheeling show featured a reenactment of Custer’s Last Stand at Little Big Horn, as well as a performance by sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

More New Programs Announced

Feb 19th 2008, WV Author and WVU English Professor Mark Brazaitis

Author Mark Brazaitis will appear at the Ohio County Public Library’s Lunch With Books program on Tuesday, February 19th at noon. A professor of English and Creative Writing at West Virginia University, Brazaitis is the author of An American Affair, winner of the 2004 George Garrett Prize for fiction, as well as The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala, winner of the 1998 Iowa Short Fiction Award, and a novel, Steal My Heart. He is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and his stories, poems and essays have appeared in The Sun, Beloit Fiction Journal, Notre Dame Review, Atlanta Review, Shenandoah and other literary journals. Brazaitis has also published journalism in The Washington Post, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Detroit Free Press and American Medical News.
Feb 26th 2008, WV Author Gretchen M. Laskas

Author Gretchen Moran Laskas will appear at the Ohio County Public Library’s Lunch With Books program on Tuesday, February 26th at noon. Laskas is a native West Virginian who now resides in Northern Virginia. She is the author of The Midwife’s Tale, which received a starred review in Library Journal, as well as awards for Outstanding Contribution to Appalachia and Best Appalachian Novel. Her latest novel for young adults, The Miner’s Daughter, is the story of the 1930's coal camps and how church and secular organizations came together in order to bring families out of poverty. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.


March 11th 2008, Susan B Anthony, Portrayed by Patty Cooper

The Ohio County Public Library’s celebration of Women’s History Month continues as the famed women’s rights movement leader, suffragist, and abolitionist Susan B Anthony visits Lunch With Books on Tuesday, March 11th at noon. Ms. Anthony will be portrayed by Patty Cooper, a veteran member of the West Virginia Humanities Council History Alive program. Anthony, who died 14 years before the 19th Amendment extending the right to vote to women was ratified, was a pioneer, whose tireless efforts made the amendment possible. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.

April 8th 2008, eBay Day at the Library, Part Deux

Would you like to learn how sell your Extra stuff on eBay? You are invited to a free class at the Ohio County Public Library. Ebay day at the library is back by popular demand on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 beginning at noon and ending at 2:30 pm. Sponsored by the United States Postal Service and the OCPL’s Lunch With Books program, the class will be taught by a representative of the USPS. The class will include an introduction to buying and selling on eBay, the world’s largest and best known internet auction web site. Attendees will learn how to: register and get started; develop listings; use shipping labels through eBay/Paypal; pay for postage online; and use smart U.S. Postal Service shipping solutions, like free carrier pick-up at your home or office. Free educational materials designed to help you with your listings will also be available. For more information, please call the library at 304-232-0244.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Is There A Wheeling Feature Film? Yes.

Nov 13th 2007, Greg Sabo, The Courier

On Tuesday, November 13th at noon, Filmmaker Greg Sabo of Sabo Studios will be at the Ohio County Public Library’s to discuss his recent digital motion picture, The Courier, which was filmed on location in Wheeling. The action film features Wheeling’s own Frank O’Brien as a mob boss. Greg Sabo is an award-winning cinematographer whose primary work is filming commercials. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.

Top Ten Lunch With Books Programs

Program; Presenter; Attendance; Date

1. SAENGERFEST; Eintracht German Singing Society; 200; 07-17-10

2. A Lucky Child; Auschwitz Survivor Judge Thomas Buergenthal; 198; 03-04-11

3. Fashion Show; Civil War 150; 194; 11-20-11

4. Ruanaidh; Art Rooney, Jr. and Jim O'Brien; 168; 06-15-10

5. Follow the River; James Alexander Thom; 160; 06-05-08

6. Warwood Memories; 157; 12-18-12

7. The Quiet Man Pub Reading; 150; 08-30-12

8. Wheeling Then and Now; Sean Duffy; 146; 09-07-10

9. Bloch Brother Tobacco; Stuart Bloch; 131; 04-27-10

10. Reasons to Believe; Dr. Scott Hahn; 126; 08-21-07

Book Discussion Groups

The Ohio County Public Library facilitates book discussion groups for both young adults and adults. Currently, the OCPL offers two adult groups, which meet on the first Monday and third Thursday of each month.

In addition to its own growing collection, the OCPL has access to the book discussion collection of the West Virginia Library Commission.

To join or form a book discussion group, or for more information, please call 304-232-0244.

Meeting of the Minds Philosophy Group

The Meeting of the Minds Philosophic Inquiry Forum is facilitated by David Weimer. The group meets virtually every Tuesday at 6 PM. Call the library for meeting room locations.

For more information, visit www.firstknowthyself.org/m&mphilosophy.htm or contact group organizer, David Weimer, at 740 526-0985 or by email at dwwweimer@comcast.net..