Morro Bay Library Upcoming Events
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Changing Your World in Just 24 Hours—This is One Book Topic to be Discussed in July

Starting off our July discussion programs is a book by one of California's most revered historians, novelists, short story writers, and environmentalists, Wallace Stegner, often called the  dean of Western writers.

Hosted by the Friends of the Morro Bay Library, book discussion events are held in the  Program Room of the Library from 10 a.m. to noon each Wednesday, and are offered free to the public. Everyone is invited to attend, listen, or interact whether they have read any of the books or not.  For the comfort of all attending, everyone is asked to come fragrance free.

Stegner's book, "A Shooting Star," launched the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's career as a novelist in 1937.   It tells the story of Sabrina Castro, a wealthy, attractive woman married to an older society physician who no loonger fulfills her dreams. An almost accidental misstep leads her down the slow descent of moral disintegration. How she comes to terms with her life is the theme of this absorbing personal drama that unfolds at the end.
Stegner's novel, "Angle of Repose," won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1972. A biography of Stegner, "Wallace Stegner and the American West," by Philip L. Fradkin, was published last year.

On July 14, Karen M. Jones' 2004 book, "The Difference a Day Makes: 365 Ways to Change Your World in Just 24 Hours," will be the topic of Inspirational Wednesday’s discussion to learn how your compassionate instincts can take your time and energy and turn it into powerful action. Her book features 365 simple actions people can take to change the world, one day—or even five minutes—at a time. Each suggested action, in 16 "helping" categories, can be started and finished in a day or less, and none requires a cash donation. 

Readers may choose to accomplish a different altruistic step each day of the year, activate the same tool every day, or take actions that address a personally favored issue, such as animal welfare, or the pursuit of peace. Possibilities for compassionate service include acting as driver for a battered women's shelter, planting trees or a garden at a schoolyard, recycling running shoes into a playground surface, taking a day off from consumerism, aiding low-income students in finding grants and scholarships, helping unemployed workers put together resumes, and much more.

"The Magicians: A Novel" by Lev Grossman, published last year and scheduled for discussion on July 21, re-imagines modern-day fantasy for grownups by mixing the magic of beloved children's fantasy classics with the sex, excess, angst and anticlimax of life in college and beyond. It has been called a postadolescent Harry Potter, following apprentices in the art of magic through their time as students at an upstate New York college to their postcollegiate adventures in Manhattan.

A very different and special Wednesday discussion is set for July 28 with the book, "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer, who explores answers about meat: "Where does it come from? How is it produced? How are animals treated, and to what extent does that matter?" 

The book raises the question: what eating decisions can we make to benefit ourselves as well as our planet? Foer offers a lighthearted counterpoint to his investigation in doting portraits of his loving grandmother, and her meat-and-potatoes comfort food, leaving him to wrestle with the comparative weight of food's socio-cultural significance and its economic-moral-political meaning.

Friends of the Library regularly host book discussion groups on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, discussions on inspirational topics on the second Wednesday and frequent readings by local authors and special presentations toward a celebration and appreciation of literature on most fourth and fifth Wednesdays. 

Friends hold regular book sales to raise funds for the library. The next one is on Saturday, Aug. 7, at the Library. Members only will be admitted to the sale from 9 to 10 a.m. with the public sale from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A $3 per bag sale will be from 1 to 2 p.m.

Friends also provide volunteers to support library services and operations, publish a newsletter distributed throughout the community four times a year and build and maintain awareness of library needs and services throughout the community. For more information contact Friends president Karen Robert at 772-9268 or wednesdays@morrobayfriendsoflibrary.org.  Information about all Friends programs is available at www.morrobayfriendsoflibrary.org .

Want to Share or Learn About a Special Book?
Friends of the Library Has Just the Order for You

Ever read a wonderful book and wish you could talk about it with someone and share the joy that only a book holds? Or ever have someone tell you about a good book and after falling in love with it, you shudder that otherwise you would might never have discovered it?

If either of those situations clicks with you, then the Morro Bay Friends of the Library have just the right book discussions coming up. Participants can either tell about books that have impressed them or just listen and find out about books that may impress you.

Normally, there are assigned books that the regular discussion groups review and discuss on those Wednesdays. But no books were assigned this month, so anyone can come and share their own individual choices this time.

The Friends have a range of offerings for anyone who likes the idea of discussing books they just read, who just wants to learn more about a book before reading it or who wants to meet and hear local authors describe their books and experiences behind them. The regular Friends schedule calls for:

Discussion groups to meet regularly each Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon.

—On the first and third Wednesdays, the basic readers discussion group meets to discuss certain assigned books that participants have planned to read and then discuss.

—The second Wednesdays are "Inspirational Wednesdays," which are devoted to reviewing and discussing thought-provoking books from leading authors who are guides to change, growth and self-acceptance. It presents an opportunity for readers to reflect and enjoy the opportunity of discussing books that can help change our world for the better.

—On the fourth and fifth Wednesdays, the Friends host local authors or artists who share their talents through readings, conversations, special presentations, demonstrations, and/or workshops.

Friends holds regular book sales to raise funds for the library. The next one is on Saturday, May 8, at the Library. Members only will be admitted to the sale from 9 to 10 a.m. with the public sale from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A $3 per bag sale will be from 1 to 2 p.m.

Friends also provide volunteers to support library services and operations, publish a newsletter distributed throughout the community four times a year and build and maintain awareness of library needs and services throughout the community. For more information contact Karen Robert.

The programs are all free and open to everyone. More information on book lists, discussion dates, and/or the events schedule is available at Friends of the Library.org.

Pipevine Swallowtail image on banner by Jerry Kirkhart