Five Books to Take on Vacation

by guest blogger Jan Isenhour

As my freshman year of college loomed closer, I received a summer reading list: four titles, including Joseph Heller's Catch 22 and John Henry Cardinal Newman's The Idea of a University.

My reaction still surprises me. Always a diligent student, eager to please, I let the summer slip away without a cracking a single one of the four spines, even the spine of Catch 22, which was, I realized too late, a perfect representation of the zeitgeist of the late 1960s. These books, I felt sure, were not what summer reading was meant to be.

What do we read during summer? Are our summer reading habits somehow different? Do we seek books for different reasons during the long, hot days?

With these questions in mind, the Carnegie Center offered a program, "Five Books to Take on Vacation." Two voracious readers who are members of the Carnegie Center's Brown Bag Book Discussion Group, Jill Heink and Sandra Tiegreen, facilitated. Here are their lists.

Jill Heink's Picks:
What could be more fun while you're on vacation than to read about other people's vacations?
#1 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
#2 A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
If you need to save space, choose a book with a twist! After you've read it, you may want to read it again because you're not really sure what happened at the end.
#3 The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
If you like a good summer mystery, try
#4 Glitz by Elmore Leonard
Vacation is a time for optimism, so consider closing out your summer reading with some solid advice on how to get happy.
#5 Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman

And from Sandra Tiegreen:
#1 Old Filth by Jane Gardam
#2 Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
#3 The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong
#4 Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
#5 The Shifting Tide by Anne Perry

We also recommend that you check out NPR's many suggestions for summer reading by going to www.npr.org and clicking on summer books.

Building Holiday Hours

Please note:

The Carnegie Center will be closed Friday, July 4th and Saturday July 5th in observance of the 4th of July. We will reopen on Monday, July 7th for the beginning of Camp Carnegie.


If you have any questions regarding building hours, please let us know!

~warmly~
Katherine

Our Beautiful Building

The Carnegie Center staff love our beautiful building. We are surrounded by the beauty of Gratz Park. What a treat to work in a place like this!

I'd thought I'd share the most recent beautiful photo, taken by our Development Director, Jennifer Mattox, of our blooming magnolia.

Enjoy!

~warmly~
Katherine

Next Great Writer Shares Her Work

A poem from our Next Great Writers contest 2nd place winner, Trish Lindsey Jaggers:

We Are Listening

We are listening

to poetry, the recorded voice

of Mary Oliver, the silver

of mercury falling in a thin glass tube.

You lie near sleep

in my arms, our eyes

locked, your tiny fingers

around my index finger

as her voice rocks us.

She still seeks the soul,

the right to have one,

slips her pen

beneath every stone, gazes

into the birthing rooms

of flowers, listens

at the whispering

edges of doors

that open and close

the oceans, strokes

the trembling throats

of hummingbirds,

loses her breath

to some herons rising

white and sparkling

from a splitting water,

knows

without a question

that the answer waits

like a seed waits

for the blossom to leave the apple.

As I gaze into the sun-crackled pool

of your eyes,

I agree.

The iron bars

of your lashes

close, locking me in.

Here in this time,

in the static dust

of this afternoon—you

in my arms, sleep

folding its wings

about you, taking you

and leaving me—

you still hear her. We hear

her. One of us knows

heaven. The poet

hushes the answers,

for true living is in the search;

she slows to look and touch

only to just-miss.

On purpose.

Someday soon, I will hear

the answers she’s already asked

of the soul. For now, I hold

the feather of this time

and smooth its barbs.

I feel them coming apart,

separating like the strands

of your baby hair.

The rocker slips

through the chink

cut by the evening sun,

carrying us, this large moth,

and we are small upon

its dusty white back—

you, my daughter’s

daughter, me, my hand

and fingers stretched toward

this swift passing shadow

that hungers for light

it can never eat.

I hope I go like this,

sliding into the cool silver

river of a poet’s voice,

and the end,

when it comes,

when it breathes

the last line

of the last stanza,

closes with a gasp.

Trish Lindsey Jaggers

More work to come!

~warmly~
Katherine

Thank you to all of the readers!

The Carnegie Center was thrilled to welcome so many people into our building for Friday's Gallery Hop. 382 people visited the exhibit on display in our gallery! Friday night was also the evening of two readings: the Young People's Poetry contest finalists and the Next Great Writer's Contest finalists. All of the readers did a fantastic job, but we would like to extend a special congratulations to our winners.

Young People's Poetry contest winners:

Elementary Age: Casey Womack
Middle/High School Age: Tessa Cavagnero

Next Great Writer's Contest winners:

1st: Hannah Legris
2nd: Trish Lindsey Jaggers

Look for future blog posts of the winning entries and poems.
Keep writing!

~warmly~
Katherine

Donated Supplies needed for Camp Carnegie

We are in need of some items for our July Camp Carnegie camps. Camp Carnegie is a series of half-day, one-week summer camps for rising middle school students. The camps are designed to be both hands-on and educational. All camps are taught by instructors with field experience in the camp topic. This year's camps include: From Jazz to Hip Hop: Exploring Dance, Rhythm and Song, What's your Story?: A Workshop for Writers, Speak Up (public speaking and broadcasting exploration), Graphic Design, Poetry camp and Your Media, Your Message (film making and activism).

The following supplies are needed:

--Gallon plastic milk jugs

--Bottlecaps

--Buttons

--Magazines

--Fabric scraps, yarn, string, raffia, etc.

Thanks for all that you do!

~warmly~
Katherine

You're Invited!

We'd like to invite you to attend two great readings this Friday, June 2oth here at the Carnegie Center. Finalists from two of our writing contests will be reading their work.

Join us at 5:00 pm for the Young People's Poetry contest finalists. These K-12 students will share their work at the beginning of Gallery Hop in the Jesse Stuart room.

We also invite you to our 7:30 pm reading of the finalists for the Next Great Writer's competition. This reading will also take place in the Jesse Stuart room. The reading will last about one and a half hours.

In between the readings, we invite you to visit our gallery exhibit up for Gallery Hop by the Kentucky Women Photographers Network.

We hope to see you there!

~warmly~
Katherine

Summer Tutoring Begins this Week!

Tutoring program quick updates and reminders...

Reminder to those who have registered for Summer tutoring that tomorrow will be the first day! We ask that you arrive 10 minutes early to give yourself time to park. All students under 13 MUST be escorted into the building and signed in in the Banks room (2nd floor). DO NOT send your student ahead while you park. All students under 13 will also have to be signed out at the end of tutoring. Parents, siblings and friends are welcome to hang out in the Arnow reading room while they wait for a student or feel free to run leave for the hour, but prompt pick up is required.

While registration for the summer is closed, we will begin taking school year tutoring sign-ups on Monday, July 14th. Feel free to call for more information on this program or for referrals for the summer.

We hope to see you soon!

~warmly~
Katherine

Family Fun and Learning Night: Summer Kick-Off!

The Carnegie Center staff was thrilled to welcome 110 people for Family Fun and Learning Night on Tuesday. This was also the grand opening of our new Family Learning Center. Come by and check it out.
This event was the grand kick-off of our summer youth programming, Minds in Motion. Here are some of the highlights.

Some of the staff pose for a quick picture!
So many people came to check out the new space.

Putting his own leaf on the Giving Tree!
Enjoying the reading cornor!
Craft time!
Marcia Thorton Jones wonderful reading and presentation.

Getting a book signed by Marcia Thornton Jones. Each kid got a FREE signed copy to take home!

Now that the programming has begun, stop by the building and get involved! Tell us what you are reading, post it on the Arnow room wall to make our train grow. Read eight books this summer and we can sign for you to get a free smoothie from Smoothie King!

Happy reading!
~warmly~
Katherine

Five Books to Take on Vacation

This past Thursday was the latest installment of our "Five Books" series. Jill Heink and Sandra Tiegreen led a group discussion on the five books to take on vacation.

Here's what Jill thought...
What could be more fun while you’re on vacation than to read about Other People’s Vacations??

1) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – Sweet, teen-aged, novel-reading Catherine Morland jumps at the chance to take a vacation from her quiet country home to the dazzling city of Bath, and the comedy ensues.

Memorable quote: “Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.”

2) A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson – Even if you’re camping on your vacation, it it won’t be as bad as Bryson’s camping experience while hiking the Appalachian Trail with “Katz,” a woefully out-of-shape buddy.

Memorable quote: “So Gatlinburg is appalling. But that’s OK. After eight days on the trail, we were ready to be appalled, eager to be appalled.”

3) The History of Love by Nicole Krauss – we (try to) follow the twisting and fascinating path through time and several continents of a book entitled The History of Love and get caught up in the intertwined stories of an elderly man, a teen aged girl, her mother, her brother, and numerous other characters, each with his/her own history of love.

Memorable quote: “When people spoke to him, he heard less and less of what they were saying, and more and more of what they were not.”

4) Glitz by Elmore Leonard – Lt. Vincent Mora travels to Atlantic City to solve a murder. This book features some great dialogue and a truly nasty, NASTY villain.

Memorable quote: “He told DeLeon he was waiting to hear from the county police, find out if they’d got a lead on Teddy and where his mother lived. DeLeon said, ‘You look in the phone book?’”

5) Authentic Happiness by Martin Seligman – The author prefaces the book with the observation that throughout its organized history, psychology has focused pretty much solely on mental illness and has come up with some ways to treat variations of this illness. Seligman thinks there’s a lot more to be done – namely, help people enjoy a life of deep, sustained happiness.

Memorable quote: “I do not believe that you should you should devote overly much effort to correcting your weaknesses. Rather, I believe that the highest success in living and the deepest emotional satisfaction comes from building and using your signature strengths.”

Stay tuned for Sandra's suggestions...

Happy Reading!

~warmly~

Katherine

World Environment Day

Did you know...?
Today is World Environment Day an observance sponsored by the United Nations to generate awareness about environmental issues in the hopes of spurring political action. This year's theme is Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy.

Do your part! Find out what others are doing around the world. Help celebrate today by ditching your car and walking---or swing by the Carnegie Center and use one of our yellow bikes.

~warmly~
Katherine

You're Invited!

IT'S A PARTY!

You’re invited to the Grand Opening of the Carnegie Center’s Family Learning Center. Even if you’ve already taken advantage of this new learning space, please join us to officially open the center to all students and families. The event begins at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10th.

Afterwards, stick around for our Family Fun and Learning Night summer program kick-off featuring a reading by bestselling children’s book author Marcia Thornton Jones, co-creator of The Bailey School Kids series, as well as book giveaways, crafts, learning activities, and dinner are part of the fun. Register in advance at (859) 254-4175 (Note: pre-registration is required).

We hope to see you there!

~warmly~
Katherine

Summer Tutoring Registration Ends this Week

Reminder to those that have or plan on signing up for our summer tutoring program:

All registrations AND payment must be received no later than 5 pm on Friday, June 6th. Any students that have not paid will lose their space and we will begin taking those on the waiting lists.

As always, feel free to pay over the phone via credit card or you can stop by or mail in cash or check as well.

Please call if you have further questions!

~warmly~
Katherine