Groundhogs and Bees, Oh My!

Great news library fans! 

Punxsutawney Phil 

did not see his shadow today!

Phil and The Groundhog Club of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania this morning

(As if anybody around these parts was doubting that we would have an early spring this year. Ha, we have barely had winter!) With the unbridled sunshine of the past 2 days and temps in the 60's, I'm thinking we didn't need to bother a sleeping groundhog for this information, but I don't think this group of gents gets out too much. I'm curious if there are any women in the curious club or perhaps they find the garb too mundane?

Other famous groundhogs around the country corroborated on what Phil had to "say", so the outlook is promising for sunshiny days ahead. Although truth be told, my daffodils are already coming up and my bees took a cleansing flight today, so that's also pretty telling. Did I mention that I live in Maine?! It should be noted that ole Phil has an accuracy rate of like 28%, but for all intensive purposes let's just embrace this early spring thing. I like the sounds of it.

And thus I am thinking of getting you out of your winter reading funk and into some fresh and breezy literature. How's that sound to put a spring in your step? Think butterflies and Paris, love and verandas. 

I also mentioned my bees because this school is abuzz with our first successful hive and now we are fundraising for an additional one. If you have any interest in learning more about the hive and the bee club, contact Sophia  at sophia.duplin@govsacademy.org. If, however you would like to learn more about the nature of honeybees or the hobby of keeping bees, come check out our latest book display on one of nature's most darling species. You an also seek me out. We'll talk.

A Book of Bees by Sue Hubbell -
(my personal favorite book about honeybees)

In terms of springing ahead with a book selection, it's time to put down War and Peace or that depressing memoir from Maine (no offense, Elizabeth Strout, I love your work!). On Groundhog day, may I suggest we focus anew on a fresh start and rebirth?

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster: Spring may as well be a character in this romantic comedy set in Italy and England. As Miss Lucy Honeychurch, a proper young Edwardian lady destined for a respectable marriage, explores verdant Tuscany with her genteel chaperone, she finds the intoxicating atmosphere of spring and the allure of unsuitable (but kind and soulful) George Emerson threaten to loosen her lady-like reserve: “In the company of this common man the world was beautiful and direct. For the first time she felt the influence of Spring.” Lucy’s settled path, through a properly repressed girlhood to a properly repressed marriage, no longer seems so assured, as she awakens to the possibility of a different, more open way of living. (Huffington Post)

Breakfast at Tiffany's - In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Truman Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape. Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany's; her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm. (Amazon)

                                                           *one of Mrs. Mcvicker's favorite books!

Though The Art of Fielding is his fiction debut, Chad Harbach writes with the self-assurance of a seasoned novelist. He exercises a masterful precision over the language and pacing of his narrative, and in some 500 pages, there's rarely a word that feels out of place. The title is a reference to baseball, but Harbach's concern with sports is more than just a cheap metaphor. The Art of Fielding explores relationships--between friends, family, and lovers--and the unpredictable forces that complicate them. There's an unintended affair, a post-graduate plan derailed by rejection letters, a marriage dissolved by honesty, and at the center of the book, the single baseball error that sets all of these events into motion. The Art of Fielding is somehow both confident and intimate, simple yet deeply moving. Harbach has penned one of the year's finest works of fiction. (Amazon)

Now this blog post couldn't end without a recommendation to watch Bill Murray in Groundhog Day for the hundredth time! It's still funny, trust me on this one. I think The Groundhog Club in Pennsylvania is having a free showing tonight, if you're game! If not, we have it in our collection