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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 29, 2011

Dec 6: The Table My Mother Set


Theresa DeCaria will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday December 6 at noon discuss what began as a simple project to compile her mother's recipes as a gift for her family and blossomed into a 128 page fully-illustrated cookbook honoring family, food, and tradition. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are provided. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.





Get the Blues as the People’s University Concludes

The Ohio County Public
Library's People’s University: Music Appreciation series will conclude on Tuesday evening, December 6 at 7:00 PM in the library's auditorium with the Blues: History, Players, Geography, featuring guest lecturer Bruce Wheeler, Executive Director Wheeling Symphony & Heritage Music Bluesfest founder.

The Music Appreciation series is designed to provide an opportunity for adults to learn or refresh their knowledge of music from classical to jazz, blues and other forms of music. The courses are free of charge and meet at 7:00 PM in the library's auditorium. For more information, please call 304-232-0244.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Nov 29: Meredith Mileti

Pittsburgh based author Meredith Mileti will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday November 29 at noon to discuss her debut novel, Aftertaste: A Novel in Five Courses. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are provided. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Next: More Marshall County Patriots & Heroes (also: The Importance of Youth Symphony)

The first Wheeling Civil War 150 Fashion Show was a great success! 194 people attended, including models and volunteers -- the third highest total for any adult program ever held at the library. Many thanks to Kate Quinn and Judi Hendrickson for their tireless work. Thanks also to PD Gregg for building a terrific set, to Vicky Musicaro and Jean Bailey for the fabulous food, to Ed Phillips for going the extra mile, to all of our volunteers, to our fantastic models and to our dedicated patrons. Many, many, many thanks to all. We hope everyone enjoyed the show. Incidentally, as I was too busy to take photographs, please feel free to email any digitals to lunchwithbooks@yahoo.com

And, of course, the show goes on--Next up at Lunch With Books tomorrow:

Author Gary Rider will return to Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday November 22 at noon to discuss his second volume of Marshall County Patriots and Heroes featuring 140 military profiles and over 80 pictures. The book covers the American Revolution to Afghanistan with stories about POW's and KIA's, including more than sixty World War II veterans' stories, as well as eleven family groups -- husbands & wives, fathers & sons and brothers. Mr Rider will also bring journals and diaries that were used in writing some of the stories, and hopes to have some memorabilia from World War II. Copies of Marshall County Patriots and Heroes will be for sale at: $25.00 Hardback and $20.00 Softback. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are provided. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.

AND then tomorrow evening @7:

The People's University, Music Appreciation series continues with Dr. Matt Inkster on the importance of youth symphony.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

A Fashionable Era

Civil War Fashion Show Is Nov. 20

November 12, 2011
The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register

Ballgowns and bonnets will abound at the Civil War Fashion Show to be held at the Ohio County Public Library, 52 16th St., Wheeling, from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20.

The event is part of the Civil War sesquicentennial observance and will highlight the fashions, including uniforms, of the period.

Organized by the Friends of Wheeling, the Ohio County Public Library and the Wheeling Civil War 150 Commission, the program will include costumes for men, women and children.

Sponsored by a grant from Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp., this program is evidence of the variety and value of the programs that Ohio County Public Library's program director, Sean Duffy, has presented to the community, organizers said.

For this occasion, the auditorium of the library will be transformed into a dazzling stage setting by P.D. Gregg, set designer for Oglebay Institute's Towngate Theatre, who has donated his time and energy to the project.

Stages will provide some of the costumes, but most were designed and made by the participating models. "Making costumes is very difficult and time-consuming, but well worth the effort," said Kate Quinn, who has made several vests, frock coats and gowns for the show.
Quinn, a Friends of Wheeling member, will narrate the program with tidbits of information about why the fashions were made the way they were and how women coped with the voluminous petticoats, hoops and skirts of the period.

Judi Hendrickson, also , a Friends of Wheeling member, is organizing the many models involved in the show. Detailed descriptions of each outfit will give the audience an insight into the types of materials used during the period.

"We are striving to make this as authentic as possible. I think the audience will be delighted with the show and learn a little something at the same time," Hendrickson remarked.

A reception with light refreshments will be held after the fashion show.

The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Seating is limited. To assure a seat, send an email message to LunchwithBooks@yahoo.com or call the library at 304-232-0244 by Friday, Nov. 18.

AND Next Tuesday at NOON:

Then on November 22 at noon, Lunch With Books continues with author Gary Rider, who will return to discuss his second volume of Marshall County Patriots and Heroes, featuring 140 military profiles and over 80 pictures. It covers the American Revolution to Afghanistan with stories about POW's and KIA's, including more than sixty World War II veterans' stories, as well as eleven family groups -- husbands & wives, fathers & sons and brothers. Mr Rider will also bring journals and diaries that were used in writing some of the stories, and hopes to have some memorabilia from World War II. Copies of Marshall County Patriots and Heroes be for sale at: $25.00 Hardback and $20.00 Softback.

Then on Tuesday Evening at 7 PM, the People's University, Music Appreciation series continues with Dr. Matt Inkster on the importance of youth symphony.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Next Tuesday: The Cherokee Language and Classical Music

FIRST AT NOON:

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month
, Travis Henline, site manager of West Virginia Independence Hall, will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday, November 15 at noon to offer a crash course in the Cherokee Indian language. Henline will use Total Physical Response (TPR), a language teaching method developed at Dartmouth University in order to teach useable language to foreign diplomats in a short period of time. It uses nonverbal c
ues and is very interactive, requiring lots of student participation. Henline took a ten day immersion course on the Eastern Band Cherokee language using TPR. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are provided. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.


& THEN AT 7 PM: The People's University, Music Appreciation: Classical Music as a Communicative Form and the Composer's Voice with Maestro André Raphel, Wheeling Symphony.


Plus: Volunteers are still needed for the Civil War 150 Fashion Show on Sunday, November 20 from 2-4 pm. Please help!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Nov 8: Critically Acclaimed Author Marie Manilla

West Virginia author Marie Manilla will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday November 8 to discuss her work, including the acclaimed collection of short stories, Still Life with Plums. A Huntington native, Manilla is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Marshall University, and WVU. Her prize-winning fiction has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Mississippi Review, Prairie Schooner, Calyx Journal, Portland Review, Kestrel, and numerous other journals. Her stories have been collected in Still Life with Plums just out from West Virginia University Press. ForeWord Reviews nominated the collection for Book of the Year in the short story category. Six of the stories have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and the book was a finalist for the Weatherford Award. Daniel Wallace, author of Big Fish, selected her forthcoming novel, Shrapnel, as winner of the Fred Bonnie Award for best first novel. Shrapnel, set in Huntington, not only explores the legacy of war in three generations of the same family, but it examines and dispels inflated stereotypes that outsiders often hold about West Virginians. Marie continues to live in her hometown where she regularly teaches writing and American Literature at Marshall University. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are provided. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.

"Marie Manilla’s Still Life With Plums houses in its pages a repository of heartache and joy. Its soul lies in life’s little moments, somehow still yet perpetually fleeing. Manilla’s words take flight in the mind and dance 'like paper birds in the wind.' Inevitably, the words will root inside the reader, like the memory of a fossil or a Polaroid picture, and once there, they will cease to be still. Just as the people in these stories, they will keep on humming."Glenn Taylor, author of The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist

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..