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This page contains information about events at the library geared towards adults and our adult book club reading list.

Adult book Discussions: fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:00 in the fire side loft.

“What’s Love Got to Do with It?”

In January of 2009 the Elbow Lake Public Library’s book and film group for adults began a 15-month series called ‘Be Inspired’. While reading about and discussing amazing people and organizations, one of the questions that kept arising was, “Where does inspiration come from?” One of the primary answers seems to be that people are inspired to act based on love, whether that love is for another person, group of people, for God, or for a tree!

Inspired by this inquiry, the library has created a new book and film series called “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” that begins this month. Through a mix of fiction and nonfiction literature and film, the group will now be turning its attention to love, asking such questions as: What is love? How is love cultivated within ourselves and in society? How do we act if we are motivated by love? How has history been affected by romance and love? How does love figure in our relationships with animals and the natural world?

Since it’s inception in 2006, the goal of the adult book and film series has been to increase adult literacy in the community. To that end materials are selected that will hopefully stretch readers and watchers beyond their normal genres, subject matters, and perhaps level of difficulty. The group is open to all adults, whether they wish to attend the entire series or pick and choose from among the selections.

The series kicks off with one of the most classic and famous love stories ever written: William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The edition to be read has the original text on one page and a modern English translation on the facing page. The discussion, on July 27^th, will be facilitated by John Zdrazil, who teaches Romeo and Juliet at WACSS in Barrett. This will be a rare opportunity to discuss the book with a professional educator.

To contrast the classic book, on Tuesday, August 3^rdthe library will be showing Baz Luhrmann’s dazzling and unconventional 1996 film adaptation William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonard DiCaprio and Claire Danes. The setting has been moved from its Elizabethan origins to the futuristic urban backdrop of Verona Beach.

Bell Hooks, American cultural critic and feminist, is the author of the first nonfiction book in the series: All about Love: New Visions, which will be discussed on August 24^th at 7:00 p.m. A distinguished professor of English at City College in New York City, Hooks feels a sense of urgency about confronting the subject of love: "I feel our nation's turning away from love as intensely as I felt love's abandonment in my girlhood. Turning away, we risk moving in a wilderness of spirit so intense we may never find our way home again." With an engaging narrative style, hooks presents a series of possible ways to reverse what she sees as the emotional and cultural fallout caused by flawed visions of love.

Bella is a moving, introspective film. The two main characters are an international soccer star (Eduardo Verastegui) who is on his way to sign a multimillion dollar contract when something happens that brings his career to an abrupt end, and a beautiful waitress (Tammy Blanchard) struggling to make it in New York City who discovers something about herself that she's unprepared for. In one irreversible moment, their lives are turned upside down. In the end, their lives become permanently intertwined in a most beautiful and unexpected way. Bella will be shown September 7^th at 7:00 p.m.

Beginning in September the book group will be weaving the theme of love together with the library’s focus this coming year on Minnesota’s Greatest Generation: the group of people who grew up during the Depression, came of age during WWII and participated in the post-war boom. There will be many events throughout the year focusing on this theme and this group will be discussing Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy on September 28^th. Piercy’s book is historical fiction about “the other” World War II: “not the war fought on the front lines, but the war, fought mostly by women, on the factory lines, the food lines and behind enemy lines in Europe”.

On October 5^that 7:00 p.m. the library will show a series of short films entitled Women of the Greatest Generation. Each film documents some aspect of life in Minnesota during WWII or an individual of the Greatest Generation who achieved something remarkable. These films, and other events during the year, are made available from a partnership between the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota Public Library System.

The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love and Compassion by Sharon Salzberg, including a compact disc with guided meditations, is the book for discussion on November 24^th. If one distills the great spiritual teachings from around the world down to their most basic principles, kindness emerges as a thread that unites them all. Salzberg reveals that kindness is not the sweet, naïve sentiment that many of us assume it is, but rather an immensely powerful force that can transform individual lives and ripple out, improving relationships, the environment, our communities, and ultimately the world. Readers will learn specific techniques for cultivating forgiveness; turning compassion into action; and practicing speech that is truthful, helpful, and loving.

Monsoon Wedding by director Mira Nair will be shown on November 2^nd. Nair creates beautiful films. She has a gift for observation of the everyday. This delightful film spins a web of family relationships that knit, and break, during a wedding in India. Nair's sympathetic eye for the unnoticed and the harassed is at its best with the tender romance between a servant and the upwardly mobile wedding coordinator, who brings pathos and humor to the often unseen servant classes.

The adult reading group will again be participating in the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read event in November with Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine. This stunning first novel in Louise Erdrich's Native American series tells the story of two families in the Dakotas and Minnesota. It is a multi-generational portrait of strong men and women caught in an unforgettable drama of anger, desire, and the healing power that is “love medicine”.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is the movie that Leonardo DiCaprio received an Oscar nomination for five years before Titanic. Based on the novel by Peter Hedges (who adapted his own book) and directed by Lasse Hallström, this is a funny, moody tale of a young man (Johnny Depp) who lives at home in a small town with his 500-pound mother, his autistic younger brother (DiCaprio), and his sisters. Not a lot happens and that's exactly what makes this movie so much more than your run-of-the-mill Hollywood product. It's not about a mechanical, formulaic plot; it's about these characters, and it allows you to spend some time with them and get to know them.

December’s book, for discussion on the 28^th, is If God Is Love: Rediscovering Grace in an Ungracious World by Quaker minister, Philip Gulley, and theologian, James Mulholland. In this book, their second together, the authors attempt to answer the questions: “If God is love, how are those who profess belief in God to act? If God is love, how does Christianity explain the vastly accepted dualistic theology of heaven and hell? If God is love, how can Christians live in God's grace? How can we continue to hate, slander, murder, and condemn our neighbors? If God is love, and God commands us to love our enemies, how can we justify war?”

For the Bible Tells Me So, showing at the library on January 4^th, is a documentary about the contemporary face of an old conflict between Christian fundamentalists and gay and lesbian people. The film looks deep into the hearts of several Christian families--a few of them quite famous--that have struggled with making sense of having a homosexual son or daughter. This winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival includes commentary by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard's Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech.

Throughout the series participants will be reading selections from Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, translated and edited by Daniel Ladinsky. In many religious traditions, deep spirituality has been expressed through poetry. At each meeting of the book and film series, a participant will select and read aloud one of the poems from this book. Ladinsky is well-known for his talent for creating inspiring, profound, and playful versions of classic poems for a modern audience. This volume includes, among others, Sufi poet Rumi's joyous, ecstatic love poems; St. Francis's loving observations of nature through the eyes of Catholicism; Kabir's wild, freeing humor that synthesizes Hindu, Muslim, and Christian beliefs; and St. Teresa's sensual verse.

The second six-month segment of the library’s series What’s Love Got to Do with It? is still under construction but includes such notable authors as: Rumer Godden, Willa Cather, Byron Katie, Ann Fairbairn, Jane Austen, Anya Seton, and Sigurd Olson.

If people are interested in requesting copies of any of the books or films, or have questions about the series, please contact the library at 218-685-6850.

‘Be Inspired!’

Here at the Elbow Lake Public Library, we are feeling a desire to support our community members, individually and collectively, to feel inspired and to explore what being inspired means. It is our hope that being inspired will help us to overcome senses of hopelessness, depression, and overwhelm that are so easily a response to the complications of life in the early 21^st century. Through literature, film and group discussions, we will explore various manifestations of inspiration, how it often leads to action, or to a shift in perspective, to making an outward change in the world, or an inner change that in some way encourages us to be more open, more compassionate, more loving, or to make it through a difficult life experience with less suffering.

While ‘Be Inspired’ is the theme of the adult book and film series for the next fifteen months, we are continuing to select materials that will hopefully stretch readers and viewers beyond their normal genres, subject matters, and perhaps level of difficulty. It is one of our constant goals to support and improve literacy in our community. By now you have probably heard one of us say that film has been called the ‘new literature of the 20^th century’. With that in mind we also select films that may be somewhat out of the mainstream and perhaps challenge viewers in new ways.

We hope that you will ‘Be Inspired’ to join us in reading, viewing and discussing the books and films listed below. While some patrons choose to read, watch and discuss everything on the list, please know that you are welcome to join us for any individual book discussions or film showings that you feel inspired to attend! We are very excited about this new series and hope to share the excitement with you.

January 2009

1/27/09Book: Three Cups of Tea, One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations One School at a Time

February 2009

2/24/09Book: A Hope in the Unseen, an American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League by Ron Suskind

3/24/09 Book: The Last Week, a Day-by-Day Account of Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem

4/28/09 Book: Banker to the Poor: Microlending and the Battle Against World Poverty

5/26/09Book: Acts of FaithThe Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation by Eboo Patel

June 2009

6/23/09 Book: A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles

7/28/09 Book: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

8/25/09 Book: The Legacy of Luna: the Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to

2/23/10 Book: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

4/27/10 Book : Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence by Matthew Sanford

5/25/10 Book: The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods by Julia Butterfly Hill

Reading & Viewing List

The Elbow Lake Public Library is truly excited to announce its next adult education reading and film series. With an election year upon us, we decided to ride the wave of the highest interest in politics in many years by combining biographies, textbooks and political fiction and nonfiction with feature films and documentaries to get the entire county digging deeper than a sound bite into the issues and candidates of the season. Film has been called “the new literature of the 20^th century” and we’ve got some that will make you cheer, depress you horribly, and maybe even get your goat! So, join us for any or all of the dates below to wrangle with your head, heart, and, even, your healthcare!

Book Discussion, April 22: Primary

Colors anonymous (by Joe Klein)

Film, May 6: Primary Colors

Book Discussion, May 27:

Politics for Dummies by Ann DeLaney

Film, June 3: Taking on the Kennedys

Book Discussion, June 24:

Sex Wars by Marge Piercy

Film, July 1: Iron Jawed Angels

Book Discussion, July 22:

For God and Country: Faith and

Patriotism Under Fire by James Yee

Film, August 5: No End in Sight

Book Discussion, August 26:

Crashing the Party by Ralph Nader

Film, September 9: King Corn

Book Discussion, Sept. 23:

book by the Rep. candidate for President

Film, October 7:

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Book discussion, Oct. 28:

book by the Dem. candidate for President

Film, October 21: Sicko

Book Discussion, Nov. 25:

Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle

Film: December 2, 2008

The Milagro Beanfield War

To reserve a copy of the books visit our website at www.alexweb.net/library or stop in or call the library and we can request a copy for you. It is best to request the books five to six weeks before the date of the discussions. This is an on-going, facilitated group, meeting at the Elbow Lake Public Library at 7:00 p.m. on the dates listed. Everyone is welcome, beginning at any time, for all events or for just one. Call or stop in at the library for further information: 218-685-6850.

The House on Beartown Road, also titled The Family on Beartown Road, by Elizabeth Cohen VanPelt (also found under Elizabeth Cohen).