Last Friday I worked at the library for my first time since coming back from CA.  Once again I was reminded of how wonderful our Finley Public Library is, how much we have and how much it means to so many people in town--especially in the winter when older folks have trouble getting out and about.  Though the winter since we have returned has been mild, many folks just don't get out much, but coming to the library is so convenient that how can they lose?  It makes me wish that there was more volunteers/more money/another way to stay open more days, but we do what we can.  Last year we asked--in this column--if anyone would like to have the library open more days/at different hours/or different days, but it seems we are all creatures of habit and find that we make our Thursday nights (6:30-8) and Friday afternoons ((2-5) work for us.  Still, I feel like it would be so nice to be able to pop into the library any day we would like, don't you?  Let us know how you feel on Face book at Finley Library, leave a note at the library or call me; 524-2677.  Thanks!

Here's a couple reviews:

Favorite Son by Steve Sohmer.  (PB)  (1987)  Though written in 1987, this book reads like today's headlines!  There is so much behind-the-scenes dirty-dealings--two-faced "friendships", perverted sexuality and sexual blackmail, murders with the knowledge of the FBI, the CIA, Congress and even the Executive branch of the government that the reader (in this case me) fears for the country and its government.  The time-line is that of President Reagan, the Sandinistas and all the troubles in Central America and the mid-eighties presidential campaign.  Throughout the book  it is very difficult to tell the good guys--only one or two people turn out to be true to their word and have the welfare of the people of the United States as their uppermost concern.  I didn't much care for reading about all this negativity concerning our government, but the book certainly grabs you and doesn't want to let you go--I felt at times like a forced observer and yet knew I wanted to finish to see if there was any justice and good in this fictional world of our government.  See what you think.
 
Seedtime and Harvest by Mary E. Pearce.  (HC/LP)  (NDSL book) (1980)  Though not considered by the author as a part of the Apple Tree Saga which includes the book Jack Mercybright, Seedtime and Harvest is about the last years of Jack's life and the life of his daughter, Linn, her husband, Charlie Truscott, and her son, Robert, from an encounter with a man in Linn's younger years.   The reader sees right away that Charlie is a very good man (as is Jack), but circumstances occur that cause the reader (me) to shake my head and wonder about Linn.  For example, Robert receives an injury early  in the book that causes him to have no feeling in his legs so he needs daily therapy.  Who do you think gives it?  Charlie. Not Linn, his mother.  There are more instances like this as the book proceeds and one wonders why.  The time frame is from well after WWI through WWII.  the sees the changes that occur due to the war in the English countryside and how these so vividly drawn characters react to the changes.  A very good book--makes me want to go back and read the books that came before--Apple Tree Lean Down, Jack Mercybright, The Sorrowing Wind--all of which your Finley Public Library has in hard cover/large print.  Check them out!