Your Monthly News & Updates |
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When Dr. Benjamin Gilmer joined a medical clinic in Fletcher NC he learned that the previous doctor shared his last name. “The Other Dr. Gilmer,” Vince Gilmer, founder of the clinic, had been loved by his rural community until convicted for
strangling his father to death.
Benjamin became obsessed with solving the mystery of what drove a good and respected physician into brutal patricide. Benjamin visited Vince in prison and found a twitching man constantly rambling off into nonsense. It was obvious to Benjamin that “The Other Dr. Gilmer” was not faking mental illness but needed professional help.
Benjamin, a neurobiologist turned family practitioner and now also an author, has lectured throughout the US about medical ethics, rural healthcare, and the troubling intersection of medicine and criminal justice.
Hear more details of his and Vince’s story.
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Tryon Fine Arts Center & The Lanier Library
Presents
Dasan Ahanu
Friday, April 19, Power of the Page Poetry @ 10 am
Free Community Event - TFAC Auditorium
The Art of Self Workshop @ 2 pm - The Lanier Library LeDuc Room
Dasan Ahanu is a Southern writer and performing artist who uses storytelling to deepen our understanding and awareness of what’s happening around us. Ahanu is a visiting lecturer at UNC-Chapel Hill, an alumnus of Harvard University’s Nasir Jones Fellowship, and the 2023 Piedmont Laureate for poetry. He notes that creative artistry is embedded in the fabric of North Carolina and he exudes an incredible commitment to his home state.
“Poetry can be emotional, inspirational, educational, and as creative and expressive as
your imagination. It can also be a tool for healing and growth. Join us for a wonderful
event full of dynamic poetry performance. Stories will be brought to life on stage. Truths
will be told. Life will be explored. Fun will be had. This is an exploration of the
power of words.” – Dasan
There will also be a Poetry Workshop entitled The Art of Self in The Lanier Library
LeDuc Room at 2 pm. Registration is limited.
call 828.859.8322
for their support of this event.
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Chess Moves
Interested in learning to play chess or
improving your game? Join Lew Martin and other players on Tuesdays at 1:00 pm in the Holmes Room at Lanier.
No experience is necessary and
chess boards are provided.
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Membership Renewal Time
Is your membership about to expire? No need to come in to the library, just visit the library website by clicking on:
If you aren’t sure when your membership expires,
please contact the library at 828-859-9535.
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A Note from the Board President
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Until reading The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann, I had not realized how many nautical turns of phrase have crept into our everyday language. Here is a quote from Grann’s work with some examples: “To toe the line derives from when boys on a ship were forced to stand still for inspection with their toes on a deck seam. To pipe down was the boatswain’s whistle for everyone to be quiet at night, and piping hot was his call for meals. A scuttlebutt was a water cask around which the seamen gossiped while waiting for their rations. A ship was three sheets to the wind when the lines to the sails broke and the vessel pitched drunkenly out of control. To turn a blind eye became a popular expression after Vice-Admiral Nelson deliberately placed his telescope against his blind eye to ignore his superior’s signal flag to retreat.” And a bit later in this same survival story of stranded sailors: “When ailing seamen were shielded belowdecks from the adverse elements outside, they were said to be under the weather.” If you google nautical terms in everyday use, it’s a long shot that you may be taken aback - but there are too many to list here by this landlubber. Until next time, Vicky
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Book Lovers Meets April 6 @ 10 am
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Book Lovers - March 2024
The first Saturday of every month, avid readers meet at Lanier Library to discuss books
they’ve enjoyed (or not)! It’s casual, enlightening, and there are no rules.
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Fiction
The Rail Splitter by John Cribb
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
The Northern Wolf by Daniel Greene
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
Small Mercies by Dennis LeHane
America Fantastica by Tim O’Brien
Mystery
Flags on the Bayou by James Lee Burke
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
Peril at the Exposition by Nev March
The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair
Biography/Memoir
Larry McMurtry, A Life by Tracy Daugherty
Nonfiction
Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver
How to Know a Person by David Brooks
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The Nonfiction book club will meet on April 14 to discuss The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn and the Transformation of Journalism by Adam Nagourney. The book for May 12 is How to Know a Person by David Brooks. |
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Below are the links to our March Acquisitions & Orders. Feel free to contact the library to put your name on the hold list for
any you would like to read.
And, as always, let us know if there is a book or DVD you think
would enhance the collection.
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Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon and
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Both books center on multi-generational family dynamics set against a backdrop of land conservation. Both are well-written, satirical, and hilarious. They’re also timely, exploring women’s career issues, sexism, racism, climate, technology and its repercussions, wealth inequality, bumbling public officials, and fashion. Each has a cast of flawed but appealing characters up against not-that-good do-gooders and a tech-bro villain.
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Nina Simon, who has been a NASA engineer, a slam poet, and a nonprofit CEO, wrote this cozy mystery while caring for her mother during cancer treatment. The debut novel was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and a New York Times bestseller, and it’s a terrific
page-turner.
The plot involves a grandma-mom-teen family dealing with grandma’sillness as they use what they learn from binge-watching Columbo to clear the granddaughter of a murder rap. It’s set in motion in coastal northern California when a wealthy rancher’s heirs and the local land conservancy jostle to determine the ranch’s future. Was there a conservation easement in place when the patriarch died? Maybe his death was not natural. What exactly was the patriarch’s relationship to the murder victim? And then there’s the sinister side business that the teen figures out by kayaking through streams and irrigation channels.
Eleanor Catton won the Man Booker Prize and was short-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize and long-listed for the Orange Prize. She is also the screenwriter for Emma, the 2020 adaptation of Jane Austen’s masterpiece. The blurb on the back cover says it all: This, her third novel, reads like a thriller written by Jane Austen, not William Shakespeare. The story toddles along as a witty, delicious Austen-like novel of manners. Then it pivots into a thriller that had this reader up past her bedtime, screaming: “Wake up, you guys, don’t you remember Jonestown?”
The plot centers on Birnam Wood, an inept leftist guerrilla band that donates food to the hungry from legal gardens on donated land and illegal gardens where nobody’s looking. This naively idealistic group of antiheroes bumbles into a relationship with a billionaire survivalist—he invented drones—whose menace is evident from the get-go. The story develops on a New Zealand spread owned by a millionaire exterminator who has been knighted for bogus environmental activism and is hiding a lot from his wife. There are no good guys; the character who catches on, but too late, is a mansplaining failed podcaster.
Catton’s message: Doing good and pursuing power is a combination headed for unintended harm.
Submitted by Barbara Hagerty
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Distinguished Speaker
Talk & Reception
Author John Cribb shared from his extensive research on sixteenth President Abraham Lincoln at the Distinguished Speaker Lecture on March 24 at
Tryon Fine Arts Center.
Cribb focused on five characteristics of Lincoln that allowed him to go from a log cabin to the White House: work,
self-reliance, ambition, an eagerness to learn, and a commitment to freedom.
Afterward, we enjoyed a lovely reception at the Library with refreshments. We appreciate all of the volunteers
who helped bring this event together.
for their support of this event.
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Tackling the Clutter
Jane Armstrong’s program on decluttering was inspirational to the large crowd that attended on March 14. She discussed the importance of understanding why you have trouble getting rid of items before developing a plan and setting goals.
Jane has also offered to meet with a group of people who want to support each other through decluttering.
If you are interested in being a part of such a group, please contact Jenny Purtill at thelanierlibrary@gmail.com to express your interest. We hope to start a group meeting in April 2024.
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Lanier Library welcomes all library-friendly dogs & cats,
but asks that they remain on leash or in their carriers at all times.
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Meet Pippin & Brody!
These fluffy Lanier friends are comfy and ready to snuggle up with a good book and their owner,
Nancy Pemberton.
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Sandra's Shelf Display
Our next display will feature our next speakers' book The Other Dr Gilmer and other true crime nonfiction and will be titled: Truth Can Be Stranger Than Fiction.
Try A True Crime Title.
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April Display
As early as I can remember, I have been a very creative and artistic person blessed with an obsessive eye for detail and perfection. A gift bestowed upon me by my dad who always encouraged me to push my artistic boundaries a little farther. As a child, I loved to draw and create little scenes in shoe boxes. Much to her dismay, I used tons of my mother's Kleenex tissues to make curtains, blankets, and Barbie dresses before I even reached the 3rd grade. I carried this love of drawing and creativity into adulthood by designing, home decorating, and gardening.
One day, in March of 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, with our office closed down until further notice, I found myself looking through antiques on Facebook Marketplace and came across a large dollhouse. I thought to myself "Wouldn't that look perfect sitting near the fireplace in the corner?" I sent the seller a message and a day later, the house was mine. I painted it in my go-to color, a lovely creamy white and looking esthetically pleasing yet empty, it sat in its intended place.
Sadly, in May of 2020, my beloved father passed away from Covid related complications. My sadness was insurmountable not unlike so many others who had lost loved ones during that time. Not knowing what to do with all that grief, I decided to channel it into creativity and thus began my magical journey into dollhouses and the world of miniatures.
At the time, I hadn't any idea how quickly I would fall in love with tiny furniture, accessories, and little foods. However it didn't take long to discover what an expensive rabbit hole I had fallen into. So bearing this in mind, I decided to learn how to make my own 1/2 scale miniatures. Never for one moment thinking I was capable of making these things on such a small scale, I watched countless YouTube tutorials and enlisted the advice of fellow miniaturists most of whom I have never met and began to create tiny works of art. For hours and hours with my dog, Reese by my side serving as my Project Manager/Production Supervisor, I started to create a little magical world of my own.
With the use of wood, polymer clay, acrylic paint, carving and detailing tools (most of which I can't name), tons of glue, etc. not to mention an enormous amount of patience, my little world grows larger.
On display in April, you can expect to see many of my pieces in little vignettes, all handmade mostly by myself but also by some magnificently talented miniaturists worldwide who's work grace my dollhouse interiors. You will also see some pieces from my small but cherished collection of Jane Graber miniature pottery.
It is my hope that while viewing my work, you will keep in mind two things...one, that out of great sadness can come even greater joy and two, always remember it's the little things that really matter. -Debbie Keaveney
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Thank You!
Thank you to library board members
and staff
for filling the display case
with items
to inspire decluttering.
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The Lanier Library Poetry Committee is pleased to introduce a poem of the month program. Each month we will be posting a different poem that we hope will inspire you. The poem will be in the monthly newsletter and posted at the library. Please let us know what you think of each month's selection. |
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April
The roofs are shining from the rain,
The sparrows twitter as they fly,
And with a windy April grace
The little clouds go by.
Yet the back-yards are bare and brown
With only one unchanging tree
I could not be so sure of spring
Save that it sings in me.
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1. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
2. Salome’ by Oscar Wilde
3. The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
4. Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard (2023 Tony Award for Best Play)
5. The Odd Couple by Neil Simon
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