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Once October hits, some people like to pull out spooky or horror stories. Reading classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, or The Haunting of Hill House is wonderful, but the Temiskaming Shores Public Library has some other books that may give you your creepy read fix.
Wonderland by Zoje Stage
This is Stage’s second novel and is quite different from her first, Baby Teeth (also a good horror read). In Wonderland, we meet the Bennett family who has given up a busy New York City life for an isolated rural home. As they settle in, strange things begin to happen and it seems nature is working against them.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
I know this one isn’t as new as the other books on this list but it is one of my favourite books of all time. Rice turned the vampire genre on its ear by introducing us to the brooding, conflicted vampire. Rice’s gift for prose and her research builds a haunting story of a vampire at odd with his nature and lost in the modern world.
The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox
Fox has become one of my go to authors after I read her debut, The Witch of Willow Hall. Widow of Pale Harbor weaves a historical mystery with murders based on Edgar Allen Poe stories. The people of Pale Harbor are suspicious of window Sophronia Carver and are quick to suspect her of the gruesome murders. With the help of a newcomer, Gideon Stone, she is determined to find the real killer. Fox has a wonderful way of weaving a gothic vibe with a little romance.
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
This science fiction horror has lots of suspense that will keep you turning the page. Gyre has gone underground on what she thought was a routine exploration mission and only has the voice on the other end of her communications device to depend on. As the mission goes on, Gyre starts to wonder what her handler’s motivations really are and if there’s more in the tunnels than she was told about.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Deviating from her young adult fantasy novels, Bardugo’s first adult novel is about a young woman with a shady past who is recruited for her ability to see ghosts and given a place at Yale. The catch is that she has to monitor activities of a secret society with eight houses, each with a unique occult power. The job turns out to be more than she expected with deadly secrets and dangerous entities. I enjoyed Bardugo’s Grisha series so I had high hopes for this book…it didn’t disappoint.
Do you have any favourite spooky reads? We’d love to hear about them!
I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving despite all the changes and protocols to follow in our “new normal”.
There is still lots for all of us to be thankful for, even if it feels like we have to look a lot harder and deeper than we used to.
Here at the Temiskaming Shores Public Library, we are truly grateful for our patrons. You are all part of our library family. Without all of you, where would we be? While we were closed due to Covid-19, packing to move, moving, and setting up in our new location, we were always looking forward to the day when we could be open and serving our patrons once again. Being able to offer curbside-service was a big positive for us, our first step toward getting the library open again.
We are also very thankful for our beautiful new building. As much as we loved our previous two locations it is wonderful to all be under one roof, working together to serve you. Thank you, to all of my fellow library employees, and our C.E.O. for their very hard work in getting everything moved in and set up. They certainly did a great job!
Come and explore your new public library. Browse the stacks, catch up a little with our staff and get back into the routine of borrowing your favourite books, audios and movies. You may even want to get a little adventurous and try a new author! Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we’ll be able to invite you to some programs at the library too.
NoveList, one of the great e-resources on our website (you do need a library card to log in) has a Quarantine Reads category and these are some of the titles I found in its ‘Heartwarming Reads’ section that we have in our collection:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Cottage By the Sea by Debbie Macomber
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
The Gown by Jennifer Robson
Come on in and choose a novel to warm your heart and lift your spirits during these unusual times. We look forward to seeing you all soon at our new location next to Chartrand’s Your Independent Grocer at 285 Whitewood Ave. West.
I grew up in the library. From toddler to teen, and now into adulthood, the Temiskaming Shores Public Library has been my place of solace and inspiration. In my early days, I loved walking to the library with my family to check out books and movies. The smell of the building is one I can still recall (must, sunshine, and the mingled scent of books old and new). Some people might be turned off by that description, but I love it! I remember the clerks being so friendly and helpful (some I now work with) and the array of books, toys, puzzles, movies, and crafts were a dream come true for a young girl who preferred quiet time to herself.
By age 11 I read Harry Potter for the first time and that’s when my love of books took off. I wanted to read everything I could find, and valued my proximity to the library so much more. I got my own library card later that year and felt like such a grown up.
By high school, I was brave enough to venture upstairs where all the adult books were held. I remember being so nervous that my walking or breathing would be too loud, and was always afraid to ask for help finding a book. It seems so silly to think about now, but I wanted to make a good impression in the “serious” part of the library. I quickly learned that the atmosphere upstairs was just as warm, helpful, and quirky as in the children’s area.
By age 15 I was hired as a student page. Best day ever! The library staff shifted from strangers, to co-workers, to dear friends. I felt so at home and in my element. Working as a page introduced me to various community members and pulled me out of my shell.
Age 17 rolls around and I have just graduated high school. While finished with high school, I wasn’t ready to move away yet. I planned to take the next year off to work full time and save money for university. The moment of dread hit when I realized I wouldn’t get enough hours working as a page at the library and would have to leave and find a full-time student job elsewhere. But just as providence would have it, one of our full-time clerks was taking a one year leave! I was offered her position and got to stay! I worked at the library every day, all day, full time, in the scary adult section. It was a dream.
When that marvelous year ended, new horizons took me to Waterloo to study social work. I actually got into my program based partly on a paper I wrote about the library. I knew I would return home one day, but I was convinced that my library days as a staff member were over.
Fast forward to June, 2019. I have moved home with a husband in tow and a social work degree. My first week back in town reveals that the library is looking for a 10-month contract position. What luck for me! Those 10 months introduced me to new friends and a new branch. I felt like this was the place for me.
As I began preparing to end my contract, one of my co-workers divulges that she is leaving the library to pursue a different career. Y’all, I could not believe it! What started as a short contract had turned into a full-time position.
Now here I am in our newly renovated library ready to serve our community! I will always be grateful to my parents for bringing me to the library when I was a child, and to the staff who shaped my formative years. I grew up in the library, and I can’t wait to grow old with it now.
I live in a beautiful farming town, and thus we have many farmers and farms. I would assume that this was a summer that warmed the cockles of their hearts. It was very warm, sunny, and we had ample rain. My heart was not so happy. This is hard to admit, but I am not a warm weather girl! I found this summer so hot that I spent most of it indoors close to the beloved air conditioners. I am a keen gardener, so keen I may actually be a plant hoarder of sorts, and I do love to putter in the garden. At the same time, once it climbs above the low twenties, I wilt. And when I am wilting, I am very short tempered with everyone until I can get covered in water and cool down.
I heard a program on C.B.C. radio once which explained why some folk love the heat and some, like me, just can’t stand being hot. Apparently, people who enjoy the furnace like temperatures have capillaries, which are very small blood vessels, that open and close quickly and thus their internal temperature stays more stable. People like me have pesky capillaries that are sluggish to open and close and have their core temperature rise quickly. This rise in core temperature makes me feel sick and very uncomfortable. To work in the garden on a hot day, I have to soak a cotton shirt and put it on, soak my hat before putting it on, and wet down my feet and sandals. This gives me about fifteen minutes of comfort before I have to soak everything again.
Now that I am in my sixties, I look back on my life and it seems so obvious why I ended up moving from Victoria, B.C. to Dawson City, Yukon. I just kept going north to find the cold. I fell in love with the cooler summers, chilly falls and springs, and the bitter 40 below of winter. I dressed very well, but never found the cold overwhelming or unbearable. I ran my team of dogs all winter and each winter day was outside for all of the brief hours of daylight. I was in heaven! Even now here in Temiskaming Shores I am one of the few souls out walking my hound no matter how cold it is. It’s true, I love winter! If I could find work on Hershel Island, I would be gone in a heartbeat… That is not actually true, as my love for my adult children who live here, and all my swell friends binds me to this too warm place.
Luckily, there are many others who are drawn to the cold. We have many books here in our spiffy new branch that celebrate the cold and cold places. Here are some of my picks for a chilly read for the coming fall evenings:
• Running North, A Yukon Adventure by Ann Mariah Cook
• Yukon Alone, The World’s Toughest Adventure Race by John Balzar
• Base Camp, 40 Days on Everest by Dianne Whelan
• Artic Labyrinth, The Quest For The Northwest Passage by Glyn Williams
• Into Thin Air, A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
• Into The Silence, The Great War, Mallory, and The Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis
• Scott’s Last Journey, The Race For The Pole by Beryl Bainbridge
• Winter Camping, Wilderness Travel and Adventure in the Cold-Weather Months by Stephen Gorman
• The Snowshoe Experience, Gear Up and Discover the Wonders of Winter on Snowshoes by Clair Walter
On behalf of the board and staff of the Temiskaming Shores Public Library, I would like to welcome everyone to our new space at 285 Whitewood Ave. West in Temiskaming Shores. It has been a long nearly six months since we closed due to COVID-19 in early March. During our closure, staff took courses on small library operations and programming, and maintained our online resources, such as our e-book and e-magazine subscriptions. We also fielded questions about the library service, renewed memberships and issued new memberships to many patrons who were looking to access our online services.
In addition to these very important tasks in maintaining our library service, the library staff packed two library branches and moved them to a single newly renovated location. Nearly 1000 boxes and numerous pieces of library furniture were moved by our amazing city and library staff in late June. The month of July was spent setting up the library, and we started a “curbside” book pickup service in early August. Finally, in early September we are ready to open in the new covid-19 environment in which we live.
Watching the transformation of the new building from medical offices to a fully functioning library has been very exciting. The building is fully accessible, with a ramp to the automatic front door, a working elevator and a barrier free washroom on each floor. We have a study room to support distance education learners and a large programming room and Digital Creator space which we hope will be open later this fall. The children’s area has mobile shelving which can be pushed out of the way to accommodate children’s programming. There are ample seating areas throughout with outlets to plug in devices such as phones and laptops that people may be using to access our wifi. The Art Gallery did a fantastic job hanging the library’s collection of artwork to create an inviting atmosphere.
We need to lock our drop box for returning books during the day so that the elevator is fully accessible for wheelchairs. This means that people will have to bring their items to return into the library to return them during the day. We have another box at the bottom of the stairs to the lower level in front of the circulation desk where items can be returned. Please remember to wear a mask when coming into the building to return items! Library materials can be returned in the drop box outside when the library is closed as in the past.
As well, we are opening with different hours in our new location. We now open at 10:00 am, an hour earlier in the morning than previously, and we are open from Monday through Saturday, except for statutory holidays. On Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays we are open from 10:00 until 4:00 pm, and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays we are open from 10:00 until 8:00 pm. These new opening hours reflect some of the feedback that we received during our library service consultations a few years ago. We will try to keep these extended hours during covid-19 so that everyone will have a chance to use the library, as we are also restricting the number of people allowed in the building at a time to 20 visitors. We are hoping that this way if someone needs to wait they will have an opportunity at another time of the day to access our services.
There are a few new things operationally as well. When visiting the library we ask that people wear a facemask, sanitize their hands on entering and exiting, and that they follow the directional arrows to ensure physical distancing. As well, we are requiring that library members show their membership card when checking out items, so people should bring their card each time they visit. If they have a non-resident family card they can bring a photocopy of the card or a picture of the card on their phone. If someone has lost their card they can purchase a replacement for $2.00. This will help reduce staff error and ensure that items are checked out to the correct person.
Our public access computers are open, and we will be requiring that people book appointments to use them as part of covid-19 measures. There will be a time limit of 30 minutes a session because we can only open 3 of our workstations and still maintain physical distancing. Wearing a facemask while using the computers is mandatory, and workstations will be sanitized after each use.
Another covid-19 measure is that we will be collecting contact information for computer users, and other users of the library if they sit at our tables to read or use their devices to connect to our wifi. This will help the Timiskaming Health Unit with contract tracing during the pandemic.
In addition to providing our usual in library services, we are continuing to offer our curbside pickup service for those members of our community who would prefer not to wear a mask or enter the building. Contact the library to find out how to place holds on books and arrange a time to pick them up!
Hope to see you soon!
Rebecca Hunt, Library CEO
Welcome back to our blog! Covid-19 has slowed us down a bit, but we are eager to get to posting regularly once again. I had this entry written and ready to post in April, but then we closed and it lay forgotten. Therefore, I thought I would post it now rather than waiting for next April to roll around again.
For those who are unaware, April is National Poetry Month. I’m thankful that there is an entire month dedicated to poetry, as the great poets (past & present) have utilized their words to create some of the most beautiful, haunting and inspiring written verse.
Below are a collection of my favourite works, with added commentary on their meaning and imagery.
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.
Hughes wrote about the segregation of African Americans and whites, and how one day there would be no more segregation and he too would be looked at as an equal.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
One of Angelou’s most popular poems, Still I Rise has turned into an anthem for many victims of oppression. It offers an empowering message about the struggle to overcome the prejudice and abuse of power from those who sit in positions of power, ultimately delivering the message that hope wins the day.
Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.
You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you.
Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber,
You have captivated me, let me stand tremblingly before you.
Lion, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber.
Bridegroom, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savoury than honey,
In the bedchamber, honey-filled,
Let me enjoy your goodly beauty,
Lion, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savoury than honey.
Bridegroom, you have taken your pleasure of me,
Tell my mother, she will give you delicacies,
My father, he will give you gifts.
Your spirit, I know where to cheer your spirit,
Bridegroom, sleep in our house until dawn.
Your heart, I know where to gladden your heart,
Lion, sleep in our house until dawn.
You, because you love me,
Give me pray of your caresses,
My lord god, my lord protector,
My Shu-Sin, who gladdens Enlil’s heart,
Give my pray of your caresses.
Your place goodly as honey, pray lay (your) hand on it,
Bring (your) hand over like a gishban-garment,
Cup (your) hand over it like a gishban-sikin-garment.
Nearly 4,000 years old, The Love Song for Shu-Sin is the oldest love poem in the world! It was discovered etched into a clay tablet by an archaeologist in Iraq during the 19th Century. The author of the poem is unknown, but according to Guinness World Records, it “is believed to have been recited by a bride of Sumerian King Shu-Sin, who ruled between 2037 and 2029 BC.”
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
This poem is all about choices; the choice to follow the crowd or go it alone. Many readers assume this poem reflects that taking the “road less travelled” means that there is a right path and a wrong path, when in actuality, Frost never indicated whether the road he chose was the right one. The way he is going and the place he ends up, for better or worse, is the result of his own decision making, not the result of others. And that makes all the difference.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Arguably the most famous of Shakespeare’s sonnets, this selection of verse is brimming with romantic imagery and idealism. His beloved is lovelier than a summer’s day as summer can be unpredictable with the scorching sun, blowing winds, and lack of shade. In addition, summer comes to an end, but his beloved shall never fade because she is immortalized in his written word.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
The love the speaker has for her admirer grows stronger with time. It’s innocent, passionate, faithful, and invokes a sense of longing felt between the two. Even in death, the speaker prays that she will be given the chance to love her beloved even better in the afterlife.
Covid-19 has changed many of our interactions and the TD Summer Reading Club that the TSPL hosts is now different. Because we aren’t doing any traditional programming this summer, the TD Summer Reading Club has moved to an online event.
Children are still encouraged to read as many books as they can over the summer and log them online. Studies have shown the benefits to students who read over the summer. Under the new format, there are books online in both English and French that children can read or they can read their own books and log them.
The TD Summer Reading Club website also has lots of fun activities for children! They can share jokes, write stories, do trivia, print colouring sheets, and participate in battle of the books. There is a site monitor who ensures content is appropriate for children so it’s a safe environment for children to share.
When you sign your child up, you will be provided a web access code to log into the site and are asked to make up a username, which is different from your child’s name. There is no library card required to register, you just have to choose Temiskaming Shores Public Library as your library.
Over the summer, we will share additional activities on our Facebook and Instagram accounts, so make sure you follow us for more fun!
This is definitely a strange time for us all. There has been a lot of discussion about all the things we should be trying to do during our time at home, from learning something new to cleaning our homes. Everyone will deal with this time in their own way. Some people will be productive while others will not. However you deal with it, that is okay.
No matter where you’re at, TSPL has some online resources that can help you through this time. Below are just a handful of what we have to offer, check out our e-resources page on our website for the full list.
If you want to lose yourself in a book, you can borrow a e-book through Libby or Overdrive to read on your computer or electronic device. There is also a large selection of audiobooks that could be a friendly voice to listen to if you need company. For our French readers, they can access Cantook. You need a library card to use these resources. If you don’t have your card number, leave us a message at 705-647-4215.
We’ve also added a couple resources that don’t need a library card. Romance Book Cloud has e-books that can be read online through the website. Audiobook Cloud has a variety of audiobooks for children and adults that can be listened to on the website.
For those that may not have the ability to concentrate on reading right now, you can flip through a number of magazines in English or French, for adults or children on RB Digital. You can read them on a computer or download the app on your mobile device (you will need to register on the website before using the app). This resource also requires a library card.
If you are interested in learning something new, there are resources for that too!
You can learn a new language through Mango or explore the EBSCO Hobbies and Crafts Reference Centre. Both need a library card number to log in.
Many children have started their online schooling, but sometimes parents need something else to occupy their little ones. If you’re looking for something educational, check out our fun resources!
Tumblebooks(need library card to access) offers a variety of books that your child can read or have read to them, while Tumblemath(no library card required) has a selection of stories about aspects of math.
PebbleGo is a great website (need library card to access) where children can learn about animals, science, dinosaurs, people, or social studies.
TSPL staff misses seeing our patrons but hope our resources will help you. We hope everyone is safe and following the necessary precautions.
I’ve always wanted to be in a book club but have never had the privilege. The closest I’ve come is working the evenings when one of the library’s book clubs would have their meetings.
I love reading and read for my own pleasure every day. I always squeeze in time for reading even if it’s just fifteen minutes or so.
I have friends and family who are in book clubs and I’m always curious about how they’re run and how the clubs go about choosing what books they will be reading. Every book club, I imagine is different, but for the most part it seems that voting on book choices, or each member choosing a title or two of their choice at the beginning of the club’s year or season, is standard protocol.
Meeting once every month or two, depending on how much time they wish to give themselves to read the book, is the norm but not carved in stone.
Meeting places vary as does the agenda. As I mentioned earlier, the library’s book club met in the library once a month. There were a few occasions when they decided to switch things up a bit and meet at a restaurant for a lunch meeting but I think that they ended up feeling that those meetings weren’t nearly as productive. There are book clubs that change venues monthly (usually book club member’s homes) and even feature pot luck style meals. I love this idea and I’ve even read about book clubs that serve food featured in the books and decorate the space and/or dress up themselves in a manner that represents the featured book up for discussion as well. This sounds like so much fun to me!!
I think that what I might not like so much about being in a book club is being told what to read. I sure didn’t appreciate it in high school! I’ve always been of the opinion that telling people what they must read is a good way to curb their reading enthusiasm. Everyone prefers to choose for themselves what they’d like to read, don’t they?
I personally think that it would be difficult to stay on topic at a book club. It often is when you get a group together, especially when they are passionate about the topic and are expected to offer up opinions. You always seem to have a few in any group who tend to monopolize the discussion and have louder voices. The timid people in the club would certainly have to make a concerted effort to offer up their opinions. It could be a great opportunity for the shy ones to become more comfortable speaking up and speaking out.
In my limited experience, just being on the outside looking in at one of the library’s previous book clubs, I noticed that not all members read the books assigned for that month. I believe that everyone tried but some only got as far as maybe fifty or one hundred pages before giving up because they weren’t enjoying the book. I would probably fall into that group. I really enjoy discussing books, authors, writing styles, series, characters, settings, plots and well I’m sure you get my drift, but I think I’m at a point in my life now where if I’m not getting any pleasure from reading a book I just won’t finish it. There are many more books out there that I will surely enjoy so why waste my valuable time on the one that I’m just not into?
All of this being said, I really do some day want to be in a book club so I can share my love of books with other like-minded souls. Most days I feel that being fortunate enough to work in a public library I do get to do that on some level almost every day at work.
Presently, the Temiskaming Shores Public Library has a French book club called Les Liseuses and they meet the first Tuesday of the month here in the New Liskeard branch of the Temiskaming Shores Public Library from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. For more information regarding this book club, please contact Carmen at 705-647-4215 once the TSPL reopens.
Temiskaming Shores Public Library Blog 