Notes from the middle of Fall events season

I suppose almost two months of hiatus should tell you a little something about how busy things have been here at the Charleston Library Society. So there's no time like the present (doubly so because this particular present is Pat Conroy's birthday!) to offer my apologies, sit down at the keyboard, and crank out another post.

Since September, the Library's events calendar has been in full swing. Unedited's second and Wide Angle's third series have started off as smashing successes. Beatles Bach & Beer was even more fun this year, with special thanks to Westbrook Brewing for providing two excellent kegs, and to the Bachstars and Ward Williams for providing some excellent tunes. The first two Wide Angle lectures, featuring historian Mark Smith and poet Susan Kinsolving were equally stellar. Other than that things have been fairly quiet... just some small events like hosting country music icon Marshall Chapman, New York Times bestseller Dorothea Benton Frank, kicking off our great new Discussion Group, and little things like that. Like I said, fairly quiet.

All that activity is not slowing down anytime soon, either. Tonight will bring us Mary Boykin Chesnut's Long Lost Civil War Photo Album, which is teetering right on the happy edge of being totally sold-out. Next week we will host actor Clarence Felder and Chamber Music Charleston for the concert/musical theater event Beethoven: His Women and His Music, the show's first appearance back in the States since touring internationally. Then our Speakers Series lights up: Simon Winchester will be here November 8th, and Amanda Foreman on November 14th. Both are bestselling authors and really, consider getting your tickets now... these are going to be big events.

Also in November, we'll have everybody's favourite event: it's Book Sale time again! Join us Saturday the 19th and Sunday the 20th for great bargains on books of all types. It's a great way to get a head start on holiday gift buying, or to just find something stimulating for yourself.

[Please note, though, that while we love when you donate your used books to us, we can no longer take paperbacks due to space and processing constraints. Many thanks.]

So that's a quick look back and a quick heads up... don't forget that more information on all upcoming events can be found at our website, and tickets for most events can be purchased by phone at 1.888.718.4253.

On the other hand, Husk is a forty second walk from our back door...

It's funny how quickly one can discard a longstanding routine and become comfortable in a new one. Most of you are likely familiar with how pleasant the Piccolo Spoleto Literary Festival is - three straight days of interesting speakers here at the Library Society, culminating with a big literary soiree Saturday afternoon. What you might not know is how expeditiously the Library staff transitions to the two hour long lunch break we get on LitFest days. Extra time to go out and have a long lunch here in one of the best cities in the nation for dining out? Yes, please.

Of course, your loyal blogger will live without the supersized lunch break. In fact, I'll probably live a little longer... so it goes.

This year's Festival was the most successful to date, with hundreds of attendees enjoying fine presentations by Bunny Hoest, Jay Parini, Ed Wilson, Alfred Malabre, Joshua Kendall, and Pat Conroy. Each of the speakers was wonderful in their own way: Bunny Hoest explaining all the hidden reference jokes in The Lockhorns, Jay Parini's explication/apology concerning the omission of The Great Gatsby in his 113 most important American books; Pat Conroy signing books for two straight hours.

And with that, it's summertime at the Library! Event season is officially over 'till fall. [Of course that doesn't mean we're getting too calm around here... Carolina Day is coming up soon, we're hosting a special Bastille Day event next month. Plus there's planning for all sorts of cool new fall events. And maybe a few summer surprises too.]

So stop by, check out the Literary Festival display (we've got some great rare books out... GWTW, To Kill A Mockingbird, the Porgo manuscript), and feel free to drop off a snack for your loyal blogger. He's hard pressed to make it all the way to Hominy Grill and back in a mere sixty minutes.

Hey, who turned out the lights?

  Silence in the library. Some days it feels like a rarity- especially when we've hosted, by my count, just over twenty five events here in the past two months. But today, we've had silence in abundance. We've been joined by three patrons, four tourists, and the soft hum of forced air flowing through the ducts.

  Utter, crushing, silence.

  But not for long. One week from tomorrow is the start of the Piccolo Spoleto Literary Festival. We'll welcome six great speakers here for some terrific daytime discussions of their work. Thursday the 2nd, we'll have cartoonist Bunny Hoest and author Jay Parini; Friday the 3rd, theatre critic Ed Wilson and economic writer Alfred Malabre; and wrapping things up on Saturday the 4th, journalist and author Joshua Kendall and author and raconteur Pat Conroy. Tickets for each speaker are $16 with the exception of Pat, which is $51 (though that one's a reception and fundraiser, so no mumbling about the price increase). Tickets are going quickly, so get yours today at piccolospoleto.com.

'Cause there's nothing worse than Silence in the library...

Dear readers: help us trim our tree!

The final grains of sand are falling through the hourglass that is 2010.  One and one half months to go.  One month, one day until your loyal blogger's birthday.  [If you don't know what to get, Barbancourt rum is always nice.  C'mon, consider it a donation to needy Haitians.]

And with just a week of Library services left until Thanksgiving break (next Wednesday through Saturday), we have to start thinking of the holiday season.  Holly, tinsel, razzleberry dressing, all that jazz.  And while there are plenty of Christmas season blog post topics out there (like how you should buy our advent calendar... or how you need to get tickets now for the Unedited Christmas concert), I'm going to present one directly related to decking our halls...

Dear readers, what shall we put on the Christmas tree?

Last year, as you may recall, our book ornaments included tiny tomes from Josephine Pinckney, DuBose Heyward, Beatrice Witte Ravenel, and, of course, the December fundraiser guest of honor's latest book, South of Broad by Pat Conroy.

This year, they're all going back, along with miniature copies of The Fort, Bernard Cornwell's newest novel.  [Take that as a reminder to reserve your tickets for Bernard now.  Now!]  But it's a big, big, Christmas tree a'comin, and we're gonna need more little, little books.

So how about it folks?  Ideas, suggestions?  What do we add to the Library's pantheon of Lowcountry literary greats this year?  If you've got an idea, leave it in the comment section, email us, call, write, carrier pigeon, whatever it takes, get it to us.  The CLS staff will pick the best submissions, and on December 1st, we'll put it to an online vote.  Whomever wins will be immortalized in the boughs of the Library's tree for generations to come.  Quite the honor!

More important than the following blather: happy birthday Pat Conroy!

It's always interesting to browse the minutes of old CLS board meetings.  262 years of mostly boredom interspersed with virulent fighting.  Perhaps my favourite: a particularly heated record of one late 1950's meeting at which a trustee suggested smoking be allowed in the Main Reading Room. 

As every television/film Eisenhower/Kennedy period piece has taught me, in the late 1950's, EVERYBODY smoked.  Grandmothers, titans of industry, Blue Collar Joe, Presidents of the United States, newborn babies...  from the offices of Sterling Price, to NASA's Mission Control, to the office of your very own doctor, everybody smoked.

But not at the Charleston Library Society.  Thanks to the valiance (and vehemence) of trustee Mrs. I'on Rhett, it was not to be.  The motion went from near passage by acclimation, to a long, (one-sided) bargaining for "half the room" to "part of the room" to "one smoking chair", to the cold hell of being infinitely tabled.  The anger and the yelling of the whole affair really does come right through all the stuffy, formal language of board meeting minutes...

So that's why, sixty years later, the Main Reading Room doesn't reek of cigarette smoke.  Kudos, Mrs. Rhett.

 

Remember, smoking is not attractive.  Except on Mad Men... then it's cool.

Another interesting thing from the minutes is the hours of operation the Library has held.  While I've never seen a record of us being open on Sunday, the other 144 hours of the week have been fair game.  Open at five, open at six, open at eleven in the morning; closed at three, closed at six, closed at nine at night... as customs evolved  (and indoor lighting, and air conditioning, and the standard 9-5 business day came into existence), we've changed our hours of operation.

And as of tomorrow, we're doing it again.  Every Wednesday through the end of cotillion season, the Library Society will remain open after 5:30 until 8:30.  Circulation will remain open, through research services- i.e., trips to the vaults - will not be available.  We hope you'll stop by and grab a book, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy the peace and quiet of the South's oldest cultural institution during our new "after work, during cotillion" hours.

MMX

It's 2010, and we're back! We hope you've all had a wonderful holiday season, and are as excited about the new year as we are. First, a look back at one of our favourite 2009 memories, thanks to Heirloom Creative Photography: photos from December's Pat Conroy event.

We're already ready for a new year even better than the last (and, as you could see from those pictures, the last one was pretty good around here). This week, we've got a book signing with Quentin Whitwell this Thursday at 7, and we're hosting an event of the Poetry Society of South Carolina (PSSC members only, please) Friday at 7.

Next week is the start of two new programs: the CLS Writing Salon with Bret Lott, and Toddler Tuesdays with the Gibbes Museum. The salon is a ten week course led by NYT bestselling, Oprah Book Club picked, former editor of the Southern Review, Bret Lott. Mr. Lott will be guiding a small group to improve their own writing through discussion and critique of participant's individual work. For more info on the salon, contact Anne Cleveland here at the CLS, 843.723.9912. Toddler Tuesdays is a new storytime and activity program for 3-5 year olds every Tuesday here at the Library. It will run from 10:15-11:00 AM, and starts on the 12th. The program is free for CLS and Gibbes members, and children must be accompanied by an adult. For more info, contact Rebecca Williams at 843.722.2706 extension 41.

Tuesday the 26th of this month is the 262nd (I think) Annual Meeting of the Library Society. All members are invited to attend. This year's guest speaker is Bernard Cornwell. Yes, that Bernard Cornwell. Sharpe's, the Saxon Stories, Agincourt, about ten billion novels sold, et cetera, et cetera. Very exciting.

If you're not planning to attend the Annual Meeting, we will send Richard Sharpe to get you.

and away he flew, "like the down of a thistle"...

Six. The CSO concert at the Library Society will be at six tomorrow, not at four as was reported in this morning's P&C.  Six.  Tickets will go on sale, at the door, one hour prior to showtime; $15 general admission, $5 students and children.   We hope you'll join us for some festive holiday favourites from a terrific string quartet.  The quartet includes concertmaster Yuriy Bekker; principal cellist, Norbert Lewandowski; violist, Jill King; and violinist, Lauren Paul.  Fantastic musicians (they're in here practicing while I'm typing this), in a great setting, playing beloved music for a special time of year: we couldn't be happier to host this concert.

We're also happy because it's our last event of the season.   In the space of one month, the Library will have had the Fall Book Sale, the Reyburn/Griffith Lowcountry Artist Award, the Annual Christmas Parade Party, and the Patoberfest The Pat Conroy Electric Koolaid Traveling Roadshow The Pat Conroy South of Broad reception and it's associated events, and the Holiday Strings Concert.  Everyone here at the Society is overjoyed at the success of these events: but, lately, we're even more overjoyed every night when we go home and get some sleep.  The CLS will be closed from December 23-January 3rd to give the staff some time to recover... a full events schedule starts back January 7th...



See y'all tomorrow.  At six.

It's Pat Conroy Day Eve!

Little known fact: the front facade of our Main Building served as the Town Hall for the city of Laurelton on the ABC soap opera General Hospital.  It was 1986, and Terri and Kevin had returned home to get married, but Terri had a terrible secret to hide from Kevin and her friends back in Port Charles, and... well, suffice it to say, it was very complicated.  Long story short, we got some air time, got to see some daytime-tv celebrities (including a young Demi Moore!), and gained an interesting anecdote that's perfect for the blog.

Also interesting: while desperately trying to find some pictures or videos of the GH at the CLS, I did find the results of a late 1990's fan poll declaring the "Laurelton" storyline the worst in the show's history.  I guess having a snazzy town hall couldn't carry a weak script.

But as nice as it was being in General Hospital, we've got more Library-steps excitement to share with you.  Yesterday, Niall Ferguson (head of history at Harvard, and one of your loyal blogger's favourite public intellectuals) was in, filming his latest documentary.  Look for it sometime mid-2011.  Tomorrow, Mayor Riley will be here at 4:30 to declare it "Pat Conroy Day" in the City of Charleston, live from Laurelton Town Hall
the Library Society steps. We hope you can join us for this fun event... the last time someone proclaimed anything official from our steps, it was Kevin, proclaiming his undying love for Terri, but then Frisco and Lucy came to bust things up, and then, well... if you care, it's all on YouTube...

Three days...

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Parade party this past weekend.  The weather was perfect, the cocoa was warm, the basset hounds were low to the ground: it was everything you could want for the Charleston Christmas parade.  As a native Johns Islander, I was especially proud to see the St. Johns JROTC double-timing it, while strictly maintaining dress, cover, interval, and distance.  I'm certain their vigilance will keep al-Qa'ida far away from Angel Oak, or JB's, or the tomato packing sheds...

This Saturday, December 12th, we host our first ever holiday concert! A string quartet from the CSO will play a host of Christmas favourites. The music starts at six in the evening, in the Main Reading Room. Tickets will be available at the door, fifteen dollars. For more information, call 843.723.9912, or email us at info@charlestonlibrarysociety.org.


Don't forget, the Library will be closed from December 23rd through the end of the year.  Normal library hours will resume on January 4th.


Also, on a literary note, happy 136th birthday to Willa Cather.  Cather was a favourite of Mencken and Sinclair Lewis (not to mention your loyal blogger), a Pulitzer Prize winner, and the first person to ever receive an honorary degree from Princeton.  Her "Prairie Trilogy" is recognized as three of the greatest novels in the American canon, teaching generations of Americans that: the 1800's were full of terrible ways to die (O, Pioneers!); your friends hold you back from reaching your full potential (The Song of the Lark), and older women will yank out your heart, and stomp that sucker flat (My Antonia).  She also wrote the excellent Death Comes for the Archbishop, but it's much less cheery than any of the Prairie Trilogy...

It's not lupus. It's NEVER lupus.

Confirmed News: Lisa Sanders, faculty of Yale School of Medicine, NY Times Magazine columnist, inspiration for and technical advisor to the television show House, and author of Every Patient Tells a Story : Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis, will be talking at the Library Society on November 1st. This lecture should be informative and entertaining in equal measure, and the CLS is quite privileged to host it. More information-will be available soon.  The event starts at 5:00 PM and there is no admission charge.



Unconfirmed news: Hugh Laurie will also be along, singing novelty songs from A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and doing readings from Blackadder.

Okay, I just made the Hugh Laurie bit up. He's not coming. Though we would love to have him: I'm sure the man who claimed "[P.G.] Wodehouse Saved My Life" would be right at home here at a library where Jeeves and Wooster novels still fly off the shelf, sixty years after their publication.


ALSO: In much the same way that Generalissimo Francisco Franco remains dead, The Pat Conroy event is still sold out. Call or email, and we'll be happy to put you on the waiting list should tickets become available...

Dies iræ! Dies illa!

Day of wrath! O day of mourning! Pat is sold out, booked, packed to the gills, jammed full. All seats have been accounted for by pre-sales to members. There are no more tickets; there is still much more demand...

This coming Thursday is the first day of sales to non-members, and we've already been informed, many times, "My whole book club is ready to come get tickets, first thing on the 15th" or "Everyone I know is chomping at the bit to get tickets" or "All my friends are calling at 9:30 on the 15th!", et cetera, et cetera.

Your loyal blogger -the Library staffer who sits closest to the telephone- feels he is about to become a very unpopular person. The general public might have no shot at tickets: hopefully they won't have a shot at me, instead.

Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus.
-Requiem, Tridentine Mass

Okay, enough lamentation, let's be positive: y'all sold out an event in a week's time. About two thirds of tickets were gone in the first 48 hours. With pre-sale available for members only, membership has jumped. Best of all, I had enough to handle last week concerning this event that I had to put off all the old work stacked on my desk. We knew that Pat Conroy is a draw second to none, but still, this is impressive.

If you haven't got your tickets yet, don't lament (but don't delay, either). Call us now, and we'll put you on our waiting list if tickets become available. It's a long time until December 10th...

Your Michaelmas present: Pat Conroy's coming!

Happy Michaelmas, the third most painfully English of holidays (just behind St. George's Day and Guy Fawkes Night, but slightly ahead of Plough Sunday and Remembrance Day)! We can't cook you a goose or bring bannock bread, so this'll have to do:

Pat Conroy is coming to the Library Society.

To mercilessly crib John Keats; we wish a more exciting word than excited, a more thrilling word than thrilled, to express our regard for so wonderful a writer. Our pleasure in hosting this event cannot be contained.

So, yeah, we're a little hyped up over it. And y'all are too: twenty-four hours after the Post and Courier wrote about the coming fundraiser- more than two weeks before tickets will be on sale- the Society was receiving phone calls about the event. Personally, I've received about a dozen calls and emails looking for tickets, and thereby learned that hanging out with Pat Conroy is a great way to get reacquainted with old friends and distant relations (and then disappoint them terribly).

Tickets will be available after October 15th: priority reservations will be available to Society members, and tickets will be limited. Hard details- exact times and prices- will not be released until sometime next week... so be patient.

While on the topic of events, I would be remiss to neglect the fantastic one we hosted last week. Bret Lott, bestselling author of Jewel and The Hunt Club and about a half-dozen other books delivered a terrific lecture to a very large crowd of members and guests. It was a great kickoff for our Fall events season, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom-friend of the maturing sun... sorry, sorry, more Keats. Anyhow, Bret not only gave a great talk; he supplied the A's in an insightful Q and A session (that could have lasted all evening, had it been allowed); and stuck around for an hour on top of that, talking to attendees personally and fielding lord-only-knows how many more questions. As folks who know him- even those who met him just last Thursday- know, Bret is as wonderful a person as he is a writer, and the Society is always pleased to have him here.