“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, and all the sweet serenity of books.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The second annual Winter Reading Club for Adults will kick off on Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 and continue through Tuesday, March 31, 2009. This year, you will turn in the number of books you read or listen to each week. The more you read, the more entries you will have in each week’s drawing. For instance, if you read 10 books you will have ten chances in the drawing that week. A new drawing will be held each week. All participants will be entered into the final drawing on April 1, 2009. After the holidays, it is time to relax and unwind with some good books. So curl up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate and spend a relaxing evening at home and win a prize along the way. Be sure to join us each week, in the pages of your favorite story!

There will be no storytime on Tuesday, Dec. 23, and Tuesday, Dec. 30. Be sure to join “Miss Patty” every Tuesday in 2009 at 10 a.m. for “Once Upon a Time” storyhour. All preschool age children and their parents or caregivers are invited to attend. The Library’s Community Room is the location of the story time which includes music, movement, fingerplays, crafts and best of all the reading of some great books by the children’s librarian.

BOOKS—ADULT FICTION

Divine Justice by David Baldacci (large print) — Oliver Stone and the Camel Club return in David Baldacci's most surprising thriller yet ... Known by his alias, "Oliver Stone," John Carr is the most wanted man in America. With two pulls of the trigger, the men who destroyed Stone's life and kept him in the shadows were finally silenced.  But his freedom comes at a steep price: The assassinations he carried out prompt the highest levels of the U.S. government to unleash a massive manhunt. Behind the scenes, master spy Macklin Hayes is playing a very personal game of cat and mouse. He, more than anyone, wants Stone dead. 
With their friend and unofficial leader in hiding, the members of the Camel Club risk everything to save him. Now, as the hunters close in, Stone's flight from the demons of his past will take him from the power corridors of Washington, D.C., to the small, isolated coal-mining town of Divine, Virginia-and into a world every bit as lethal as the one he left behind.

Ghost at Work by Carolyn Hart — Bailey Ruth Raeburn has always been great at solving mysteries. Why should a little thing like her death change anything? In fact, being dead gives her more of an opportunity to be on top of events. Bailey Ruth is delighted that her unique position as a ghost makes it possible for her to lend a helping hand, sometimes seen and sometimes not. And if anybody needs a little help, it's Kathleen, the pastor's wife. There's a dead man on her porch, and once the body is discovered, the pastor is sure to become a suspect. Uncharitable people might call it meddling, but Bailey Ruth knows Kathleen needs her help! As a member of Heaven's Department of Good Intentions, Bailey Ruth goes back to earth to extricate Kathleen from a dire situation. If Bailey Ruth has to bend a few rules to help Kathleen save her family, Wiggins, her fussbudget supervisor, will make sure it all turns out right in the end.

The Private Patient by P.D. James — Inevitably, there is plenty of summing up going on here, as Commander Adam Dalgleish approaches marriage and contemplates retirement from Scotland Yard. But before either of those life-changing events can take place, there is another case to solve, and Dalgleish’s special investigating team, their murder bags packed, are on the road to a remote corner of Dorset, where a well-known investigative journalist has been killed following surgery at a private clinic. As usual, James places Dalgleish, Inspector Kate Miskin, and Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith within an insular community and asks them to restore order to a tightly circumscribed world jarred by unnatural death. We follow the process of interviews with the staff at Cheverell Manor, a grand Tudor home converted to a clinic by a famous plastic surgeon, and we once again begin to formulate our list of suspects along with Dalgleish and the team. This time, though, James pays a bit less attention to the lives of the suspects and more to Dalgleish’s inner turmoil (and, to some extent, that of Miskin and Benton-Smith).

Dying for Revenge by Eric Dickey — Intrigue, deception and murder in exotic locales with a noir sensibility and keen attention to setting… While on vacation in Antigua, assassin Gideon is under the mistaken belief that an old beef with a client, known as Detroit, is over and done with. That's when he discovers teams of hired assassins are after him, seeking to punish him for bad business and, worse, for threatening Detroit's children. On the run, Gideon flees to the U.K. while secreting the only family he knows, the kid, as far from their enemies as possible. Murder, double-dealing, seduction, love and some unforeseen twists fill out the action, which hits only a few potholes.

A McKettrick Christmas by Linda Lael Miller — Lizzie McKettrick's trip home with beau Whitley Carson gets derailed by an avalanche that stops their train. Lizzie and handsome doctor Morgan Shane care for the injured and scared passengers, and soon Lizzie develops feelings for the doc while realizing her affection for Whitley is not as serious as she first thought. As passenger fears mount and Lizzie waits for her family to rescue them, the stranded passengers appreciate Christmas in small moments shared with strangers.

The Collected Short Stories of Louis L’amour — The Crime Stories

The Longing by Beverly Lewis — Although she still prays for Caleb, Nellie Mae Fisher has broken up with her beau, and now, her heart's greatest longing is for more knowledge of the Lord. Caleb must stay in Honeybrook as caretaker for his crippled father, but he hopes Nellie will return to the Old Order and to him.

The Reawakened by Jeri Smith-Ready

BOOKS—ADULT NON-FICTION

Obama — From Promise to Power by David Mendell

Complete Redneck Dictionary by Jeff Foxworthy

Do you know that your preschool child (ages birth to their fifth birthday) can receive a free book each month through the mail? If not, come by or call the library to enroll your child in the Cumberland County Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Over fourteen hundred of the eligible children in Cumberland County are enrolled and receiving their book each month! It is very important that you let the Imagination Library coordinator (James Houston, deputy director) know if you have a change of address. If not, your child will not receive their books.

You can sponsor a child for $30 per year. Sponsorship forms are available on the library’s Web site, www.artcircle.crossville.com, or you may bring your money to the library. 

If you would like to receive the library “Book Ends” newsletter by e-mail, please send your e-mail address to dhkokes@crossville.com, jshouston@crossville.com, mlbrown@crossville.com or pjdalton@crossville.com.

The Friends of the Art Circle Public Library are selling Kroger Cares Certificates to benefit the library. ou may buy your certificates at the Friends of the Library monthly meetings (first Thursday of each month at 10:30 in the Art Circle Public Library’s Community Room located to the right of the library).

The certificates are sold in increments of $10, $20, $50 and $100 and may be used in any department of Kroger’s store. The Friends get 5% of each certificate sold and all proceeds from Kroger Cares Certificates go to the library-building fund.  Over $60,000 has been deposited in the library’s building fund account thus far. If you shop at Kroger, please buy Kroger Cares Certificates. The certificates also make great gifts!

Volunteers are needed in the library to work in the circulation department (checking books in and out, shelving books, reading shelves, etc.), in the reference department (shelving books, answering the phone, assisting patrons with research work, etc.), the children’s department (assisting with story time, crafts, shelving books, bulletin boards, etc.) and the computer lab. If you are interested in helping your library, call Debra Hall Kokes at 484-6790 or come by the library at 154 E. 1st Street. Your library needs you. 

You can contact the library by visiting the Art Circle Public Library at 154 East First Street, Crossville, TN 38555; or phone at 484-6790, or fax at 484-2350, or check us out on the Web at http://www.artcircle.crossville.com, and by e-mail. Debra Kokes, library director – dhkokes@crossville.com; James Houston, deputy director – jshouston@crossville.com; Patricia Dalton, children’s librarian – pjdalton@crossville.com; Margo Brown, reference librarian – mlbrown@crossville.com.

Library hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday – 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Wednesday and Saturday – 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.