Labor Day Weekend!

Just a reminder that the library will be CLOSED from Saturday, September 2nd through Monday, September 4th! We will reopen on Tuesday, September 3rd at 10am. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Craft at the Library!

Get social while you craft!

Are you embroidering, crocheting, sewing, or knitting something? Bring your project to the library and chat with other textile crafters while you work!

Bring your current project to the library to work in the company of fellow crafters. This is a drop-in program, come when you can, leave when you need. Any and all crafts welcome; tables, chairs, and access to the library craft swap materials provided! We'll be holding this program every two weeks, so come once or come to all.

Questions? Email Charlene at [email protected]

This week's events:

Topsfield Library events in purple (View the Topsfield Library's calendar here)

Mah jongg: Tue 8/22, 1pm-4pm: Drop-in Mah jongg. All levels welcome, no sign-up necessary.

VIRTUAL -- Zero Waste Kids: Birthdays, Lunches, and More: Tue 8/29, 7pm-8pm: Sustainable blogger Sarah Robertson-Barnes is offering this virtual presentation via our friends at the Ashland Library! Get ready to dig into practical tips to make your children's birthday parties and school lunches eco-friendly and low waste. We'll also be discussing how kids, families, and communities can be more sustainable as some towns/cities/states move towards free lunches for all. All ages are welcome. Sign up here. (Zoom)

VIRTUAL: Elvis In Hollywood: Thu 8/31, 12pm-1pm: The Tewksbury Library will be hosting a virtual program examining the ups and downs of Presley’s Hollywood career, which started off with such promise in films like King Creole and Jailhouse Rock but would ultimately conclude with dozens of cheap, mediocre movies like Harum Scarum and Paradise, Hawaiian Style that dimmed his creativity and his reputation during the 1960s thanks to the almost insatiable greed and crass commercial instincts of his manager, Col. Tom Parker. Sign up here (Zoom)

Research at the Library!

Are you a history buff?

Curious about the history of your house? Or maybe you are looking to find out more about your family tree? Come by the library to see all of our fantastic historical resources on the library's second floor! We have a whole section of books on local history, plus access to Heritage Quest and Ancestry.com!

For more information on our historical resources, click here!

Staff Picks

Here's what the Topsfield Library staff have been reading lately!

The Secret History
By Donna Tartt
 
Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last—inexorably—into evil. - Charlene's Pick!

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
By Michael Pollan
 
Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom? -Roz's Pick!

Good Girls: A story and study of anorexia
By Hadley Freeman

From Hadley Freeman, bestselling author of House of Glass , comes a “riveting” ( The New York Times ) memoir about her experience as an anorexic and her journey to recovery. Good Girls is an honest and hopeful story of resilience that offers a message to the nearly 30 million Americans who suffer from eating. Life can be enjoyed, rather than merely endured. -Noelle's Pick!

Cinder
By Marissa Meyer
 
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless Lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, who is a gifted mechanic, and a cyborg. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. -Stef's pick!