Friends Groups Review Books 2020

The Friends of the Beaufort Library and the Friends of the Hilton Head Library have posted their book review sessions for 2020. Schedules: 2020 Books Sandwiched In and 2020 Book Breaks


You can watch Vicki Mix and Marilyn Harcharick of the Friends of the Beaufort Library discuss the upcoming BSI series on the County Channel:



                                                                                                                                                                        
A few of the books have a connection to local history in some manner.

This is the 33rd season for Books Sandwiched In and although all of the books are interesting, of particular note are:

Monday, February 3, 2020
The Tubman Command by Elizabeth Cobbs has gotten great reviews. I heard Dr. Cobbs speak about the book in 2019 when she presented at Tabernacle Baptist Church. Roland Gardner and former Superintendent of Education Herman Gaither will review the book. You can learn more about Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid, 1862 on the BDC's WordPress blog.  Available in print, as audio book, and on Hoopla

Monday, February 17, 2020 
Minnow presented and written by James McTeer draws upon McTeer's deep lowcountry roots - in more ways than one. (The High Sheriff of the Lowcountry was his grandfather and his parents are well known in the community.) The book won the South Carolina First Novel Prize in 2015.  Available in print and on Hoopla.

Book Breaks at the Hilton Head Branch Library have been held for a number of years as well. On that schedule, the items with a local history connection are:

Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne will be reviewed by Maria Benac, the St. Helena Branch Manager. Towne came to the lowcountry to help the newly freed enslaved and spent the rest of her life tending to them and running Penn School. You can read more about her on the BDC's WordPress blog. Available in print, Hathitrust and Internet Archive.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020
2019 was a banner year for memoirs of local interest. Daughter of the Dawn by Avary Hack Doubleday will be reviewed by Coastal Discovery Museum's Vice President of Programs/Exhibits Natalie Hefter.  Doubleday recounts her life as a white child living on Hilton Head Island in the 1950s before Sea Pines Plantation was transformed into a resort housing community. Available in print.  

As  the Chairwoman of the Beaufort County Library Board of Trustees, Dr. Anna Maria Tabernik, noted in her letter "Library Friends & Foundation Help the Library Grow" last month, each of the three Friends of the Library groups (Beaufort, Bluffton, and Hilton Head Island) and the Public Library Foundation of Beaufort County are "all-volunteer groups dedicated to supporting the work and supplementing the resources of the Library system." Supporting one or more of these groups helps support Beaufort County Library - and if not for them (and the Clover Club), the BDC would not have the new microfilm reader/printer.

A vast improvement and upgrade

If you're interested in attending the film related lecture on January 7, 2020, please register online. Registration will remain open until capacity of the First Presbyterian Fellowship Hall is reached. 

Pat Conroy Remembered - Twice

Beaufort's most famous writer, Pat Conroy, is featured at the Books Sandwiched In Series on Monday, February 4, 2019 at Noon at the USC-B Center for the Performing Arts located at 805 Bay Street in Beaufort. Books Sandwiched In is the popular free series of book talks presented by the Friends of the Beaufort Library. This program features Jonathan Haupt and a panel of noted authors including Cassandra King Conroy, Sallie Ann Robinson and Bernie Schein who will discuss their memories of Conroy. 

Remembering Ann Head is set for March 27, 2019 at 5:30pm in the Beaufort Branch Meeting Room. Nancy Thode will discuss her mother's rather unconventional life and life choices, her impact on Conroy, her involvement in local political affairs, and her untimely death at age 52. Registration for this event co-sponsored by the Beaufort District Collection and the Pat Conroy Literary Center opened January 16th and will close when capacity is reached. http://bit.ly/2Ddyda6.

Friends Groups Offer Book Talks Early in 2019

The Friends of the Beaufort Library 2019 Books Sandwiched In series begins January 7, 2019. Sessions are held in the USC Center for the Arts auditorium at 805 Carteret Street, Beaufort. Although only one book "qualifies" as a local history title, i.e. Our Prince of Scribes, the list includes some interesting titles. You'll also notice that three include presentations by the author: The New Grand Strategy by and presented to the group by author Mark Mykleby; Jonathan Haupt was an editor of Our Prince of Scribes, and he is on the panel presenting the book; and novelist John Warley shares his Bethesda's Child. (Our regular readers know that the BDC concentrates on works of non-fiction so we don't classify novels as part of our responsibilities.)

The Friends of the Hilton Head Library begin their Book Break series mid-January. The sessions are held on Wednesdays at Noon in the Hilton Head Library's Community Room. Refreshments provided by the Friends precede the program of the day.

Several of these scheduled talks have likely local history components: David Lauderdale; Beholding Nature, and Before the Bridge. 

January 16 - David Lauderdale, presenter
January 23 - Driving Miss Norma, presented by Janet Porter
January 30 - Sandcastle Girls, presented by Nevart Asadoorian
February 6 - Black Blue Bloods, presented by Neil Andrew
February 13 - The Shirt on His Back, presented by Dr. Virginia McKenzie
February 20 - Beholding Nature, presented by the author and photographer, Eric Horan
February 27 - Before the Bridge, presented by Collins Doughtie
March 6 - Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans presented by Michell Meissen
    
For additional details please read the Friends of the Hilton Head Island Library Winter Newsletter online. The schedule and blurbs are on page 3.

Make plans now to attend one, some or all of the book reviews to support the Friends who support us!

The Library system closes at 5 pm on Monday, December 31 and will remain closed on New Year's Day. Regular hours will resume Wednesday, January 2, 2019. Happy New Year to all!

Local Fiction for Book Clubs

As most of you know, the Beaufort District Collection concentrates on the facts of past events. In other words, we do not do any fiction based programs, though we do have a core collection of books that serve as a literary history of Beaufort District that includes fictional titles.

A customer called a few months ago to ask for suggestions for a Book Club. The parameters the customer provided were: no Pat Conroy titles (they had already covered those); no non-fiction; the title needed to be currently in print and available; and, preferably under 300 pages in length.

Here's the list I suggested: 

A Sea Island Lady by Francis Griswold (1939) This is arguably high on many of our locals's "best book eveh" list. One tends to either love it or hate it. It's a sweeping antebellum to 1920s historical novel based on some of the key people and events in Beaufort's past. However, it is quite a tome weighing in at almost 1000 pages.

Due East by Valerie Sayers

Famous All Over Town by Bernie Schein

Haint Blue by Carl Linke

Hilton Head by Josephine Pinckney

Little Glory by Roger Pinckney

Lowcountry Boil by Carl Smith

Minnow by James McTeer

Reefer Moon by Roger Pinckney

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill


Swift Currents by David Grimm

The Yemassee by William Gilmore Simms

Even though High Sheriff, Lowcountry Witch Doctor by Sheriff Ed McTeer and Coffin Point: The Strange Cases of Ed McTeer, Witchdoctor Sheriff are non-fiction, the content reads like fanciful fiction. I added these to the list of recommendations as well. Both are quick and entertaining reads and give the dish on some unusual shenanigans.

You can hear local native author Valerie Sayers speak about another of her novels Who Do You Love? on Monday, March 12th at the 2018 Books Sandwiched In series sponsored by the Friends of the Beaufort Library. The group meets at the USCB Center for the Arts, 805 Carteret Street at Noon. 

Local History Titles at Book Breaks and Books Sandwiched In

The Beaufort County Library is fortunate to have three Friends of the Library groups. Two of our FOLs sponsor Winter book review series.

The Friends of the Hilton Head Library host the Book Break series. This year they have expanded the Book Break series from six to eight weeks. The Book Break series begins today, Wednesday, January 18th with light refreshments at 11:30 am. The review begins at Noon in the Community Room of the Hilton Head Branch Library, 11 Beach City Road. Several sessions are sure to be of particular interest to anyone who loves local history:

Wednesday, January 28 
Elizabeth Millen presents The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. Millen is the editor of Pink Magazine.

Wednesday, February 8
Beaufort District Collection manager, Grace Cordial, reviews Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names by Claude and Irene Neuffer. Learn to say some local family and place names the way that native South Carolinians do while picking up some local history tidbits.

Wednesday, March 1
Don Peterson shares his insights into Hilton Head's most influential developer while reviewing My Life with Charles Fraser by Charlie Ryan.

Wednesday, March 8
Lou Benfante reviews Hilton Head Island in the Civil War: Department of the South by Robert Carse.

The Books Sandwiched In (BSI) series, sponsored by the Friends of the Beaufort Library (FOL), returns to the USCB Center for Performing Arts, 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort on Monday, January 30, 2017. All BSI sessions are free and open to the general public. Doors open at 11:30 am; the programs start at Noon. Cookies and donations are greatly appreciated. Three sessions are particularly of interest to anyone who loves local history: 

Monday, January 30

Maxine Lutz presents Northern Money, Southern Land: The Lowcountry Plantation Sketches by Chlotilde R. Martin. Lutz is the Executive Director of the Historic Beaufort Foundation.

Monday, February 6

Queen Quet presents her book Gullah/Geechee: Africa's Seeds in the Winds of the Diaspora. Queen Quet is head of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and a prolific local author of a series of titles promoting awareness of the Africanisms still present here in Beaufort County.

Monday March 13

Lynn Markovich Bryant presents her self-published autobiography "I'm Black and I'm Proud," wished the white girl. Bryant returned to teach writing at the predominantly black St. Helena Island Elementary School that she attended as a child in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Other books and presenters on the 2017 Book Break and 2017 Books Sandwiched In series list of programs are:

Wednesday, January 18 - Book Break
Richard Geraghty presents 41: A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush.

Wednesday, February 1 - Book Break
Cindy Johnson presents Eat Fat to Get Thin by Dr. Mark Hyman


Monday, February 13 - Books Sandwiched In

Andy Beall presents Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Wednesday, February 15 - Book Break
Marc Frey presents Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine

Monday, February 20 - Books Sandwiched In

Jim Jordan presents his book Penny Savannah:  A Tale of Civil War Georgia

Wednesday, February 22 - Book Break
Author Christopher Williams shares his book, Black Blue Bloods, a true story about his African-American ancestors who owned a 575 acre plantation in the Laurens County South Carolina area.  

Monday, February 27 - Books Sandwiched In

Beaufort County Library Director Ray McBride presents The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero by Timothy Egan

Monday, March 6 - Books Sandwiched In

Beverley Porter presents When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi

Monday, March 20 - Books Sandwiched In

Gene Rugala presents United States of Jihad: Investigating America's Homegrown Terrorists by Peter Bergen

For more information about the 2017 Books Sandwiched In series, please contact Lolita Huckaby Watson, 843-812-6490, bftbay@gmail.com.

Spring Book Sale

Reminder: The Friends of the Beaufort Library: Beaufort, Lobeco and St. Helena Branches (FOL) will hold its annual Spring Book Sale from 10:30 am - 3:30 pm this Saturday, April 26, 2014 in Beaufort Branch Library.  The sale will include thousands of books, CDs, DVDs, audio books and more at very reasonable and often discounted prices. Proceeds support supplemental programs and special needs of Beaufort Branch, Lobeco Branch, St. Helena Branch, and Beaufort District Collection.

Spring Book Sale - April 26

If you’re looking for a great deal on books, The Friends of the Beaufort Library: Beaufort, Lobeco and St. Helena Branches (FOL) will hold its annual Spring Book Sale from 10:30 am - 3:30 pm on Saturday, April 26, 2014 in Beaufort Branch Library located at 311 Scott Street in Beaufort, SC. The sale will include thousands of books, CDs, DVDs, audio books and more at very reasonable and often discounted prices. 

Their press release states:"As with all our book sales, the proceeds will help fund programs for children, teens and adults at the three branches we service – downtown Beaufort, Lobeco and St. Helena Island. Programs we fund include the Summer Reading Programs for all age groups, special events like Books Sandwiched In, and of course, purchase and lease of reading materials. All are among the many materials and programs the FOL helps underwrite.”

The FOL Beaufort Library is being too modest. The group has even been known to help the Beaufort District Collection with special requests. For example, in October 2013 they contributed funds to help with the catering of Dr. Stephen Wise's keynote lecture of the One County Reads the Civil War series, "Beaufort District and the Civil War." In the past they've funded hurricane screens to finish off encasing the 2nd floor after the BDC relocated upstairs.

We appreciate their help - and we encourage you to patronize their Spring Book Sale on April 26th.