by Mary Olson
Ventura Friends of the Library are holding a Books by the Bag Sale on Saturday, October 5, 10 am to 3 pm at the Vons at Telegraph & Victoria (6040 Telegraph Road). Buy a $5 bag and fill it up! Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s Books, Young Adult Books, Teacher Resources.
Any day of the week, please drop in to 2nd Look Books, the Bookstore of Ventura Friends of the Library located in E.P. Foster Library. The store is open Monday through Saturday, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm and Sunday 1:00 to 4:00 pm. We have non-fiction and fiction and a comprehensive children’s section. Other surprises may appear according to the donations we receive – currently we have some vintage sheet music, for example, 1934 “Love in Bloom” that Bing Crosby sang in the movie “She Loves Me Not”.
Ventura Friends of the Library will hold their Annual Membership Meeting on Sunday, October 20, 1:00 to 3:00 pm in the Topping Room of E.P. Foster Library. Our featured speaker will be Elizabeth Moore Kraus who will discuss her book 3 Sisters, 3 Weeks, 3 Countries (Still Talking). Our annual meetings are always open to guests who are interested in our organization or our guest speakers!
Ventura County Library aims to unite the Ventura County community around a common narrative with One County, One Book. This year’s community reading selection is: Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People by Tracy Kidder.
From the publisher’s description of Rough Sleepers, “Kidder tells the story of Dr. Jim O’Connell, a gifted man who invented a community of care for a city’s unhoused population, including those who sleep on the streets—the ‘rough sleepers.’ After Jim O’Connell graduated from Harvard Medical School and was nearing the end of his residency at Massachusetts General, the hospital’s chief of medicine made a proposal: Would he defer a prestigious fellowship and spend a year helping to create an organization to bring health care to homeless citizens? That year turned into O’Connell’s life’s calling. Tracy Kidder spent five years following Dr. O’Connell and his colleagues as they work with thousands of homeless patients, some of whom we meet in this illuminating book.”
Copies of Rough Sleepers are available to borrow at your local Ventura County Library branch. The Hill Road Library Book Club will discuss this book at their September meeting, Tuesday, September 24, 4:00 to 5:00 pm.
The culminating event will be the second annual Ventura County Celebration of Books on Saturday, October 12, on the campus of California State University, Channel Islands. This event is free and open to the public! Parking is free.
Dr. Jim O’Connell, the subject of Rough Sleepers, will be the featured speaker from 2:00 – 3:00 pm in the Grand Salon, followed by a book signing with Dr. O’Connell. Paperback books will be available for purchase or bring your own. Limit of two copies signed per person. There will also be a panel discussion in the Grand Salon from 11:00 am – 12:00 pm on The State of Homelessness in Ventura County: A Conversation with the Professionals. See https://www.vclibraryfoundation.org/events/ for more details.
Exhibits by local organizations and Friends of the Library groups will be open to the public on the North Quad from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm. CSUCI Early Childhood Studies & Ventura County Library will offer children’s activities. Bring your own lunch to picnic on the lawn or enjoy food from a local food truck from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.
