iPad Class

Learn how to use your new iPad in our free one-evening class. Topics covered will include navigation, settings, synching, printing, using adapters, and available apps.

Be sure to bring your iPad, or come by to learn some tricks before you buy. Call 972-204-7700 to sign up.

iPad Class
Tech Lab, 2nd Floor, Rockwall County Library
Tuesday, April 17, 6:00-7:45pm

We will be teaching a Basic Computer Class for those who wish to learn the basics of using a PC. We will complete a Mousercise program and learn about the structure of PCs and peripherals.

We will meet in the second floor Tech Lab on Wednesday, April 11, from 10:00 to 11:30am.

An Intermediate class will be held on Wednesday, May 9, from10:00 to11:30am. Call 972-204-7770 to register for either class.

America Saves Week

America Saves Week is February 19-26. Look for these titles at Rockall County Library

Cheri Gillard's 99 Ways to Stretch Your Home Budget will give the cash-strapped plenty of ideas. The updated version of Miserly Moms will gives moms even more ideas for frugal living.

Many titles on simpler living also offer tips on saving money. Simpler Living : A Back to Basics Guide by Jeffrey P. Davidson has a section on getting out of debt. Sharon Bowers' 99 Solutions offers readers a way to save thousands of dollars by reusing what they already own. You may want to also try Lorilee Craker's Money Secrets of the Amish.

Elizabeth Leamy's Save Big: Cut Your Top Five Costs and Save Thousands gives readers tips on paying off their mortgage early, refinancing, buying a car and bargaining for the best price, cutting credit card debt and many other consumer topics. Money 911 by Jean Chatzky gives advice on how to solve "money emergencies" such as the loss of a job.

Downloadable audiobooks from Oneclick, especially Peter Wink's Buying Secrets Retailers Don't Want You Know About can help you negotiate with retailers. In the end, it will help you put more money in your savings account.

Outstanding genre fiction

Each year American Library Association's RUSA highlights outstanding genre fiction. Choose a captivating title from RUSA's reading list:

Adrenaline:
Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson.
Each morning, Christine wakes with no memories. Christine tries to piece together her identity from clues she has left herself.

Fantasy:
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
Le Cirque des Reve disappears at dawn and reappears in a new town.

Historical Fiction:
Doc by Mary Doria Russell. Russell recounts a fictional portrait of legendary gunslinger, Doc Holliday.

Horror:
The Ridge by Michael Koryta.

The unexplained death of an eccentric lighthouse keeper prompts an investigation by a journalist and local sheriff.

Mystery:

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. Higashino's novel is a Japanese psychological puzzle that involves a mathematician's desire to protect his neighbor from a murder charge.

Romance:
Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase.
Marcelline Noirot, a dressmaker, will do anything to please Duke of Clevendon's intended bride. Will she be able to resist the Duke?

Science Fiction:

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey.

The missions of a jaded cop and an ice hauler collide as the fate of Earth hangs in the balance.

Women's Fiction:
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.
A fomer foster child struggles to overcome her past. The Victorian notion of the "language of flowers" helps her discover hope. Victorians used flowers and flower arrangement to send coded messages and address complicated feelings.




*In some cases these titles will be available in more than one format.

Book Review of Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

Turn of Mind is one of the most unusual detective stories I've ever read. First-time novelist, Alice LaPlante wrote the novel from the point-of-view of the suspect who, in this case, has the later stages of Alzheimer's disease. She is suspected of murdering her grown daughter's godmother, Amanda.

Dr. Elizabeth White frequently forgets that she is a murder suspect and often insists that she just had breakfast with Amanda. How can Detective Luton discover the truth? Why has the murderer removed the victims fingers of one hand? Was Dr. White, a renowned hand surgeon involved? Why were pages from Dr. White's journal removed?

Written with hard-breaking insight into the disease--the subject of Alzheimer's is close to LaPlante's heart because her own mother had Alzheimer's--Turn of Mind is also a literary suspense novel. LaPlante is a first-rate fiction writer who also teaches creative writing.

Book Review of A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard

This is an amazing memoir on so many levels. Almost everyone has heard the story of Jaycee Duggard who was kidnapped at aged 11 and kept against her will by a pedophile and madman, Phillip Garrido.

What is truly amazing is that Jaycee was able to survive and triumph after living in such inhumane conditions. Tasered, tied up and forced to do unspeakable things with an older man, Jaycee managed to survive
by remembering her happy childhood and the special bond she had with her mother.

Though she spend many years isolated, Jaycee is eventually allowed to work for them in their print shop and watch TV. Her favorite show was Star Trek: TNG. Interestingly enough, she identified with Data.

Throughout her captivity, Jaycee never felt fully human. On the few outings her captors allowed her take, she felt invisible. They cut and dyed her hair and gave her a new name. She was not allowed to learn how to drive or tell the children that she was their mother. To them, she was their big "sister."

She was told that Phillip kidnapped her so that he could cure his "problem." In other words, she was told she was merely an object to be used by others. No wonder she identifies with Data, an automaton who fervently wishes to be treated as a human being.

This is a remarkable survival story. After being discovered and released, Jaycee has begun the long road toward healing and has even started a victims rights foundation, the Just Ask Yourself to Care or the JAYC Foundation.

Book Review of Drawing From Memory by Allen Say

Drawing From Memory by Allen Say
Scholastic Press, September 2011. 63 pages.

Parents will want to choose this biography of Allen Say for children who may not choose this for themselves. Drawing From Memory introduces children to three important Japanese artists, Allen Say (called Kiyoi), Tokida, and Noro Shinpei who was their teacher (sensei).

Children will learn about Japanese history, Japanese culture, and cartooning, as well as the value of persistence and hard work. Sketches, drawings, and photographs illustrate the text. The title comes from Say's unique ability to draw people from memory. He draws, for instance, his teacher's first wife, Masako, who dies young. The title also has a double-meaning--to draw can also mean to pull something out from the deep well of memory.

Say, who at 13 convinces acclaimed artist Shinpei to take him as a student, has a unique story that will intrigue both young and older readers alike.