Tuesday Trivia

For December, when everyone's mind is occupied with shopping, partying and general stress, we'll be doing Simple Trivia.

Richard Lederer, in Literary Trivia, notes that some of the best known book titles are inspired by other literature. Can you identify the book, and author, from this snippet?

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall:
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
--Nursery Rhyme

Here are the answers to last week's trivia questions:
(Also from Richard Lederer's Literary Trivia)

Can you identify the title of the book, and author, this snippet inspired?

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
--Langston Hughes, "Harlem"

inpired:
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Here is the entire poem, Harlem, by Langston Hughes:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

And, here's an analysis.

Weekend Update

What's happening at your library next week?

Here's the schedule for events for grownups, for the week of Saturday 12 December 2009 through Friday 18 December 2009:
(Click on the link for times, and more information)

Saturday 12/12/2009:
West Charleston Library: Anime Vegas
Clark County Library: Blood Drive
Clark County Library: Film - Star Trek
Enterprise Library: Winter Scrapbooking Workshop
Clark County Library: Nevada Chamber Symphony's Home for the Holidays

Sunday 12/13/2009:
West Charleston Library: 4th Annual West Charleston's Community Holiday Celebration
Sunrise Library: Film - Away We Go

Monday 12/14/2009:
NO EVENTS LISTED

Tuesday 12/15/2009:
Clark County Library: Tuesday Afternoon at the Bijou - Holiday Tales... Babes in Toyland
Clark County Library: With a Song in my Heart Film Series - Love Songs (Les Chansons d'Amour)
Enterprise Library: Medicare Part D Free Assistance during Open Enrollment
West Charleston Library: Dual Diagnosis: Substance Abuse and Addiction

Wednesday 12/16/2009:
NO EVENTS LISTED

Thursday 12/17/2009:
Enterprise Library: Medicare Part D Free Assistance During Open Enrollment

Friday 12/18/2009:
Enterprise Library: Blood Drive

Tuesday Trivia

For December, when everyone's mind is occupied with shopping, partying and general stress, we'll be doing Simple Trivia.

Richard Lederer, in Literary Trivia, notes that some of the best known book titles are inspired by other literature. Can you identify the book, and author, from this snippet?

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
--Langston Hughes, "Harlem"

Here are the answers to last week's trivia questions:
(Also from Richard Lederer's Literary Trivia)

Can you identify the title of the book, and author, this snippet inspired?

Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory
Of the coming of the Lord;
He is tramping out the vintage
Where the Grapes of Wrath are stored.
--Julia Ward Howe, "Battle Hymn of the Republic"

inspired:
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Here are the complete lyrics to Battle Hymn of the Republic:

LYRICS

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC.

BY MRS. JULIA WARD HOWE.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightnings of His terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

CHORUS--Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps:
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps:
His day is marching on.

CHORUS--Glory, glory, hallelujah, &c.
His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
"As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on."

CHORUS--Glory, glory, hallelujah &c.
Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat:
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat:
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant my feet!
Our God is marching on!

CHORUS--Glory, glory, hallelujah, &c.
Our God is marching on!

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.

CHORUS--Glory, glory, hallelujah, &c.
While God is marching on.

Published by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments

Weekend Update

What's happening at your library next week?

Here's the schedule for events for grownups, for the week of Saturday 5 December 2009 through Friday 11 December 2009:
(Click on the link for times, and more information)

Saturday 12/5/2009:
Laughlin Library: Friends of the Laughlin Library Annual Book Sale
Whitney Library: Blood Drive
Sahara West Library: Blood Drive
Clark County Library: Holiday Dance Concert
Las Vegas Library: December to Remember: Mariachi Colima de Las Vegas

Sunday 12/6/2009:
Enterprise Library: Game Club @ Enterprise Library

Monday 12/7/2009:
Summerlin Library: Summerlin Scrabble Club

Tuesday 12/8/2009:
Clark County Library: Tuesday Afternoon at the Bijou - Holiday Tales... Beyond Tomorrow
Clark County Library: With a Song in my Heart Film Series - Across the Universe
Laughlin Library: Blood Drive
Sunrise Library: Medicare Part D Free Assistance during Open Enrollment

Wednesday 12/9/2009:
Laughlin Library: Make Christmas Cards
Sahara West Library: Family Finances
Clark County Library: UNLV Jazz Concert Series

Thursday 12/10/2009:
Sunrise Library: Medicare Part D Free Assistance during Open Enrollment

Friday 12/11/2009:
NO EVENTS LISTED

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was an interesting person.

He was born in 1812, in the English city of Portsmouth. He was the second of eight children. His older sister was named Fanny. (Check back tomorrow for the character list, to see why I mentioned this.)

His father was jovial and liked to sample "libations" liberally. His mother was cheerful and chatty. However, their jolly personalities did not indicate any ability to manage their personal finances, so in 1824, John Dickens was sent to Debtor's Prison (scroll down the far left column). Charles, at age 12, went to work at a boot-black (shoe polish) factory, putting labels on jars to support his family. He only stayed there for a few months, till his father managed to get some money and redeem his debt. Charles never forgot the humiliating experience however, and many of his books feature children that have been abandoned to horrifying circumstances by their parents.

Charles was extremely focused on income, as a result of this experience. No "starving writer" life for him. He wrote for income.

Charles graduated from school at 15, and did not go to college. He lived at home for the next several years, and worked two jobs which would color his novels: clerk at a law office and news reporter for the Morning Chronicle, where he covered a variety of political issues. Charles was also involved with the theater - both as a spectator and as a potential actor. He scored an audition at Covent Garden Theatre, but was so ill that day, he cancelled, and never rescheduled.

Charles submitted his first story to the Monthly Magazine in 1833. He did not get any payment for the first nine stories he published there. After those first nine sketches established him as a successful writer, he started requiring payment for his stories, and started publishing in other magazines and newspapers. He'd eventually gather 60 of these sketches together and publish them as Sketches by Boz. (Boz, rhymes with Laws, was his pen name for about 3 years.)

After that his publishing career took off. In 1836, he stopped working for the Morning Chronicle, and started writing full-time. He also married at this time, and started his eventual family of 10 children. Charles had a wandering eye, and "idolized" his wife's younger sister Mary, and after Mary's death, Kate's even younger sister Georgina. Charles eventually left Kate in 1858, and took up with an 18 year old actress, Ellen Ternan, who was his mistress till his death in 1870.

Dickens published some of the most recognizable titles in the history of literature: David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, The Cricket on the Hearth, and of course, A Christmas Carol.

A Christmas Carol - Introduction

Christmas.

How many of you, who celebrate Christmas, do so with presents, a tree, a turkey, and the day off of work?

Prior to the publication of A Christmas Carol, these things were not the normal way people celebrated Christmas. Charles Dickens started the tradition of Christmas as we know it.

A Christmas Carol is one of the best known stories in the western world. "Scrooge" is a recognized noun (a niggard: a selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend). "Bah, Humbug!" is instantly recognizable. "Tiny Tim" is a byword for the heart rending tragic character in a story.

We've all seen A Christmas Carol on TV. How many versions have you seen? Mickey Mouse? Mr. Magoo? The Muppets? The newest one with Jim Carey?

Most people have never read the actual book however. This is your chance to see the original, and appreciate its humor and detail.

Enjoy, and prepare for a great holiday season!

Tuesday Trivia

For December, when everyone's mind is occupied with shopping, partying and general stress, we'll be doing Simple Trivia.

Richard Lederer, in Literary Trivia, notes that some of the best known book titles come from other literature. Can you identify the book, and author, from this snippet?

Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory
Of the coming of the Lord;
He is tramping out the vintage
Where the Grapes of Wrath are stored.
--Julia Ward Howe, "Battle Hymn of the Republic"


Here are the answers to last week's trivia questions:
(Also from Richard Lederer's Literary Trivia)

Some people dismiss Shakespeare because all he ever did was write in cliches.... Oddly, some of the quotes we attribute to Old Will, we often get wrong!

Fill in the correct word for the famous quotation:

From Hamlet: "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him _Horatio_" (Hamlet) (Everyone wants to say "I knew him well!")
From King John: "To _paint_ the lily" (King John) (Everyone wants to say "Gild the lily")
From The Merchant of Venice: "All that _glisters_ is not gold." (Merchant of Venice) (Not "glitters"!)
From Hamlet: "_Dog_ will have his day." (Hamlet) (Not "Every dog")
From Hamlet: "To the _manner_ born" (Hamlet) (Not "Manor")