Four Seasons Book Group for Winter 2023

Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 11 a.m.

CANCELLED

We apologize that we need to cancel the Saturday, April 22 Four Seasons Book Group due to circumstances beyond our control. Stay tuned as we investigate how we will continue the book discussion group at the Diamond Bar Library. Thank you to all who supported and enjoyed this quarterly community literary gathering.

Our famous Wine Soirée is coming back! Please see the invitation below and mark your calendars for Sunday, August 6, 2023, from 4 to  7 pm. Since 1994 the Friends have supported the Diamond Library  with this unique fundraiser. It has also been a great event for the community to gather for a very afternoon and also support literacy. Join us to celebrate at the Diamond Bar Library and enjoy an afternoon of community celebration of literacy with music, silence, live and book auctions, and raffle. With each ticket, you will receive a souvenir wine glass. Tickets are not yet available. Please check our website www.dblibraryfriends.org in the future for when tickets will be available.

CELEBRATE AT THE Diamond Bar Library

Friends of the Diamond Bar Library

Invite you to the 29^th annual Wine Soirée

Sunday, August 6, 2023

4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

21800 Copley Drive

Diamond Bar, CA 91765

(Note location change)

SAVE THE DATE!

All proceeds directly benefit the Diamond Bar Library

Tickets are $75 each

Must be age 21 or older to attend

Reserve early—tickets are limited. Tickets will be available soon.

For more information visit www.dblibraryfriends.org or call 909 629-2711

LOS ANGELES COUNTY LIBRARY COMMISSION

Diamond Bar welcomed the LA County Library Commission on March 15^th in our library.

This was the first in-person meeting in three years for the Commission.

Eight commissioners from various cities were represented, including the Mayor of Baldwin Park and the Mayor of Lakewood.

Our very own Nancy Lyons was honored for more than four years of dedicated service to the LA County Library Commission, providing advisement on matters of library policy and promoting library services to ensure that county libraries remain centers of learning and important community hubs. Congratulations Nancy!

The Commission members enjoyed a hospitality table sponsored by the Diamond Bar Friends of the Library.

After the meeting adjourned, our interim Library Manager, Cynthia Yuan took the commissioners on a tour of our beautiful library!

All Library Commission meetings are open to the public.

Congratulations to our own Rachel Kirk who was recently appointed to the Los Angeles County Commission for Older Adults by our Los Angeles County District 1 Supervisor Hilda Solis. There are 25 commissioners, five from each of the five districts.  The whole Commission meets once a month 

Friends of the Library Bookstore News

Located in the Diamond Bar Library

Each book and item sold in the bookstore supports the Diamond Bar Library to enlarge their reading and media collections. Improving literacy in our community one book at a time.

Bookstore hours are:

Monday through Saturday 11 am to 5 pm

Thank you to all our customers who support our Friends of the Library Bookstore!

Look for the free Opportunity Basket in the Bookstore. Each customer is entitled to one free ticket per transaction. Friends’ board member MaryKay Nichols makes these beautiful baskets.

FROM THE BOOK NOOK

“WE LOSE OURSELVES IN BOOKS. WE SOMETIMES FIND OURSELVES THERE TOO.”

Do you have books that you are reading that you would like to share? We would love to hear from you about our upcoming e-newsletters.

From Cynthia Yu, Interim Community Library Manager

The Little Book of Joy by Dalai Lama XIV

This picture book is beautiful and inspirational! Nobel Peace Prize winners His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu shared their childhood stories and wisdom to show young readers that joy is everywhere, even during the most difficult of times.

From: Janet Ramirez-Manchan, Teen Services Librarian

The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim 

Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes this lively retelling of Pride and Prejudice as a modern day rom-com. Zahra Kha is trying to forge her own path in love, but her Bangladeshi mother is intent on saving the family from their financial woes by arranging an advantageous match for her. The problem is that her intended match leaves her cold, and she already has a love interest in mind. She works out an arrangement with the aloof target of her mother’s meddling to pretend to go along with the match to escape the relentless matchmaking. Soon, Zahra is getting what she wants and dating the person of her choosing but she soon realizes that her mother’s choice was right all along.

From: Patty Tye

Patty is reading with her Granddaughter Brooklyn and enjoying The Pigeon Needs a Bath! This one of author Mo Willems many delightful children’s books that are full of fun, enjoyable to read to our children and grandchildren.

From:  Kathleen Newe

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah  Because I was planning a trip to Alaska, someone recommended this book to me. It is an exciting book set in 1974 Alaska about a family struggling to adapt to this very challenging environment. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in 18 hours of night, the family learn the terrible truth:  They are on their own. I am sure my 6 day visit will be very different, but the book gave me a broad view of what it takes to survive in Alaska.

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout  This is a poignant, moving, pitch perfect novel about a divorced couple stuck together during COVID lockdown—and the love, loss despair and hope that animate us even as the world is falling apart.

From:  Nancy Lyons

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

Hedy Lamarr was a stunning beauty, and she also possessed a stunning mind. Fleeing World War II, she escaped to Hollywood and became a famous movie star. She was also a scientist and knew a few secrets about the enemy. She had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis…if anyone would listen to her.

Whether you are interested in Old Hollywood or World War II, there is much to learn and enjoy here.

From: Reading Between the Lines Book Group

 Karen Gerloff tells us that the April 24 selection will be The Ride of Her Life by Elizabeth Letts, a very unique true story of a 62 year old woman’s journey on horseback from Maine to California. The story is set in 1954 to 1955 as the interstate highway system was bein          g built and cars were multiplying. Annie Wilkins lived in rural Maine in a farmhouse, really a shed, with no electricity, running water and owned no car. She was in poor health and had been advised to live a life of rest as she had only two years to live. Annie left on her journey across American with no flashlight, batteries, road map, cell phone and very little money. Her goal was to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. Was she brave or foolish? Did she make it to California? How in the world did her trip go with cars speeding past? How did she know which way to go?

Vicki Hoofner chose The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner for the May 22 meeting. It is a historical murder suspense set in eighteenth century London and also in the present day.

From: Diamond Bar-Walnut AAUW Book Group

The April pick is The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

“The Paris Library is a refreshing novel that celebrates libraries as cradles of community, especially when we need them the most. It shows how literature can be a means of escape, a catalyst for human connection, and a moral center in grim times. A thoroughly enjoyable read, kindhearted and brimming with delightful bookish allusions.”  ….Matthew Sullivan, author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore.