Book Notes

Library book sale goes 16 straight days

The Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library will run its 44th annual Spring Book Sale for 16 continuous days, from April 4 to 19.

All categories of books and recordings will be available each day. That means the shelves will be restocked with fresh materials each day, and there won’t be separate theme days of children’s books and music as in the past.

The sale will be from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day at Gordon Avenue Library at 1500 Gordon Ave.

Members of the public are asked to withhold donations between March 23 and April 24.

Learn more at http://www.jmrl friends.org or call 977-8467.

Crozet club begins ‘Howards End’ talk

The Monday Evening Book Club will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at Crozet Library to discuss “Howards End” by E.M. Forster.

Also coming up this week at local libraries:

l The Book Discussion Group will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday to look at “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, this year’s Big Read selection.

l The Literary Masterpiece Book Group will tackle “Blind Assasin” by Margaret Atwood at 10 a.m. Friday.

l A 2005 television film version of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” starring Halle berry and produced by Oprah Winfrey will be shown at 2 p.m. Saturday at Northside Library.

For details about library events, call 979-7151 or visit jmrl.org.

UVa law professors edit book on Brown

Two University of Virginia law professors have edited a new book about the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.

“Law Touched Our Hearts” is edited by Mildred Wigfall Robinson and Richard J. Bonnie.

Robinson, who is Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation Professor at the UVa School of Law, was in the fourth grade in Moncks Corner, S.C., when Brown v. Board was decided. She received her elementary and secondary education in segregated state schools and graduated from Fisk University.

Bonnie was in eighth grade in Norfolk when the public schools were closed to resist the Supreme Court’s decision in the case. At UVa, he is Harrison Foundation Professor of Medicine and Law, Hunton and Williams Research Professor and director of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy.

Poets in local group read at C’ville Coffee

Poets from a poetry critique group led by Albemarle County poet Elizabeth Solomon will read from their work at 7 p.m. Thursday at C’ville Coffee at 1301 Harris St.

Group members from Charlottesville, Albemarle County and surrounding counties offer each other support and encouragement. Solomon founded the group six years ago, and now it is recognized as one of the official critique groups for the Blue Ridge chapter of the Virginia Writers Club.

Works by many group members are included in the second “Blue Ridge Anthology: Central Virginia Writers of Prose and Poetry,” which was printed by Linda Layne’s Cedar Creek Publishing in Bremo Bluff. The 330-page volume includes 85 works by writers from Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Augusta, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Orange. It is available online from Amazon.com and in local bookstores.

Solomon, a retired teacher, is the author of “Seasons,” an illustrated book of nature poems, and the former founder and editor of the weekly newspaper Central Virginia Leader.

To learn more about the group or the event, call 973-3577.

See ‘Hazel Eyes’ book author on Saturday

Local author Heather Hummel will read from and discuss her new book, “Through Hazel Eyes,” at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Barnes and Noble.

The book follows high school teacher Madison Ragnar as she recovers from an emotionally abusive relationship.

Hummel’s previous books include “Gracefully,” which she co-authored with her mother, Valerie Ramsey, and “Bridges: An Anthology,” which she edited.

For information, call 984-6598.

Casteen’s new poems come to launch party

A launch party for John Casteen’s book of poems, “Free Union,” will be at 7 this evening at the Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative at 209 Monticello Road.

Casteen, who lives in Earlysville, teaches at Sweet Briar College.

Find out more about the book and the event at http://www.thepridgepai.com or call 984-5669.

From staff reports