Book Notes

Spring Book Sale is making changes

The Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library will be offering thousands of privately donated items for sale during their 44th annual Spring Book Sale at the Gordon Avenue Branch Library at 1500 Gordon Ave. in Charlottesville.

In a departure from previous years, all categories of books, music, and movies for all ages will be on sale for 16 straight days, from April 4 to 19. Discount days are April 18 and 19. Sale hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. all days.

Volunteers work throughout the year to process donated items and also to serve as staff for the sale. A very wide selection of books will be available, including a number of signed or otherwise collectible titles.

Parking will be available in the Gordon Avenue Branch Library lot, which should be entered only from Gordon Avenue. Additional parking will be available on weekends and after 4 p.m. on weekdays at the Venable Elementary School, two short blocks away.

Proceeds from this annual event benefit the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library’s programs and facilities. Gross income from the 2008 book sales exceeded $160,000. This enabled the Friends of the Library to meet a variety of needs including children’s reading programs throughout the eight-branch library system. 

For more information, call 977-8467 or visit the Friends’ web site at http://jmrl friends.org.

Book groups, talk among library events

The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library also offers several book-related events in the coming week.

The Live Poets Society will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Gordon Avenue Library to share original poetry.

The Book Discussion Group at Greene County Library will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday to discuss “Washington Square” by Henry James.

Also at 7 p.m. Thursday, LoriAnne Barnett will speak on “Nature Deficit Disorder” at Central Library.

Barnett is a 4-H youth development agent for Virginia Cooperative Extension, and she will speak on the phenomenon of children not spending enough time outdoors and how to help them reconnect with nature. Recommended reading is “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disrorder” by Richard Louv.

At 10 a.m. Friday, the Literary Masterpiece Book Group will focus on “Bartleby in Manhattan and Wives and Mistresses” by Elizabeth Hardwick at Gordon Avenue Library.

All events are free. For details, call 979-7151, Ext. 211.

Versaci’s guest author for Architecture Week

Russell Versaci will discuss and sign copies of his book “Roots of Home: Our Journey to a New Old House” at noon Wednesday at New Dominion Bookshop on the Downtown Mall.

Versaci’s book traces the development of traditional homes by looking back at the way people took Old World roots and New World realities into account. They created new homes on the frontier that were similar to the ones they’d left behind, but built with new materials to suit different climates.

Versaci has spent 30 years studying the details of old houses to learn how to recreate old-house charm in new homes. He is the author of “Creating a New Old House,” editor at large of New Old House magazine and founder of Russell Versaci Architecture in Middleburg.

Bundoran Farm in Albemarle County was featured in the spring issue of New Old House, in an article Versaci wrote on “New Ruralism.”

He presents Bundoran Farm as an example of how it is possible to preserve the character and use of rural landscapes, champion environmental stewardship and meet the demands of people who wish to live in an authentic agrarian environment. He points out that 90 percent of the farm’s 2,300 acres are preserved for cattle pastures.

The shop is at 404 E. Main St. For details, dial 295-2552.

Starbucks is serving memoir by actress

A memoir by Isabel Gillies, who plays Kathy Stabler on NBC’s “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” is the next book to be featured at Starbucks stores around the country.

Gillies’ “Happens Every Day,” which tells of the collapse of her marriage to DeSales Harrison, was published March 24 by Scribner, an imprint of Simon and Schuster Inc.

In a statement released by Starbucks, Gillies calls her book a story of “loving your life even when it’s falling apart.”

Gillies, 39, is now married to Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Lattman.

Previous Starbucks picks include Helene Cooper’s “The House at Sugar Beach” and Mitch Albom’s “For One More Day.”

From staff and wire reports