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Meet the Big Book Club Podcast

A Monthly Podcast for Book Lovers

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Do you want to join a book club but don't have time? Did you just finish a book you loved, but you don't have anyone to talk with? Want to know more about the books everyone is talking about?

The Big Book Club Podcast is for you!

Each month on the podcast our librarian-bibliophile hosts will share their insights and reactions to a buzz-worthy book. Episodes will feature popular books, books in the news, classics worth a second look, and titles coming to a theater near you - the books Arlington readers are talking about, and will be talking about.

How to Big Book Club

Just listen! It doesn't matter whether you read the book with us, have read it in the past, or just want to hear what our hosts think - there is no wrong way to Big Book Club.

Warning: there will be spoilers! So if you don't want to know what happens in a particular book, save that episode until after you've finished reading.

Want to Talk About the Books?

You can join the conversation each month with fellow listeners on our Facebook group and Goodreads group, or on Twitter with the hashtag #BigBookPodcast.

Ready to Give it a Try?

Subscribe to the Big Book Club Podcast in your favorite podcast app, or listen online on:

Episodes available now:

Future episode will drop at the end of each month:

Schedule may change based on unexpected factors.

Valentine’s Day Postcards

The price of a stamp to mail a postcard in the early 1900s was just one penny. 

Postcard sent from Morgantown. WV, February 14, 1913

Postcard sent from Annapolis, MD, February 12, 1909

These Valentine's Day postcards, part of a collection sent from around the region to Miss Irene Andris, have postmarks ranging from 1906 through 1913. Some include personal messages, but many are simply addressed to the recipient.

Irene Andris was the grandmother of a Library employee, who donated the collection to the Center for Local History.

Postcard sent from Morgantown. WV, date stamp illegible.

Postcard sent from Morgantown. WV, February 14, 10 a.m., no year.

The Center for Local History has a large collection of holiday-themed postcards from the early-to-mid 20th Century. There are also postcards for birthdays, New Year’s, Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, and the Fourth of July. 

The first American postcard was pressed in 1873. Postcards quickly became an inexpensive form of communication, growing in popularity throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries. The study and collection of postcards, which you've just learned a little bit about by reading this, is called Deltiology.

To see more of the postcard collection, or to learn more about Arlington's history, visit the Center for Local History on the first floor of the Central Library.

Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share? 

Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.

Center For Local History - Blog Post Message Form

Do you have a question about this story, or a personal experience to share? Use this form to send a message to the Center for Local History.

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George Washington Day? Presidents Day? Washington’s Birthday?

The Federal Holiday Celebrated the 3rd Monday in February is "Washington's Birthday"

Edward Penfield, illustrator. Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division,  cph.3g12932.

But if you live in the Metro DC area, keeping track of this holiday's name can be confusing...

  • In Virginia, the official state holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February is named George Washington Day.
  • In Maryland, they now celebrate the state holiday President's Day on the third Monday, but until 1996, MD celebrated Lincoln's birthday on Feb. 12 and Washington's Birthday on the third Monday of February.
  • In Washington D.C., the Human Resources Department matches the federal holiday and marks the third Monday of February as Washington's Birthday (pdf p.14).
  • The United States Office of Personell Management (Federal Government) marks the third Monday of February as Washington's Birthday.

While "Lincoln's Birthday" is a separate holiday in some states, and "Presidents Day" is the name of the holiday in other states (although no one agrees on the punctuation), the term "Presidents Day" was never adopted as the name of the federal holiday.

From the Encyclopaedia Britannica:

Presidents Day: In the United States, [a holiday] (third Monday in February) popularly recognized as honouring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The day is sometimes understood as a celebration of the birthdays and lives of all U.S. presidents.

The origin of Presidents’ Day lies in the 1880s, when the birthday of Washington—commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first president of the United States—was first celebrated as a federal holiday. In 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Bill, which moved a number of federal holidays to Mondays. The change was designed to schedule certain holidays so that workers had a number of long weekends throughout the year, but it has been opposed by those who believe that those holidays should be celebrated on the dates they actually commemorate.

During debate on the bill, it was proposed that Washington’s Birthday be renamed Presidents’ Day to honour the birthdays of both Washington (February 22) and Lincoln (February 12); although Lincoln’s birthday was celebrated in many states, it was never an official federal holiday. Following much discussion, Congress rejected the name change.

After the bill went into effect in 1971, however, Presidents’ Day became the commonly accepted name, due in part to retailers’ use of that name to promote sales and the holiday’s proximity to Lincoln’s birthday. Presidents’ Day is usually marked by public ceremonies in Washington, D.C., and throughout the country.

"Presidents’ Day." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 18 Feb. 2011. academic-eb-com.library.access.arlingtonva.us/levels/collegiate/article/Presidents-Day/389228.  Accessed 12 Feb. 2018.

[Article originally posted Feb. 9, 2012. Sources checked and citations updated February 12, 2018; February 6, 2019; February 10, 2020]

Arlington Reads Starts March 10 with Roxane Gay

Arlington Reads brings authors and readers together to talk about the important topics of our time.

Spring Authors:

  • March 10 – Roxane Gay in conversation with Library Director Diane Kresh
  • April 2 – Laila Lalami
  • April 22 – Rebecca Traister
  • May 7 – Valeria Luiselli
  • May 19 – Brooke Gladstone in conversation with Library Director Diane Kresh

The Library Director’s 2020 Book List

Looking for Winter Reading inspiration? Diane shares her list for the New Year:

“So many books, so little time.”
― Frank Zappa (1940–1993), American multi-instrumentalist musician, composer, bandleader and reader.

That about sums it up. No matter how many books I read, there are still more … too many more. And to compound the misery, I work in a library where browsable book stacks are steps from my office, where I can place an infinite number of holds, where colleagues tell me what their book clubs are reading or give me books as presents. And I am not even talking about the stacks of books on my nightstand at home, awaiting my attention, recommended by the book review podcasts I listen to while walking the treadmill.

In the spirit of new year’s resolutions, I created a “to do” list of books I hope to complete by the end of the calendar year. The list is my own and covers a range from the truly random to guilty pleasures.

All of my picks are available at Arlington Public, your favorite local library. Now to start turning some pages …

Minding the Gap

James Baldwin.  I am embarrassed to admit that I have not read anything by Baldwin … an oversight I must correct as we draw closer to 2024, the centenary of his birth.  The two I have elected to start with “Giovanni’s Room” and “The Fire Next Time”

Fyodor Dostoevsky.  “Oh Boy, Tolstoy!” APL’s adult reading venture of a couple of years ago, got me thinking about Russian tomes.  A wise friend told me that if I want to understand Russian aspirations, read Tolstoy, to understand the Russian soul, read Dostoevsky.  So “Crime and Punishment” it is.  And if I can’t make it through, I’ll tackle the novella, “Notes from the Underground.”

Guilty Pleasures

“The Chestnut Man,” by Soren Sveistrup.  A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen. Can’t wait.

“Disappearing Earth,” by Julia Phillips. A debut novel, two young sisters disappear on the Kamchatka peninsula, the northeastern edge of Russia.  It appeared on many “best of” lists at year end.

Dusting off Classics

John Steinbeck.  “East of Eden,” sometimes you just need a big sprawling morality tale.

Hot Issues

Ralph Thaler/Cass Sunstein, “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness.” From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Richard H. Thaler, and Cass R. Sunstein: a look at how people make decisions.

Bina Venkataraman “The Optimist's Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age.” How to mitigate loss based on short-sightedness and think more strategically about the future.

Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir, “Scarcity” How to manage with less than one needs.

An Author I Haven’t Read

Ocean Vuong, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,“ by Ocean Vuong.  A son writes to his mother who cannot read. Viet Nam, finding one’s voice, race, class, and the love between a mother and son.

Bernardine Evaristo, “Girl, Woman, Other.” Modern Britain and womanhood, a novel about the lives of black British families, “struggles, pains, longings and loves.” I’ve already started this one --- the writing is lively, fresh, funny. Reminds me a bit of Zadie Smith’s “White Teeth.”

Memoirs

I’ve been working through the NYT’s fantastic list of “50 Best Memoirs of the last 50 years and plucked Annie Dillard’s “An American Childhood.”

Samantha Powers, “The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir.” Political memoir; on the front lines of   American foreign policy.  From 2013 to 2017, Power served in the Cabinet of President Barack Obama and as US Ambassador to the United Nations. Powers modeled her memoir on Andre Agassi’s “Open” which was an amazing book.

Short Stories

I got hooked on short stories in 8th grade. Classics like “Under the Lion’s Paw” by Hamlin Garland, “Silent Snow, Secret Snow,” by Conrad Aiken (now out of print), and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.”

Lucia Berlin, ed. Stephen Emerson, “A Manual for Cleaning Women.” Alice Munro and Raymond Carver territory.

Nancy Hale, “Where the Light Falls.” A rediscovery of a mid-century master storyteller.  Noir-ish, taboo subjects; subversive and mature.

Fun for Theater and Film Geeks

Ash Carter and Sam Kashner “Life Isn't Everything: Mike Nichols, as Remembered by 150 of His Closest Friends.”

Alexandra Jacobs, “Still Here: The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch.”

Re-Visits

Erich Maria Remarque, “All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel.” I first read this more than 20 years ago and there are scenes I can’t forget.

Louisa May Alcott, “Little Women.”  A coming of age story, nascent feminism, in praise of individuality.

Geraldine Brooks, “March.” Historical fiction, the father of the girls in “Little Women” goes off to aid the Union cause in the Civil War.

And finally...

Arlington Reads Spring 2020 Authors

Sponsored by the Friends of the Arlington Public Library, Arlington Reads has grown from one book in the fall of a given year to close to a dozen annual events centralized around a theme and including both fiction and nonfiction.  It goes without saying that I will read each of the selected books and that I will likely read more by the author in preparation for each event.  So right off the bat, I have added exponentially to the task ahead. There’s something for everyone in this year’s themed program, “We the People.”

First up, on Tuesday, March 10, is Roxanne Gay, culture critic and author of “Hunger,” and “Bad Feminist,” among other works of fiction and nonfiction. I hope to see you there!

Browse Diane's 2020 Book List

Celebrate Black History Month

2020

Black History Month (also known as African-American History Month) is an annual celebration of achievements by African-Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of blacks in American history.

It began in 1926 as "Negro History Week," and became a national celebratory month in 1976.

Black History Month

Events at the Library

Free AARP Tax Preparation Help at the Library

For People with Low or Moderate Income

Ayuda para la Preparación de Impuestos para Personas de Bajos Recursos

How does it work?

Please note: the IRS no longer supplies the Library with tax forms.

2020 Winter Reading Challenge

Wednesday, Jan. 1 – Sunday, March 1

How to Participate

  • Pick up a Winter Reading 2019 bookmark at any Library location.
  • Read 3 books of your choosing.
  • Track your reading on the Winter Reading 2019 bookmark.
  • Return your completed Winter Reading 2019 bookmark to any Library location to claim a prize.

Prizes

  • Kids – Dover activity book
  • Teens – Choice of a blank journal OR the adult prize
  • Adults – Coupon for a free book from any of the ongoing Friend’s of the Arlington Public Library book sales, at Central Library or any of the Branches. Coupon must be redeemed by March 15; when coupon is redeemed, you will be entered into a raffle to win a set of books by our spring 2020 Arlington Reads authors.

Hot Chocolate Party – Saturday, March 14, 2-4 p.m.

Celebrate Winter Reading with hot chocolate, snacks, crafts, door prizes and more!

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