Friends of Library to hold Book Sale
If you are a book lover and a bargain lover, don’t miss the Friends of The North Fort Myers Library Annual Book Sale on Saturday, Jan. 29.
Hardcover books will be sold for only $1, and softcover books for only 50 cents. There will be children’s books, comic books, cookbooks, vintage vinyl records and more.
Besides the bargain items, there will also be a special table with some valuable works donated to the event. The sale will also feature “Booktique” item, such as handmade artistic bookmarks.
Two key organizers are Gerry Sanzone, chairperson of the event, and Board Member Carol Edmier. The current president of the group is Linda Yorole.
They said this is also an opportunity for members of the community to join the group – with dues only $5 for a year. They meet monthly at the library from October through April on the third Thursday of each month at 10 a.m.
A pre-curser to the public sale is a Members Only event to be held Friday, Jan. 28, from noon to 2:30 p.m., a special preview with one-half price options. “If you want to come to that event, we’ll welcome you and you can become a member right there and then,” said Edmier. “It’s a good time to join – January – because this month is the start of the membership year.”
It is a growing group, she said. “We get new members every day.”
It is especially important to support such a busy branch. “The space, what they have here and what they do is phenomenal.”
The work the group does is invaluable to the library, said the branch’s Reference Librarian Elaine Weissborn. A new face at the branch for returning residents, she joined the staff in October.
She also commented on how busy the branch is throughout the year. “If you look at statistics concerning square footage and staff, this library is very well used. The Friends group supports many activities. “That includes the Summer Reading Program. The community has a need for summer activities for local children and teens.”
Fund raising help buy children supplies and prizes that make reading fun, she noted. They also support many of the adult programs.
Sanzone is no stranger to the library. She’s retired from library system, and a popular volunteer at the branch. “At the special table, we do have some valuable books that have been donated, along with china and other items, including the handmade Japanese bookmarks made by Yuki Mathes, one of our volunteers.”
She is also looking forward to meeting perspective new members at the event. “We could not do our book sale without new members – it makes all the difference.”
Lessons in Love –
Bryon’s Don Juan program
Popular presenters will be back at the library in a special program titled Lessons in Love – Byron’s Don Juan.
Adapted by Bill Studdiford and directed by Judith Joseph, Ian Frost will star in the one man show. “Bill does the narration and Ian Frost just moves right into the character,” said Sanzone, who introduced the talented artists to the library in a past show that brought rave reviews from local attendees.
“They’ve traveled the world,” she said. “They were on the Queen Elizabeth and mentioned the show to the cruise director, who invited them do do a performance on board.”
So popular, Canard Cruise Lines then contacted them for more performances. “Soon they were doing the show up and down the Panama Canal.”
Frost is an accomplished actor, and Studdiford an accomplished writer.
The program is described as Byron’s ‘true story’ of the young Don Juan, which tells of his adventures from country to country – and romantic trysts.
In a library official’s description, in the show one by one Byron opens the bookcases in his library to reveal colorful illustrated maps as the story unfolds. Ian Frost as Lord Byron – and 14 others – tells it all!
The scandal in Spain with its element of French farce, the black comedy of the shipwreck in the Mediterranean, young Juan nursed back to health on a Greek Island by a pirate’s beautiful daughter – young love recognizes no language barrier.
At the end of Act I, Juan finds himself ‘on the wrong side of the slave market!’ In Act II, our hero arrives in a Turkish harem – involved in the broadest comedy – when purchased by one of the Sultan’s many wives. Next, Juan displays courage on the battlefield, and then catches the eye of Catherine the Great of Russia. Throughout, Byron adds his own ironic comments on life, love and the human condition.
Registration for this popular program is requested. It will be held on Thursday, Jan. 20, at 11 a.m.
The North Fort Myers Public Library is at 2001 N. Tamiami Trail NE. For more information about a program or to register, call the library at 533-4320.