Get Crafty This Summer

Between summer rain and temperatures spiking in the high 90s, something can be said for beating the heat and staying inside during this time of the year. There is no reason to feel cooped up, though. There are plenty of new crafts to pick up during the summer.

Arts and crafts generally get the bad reputation of being the stuff of pipe cleaner animals and paint-by-number art. It is so much more than that. Many crafts are an inexpensive hobby, providing hours of entertainment to enthusiasts of all ages. Crafting is a skill that guarantees totally unique, personalized items for friends and family.

The library has volumes of books on arts and crafts of all sorts. We have books on crafts ranging from origami--which requires nothing more than square paper and imagination--to macramé, the art of knotted string. There are also how-to guides and patterns for needlepoint and cross stitch. The library has nearly one hundred books on knitting, as well as dozens of books on crochet. Wire jewelry, beadwork, quilting, and scrapbooking would not normally come to mind when thinking of crafts but they certainly qualify as such.

A group of crochet and knitting fans meets regularly at the library. Hooks and Needles meets from 1 to 2:30 pm every Wednesday in Room B of the library; feel free to stop by and ask questions. Also, library staff will teach a knitting class for teenagers on July 22 and 23. Interested people between the ages of 12 and 17 may reserve their seat and free knitting supplies by coming in to or calling the library. We would love to see you there!

New Parking Lot Under Construction

The library is currently undergoing construction for a new parking lot. The new lot will hold 36 spaces, which will greatly help those who have a difficult time finding a spot during times of heavy business (tax season, large groups and programs, etc.). No longer should you need to park at the Health Department or on the side-streets that surround the library. If you've ever had the misfortune of parking at these areas, you will definitely appreciate the short walk and extra room, especially in times of bad weather.


The new lot will be located directly across the front doors on the short hill between the Library and Banks Street. It will be accessible from Banks Street on the north end of the Library.


We hope you'll appreciate the new space we're creating. Those who have parked a great distance away to get to the library (employees included!) will no doubt find this addition a godsend.

GCL Wodehouse Society?

While looking into online resources on P.G. Wodehouse, the beloved British author of the Jeeves books, for a forthcoming review in the Sentinel Record's Senior Scene supplement, I ran across a startling statistic. Not only does Arkansas regularly place near the bottom in surveys of literacy, education and health, it does not have a single chapter of the Wodehouse Society.

The U.S. branch of the society was founded in 1979 by the late Captain William Blood, who retired from the U.S. Army to Pennsylvania. It has grown over the years to include over 700 members.

According to its constitution, the Wodehouse Society is "an association of agreeable human beings who share an admiration of Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse and the rich products of his imagination. Our members include everyone from lifelong fans to people who have only recently discovered Wodehouse's works, from serious rare-book collectors to academic scholars of literature, and from those who go around warbling his songs to folks who didn't even know he was involved in musical theatre. The only generalization we can make is that people who appreciate Plum tend to have a genial outlook on life and a high fizziness of spirit, which leads to quite a bit of fun whenever and wherever they congregate."

Plum, by the way, was Wodehouse's nickname.

There are currently two chapters in Texas (it is a large state, after all). I think the least we can do to reverse this downward spiral is to start one here at the Garland County Library. Do we not have a genial outlook on life and fizziness of spirit here in the Spa City?

By far the most impressive Wodehouse Society, at least to judge by its website, is, surprisingly, the Russian one. It's a treasure house of Wodehouse information, e-texts, photos, bibliographies, book cover scans, and much more. I read once that Wodehouse was very popular in Soviet Russia because his work was so far removed from the Socialist Realism mandated by the state. In what ways is the Jeeves/Wooster relationship emblematic of the Marxist power struggle? Ah, we'll leave that one to the Wodehouse Society to discuss. I realize that the Cold War is over, but at least on the Wodehouse front, the Russians seem to have won.

If you're interested in the Wodehouse cause, leave a comment below and we'll get to work on a local chapter. It will be the fizziest.