In 1999, Forensic Accountant Harry Markopolos was asked to analyze Bernie Madoff’s financial returns. In less than 5 minutes Markopolos discovered that—not only were Madoff’s books a complete fraud—but Madoff himself was bilking investors out of millions, if not billions of dollars. Unfortunately, his mountain of evidence was all but ignored by the US Securities & Exchange Commission. Markopolos charts his 10-year quest for somebody to pay attention to him in NO ONE WOULD LISTEN: A TRUE FINANCIAL THRILLER; a riveting tale of greed, justice, death threats, and the dangers of people putting their heads in sand.

Younger readers should enjoy Edward Miller’s FIREBOY TO THE RESCUE. This is a brightly illustrated book in which a superhero imparts real-life wisdom on fire-safety and children.

Up for Adoption! 100's of magazine subscriptions. Help the Friends of the Library maintain the magazine selection. Purchase a magazine subscription from our list and receive an income tax deductible receipt. Please phone Loopy Pratt at 250-426-4771 for more information.

Preschool Story Time will be in hiatus until the fall. The summer reading club will be shortly in full swing for the summer. Please contact Kristen at 250-426-4063 for more details.

ADULT NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:

Badminton Handbook – Bernd-Volker Brahms (796.345)

Digital Photo Madness – Thom Gaines (775)

Mugged by a Moose – Matt Jackson (796.5097)

Everyday Survival English – Karl Nordvall (428.243)

No One Would Listen – Harry Markopolos (364.163092)

Reader’s Digest Guide to Eye Care – Jennifer S. Weizer (617.715)

First Nations First Thoughts – Annis May Timpson (971.00497)

Get With It – Harry Collis (423.13)

BC Recycling Handbook (363.7282)

Where Mercy is Shown, Mercy is Given – Duane Chapman (bio)

Animal Factory – David Kirby (363.7)

My Dream of Stars – Anousheh Ansari (629.450092)

The Language of the Inuit – Louis-Jacques Dorais (497.124)

Mistress of Rome – Kate Quinn (fic)

Get Lucky – Katherine Center (fic)

The Season of Second Chances – Diane Meier (fic)

The Lake Shore Limited – Sue Miller (fic)

Evangeline – Ben Farmers (fic)

The Extinction Club – Jeffrey Moore (fic)

The Aloha Quilt – Jennifer Chiaverini (fic)

The Last Time I Saw You – Elizabeth Berg (fic)

Whiter Than Snow – Sandra Dallas (fic)

The Executor – Jesse Kellerman (mys)

Cat of the Century – Rita Mae Brown (mys)

Cities of Refuge – Michael Helm (mys)

Farm Fresh Murder – Paige Shelton (pb)

Kop – Warren Hammond (pb)

Ex-Kop – Warren Hammond (pb)

Pharaoh – Valerio Massimo Manfredi (pb)

A Toast to Murder – Michele Scott (pb)

Sugar Cookie Murder – Joanne Fluke (pb)

Courtesan’s Wager – Claudia Dain (pb)

YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:

The Snow Spider Trilogy – Jenny Nimmo (ya fic)

Tempted – P.C. Cast (ya fic)

It Had To Be You – Cecily Von Ziegesar (ya fic)

Puppet – Eva Wiseman (ya fic)

Gimmeacall – Sarah Mlynowski (ya fic)

Best Laid Plans – Christine Hart (ya fic)

Reaction – Lesley Choyce (ya fic)

Rock Star – Adrian Chamberlain (ya fic)

Scrapbooking Just For You – Candice Ransom (j 745.593)

Fireboy to the Rescue – Edward Miller (j 628.92)

Dinosaurs Eye to Eye – John Woodward (j 567.9)

Exploring the World of Raccoons – Tracy C. Read (j 599.7632)

Exploring the World of Foxes – Tracy C. Read (j 599.775)

Poison – Tammi Salzano (j 591.65)

All About Animals: Lions (599.757)

All About Animals: Penguins (598.47)

All About Animals: Bears (599.78)

Grand – Marla Stewart Konrad (j pic)

MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:

The controversial yet brilliant French football player Eric Cantona didn’t understand what his fans were trying to do. A group of them turned up to cheer on their favorite Manchester United forward, all dressed in ripped vests, headbands and camouflage pants. This was in response to an interview Cantona had given to the British Press the day before. Asked who his heroes were, Cantona stated “Rimbaud.” Unfortunately (if not embarrassingly) for them, his fans thought he said “Rambo.”

Arthur Rimbaud—a poet who would change the course of French, and then world poetry—was born in 1854, in Northern France. He was one of those irritating students, the ones who barely do any studying, and then walk away with the highest grades in the country. At 14, one of his exams on Latin hexameters was answered so perfectly his teacher had it published. He also wrote a letter of congratulations to Napoleon’s son on his first communion, including an original Latin ode. By the time he was 15, he had won every scholarship and academic award imaginable. To everyone concerned, it appeared this young genius would go on to have a career as a brilliant scholar.

For reasons still unknown (and this is just one of the mysteries surrounding him), Rimbaud quit his studies and ran away from home. He spent a year wandering around France, begging and stealing food, and writing the odd poem. Arrested in Paris for vagrancy, he was rescued by Paul Verlaine; one of the founders of symbolist poetry. Verlaine invited the destitute teen to stay with him and his family. This compassionate and innocent gesture destroyed Verlaine’s life.

In his year away from home, Rimbaud had either lost or abandoned all sense of his civilized upbringing. He repaid his host by eating everything in sight, refusing to wash or change his filthy clothes, infecting Verlaine’s wife and children with lice, and used whatever room was closest as a toilet. After selling off their furniture to buy booze, one would think Verlaine would—besides beating some manners into his young charge—at least kick him out of his home. Inexplicably, Verlaine did the one thing nobody saw coming: he fell in love with Rimbaud, and began a sexual relationship with him. When Rimbaud finally did leave, Verlaine pursued him all over Europe, abandoning his wife and children, not to mention his career. Realizing his passions for Rimbaud had cost him everything, yet unable to control them, Verlaine ended up shooting his object of obsession. While only wounding Rimbaud in the hand, this action landed Verlaine in prison.

During the years Verlaine had chased him, Rimbaud wrote the poetry he would be known for. A SEASON IN HELL, ILLUMINATIONS, and THE DRUNKEN BOAT were all groundbreaking publications, ones whose influence continues to be felt. It is one thing to create something so unique it would change the course of poetry. It is another to do it before one is 19.

And this is where the real enigma of Rimbaud begins, the one which every student and admirer of his work try to solve. Shortly before his 20th birthday, Rimbaud…quit. He renounced literature, burned all of his books, and never wrote another poem. He moved to Africa, and began a career as a gun-runner and slave-trader. He returned to France riddled with cancer, and died in 1891. He was 37.

Rimbaud’s influence since his death has been massive: Victor Hugo named him “Infant Shakespeare.” Dylan Thomas, Henry Miller, Vladimir Nabokov, T.S. Elliot, J.D. Salinger, James Joyce, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg all claim to have been heavily influenced by Rimbaud. So have musicians Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Richard Hell, Joe Strummer, Jim Morrison, and Courtney Love. Even the biopic Eddie & The Cruisers has this fictional band basing their albums on Rimbaud’s work. To celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of his death, France’s minister of culture wrote out a Rimbaud poem, and sent it to the prime minister, who then wrote out a different one and sent it to another member of parliament. A total of 134 poems crisscrossed their way across the whole of France. It was a fitting tribute to their country’s favorite poet; one who’s poetic genius burned out before manhood.