Trisha Meili, who has written of her 1989 attack in Central Park focusing particularly on her journey of recovery in her own memoir, offers a book suggestion this week.

Here’s “a powerful book I’ve read,” she wrote to me in an e-mail:

Viktor E. Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning.”  She said “it is a timeless story of his time in a concentration camp that reminds us that we can’t always choose our circumstances, but we can choose how we will respond.”

Meili’s her own book, published in 2003 by Simon & Schuster, is a powerful tale, as well: “I Am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility” which is a New York Times Bestseller. She also has a Web site. Read about her and an inspirational healing workshop she and a psychoanalyst are holding tomorrow in Rye in a previous posting and story that appeared Wednesday in The Journal News and online at LoHud.com

A favored Hudson Rivertowns’ bookstore, Good Yarns (named, I think, because it once sold knitting supplies along with books and conversation in the store hovered around both pastimes) has sent around this notice:

“Your neighbors at Good Yarns wish to say thanks for shopping with us! …. We appreciate your support, loyalty and kind wishes as we ready to close our doors in March. ”

The independent bookstore business is difficult indeed and this is a loss to the book loving community. The store was about 30 years old and one of a handful of independent bookstores in the lower Hudson Valley. Putnam County just lost its final remaining store, Merritt Bookstore.

Good Yarns co-owner Chris Kerr said to me during an interview in December that bookselling requires significant owner time and, as a book sales rep who sells publishers’ lists to regional stores, he can’t devote sufficient time to the store, even though he said he had a great staff.

“At best it is a break-even proposition,” he said. “Publishing is in a period of transition -there is a lot there is a lot of consolidation, the number of books sold is flat. We would have to work in the store ourselves to turn a profit, and at this point in our lives, we just can’t do that.”

(Photo by Seth Harrison for The Journal News)

Trisha Meili, who in 1989 at 28 years old was savagely beaten and raped while taking an early evening run in New York City and wrote about her horrific ordeal in “I Am the Central Park Jogger,” is scheduled to appear in Rye this weekend.

She and psychoanalyst Barbara Heffernan will be running their first healing workshop, “Transforming Adversity: A Day of Inspiration, Hope and Healing” at the Wainwright House in Rye from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets are $120 for members of Wainwright House, $130 for nonmembers; advanced registration is required. For information: www.wainwright.org or 914-967-6080.

Read more about the program and Meili’s story  of her own healing in today’s  The Journal News .

(Photo by Tania Savayan/The Journal News)

One my favorite book blogs, BookBrowse.com notes that the “single biggest winner” at Sunday’s Oscar show was books. Movies based on books, the entry says, won 11 Oscars.
How about that! So now that we’ve seen some movies and know the award winners, there’s time to pick up the books that inpsired these filmmakers.

“No Country for Old Men,” which won best film, director, supporting actor and adapted screenplay is based on Cormac McCarthy’s book.

“The Bourne Ultimatum,” obviously based on Robert Ludlum’s book, won best sound editing, best sound mixing and best film editing.

“The Golden Compass,” clearly based on Philip Pullman’s novels, won for best visual effects.

“There Will Be Blood,” inspired by Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel, “Oil!,” won best actor and best cinematography.

And, then there is “Atonement” based on Ian McEwan’s novel, which won for best original score. Okay, I know the award is for music, but here is an example of a compelling story that inspired fabulous music.

I do wonder why “Kite Runner” the movie didn’t get attention. It was based on the book by Khaled Hosseini, which gives an incredible view of Afghanistan, the country and its people. I liked the movie very much and found it to be a very good — meaning authentic — adaption of Hosseini’s debut book. I began reading the book, saw the movie, and then finished the book with real passion.

Happy Oscars and happy reading.

The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center in Sleepy Hollow reports that it just found out it has won the 2008 Arts Award in Arts Organization category from the Westchester Arts Council.

The Arts Award is given each year to individuals and organizations that have made an extraordinary contribution to the arts in Westchester. A second winner in this category is the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, so HVWC is certainly in good company.

The Writers’ Center was nominated by Billy Collins of North Salem (U.S. Poet Laureate 2001-2003 and New York State Poet Laureate 2004-2006), poet/writer Patricia Smith, and poet/editor David Tucker.

The award will be presented at WAC’s annual Arts Award luncheon on Wednesday, April 9th at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye Brook. For more information on the Arts Award luncheon, contact WAC at (914) 428-4220 or esiegel@westarts.com.

(Rendering of HVWC is by Karl Tanner, adapted for HVWC website use by Lee Kennedy)

The Westchester Library System has named a new president of its Board of Trustees — Patricia Fontanella of North White Plains. A trustee at the North Castle Public Library and WLS board vice president, she takes the place of Dave Donelson president from 2006-07.

“We look forward to the insight, experience and leadership that Patricia will provide over the coming year,� Siobhan A. Reardon, WLS director, said in announcing the appointment. “She has done a wonderful job as vice president and we anticipate her continued dedication, commitment, and success as president.�

Fontanella is an executive sales administrator for McMichael Yacht Brokers Ltd. in Mamaroneck and has been on the Westchester Library System’s Board of Trustees for seven years, serving as vice president for the past two.

She is past president and currently a trustee for the North Castle Public Library. Fontanella received a bachelor’s degree in education from the State University of New York at Cortland. She lives in North White Plains with her husband, Joseph.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of such a vital organization in our community,� Fontanella said. “As president, I will seek to further the Westchester Library System’s mission to ensure that all residents have seamless access to excellent library service throughout Westchester.�
WLS is based in Tarrytown. It is a cooperative system of 38 member libraries in Westchester County and one of the state’s 23 public library systems.
Its mission is to make sure that all county residents have access to quality library information resources from community facilities to online services . A sponsor of year-round events, WLS helps coordinate featured author programs, an annual Book and Author Luncheon, and seasonal reading initiatives. The WLS Adult and Outreach Services Department offers improved access to library services for all residents, training and development of library personnel, services to disadvantaged youth, and the fee-based WEBS Career and Educational Counseling service.

WLS celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2008.

It’s George Washington’s Birthday, the real date not a convenient Monday — and I think it is important to celebrate birthdays on the actual day. In George’s honor I would like to recommend some books for young readers about our first president which are available at libraries and bookstores. These might help young readers to under at least half of the meaning of Presidents’ Day.

•”Mount Vernon”
by Mary Collins
Children’s Press, New York

•”George Washington”
by Wendie C. Old
Enslow Publishers, Springfield , N.J.

•”Crossing the Delaware: A History in Many Voices”
by Louise Peacock
Athenaeum Books for Young Readers, New York

These titles come from The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. , the largest library in the world and the nation’s library. It also notes books about Abraham Lincoln and other historic figures. If you have never been inside this special library on your next trip to Washington I really suggest you take a look.

Here are two photos from the library’s Web site:

Main Reading Room (L) / Great Hall®

Here’s your chance to shine a bright light on a library staffer that has really made a difference or does an especially good job at organizing super programs, helping you find what you need or just introducing you to new ways to find information.

Submit a star for National Library Workers Day, which is organized each year by the national trade association American Library Association. Start the April celebration early for National Library Workers Day (NLWD) by telling the world what makes your favorite library employee special.

Submissions for the NLWD Stars web site are now being accepted at the ALA site. NLWD is celebrated on Tuesday, April 15th, during National Library Week.

And e-mail at bnackman@LoHud.com or post a comment to share your nomination.

Purchase College Art and Design Professor Murray Zimiles has won the 2007 National Jewish Book Award in Visual Arts for his book “Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel.”

Zimiles will receive the award at the 57th Annual National Jewish Book Awards ceremony on March 4 at the Center for Jewish History in New York City.

The National Jewish Book Awards program began in 1948 and is the longest running North American awards program in the field of Jewish literature. Among the past notable literary winners are Howard Fast, Chaim Grade, Bernard Malamud, Cynthia Ozick, Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, I.B. Singer, and Elie Wiesel.

Murray Zimiles is an artist and Kempner Distinguished Professor at Purchase, where he has taught drawing and printmaking in the School of Art and Design since 1977, says a release from Purchase.

Zimiles has researched and documented the story of Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses for more than 20 years, and curated an exhibition of the same name currently on view at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City. It is the first major study of an important aspect of the Jewish contribution to American folk art.
The exhibition Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses will travel to the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. from May 24 to September 1.

This week, albeit a bit late, I am passing along a recommendation from the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.
Its Book of the Month is “Dissent: Voices of Conscience� by Col. (Ret.) Ann Wright and Susan Dixon.

In the book, the authors “bring together the stories of government insiders and active-duty military personnel who spoke out, resigned, leaked documents, or refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal. The book tells the stories of these men and women who risked careers and reputations to speak out,� says the ABFFE newsletter.
Wright was in the United States diplomatic mission to Mongolia in 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq. Dixon, a doctoral candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, teaches on political activism and nonviolence.

Could be thought-provoking…..