(Flavor, percent preferring) 1. Vanilla, 29% 2. Chocolate, 8.9% 3. Butter pecan, 5.3% 4. Strawberry, 5.3% 5. Neapolitan, 4.2% 6. Chocolate chip, 3.9% 7. French vanilla, 3.8% 8. Cookies and cream, 3.6% 9. Vanilla fudge ripple, 2.6% 10. Praline pecan, 1.7% 11. Cherry, 1.6% 12. Chocolate almond, 1.6% 13. Coffee, 1.6% 14. Rocky road, 1.5% 15. Chocolate marshmallow, 1.3% All others, 23.7% Source: International Ice Cream Association

So don’t feel guilty about enjoying ice cream this month. If you’re feeling really ambitious you could try making your own ice cream–and we’ve got some nice cookbooks you could use. First “The Perfect Scoop” by David Lebovitz. This book is chock full with new and interesting recipes and this instructions are easy to follow. The pictures are wonderul and calorie free! The second cook book is “Ice Cream” by Joanna Farrow. This book tries some new and interesting flavor combinations and also covers other cold options like ices, sherberts, granitas, bombes, tortes and sorbets. If you have super self control and prefer to celebrate with a movie, check out the 1931 Laurel & Hardy ice cream comedy,  “Come Clean.”  So remember to observe this month ”with appropriate ceremonies and activities” by indulging in your favorite flavor.  The only difficult choice will be: sprinkles or jimmies?

Ahh summer. Warm days, sun, surf, crystal clear lakes, lazy days on the back porch, and books. Lots and lots of books. You know the ones on the list you’ve been compiling all year. If your list is anything like mine, summer will have to be extended to get them all in.

Let’s see, what will it be this week? A mystery. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larssen has been very popular at the library. A computer hacker who uses her skill to solve crimes. It’s part of a series. What if I really get hooked? There goes the summer. But I’ve heard it’s a really great read.

Then there’s Heresy by S. J. Parris, a medieval thriller about a monk who actually lived during the sixteenth century. – Caught reading Erasmus in the privy, he barely escaped the monastery in Italy with his life, and eventually found his way to England and became a spy for the court of Elizabeth I. His mission was to root out religious heretics at Oxford. Quite a role reversal. That could keep me up nights.

Maybe I’d like a change of pace. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson has gotten some great press. Let me think, a retired, very proper British Major, a charming Pakistani store keeper, both widowed; a lovely English village. Sounds promising so far. But can Edgecomb St. Mary get its arms around a multicultural romance among the not so young, with intrusive family on all sides? Add a looming developer with plans to reinvent the village, and things are at the boil. I can’t wait to find out how it all turns out.

So many books … you know the rest.

See you in the Fall.

Lilly the Librarian

MCL Notes – Summer 2010

If you want to be among the first to know about the latest news and programs, you should sign up to receive the newsletter via email.  It only comes out four times a year, so you don’t need to worry about us cluttering your inbox.

-Amy G.

If you’d like to receive the next newsletter via email, you can sign up here.

MCL Notes – Spring 2010

-Amy G.

The election for the District 16 State Senate Seat will take place on February 16, 2010.

Manchester ward map, in case you’re not sure which ward you live in.

MCL Notes – Winter 2010

-Amy G.

No registration is required.