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10 | Four Seasons Hemet Herald | June 2018 | Have you checked out the new hardbound books residents have donated? They are flying off the shelves. So many have been donated that we are back to having completely full shelves. We display hardbound books from 2007-2018. We will start sending some of the 2007 ones downtown to make room for the newer books. May was Mother's Day. Did you receive a new book? Be sure to donate it after you finish reading it. The magazines needed at this time are dated April, May and June. We are still running empty most of the time so please bring your magazines to the library. Please return the ones you took to read as well. A large percentage of magazines borrowed are not returned. Thank you for your cooperation. We are so pleased to have many National Geographic magazines at this time! Thank you for returning them. Our paperback books are getting full again with the recent donations. We have no idea how that section became almost empty. We display paperback books from the years 2014-2018. The shelves wax and wane constantly. The library committee constantly brainstorms ways to keep our library at its best. We'll keep you posted on the solutions we come up with. Speaking of keeping our library at its best, we have run into a situation that needs attention. A week ago our Four Seasons Library was inundated with close to 100 books. They covered the table, the chairs, the floor and part of the shelf ridge. We have said in the past that we were happy to take older books to the downtown library BUT our first and foremost responsibility is to our Four Seasons room. That particular day we spent 90 minutes trying to bring the library to some type of order. Out of those books there were 12 that we could use. We are going to try to keep this from happening again. When you clean out the garage of OLD books or decide to get rid of someone's older collection of books we have a box to put them in UNDER the electronic message board. Certainly that amount of books had to be in bags. Please leave them in bags. Return your Four Seasons books as usual. We are volunteers. All of us work many hours in the library and are proud of how the residents have made this one of the best 55+ community libraries ever! We are not a taxi service for unwanted books. Thanks to those who treat our library with respect. Your Library Committee is proud to honor our resident authors. Please look in the Art Gallery Hallway cabinet for a display of our local talent. Each author will speak about their journey and their books. Our first talk was on May 24 by Howard Feigenbaum and we hope you were there. Our second talk will be on Sept. 13 by Jim Hitt. We will schedule the other authors and keep you informed. Please support our effort and our authors. Until next month… stay out of trouble and read a book! Committee member Char wrote an introduction of our talented authors found below. We'll return to our regular format next month. Library Committee Four Seasons boasts five published authors whose work is being featured in the Lodge Hallway Art Gallery cabinet in May and June. Some of their books are available in our library. Vernita Black: Vernita is a veteran with 21 years in the Navy. She also has a PhD in Education Counseling Psychology. She has done much research in the area of alcohol and substance abuse. Her research led to her writing Parents' Perceptions of Their Adolescents Attitudes Toward Substance Abuse. Also a poet at heart, Vernita has published Life's Reflections: A collection of Poems. Mary Bowe: Although working years in Human Resources, Mary gave a lot of volunteer time to teaching preschool children arts and crafts. After retiring she had time to pursue writing, art, and illustrating. She has taken intensive classes in Photoshop and Illustrator. Her whimsical style lends itself to writing for children. Mary has written and illustrated three children's books: Alphabet City, Norman the Panda, and The Night the Mice Took Over Poppy's Computer Room. Howard Feigenbaum: An accomplished artist, Howard had displayed his artwork in the Hallway Art Gallery. He is also a published author. We're All Nuts, featuring Goober, a peanut, discovers he is not a nut but a legume and learns self-acceptance. How to Cook a Turkey and Other Poems is a book of poetry accompanied by Howard's photographs. Moving on to novels, he wrote a trilogy of action/adventure/romance stories: Benny Goldfarb, Private "I," Home Stretch and Hot Zone. He also has a series of autobiographical essays in Excerpts from a Life on Planet Earth, which illustrates universal life lessons and acquired wisdom. James Hitt: James graduated from Northern Texas State University with a BA in English and History and an MA in History. He has written many articles about the West and film. His books The American West from Fiction (1823-1986) into Film (1909-1986) and Words and Shadows examine American literature and its connection to film. His fiction books include Carny, a story of carnival life, Bodie a Western, and The Courage of Others. Lynn Spreen: Lynn began writing in middle age, publishing her first novel at 58, and winning an award for it. She writes contemporary women's fiction with romantic themes and all of her main characters are over 50. That first novel became the beginning of a trilogy: Dakota Blues, Key Largo Blues, and Goodbye to the Blues. Lynn has also published Middle Aged Crazy, a Collection of Short Stories of Midlife and Beyond. FOUR SEASONS AUTHORS Four Seasons authors display their works in the Lodge Art Gallery Cabinet. (L-R) Howard Feigenbaum, Lynn Spreen, Mary Bowe, and Vernita Black. Not pictured James Hitt.