Ongoing Programs at the Portsmouth Public Library
- Children and Teen Programs
- 2009-2010 Adult Book Discussion Titles
(Books we've discussed in the past are listed below.)
- Monday Night Knitting, a monthly knitting group
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Knitters of all levels are encouraged to participate in a monthly Monday night knitting group. Socialize with fellow knitters in the Portsmouth community and show off your projects! Meetings run from 7:00pm to 8:30pm and take place in the McLeod Room.
The next few meetings are...
- April 5th
- May 3rd
- June 7th
Featured Programs at the Portsmouth Public Library
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Author, Sports Journalist Jackie MacMullan, Mon. Mar. 22nd, 7pm
Come hear freelance newspaper sportswriter and NBA columnist for ESPN.com, Jackie MacMullan. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, where
she was captain of the women's basketball team, MacMullan was a
contributor, columnist and associate editor of the Boston Globe from 1982 to 2008.
In 1999, MacMullan collaborated with Larry Bird on his autobiography Bird Watching: on Playing and Coaching the Game I Love. Her most recent book is When the Game was Ours, a collaboration with Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird. With intimate, fly-on-the-wall detail, this book transports readers to an electric era of basketball and reveals for the first time the inner workings of two players--Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson--dead set on besting one another.
MacMullen will discuss her journalistic challenges covering Boston sports for 25 years, take your questions and sign copies of her new book. Co-sponsored by RiverRun Book Store and the UNH Journalism Program.
- March Movie Madness - Thursday Nights
Our Thursday night March Movie Madness series starts up again on March 11th. All movies begin at 7PM in the Levenson Room.
March 11th:  - 123 minutes
 Rated PG13. Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is Julie Powell in writer-director Nora Ephron’s adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Powell’s Julie & Julia and My Life in France, by Julia Child with... Starring Meryl Streep, nominated for Best Acress, and Amy Adams, Julie & Julia is writer-director Nora Ephron’s adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia and My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme. The plot intertwines the lives of Julia Child and Julie Powell who, though separated by time and space, are both at loose ends...until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.
Read reviews at IMDB and RottenTomatoes.com. Then after the movie, write your own review and send it to us. We might just post it on our website.
Find
other movies featuring Meryl Streep in the library catalog here.
March 18th : 
- 109 minutes
 Rated R. Director Jason Reitman (of Juno and Thank You For Smoking,) heads into corporate America territory once again with this adaptation of Walter Kirn's novel Up in the Air. The plot surrounds a human resource administrator ( George Clooney) whose life up in the friendly skies becomes his only world as he works to reach his one-millionth frequent flyer mile. Jason Bateman and Vera Farmiga co-star.
The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture and George Clooney for Best Actor. Both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick are nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Read reviews at IMDB and RottenTomatoes.com. Then after the movie, write your own review and send it to us. We might just post it on our website.
March 25th :  - 128 minutes
 Rated PG-13. The Blind Side depicts the story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Touhys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own.
Nominated for Best Picture and Sandra Bullock for Best Actress. Also starring Quinton Aaron and Tim McGraw.
Read reviews at IMDB and RottenTomatoes.com. Then after the movie write your own review and send it to us. We might just post it on our website.
Find other movies featuring Sandra Bullock or Tim McGraw in the library catalog.
- British Film Series
The Portsmouth Public Library will present three British films made during a period of resurgence in British film (late 1950's to the early 1960's) when a new wave of directors with backgrounds in theater and documentary film making created films that displayed angry, every-day working-class heroes, frank dialogue, and negative post-war themes. Dubbed or styled "Kitchen Sink" they take on the gritty side of life in powerful dramatic works such as "This Sporting Life" and "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner". All movies begin at 7PM in the Levenson Room.
March 31st: This Sporting Life - 134 minutes
 Arguably one of the finest British films ever made, this benchmark of
“kitchen-sink realism” follows the self-defeating professional and romantic pursuits of a miner turned rugby player eking out an existence in drab Yorkshire. With an astonishing, raging performance by a young Richard Harris, an equally blistering turn by fellow Oscar nominee Rachel Roberts as the widow with whom he lodges, and electrifying direction by Lindsay Anderson, in his feature-film debut following years of documentary work, This Sporting Life (1963) remains a dramatic powerhouse. - Criterion.com
Read reviews at IMDB and RottenTomatoes.com. Then after the movie, write your own review and send it to us. We might just post it on our website.
April 14th : A Taste of Honey
- 100 minutes
 In A Taste of Honey (1961) Jo, a teenager (played by Rita Tushingham), becomes pregnant by a black sailor. She leaves her feckless mother and her mother’s flashy new boyfriend to set up her own home with Geoffrey a gay and mild-mannered shoe store employee. Subjects like sex, abortion, and homosexuality are dealt with openly and positively through the emotions of Jo. "A Taste of Honey" offers a feminine sensibility in a genre that focused more often than not on male characters. It is an adaptation of the play of the same name by Shelagh Delaney. Delaney adapted the screenplay herself, aided by director Tony Richardson, who had previously directed the first production of the play.
Read reviews at IMDB and RottenTomatoes.com. Then after the movie, write your own review and send it to us. We might just post it on our website.
April 28th : The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - 104 minutes
 A rebellious youth, sentenced to a boy's reformatory for robbing a bakery, rises through the ranks of the institution through his prowess as a long distance runner. During his solitary runs, reveries of his life and times before his incarceration lead him to re-evaluate his privileged status as the Governor's prize runner .
Read reviews at IMDB and RottenTomatoes.com. Then after the movie write your own review and send it to us. We might just post it on our website.
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"Music From the Tradition" Series
(Browse CDs by artists featured in the series.)
The "Music from the Traditions" resumes in April. All performances begin at 2pm in the Levenson Room.
Thursday, April 15, 2010: Jah Spirit
Sunday, April 18, 2010: Two Old Friends
 Mac McHale and Emery Hutchins return to the Library to delight audiences young and old with a combination of Irish and American music. With banjo, guitar, mandolin, bodran, octave mandolin and heart-warming harmonies, Two Old Friends engages the audience. Be prepared to sing along. Check out their CD from the library's collection.
Sunday, May 16, 2010: Strathspey and Reel Society of NH
 Founded in 1988, The Strathspey and Reel Society of New Hampshire seeks to preserve and promote Scottish culture through the playing of traditional Scottish music. This concert will feature a variety of performers from the society playing on a multitude of indigenous instruments. Check out their 2005 concert CD from the library's collection.
Saturday, June 12, 2010: Matthew Abelson
 An accomplished and innovative hammered dulcimer player, Matthew Abelson will perform a variety of music from American roots to traditional Irish tunes to classical to Renaissance and Jazz. His performances are multi-faceted, weaving together humorous anecdotes, poetry and dramatic stories.
Adult Book Discussion Titles
2009-2010
2008-2009
2007-2008
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Chase your tax blues away with, Jah Spirit, a Reggae Band led by Ras Michael Wolfe of New Hampton, NH. With seven
albums of great original roots reggae music to their credit, Jah Spirit is practically the state’s official reggae band.