Danbury Library Blog

The literature on mountain climbing has been understandably dominated by Mount Everest. However, the Eiger mountain in Switzerland has also received attention for its North Face. There is a German movie titled Nordwand (North Face) which tells the story of an ill-fated attempt to climb the Eiger's most challenging peak in July of 1936. The first successful attempt to climb this part of the Eiger took place in July of 1938. It was accomplished by a four man German-Austrian team which included Heinrich Harrer. He was an Austrian and a very skilled climber. After his successful assault on the Eiger he joined the German Army and was sent to India in 1939 to scout some potential climbing sites there. While he was in India the Second World War started and he became a prisoner of the British. He eventually made an escape (with another prisoner) and made his way to Lhasa in Tibet. He befriended the Dalai Lama (who was eleven years old at the time) and became one of his tutors. He wrote a book about his stay entitled Seven Years in Tibet which was also made into a movie. Harrer and the Dalai Lama remained life-long friends until Harrer's death in 2006.

Posted by John O'Donnell at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday, February 18, 2010 is Snapshot Day in Connecticut Libraries throughout the state. It is a joint project lead by the Connecticut Library Association, the Connecticut State Library and the Connecticut Library Consortium, and the purpose of Snapshot Day is to "capture the impact that Connecticut libraries have on their communities on a typical day." We hope you'll visit the library on this day and show your support! While you are here, please fill out a very quick survey to let us know why you visited the library and why Danbury Library is important to you. If you can't make it in, you can fill out our survey available online.

For more information on Snapshot Day, you can visit the Connecticut Library Consortium's Snapshot website, or visit our own page on the Danbury Library website.

Posted by Merry at 03:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Free tax assistance is available from the following groups. You must call for an appointment.

Community Action Center (VITA), 66 North St. • 744-4700 • Starts Jan. 23

Western CT State University (VITA), 181 White St., Warner Hall, Room 103 • Starts February 3 • 797-4511

AARP (TCE, seniors age 60+), 10 Elmwood Pl. • 797-4686 • Starts Feb. 1

Posted by Mary at 03:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The number seven book on Amazon's Best Books of 2009 is The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. Mr. Larsson was the second best-selling author in the world during 2008. His fame as an author rests on the Millenium Trilogy of crime novels of which The Girl Who Played With Fire is the second installment (the first is The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo). These books have been wildly successful but Mr. Larsson unfortunately did not live to enjoy this success. He had a varied career before he became a novelist. He was a journalist in Sweden, a science fiction devotee and a crusader against right-wing extremism and neo-Nazis in Sweden. He had received many death threats from right-wing extremists in Sweden. He died in November of 2004 from a massive heart attack. The eagerly anticipated third entry in the series, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest will be published in the United States on May 25, 2010. Curiously for a writer of a crime series, Larsson cited as one of his major influences Pippi Longstocking!

Posted by John O'Donnell at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A recent article about former Boston Mayor James Curley remided me of the fact that in 1947 Curley served part of his last term as mayor while an inmate at the correctional facility in Danbury (he had been convicted of mail fraud but was pardoned by President Truman after serving five months). Other famous residents include the Berrigan brothers: Daniel and Philip, both priests who served time in the early 70's for their anti-war activities. The Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration brought G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt to Danbury also in the 70's, both convicted for their part in the break-in of Democratic National Committee headquarters among other charges--all committed in a plan to get Nixon re-elected.

Opened in 1940 as an all male facility, in 1988 the correctional facility transitioned to all women. New York hotelier Leona Helmsley served time for tax evasion in the early 90's. Martha Stewart wanted to serve her time for stock fraud here but was sent to a Pennsylvania facility instead.

Posted by Mary at 03:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)