Chess Grandmaster Awes Library Crowd

Grandmaster Kaidanov of Lexington discusses chess strategy with over 50 chess club members and visitors at the Feb. 24 Jackson W. Showalter Club meeting. Playing "blindfolded. He won of course.
Playing a bliz simul with four lucky chess club members. It took him three minutes to defeat the last standing player.
Grandmaster Kaidanov as " The Lion of Lexington" recalls Jackson W. Showalter's "The Kentucky Lion."

Next Jackson W. Showalter Club meeting is Sunday, March 9, 2-4 PM. There will be no meeting March 23, Easter Sunday.

The City of Ember--March 16 Meeting

Dystopia. What is it? Here's a clue if you're groping for a definition: it's the opposite of utopia. So if a utopia is a wonderful place, a dystopia is...? Once you understand that little literary nugget you already know something about The City of Ember...but only something. There's a lot more to this action-packed science fiction mystery, such as, an old underground city groaning and grinding a slow rot, an ancient message from The Builders, and a wild ride on an underground river.

The Ember movie is due out October 2008.

Don't forget your light bulbs!

The Wanderings of Odysseus

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. That is indeed Poseidon the sea god giving sea-faring Odysseus the evil eye (and yet another ship-wrecking storm). Ol' Fishface is upset with Odysseus for blinding his one-eyed Cyclops son, Polyphemus. Odysseus is just tying to get home to his island kingdom Ithaca after battling the faraway Trojans for ten years. But witches, gods, monsters, human frailty, and weather keep getting in the way. We Pig Skulls had a robust Feb. 17 discussion of Mary Sutcliff's retelling of The Wanderings of Odysseus.