Pig Skulls Eyeball Cyclops

We Pig Skulls went eyes-to-eye with bad ol' Cyclops and emerged victorious. Our Feb. 17 discussion of Mary Sutcliff's The Wanderings of Odysseus was a robust one. It's hard to go wrong with cyclopi (plural?), witches, warring gods, big bags of wind, and assorted bad guys all trying to break your bones or ship. These are some of the books we've read since our February 2007 creation. Happy 1st birthday Pig Skulls!

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.

Grandmaster Kaidanov Visit Rescheduled For Feb. 24

Mark your calendar. Chess Grandmaster Kaidanov's canceled Dec. 9 presentation has been rescheduled for Feb. 24, 2-4 PM. This will be a rare treat for anyone who loves chess.

The Jackson W. Showalter Chess Club will next meet Jan. 13 and 27, 2-4 PM.

Archive of Discussed Pig Skull Books

Here are the books we discussed during 2007: Artemis Fowl (Feb.), Arctic Incident, Eternity Code, Opal Deception, Lost Colony (June), Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows (Sept.), Hatchet, Wild Man Island, and The Call of the Wild (Dec.).

Here are the books we discussed during 2008: Ranger's Apprentice (Jan.), The Wanderings of Odysseus, The City of Ember, The Giver, The Pig Scrolls, Black Potatoes (June), The Amulet of Samarkand (Nov.), and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Dec.).

Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan--Jan. 20 Meeting

Choosing Day is the big day for 15 year-old Will and the rest of his fellow castle orphans. Will wants to be a knight and hopes to be chosen for the Kingdom's Battleschool but is deemed too small and is instead selected by a mysterious Ranger for training in an elite and secretive military organization. Will resists being pulled into the Rangers but soon finds his unusual natural talents transforming him into a Ranger Wunderkind. Just in time too because the evil, exiled Baron of Gorlan, Lord Morgarath, is amassing an army of hideous Warguls and Kalkara to again invade the Kingdom of Araluen.

This adventure story bristles with battles featuring savage wild boars and monsters showcasing characters' courage, friendship, loyalty, forgiveness and perseverance but also their struggles with weaknesses.