Books Sandwiched In:  “North Woods” by Daniel Mason

Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/29/2025
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Location
First Congregational Church

Categories


North Woods by Daniel Mason, presented by Beth Walter Honadale, PhD.

Books Sandwiched In will be held at the First Congregational Church of Christ, 171 W. Pulteney Street in Corning. There is plenty of free parking at the church.

If you miss the live presentation for any reason, each presentation will be recorded and made available within a day on the Library’s YouTube channel; just click “Playlists” under our Owl logo, then click “Books Sandwiched In.”

The program starts at 12:00 noon, and will end at approximately 1:00 PM.  Presenters usually speak for 30 minutes or so, and allow 15-20 minutes for questions. Louise Richardson will introduce the presenters, and will act as moderator for the question and answer period.

The talks are open to the public and free of charge. Beverages are provided and attendees are invited to bring a bagged lunch. Books Sandwiched in is made possible with the generous support of The Friends of the Library. Additional support is provided by Card Carrying Books and Gifts.

About the presenter, Beth Walter Honadale, PhD:

What is the first library experience you remember?
That would either be the West Elmira branch library of the early 1960s or the Hendy Avenue School library with Mrs. Bickford, the librarian. My first formal paid job was as a page for the Steele Memorial library bookmobile.

Tell us a little about a book that has had a profound impact on your life.
Richard Powers’ The Overstory is possibly the most amazing novel I’ve ever read. His knowledge of trees and the beautiful way he told compelling stories about people and trees over generations and across continents and states are wonderful. The book was impactful enough that I scribbled down two sentences while reading it: “Civilized yards are all alike. Every wild yard is wild in its own way.” (p. 384).
And: “This is not our world with trees in it. It’s a world of trees, where humans have just arrived.” (p. 424)

Background – Education, current job, anything else you would like us to know.
Beth, a graduate of Elmira Free Academy, holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and twomasters degrees and a doctorate from Syracuse  University. When she retired from the National Institute of Food & Agriculture at USDA in Washington, DC in 2016, she and her husband (married in 1977) moved to the farm she left in 1972 to pursue higher education and a career in government and academia. She was a professor at University of Minnesota, Bowling Green State University, and University of Cincinnati. She is a Master Gardener Volunteer and ends her term as President of Cornell Cooperative Extension after 6 years on the board in January 2025. In her retirement she has built a park around their home on the farm with a butterfly-pollinator garden, a rain garden, a wetland, and other points of interest. She has planted well over 120 trees. Beth and her husband have one son.