Listening to Bill Coelius talk about his favorite book of all time, The Princess Bride, is quite a treat. The details. The wonder. The conflict of good and evil. It’s no surprise that this storyteller and avid reader donates his time to the Friends book sale.

First introduced to the book sale by his wife, Pat, Bill is a member of the set-up team as well as a helper during the sales. Bill credits Sharon Pignanelli with creating an organized environment, which makes him willing to help on Friday nights and Saturday sale days. “Sharon’s feel for organization has enabled it to be more than a typical book sale,” he says. Further, he appreciates her “determination to make it a success.” There is a tremendous amount of work in preparing a sale. “Books aren’t light,” he chuckles. Bill oversees the media section including videos, DVDs, CDs, vintage records, computer games and audiobooks. “The library is exceptional in the quality of donations”, he explains. “The selection matches a variety of interests. Grandparents might visit for the purpose of expanding their Disney collection (Bill points out that, while the Disney company rotates its availability on a 7-year basis, the sale has many of its titles most of the time). Teenagers descend upon his area to gobble up the latest technology. And, whether a fiction or non-fiction reader, anyone would appreciate the extensive offerings of the audiobook selection – noteworthy is the fact that audiobooks range from $40-$70 each, yet most are just $1 at the Friends sale.

As community members renovate their home libraries and donate books and other media, Bill likes to see the connection between the sale and the community. People donate their items, Friends volunteers organize and conduct the sale, local visitors, as well as, out-of-towners buy at the sale and the profits are put right back into the library for the benefit of our community.

For forty years, Bill taught at Chelsea High School. He taught speech, drama, debate and radio/television broadcasting. He estimates that he taught over 10,000 students. Although he mainly taught 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, he did have a freshman English class one year. In the course of that year, he began reading for the last ten minutes of class. As the year came to a close, it was evident that he would not finish reading the book aloud by the last bell on the last day. To his surprise, over thirty students and their friends showed up after that last bell on the last day to hear the conclusion of The Princess Bride. Only someone truly passionate about reading could entice high schoolers on the last day to stay to learn the ending of a story. As a volunteer, Bill sees his former students and their families. He explains that that is one of the benefits he receives from participating in the sales.

Sharing his love of reading are Bill’s two sons, Bill and Robert. A very proud father, Bill recalls reading to and sometimes devising his own creative story for his sons when they were little. Today, Bill is an actor in Los Angeles and Robert has a video production business in Pinckney. As a retiree, Bill operates his own business, Hometown Media, which is broadcasting his DVDs at fourteen Chelsea locations. The DVDs provide notifications such as library events and community information. Always community-minded, Bill has found a way to keep up his love of media in his own business and at the library. Bill feels that “all Chelsea residents can be so proud” of our library. How fortunate we are Bill is willing to share his time and expertise.

by Angela Berent

photo courtesy of Charles Williams’ Flickr photostream

Junk mail is a waste  – you waste time sorting it, the Post Office wasts time delivering it and companies waste time, money and resources in sending it.  So cut it out!

There are a couple options for cutting down the amount of junk mail your household recieves. 

1. DoNotMail.org is developing a list similar to the Do Not Call list that helped stop the barrage of telemarketers that once interrupted dinner times across the country.
2. Then there’s DMAChoice.org, a direct mail preference service that charges users a $1 registration fee to remove their names and address from direct mailing lists and can reduce junk mail by 75% in just a few weeks
3. Ditch the phone book.  They arrive on every doorstep and quickly become clutter.  Besides, if you need one, you can always stop by or call your library!  Opt out of receiving a phone book by registering for free on YellowPagesOptOut.com.

Check out more ideas on how to cut down on junk mail at the Daily Green.  — Sara

Here is the video of President Obama’s announcement late Sunday evening that Osama bin Laden was killed in a compound in Pakistan.







Here are a few titles on Osama bin Laden to check out as the nation’s attention once again turns toward the al-Qaida leader.

Xinran, author of several books, including The Good Women of China and China Witness, writes now about China’s cultural preference for male children and the impact that this has had on many, many women in China–mothers and daughters, both.  Xinran’s latest book, Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother, is a compendium of stories from birth mothers and a father, midwives, adoption workers, and adoptive families. all tempered through the lens of Xinran’s interviews with them.  While we in the West receive news of China’s loosening of strict, Communist policies regarding family planning, Xinran’s book indicates that this may not actually be the case outside larger cities.  A fascinating, moving perspective on what it means to be a mother or a daughter in modern China.

~Rachael

photo courtesy of Muffet’s Flickr photostream

Remember when you had that oral surgery and didn’t use all your painkillers?  They’ve just been sitting in your medicine cabinet along with who knows what other random unused prescription leftovers.

Clean out that medicine cabinet and rid your home of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs this Saturday as part of National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

The Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency are sponsoring this opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft with a prescription medicine disposal event this weekend. 

It’s taking place Saturday, April 30 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, inside the main lobby, at 2201 Hogback Road in Ann Arbor. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. – Sara

Check out the nervous but sweet royal bride and groom exchanging vows at the altar of the glorious Westminster Abbey.  How many middle names does Prince William have, anyway?

Author/poet/novelist/professor/Chelsea resident (and library user!) Laura Kasischke participated in last week’s Midwest Literary Walk, reading a selection of her poems and sharing the first few pages of a new novel-in-progress with the group.  Here is her reading of a poem inspired by a family photo album found for sale in a  junk shop.  Her latest book of poems is called Space, In Chains and her latest fiction is called The Raising.

Are you planning to watch it?

Do you remember watching Princess Diana’s wedding 30 years ago?

The lovely folks at BuzzSugar have put together a list of all the networks providing live coverage of this event. I think I’ll wake up in time to watch my ladies Barbara and Diane cover the main event at 6am.

• ABC 4:00-10:00 a.m. ET Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer host live coverage from London
• CBS 5:00-9:00 a.m. ET Katie Couric hosts live coverage from London
• NBC 4:00-10:00 a.m. ET Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, Brian Williams, Natalie Morales, Ann Curry, and Al Roker host live coverage on special edition of Today from London
• BBC 3:00-8:30 a.m. ET Huw Edwards hosts live coverage from London
• CNN 4:00 a.m. Piers Morgan, Richard Quest, Anderson Cooper, Kiran Chetry and Cat Deeley host live from London
• E! 4:00-9:00 a.m. ET Giuliana Rancic hosts live coverage from London; E! will repeat coverage immediately after the original telecast
• Fox News Channel 4:00-8:00 a.m. ET Shepard Smith and Martha MacCallum host live coverage from London

If you’d like to learn more about the history of royal weddings, the BBC has put together a fantastic webpage where you can look at photographs and learn more about the history of these elaborate marriage ceremonies. And for up-to-the-minute updates on this particular royal wedding, the BBC also has you covered there, too.

~Rachael

Saturday, 4/16/2011, was the 3rd Annual Midwest Literary Walk and it was a great success! Despite gray and rainy weather, we had excellent attendance – even higher numbers than last year! Our fantastic line-up of authors all gave excellent, energetic readings. The Community Open Mic brought out a range of this area’s talented writers, sharing their poetry with a receptive and interested crowd. For those of you who couldn’t make it or want to relive the moment, video of some of the readings are available on library’s Youtube channel.

Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel The Help has been at the top of the bestseller lists and burning up the book club circuit for years now.  The film rights were optioned, casting decisions were made, shooting dates came and went and finally – the trailer.  Go ahead.  Watch it and tell me it doesn’t look adorable.  I was happy to see the toilets-on-Hilly’s-lawn scene made it in, though who could resist?  – Sara