During the months of November and December, the Milton Public Library will offer several great programs suitable for adults and families.

There will be a free one-hour concert on November lst at 2 PM with singer and pianist extraordinaire David Polansky in a program entitled “Music Through the Ages.”  Join us for a musical journey through one hundred years of the American Popular Songbook.  Using keyboard, trumpet and vocals, David brings alive the music of Berlin, Gershwin, Cohan and a host of others.  Music from the Roaring 20s, the Big Band and Swing Eras, Broadway and the Wild West will get you on your feet!  This event is appropriate for all ages.

On Thursday, November 6^th at 7 PM Wendy Johnston will give a presentation about her hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs 2,700 miles from the US/Mexican border to the Canadian border through California, Oregon, and Washington (the same trail that Cheryl Strayed wrote about in her book Wild).  Her talk centers around the lessons she learned on her long hikes, and she hopes to inspire people to step outside their comfort zone and go after what makes them come alive.

On Wednesday, November 12^th at 7 PM, Professor Elaine Craighead will give a talk called “Murder in the Rue Morgue and the Genesis of the Detective Story.”   Auguste Dupin, the amateur sleuth, who appears in Poe’s 1841 short story, ‘The Murder in the Rue Morgue,” is the prototype for Holmes, Poirot, and other great fictional detectives.  Elaine Craighead regularly teaches the stories of Poe and Doyle and is currently a tenured Associate Professor of Humanities at Massachusetts Maritime Academy.   If you would like to read the story beforehand, go to this link: Poestories.com.

Monday Night at the Movies continues on Monday, November 24^th with the Oscar nominated film called: “Her.”  Starring Joaquin Phoenix, this Academy Award winner for Best Original Screenplay is an fascinating love story that explores the evolving nature and risks of intimacy in the modern world.  A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system that’s designed to meet his every need.  The movie is rated R for language, sexual content and brief graphic nudity.  It is not suitable for children.

Rounding out the November calendar are our free ongoing programs, including First Friday Book Chat with Library Director Will Adamczyk on Friday, November 7^th at 11 AM; Knitting with Nina on Thursday, November 6^th at 7 PM and Saturday, November 15^th at 10 AM; and The Job Doctor, Roni Noland, on each Wednesday from 10:30 to noon.

Taking a look forward to December, there are two fun programs to enjoy. On Thursday, December 4th at 7 PM, Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr shares his best and worst films of 2014.  And then on Saturday, December 13^th at 2 PM, there will be a wonderful holiday concert by the Very Merry Dickens Carolers who will be dressed in traditional Victorian garb.  This fun group will entertain you and your family with many of your favorite songs of the season. Come bring the kids and catch some holiday spirit!

The Friends of the Milton Public Library proudly sponsor all programs held at library, which is located at 476 Canton Avenue, Milton.  To learn more about the events described above, visit www.miltonlibrary.org or contact Jean Hlady, Adult Services Librarian, in the Reference Department at (617) 698-5757.