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Wednesday, June 16, 2010 Orono Weekly Times - 3 A bookish congregation by Brian Colville As you pull into the parking lot, on Old Kirby Church Road, an ample parking lot greets you on the south side of the beautiful old church. Your first impression is that you are stepping back into the previous century. In fact it is even farther back than that because white stone 20 feet over the front door says "Methodist 1880" and a slight chill may go down your spine as you realize people making this approach for the past 130 years. Technology certainly is a present reminder as cars whiz by the front fence on 115 highway barely 20 feet from the door. From the parking lot you see nothing to hint about the new role of the church. Walking up to the front door you cannot help but admire the huge fieldstone cut granite blocks which make up the foundation. Beautifully crafted by a Scottish stone mason, these foundation stones have served this community church very well since he donated his skill and craft in putting them together for his donating to the building. There is still no hint of the contents as you step through the old wooden doors into the vestibule. Four wooden steps on either side take you into the main sanctuary. You step inside-and-gasp!-for that is by far the first reaction of many first time visitors. Books are everywhere, up to thirty thousand of them filling every pew, lining the walls and every bookshelf that can be drawn into serv- ice. From the first impression of amazement, you begin to feel that you have no idea where to begin. As you wander and browse through the church, patterns start to emerge. The north side pews are filled with fiction hard covers, stacked high with spines out for reading. Then you find the south side pews are filled with biographies, autobiographies and hard covers nonfiction books as high as they can be stacked. The entire seven rows of pews in the middle section and a huge table at the front are completely filled with soft cover books, mostly very new fiction, romance and novels of every sort. The pulpit and stage where the choir sang and the minister preached are now the home of huge display of cookbooks, diet books and food preparation ideas. The two main bookshelves on the south side of the wall feature many hundreds of travel books, tour guides, self help and psychological books. There is a teen and child section on the side of the stage overflowing with books like Goosebumps, Babysitters Club and hundreds more, plus picture books by the thousands for very young readers. Crafts and home improvement books are too numerous to detail. As you study titles, you notice there is an entire box of Agatha Christie murders, next to that is a full box of John Grishams, nestled up against a box of Sidney Sheldons. Not all books are BOOK SALE see page 5 Brian Colville has a mental inventory of the thousands of books for sale at the Kirby Church. ~ Happenings ~ Saturday, June 19, 2010 - Soft Shoulder Band, New Dutch Oven, Orono. No cover charge. 908983-5001. Sunday, June 20, 2010 - Fathers Day Pancake Breakfast, 9-12, Presented by the Kendal Lions Club. Kendal Community Centre. Adults $7, 65+ $6, Children 6-12 $3, 5 & under free. Monday, June 21, 2010 - Newcastle Bondhead Ratepayers Meeting, 7:30 p.m., Newcastle Community Hall. Guest Speakers: Douglas Allingham & Lisa Shiozaki. Thursday, June 24, 2010 - Orono Horticultural Society - June Flower Show, 7:30 p.m., Orono United Church. Now until Saturday, June 26, 2010 - Flower Basket Sale for Decoration Day at Orono Cemetery, $10 per basket. Advance orders only. 108 Church St. N., Orono.