Posted on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 by Decimal Diver
Laura McHugh is a Columbia, MO author whose latest book is “The Wolf Wants In.” It’s a suspense novel set in a small town ravaged by the opioid crisis featuring a woman who confronts a dark secret about her brother’s shocking death. McHugh is the internationally bestselling author of “The Weight of Blood,” winner of an International Thriller Writers Award, and “Arrowood,” an International Thriller Writers Award finalist for best novel. I recently emailed some interview questions to her and she was kind enough to take time out of her schedule to write back some answers. Continue reading “Author Interview: Laura McHugh”
Rather than immerse myself in mythic, far-off lands, I preferred to keep my Summer Reading challenge close to home. Activities from this year’s program motivated me to explore the rich Black history in mid-Missouri. First embarking on the African-American Heritage Trail, I learned about local legends like Annie Fisher, the nationally-renowned “Biscuit Queen,” music venues like McKinney Hall that hosted jazz icons and the Sharp End Black business district, which was razed for urban renewal in the mid-twentieth century. Here you’ll find suggestions for completing the entire challenge while educating yourself about the fascinating heritage of Black folks in our city and state. Continue reading “Imagine Your Story: Legends of Local Black History”
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“Little Women” Website / Reviews
Playing last year at Ragtag Cinema, this film by writer-director Greta Gerwig draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig’s take, the beloved story of the March sisters, four young women each determined to live life on her own terms, is both timeless and timely. Continue reading “New DVD List: Little Women, Watchmen & More”
“Coronavirus Covid-19 Face Masks For Sale” 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
I thought I had a very clever idea when COVID-19 started to show up in the news more and more, but before a confirmed case had reached America — I would write a “Know Your Dystopias” post about pandemic themed novels! Then it quickly came to America, spread all over, and things started shutting down. I considered my blog post and thought, “too soon?”
It depends on the person. Some people feel empowered exploring worst case scenarios. I watched “Contagion” for the first time a couple days before the library had to close. I thought it was a good time to see what that movie had to say. But it also isn’t unusual for me to spend time hunkered down in my bunker while soaking in a bathtub filled with hand sanitizer. In fact, I call that Wednesday. I realize that might be a new practice for some of you (Welcome to the club!). Continue reading “Know Your Dystopias: Pandemic!”
On April 11, 2011, I published my first ever DBRL blog post, “Resources for Writers at Your Library.” While many older articles are no longer in the archives, I’m an information hoarder and have maintained a spreadsheet listing the ones I’ve written. This post you’re reading right now? Number 100 for me. To mark the occasion, I’m focusing on books with 100 in the title.
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, published in 1967, follows several generations of the Buendia family, living in the remote Colombian jungle town of Macondo, established by their patriarch. I read this book more than twenty years ago, yet there are images that remain fresh in my memory — the reaction of someone seeing ice for the first time, a scene with ants that still makes me shudder. Incorporating magical realism, ghosts and a lot of metaphor, the story interweaves much of the history of Colombia into the telling. No matter the remoteness of the family dwellings, they are unable to escape the encroachments of the railroad, a civil war, and United Fruit. Continue reading “One Hundred”
Four Seasons 1208 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
“All human things are a circle” is the inscription on the temple to Athena in Athens.
I had started to write a very different article. I was going to write about summer and beach reads, but this just doesn’t seem to be the summer for that. Not that there’s anything wrong with escaping into a good beach read. I changed my mind when my 25-year-old son came to me and wanted me to watch President Kennedy’s address on civil rights and Bobby Kennedy’s address in Indianapolis on the 1968 race riots after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He made the comment that it feels like the world is on fire. He says this from a position of relative privilege. And it’s not just the George Floyd protests. It’s everything. It’s race. It’s climate. It’s the pandemic. It’s political chaos. It’s so much more. I asked him if he had read “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin and the parallel book of essays, “The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race.” It’s hard to deny a sense of deja vu. It’s also incredibly frustrating that we seem to be still fighting the same fights. Continue reading “Literary Links: All Human Things Are a Circle”
The serendipity of finding books through browsing is one of the powerful features of libraries. You might think that browsing the shelves online is impossible, but I’m here to tell you it can be done right inside our DBRL catalog. The feature is called “Browse by Call Number,” but note that the feature is unfortunately missing for mobile users — it only works for browsing the catalog on a desktop computer or tablet. Continue reading “Catalog Tricks: Browsing the Shelves Online”
Posted on Thursday, July 2, 2020 by Reading Addict
What a crazy summer it is! Normally that would mean wild parties and big vacations but that is (hopefully?) not the case this year. This summer doesn’t HAVE to be defined as the summer of the pandemic, although I’m sure it will be. But we can define it as the summer of the pause. We can make it the summer of reading. There are a lot of hot new books out that feature our hottest season.Continue reading “Are You Ready for the Summer?!”
Try freezing food scraps to make a delicious broth once you’ve accumulated enough ingredients
Between the bountiful summer harvest and the COVID-19 pandemic keeping many of us at home, the time is ripe for minimizing food waste from our home kitchens. There are so many ways to get the most use out of our food, like using all of the edible parts of proteins and produce or stretching the shelf-life of items by dehydrating or pickling.
“Every last bit of vegetable and protein contains nutrition and flavor waiting to be savored”
– wisdom from The Soupmaker’s Kitchen
Laura McHugh is a Columbia, MO author whose latest book is “The Wolf Wants In.” It’s a suspense novel set in a small town ravaged by the opioid crisis featuring a woman who confronts a dark secret about her brother’s shocking death. McHugh is the internationally bestselling author of “The Weight of Blood,” winner of an International Thriller Writers Award, and “Arrowood,” an International Thriller Writers Award finalist for best novel. I recently emailed some interview questions to her and she was kind enough to take time out of her schedule to write back some answers. Continue reading “Author Interview: Laura McHugh”
