Posted on Friday, October 18, 2024 by Jonya
Your library offers resources like Creativebug and Universal Class for video tutorials, as well as physical and digital magazines for ideas. You can also browse through our collection for more inspiration. Continue reading “DIY Suggestions for Holiday Giving”
Posted on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 by patron reviewer
What I liked about “Different, Not Less”:
Posted on Monday, October 14, 2024 by patron reviewer
“Second Time Around” is about Malloy Farrell, an interior designer, who inherits her grandmother’s run-down tourist shop in Seaport, Oregon. Her plan is to sell the shop. However, she quickly finds out her old childhood crush, Grayson Matthews, wants to buy the shop and redevelop the area into an outdoor mall. So Mallory changes her mind about selling and decides to renovate and open a home decor shop instead. There are many renovating mishaps, entertaining side stories and budding romances in the story until a happily ever after finds Mallory.
I liked this book because Carlson always does an exceptional job with creating relaxing romance reads with enough plot development and twists and turns to keep the story moving. Starting over is a strong theme throughout the book.
Three words that describe this book: Sweet, Romantic, and Enjoyable
You might want to pick this book up if: You might pick up this book if you enjoy reading romance novels and reading novels about characters who are starting over in life.
-Anonymous
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
Posted on Sunday, October 13, 2024 by cs
Food truly serves as a living window into culture, history and societal values. It’s fascinating how food culture can reflect everything from historical trends to social stratification. Food culture includes the way food is prepared, presented, eaten and shared. Food often reflects current trends in society, such as the plethora of cookbooks related to current books, movies and television shows. (Anyone ever try a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams?) Traditional recipes are often passed down for generations and reflect values and beliefs. In the Philippines, Yumburgers from Jollibee restaurants represent a taste of home and cultural pride. A region’s diet often represents the ingredients available in a particular location, such as olives from the Mediterranean. Specific dishes can also tell stories about societal history. Consider the cultural and historical changes that took lobster from a poor family’s meal to its current status as haute cuisine.
Continue reading “Literary Links: Learning Our World Through Food”
Posted on Friday, October 11, 2024 by patron reviewer
Anne Perry, famous for her Victorian-era mysteries, begins a new series set in 1930s Europe, with a great new heroine, young photographer Elena Standish. Elena is drawn into the hidden world of espionage through a nipped-in-the-bud love affair, which in turn pulls her grandfather to reconnect with his past in the secret service from the “war to end all wars.”
“Death in Focus” is a great series starter, with the historical verisimilitude of Perry’s previous books and engaging characters. Elena encounters unsuspected villains, unexpected heroes, and uncertain loyalties amid shifting social and political realities. The plot is satisfyingly complex, yet believable.
Three words that describe this book: Exciting, engaging, expertly plotted
You might want to pick this book up if: You like mysteries and don’t mind the 1930s setting.
-Lynn
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
Posted on Wednesday, October 9, 2024 by Decimal Diver
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“Elsbeth” – Season 1 – Website / Reviews
A spinoff of “The Good Wife” & “The Good Fight,” this series follows unconventional attorney Elsbeth Tascioni who utilizes her unique point of view to corner criminals alongside the NYPD.
“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” – Website / Reviews
Shown at the True False Film Fest, this documentary travels through time and space to reveal the enduring influence of poet Nikki Giovanni and the revolutionary periods in which she wrote.
“Late Night With the Devil” – Website / Reviews
In this supernatural horror film, a live television broadcast of a popular late night talk show in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.
“Love Lies Bleeding” – Website / Reviews
Set in 1989, this crime drama follows the relationship between a reclusive gym manager, who is part of a crime family, and an ambitious bodybuilder who’s heading to Las Vegas to pursue her dream.
“Longlegs” – Website / Reviews
This horror/thriller follows an FBI agent’s investigation of a serial killer with clues heavily steeped in the occult. Despite a mounting sense of dread, the agent must face her dark past to catch the killer.
Posted on Monday, October 7, 2024 by Liz
Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in October. All of the mentioned titles are available to put on hold in our catalog and will also be made available via the library’s Overdrive website on the day of publication in eBook and downloadable audiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog.
“Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir” by Ina Garten (Oct 1)
Here, for the first time, Ina Garten presents an intimate, entertaining and inspiring account of her remarkable journey. Ina’s gift is to make everything look easy, yet all her accomplishments have been the result of hard work, audacious choices and exquisite attention to detail. In her unmistakable voice (no one tells a story like Ina), she brings her past and her process to life in a high-spirited and no-holds-barred memoir that chronicles decades of personal challenges, adventures (and misadventures) and unexpected career twists, all delivered with her signature combination of playfulness and purpose. From a difficult childhood to meeting the love of her life, Jeffrey, and marrying him while still in college, from a boring bureaucratic job in Washington, D.C., to answering an ad for a specialty food store in the Hamptons, from the owner of one Barefoot Contessa shop to author of bestselling cookbooks and celebrated television host, Ina has blazed her own trail and, in the meantime, taught millions of people how to cook and entertain. Now, she invites them to come closer to experience her story in vivid detail and to share the important life lessons she learned along the way: do what you love because if you love it you’ll be really good at it, swing for the fences and always “Be Ready When the Luck Happens.” Continue reading “Nonfiction Round-up: October 2024”
Posted on Friday, October 4, 2024 by David Litherland
And by “they,” I mean the aliens. Obviously.
Feats of engineering and buildings on a grand scale have long captured the minds and imaginations of futurists. The Eiffel Tower, originally planned to be a somewhat temporary structure for the 1889 World’s Faire, a marvel of being the first man-made structure to surpass both 200 and 300 meters, evoked awe and wonder in attendees and tourists long thereafter as both a symbol of France’s past hundred years as a republic and as a monument to greatness yet to come. The tower held the prestigious record of tallest structure in the world for four decades, before being unseated by the Chrysler Building in the ‘30s. “I ought to be jealous of the Tower,” Gustav Eiffel once bemoaned, “she is far more famous than I.” Quickly, those whose imaginations drifted forward towards the question of “what if” asked: If our mastery of science and technology had given us this power, what more could we build? How much higher will we go? Continue reading “If You Build It, They Will Come: Megastructures and Feats of Macroengineering in Science Fiction”
Posted on Wednesday, October 2, 2024 by Decimal Diver
Sean Spence is a Columbia, MO author whose latest book is “Breaking Barriers: Disability History in the United States.” The book covers key individuals, events and concepts that have affected the history of disability rights in the United States. Spence’s interest in disability starts primarily with his personal experience as someone with multiple sclerosis, combined with his love of history (he earned his BA in US history from MU in 1993). He currently works on fundraising, PR & marketing, and volunteer management for the Salvation Army. He was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email. Continue reading “Q&A With Sean Spence, Author of “Breaking Barriers: Disability History in the United States””
Posted on Monday, September 30, 2024 by Michael M
We’re nearing the end of the year, and the end of the Read Harder Challenge, but there’s still time to finish, or even start the challenge if you want! In case you missed the beginning of this series, check out my first blog post where I explain what the Read Harder Challenge is, and how it relates to the following books!
Task 9 – Read a book recommended by a librarian
Book Read: “The Unmaking of June Farrow” by Adrienne Young
Even before this book was officially published, my co-worker Kat (many of you probably know her from Read Harder and One Read) was gushing about how much she loved it. Given that our reading tastes align pretty frequently, I knew I had to pick this up as my recommendation from a librarian. Unfortunately, this was one of the times where our reading tastes diverged. If you’ve read and enjoyed any of the following books, “June Farrow” might be right for you: “The Ten Thousand Doors of January,” “The Book of Doors,” “The Ministry of Time,” “The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.” The majority of which I’ve read, and they just didn’t click for me.
The premise of “The Unmaking of June Farrow” is that the Farrow women are cursed, they eventually lose their minds, and after June’s mother Susanna disappeared, the small town of Jasper is just waiting for the same thing to happen to June. It begins for June when she hears things that aren’t there, sees things out of the corner of her eye, and eventually, a mysterious red door appears which may have the answers to her mother’s disappearance.
Why didn’t it work for me? Honestly, a lot of reasons, but my biggest issue is that for a magical realism book featuring time travel, it does it so poorly. Timelines don’t make sense, character relationships exist primarily because of time travel shenanigans (there’s a romantic relationship after a week??), it just frustrated me. That being said, I’m sure there are aspects to the magical realism and the romance that other readers will enjoy, and have, based on the overall ratings. I will also give props to Young for her descriptions, she does a phenomenal job of making the reader feel like they are in the settings they read about. Personally, I’m going to keep going to the Wayward Children series for adventures about going through mysterious magical doors, and the consequences of doing so. Continue reading “Reading Harder in 2024! – Part 5”
Let us find your next great read!
