The Gift of a Public Library

Andrew Carnegie was the force of Gilded Age philanthropy behind the building of public libraries. Along with other recognizable names who made their fortune in the late 1800s and early 1900s—Rockefeller, Ford, Mellon, Morgan, Stanford, Harriman, Heinz—Carnegie’s influence endures today largely because of the way he gave away the vast fortune he amassed.

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It's Banned Books Week. Here are the 11 most challenged books last year

Books have long been the source of changing perspectives, but not without some controversy.

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CENSORSHIP LEAVES US IN THE DARK: A BANNED BOOKS WEEK READING LIST

Happy Banned Books Week 2019! This year, we’re highlighting how censorship leaves us in the dark. Keep the lights on by adding some of the titles below to your reading list!

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Banned Book Week: Keep Us In The Light

All week, we will be posting about Banned Books. 

What they mean? 

Why are they banned? 

#BannedBooksWeek

Collaborating on Flipped Library Sessions: 8 Best Practices for Faculty & Librarians By: Nicole Webber and Stephanie Wiegand

A common practice at many colleges and universities involves course faculty inviting librarians into their classrooms to teach research and information literacy skills and concepts customized to disciplinary or course needs. Library instruction varies in format but often manifests in the librarian teaching a single, isolated class session—what librarians refer to as a “one-shot.” Many challenges accompany this traditional format, including time-constraints, disengaged audiences, and little understanding on the part of the student as to how the library instruction integrates with course content.

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What makes for a great library in 2019? This duo thinks they know

Some people review restaurants, some review movies. Two men have taken it upon themselves to review every library in Massachusetts.

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America Has a Digital Skills Gap. Libraries Can Help Fix It

When Calvester Sanders was promoted to head of housekeeping at the Redmont Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2016, she felt conflicted. On the one hand, she was excited about the greater responsibility and better pay. On the other, the thought of managing her staff’s schedules through the hotel’s computer system made her anxious. “I literally didn’t know how to turn it on,” she says.

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A Novel Concept: Silent Book Clubs Offer Introverts A Space To Socialize

The air tingles with prose. Patrons perch atop bar stools, but they aren't drinking. Individuals congregate together as a group, but they aren't talking.

Paperbacks adorn a table stained by water rings, and tote bags dangle over the backs of chairs. Classic rock is blaring from the speakers, but at this table, silence rings out.

A Silent Book Club is meeting.

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Audiobooks or Reading? To Our Brains, It Doesn’t Matter By Jennifer Walter

If you don’t have time to sit and read a physical book, is listening to the audio version considered cheating? To some hardcore book nerds, it could be. But new evidence suggests that, to our brains, reading and hearing a story might not be so different.
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28 Books You Should Read If You Want To LISTS NOTABLE ARTICLES by Janet Potter

Earlier this month Amazon released a list of 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime. It joins Esquire’s 80 Books Every Man Should Read, The Telegraph’s 100 Novels Everyone Should Read, Huffington Post’s more manageable 30 Books You Should Read Before You’re 30, and The Guardian’s ambitious and inflexible 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read.
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50 MUST-READ BOOKS RECOMMENDED BY ROXANE GAY

Is it just me, or are we all just biding our time until the next piece of work by Roxane Gay is released? Whether she’s writing fiction, nonfiction, short stories, comics, or screenplays, her writing makes an unforgettable impact.

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Anonymous Reviewer: "Wild Ride" by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

If you've never read a Crusie book, you are missing out! And when Jennifer and Bob team up, it is a truly wonderful read! That being said, if you HAVE read Crusie before, "Wild Ride" is NOTHING like any of her others. Most Crusie or Crusie/Mayer books are fun contemporary romance...but not boring! There's plenty of twists and the dialogue is laugh-out-loud fantastic, so even though you know it's gonna end happily you can't guess exactly how they're gonna get to the end. The cover insert on "Wild Ride" tells you that Dreamland is an amusement park that doubles as a prison for the five most powerful demons in world history and they want to be let out. Even after reading the insert and first few chapters, this AR stayed under the delusion that there wouldn't really be actual demons; Crusie'll Scooby-Do it and it'll simply be pranksters trying to ruin the park. (This AR can be quite talented at ignoring the obvious.) A supernatural battle wasn't what this AR particularly wanted to read, but the heart of what I look for when reading Crusie was still there and it turned out to be a fabulous read. I especially recommend picking it up in October.

25 WRITERS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF LIBRARIES

http://bit.ly/2GV99Gp

British children’s author Terry Deary — best known for his Horrible Histories series and controversial chatter about the nation’s school systems — told the Guardian he thinks libraries “have had their day.” He’d prefer that people buy their books instead of borrowing them, claiming that “books aren’t public property.” Deary added, “Authors, booksellers and publishers need to eat. We don’t expect to go to a food library to be fed.” The cranky comments feel like a swift kick in the teeth since libraries around the world are struggling against significant budget cuts each year, and authors have been tirelessly advocating for their importance. We gathered a few passionate statements from 20 writers that emphasize why libraries aren’t “sentimental” institutions. See what Neil Gaiman, Judy Blume, Ray Bradbury, and other writers have to contribute to the conversation, below.

Anonymous Reviewer: Gwendy’s Button Box By Richard Chizmar and Stephen King

Reading, after the fact, that Stephen King had a hard time ending the book, thus brought in Richard Chizmar seems a little lazy on King’s part, at least to this AR. This story was pretty tight, and I can’t imagine the master needing the help. Maybe that’s why it hit, but not with the usual dull hammer claw King’s books typically swing with. 

What Makes The Perfect Book Club Read? By SADIE TROMBETTA

http://bit.ly/2LOvGJ2

It's true that the act of hosting book clubs has been a part of the American literary tradition since the 19th century, but in recent years, it has become more popular than ever. Celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and Oprah Winfrey host digital book clubs with hundreds of thousands of followers. Newspapers and online publications from the Los Angeles Times to BuzzFeed to Bustle have launched book clubs of their own. On social media and on websites like Goodreads, there are hundreds of online book clubs a reader can join. And, of course, there are clubs run by every day readers who love talking about books with like minded lit-lovers.

Anonymous Reviewer TV Series: Black Sails

If your weekend was like mine, you'd rather be doing anything than be at work, but here is an #anonymousreviewer to make it better.
TV Series: Black Sails

Check out our Reader's Advisory Lists 
(new ones added regularly)
http://bit.ly/2xCuyz9

Why should you read sci-fi superstar Octavia E. Butler? - Ayana Jamieson...

Anonymous Reviewer- Rick Gavin: Beluga

It's too hot out for a long winded #AnonymousReviewer so....

"This might be the worst book I ever started. I got it yesterday and I had to get it out of my house"

Holy Cow! Holy Sex! Julie Lessman is the Black Sheep of Christian Romance BY Jeannette Cooperman

Julie Winterer started writing a romance novel at 12, after she fell hard for Rhett Butler. Then she put her manuscript away, graduated from high school and college, went to work, married Keith Lessman, had kids, entered her fifties—and went back to that manuscript
Read the full article HERE

Information Literacy | Kevin Arms | TEDxLSSC

Anonymous Reviewer: Gwendy’s Button Box By Richard Chizmar and Stephen King

Reading, after the fact, that Stephen King had a hard time ending the book, thus brought in Richard Chizmar seems a little lazy on King’s part, at least to this AR. This story was pretty tight, and I can’t imagine the master needing the help. Maybe that’s why it hit, but not with the usual dull hammer claw King’s books typically swing with.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLERS THROUGH JULY 21ST

https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers

Arika Egan - SUMMER READING CHAMPION 2019

Erin Teagan - SUMMER READING CHAMPION 2019

Kjell Lindgren - SUMMER READING CHAMPION 2019

Lindy Elkins-Tanton - SUMMER READING CHAMPION 2019

Michelle Thaller - SUMMER READING CHAMPION 2019

Anonymous Reviewer: The Girl From Summer Hill by Jude Deveraux

Dust off your brain with this #AnonymousReviewer 

The Girl From Summer Hill by Jude Deveraux

The very first line will grab the attention of any lady who reads it! There have been many retellings of "Pride and Prejudice" over the years, and most of them fall short because it's hard to keep a tale interesting when the reader knows the plot already. This one is successful! Jude gives the story a fresh, modern air while still keeping with the spirit of Jane Austen. As a bonus it's set in Virginia, which always makes a story appeal just a bit more to this AR. It's your usual romance plot, but it's not JUST another first class/lower class, famous actor/regular person love story. This AR thinks it qualifies more as a rom-com or even rom-adventure. Deveraux knows how to give her characters depth so that they're not just a batch of young women simply looking for marriage. They have lives of their own and the men are an addition to it rather than the center of it. At the end, I was helped to believe the story by something a child told me a few weeks ago: "Well EVERYBODY can be a good actor because it's just like pretending!"

Library Click Bait 4-23

Bookeellers At Used Book Sales- Can You Not?
By Abby Hargreaves

Our Favorite Fictional Librarians, Ranked
by Gwen Glazer

8 Presidential Libraries Every History Buff Should Visit
By Emily Shiffer

Click Bait 4-16

How Libraries Help Authors Boost Book Sales
By Rachel Kramer Bussel

Here’s What It’s Actually Like To Be A Librarian
By Arianna Rebolini

Science Fiction and Fantasy Author Fonda Lee Decries Barnes & Noble Stocking J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert Jordan Books: We are Competing with “Dead Guys”
By John F. Trent

Anonymous Reviewer: The Deep Blue Good-By By John D. MacDonald

I like my noir like I like my orange juice...spiked with vodka. Well..only on the weekend. The rest of the week, I love it pulpy. John D. MacDonald has his place on the pulp Mt. Rushmore with Leonard Elmore, James Patterson, and let’s throw Joe Ida in there a kick of spice and modernity. Before I sunk into the the Deep Blue Good-By, I had only heard about Travis McGee in the Jimmy Buffett song who provides a ringing endorsement. McGee is a pretty solid dude, and very much the type that you could leave your wife with and not have second thoughts. Your unmarried daughter, might be another story. Perhaps the thing I liked best about characters is their ability to take a beating. It says as much about the character as it does the author. Besides McGee, no one gets beat up better than Walt Longmire..put Craig Johnson on Mt. Rushmore too if you want, and maybe James Bond...not Sean Connery or Roger Moore, James Bond. I’m talking Ian Flemming’s James Bond and recently Daniel Craig. Walt and James both take a thumping and like McGee keep coming back. Deep Blue Good-by is just the first of a series which I would highly recommend with a pulpy orange juice. Additives cost extra and are at your own discretion

Tony Hillerman Booklist

Click Bait 4-10

Emilio Estevez Goes Public In His Library Love, Homelessness Concerns In New Movie
By David Bloom

Netherlands Makes Trains Free On National Book Dat For Those Who Show A Book Instead Of Ticket
By Jon Stone

Summit County’s new library director reminds us of what makes libraries so special

By Deepan Dutta

Anonymous Reviewer: No Traveler Returns By Louis L’Amour and Beau L’Amour

Louis L’Amour is a classic. If you want to go back in time to the wild west, but don’t want to deal with the dust, typhoid, and relaxed definitions of personal hygiene, L’Amour is a good place to start. Just never squat with your spurs on or drink downstream from the herd.
What tons of people do not know is that L’Amour wrote almost as much about matters not of the old west. NO TRAVELER RETURNS is one of those and according to all the sources this AR read, his first. Apparently L’Amour had been being told his stories lacked plot, so he beefed this one up for publication. Maybe a little too much. As always, the characters and their actions are real, but there is just so much going on that it’s hard to follow at time. As a first effort, this is a great book. L’Amour had been to sea, so he writes with experience. Still it can get too sticky at time. I would recommend this for the adventurer in you, and is a good little read.

New York Times Best Sellers

https://nyti.ms/1oYsB9h

Civil War Fiction- Booklist

Click Bait 4-3-19

On Pablo Neruda and Autism: A conversation with Adam Feinstein
By Jessica Sequeira 

A day in the life of the library
By Cheryl Homan-Wendell

How To Get Started With YA, According To The NYPL's Youth Librarians
By Elena Nicolaou 

Anonymous Reviewer: 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers By Doug Stanton

Books about Special Forces rarely get a bad review from this AR. 12 Strong is exceptional! As a military buff, I remember the romantic story of U.S Army troops on horseback in Afghanistan shortly after 9-11. What I didn’t know was that those guys weren’t there because they knew anything about horses, or Afghanistan for that matter. My naivete lead me to believe the U.S. Army had somehow been training guys to ride horses, or they’d found someone in the SF community that could. Boy was I wrong! These guys were buying cold weather gear from REI in the days after 9-11. Cavalry training would be icing on the cake for soldiers trained to live on spit and adrenaline. Stanton does a great job telling the story of these guys who flew into the unknown, adapted, attacked and achieved what few in the U.S. Army, the world, or even history thought was possible. No matter what field you operate in, you can take something from this book and apply it to your daily life. Read it and be awe stuck.

Beverly Lewis Book List

Herman Wouk Book List

All these books are available at the 

Halifax County-South Boston Public Libraries 

Library Click Bait 3-26-19

This Library Takes an Indigenous Approach to Categorizing Books 
By Sydney Worth

Sci-fi fan replaces stolen books from Southwick library
By Hsin-Yi Lo

It’s a Taxing Time to Be a Librarian
By Roz Warren

New York Times Bestsellers Thru 3-31

https://nyti.ms/1oYsB9h

Anonymous Reviewer: A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership By James Comey

If you cannot put partisan politics aside, don’t waste your time reading this book. It’s just not your kind of read. Furthermore, if you are going to be reading the whole time waiting for him to stick it to “the other side,” go read some Glenn Beck or Rachel Maddow. There are no smoking guns, or killer truths about anything. It’s just not that kind of book...

I’ll repeat that. THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL ESSAY LEANING TO EITHER SIDE. 

Now that that is out of the way. 

This AR recommends finding this one on audio book, or at the very least find some in person interviews of Director Comey. He really does have a good reading voice. Better still, this is a great book written by someone who has tried to remain as loyal to his job as he can be, and is not at all afraid to tick off either or both sides of an issue. 

My biggest take away was how Comey brought the FBI and in part the Justice Department into the 21st Century as an organization no longer centered on ego, manipulation, and hierarchy. If you truly pay attention, you’ll find the keys to successfully working with a group of people. Listen to what everyone has to say, never marry yourself to an idea, and always try your best. 

Strip off your politics for a change and give this book a read, or listen. Anyone in leadership of any kind would do well by their organization to do so.

Weird West Book List

We have all of these at the 

Halifax County-South Boston Public Libraries

New York Times Best Sellers Thru 3-24

https://nyti.ms/1oYsB9h

Anonymous Reviewer: This Much I Know By Wally Lamb

Not always a fan of Oprah’s Picks, I finally got around to Wally Lamb’s “This Much I Know is True,” a story primarily about a set of identical twins, one schizophrenic, told from the POV of the other twin, Dominick. I will admit that the author seemed to cover the same ground over and over in the first third of the book, however, I love figuring out what makes people think the way they do so I stuck with it. I’m so glad I did. This book will move to the top part of my favorites list. It delves into Dominick’s grandfather’s life as well as his mother’s. Layer by layer he discovers his past, which helps to confront his present. It’s a story of discovery and forgiveness. Even if you’ve read it before, you might want to revisit it since Mark Ruffalo is the Executive Producer as well as actor portraying both Dominick and his twin in an upcoming HBO series.

Click-Bait: 3-12

Why libraries matter, according to 8 Connecticut authors
By Wally Lamb

Don't overlook your school librarian, they're the unsung heroes of literacy
By Sally Dring

Fifty years ago, a teenager wrote the best selling young adult novel of all time: ‘The Outsiders’ changed the way kids read
By Anna Godbersen

New York Times Best Sellers Thru 3-17

https://nyti.ms/1oYsB9h

Anonymous Reviewer: The Boys In The Cave: Deep Inside The Impossible Rescue in Thailand by Matt Gutman

This AR was not at all captivated by this story when it broke. If being completely honest, my first question was "What in the world were they doing in the cave in the first place?"

After reading this book, I am still only mildly interested. Very well written the story was still not captivating enough to hold my attention for long. I found it very one sided and lacking perspective.It would have been nice watching the story unfold from everyone involved. What did the kids do while all this was going on? How did they stay sane? Did they even stay sane?
Also, books take a while to write and even if the author was there, how was this books written so quickly? What was left out? Seems like a lot!

All in all, this AR was not all that impressed. A real deep story is there, but the opportunity was missed to tell it.

My Library Card Made Me A Less Picky Reader By Erin Mayer

I used to be a picky reader. Not in terms of genre—I’ve always read widely, counting everything from The Great Gatsby to Sharp Objects as all-time favorites. But I used to spend a lot of time deliberating about what to read next. That changed when I got my first library card this past summer, at the age of 27.

Ebooks seem like ‘Netflix for libraries,’ but they’re a drain on budgets by Bob Fernandez

The book-crammed Free Library of Philadelphia has found a way to stay relevant in the 21st century: ebooks. Last year, 28 percent of the Free Library’s total circulation of more than five million books came from ebooks and other digital content.

New York Time Best Seller Thru 3-10

https://nyti.ms/1oYsB9h

Anonymous Reviewer: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

One of my favorite people was the cafeteria manager Eva Pollard. Eva is like Jacqueline Woodson in that both overcome much to lead a successful life of giving back. This story takes you through both the South and New York City in the 1960s and demonstrates how there was vicious racism in both parts of the country. It is a great read for middle and high school students.

#hcsbpl

NoveList Plus Tutorial

Library Click Bait 2-27

How Living In A Library Gave One Man 'The Thirst Of Learning'
By Liyna Anwar and Heidi Glenn

A History of the American Public Library
By Areil Aberg-Riger

Hawaii libraries start lending ukulele as interest grows
By Susan Essoyan

New York Time Best Seller Thru 3-3-19

https://nyti.ms/1oYsB9h

Anonymous Reviewer: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson

As a perpetual purveyor and patron of joints cataloged under the gin, juke and dive variety, I couldn't help but love this book. If there is a bar in heaven, and I make it, I want it to be like Callahan's. You won't find it unless you need it, the regulars come and go, but this my friends is the bar to beat all bars. Your favorite is going to look like a retirement home's canteen when you finish. Picture a cross between Cheer's and the bar scene in Star Wars. Then you have a pretty good idea of Callahan's on a regular night. Grease up your eye sockets for all the rolling you'll do on Punday, and don't forget your single bills. Mike doesn't take anything but dollar bills. This AR's feeble attempt to review this book won't do justice due the compassion, heart, and over all good spirit of this little page turner.