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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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.

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

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

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

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