Summer Reading – Listening Edition

Need to read but don’t have time to stop moving? We’ve got you covered this summer! If you haven’t tried an audiobook, now’s a good time to try one out. Whether you’re taking a road trip, working in the yard, or doing housework, you can get all the enjoyment out of reading without stopping what you’re doing. It’s like “storytime” for adults!

The theme for Summer Reading this year is “Libraries Rock” – so we’ve put together a list of  music-related audiobooks for you to start with. So, switch from jammin’ out to your favorite tunes and rock out to a great story instead…

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FICTION:

Bel Canto – Ann Patchett

Jazz – Toni Morrison

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto – Mitch Albom

The Piano Tuner – Daniel Mason

The Song of the Lark – Willa Cather

A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan

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NONFICTION

Born to Run – Bruce Springsteen

The History of Opera – Richard Fawkes

The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love, and Faith of an American Legend – Steve Turner

More than Mozart: Listening to and Appreciating Classical Music – Richard Freedman

Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine – Joe Hagan

Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music – Judy Collins

May is Mystery Month

It doesn’t take too much sleuthing to find a mystery novel – at our Library it’s probably the most circulated literary genre. But finding the right one might take a bit more digging. Depending on whether you want hard-boiled or cozy, contemporary or historical, there are a number of choices to make before your narrow down a suspect. Since this is Mystery Month, here’s a quick list of a few authors you might want to investigate.

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HARDBOILED

(Professional detective or police investigator; usually a little grittier, with language, violence, and sex to match)

Lawrence Block                    James Lee Burke

Harlan Coben                    Michael Connelly

Robert Crais                         James Ellroy

Steig Larsson                      Walter Mosley

Sara Paretsky                   Robert B. Parker

Louise Penny                    Mickey Spillane

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COZY

(Amateur detective; warmhearted humor and romance are priorities; less violence and extreme language)

Susan Wittig Albert                          Donald Bain

M.C. Beaton                               Laura Childs

Joanne Fluke                             Dorothy Gilman

Jane Haddam                              Carolyn G. Hart

Leslie Meier                                  Nancy Pickard

Alexander McCall Smith                      Josephine Tey

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TRADITIONAL

(Not hardboiled and not cozy)

Nevada Barr                            Agatha Christie

Loren Estleman                            Elizabeth George

Dashiell Hammett                                P.D. James

Faye Kellerman                            Laura Lippman

Marcia Muller                            James Patterson

Dorothy L. Sayers                            Stephen White

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HISTORICAL

(Set before the author’s birth)

Tasha Alexander                            Alan Bradley

Barbara Cleverly                           Charles Finch

Ariana Franklin                                    C.S. Harris

Philip Kerr                                      Laurie R. King

   Elizabeth Peters                            Deanna Raybourn

    Charles Todd                                 Victoria Thompson

It’s Back – Summer Reading 2018!

Summer is just around the corner which means Summer Reading for all ages is back! This year our theme is LIBRARIES ROCK and we’re gearing up for a rollicking good time with reading challenges and cool programs, including a Family Street Dance in July. Plus, we’ve got some great prizes this year – including some rockin’ tees and totes.

In addition to the Street Dance, we’ll be hosting a concert featuring Mark Kroos, who plays a double-necked guitar, and an Adult Music Trivia Night. Factor in our Family Karaoke Day and our annual Midsummer Night Family Party, and you’ve got summer made in the shade, right?

The official start isn’t until June 4, but you can get a peek at all the fun here. Stop in at the Reference Desk to get more info.

 

Take Ten: Female Photographers

May is National Photography Month, which makes it a great time to share some of the most fascinating images from that creative format. And, with a couple of new publications this year, it’s also a good time to look at the careers of women who’ve had an impact on the art. A glance through these titles will give you an appreciation of their talent.

Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange’s Photographs and Reports from the Field – Anne Whiston Spirn

Julia Margaret Cameron’s Women – Sylvia Wolf

Imogen! Imogen Cunningham’s Photographs 1910-1973

Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs – Sally Mann

Margaret Bourke White: Moments in History

Annie Leibovitz at Work

Vivian Maier: A Photographer’s Life and Afterlife – Pamela Bannos

Diane Arbus: Portrait of a Photographer – Arthur Lubow

Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography – Julia Van Haaften

It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War – Lynsey Addario

Great Online Resource – Literature Map

Back in March, we shared a great website to help you discover new music based on artists you already know and like. Well, we’re happy to report that there’s a site for reading that operates the same way.

Drift over to literature-map.com and enter in a favorite author. A new page will generate, populating with the names of other writer – the closer the distance between your entry and another, the greater likelihood you’ll enjoy that author. It’s a fun, interactive way to find readalikes – and watching the names float around is rather mesmerizing. Yay!