Finding the Next Good Book Depends on Variety of Sources
For the longest time I depended on serendipity to direct me to the next good book.
I would wander through bookstore aisles and library stacks browsing for books, letting a title or a cover catch my eye. I'd pick a book up, and if the blurbs on the back sounded halfway interesting, I'd take it home and crack it open. The problem with this approach to literary selection was serendipity had some serious lapses in judgment. Needless to say, serendipity and I weren't compatible and we parted ways.
Well, sort of. This month, MCPL’s wellness challenge includes attempting to get seven hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. Just seven hours. Simple right?
It's a presidential election year, and that means many people will register and re-register to vote in the Nov. 6, 2012 election.
One of the most popular and convenient places to register is your local MCPL branch. Here is a brief guide to make registering to vote at the Library easy and hassle-free.
BookFlix Is a Great Resource to Excite First-Time Readers
It's almost time to go back to school. And for some little students, school will start for the first time.
In the coming weeks, many first-timers will take their first serious try at reading. Some will jump in with both feet. Others won't be quite so enthusiastic to take the plunge.
Interview with Local Children's Book Author, Anola Pickett
Laura: Hi Anola, thanks for talking with us. You got some big news last month, a Thorpe Menn Literary Award nomination. Can you tell us a little about that? Anola: The award is sponsored by the local chapter of the AAUW (American Association of University Woman), and the Kansas City Public Library. It’s named for Thorpe Menn, who was the book editor at The Kansas City Star for many years.
L: How long have you lived in the Kansas City area?
Next Friday, August 3rd, Book Club will be talking murder, mayhem, and happy marriage. I fell in love with Jan Burke about a decade ago when I read Bones, the novel that won her the Edgar Award. What I enjoyed about that story, besides the edge-of-my-seat suspense; a diabolical serial killer and the smart, complicated plot, was the main character, Irene Kelly.
Backlist Book of the Month - Tony Hillerman's Skinwalkers
I envy you if you’ve never read a Tony Hillerman novel. You can still look forward to the thrill of discovering his stories for the very first time. I was living in Rome when I read my first one. Starved for the English language, I found a small library of left-behind paperbacks, which included several books in Hillerman’s Navajo Tribal Police series. I picked up Skinwalkers. I was hooked!
Call it what you will - entertaining, fascinating, salacious, or exploitative - true crime books are popular and, if you get reeled in, difficult to put down.
Far beyond Joe Friday's request for "just the facts, ma'am," the true crime genre not only explores horrendous crimes in unblinking detail, but the personalities, backgrounds, and psychology of the perpetrators and their victims. If you've never read any true crime, think NBC's Dateline on steroids.
Obscure Chinese symbols and Warner Brothers’ cartoon characters have nothing over library shelves when it comes to inspiring tattoos. Books—their words and pictures—have made their way, inked onto the ankles, arms, shoulders, and flanks of America.
In an impressive, yet unscientific Internet search, Publisher's Weekly blogger Gabe Habash discovered the top five books that seem to have inspired the most tattoos.
I envy you if you’ve never read a Tony Hillerman novel. You can still look forward to the thrill of discovering his stories for the very first time. I was living in Rome when I read my first one. Starved for the English language, I found a small library of left-behind paperbacks, which included several books in Hillerman’s Navajo Tribal Police series. I picked up Skinwalkers. I was hooked!
