“I already know an awful lot of people. Until one of them dies, I couldn’t possibly meet anyone else,” says Audrey Hepburn to Cary Grant in Charade. Sparkling dialogue, a clever plot and two of the most charming and sophisticated stars in film history make this romantic thriller a classic.
We understand that not everyone is interested in books that win important literary prizes. Sometimes you just want to find a thrilling new story in your favorite category. If you can relate, be sure to check out the recent winners and nominees of the The Reading List, which honors the best in genre fiction. These must-reads are selected by librarians who know which titles not only have the best buzz but also live up to the hype. See below for the winners and click here for readalikes and the runners-up.
Adrenaline: Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
Fantasy: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Historical Fiction: Doc by Mary Doria Russell
Horror: The Ridge by Michael Koryta
Mystery: The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
Romance: Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase
Science Fiction: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
Women’s Fiction: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Elmore Leonard has ten rules for writing. These ten rules won’t make you a perfect writer, but they might make you a better one. They worked for Leonard, and he’s been publishing fiction since 1951.
When you turn on the radio, you never know what you’re going to get. The following CDs may not be appropriate for all families, but they’ve been handpicked by an MPPL mom to suit most families’ needs – from punk to pop.
Click here for a lively, rock’n’rollin’ list of albums for a car full of grown-ups and kids alike.
“The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poem, stole its main character from a Dickens novel. Jack London was an adventurer in the Yukon before he was the writer of The Call of the Wild. Treasure Island’s Long John Silver was based on the real life, one-legged, big-hearted poet William Ernest Henley, and Sherlock Holmes was based on a doctor of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s acquaintance. In Dancing with Mrs. Dalloway, Celia Blue Johnson relates the stories and inspirations behind fifty famous works of literature. Each miniature history is a clear, concise account that usually takes no more than five-ish minutes to read. It’s great for curiosity’s sake or for cocktail party fodder.
Where can you find REM, will.i.am, The Flaming Lips and Tom Waits all in one place? That would be The Future Soundtrack for America, in the library’s Pop/Rock collection. This album was created solely for nonprofit charities, and it rocks the gamut from David Byrne to Death Cab for Cutie.
Julie of Reference Services recommends All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew:
It may not feel like it outside, but spring is around the corner and now is the time to begin planning for major gardening projects. All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew is a great resource. Square foot gardening is a raised bed system where a 4×4 foot bed is divided into sixteen growing spaces so a different variety of garden plants can be grown. This book provides the details for constructing the raised beds, what to plant, what soil mix to use, how to mix it and the quantity needed, as well as instructions for dividing the raised bed. It will give you all the tips you need to set up an attractive and productive garden.
Did you like the hit HBO show Game of Thrones? It was based on a fantasy series by George R. R. Martin. Authors@Google recently interviewed Martin about the show and his work:
The invention of the microphone changed the way that people sang. Instead of loudly projecting to the back of a room, a vocalist could softly, intimately croon at their audience. Thus the term “Crooner” was created.
Click here for a starter guide to these classic, sentimental songsters.
Justin Alastair makes a habit of depravity. He’s also the Duke of Avon. While walking home late one night from some indiscretion or other, a street urchin stumbles across his path. This youth has fiery red hair, dark brows and bares a suspicious likeness to the Duke’s arch-nemesis, the Comte de Saint Vire. The Duke buys the child, Leon, from an innkeeper with revenge in mind. If Leon is Saint Vire’s long lost son, Justin plans on helping restore the child’s birthright after parading him around as his page. If you want swordfights, duels, love and mystery in the Georgian era, try Georgette Heyer’s wickedly funny These Old Shades.
