Ah, spring. The frogs are croaking, the birds are chirping, and our thoughts turn to romance. There’s nothing like young love in the springtime, whether you’re experiencing it for the first time or remembering it fondly. Recently the library’s Teen Lit for Grownups book club read a terrific book called The Sun Is Also a Star by…
First, a confession: Neil Gaiman could write an air conditioner repair manual and I would cheerfully read it. So the odds I would enjoy his latest release, NORSE MYTHOLOGY, were pretty good. Even so, I was surprised by how delightful this collection is. With a television adaptation of Gaiman’s AMERICAN GODS coming to Starz at the…
"The Curse of the Bahia Emerald" on Wired A real-life mystery, full of larger-than-life characters, and the titular emerald that is either worth almost nothing or $925 million. It's confusing and hard to explain in a short blurb, but fascinating with incredibly compelling illustrations throughout. A great long-read for the weekend. The 50 Best Podcasts…
I’m always looking for new mystery authors to read, so after noticing positive reviews for this book in trade journals, I picked it up. It had everything I look for in a mystery: a unique setting (a chateau in Switzerland), a compelling sleuth, and a good puzzle. Agnes Luthi is a Swiss-American police inspector who…
Perhaps it is my Danish ancestry, but I have always practiced to some extent the art of Hygge (pronounced HOO-GA), where you enjoy the small pleasures of life. My kids tease me about my love for candles and cozy blankets. I also enjoy a hot beverage with sweets while curled up with a good book…
There is just a handful of authors whose books I absolutely must read as soon as they come out, and Greg Iles sits at the top of this short list. Mississippi Blood, his newest book and the conclusion of the best-selling Natchez Burning trilogy, is a page-turning, nail-biter of a wild ride. (If you’ve somehow…
Melissa joins us to recommend Dept. H by Matt Kindt, a locked-room mystery graphic novel that takes place at the bottom of the ocean. We also discuss how reading comics and graphic novels differs from reading print novels. You can find Dept. H in our catalog and Matt Kindt's other works over at Hoopla. [audio src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/cooklib/Ep._31__Quick_Draw_-_Dept.H.mp3"]…
As the news cycle marches on with unrelenting intensity, I stumbled across a book which was described as “life affirming”, “laugh out loud funny”, and “enchanting” -- umm, yes please! I snatched up All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai and it did not disappoint. Tom Barren’s 2016 is a very different place than our…
"Good News" Resources Cute animals help the world feel cozier. In trying to stay on top of what is going on in the world it can be easy to feel like you are swimming in a sea of negativity. Most news starts off with politics, which rarely feels positive, then moves on to everything else which can…
Nickolas Butler has done it again. He’s written a pitch-perfect novel of several generations of men (and one woman) in northern Wisconsin. I didn't grow up in Wisconsin, or in a small town, but there is a universality to his characters and settings that makes his writing so accessible. I loved Butler’s first book, Shotgun Lovesongs,…
