Ep. 2: Book Pick – The Road to Little Dribbling
Book expert Jo Hansen recommends a fun read from one of the library's favorite authors. http://traffic.libsyn.com/cooklib/Ep2_Book_Pick-The_Road_to_Little_Dribbling.mp3…
Pick of the Week: The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson first came to England as a backpacker at the age of 20 fresh out of the cornfields of Iowa. He found it was a country that was “wholly strange to me yet somehow marvelous. It is a feeling that has never left me.’’ Since then, the boy from the Midwest married an English…
Cook Library Cinema Club: Fools for Love?
Who knew librarians are such fools for love when it comes to movies? In honor of Valentine's Day, I asked staff to share their favorite romantic comedies and love stories, and the response was overwhelming. Whether it's a film that makes us laugh out loud or a three-hankie weeper that we love to wallow in, it…
Ep. 1: Book Pick- The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
In our very first episode Andrea Larson, head of our Popular Services department, recommends a book that has all the librarians talking. http://traffic.libsyn.com/cooklib/Ep._1__Book_Pick-_The_Readers_of_Broken_Wheel_Recommend.mp3…
Pick of the Week: The Rest of Us Just Live Here
Many teen books are stories of vampire love, being the Chosen One, or battling aliens. These books are great; I love diving into those worlds. Though sometimes it seems that every teen must be involved in some otherworldly situation. What about the rest of the high-schoolers? What about the teens who are average? They aren’t cool or indie or…
Movies We Won’t Admit We Haven’t Seen
But we're admitting them now.... Some movies are just classics—cultural icons that EVERYONE has seen. These are the movies that bring shame and shock when you have to admit in public that you haven’t seen them. Those of us working at the library aren’t exempt from having missed watching some iconic films. I’ve never seen the classic Back to the…
And the Oscar goes to…a book?
Awards season in Hollywood -- one of my favorite times of the year! Given the ongoing controversy surrounding the lack of diversity in this year's Oscar nominees and the voting membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself, it's pretty easy to lose sight of the quality and variety of the…
Pick of the Week: Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman
If you enjoy a well-crafted mystery with a cast of colorful characters, I have just the book for you. Seasoned mystery author Reed Farrel Coleman is known among mystery readers for his hard-boiled detective series featuring private investigator Moe Prager. In 2014, he also took over the late Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series. Coleman’s…
Geraldine Brooks: The Secret Chord
Geraldine Brooks is one of my favorite authors. She has taken me to the Middle Ages during the Bubonic Plague in A Year of Wonders and to Harvard in 1666 to meet the first Native American graduate of that school in Caleb’s Crossing. She carried me across centuries and continents in The People of the…
Pick of the Week: The Illegal by Lawrence Hill
What does it feel like to be a refugee in a foreign country? What does it mean to belong? The Illegal explores these questions within the framework of a thrilling political mystery. Keita Ali is a world-class marathon runner in the fictional state of Zantoroland, which feels like it’s modeled after a troubled African nation.…