Help Us Build Book Club Kits! by Stacy

 

If you’re in a bookclub, you know it’s hard to get books for all of your members.  Books can be expensive.  The library generally has only one or two copies of a specific title, and often if enough copies for purchase are not available nearby, you have to wait for a copy ordered online.  Once you’re done, four or eight or twelve people have the same book collecting dust.

 

When we started having regular bookclubs here at the library, we decided to make kits out of the books purchased for us by the Friends of the Library.  We loan them to local bookclubs so that 1) our books don’t go to waste and 2) local clubs can take a break from buying books every single month. 

But, as I said, books are expensive, so we decided to construct kits from books that are donated into the library every day.  We’ve had a lot of success.  We now have 100 kits and well over half have been constructed from every day public book donations and from our wonderful “Bookmooch.com” friend Emma who has given us 100 points (which equals 100 books!).  And, you can help too!

·             If you have a bookclub, come register with us to borrow kits.

·             If your bookclub buys books, then please, PLEASE consider using Post-Its for your notes in the books, then donate the lot of them to the library.  It’s an easy way to add a philanthropic element to your bookclub.

·             If you have ANY bookclub-type books at all, then bring them to the help desk and tell the librarian they are for the list.  We have a list of the books we’ve been able to start piecing together at http://tiny.cc/k7b7r.  Some include “Boy in Stripped Pajamas,”  “Bookseller of Kabul,”   “Camel Bookmobile,” “Corrections,” “East of Eden,” “Gilead,” “Glass Castle,” “Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society,” “Little Bee,”   “Love in the Time of Cholera,” “Olive Kitteridge,” “Devil in the White City,” any classics, all of the Oprah Book Club books and many, many more.

Thank you ahead of time for trying to help make Stillwater the best bookclub community in the state!

Paperbacks: The Perfect Vacation Read by Andrea K.

Wanting to take a good library book with you on vacation, but you’ll be gone longer than two weeks? Why not check out a handful of our paperbacks? They are due back to the library only when you are done with them! Although you can renew your regular library books up to two times if no one is waiting on one, you never know when another patron might reserve a book and then- oops! You’ve got overdues!

Our paperback racks in the fiction area have a variety of novels, mysteries, thrillers, romance, science fiction, westerns and classics. You may have up to 15 out at a time. Our paperbacks come to us from generous donors, so if you would like to contribute, bring them on down to the Check Out desk, or place them on one of the donation carts located in either lobby. We pick out titles for our spinning racks and once the paperbacks have checked out a few times, they move on to the Friends of the Library sale which helps us raise money.

So consider checking out paperbacks the next time you’re traveling, and remember when it comes to our regular library books: 

If your books are due back in Stillwater before you,

fines might accrue if you can’t renew.

For if you’ve renewed twice,

we can’t let you do it thrice.

When others are waiting for the book to come back,

we can’t give you any slack.

So think before you take that book to the beach,

because fines might be within your reach!

Five More to Watch by Scott

My favorite part of being a librarian is the books.  To me, there is nothing better than a new book arriving in the mail.  I have the good fortune of getting to read some books before their release dates.  Here are five books coming up that I have really enjoyed and that the library should be getting in soon:

Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante (July 5)—This is a stunning debut that will delight both thriller and more literary fans.  The book is narrated by former orthopedic surgeon Jennifer White.  Jennifer is in the grip of Alzheimer’s disease and the narration pivots on how well a day she is having.  What adds suspense to the plot is that she is also suspected of murdering her best friend. 

Iron House by John Hart (July 12)—This is Hart’s fourth novel.  His first three were all New York Times Bestsellers and two of them won the Edgar Award for best mystery.  He very well might be cementing his place at the top of the mystery genre with this one, a tale of two orphaned brothers who take very different paths in life.

I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 by Douglas Edwards (July 12-will be ordered in late July)—Edwards was the 59^th employee hired by Google.  He was there for virtually all of their early days as they scrambled for Internet supremacy even when it was not all that apparent what it was that they offered or how they would generate revenue.  This book abounds with humorous and insight anecdotes.

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock (July 12-will be ordered in late July)—This book is not for the faint of heart.  It is a stark and brutal Southern Gothic that invokes the spirit of Flannery O’Connor.  All of the characters in this tale of poverty, religious extremism and revenge are deeply flawed and scarred.  However, each and every one of them is compelling and complex.  This is a must read if you don’t need your endings tied up in a neat little bow.

Cain by Jose Saramago (October 4-six of this Nobel prize winning author's books are now available in the library)— This is Saramago's final novel, releasing in October. Cain is a novelization of the story of Cain, slayer of Abel and the first biblical criminal. Well, the first along with God in Saramago's telling. After a tense stand-off where God and Cain exchange accusations they reach somewhat of a detente. Cain is forced to wander but it is not merely a nomadic existence. Instead, he moves to different "presents" that just so happen to coincide with OT occurrences. What emerges is a scathing, unrelenting and brilliant look at a primitive picture of God as contained with the Hebrew Scriptures. Cain spares God no mercy for expecting more from his creation than He delivers himself. This is vintage Saramago replete with his trademark intelligence and wit. He will be sorely missed.

Books in Series by Larry

More and more writers are writing their books in a series format, and as a reader, I really enjoy it.  Series let us develop a special knowledge of the writer and his characters.   It is, for many of us, a pure pleasure to pick up the next book in sequence and know in advance we are going to be familiar with the lead protagonist and the answers to questions like  “What strange mystery will Amelia Peabody uncover this time?” “What letter of the alphabet has Kinsey Millhone exposed to you lately?”  Elizabeth Peters, in her creation of Amelia Peabody, and Sue Grafton’s great sleuth Kinsey Millhone are part and parcel of the lives of those who have read the series. These characters reactions, problems, and personal lives become part of us.

If you’ve never gotten into a series, there are many out there to explore. Larry McMurtry has created a wonderful cast in his Lonesome Dove series.  Characters like W.F. Call and Augustus McCrae appear in novels like, “Return to Lonesome Dove,” “Streets of Laredo,” “Dead Man's Walk,” and “Comanche Moon.” We find ourselves again and again immersed in the lives of the characters that inhabited “Lonesome Dove.”

For adventure readers, who could be more exciting than Dirk Pitt, a character of many qualities created by Clive Cussler.  Dirk also has a boss and a crew that get involved in all the adventures. There is a long list of exciting novels in this series many have been made into feature length movies.

If your children enjoy series, try “Hank the Cowdog” by John R. Erickson. This series takes you directly to the boss of ranch security, Hank.  Hank is a cowdog of questionable abilities and a certain flair for discovering trouble where it shouldn’t be. Characters in this series include a mean cat, an adorable deputy cowdog and a rooster that can bring trouble out of the calmest days.

So if you think you would like to be caught-up in the lives of recurring characters and familiar settings, visit us at the library and ask your librarian for assistance.  We can print out full list series books in the order which they should be read.  And, if you ever find that our library is missing one of the books in the series, let us know—we’ll be glad to see about replacing it or finding another way for you to borrow the book so you can continue with your favorite characters.