Short on time to read? Stuck at home, and avoiding public places? Don’t want to lug around heavy hardcovers? Need an easy-on-the-eyes night reading background? Give ebooks a try! Today is Read An Ebook Day, and it’s a great opportunity to check out these tiny wonders for the first time, or get reacquainted with the joy of digital reading. User-friendly, […]
New York Times and worldwide bestselling author Isabel Allende returns with a sweeping novel that journeys from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil that offers “a timely message about immigration and the meaning of home” (People).
During the biggest Brooklyn snowstorm in living memory, Richard Bowmaster, a lonely university professor in his sixties, hits the car of Evelyn Ortega, a young undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, and what at first seems an inconvenience takes a more serious turn when Evelyn comes to his house, seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant, Lucia Maraz, a fellow academic from Chile, for her advice.
As these three lives intertwine, each will discover truths about how they have been shaped by the tragedies they witnessed, and Richard and Lucia will find unexpected, long overdue love. Allende returns here to themes that have propelled some of her finest work: political injustice, the art of survival, and the essential nature of—and our need for—love. […]
The American Library Association’s ongoing Libraries Transform program connects readers across the United States through the shared experience of reading and discussing the same book. Digital copies of the book are made available for immediate check-out through Overdrive and Libby for patrons of participating libraries, including AAPLD. The fall Libraries Transform Book Pick is Book of the Little Axe, by […]
Stuck in a reading rut? Consider a Reading Challenge! While not a book club in the usual sense, a reading challenge can add a fresh twist to your reading life. Whether done alone or as part of a group, a reading challenge encourages participants to choose books that fit a specific prompt. One month, readers might be asked to read […]
The world will end on Saturday. Next Saturday. Just before dinner, according to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies written in 1655. The armies of Good and Evil are amassing and everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist. […]
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Love the idea of a book club, but don’t want the commitment of regular membership? A virtual book club can be a great option for people who want the flexibility to read and comment on their own schedule. It’s also a simple way to get your feet wet discussing books with other readers. While Oprah’s Book Club is the oldest […]
Read a cozy of your choice featuring a spooky/paranormal theme! […]
Last week’s Adult Services blog post highlighted AAPLD’s current book clubs. But what if none of the times are convenient, or you enjoy gathering with a group of friends to talk books? AAPLDs Do It Yourself Book Club service has everything you need for your new or existing independent book club. How does it work? First, choose a book, and […]
At the age of nineteen, Lara Prior-Palmer discovered a website devoted to “the world’s longest, toughest horse race”-an annual competition of endurance and skill that involves dozens of riders racing a series of twenty-five wild ponies across 1,000 kilometers of Mongolian grassland. On a whim, she decided to enter the race. As she boarded a plane to East Asia, she was utterly unprepared for what awaited her. Riders often spend years preparing to compete in the Mongol Derby, a course that recreates the horse messenger system developed by Genghis Khan, and many fail to finish. Prior-Palmer had no formal training. She was driven by her own restlessness, stubbornness, and a lifelong love of horses. She raced for ten days through extreme heat and terrifying storms, catching a few hours of sleep where she could at the homes of nomadic families. Battling bouts of illness and dehydration, exhaustion and bruising falls, she decided she had nothing to lose. Each dawn she rode out again on a fresh horse, scrambling up mountains, swimming through rivers, crossing woodlands and wetlands, arid dunes and open steppe. Told with terrific suspense and style, Rough Magic captures the extraordinary story of one young woman who forged ahead, against all odds, to become the first female winner of this breathtaking race. […]
