What’s On the Shelf? Biographies!
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What’s On the Shelf? Biographies!

If your reading habits lean toward fiction with compelling protagonists, get ready to discover a new genre. Biographies! Biographies can satisfy your craving for larger-than-life characters who celebrate amazing triumphs, or suffer spectacular downfalls. They can deliver page-turning reads that are both entertaining and educational. At AAPLD, Biographies have a special section all their own. You’ll find it on the […]

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
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Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

  September 15 marks the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, highlighting the culture and contributions of Hispanic and Latino people. The mid-month date is significant because it’s the independence day of five Latin American countries, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Several other nations, including Mexico, mark their independence this month. The celebration runs through October 12, […]

Book Clubs

Oh, the Horror! (10/27/2020): The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodara, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, the lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable noises and self-closing doors, but Hill House is gathering its powers and will soon choose one of them to make its own. […]

Book Clubs

Happily Ever After (10/19/2020): Insatiable

Meena Harper, forced to write about vampires even though she doesn’t believe in them, falls in love with Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side. It’s a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire hunters, would prefer to see him dead for. The problem is: Lucien’s already dead! And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare. […]

Back to Book Club, pt. 6 Libraries Transform Book Pick
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September 18 is Read An Ebook Day!

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, […]

Nite Readers

Nite Readers (10/15/2020): In the Midst of Winter

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. […]

Book Clubs

Enjoying the Classics (10/21/2020): Martin Chuzzlewit

Wealthy and old, Martin Chuzzlewit, Sr., is surrounded by greedy relatives hoping to obtain a portion of his estate upon his death. His two descendants, Martin, Jr., and Jonas, have been born and bred in the same heritage of selfishness, the Chuzzlewit tradition.

Set partly in America, of which Dickens offers a searing satire, this novel follows and contrasts the opposing fates of Martin and Jonas. While one achieves worldly success and, eventually, moral redemption, the other sinks deeper into the darkness—and pays the ultimate price.

This powerful black comedy is a tale of hypocrisy, greed, and blackmail, and it introduces the most famous of Dickens’ grotesques: Mrs. Gamp. […]

Back to Book Club, pt. 6 Libraries Transform Book Pick
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Back to Book Club, part 5 – Libraries Transform Book Pick

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 […]

Book Clubs

Forever Young (10/12/2020): Slasher Girls & Monster Boys

For fans of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, American Horror Story and The Walking Dead comes a powerhouse anthology featuring some of the best thriller and horror writers in YA.
A host of the sharpest young adult authors come together in this collection of terrifying tales and psychological thrillers. Each author draws from a mix of literature, film, television, and music to create something new and fresh and unsettling. Clever readers will love teasing out the references and can satisfy their curiosity at the end of each tale, where the inspiration is revealed. There are no superficial scares here; these are stories that will make you think even as they keep you on the edge of your seat. From blood horror, to the supernatural, to unsettling, all-too-possible realism, this collection has something for anyone looking for an absolute thrill.
Stefan Bachmann
Leigh Bardugo
Kendare Blake
A. G. Howard
Jay Kristoff
Marie Lu
Jonathan Maberry
Danielle Paige
Carrie Ryan
Megan Shepherd
Nova Ren Suma
McCormick Templeman
April Genevieve Tucholke
Cat Winters […]