Genealogy Reads – How-to

Genealogy Reads – How-to

Are you a genealogy newbie? There is help for you at the library! Look for these books for some tips on how to get started. Don't forget to ask a librarian if you need more help, and join us for genealogy programs at AAPLD. View our events calendar, and search for "genealogy" to find upcoming programs.

  • Organize Your Genealogy : Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher by Drew Smith
  • Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy Blaine T. Bettinger
  • Finding Your Family Tree: A Beginner’s Guide to Researching Your Genealogy by Sharon Leslie Morgan
  • Unofficial guide to FamilySearch.org : How to Find Your Family History on the World's Largest Free Genealogy Website by Dana McCullough
  • Genealogy for Beginners by Katherine Pennavaria

Band Books- It’s Only Rock n Roll– But I Like It!

Band Books- It’s Only Rock n Roll– But I Like It!

Summer concert season is about to kick off. Daisy Jones and The Six is rockin' Prime Video. If you crave the stories behind the music, whether true life or imagined, check out the Band Books display at the Main Library.  Novels, or memoirs, rock, pop, punk or country, discover a great read to put you back stage or on the road with the band.

Music Memoirs

Remain In Love by Chris Frantz -  Chris Frantz’s memoir tells the story of his life with Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and his life-long love affair with Tina Weymouth. He remembers the early performances at CBGB alongside the Ramones, Patti Smith, Television and Blondie and recording the game changing albums, Talking Heads ’77, More Songs About Buildings And Food, Fear Of Music, and Remain In Light. During a break from Talking Heads, Chris and Tina formed Tom Tom Club; in the process creating a hybrid of funk, disco, pop and electro that would have a huge impact on the club scene around the world.

Warm and candid, funny and heartfelt, Remain in Love charts the rise of a band that began as a dream and culminated with their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and reveals the once-in-a-lifetime love story and creative partnership between Chris and Tina, one of the greatest rhythm sections of all time.

 

 

Snakes, Guillotines, Electric Chairs: My Adventures in the Alice Cooper Group by Dennis Dunaway - As teenagers in Phoenix, Dennis Dunaway, bassist and co-songwriter for the Alice Cooper group, and lead singer Vince Furnier (who would later change his name to Alice Cooper) formed a hard-knuckles band that played prisons, cowboy bars, and teens clubs. Their wild, impossible journey took them from Hollywood to the ferocious Detroit music scene, and along the way they discovered the utterly original performance style and look that would make them the stuff of legend.

Speaking out for the first time about his adventures in the Alice Cooper group, Dunaway reveals a band that was obsessed with topping themselves, with their increasingly outlandish shows and ever-blackening reputation. Dunaway takes readers into back rooms, behind brainstorming sessions, and into the most exclusive parties of the 1970s, revealing the talent, drama, and characters that drove two teenagers to create what would become America's highest-grossing act.

From struggling for recognition to topping the charts with a string of hits including "I'm Eighteen," "School's Out," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy," the Alice Cooper group was entertaining, outrageous, and one of a kind. Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! is a riveting account of the band's creation in the '60s, their strange glory in the '70s, and the legendary characters they met along the way.

Novels

This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs - Jane Start is thirty-three, broke, and recently single. Ten years prior, she had a hit song—written by world-famous superstar Jonesy—but Jane hasn’t had a breakout since. Now she's living out of four garbage bags at her parents’ house, reduced to performing to Karaoke tracks in Las Vegas. Rock bottom.

But when her longtime manager Pippa sends Jane to London to regroup, she’s seated next to an intriguing stranger on the flight—the other Tom Hardy, an elegantly handsome Oxford professor of literature. Jane is instantly smitten by Tom, and soon, truly inspired. But it’s not Jane’s past alone that haunts her second chance at stardom, and at love. Is Tom all that he seems? And can Jane emerge from the shadow of Jonesy's earlier hit, and into the light of her own?

In turns deeply sexy, riotously funny, and utterly joyful, This Bird Has Flown explores love, passion, and the ghosts of our past, and offers a glimpse inside the music business that could only come from beloved songwriter Susanna Hoffs.

 

 

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton - An electrifying novel about the meteoric rise of an iconic interracial rock duo in the 1970s, their sensational breakup, and the dark secrets unearthed when they try to reunite decades later for one last tour.

Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records.

In early seventies New York City, just as she’s finding her niche as part of a flamboyant and funky creative scene, a rival band signed to her label brandishes a Confederate flag at a promotional concert. Opal’s bold protest and the violence that ensues set off a chain of events that will not only change the lives of those she loves, but also be a deadly reminder that repercussions are always harsher for women, especially black women, who dare to speak their truth.

Decades later, as Opal considers a 2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols. Sunny thought she knew most of the stories leading up to the cult duo’s most politicized chapter. But as her interviews dig deeper, a nasty new allegation from an unexpected source threatens to blow up everything.

Provocative and chilling, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev features a backup chorus of unforgettable voices, a heroine the likes of which we’ve not seen in storytelling, and a daring structure, and introduces a bold new voice in contemporary fiction.

Local History Notes

Local History Notes

Are you researching ancestors who lived in the Algonquin area? The Algonquin Library has many local history publications in the genealogy section that may mention your family members. Here are just some of the titles available:

  • Algonquin the beautiful : history of its pioneers and its settlement
  • Algonquin illustrated
  • Algonquin maps, 1800-2011 : Algonquin Township plat maps, historic maps : collection of Algonquin area maps
  • History of Algonquin : old newspaper articles, timelines for pioneer times (1834-1890), villages expands (1890-1900), new century (1900-now).
  • Historic homes of McHenry County
  • History of McHenry County, Illinois (1885)
  • History and stories of the McHenry County Cemeteries
  • Jacobs High School Yearbook
  • McHenry County, Illinois
  • McHenry County memories : the early years, 1800s-1939
  • McHenry rural survey : Algonquin Township 1998
  • Once upon a town-- : Algonquin, Illinois, the first 160 years

Need help finding information about a specific ancestor from Algonquin? Contact a Genealogy Librarian to ask your genealogy question.

Genealogy Reads – Memoirs

Genealogy Reads – Memoirs

Look for these memoirs at the library. You will be fascinated by these personal stories of genealogy and family history.

  • The Stranger in My Genes: A Memoir by William C. Griffeth
  • Not My Father's Son: A Memoir by Alan Cumming
  • Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
  • All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles
  • American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Secret History of Adoption by Gabrielle Glaser
  • White Like Her: My Family's Story of Race and Racial Passing by Gail Lukasik

Genealogy Goals for the New Year

Genealogy Goals for the New Year

Do you have any research goals for the upcoming year? My #1 goal is to become better organized with my genealogy files, so I have more time to focus on actual genealogy research. If you are like me, you know where everything is, but nobody else alive could find anything or even make sense out of your piles of  genealogy research. Are you ready for a change?

Join us for a virtual presentation with Jacqueline Schattner who will share amazing tips on organizing paper and computer genealogy files using a color coding system. You will also be inspired to organize family heirlooms, photos, and more. This is going to be a game-changer!

Register here

Genealogy Reads

Genealogy Reads

Look for these genealogy reads at the library, and discover how DNA might be used to find connections to family.

  • The Forever Witness : How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder by Edward Humes
  • Npe*: A Story Guide for Unexpected DNA Discoveries (*a non-paternity event - when 'dad' is not... your biological father) by Leanne Hay
  • Your DNA Guide the Book : Step-by-step Plans to Connect You with Your Family Using Your DNA by Diahan Southard
  • Finding Family : My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA by Richard Hill
  • The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Uncovering Secrets, Reuniting Relatives, and Upending Who We Are by Libby Copeland

2022 In Review – Top Digital Check-outs from Libby

2022 In Review – Top Digital Check-outs from Libby

Need some Winter Reading suggestions? Why not try an ebook or downloadable audiobook? Ebooks and downloadable audiobooks count toward Winter Reading the same as print books, and go where you go! Just download the free apps from Libby, Hoopla, or Axis360, enter your AAPLD card number, and you're in! Cardholders from other libraries can access digital books through their home library. If you need assistance, contact the Adult Services department.

Read on to see Libby's ten most popular ebooks and downloadable audiobooks for 2022. How many have you read?

Most popular ebooks borrowed from Libby/OverDrive in 2022

 

  1. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave (Simon & Schuster)
  2. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty (Henry Holt and Co.)
  3. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Publishing Group)
  4. Verity by Colleen Hoover (Grand Central Publishing)
  5. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Washington Square Press)
  6. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (Penguin Publishing Group)
  7. It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover (Atria Books)
  8. The Girl in His Shadow by Audrey Blake (Sourcebooks) *Big Library Read title
  9. The Judge’s List by John Grisham (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)
  10. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by E. Schwab (Tor Publishing Group)

 

 

Most popular audiobooks borrowed from Libby/OverDrive in 2022

  1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Books on Tape)
  2. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave (Simon & Schuster Audio)
  3. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (Macmillan Audio)
  4. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty (Macmillan Audio)
  5. The Guest List by Lucy Foley (HarperAudio)
  6. Atomic Habits by James Clear (Books on Tape)
  7. Dune by Frank Herbert (Macmillan Audio)
  8. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson (HarperAudio)
  9. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Simon & Schuster Audio)
  10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Duke Classics)

Find Your Next Great Read!

Find Your Next Great Read!

Summer Reading is over, but there are still plenty of great books waiting to be discovered! If you're not sure what to read next, we can help. AAPLD has some fun and easy-to-use tools to help you find your next great read. Whether it's an online database that can suggest more titles like your favorite series or author, or a subscription box custom-curated by an Adult Services staff member, we love helping folks answer the question, "what should I read?"

Recommend Me A Book

Our Recommend Me A Book reader's advisory form asks about the types of books, movies and TV shows you enjoy, and your favorite authors, to help us create a personalized recommendation list. We'll email our suggestions and include handy links to place the items on hold. Find the form by clicking About Us on our home page. Select Contact from the drop-down menu, then choose Readers Advisory Form.

NoveList Plus Readers Advisory

An online database containing thousands of titles, NoveList Plus helps you find adult, teen fiction and non-fiction suggestions by matching similar authors, titles and subjects. You'll find NoveList Plus under the Virtual Library tab. Select Online Resources, then scroll through the alphabetical list. NoveList Plus is available to AAPLD cardholders to use anywhere. Everyone can access the database from our computers in library.

LibBox

Not sure what to read, watch or listen to next? Let us choose for you! LibBox Subscription Boxes are library-curated boxes filled with books, movies and CDs based on your preferences, plus a few surprises. Register through our Events tab and you'll receive a form to fill out with your reading, watching and listening preferences. LibBoxes are offered every other month, registration for October's LibBox begins Sept. 15.

Resources at the Library

Stop by the Main Library on Harnish Drive and pick up a free copy of BookPage, a monthly publication containing reviews of new releases, book news, author interviews and more.

Our Library Reads display near New Fiction contains new books selected by librarians across the country each month, as their favorite new releases. You can also explore the Library Reads website to find selections from previous months, and years!

And don't forget the friendly Adult Services staff! Ask us what we're reading, or tell us what you're reading, or would like to read. We love talking about books.

 

 

Summer Reading Staff Picks

Summer Reading Staff Picks

Summer Reading Staff PicksLooking for a great summer read? Ask an AAPLD staff member! We love books—reading them, talking about them, and recommending them!  Since summer is prime reading season, members of the Adult Services staff would like to share some of our favorite recent reads, and audiobook listens.

If you haven't signed up for 2022 Summer Reading yet, learn more here, or stop by the Adult Services desk.

Mystery

I enjoyed The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James, It was an intriguing mix of psychological thriller and haunting mystery. The main character's interest in writing about true crime and cold cases leads her to a close, and uncomfortably chilling, involvement with a manipulative murder suspect. Recommended by Anne Kunzen, Information Services & Genealogy Librarian

Young Adult/Historical Fiction

The Silent Unseen by Amanda McCrina  Poland, July 1944. Sixteen-year-old Maria is making her way home after years of forced labor in Nazi Germany, only to find her village destroyed and her parents killed in a war between the Polish Resistance and Ukrainian nationalists. To Maria’s shock, the local Resistance unit is commanded by her older brother, Tomek―who she thought was dead. He is now a “Silent Unseen,” a special-operations agent with an audacious plan to resist a new and even more dangerous enemy sweeping in from the East. When Tomek disappears, Maria is determined to find him, but the only person who might be able to help is a young Ukrainian prisoner and the last person Maria trusts―even as she feels a growing connection to him that she can’t resist. Recommended by Holly Eberle, Teen Librarian

Non-Fiction

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. With Gladwell, you can’t go wrong. This book is about the importance of both talking and listening, and how communication is a two way process, a really relevant lesson for our time. What’s more, the audiobook uses actual clips of the people being quoted, so you can hear why their words are so insightful. Recommended by Henry Sadowski, Adult Services Librarian

Horror

Beneath The Stairs by Jennifer Fawcett. In a small upstate New York town, teens dare one another to enter an abandoned house with a sinister history, hidden deep in the woods. In the summer of 1994, best friends Clare and Abby take the dare, and are never the same. Fawcett takes familiar horror elements--haunted houses, creepy dolls, dark basements-- and gives them a fresh twist, weaving a scary page-turner I couldn’t put down. Recommended by Elizabeth Harmon, Adult Services Library Associate

Literary Fiction

The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian Tanzania, 1964. When Katie Barstow, A-list actress, and her new husband, David Hill, decide to bring their Hollywood friends to the Serengeti for their honeymoon, they expect civilized adventure: Fresh ice from the kerosene-powered ice maker, dinners of cooked gazelle meat, and plenty of stories to tell over lunch back on Rodeo Drive.

What Katie and her glittering entourage do not expect is this: A kidnapping gone wrong, their guides bleeding out in the dirt, and a team of Russian mercenaries herding them into Land Rovers, guns to their heads. As the powerful sun gives way to night, the gunmen shove them into abandoned huts and Katie Barstow, Hollywood royalty, prays for a simple thing: To see the sun rise one more time. A fast paced, well written literary thriller with interesting characters and a strong sense of place. Recommended by Meghan O'Keefe, Adult Services Librarian

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle - A perfect read for summer. Katy was supposed to go with her mom on a trip to spectacular Positano, Italy, where her mother lived as a young woman, but tragically, she passes away before they go. Katy decides to take the trip anyway, to heal and feel closer to her mom. While she is there enjoying the town -- Mom appears in the flesh as her 30 years old self, and the two become friends! The magical quality of this story is what I love the most -- the food, the view, and the ambiance of the coastal setting, all brought to life by the author's gorgeous writing. It sweeps you up and away to another world! Recommended by Wendy Theehs, Adult Services Library Associate

Romance

Glitterland by Alexis Hall. This British novel brings together two unlikely lovers; Ash, an upper class author, whose severe anxiety and depression have derailed his life and career, and Darian, a big-hearted male model from working-class Essex, England. Hall’s depictions of mental illness are gripping, and he wisely avoids an unrealistic “healed by love” trope. Yet the story is touching, funny and hopeful. Told with wit and tenderness, it’s a great read for Pride Month, or any month. Available in ebook on Hoopla. Recommended by Elizabeth Harmon, Adult Services Library Associate

Relationship Fiction

The Newcomer by Mary Kay Andrews This author is my go to summer read. Her books are set in a sunny locale and they usually have a touch of whimsy. This book was all that and more. The main plot was a mystery that really keeps you guessing. I liked its emphasis on the power of trusting people and letting love come in to your heart. Recommended by Karin Litwin, Adult Services Library Associate

 

 

 

 

 

The Guncle by Steven Rowley - This is a funny, heartwarming story about a gay uncle who takes care of his niece and nephew for the summer, after they lose their mom to a long illness, and their dad goes to rehab for painkiller addiction. I listened to this audiobook as well. The author was the narrator and did an excellent job. Recommended by Lisa Mayoras, Adult Services Library Associate

A Month to Make Her-Story!

A Month to Make Her-Story!

A powerful and revered First Lady. The first Latina U.S. Supreme Court justice. A ground-breaking comedian. These are just a few of the fascinating women you can discover this month at Algonquin Area Public Library.

A Month to Make Her-Story!March is Women's History Month, and a great opportunity to learn about the contributions women have made to our nation, and to history. Whether its a biography, memoir or historical novel based on real life people and events, browse our online catalog for stories that are sure to inspire readers, regardless of gender.

 

 

Biography

Elizabeth & Margaret: the intimate world of the Windsor sisters by Andrew Morton

Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Princess Margaret were the closest of sisters and the best of friends. But when, in a quixotic twist of fate, their uncle Edward Vlll abdicated the throne, the dynamic between Elizabeth and Margaret was dramatically altered. Forever more Margaret would have to curtsey to the sister she called 'Lillibet.' And bow to her wishes. Margaret's struggle to find a place and position inside the royal system—and her fraught relationship with its expectations—was often a source of tension.

Memoir

Just As I Am: A Memoir by Cicely Tyson "Just as I Am is my truth. It is me, plain and unvarnished, with the glitter and garland set aside. Here, I am indeed Cicely, the actress who has been blessed to grace the stage and screen for six decades. Yet I am also the church girl who once rarely spoke a word. I am the teenager who sought solace in the verses of the old hymn for which this book is named. I am a daughter and mother, a sister, and a friend. I am an observer of human nature and the dreamer of audacious dreams. I am a woman who has hurt as immeasurably as I have loved, a child of God divinely guided by His hand. And here in my ninth decade, I am a woman who, at long last, has something meaningful to say."

Non-Fiction

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly - Before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of NASA professionals worked as ‘Human Computers’, calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts, these ‘coloured computers’ used pencil and paper to write the equations that would launch rockets and astronauts, into space. Moving from World War II through NASA’s golden age, touching on the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War and the women’s rights movement, ‘Hidden Figures’ interweaves a rich history of mankind’s greatest adventure with the intimate stories of five courageous women whose work forever changed the world.

Historical Fiction

Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini - The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth. Estranged from Ada’s father, Ada’s mathematician mother provides her daughter with a rigorous education. When Ada is introduced into London society little does she realize that her friendship with inventor Charles Babbage will shape her destiny. Intrigued by the prototype of his first calculating machine,  and enthralled by the plans for even more advanced inventions, Ada resolves to help Babbage realize his extraordinary vision, unique in her understanding of how his invention could transform the world.