Blog

This fall Des Plaines resident Jill Morgenthaler's new book, The Courage to Take Command: Leadership Lessons from a Military Trailblazer was published by McGraw-Hill.

For several years Colonel Jill Morgenthaler (ret.) has been a familiar face in the library, using our study rooms and wireless Internet access to work on her book about leadership. Jill takes over thirty years of military experience and develops a practical leadership guide. With chapter headings like, 'Not everyone wants you to succeed', 'Charm is a verb' "Dealing with Bullies' and 'How to Survive Unreasonable People', I can’t wait to read it.

Continue Reading "Books with a Des Plaines Connection" →

Once upon a time a video rental store named Hollywood Video helped me realize that the goal is not to just watch movies, but also to have fun in doing so. It was because of them that I learned the definition of 'cult classic', discovered who Tom Servo and Crow were, and first witnessed the fascinatingly complex relationship between the city of Tokyo and Godzilla. Some of my favorite all-time Christmas memories involve nights spent with flurries against the living room window, a room lit only by the Christmas tree and a TV screen, and a big stack of Hollywood Video VHS rentals.

Continue Reading "What Films Mean to Us" →

The holiday season brings with it family gatherings, delicious food, and gifts, but it’s also filled with big movie releases.  Both Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day are big days for the box office, and the movie studios make sure there are lots of great new movies out there to draw us in!

As a book lover, when a movie is based on a book, I prefer to read the book before seeing the movie; movies almost always have to drop (sometimes crucial, in my opinion) elements of a story in order to fit it into 2-3 hours, and I prefer to experience the full story first.  I also prefer to have my own “picture” of characters in my head first; in the past when I’ve seen the movie then read the book, I inevitably have the actors from the movie in my head when I later read the story, and my imagination feels left out of the process.  

Continue Reading "Books on the Big Screen" →

'Tis the season and all that.  Some of us love it and are natural  holiday merrymakers. Some of us just kind of, well you know.... hate it.  For you bah-humbuggers the holidays can be hard, but DPPL can help. Here are four ways to put a little more 'happy' in your holiday.

Continue Reading "Holidays are hard.  DPPL’s got 4 ways to make them easier" →

"It's __________.," your doctor said definitively. "I have what?" you respond. Anyone who has just been diagnosed with a medical condition or disease knows only too well the shock and dismay that inevitably tend to accompany such news.

"What do I do now?" you ask yourself, loved ones and friends. "Where do I go from here?"

Don't hesitate to ask your physican where to find credible medical information about your condition, in print and/or online. It's important to educate yourself.

The Des Plaines Public Library can help, too. Let us serve as a guide.

Continue Reading "Newly diagnosed? Don’t despair" →