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The idea of freedom can be taken for granted pretty easily nowadays. We face so many choices on a daily basis that we might forget what it means even to have a choice. How often do we consider it when we enter the library looking for a book to read?

What if we were not allowed access to something on the mere basis that someone else disagreed with its contents and thought it should be removed?

Continue Reading "Free Books, Free Minds" →

Hands down, my very favorite part of my job here at the library is the first Saturday of every month, when In For A Penny meets. 

Like many people I know, you may not subscribe to print newspapers. Maybe you opt to get your news online, or maybe you just prefer to save the money and read the paper here at the library. But however you get your news, there’s one thing you might be missing from the good old Sunday paper—the coupons!

Continue Reading "Thriftin’ Around Town With In For A Penny" →

Readers of well written, entertaining nonfiction have something to look forward to this fall. Three authors, often referred to as bestselling, and in one case as Pulitzer Prize winning, are coming out with new books. The library has ordered copies and you can start placing your holds on these titles now.

Continue Reading "History Light: 3 Bestselling Authors are Coming Out with New Books this Fall" →

I was lucky enough to hear Lee Child speak recently. His Jack Reacher thrillers are my number one guilty pleasure. Nobody writes suspense as well. I have blogged about him before, even wondering aloud which other fictional tough guys could defeat Reacher in a fist fight (answer none). Child's talk was wonderful, engaging and hilarious.

Continue Reading "Jack Reacher Is Back!" →

Self-help books have been around for a long time. Readers of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice will remember Mr. Collins reading aloud from Fordyce’s Sermons to Young Women. It was a late 18th and early 19th century book that advises women on how to conduct their lives.

Since then the self-help book industry has grown exponentially. When someone asks me to recommend a self-help book, I try to consider what they are really looking for? Inspiration, healing, self-improvement or general guidance of personal conduct? Here is the way I think about self-help books. First, by the background of the author and second by the focus of the book.

Continue Reading "Help Yourself with these 8 Classic Self-Help Books" →