Bloomington Public Library > Book Gossip

Abraham Lincoln Award

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:06 +0600

The Abraham Lincoln Award is an annual award sponsored by the Illinois School Library Media Association. The award is presented each year to an author voted "most outstanding" by Illinois students in grades 9-12. Students read from March through the following February. Online voting opens in February and the winner is announced by the end of that month.

I've been working my way through this year's list of nominees and each title I read seems better than the one before. At this point I don't think I could even pick a winner as they have all been enjoyable so far. I've read previous year's nominees as well and found it good exercise for my brain. The titles are not ones I would normally choose but I've yet to be disappointed. It often pushes me past my comfort zone and I like that. I also like having some titles in my "arsenal" for when teens approach the desk asking "do you have any book suggestions?" "Well, yes I do as a matter of fact. Have you heard about the Abraham Lincoln Award?"

Posted by Amy R

Carolyn Haines

Mon, 10 May 2010 15:05 +0600

This spring I have been enjoying an author I just discovered: Carolyn Haines. Carolyn is a Southern writer and author of the Sarah Booth Delaney mysteries.

Sarah Booth has just returned to Zinnia, Mississippi from New York and a failed attempt to break into acting. The last member of a plantation family dating back to just before the Civil War, Sarah Booth is trying to save her home from foreclosure. She is haunted by her memories as well as the ghost of her great, great grandmother's nanny.

By a series of unexpected events, Sarah Booth stumbles into being a promising private eye.

These are fun reading mysteries with a cast of quirky and memorable characters set in the Mississippi Delta.

Posted by Karen M

Gardening season is back!

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:04 +0600

If you're a gardener, be it vegetables or flowers, the season you love best has arrived! It's time to get outdoors in the dirt! Don't forget to check out the many gardening books the library has to give you advice and ideas. The following are a few of our newer titles.

Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward Smith

Rock Garden Plant Primer by C. Grey-Wilson

New Low Maintenance Garden by Valerie Easton

Dirt Cheap Green Thumb by Rhonda Massingham

Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden by Paul Bonine

American Meadow Garden by John Greenlee

Posted by Mary C

March is Women's History Month

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:03 +0600

March is Women's History Month. Check out one of these books about interesting women who played important roles in history:

Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life by Lori D. Ginzburg

Civil War Wives: The Lives and Times of Angelina Grimke Weld, Varina Howell Davis and Julia Dent Grant by Carol Berkin

Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer

The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir

Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits by Linda Gordon

Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, and the Afterlife by Francine Prose

The Sisters Who Would Be Queen: Mary Katherine, and Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Tragedy by Leanda De Lisle

Strong Medicine Speaks: A Native American Elder Has Her Say: An Oral History by Amy Hill Hearth

Check our catalog, these books and others on women in history are available in the non-fiction section of the library.

Posted by Robin H

New Releases for February

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:01 +0600

Some of February's new fiction releases are listed below. To place a hold on any of these titles, please call 828.6091, option 1, or click to use our email form.

Big Girl by Danielle Steel
Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Fantasy in Death by J. D. Robb
Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton
Money to Burn by James Grippando
Poor Little Bitch Girl by Jackie Collins
Split Image by Robert B. Parker
The Wild Zone by Joy Fielding
Worst Case by James Patterson

AND... It's not too late to sign up for the adult winter reading program. The program ends on Sunday, March 7. Click here to sign up and print your reading log! Happy reading!

Posted by Marcie S

Robert B. Parker, dead at age 77

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:01 +0600

Author Robert B. Parker, best known for his Spenser mystery series, died Monday while writing at his desk. Expectations are that a new Jesse Stone novel, Split Image, due out next month, and a western titled Blue-Eyed Devil, due out in May, will both be published on schedule. Click here to find your favorite Robert B. Parker novel in our collection.

Posted by Marcie S

Coming in January!

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:12 +0600

Here's a sampling of January's new fiction releases. To place a hold on any of these titles, please call 828.6091, option 1, or click to use our email form.

Blood Ties by Kay Hooper
Burn by Ted Dekker
The First Rule by Robert Crais
Gator-a-Go-Go by Tim Dorsey
Kisser by Stuart Woods
Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky
Treasure Hunt by John T. Lescroart

Beginning January 4, we invite all adult readers to "read in the new year" and sign up for the adult winter reading program. You may sign up online or in person to participate and receive your reading log. For every 2 hours of reading completed, you'll get to enter into a prize drawing for gift certificates to downtown Bloomington businesses. Read as much as you'd like, there's no limit to the number of entries a participant may submit. Program ends on Sunday, March 7.

Posted by Marcie S

Best Books Lists

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:12 +0600

The year is coming to a close and that means numerous "best books" for 2009. Click to view the best books lists from NPR, The New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly (as selected by Stephen King.) I'm sure there are many more. We'd love to hear of ones we missed!

Posted by Marcie S

New Additions to the Illinois Collections

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:12 +0600

If you are fascinated with Chicago and its sights, check out these new additions to the library's Illinois Collection.

Chicago 1890: The Skyscraper and the Modern City

The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History

Soldier Field: A Stadium and Its City

Posted by Karen M

Books to Movies in the Coming Year

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:12 +0600

I subscribe to feeds from the blog EarlyWord. It's a great way to stay on top of what's predicted to be hot in the publishing world, thus creating demand in libraries. A book being made into a movie always generates demand for the book. Here is a list of books being made into movies for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010.

Posted by Marcie S