Want a little color for your summer outfit or an upcoming gathering? Paint, decorative paper and a little Mod Podge will provide that bling! Join us on Monday, August 21 at 6 p.m. as we Crafternoon at night. Your imagination is the only limit, so come prepared to paint and decorate away. All supplies provided. This program is for adults and registration is required — register early as these classes fill quickly.
For more ideas on DIY bracelets, check out these library resources. You can also explore CreativeBug, which is our database on arts and crafts activities. You can view tons of creative jewelry ideas with instructional videos, on everything from wire-wrapping to beading to leathercrafts, and more are added monthly! You will need your library card and pin (your birthdate in MMDDYYYY format) to use this database.
Stay tuned for our September Crafternoon in our program guide, on our website and on social media!
What book combines the obscure art of horse diving, otherworldly hauntings, unusual animals, World War I veterans and Wild West shows, all taking place under the long shadow of Manifest Destiny and racial segregation in America? Look no further than this year’s One Read book, “When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky” by Margaret Verble. The novel, Verble’s third, is a wildly entertaining but also compassionate examination of the treatment of those on the margins of society in early 20th century America, a time when the tenets of a humanistic progressivism were all too slowly supplanting long-held beliefs about race and gender.
In her other novels, “Maud’s Line,” “Cherokee America” and “Stealing: A Novel” Verble does not shy away from offering entertaining narratives and characters alongside unsparingly realistic narratives about the displacement, violence and marginalization aimed at Native Americans in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. Verble herself is a registered member of the Cherokee Nation, and each book asks one overarching question: What is it like to be a member of a nation of people, with immense territory and a complex and advanced civilization, and to have all of that stripped away by an often violent, racist and land-greedy government? Continue reading “Literary Links: One Read Author Margaret Verble”
“A Cosmology of Monsters,” Shaun Hamill’s debut novel, is an instant horror classic. The book is a perfect mix of creature-feature horror and a dark, modern fairy tale. The story keeps the reader guessing — just when you think it’s going one way, the story zags in a whole different direction. Yet, the narration is always easy to follow and neither the pacing nor tension ever slacken. Fans of Eldritch Horror will enjoy all the references to H.P. Lovecraft’s short fiction.
Be advised, possible content warnings include: Suicide, mental health, and an adult/minor relationship. There are also a couple of sex scenes. If the story were a film, I’d give it an R-rating. Although the book deals with dark, disturbing subject matter, these subjects are not described with explicit language or overly gory detail. In fact, the juvenile nature of Hamill’s prose is my only complaint about this book. I often felt like I was reading a YA novel right up until the content reminded me that I was in fact not. “A Cosmology of Monsters” is an unpredictably thrilling novel, perfect for fans of the fantasy/horror genre.
Three words that describe this book: Exciting, Clever, Creepy
You might want to pick this book up if: You’re in the mood for a good horror novel.
-Joe
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. Submit your own book review here for a chance to have it featured on the Adults Blog.
I have really been struggling with food and cooking lately. It’s not that I don’t love food (because boy do I love food!) but I just can’t seem to get the energy or inspiration to cook. Maybe it’s the heat. Or maybe I’m just bored with the same five things I’ve been making forever. But I’m hungry. And I’m not sure exactly what I’m hungry for. Connection? Community? Comfort? Curiosity? I need inspiration but I just find it difficult to sit down and read a cookbook. I need stories. So here goes my quest for food inspiration through memoirs. Continue reading “Tasty Memoirs”
Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in August. All of the mentioned titles are available to put on hold in our catalog and will also be made available via the library’s Overdrive website on the day of publication in eBook and downloadable audiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog.
Top Picks
“Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II” by Lena S. Andrews (Aug 1)
“Valiant Women” is the story of the 350,000 American women who served in uniform during World War II. These incredible women served in every service branch, in every combat theater, and in nearly two-thirds of the available military occupations at the time. They were pilots, codebreakers, ordnance experts, gunnery instructors, metalsmiths, chemists, translators, parachute riggers, truck drivers, radarmen, pigeon trainers and much more. They were directly involved in some of the most important moments of the war, from the D-Day landings to the peace negotiations in Paris. These women — who hailed from every race, creed, and walk of life — died for their country and received the nation’s highest honors. Their work, both individually and in total, was at the heart of the Allied strategy that won World War II. Yet, until now, their stories have been relegated to the dusty shelves of military archives or a passing mention in the local paper. Often the women themselves kept their stories private, even from their own families. Now, military analyst Lena Andrews corrects the record with the definitive and comprehensive historical account of American servicewomen during World War II, based on new archival research, firsthand interviews with surviving veterans, and a deep professional understanding of military history and strategy. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: August 2023”
Do you ever feel stuck in the middle of a creative project or, arguably worse, even before you have started on a project? Does your creativity sometimes feel stunted or dried up? Do you struggle to get your creative juices flowing because you are afraid you aren’t talented enough? Perhaps we have a book that can help you. The library has a collection of books on the topic of creativity such as pep talk books to help give you a boost, books about being creative at work, and books to help you think differently.
There are some repeating themes in many of the creativity books. When you are a child, it is easy to be creative. You have time to play and are encouraged to use your imagination. You are less afraid of making mistakes or having everything be perfect. You rest and daydream. These are all tools for freeing up creativity. Continue reading “Creative Is an Adjective”
Even if you aren’t interested in dragons or dark academia, chances are you’ve heard about “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros. It is all over social media and the holds list is quite long. There are read alikes at the bottom of this blog to check out in the meantime, but first I’m going to give a mostly spoiler-free review, so skip ahead if you want to go in knowing nothing.
Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, but the commanding general (her mother) has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is weak, death is only a heartbeat away because if the training doesn’t kill you, the dragons will. And the other candidates would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter. Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise.
I really didn’t love this book. Continue reading “Fourth Wing: Staff Review and Read Alikes”
For years I’ve been a listener to the podcast “On Being” with Krista Tippett. I’ve listened to the podcasts while sitting in the front yard pulling weeds from my garden, as well as in overflowing classrooms with others who have been mesmerized by her interviews and her thoughts “on being” — those questions about the meaning of our existence on this earth, how we make sense of it, how we find community, how we make sense of the physical and spiritual essences in our lives. So I was intrigued to discover the first spin-off from the On Being Project, a podcast called “Poetry Unbound” hosted by Pádraig Ó Tuama.
I love poetry, but this podcast has taken me deeper and opened my eyes to phrases and words that I would have missed completely — in fact, it has opened the bounds of poems and poetry for me. All of this is because of the way Ó Tuama introduces a poem, reads it beautifully for us, then, after a few seconds of a simple music interlude, begins opening up the poem. He will read a phrase, add a bit of background, nuance, thought, then pause for another musical interlude. After the thoughts are shared, he ends by reading the poem one more time. The podcast is brief, just enough time to sweep the garage or wash the dishes, but oh, the sense of peace it brings, the new thoughts that come to life, the feeling of being alive to the world, to being itself, rather than just going through the chores of a day. Continue reading “Reader Review: In the Shelter”
What a fascinating read! “The Art Thief” is one of those instances where real life is stranger than fiction! If it were a work of fiction, I would suspect most readers would have a difficult time believing the number of thefts and the audacity of the “techniques” used by Stéphane Breitwieser. Author Michael Finkel’s storytelling abilities kept me wanting to turn the page to find out where this would all end. Finkel explores Breitwieser’s psyche — and that of his girlfriend accomplice — while following their trail from the first theft to the resulting courtroom drama.
Three words that describe this book: fascinating, interesting, suspenseful
You might want to pick this book up if: you like mysteries, true crime and art!
-Anonymous
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. Submit your own book review here for a chance to have it featured on the Adults Blog.
When I started out as a cook, I didn’t really have any disposable income, so I couldn’t go to restaurants and sample what the local established chefs were doing. My window to technique and flavors was books and television. A few celebrity-type chefs guided me from afar: Jacques Pepin, Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay, Ming Tsai, Mary Ann Esposito, Lidia Bastianich, Nick Stellino, David Chang. If you’re about to chastise me for not mentioning Julia Child, sadly I watched her much earlier than this time I am referring to. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, their own angle on what makes a dish, or a meal, great. (If you notice, almost all of these chefs had shows on PBS; specifically, my local station, PBS Wisconsin, Channel 38.) I would watch these shows and steal flavor combinations, learn the traditional dishes of their ancestry, watch their methods, skills and techniques. I would bring this new knowledge into my home kitchen and my work kitchen. Continue reading “Read the Recipe! Lidia Bastianich”
