Today’s Harrisburg bookmobile stop is canceled due to a mechanical issue. All library locations will be closed Thursday, November 28 and Friday, November 29 for Thanksgiving.
Posted on Tuesday, July 26, 2022 by patron reviewer
While it is marketed as a novel, “A Visit From the Goon Squad” is more accurately a collection of linked short stories. These stories focus on multiple characters whose lives are interconnected through music, particularly the American punk rock scene of the 1980s. While the book has received praise for author Jennifer Egan’s use of alternative forms, like PowerPoint slides, the real strength of the book is Egan’s attention to character psychology and the complications of human relationships.
Three words that describe this book: Funny, poignant, sad
You might want to pick this book up if: You like short stories and are interested in the difficulty in remaining a rebel as you age.
-Tyler
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.
Many readers use fiction as an escape from reality, and with the dangerous heat and pandemic(s), perhaps now isn’t the best time to recommend a frequently very sad book largely about climate change and a pandemic, but rest assured “How High We Go in the Dark” is a frequently very sad book completely about people and their grief and hope (the people are massively impacted by climate change and a pandemic, however). There is an abundance of pain and sadness in this novel. You should read it! Continue reading “The Gentleman Recommends: Sequoia Nagamatsu”
Water. It’s almost everywhere. Approximately 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water. Human adults are around 55 – 60% water (Baby humans — 78%!!!). Even beer is mostly water (90 – 95%, by most estimates — more than babies!!!). So, it should come as no surprise that water also permeates the written word in similar proportions.
Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2022 by patron reviewer
“Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead” follows Gilda, a 27-year-old lesbian who accidentally ends up working as a receptionist in a Catholic Church. During this time, Gilda is grappling with her identity, her mortality AND the potential murder of the previous receptionist at the church. It is an extremely unique book and following Gilda’s unusual thought process constantly keeps the reader questioning what is actually happening in Gilda’s world. I have never read anything quite like this; it made me giggle, it made me cry and it made me think deeply about my own identities and roles in life.
Three words that describe this book: Thought-provoking, quirky, relatable
You might want to pick this book up if: you enjoy introspective characters, love chaos and read a lot of books with unreliable narrators.
-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.
Posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2022 by patron reviewer
I learned about “The Correspondents” from an A Mighty Girl post about journalist Clare Hollingworth, and it has proven to be a fascinating and compelling listen. The book follows six American and British women journalists (five writers and one photographer) as they reported on WWII. Not only is it the story of their adventures, travels and reports, but it also follows the difficulties they faced as female reporters as they battled the hesitancy of their newspapers to hire women as war correspondents and restrictions, particularly by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, on women in combat zones. The book was not always an easy listen, particularly as it traced each woman’s response to and reports on the liberation of concentration camps near the end of the war, but those experiences seemed a part of the larger whole as the author broke down the reasons why these women continued for 6+ years to report the realities of war.
Three words that describe this book: Can’t stop listening
You might want to pick this book up if: You are interested in women’s history, WWII, journalism, or the everyday experiences of women in a conflict zone.
-Alexis
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.
Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2022 by patron reviewer
As one might have guessed, “Adventuring Together” is a book about adventuring with your children/family. Ms. Eskridge makes a point that adventures push us out of our boundaries, help us grow and teach us many lessons along the way. You might think adventures have to be these grandiose events that take months of planning, lots of money and leave us exhausted afterwards. I love how the author shows that small adventures can be just as important if not even more rewarding than a large event … and that even a shared book can be an adventure. The important thing is that adventures build traditions and traditions build memories. Besides convincing you of the importance of adventures, Ms. Eskridge gives tips, tools and lists of ideas to get you started. There are even some how-tos in the back of the book to help you jump right in. If you read this book, I’m quite sure you’ll be ready to throw on your backpack and head out the door!
Three words that describe this book: Inspiring, humorous, helpful
You might want to pick this book up if: You feel like your life has become stale and you want to put a little excitement back into it with the people you love most.
-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.
Join us on Thursday, August 4 at noon to discuss “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest” by Suzanne Simard, a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence. Simard writes in illuminating and accessible ways about how trees learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and compete and cooperate with one another.
This discussion is geared toward adults and will be held in the Children’s Program Room. Masks are requested if community COVID levels are elevated. More books on this and similar subjects can be found here.
A brown-belted bumble bee, Bombus griseocollis, feeds on a button bush flower. Photo credit Maggie Maginness
A friend and I recently braved high heat, oppressive humidity, ticks and sunburn — not to mention the potential for bee stings–to catch, photograph and identify (and then release) bumble bees in central Missouri. After about three hours of that, I returned to my air conditioned home and spent at least three hours sorting our photos and uploading our data for the Missouri Bumble Bee Atlas project. This was in addition to a day-long training and lots of planning.
And I was happy to do it!
This two-spotted bumble bee, Bombus bimaculatus, was one of 26 bumble bees captured and identified in our survey this July. Photo credit Maggie Maginness
What’s so special about bumble bees? you ask.
In recent years, there’s been a lot of concern about populations of pollinators, the insects, birds and bats that transfer pollen from one flower to another. Pollination is necessary for plants to generate seeds. Some plants can be pollinated by the wind, like corn and ragweed, but many or most need a little help. Animals that visit flowers (usually for nectar) get dusted with pollen which is then carried on to the next flower. This process is important for many commercial crop plants but also the wild native plants that are essential to our native ecosystems.
Bees in general have garnered a lot of attention in the last ten or more years with concerns about the colony collapse disorder–which only affects honey bees. Honey bees are good pollinators. They visit a lot of flowers. BUT they are not as good as bumble bees, and here’s why.
First, honey bees are not native to North America (they come from Europe). Secondly, honey bees are primarily in search of nectar not pollen.
Bumble bees are native species that have evolved with the local plants. Bumble bees focus more on collecting pollen, so they are really good at inadvertently carrying pollen between flowers. Thirdly, some plants can only be pollinated effectively by bumble bees, which use a special buzzing technique to get these flowers to release pollen.
Because of bumble bees’ ecological importance, organizations like Xerces Society, Quail Forever, Pheasants Forever, MU and the MDC have come together to support the Missouri Bumble Bee Atlas, a citizen science project working to identify the bumble bee species in Missouri. There are concurrent efforts in Canada and many other states. The data from this project and other bumble bee monitoring projects is collected and housed on the Bumble Bee Watch website, which is open to the public.
An American Bumble bee, Bombus pennsylvanicus, forages on a purple fall aster. Photo credit Maggie Maginness
Bumble bees are important to our ecosystems, and that’s part of why I’m participating in the Atlas project. I find a beauty in how they fit into Missouri’s landscape. Our bumble bees need the flowers, but the flowers also need them. Bumble bees have personality. You might call them a charismatic mega fauna of insects. They are big (for a bee), furry and relatively docile. Case in point, no one got stung in the process of catching, photographing and releasing 24 bees! They are so focused on their work collecting pollen and nectar that they are embarrassingly easy to catch. Just stay away from their nests.
Other interesting things about bumble bees. Only the females can sting, but unlike honey bees, they can sting repeatedly. They are most likely to sting you if they are defending their nest or in imminent danger, like getting stepped on. In Missouri, bumble bees are the only native bees that nest communally. In the spring, bumble bee queens emerge from whatever cozy spot they found to over winter, breed with a male and then start a nest. At the end of the summer the new queens emerge, and fatten up before settling in somewhere for the winter. The nest is only used for one year. The queen and her workers don’t see another season.
If you think bumble bees might be great, here are some things you can do:
Take a look at these materials to learn more about bumble bees;
Visit Bumble Bee Watch to see what species of bees have been collected in your area and elsewhere;
Plant native flowers. If there are flowers for them, bumble bees will miraculously show up and do their thing;
Volunteer as a citizen scientist with Missouri Bumble Bee Atlas;
Visit the Missouri Bumble Bee Atlas website and peruse their educational resources. They have videos and documents about pollinators, identifying bumble bees, why populations are declining and more;
Leave some piles of grass, brush or other ‘messy’ areas where bumble bees might like to nest;
Don’t use insecticides in your garden;
Buy your plants and seeds from plant nurseries that do not use insecticides Some insecticides are very persistent and can even be transferred to the seed and the new plant that grows from the seed. You’ll have to ask the seller what the policy is. If they don’t know, recommend they find out, and look for plants elsewhere.
Tell other people to watch out for the bees! We need them!
Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2022 by patron reviewer
All the buzz about “Remarkably Bright Creatures” wasn’t enough to lure me to pick it up — until this year’s summer reading theme was “Oceans of Possibilities.” The description about an “unlikely” friendship between an octopus and widow was a major snag for me. The “unlikely” part seemed far fetched indeed! Somewhat reluctantly I put a hold on the audiobook as part of a summer reading challenge with a reading partner. I was pleasantly surprised to meet an entire cast of delightful, charming, quirky characters.
By happenstance, on the same day I started the book, I heard an interesting story on NPR comparing the intelligence of octopuses and humans … fascinating! The timing seemed like a direct retort to my skepticism about the plausibility of friendship with an octopus. One of the joys of reading is making discoveries that open paths to continued learning and parallel discoveries — often by fostering awareness and empathy. Rousing my curiosity about octopuses is a bonus — perhaps the friendship between Marcellus and Tova is not so unlikely after all.
Highly recommend as a light and warm-hearted summer read. You will soon feel like you are living in fictional Sowell Bay or wishing you did.
Three words that describe this book: Warm-hearted, quirky, wry
You might want to pick this book up if: You want to meet a cast of resilient characters who take a risk on friendship and community.
-Kristi
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.
The biannual Project Homeless Connect provides health and human services, hair cuts and seasonal supplies for folks in need. Anyone can flex their neighborly muscles by volunteering during the program on Thursday, July 28th. Simply sign up using this form. Here at Columbia Public Library, we are accepting donations of supplies for this event now through July 22. Look for the gray tub in the lobby to deposit the following items:
While it is marketed as a novel, “A Visit From the Goon Squad” is more accurately a collection of linked short stories. These stories focus on multiple characters whose lives are interconnected through music, particularly the American punk rock scene of the 1980s. While the book has received praise for author Jennifer Egan’s use of alternative forms, like PowerPoint slides, the real strength of the book is Egan’s attention to character psychology and the complications of human relationships.
