At my house, family movie night is one of those ideas that seems SO GOOD in theory. Family bonding! Popcorn aplenty! Low-cost, thanks to the plethora of options at our friendly local library! But pretty quickly, this brilliant idea runs up against cold, hard reality: I have three children, ranging in age from almost-seventeen to…
Confession: I do not like Halloween. Candy aside, it is not my holiday. Not at all. I don't like scary things, or people in masks, or gore. I rely on other people to tell me which horror books and movies are good, because to be honest...horror makes me cry. In short, I am a scaredy…
Detective Steven Paul is barely keeping it together. His marriage has crumbled, his superiors are questioning his fitness for duty, and his childhood nightmare – a grim prison, a horrific stench, and a cryptic symbol – continues to haunt him, both asleep and awake. So when scandal-chasing blogger Emily Lindsey is found catatonic and covered…
Assuming you did not spend the summer under a rock, you probably heard that the Wonder Woman movie did quite well at the box office. (And by “quite well,” I mean, “was biggest-grossing movie ever helmed by a solo female director,” according to Forbes.) You’d be forgiven, then, for thinking Leigh Bardugo’s WONDER WOMAN: WARBRINGER…
Whether the new year starts in September or January is a matter of some debate. As far as I'm concerned, a fresh start is always a good thing, regardless of what the calendar says. So in the spirit of the spirit of clean slates and lofty goals, I asked several of the librarians at CMPLD…
Fall is coming: the stores are full of harried parents clutching school supply lists, magazines promising easy weeknight dinners, and scented candles with names like "Snuggly Sweater." But even though school's back in session, the forecast is calling for sun -- and Cook Library has plenty of choices to help you squeeze every last bit of fun from the summer, no…
"From thirteen original colonies, as every schoolkid knows, the USA has become a nation of fifty proud states." But as Doug Mack goes on to explain in his latest book, there's more to the story. We don't, strictly speaking, have colonies anymore. Instead, we have territories. And commonwealths. And insular areas. (And the District of…
Sometimes, you just want to read a big book. Maybe you're going into a weekend-long sports tournament; maybe it's too hot and humid to step outside. Maybe you're facing a mountain of laundry with nothing to keep you occupied during the spin cycle, or you're flying cross-country. Maybe you just want to be transported. (This,…
I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it can’t be helped. Sometimes you see a book, and its cover says, “I am the perfect summer romance! Read me when you need something long on breezy charm, short on doom and gloom, with a healthy dose of swoony-ness.” Too…
Though you’d never know it from the weather forecast, summer is fast approaching. And while I love a moody, atmospheric historical mystery all year round, these days I find myself reaching for stories that are a little sunnier than my usual Victorian or WWII fare. I crave something fresh -- a new-to-me setting, an unfamiliar cast,…
