I love Stephen King.  I have read much of his work, and one of my favorites is The Shining.  I love that he was able to bring the hotel to life as a character just like the humans in the story.  But I will not go to the Stanley Hotel in Estes!  I just discovered that the original movie was not filmed there, but King stayed there, which inspired the story.  For me, King’s short works are the best.  His short stories are amazing in their development in such a short amount of pages.

BUT…there are amazing creepy stories OTHER than King!  I know, it doesn’t seem right.  So, as Halloween approaches, consider broadening your creepy reading horizons with some new authors.

Goodreads has a good list of creepy young adult reads.  Included on the list is Dracula by Bram Stoker – another of my favorite creepy reads!

And here is a list from Epic Reads; 13 of them, of course!

Hopefully these lists will inspire you to try something new!  Many of the books on both lists are available in the library, so come by to check one out!

Happy Reading!

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Every year, I say it: I love fall.  And it is finally here!

This year, I set a challenge for myself.  Since I usually read fiction, I want to expand my reading and thinking by trying to read more non-fiction.  Each night when I read, I now read for about 20 minutes from a non-fiction book, and THEN I can read my fun fiction book.  There are non-fiction books I have read straight through without alternating with fiction, but sometimes it felt like I was just slogging through it.  The way I have my challenge set up, I get to enjoy both my books!

I started my challenge with a tough non-fiction: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.  I have wanted to read this book for a while, and it is hard for me, but I do like it.  It will take me a while to get through, since I can only read about 3 pages at a time!

I have some other good non-fiction on the list coming up, too: The Witches by Stacy Schiff; #Eat for the Planet: Saving the World, One Bite at at Time* by Nil Zacharias and Gene Stone; Soul Story: Evolution and the Self-Realising Universe by Tim Freke; Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less* by Greg McKeown; and The Origin of Species* by Charles Darwin.  And now you see why I can’t just read a non-fiction without alternating or taking a break!  🙂

*We have these in the library, so come by to check them out!

Happy Reading!

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This is it!  The week we celebrate our freedom to read.  There is so much good reading out there, and not enough time to read it all.

Everyone’s different viewpoints make our reading interesting, but it can also cause the troubles we have when someone wants to ban a book so no one else can read it.  I don’t mind if you don’t want to read something; if it doesn’t fit your beliefs, that is fine.  However, just because you don’t believe in the values of the books, that does not mean you have the right to take that book away from everyone else.

I have always been able to read what I want to read, and I continue that tradition with my son.  I want him to read widely, to experience different views, and see the world from other perspectives.  If I always choose his books or make him read only about certain topics or values, how will he become an open-minded individual?  The topics in the books that are most challenged are topics that are real life, such as suicide, gender identity discussions, violence, political or religious viewpoints causing disagreements, and more.  I can’t shield my son forever from life, so if I can talk with him as he reads a book, he will be better prepared when he is on his own.

I have been watching the trends of book challenges, and of no surprise to me, the books about LGBTQ topics are gaining on the challenged lists each year.  Check out the 2017 top 10 most challenged books, put together by the American Library Association.

Come by the library to grab a book to read, and celebrate that you have the opportunity!

Happy reading!

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This year in the library, we have a new focus for our events: community service.  We want to help kids understand the value and importance of giving back to the community.

We have multiple projects planned for the year!  We started today with making rice sock warmers for animals at the Humane Society.  A very simple project: take a sock, fill it with rice, and tie it at the top!  The kids who participated had fun making these, and we look forward to making a few more next week.

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The warmers will be a comfort to small kittens and puppies, as well as for those animals coming out of anesthesia.  Small acts make a big difference!

We will continue our community service journey throughout the year!  Join us every Tuesday during both lunches to participate and complete service hours.

You can check out the current project ideas on the Inspiration Pursuits page.  We have a variety of projects planned, so hopefully something will spark your interest to help the community!

As always, happy reading!

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#TVSTRONG

As I looked over my posts from last year, I realized just now that it has been almost exactly a year since I last posted.  I just could not get going last year.  No particular reason.  Just had a lot to do and my energy could not support it all, so something had to go.

But, my goal for this year is to get a post up about once a week.

So here we go!  I usually do my summer book review first, so…I read some good ones this summer!  I read a total of 17 books, all adult reading.  I gave up on a few because I have decided that there are too many good books out there to waste time finishing the bad ones.  I think my favorites of the summer were The Martian by Andy Weir, and The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman.  Two VERY different books, but both hit in areas I am interested in.  I am looking forward to reading Artemis, Weir’s second book.  We’ll see if I like it as much as his first.

And now back to reading my YA books.  I tend to take a break in the summer, even though I love them.  🙂  I started this year by reading Heartless  by Marissa Meyer, which was a take on Alice in Wonderland.  It wasn’t bad.  I am almost finished with Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.  I like the mythology and magic in it, and there is a love story I can handle.  I can’t read romance.  Bleh.  But a cute story of the Romeo and Juliet type is fine.

The reading list is long, but I love always having the variety of a stack of books as tall as I am!  And fall is just about here, so I can cozy up and read, read read!

Happy reading!

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#TVSTRONG