Licking County Library Book Group Blog

Black History Month Book Discussion

2012-01-16T12:35:00.000-08:00

Please join us for a brown bag lunch book discussion in February in honor of Black History Month. We will be discussing the critically acclaimed book by Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration.

February 14, 2012, 12 pm - 1:30 pm
Meeting Room B, Newark Library

Click here to watch a video of Ms. Wilkerson discussing her book.

Please bring your lunch and the library will provide drinks and dessert. Registration is requested. Please call 740.349.5553 or stop by the Newark Library's Information Desk.

Copies of the book are now available for checkout at the Newark Library.

LCL Book Groups

2011-12-19T09:39:00.000-08:00

Everyone is welcome to attend a LCL book group, no registration necessary.

Fiction Book Group
First Wednesday of each month, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m., Upper Level Conference Room, Newark Library.

January 4, 2012	*The Cat's Table* by Michael Ondaatje
February 1, 2012	*Left Neglected* by Lisa Genova
March 7, 2012	*The Language of Flowers* by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Miller Book Group
Second Wednesday of each month, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.,Emerson R. Miller Library.

January 11, 2012	*The Robber Bride* by Margaret Atwood
February 8, 2012	*To the Hilt* by Dick Francis
March 14, 2012	*The Accidental Tourist* by Anne Tyler

Booked to Death Mystery Group
Fourth Wednesday of each month, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m., Meeting Room A, Newark Library.

January 25, 2012	The Complaints by Ian Rankin
February 22, 2012	The Art Thief by Noah Charney
March 28, 2012	The Long Fall by Walter Mosley

Bookmark Group
Last Thursday of each month, 2 - 3 p.m., Hebron Library

January 26, 2012	The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
February 23, 2012	My Antonia by Willa Cather
March 29, 2012	Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Library Ladies
No meeting times. Participants complete a survey card to return with the book.

January 2012	Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
February, 2012	The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
March, 2012	The Book of Hours by T. Davis Bunn

December Book Groups

2011-11-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

December 7 - Fiction Book Group
6:30 pm @ the Newark Library

All the Living by C. E. Morgan

December 14 - Miller Book Group
5:30 pm @ the Emerson R. Miller Library

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

December 28 - Booked to Death Mystery Group
6:30 pm - dinner & book discussion at local restaurant
(please call to reserve your spot -- Bonnie 349.5524)

Water Like a Stone: Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James #11) by Deborah Crombie

December 29 - Bookmark Group
2 pm @ the Hebron Library

Bird's Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin

Month of December - Library Ladies Book Group
Buckeye Lake Library
No meetings, share your review by completing a survey card.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

National Book Awards Announced

2011-11-17T11:28:00.000-08:00

National Book Award winners featured in BookPage.

November Book Groups

2011-10-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

The Fiction Book Group meets on Wednesday, November 2 at 6:30 pm in Meeting Room B at the Newark Library to discuss Our Kind of Traitor by John LeCarré.

The Miller Book Group meets on Wednesday, November 9 at 5:30 pm at the Miller Library. This month's book is Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas.

Bookmark Group at the Hebron Library is meeting on Thursday, November 17 (special day due to Thanksgiving) at 2 pm to discuss Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.

The Library Ladies book group at Buckeye Lake Library will be reading Friendship Bread by Darien Gee for its November title.

Booked to Death Mystery Group will be discussing The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton on November 30 (special day due to Thanksgiving) at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.
Winner of the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Novel.

Meet Author Donna Johnson: Holy Ghost Girl: A Memoir

2011-10-19T11:53:00.001-07:00

Texas writer Donna Johnson will be reading from her new book, Holy Ghost Girl: A Memoir, at the Newark Library at noon on Friday, October 28, 2011. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

In Holy Ghost Girl, Johnson recounts her childhood amongst the Terrellites—followers of the Evangelical tent revivalist David Terrell. Between the ages of 3 and 17, she watched the change from sawdust revivalism to secret families and tax evasion and everything in between. Jeanette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, says Holy Ghost Girl “takes you inside a world where God and sin and miracles and deceit and love are so jumbled together you can’t tell them apart.”

The book has enjoyed positive reviews from the New York Times, BookPage, Oprah Magazine, and Kirkus, and has just made Publisher Weekly's Top Ten List of Memoirs for Fall, 2011.

Watch the Holy Ghost Girl book trailer here!
http://www.holyghostgirlbook.com/

Civil War Book Discussion: Mrs. Lincoln: A Life

2011-10-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

Licking County Civil War 150 Event

Come and enjoy a discussion of Catherine Clinton's critically acclaimed biography of Mary Todd Lincoln on Wednesday, November 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Newark Library.

“We can never get enough of Lincoln, and we can never get enough of his family. Catherine Clinton’s fascinating book feeds that hunger.” (Ken Burns)

Catherine Clinton discusses Mrs. Lincoln: A Life in this C-SPAN interview.

Copies of the book are available for checkout at the Newark Library.

October Book Groups at the Licking County Library

2011-09-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

Are you interested in talking about the books you love or hate over a coffee and getting recommendations for titles to add to your reading stack? If this sounds like you, then consider participating in one or more of our book groups. Each month's selections are available for checkout at the library. New participants are welcome.

Library Ladies
Buckeye Lake Library

Our October title is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. No meetings - just complete a survey card to share your comments.

Fiction Book Group
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5
6:30 PM, Newark Library

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig.

Miller Book Group
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011
5:30 PM, Emerson R. Miller Library

The Miller Book Group will continue its discussion of Russka: The Novel of Russia by Edward Rutherfurd.

Booked to Death Mystery Group
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26
6:30 PM, Newark Library

A Drop of the Hard Stuff: A Matthew Scudder Novel by Lawrence Block.

Bookmark Group
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27
2 PM, Hebron Library

Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall.

Brown Bag Lunch Book Discussion

2011-09-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

Join us on Tuesday, October 11 from 12:00 to 1:30 pm for a discussion of The Lost Quilter: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini. Bring your lunch and we'll provide dessert and drinks. Copies of the book are available for checkout at the Newark Library.

The Lost Quilter is book 14 in the best-selling Elm Creek Quilts series. The book recounts the story of a runaway slave and quilter who traveled the Underground Railroad to Elm Creek Farm in 1859 before she was captured and returned to Virginia.

The Lost Quilter was selected as a Choose to Read Ohio 2011 book in conjunction with the Ohio Civil War 150 commemoration.

September Book Groups at the Licking County Library

2011-08-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

September 7 @ 6:30 pm, Newark Library

The Fiction Book Group will be talking about The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll. Join them for a stimulating conversation and refreshments. Books are available to be checked out at the Newark Library's Circulation Desk.

From the Publisher: A popular Irish comedian chronicles with raw humor and great affection the comic misadventures of a large and lively North Dublin family in the 1960s.

September 14 @ 5:30 pm, Emerson Miller Library

The Miller Book Group will be discussing Russka: The Novel of Russia by Edward Rutherfurd at both its September and October meetings. Copies of Russka are available to be checked out at the Emerson Miller Library.

From NoveList: The lives of families inhabiting a small Ukrainian village are chronicled through the centuries from AD 180 to the Russian Revolution.

September 28 @ 6:30 pm, Newark Library

The Booked to Death Group will be discussing The Shanghai Moon: A Lydia Chin/Bill Smith Novel by S. J. Rozan. Author's website: http://sjrozan.net/

Summary:

Estranged for months from fellow P.I. Smith, Chinese-American private investigator Chin is brought in by former mentor Joel Pilarsky to help with a case that involves tracking down a valuable brooch, the Shanghai Moon, which disappeared during WWII.

September 29 @ 2 pm, Hebron Library

The Bookmark Group will be discussing Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs.

Summary: Kathy Reichs—#1New York Timesbestselling author and producer of the FOX television hitBones—returns with the thirteenth riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan.

Lastly, The Library Ladies book group at the Buckeye Lake Library will be reading The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman for their September book. This no-pressure book discussion group offers you a chance to share your opinions of the book by completing a survey card and returning it after you've completed the book.

From NoveList: A writer's view on life and art are revealed during his attempts to edit the children's classic that shaped his literary ambitions.

Book Discussion Groups for August

2011-07-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

New members are always welcome at our book groups. Get reading and join us for our August meetings. Copies of the books are available for checkout at each book group location.

Our non-fiction book group, No Page Unturned, meets on August 1 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library to discuss Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America With Einstein's Brain by Michael Paterniti.

Kirkus:: Here's an urban legend that turns out to be true: the pathologist who autopsied Albert Einstein kept his brain, and magazine journalist Paterniti spent a nutty couple of weeks with him, ferrying it to California.

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The Fiction Discussion Group is reading All Quiet on the We st e rn Front by Erich Maria Remarque for its August 3rd meeting. The discussion starts at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library. Kay Bork will be our guest host.

BookList:: In this unsparingy realistic account of the lives and deaths of a group of German boys on the Western front, the reader senses the tragedy of a whole generation blighted by the War.

***

The Miller Book Group's August selection is Belle Ruin by Martha Grimes, book #3 in the Emma Graham series.

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The Booked to Death mystery group will be discussing Shatter by Michael Robotham at their August 24 meeting at 6:30 at the Newark Library. This is book #4 in the Joseph O'Loughlin and Vincent Ruiz series.

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The Bookmark Group will meet at 2 pm at the Hebron Library on August 25 to discuss Pray ers for Sale by Sandra Dallas.

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The Library Ladies at the Buckeye Lake Library will be reading The School of Ess ential Ing redients by Erica Bauermeister in August. No meetings -- just pick up the book and complete a survey card to return with the book!

Library Ladies Book Group

2011-07-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

The Library Ladies Book Club will host it's first actual meeting on Tuesday, July 19th at 6:00 p.m. We will be discussing The Walk by Richard Paul Evans. Copies of the book will be available at the Buckeye Lake Library

A Little Romance - 2011 RITA Award Winners

2011-07-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

The RITA Awards are presented annually by the Romance Writers of America for the best novels in romantic fiction. Award winners are judged for quality in writing and overall excellence in the romance genre.

Here are some of the winners of the 2011 RITA Awards announced this week. For a complete list of winners, visit the Romance Writers of America website. To reserve a book, please call our Information Desk at 740.349.5553 or search our online catalog.

Contemporary Single Title Romance
Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis

Regency Historical Romance
The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig

Historical Romance
His at Night by Sherry Thomas

Inspirational Romance
In Harm's Way by Irene Hannon

Contemporary Series Romance
Welcome Home, Cowboy by Karen Templeton

Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure
The Moon That Night by Helen Brenna

Novel with Strong Romantic Elements
Welcome to Harmony by Jodi Thomas

Paranormal Romance
Unchained: The Dark Forgotten by Sharon Ashwood

Romantic Suspense
Silent Scream by Karen Rose

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Summer reading guide: The reading season is heating up

2011-06-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Summer reading guide: The reading season is heating up

Finding Your Next Book With BookLetters

2011-06-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

Just in case you aren't familiar with Bookletters, it is an online subscription resource provided by the Licking County Library to help you find the latest fiction and non-fiction bestseller lists, author interviews, and book award lists for adults, teens and children. Here are some of the most popular pages:

Book Sizzle: Books in the news.

BookLetters Daily: A new book review every morning.

Books on the Air: Books featured on television and public radio during the past week.

Past and Present : Recommended reading about history and current events.

Staff Picks: Recommendations from the LCL staff.

Want to see more? View all newsletters and lists, or sign up to receive email newsletters.

You can find BookLetters on our homepage by clicking on the Check It Out! icon at the bottom of the page. Happy reading!

What our book groups are reading for July

2011-06-13T09:24:00.001-07:00

Even if you can't attend a book discussion, pick up a copy of a book group title for your summer reading enjoyment!

The Fiction Book Group will be discussing The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman at it's July 6 meeting at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

Publishers Weekly:: /* Starred Review */ If any contemporary author deserves to wear the mantel of Jane Austen, it's Goodman, whose subtle, astute social comedies perfectly capture the quirks of human nature. This dazzling novel is Austen updated for the dot-com era, played out between 1999 and 2001 among a group of brilliant risk takers and truth seekers.

The Miller Book Group's July selection is Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize. Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet tell the Southern view of the battle at Gettysburg while Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and General John Buford present the Northern view. They will meet on Wednesday, July 13th at 5:30 pm at the Emerson Miller Library.

The Booked to Death group will be discussing Kwei Quartey's Wife of the Gods on Wednesday, July 27 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

BookList:: /*Starred Review*/ Quartey’s crisp, engrossing debut introduces readers to Darko Dawson, a talented and temperamental detective inspector in Accra, capital city of Ghana. As the novel opens, DI Dawson is called out to the remote village of Ketanu to investigate the suspicious death of Gladys Mensah, a medical student and passionate AIDS worker.

The Bookmark Group at the Hebron Library will be discussing When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin on Thursday, July 28 at 2 pm.

Kirkus Review: Christian-fiction writer Martin (The Dead Don't Dance, not reviewed) chronicles the personal tragedy of a Georgia heart surgeon.

The Library Ladies book discussion at the Buckeye Lake Library will feature The Walk by Richard Paul Evans for its July selection. No meetings! To participate in this group, just check out the book and pick up a survey card to complete and return with the book.

Kirkus Review: From Evans (The Sunflower, 2005, etc.), the first installment of a new series starring a Seattle adman who loses everything and embarks on a soul-cleansing cross-country trek.

Copies of the books are available one month before each meeting.

June Bestseller Watch

2011-06-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

June Bestseller Watch

Looking for a great summer read?

2011-06-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Pick up a copy of Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani, the June book selection for the Library Ladies book group at Buckeye Lake Library. This was the first book in the Big Stone Gap series and it follows the story of Ave Maria, a single Italian-American woman turning 35 in a rural Appalachian town in the 1970s.

Book 2 Big Cherry Holler
Book 3 Milk Glass Moon
Book 4 Home to Big Stone Gap

To participate in the Library Ladies book group, just read the book and submit your review at the Buckeye Lake Library! Search the Licking County Library's catalog here.

June Book Groups

2011-05-24T19:37:00.001-07:00

Newark Library - 740.349.5553

Wednesday, June 1, 6:30 to 7:30 pm
Fiction Discussion Group

The Towe r, the Zoo, and the Tortoise

Author: Julia Stuart

Wednesday, June 6, 6:30 to 7:30 pm
No Page Unturned Group

A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveller

Author: Frances Mayes

Wednesday, June 22, 6:30 to 7:30 pm
Booked to Death Mystery Group

Case Histories

Author: Kate Atkinson

Visit our blog at www.bookedtodeath.blogspot.com

Emerson Miller Library 740.344.2155

Wednesday, June 8, 5:30 to 6:30 pm
Miller Book Group

No Way to Treat a First Lady

Author: Ch ristopher Buckley

Hebron Library 740.928.3923

Thursday, June 30, 2 to 3 pm
Bookmark Group

The Help

Author: Kathryn Stockett

Mystery Awards!

2011-05-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

May has been a busy month for mystery fiction. Nominees were announced this week for the 2011 Anthony Awards, considered to be one of the most prestigious awards given to mystery writers. The nominees for Best Mystery Novel are:

Bury Your Dead (Book 6, Chief Inspector Gamache series) - Louise Penny
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter - Tom Franklin
Faithful Place - Tana French
I'd Know You Anywhere - Laura Lippman
The Lock Artist - Steve Hamilton

The winners will be announced at the annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in September. For a complete list of this year's Anthony Award nominees, as well as winners from the past 28 years, visit the Stop, You're Killing Me! website.

Canadian author Louise Penny is already celebrating! The Brutal Telling (Book 5 of the Gamache series) was the winner of last year's Anthony Award for Best Mystery Novel, and Bury Your Dead has just won the 2010 Agatha Award for Best Mystery Novel. Visit Ms. Penny's website to read more about her books and Quebec.

The first book in the Gamache series, Still Life, was a 2010 selection of the Booked to Death Mystery Group, and the members rated the book as 3.8/5.

The Orchid Thief discussion questions

2011-05-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

Tonight, the No Page Unturned nonfiction book group will be discussing The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. The discussion questions are from ReadingGroupGuides.com.

1. Is there a hero in The Orchid Thief? An anti-hero?

2. The passion for collecting is described in the book as a means of infusing meaning into life, subjecting the vicissitudes to some order, acquiring the ability to mold and change the nature of things, i.e. create life itself. What other means do humans employ to achieve the same ends, and how effective are they?

3. John Laroche would not describe himself as an orchid person. To him the orchid is a temporary albeit very intense passion, a means to an end, not an end in itself. How would you analyze the difference between Laroche's motives in collecting orchids and the regular orchid collectors we visit in the course of the book?

4. Laroche wrestles verbally with the thought that acting within what he considered the bounds of the law for his own immediate gain was ultimately an act of altruism. His rape of the Fakahatchee would force the law to be changed and close the loophole that allowed him to poach rare and wild orchids from an Indian reservation in the first place, thus protecting the species in the wild, and securing it for the marketplace at the same time. Is this the thought process of an amoral character? Or is he just an everyday charlatan? Discuss.

5. Laroche makes a very telling statement: "When I had my own nursery I sometimes felt like all the people swarming around were going to eat me alive. I felt like they were that gigantic parasitic plant and I was the dying host tree." Is Laroche playing the role of the victim, the martyr to a (preferably lost, but grand) cause or is he in control of his life by making a living off other people's weaknesses, whether it be a passion for orchids or pornography? Discuss.

6. Orlean interrupts her central narrative of John Laroche with stories of the orchid hunters of the past, the contemporary state of Florida and other histories. How does this affect the pace of the work? Is the framework she has devised successful?

7. What is the real core, the central character, of the book: Laroche? Florida? Orchids? Native Americans? Darwin? Orlean?

8. As a reader, what did you expect from a book about orchids? How did your experience of reading The Orchid Thief compare to what you expected?

9. What, besides orchids, could generate a book like this? Are there other subcultures or other objects of desire that might be as provocative?
If you liked this book, try these!
• The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
• Tulipomania: the story of the world’s most coveted flower and the extraordinary passions it aroused by Mike Dash
• How flowers changed the world by Loren C. Eiseley

Don’t forget to watch the movie, Adaptation (2002).
“Frequently cynical screenwriter Charlie Kaufman has just taken on a new assignment. That is, to adapt writer Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief" into a screenplay, all of it based on the life of the eccentric John Laroche, an exotic plant collector based out of Florida. While his easygoing twin brother Donald, is writing scripts with ease, Charlie finds himself on a perpetual struggle that never seems to end.”

May Book Discussion Groups

2011-04-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

No Page Unturned

The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
May 2, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Newark Library

Fiction Discussion Group

Every Last Cuckoo by Kate Maloy
May 4, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Newark Library

Miller Book Group

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
May 11, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Emerson Miller Library

Booked to Death Mystery Group

Dog On It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn
May 25, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Newark Library

Bookmark Group

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
May 26, 2011 at 2 pm
Hebron Library

Library Ladies

Saving Cee Cee HoneyCutt by Beth Hoffman
Read and submit your review.
Buckeye Lake Library

April 2011 Book Discussions

2011-03-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

As part of the 150th Civil War Commemoration and celebration of National Library Week, the Licking County Library is offering several book discussions with a Civil War theme this month. Copies of the books are available for checkout now at the Newark Library's circulation desk.

No Page Unturned Book Group

Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month at the Newark Library.

April 4 @ 6:30 p.m.
Southern Lady, Yankee Spy
by Elizabeth Varon

Library Journal: * Starred Review */Though one of the most productive secret agents of the Civil War, Elizabeth Van Lew never disclosed the full story of her wartime activities and destroyed documents that would have assisted historians in doing so. Varon (history, Wellesley; We Mean To Be Counted: White Women and Politics in Antebellum Virginia ) separates fact from fiction in this first scholarly biography of the mysterious woman who provided Union commanders from Butler to Grant with a fairly continuous stream of intelligence in the latter part of the war. Although a proper Southern lady on the outside, Van Lew was an activist at heart, taking steps to free her family's slaves and organizing Union sympathizers of all walks of life in Richmond, VA.

Fiction Book Group
Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month at the Newark Library.

April 6 @ 6:30 p.m.
My Abandonment by Peter Rock

Publisher's Weekly: "This is a tale of survival, of love and attachment, of mystery and alienation. It is an utterly entrancing book, a bow to Thoreau and a nod to the detective story. Every step of this narrative, despite providing more questions than answers, rings true."

Civil War Book Discussion
Join us for this special book discussion led by Library Director Babette Wofter.

April 13 @ 6:30 p.m.
Send Me a Pair of Boots and Kiss My Little Girls: The Civil War L etters of Richard and Mary Watkins, 1861-1865 by Jeff Toalson

Based on 300 letters written exchanged by Captain Richard Watkins, Co. K, 3rd Virginia Cavalry,CSA and his wife, Mary during the American Civil War. These letters told of hardships and strife from a soldiers perspective as well as struggles experienced by his family back home.

Booked to Death Book Group
Meetings are held on the 4th Wednesday of the month at the Newark Library.

April 27 @ 6:30 p.m.
Unholy Fire: A Novel of the Civil War by Robert Mrazek

Booklist: Mrazek has crafted a suspenseful Civil War-era adventure. After being critically wounded in a Union battle fiasco, Lieutenant McKitredge is sent to a makeshift hospital on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., to die. . . . Defying the odds, Kit survives, one of the many Civil War heroes to be rewarded with a serious opium addiction. Dispatched to the office of the provost marshal, he is assigned to investigate the cases of thieves, murderers, and deserters. Full of dark twists and turns, this brooding drama underscores the brutal nature of both the physical and the psychological casualties associated with war.

Bookmark Group
Meetings are held on the last Thursday of the month at the Hebron Library.

April 28 @ 2 p.m.
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

NoveList: Presents a novel based on the life of the author's grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, who learned to break horses in childhood, journeyed five hundred miles as a teen to become a teacher, and ran a vast ranch in Arizona with her husband while raising two children.

Library Ladies
No meetings are held for this new "club" organized by the Buckeye Lake Library. Instead, just sign out the book and complete a survey form to share your insights on each month's title.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

"Lush, original and poignant, Kathryn Stockett has written a wondrous novel set in the deep south told through the authentic voices of Aibileen, Minnie and Skeeter, three unforgettable women whose lives and points of view intersect vividly against a landscape of hopeful change in America. You will be swept away as they work, play and love during a time when possibilities for women were few but their dreams of the future were limitless. A glorious read."
—Adriana Trigiani, Bestselling author of The Big Stone Gap series and LUCIA, LUCIA

Confederates in the Attice discussion

2011-03-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight the No Page Unturned book group will discuss Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. Our discussion questions come from ReadingGroupGuides.com. The group meets in the second floor conference room of the Newark Library at 6:30 pm.

If you enjoyed this book, try these!

March by Geraldine Brooks (fiction)
Civil War by Ken Burns (video)
Civil War (3 volumes) by Shelby Foote
Reliving the Civil War: A Reenactor’s Handbook by Robert Lee Hadden
A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz
Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory by Carol Reardon

March 2011 Book Discussions

2011-02-17T10:48:00.000-08:00

What we're reading for March...

Fiction Book Group

Meetings are held on the first Wednesdays of the month at the Newark Library.

March 2 @ 6:30 pm.
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.

Book Description from Harper Collins:

The gripping international bestseller about motherhood gone awry

Eva never really wanted to be a mother—and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.

No Page Unturned

Meetings are held on the first Mondays of the month at the Newark Library.

March 7 @ 6:30 pm
Conf ederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz

A Licking County Civil War 150 Event

From NoveList Plus:

A journalist leads readers on a revealing journey through the Old South, tangling with the forces of white rage, rebel grit, and regional pride in places where the Civil War is more than a memory.

Miller Book Group

Meetings are held on the second Wednesdays of the month at the Emerson Miller Library.

March 9 @ 5:30 pm (new meeting time)
Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler

From NoveList Plus:
Ian Bedloe's life is forever affected by an event that took place years before--the night, in 1967, when he told his older brother, Dan, that Dan's wife had been cheating on him and that the baby son Dan had come to love was not his own.

Booked to Death Mystery Group

Meetings are held on the fourth Wednesdays of the month at the Newark Library.

March 23 @ 6:30 pm
Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh

From NoveList Plus:

Under the leadership of their sergeant, known as "The Oracle," the crew of the LAPD's Hollywood Station take on their toughest case yet as they deal with the Russian mob, diamonds, counterfeiting, and grenades.

Bookmark Group

Meetings are held on the last Wednesdays of the month at the Hebron Library.

March 31 @ 2 pm
Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama

From NoveList Plus:

Spanning the years between the world wars, this tale of a young Chinese girl forced to work in a silk factory describes the sisterhood of workers she discovers there.

Library Ladies

No meetings are held for this new "club" organized by the Buckeye Lake Library. Instead, just sign out the book and complete a survey form to share your insights on each month's title.

The title for March is The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

From NoveList Plus:

When Sir Charles Baskerville is murdered, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate the eerie howling on the moor

The Good Good Pig discussion questions

2011-02-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

The No Page Unturned nonfiction book group will meet tonight, Monday, Feb. 7th in the upstairs conference room of the Newark Library. We will be discussing The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery. These discussion questions are provided by the publisher, Ballantine Books.

1. Sy Montgomery writes about the extended interspecies family that coalesces around "The Good Good Pig," Christopher Hogwood. If you have a pet or pets, do you think of the animal as a central part of your family unit, or as a kind of appendage to it? In what ways does your pet affect the family dynamic?

2. Lavishing as much money and attention on any animal as the author did on Christopher Hogwood is wasteful when there are human beings in need of assistance. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?

3. Do you think you would have enjoyed having Christopher Hogwood and Sy Montgomery for neighbors? Why or why not?

4. Do you feel a special connection to any particular kind of animal? If you could be an animal for one day, which would you choose and why?

5. At the beginning of the previous century, most Americans still lived and worked on farms and had close relationships with a variety of animals, both wild and domesticated. Now only a minority of people in this country experiences a close relationship with animals other than dogs, cats, and other familiar pets. What affect do you think that has had on our sense of connection to the natural world, both individually and as a society? Is it important to have that kind of a connection? Why?

8. Consider this quote from St. Francis: "Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission: to be of service to them whenever they require it." What might this service consist of? If St. Francis were alive today, how do you think he would react to the animal testing of drugs and other products, livestock farming practices, and the like?

9. What are your thoughts about the animal rights and animal welfare movements? Are they following the advice of St. Francis or taking matters too far? What can people do to make a difference in the way animals-pets, livestock, and wild-are treated in our society?

10. Do animals possess inherent rights that human beings are morally obligated to respect? If so, what is the source of these rights? Should animals have legal or civil rights beyond what is currently accorded them?

11. There are many anecdotes reflecting the extraordinary, even uncanny, sensitivity of animals toward the natural world and toward people. What examples can you give from your own experience, and how do you explain them?

If you liked this book, try these!

The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy - and Why They Matter by Marc Bekoff
Marley and Me by John Grogan
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs and Me by Jon Katz
My Cat Spit McGee by Willie Morris

Library Ladies Book Club

2011-01-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

Have you always wanted to be in a book club but don't have the time? The Library Ladies Book Club at our Buckeye Lake Library is for busy adults who love to read and discuss their books. Just check out the title of the month and pick up a survey card to complete and return with the book.

As part of the 150th Civil War Anniversary Commemoration, the February title is Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

For more information, please call the Buckeye Lake Library at 740.928.0472.

February Book Groups

2011-01-26T13:03:00.000-08:00

February 2, 2011

The Fiction Book Group meets at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library to discuss Mudbound by Hillary Jordan.

February 7, 2011

The No Page Unturned Book Group meets at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library to discuss The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery.

February 9, 2011

The Miller Book Group meets at 7:00 pm at the Emerson Miller Library to discuss House Rules by Jodi Picoult.

February 23, 2011

The Booked to Death Book Group meets at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library to discuss Dead Wrong by J.A. Jance.

February 24, 2011

The Bookmark Group meets at 2:00 pm at the Hebron Library to discuss The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Martin Luther King Holiday Observance

2011-01-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

Al locations of the Licking County Library will be closed on Monday January 17, 2011 in observance of "Martin Luther King Day." All locations will return to their regular hours on Tuesday, January 18, 2011.

Evening eReader class at Newark Library

2011-01-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

Thanks to popular demand, the Newark Library is offering an evening workshop on eReader devices on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 6 pm in the first floor large meeting room. Registration is required and space is limited. Call 740-349-5553 to reserve your spot.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

2011-01-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

Join the Fiction Book Group on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library for a discussion of Mudbound by Hillary Jordan.

Discussion leader: Babette Wofter

Copies of the book are available for checkout at the Newark Library. New members are welcome.

In 1946, Laura McAllan tries to adjust after moving with her husband and two children to an isolated cotton farm in the Mississipi Delta.
Description provided by Novelist

Christina Koning, The London Times
"Jordan's tautly structured debut . . . confronts disturbing truths about America's past with a directness and a freshness of approach that recalls Alice Walker's The Color Purple."

Publishers Weekly
“[A] beautiful debut . . . A superbly rendered depiction of the fury and terror wrought by racism.

Library Journal, Starred Review
"[A] poignant and moving debut novel . . . Jordan faultlessly portrays the values of the 1940s as she builds to a stunning conclusion. Highly recommended."

Author's Website

Shakespeare's Christmas by Charlaine Harris

2010-12-31T16:46:00.000-08:00

The Booked to Death Mystery Group met for dinner at the local Olive Garden Restaurant on December 22 to celebrate the holidays together and to discuss our December book selection, Shakespeare's Christmas (Lily Bard #3) by Charlaine Harris. Although most of the group members were familiar with Harris' Southern Vampire series, the Lily Bard series was not well known. Lily Bard is a survivor. A victim of a violent assault, she lives a quiet life as a house cleaner in Shakespeare, Arkansas, and spends her free time working out at the gym and practicing her karate skills to make sure she isn't victimized again. While visiting her sister at Christmas, Lily (with the assistance of her P.I. boyfriend) gets involved in solving a double murder. To be honest, we thought this would be just a light book to read over the holidays, but it was much more. It is well written and tightly plotted with realistic characters, especially Lily Bard.

Book Group Rating for Shakespeare's Christmas: 3.75
(We rate on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest. Three book group members rated this book as a 5.)

Other series by Charlaine Harris:

Aurora Teagarden, a librarian in Lawrenceton, Georgia
Sookie Stackhouse, a cocktail waitress and telepath, and her vampire boyfriend, Bill, in small town Louisiana, in the Southern Vampire mysteries (HBO's True Blood series is based on this series)
Harper Connelly, a lightning survivor who can find bodies, and her stepbrother Tolliver, in Sarne, Arkansas

OverDrive iPhone app

2010-12-28T09:55:00.000-08:00

Have you tried to download the OverDrive Media Console app for your iPod Touch or iPhone and had error messages? Some people have tried to download eBooks directly to their device but their library stays empty. Or the app never completes its installation. Try these steps to correct the problems.

Completely reboot your device. Once your device has been turned back on, try the OverDrive app again. The problem should be fixed and your book will appear in your library.
If this does not work, uninstall the app and reinstall it again. You will have to download your eBook again.

Currently, the OverDrive app is not optimized for eBook reading on your iPad. You can use another app, Bluefire Reader, to read eBooks from Licking County Library. This Library Journal article, will walk you through the steps of using the Bluefire Reader app, http://blog.libraryjournal.com/ljinsider/2010/11/12/library-ebooks-on-the-ipadiphone-no-sync-required/.

Downloading books from the library

2010-12-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

In 2009, 74 items where checked out and downloaded from the library. As of today, December 20, 2010, 2688 items have been checked out! Have you tried our download service yet?

You can find the Digital Catalog and Download Center at http://seoebook.seo.lib.oh.us/. Don't forget to select "SEO Library Consortium" as your library and use your Licking County Library card number and PIN to log in.

For more information about downloading audiobooks, eBooks, music and videos, stop by the library for a handout or email akennedy@lickingcountylibrary.info for a copy.

January Book Discussions

2010-12-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

If your New Year's resolution is to read more books in 2011, start the new year by joining one of the Licking County Library's five book discussion groups. No sign up is required and copies of the books are available for checkout one month before the meeting dates.

Our non-fiction book group, No Page Unturned, will discuss Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich on Monday, January 3 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

The Fiction Discussion Group will be discussing This Is Where I Leave You by Jay Tropper at their January 5th meeting. The discussion starts at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

Reading Group Guide and Author Interview from Penguin USA.

The Miller Book Group will be meeting at 7 pm on Wednesday, January 12 at the Emerson Miller Library. Please call the library at 740.344.2155 for the book title.

The Booked to Death Mystery Group will be discussing Winter Study by Nevada Barr at their January meeting. The discussion will take place on Wednesday, January 26 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

Discussion Guide from the Madison Public Library.

The Bookmark Group will be discussing Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout at their January 27 meeting. The discussion starts at 2 pm at the Hebron Library.

Winner of 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Reading Group Guide from Random House.

The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich

2010-12-06T03:16:00.000-08:00

The Bookmark Group will be discussing The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich on December 30 at 2 pm at the Hebron Library.

"Returning to his quiet German village home after World War I, trained killer Fidelis Waldvogel, accompanied by his wife, leaves to start a new life in America and finds his life irrevocably changed by a new relationship." (©Novelist)

Click here for a Reader's Guide and the author's biography from HarperCollins.

Read-Alikes:

Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Digging to America by Anne Tyler
Returning to Earth by Jim Harrison

Julie and Julia discussion questions

2010-11-28T13:17:00.000-08:00

The nonfiction book group, No Page Unturned, will be discussing Julie and Julia by Julie Powell on December 6th at 6:30 pm in the second floor conference room of the Newark Library. The discussion questions we will be using were provided by the book's publisher.

Julie has such a remarkable relationship with Julia Child, despite never having met her. What did you think of the relationship that Julie built in her mind? And why does it not matter, in some sense, when Julie finds out that Julia wasn't an admirer of hers or the Project?

Throughout the book, various people become involved with the Project: Julie's husband, her friends, and several of her family members. Discuss the different roles each played in the Project. Which people were most helpful and supportive? Who was occasionally obstructionist?

Did you find Julie to be a likeable character? Did you relate to her insecurities, anxieties, and initial discontent? Why do you think it is that she was able to finish the Project despite various setbacks?

The Julie/Julia Project is obsessive and chaotic, yet it manages to bring a sort of order to Julie's life. Have you ever gone to obsessive lengths in an attempt to, ironically, make things more manageable? Why do you think Julie does (or doesn't) succeed in this?

If someone were to ask you about this book, how would you describe it? Is it a memoir of reinvention? An homage to Julia Child? A rags-to-riches story? A reflection on cooking and the centrality of food in our lives? Or is it all (or none) of these?

Did Julie's exploits in her tiny kitchen make you want to cook? Or did they make you thankful that you don't have to debone a duck or sauté a liver? Even if your tastes may not coincide with Julia Child's recipes, did the book give you a greater appreciation of food and cooking?

At various points in the book, Julie finds that cooking makes her question her own actions and values. What did you make of her lobster guilt, for example, or her thoughts on extracting bone marrow? Have you ever encountered these issues while cooking, or while going through other everyday motions of life? Have you come to conclusions similar to or different from Julie's?

When Julie began the Project, she knew little to nothing about blogging. What do you think blogging about her experiences offered her? Does writing about events in your life help you understand and appreciate them more? Do you think the project would have gone differently if the blog hadn't gained so much attention? Who was the blog mainly for, Julie or her readers?

If you liked this book, try these!
• Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard
• My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme
• The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

December 2010 Book Groups

2010-11-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

The Fiction Book Group meets on Wednesday, December 1 at 6:30 pm to discuss Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay.

Reader's Guide from HarperCollins.

The No Page Unturned Book Group's December book is Julie & Julia by Julie Powell. The discussion will be held on Monday, December 6 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

Julie Powell Celebrates Julia Child in this Wine Spectator video from Youtube .

The Miller Book Group meets on December 8 to discuss Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris at 7 pm at the Emerson Miller Library.

Readers Guide from HarperCollins.

The Booked to Death Mystery Group meets on Wednesday, December 22 at 6:30 pm to discuss Shakespeare's Christmas by Charlaine Harris.

The Bookmark Group meets on Thursday, December 30 at 2 pm at the Hebron Library to discuss Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich.

Readers Guides from HarperCollins and the Iowa Center for the Book.
.

Project Gutenberg books available through the library!

2010-11-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

Project Gutenberg, a volunteer effort to digitize out of copyright books, has been producing eBooks since 1971. Now through the SEO Library Consortium, Licking County Library users can visit the Project Gutenberg collection webpage, search for titles, hit the download button, and save the free eBook to their computer. The titles can be read in any EPUB-compatible software and transferred to EPUB-capable eBook readers such as the Sony Reader, nook, or Kobo. If you check out a Project Gutenburg eBook, it will not count against your 10 title checkout limit. Also, these books never expire!

Animals in Translation discussion questions

2010-10-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

On Monday, November 1st, the No Page Unturned book group will be discussing Temple Grandin's book, Animals in Translation. The group meets at 6:30pm in the second level conference room. This link, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5165123, will take you to a NPR interview with Temple Grandin talking about her book and autism.

The discussion questions will be from the Harcort Books website, http://www.harcortbooks.com/AnimalsInTranslation/discussionguide.asp.

If you liked this book, try some of these!

Animals Make Us Human:Creating the Best Life for Animals by Dr. Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
Thinking in Pictures : And Other Reports from My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (fiction)
Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey through Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes
When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and other clinical tales by Oliver Sacks
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Live @ the Library: Meet the Authors on November 16, 2010

2010-10-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

Join us at a Meet the Authors program on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm in the Newark Library Meeting Room at 101 West Main Street, Newark, Ohio. The Library will be hosting three diverse and talented Central Ohio authors. The authors will discuss their work and participate in a question and answer session and book signing following the program.

Jim R.Woolard is the author of numerous historical novels, including the award-
winning Thunder in the Valley, Winds of Autumn, Cold Moon, and Blood at Dawn. Woolard's goal is to portray everyday life on the Ohio frontier as accurately as possible, and his writing has been described as "a must read for every historical fiction fan." He recently completed Feathered Tide, a novel based on the River Raisin Massacre and the first siege of Fort Meigs during the War of 1812.

Author's Website: http://www.jimrwoolard.com/

Toni Leland has been a fiction and non-fiction author for 25 years. Her fiction work includes a paranormal romance, a young adult novel, and five equestrian novels, including Hearts Over Fences and Winning Ways. Leland's short stories have appeared in Arabella Romance Magazine, True Story, and Horse Tales for the Soul. Leland also writes feature articles for Grit Magazine, Over the Back Fence, and Ohio Magazine. Her latest novel, Rescue Me, deals with two serious subjects: domestic abuse and horse rescue.

Author's Website: http://www.tonileland.com/

William Zink is the author of several books of poetry and four novels, including The Hole, Ballad of the Confessor, and Ohio River Dialogues, which was a finalist for the 2008 Ohioana Fiction Award. He has been praised by Booklist and Andrei Codrescu, among others. With the release of his latest novel, Pieta, Zink establishes himself as one of the truly important voices to emerge on the American literary scene in years.
Author's Website: http://www.williamzink.com/

The program is free and open to the public.

txt msg!

2010-10-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

Licking County Library now offers the option for your library notices to be sent as text messages to your phone! Ask us for more information on how to get this on your account. Standard text message fees apply.

Award-Winning Author Gary Braunbeck @ Newark Library

2010-10-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

Newark native Gary A. Braunbeck will appear at the Newark Library at 6 pm on Tuesday, October 19, 2010, to discuss the process of writing horror stories, or, How to Write a Horror Story For Halloween So Your Children Don't Wind Up in Therapy for the Rest of Their Lives.

Gary is a prolific author who writes mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mainstream literature. He is the author of 20 books -- evenly divided between novels and short-story collections; his fiction has been translated into Japanese, French, Italian, Russian, German, Czech, and Polish. Nearly 200 of his short stories have appeared in various publications.

He was born in Newark, and Newark serves as the model for the fictitious Cedar Hill in many of his novels and stories. The Cedar Hill stories are collected in Graveyard People, Home Before Dark, and the forthcoming The Carnival Within.

His fiction has received several awards, including 5 Bram Stoker Awards: the first for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction in 2003 for "Duty"; the second -- also for Superior Achievement in Short Story -- in 2005 for "We Now Pause for Station Identification"; his collection Destinations Unknown won the Stoker for Superior Achievement in Fiction Collection in 2006; and 2007 saw Gary winning 2 Stoker Awards; the first for co-editing the anthology 5 Strokes to Midnight, and the second for his novella "Afterward, There Will Be a Hallway." His novella "Kiss of the Mudman" received the International Horror Guild Award for Long Fiction in 2005.

Gary is an adjunct professor at Seton Hill University, Pennsylvania, where he teaches in an innovative Master's degree program in Writing Popular Fiction.

"Braunbeck's tales evoke the small-town ghosts of Ray Bradbury, the psychological monsters of Stephen King and the spiritual ideals of a valiant Knight of the Round Table."
– The Columbus Dispatch

Downloadable audiobooks and ebooks!

2010-10-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

Licking County Library is proud to offer you best-selling and classic audiobooks, eBooks, music, and video available 24/7 from the library’s website, .

You can browse the collection, check out with your library card, and download to PC, Mac®, and many mobile devices. To get started, you will need to install free software. For audiobooks, music, and video: OverDrive® Media Console™. To read eBooks, you’ll need Adobe® Digital Editions. Titles can be enjoyed immediately or transferred to a variety of devices, including iPod®, Sony® Reader™, and many others. Some audio titles can also be burned to CD to listen on-the-go. Titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period. There are no late fees!

With hundreds of popular fiction and non-fiction titles to choose from, the new collection is guaranteed to have something for everyone. You can download best-selling novels, well-known classics, self-improvement guides, and much more.

This new service, powered by OverDrive, is free with your library card. To get started downloading audiobooks, eBooks, and more, visit http://www.lickingcountylibrary.info or click on this icon.

We have frequent classes so make sure to check back for the next date!

The Emperors of Chocolate discussion questions

2010-10-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight at 6:30 pm the No Page Unturned book group will be discussing The Emperors of Chocolate by Joël Glenn Brenner. This fascinating book about the Mars and Hershey companies will make you crave chocolate while you are reading!

1. One could argue that Mars and Hershey could not have succeeded without the other. Do you agree?
2. What do you think of the ways that Hershey and Mars did business?
3. Judging from what you've read about the Hershey and Mars companies, what speculations do you have about Nestle?
4. What was the most interesting and/or appalling fact you learned about each of the companies?
5. After reading this book, are you more or less inclined to purchase items made by Mars or Hershey?
6. Why does chocolate play such an important role in American culture?
7. Was this non-fiction book fun to read, or was it a little dry? Did the author need to "spice it up" or "tone it down"? How could they have managed that?

If you liked this book, try these!

Candy Freak: A journey through the chocolate underbelly of America by Steve Almond
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (Children’s fiction)
Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams by Michael D'Antonio
Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light by Mort Rosenblum
Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz
Soap Opera: The Inside Story of Procter & Gamble by Alecia Swasy

October Book Discussions

2010-10-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

The No Page Unturned Book Group meets on Monday, October 4 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library to discuss The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars by Joel Glen Brenner.

From Publishers Weekly:

Forrest Mars and Milton Hershey effortlessly hold center stage in this superb study of their competing candy companies. Although both men got rich on chocolate, Mars and Hershey are such markedly different characters that Brenner's book is a riot of dramatic contrasts.... To her credit, former Washington Post hand Brenner goes beyond these two titans and portrays the entire candy industry. Her prodigious research reveals how the personal style of each candy patriarch continues to influence the current structure and strategy of the company he led.

The Fiction Book Group meets on Wednesday, October 6 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library to discuss Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

At 50 years of age Alice is a professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard and has a successful husband and three adult children. When she begins to feel disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis of Alzheimer’s changes forever her life and her relationship with her family and the world in general.

The Miller Book Group will be discussing Literary Feasts: Inspired Eating From Cla ssic Fiction by Sean Brand at its next meeting on Wednesday, October 13 at 7 pm at the Emerson Miller Library. Feel free to bring a treat to share with the group.

The Booked to Death Mystery Group will discuss Haunted Ground by Erin Hart at 6:30 pm, Wednesday, October 27 at the Newark Library. This is the first book in the Nora Gavin/Cormac Maguire series featuring an American pathologist and an Irish archaeologist in Ireland. Simon & Schuster's Reading Group Guide

Local Author Celeste Friedman

2010-09-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

Author and Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Celeste Friedman will present a few selected songs from her One-Woman Show, Single 101, followed by a question and answer session and book signing of her latest release, Single 101: 101 Reasons to Celebrate Being Single, at the Newark Library on Thursday, September 30, 2010, at 7 pm.

Ms. Friedman's music credits include scoring the music for the Pulitzer Prize nominated play, The Glory of Living, the first season of the cable thriller, Ghost Hunter, and the pilot for "The French Kitchen. In addition to her 2005 Grammy nomination, Ms. Friedman is a 2009 Indie Artist of The Year nominee. National media credits include National Public Radio, Music Choice, A Prairie Home Companion, and Live! With Regis and Kelly. Her music was also featured in the short film, Young Folks, which was featured at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008.

Book Discussion - In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien

2010-09-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

The Miller Book Group will be discussing In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien on Wednesday, September 8 at 7 pm. Copies of the book are available for checkout at the Emerson Miller Library.

Discussion Questions (from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books http://www.hmhbooks.com/ )

Isaac's Storm discussion questions

2010-09-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

Did you know that September is the peak of hurricane season? The No Page Unturned book group will be discussing Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson on September 13th at 6:30 pm. This is a different meeting date because the library is closed on the first Monday of September in observance of Labor Day.

Isaac's Storm is the story of the 1900 Galveston hurricane which decimated the city and killed over 6000 people. From Publisher's Weekly, "Larson expertly captures the power of the storm itself and the ironic, often catastrophic consequences of the unpredictable intersection of natural force and human choice."

The discussion questions we'll use are from Madison Public Library.

Given the tools and knowledge the U.S. Weather Service had in 1900, could the Galveston disaster have been prevented? Larsen himself, in an interview with Powell’s bookstore, says the book is ‘so much about attitude.’ What does he mean?
Why were Isaac Cline’s warnings so hesitant, as the barometer continued to drop and the storm raced toward the City of Galveston?
Imagine if the hurricane had not hit Galveston. Would it have remained the ‘New York of the Gulf Coast’ as it was in 1900?
Consider Hurricane Katrina. Are we better prepared for storms and their impact today? Does awareness of potential disaster translate into a different response now as compared to then?
According to the book, several methods were used to dispose of the 10,000 bodies after the storm. How would it have been handled had that many died in Hurricane Katrina?
How did this book’s descriptions of the devastation hit you emotionally?
Does this book have a hero? How does it affect the story for you as a reader?
Some wish the book had accompanying pictures. Can you visualize the situation and the damage?
A reviewer in the New Statesman said the book had ‘just enough science.’ Do you agree?

If you liked this book, try these!

Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 And How It Changed America by John M. Barry
Galveston and the 1900 Storm: Catastrophe & Catalyst by Patricia Bellis Bixel & Elizabeth Hayes Turner
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
Path of Destruction: The Devastation of New Orleans and the Coming Age of Superstorms, reporters John McQuaid and Mark Schleifstein
The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale from the diaries of Thomas Nickerson, Owen Chase, and Others
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina by Chris Rose

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

2010-08-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

The Fiction Book Group will be discussing Labor Day by Joyce Maynard at 6:30 pm on September 1st in the Newark Library's conference room.

“Maynard tells the story of a long weekend and its repercussions through the eyes of a then 13-year-old boy, Henry, who lives with his divorced mother, Adele… Maynard’s prose is beautiful and her characters winningly complicated, with no neat tie-ups in the end. A sometimes painful tale, but captivating and surprisingly moving.” (From Publishers Weekly)

Click here for a Reading Guide and the author's biography from HarperCollins.

Building a Piece of Paradise

2010-07-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

Do you love the sound of a running fountain? Have you always wanted to start a water garden? Join Master Gardener Jim Rengert on July 31^st at 2 pm as he discusses water gardening and adding water features to your garden at the Newark Library. No registration is required. Please call 740.349.5553 or visit the Newark Library at 101 West Main Street for more information.

August Book Discussions

2010-07-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

The No Page Unturned Book Group will be discussing Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do (And What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt at 6:30 pm on August 2 at the Newark Library.

The Fiction Discussion Group will be discussing Bloodroot by Amy Greene on August 4 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

The Miller Book Group is meeting on August 11 at 7 pm at the Emerson Miller Library to discuss The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Reader's Guide.

The Booked to Death Mystery Group's August title is Dark of the Moon by John Sandford, the first book in the Virgil Flowers series. The meeting will take place at 6:30 pm on August 25 at the Newark Library.

The Bookmark Group at the Hebron Library will be discussing Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay at 2 pm on August 26, 2010. Click here for a discussion guide and summary from Reading Group Guides.

Gardening in the 21st Century

2010-06-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

Have you always wanted to learn more about Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and how you can use it in your garden? Join Master Gardener Tom Beckett for “Gardening in the 21^st Century” at the Newark Library on Saturday, June 12^th at 2 pm. He will be looking at the relationship between plants, soil, fungi, and insects and how to best manage your garden. Please call 740.349.5553 or visit the Newark Library at 101 West Main Street for more information.

The $64 Tomato discussion questions

2010-06-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

The No Page Unturned book group is meeting tonight to discuss The $64 Tomato by William Alexander. Here is a list of discussion questions and some readalike suggestions for the book.

1. Why do you think this book has been so popular and added the phrase “$64 tomato” to the lexicon?

2. Can you point to specific passages that struck you personally—as interesting, profound, silly or shallow, incomprehensible, illuminating?

3. Did this book inspire you to start a garden or work more on your current one?

4. How much of Alexander’s garden problems were caused by his initial gardening inexperience? How do you think he could have improved his garden?

5. What did you like or dislike about the book that hasn't been discussed already? Were you glad you read this book? Would you recommend it to a friend? Do you want to read more works by this author?

6. Do you have a $64 tomato?

If you liked this book, try these!

52 Loaves: One Man's Relentless Pursuit of Truth, Meaning, and a Perfect Crust by William Alexander

Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn by Catherine Friend

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

Still Life with Chickens: Starting Over in a House by the Sea by Catherine Goldhammer

It's a Long Road to a Tomato: Tales of an Organic Farmer Who Quit the Big City for the (Not So) Simple Life by Keith Stewart

Summer Reading

2010-06-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

Summer Reading is here!

Summer Reading is under way at all Licking County Library locations. It's not just for kids anymore! All ages are invited to participate. Visit a branch near you for details.

JUNE BOOK DISCUSSIONS

2010-06-05T06:31:00.000-07:00

The No Page Unturned Group will discuss The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune and Endured An Existential Crisis in the Quest For the Perfect Tomato by William Alexander at 6:30 p.m. on June 7 at the Newark Library. Listen to the author's interview with NPR's Renee Montagne here.

The Miller Book Group will be discussing Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane at 7 p.m. on June 9 at the Emerson Miller Library. Read LitLovers' discussion guide here.

The Booked to Death Mystery Group will discuss Collision Bend by Cleveland author Les Roberts at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23 at the Newark Library. This is book #7 in the Milan Jacovich series.

The Bookmark Group will discuss Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier at 2 p.m. on June 24 at the Hebron Library. Review Sparknotes book summary and discussion questions here.

May Book Groups

2010-05-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

The Fiction Discussion Group will discuss When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin on May 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the Newark Library. Click here for author biography, book summary and discussion questions.

The Miller Book Group will discuss South of Broad by Pat Conroy on May 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the Emerson Miller Library. View a Reader's Guide here.

The Booked to Death Mystery Group will discuss A Place of Execution by Val McDermid on May 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the Newark Library.

The Bookmark Group will discuss The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk on May 27 at 2 p.m. at the Hebron Library.

The Professor and the Madman discussion questions

2010-04-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

The No Page Unturned discussion group will be meeting at 6:30 pm in the second floor conference room on May 3rd. The discussion questions have been modified from the Morton Grove Public Library's list of questions.

Discussion questions:
1. The book's title lists its main characters: Professor Murray, Dr. Minor, and the Oxford English Dictionary. Is there a hero?

2. The title of each chapter is accompanied by the definition of a word that tells the reader what the chapter is about. Does this method enhance or detract from the author's tale?

3.Winchester employs all the senses in his description of Lambeth Marsh (p.7): "vile swampy gyre of pathways miserable rows of ill-lit houses sickly smell of yeast and hops" and later, in his descriptions of Ceylon (p.44) and Broadmoor (p.117-118). Do his multi-dimensional descriptions apply to other subjects?

4. How was the OED linked to the development of English as a global language?

5. What is madness? (p. 157) Murray and Minor were both described as meticulous and obsessed. Where does "meticulous" end and "obsession" begin?

6. A comparison is made between the confinement of being in prison and being committed to scholarship (p. 157). Murray and Minor were both prisoners in some ways, or, as Winchester wrote, "strange symmetry of the two men's settings - pinioned as each was among great stacks of books." (p.177) How did their shared love of lexicology become a source of freedom or release?

7. What was the most interesting fact that you learned from reading this book?

8. Have you read any of Winchester’s other books? Do you think you will read any additional ones?

If you liked this book, try these!
(books with call numbers lists are found at Newark Library and all others can be ordered)

The Lexicographer's Dilemma: The Evolution of 'Proper' English, from Shakespeare to South Park by Jack Lynch
Lost for Words: the Hidden History of the Oxford English Dictionary by Lynda Mugglestone
Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 pages by Ammon Shea
Empire of Words: the Reign of the OED by John Willinsky
The Meaning of Everything: the Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
423 Wi

A Dog Year discussion questions

2010-04-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight the No Page Unturned Group will be discussing A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs and Me by Jon Katz at 6:30 in the conference room. Some of these discussion questions have been adapted from questions for Dewey: the Small-town Library Cat who Touched the World.

Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think Katz made the decision to bring Devon (and later Homer) home and disrupt the calm routine into which his family had settled?
2. What do you think of Devon? Was he a special dog because of his personality, his circumstances, or both?
3. What was your favorite Devon story? What was the funniest Devon story? Which was most touching? Did his habits remind you of dogs you have known or owned?
4. What do you think is the overall theme of the book? Is it hope? How animals can affect people’s lives?
5. Did you like the book or not? Did you have expectations of it? If so did it live up to them? Had you read reviews before reading it?
6. Do you think you will read any more of Katz’s books?

If you liked this book, try some of these!
Marley and Me by John Grogan
636.7527 Gr
The New Work of Dogs by Jon Katz
636.7 Ka
Pack of Two: the Intricate Bond between People and Dogs by Caroline Knapp
636.7 Kn
The Good Good Pig: The Story of Christopher Hagwood by Sy Montgomery
636.4 Mon

April Book Discussions

2010-04-05T10:45:00.001-07:00

The No Page Unturned Group will discuss A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me by Jon Katz on April 5 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

Fiction Discussion Group will discuss Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon on April 7 at 6:30 pm at Newark Library.

The Miller Book Group meets on April 14 at 7 pm at Miller Library. Call 740-344-2155 for more information.

The Booked to Death Mystery Book Group will discuss Still Life by Louise Penny (Three Pines Mystery, Book 1) on April 28 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

The Bookmark Group will discuss In the Face of Jinn by Cheryl Howard Crew on April 29 at 2:00 pm at Hebron Library. Click here for an interview with the author about her debut novel.

Women's History Month Program: Jerrie Mock's Historic Flight

2010-03-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

Did you know a Newark native was the first woman to fly solo around the world?

Licking County Library is celebrating Women’s History Month with a program honoring the achievements of Newark native Jerrie Mock, who became the first woman to fly solo around the world on April 17, 1964. Jerrie Mock’s sister, Licking County resident Susan Reid, will share her personal memories of her sister’s historic flight on Tuesday, March 23rd at 6:30 p.m. at the Newark Library.

Please call 740.349.5553 or visit the Newark Library at 101 West Main Street for more information. This event is free and open to the public.

Upcoming Book Discussions

2010-03-02T06:49:00.000-08:00

The Miller Book Group will discuss Tomorrow by Graham Swift at 7 pm on March 10 at the Miller Library. View the Random House Reader's Guide here.

The Booked to Death Mystery Group will discuss John Grisham's The Last Juror on March 24 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

The Bookmark Group will discuss People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks on March 25 at 2 pm at the Hebron Library. Watch a YouTube video of the author discussing her book.

The No Page Unturned Book Group will discuss A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me by John Katz on April 5 at 6:30 pm at the Newark Library.

The Fiction Discussion Group will discuss Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon at 6:30 pm on April 7 at the Newark Library. Download discussion questions and watch a brief trailer here.

Blue Latitudes discussion questions

2010-03-01T11:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight's No Page Unturned book group will discuss Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz.

1. What did you know about Captain Cook before reading this book?

2. What is your impression of Captain Cook at the end of the book? Is he the villain portrayed by some or someone to revere for his exploration?

3. Why do you think Captain Cook chose the life he did? Do you agree that some people have “novelty-seeking personality” gene that Horwitz described?

4. What was the most interesting fact that you learned from reading this book?

5. Can you point to specific passages that struck you as interesting, profound, silly or shallow, incomprehensible, illuminating?

6. Will you read other books by Horwitz? Why or why not?

If you liked this book, try these!
(books with call numbers lists are found at Newark Library and all others can be ordered)

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz
973.7 Ho

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
917.404 Br

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost

Sea of Dangers: Captain Cook and his Rivals in the South Pacific by Geoffrey Blainey

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
918.00 Grann 2009

Route 66 A.D. : On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists (also published as Pagan Holiday) by Tony Perrottet

Upcoming Book Discussions

2010-02-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

The Booked to Death Mystery Group meets at 6:30 pm on February 24 to discuss On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle. Read more about the Coffeehouse Mystery series here.

Reading Guide (PDF)

The Bookmark Group meets at 2 pm on February 25 to discuss The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Oprah's Book Club Selection 2008.

Reading Guide

The No Page Unturned Book Group meets at 6:30 pm on March 1 to discuss Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz. Watch this YouTube video of author Tony Horwitz.

The Fiction Discussion Group meets at 6:30 pm on March 3 to discuss Now & Then by Jacqueline Sheehan.

Reading Guide

Catch Me If You Can Discussion Questions

2010-02-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

The No Page Unturned book group meets the first Monday of each month at 6:30pm. We will be discussing Catch Me If You Can at tonight's meeting.

1. What do you think motivated Frank Abagnale to share his life story?
2. Were there any instances in which you felt Abagnale was not being truthful?
3. Do you think he would have been as successful today with his cons as he was in the 1960s?
4. What allowed Abagnale to get away with his con artist life for so long?
5. In your opinion, which of Abagnale’s escapades was the most daring?
6. What do you think about Abagnale being a security consultant and assisting the FBI with its fraud prevention programs?
7. Have you seen the film version of this book? If so, how did the biography and the film compare?
8. What did you like or dislike about this book?

If you liked this book, try some of these!
• The Art of the Steal: How to Protect Yourself and Your Business from Fraud, America's #1 Crime by Frank W. Abagnale
• Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan by Frank W. Abagnale
• Matchstick Men by Eric Garcia (fiction)
• The Art of Making Money: The Story of a Master Counterfeiter by Jason Kersten
• Napoleon of Crime: Life and Times of Adam Worth Master Thief by Ben MacIntyre
• Bringing Down The House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich

Change in times!

2010-01-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

The Fiction Discussion Group is changing its meeting time! Come join us on the first Wednesday of the month at 6:30 pm. February's book is Little Bee by Chris Cleave.

The Zookeeper's Wife discussion questions

2010-01-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Tonight's meeting of the No Page Unturned group will discuss The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman. The discussion questions came from Reading Group Guides.

If you liked this book, try these!

Schindler's Legacy: True Stories of the List Survivors by Elinor J. Brecher
Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw by Norman Davies
Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally (fiction)
Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman
The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1935-1945 by Wladyslaw Szpilman
Night by Elie Wiesel
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (fiction)

January Book Discussions

2009-12-29T14:37:00.000-08:00

The No Page Unturned Group meets on January 4 to discuss The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman. Watch this youtube video about the author discussing her book.

The Fiction Discussion Group meets on January 6 to discuss The Weight of Heaven by Thrity N.Umrigar

The Miller Book Group meets on January 13. Call 740.344.2155 for more information.

The Booked to Death Group meets on January 27 to discuss A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn.

The Bookmark Group meets on January 28 to discuss The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy.

Geography of Bliss discussion questions

2009-12-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

Tonight's meeting of the No Page Unturned book group will be discussing The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. Some brief discussion questions are available on The Reader's Den blog from NYPL.org. If you would like some more information about The Geography of Bliss, follow this link to the NPR story.

If you liked this book, try some of these!

The Science of Happiness: Unlocking the mysteries of Mood by Stephen Braun
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Not so Funny When it Happened: the Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure edited by Tim Cahill
One Year Off: Leaving it all Behind for a Round-the-world Journey with our Children by David Elliot Cohen
Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich
How We Choose to be Happy: the 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People - Their Secrets, Their Stories by Rick Foster and Greg Hicks
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles
Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings, 1985-2000 by Paul Theroux

Live @ the Library!

2009-12-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

Welcome author Aaron Keirns to our Live @ the Library event on Tuesday, December 15th at 6:30. He will be speaking about his newest book Honoring the Veterans of Licking County, Ohio. The book is coauthored with his son Nathan J. Keirns. Copies of the book will be available for sale that evening. For more information, contact the library at 740.349-5553.

Upcoming Book Discussions

2009-11-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

The Fiction Discussion Group meets on December 2 to discuss The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

The No Page Unturned Group meets on December 7 to discuss The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search For the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner.

Devil in the White City Discussion Questions

2009-10-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

November 2nd is the first meeting of the No Page Unturned book group. The book we will be discussing is The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Here are some of the discussion questions we will be using for the meeting. Warning: these questions contain spoilers!

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do you think Erik Larson chose to highlight H. H. Holmes' and Daniel Burnham's stories? Do you think the two storylines did or did not work well together? Which storyline grabbed your attention more?

2. Do you think a fair of this size could happen in today's America? What advantages or disadvantages can you forsee with such a project?

3. Would Chicago's World Fair of 1893 have taken place without Daniel Burnham as head architect? How would it have been different if his business partner, John Root, survived?

4. How did the fair change America? What inventions and innovations are still in use today?

5. Small pictures of the fairgrounds, the architects, Holmes, and a map of the fairgrounds were at the beginning of each chapter. Do you think nonfiction books need pictures and maps are a necessary addition to a book?

6. Would Holmes have been as successful a serial killer in a different city? In a different time? What allowed him to kill so many victims?

7. Why did Holmes kidnap the children and take them all over the country? Do you think he wanted to get caught?

8. What fact, phrase or character stuck with you the most after finishing this book?

9. The film rights for this book were purchased in 2007 though filming has not yet begun. Who should be cast Burnham, Holmes and the other characters?

10. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest), how would you rate The Devil in the White City?

If you liked this book, try . . .

Karen Abbot, Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul

Pope Brock, Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam

Mike Dash, Satan's Circus: Murder, Vice, Police Corruption, and New York's Trial of the Century

Erik Larson, Thunderstruck

Michael Lesy, Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties

Donald L. Miller, City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America

Harold Schechter, Depraved: The Socking True Story of America's First Serial Killer

New book group!

2009-10-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Starting the first week of November, LCL will have a new book group. No Page Unturned is a new group which meets the first Monday of each month at 6:30 pm in the conference room of the Newark Library. The first three books are all non-fiction books.

November 2: Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

From Publisher's Weekly, "Not long after Jack the Ripper haunted the ill-lit streets of 1888 London, H.H. Holmes (born Herman Webster Mudgett) dispatched somewhere between 27 and 200 people, mostly single young women, in the churning new metropolis of Chicago; many of the murders occurred during (and exploited) the city's finest moment, the World's Fair of 1893. Larson's breathtaking new history is a novelistic yet wholly factual account of the fair and the mass murderer who lurked within it. Bestselling author Larson strikes a fine balance between the planning and execution of the vast fair and Holmes's relentless, ghastly activities."

Make sure to stop by the circulation desk for copies of the books available one month before each meeting.

October Book Discussions

2009-10-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

The Fiction Discussion Group met on Wednesday, October 7 to discuss Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts.

Upcoming Meetings:
November 4. 2009 - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Miller Book Group met on Wednesday, October 14 to discuss Dracula by Bram Stoker.

The Miller Book Group will not be meeting in November due to the Veteran's Day holiday.

The Booked to Death Mystery Group meets on Wednesday, October 28 to discuss Witchfinder by Loren Estleman.

Upcoming Meetings:
November 18, 2009 (special meeting date due to Thanksgiving) The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst.

The Bookmark Group meets on Thursday, October 29 to discuss Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.

Upcoming Meetings:
November 19, 2009 - The Judge Who Stole Christmas by Randy Singer

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2009-10-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

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Special thanks to Memphis Reads for these blog guidelines.