This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time–it’s well-written, insightful, thought-provoking, moving, and disturbing all at once–and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since reading it.
Continue reading “Philippe Sands’ The Ratline (2020)”Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For February, we’re looking at fictionalized art history, noir with werewolves and vampires, a suspense novel featuring three women suspects, a history about the Rosetta Stone, a cookbook that highlights Native American food traditions, and an audiobook novelization of West Side Story.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: The Mona Lisa, Speculative Hi-jinks, Murder, Linguistic Races, Native Cuisine, and a Non-Musical Musical”In honor of our Books, Spice, and Everything Nice theme (and spice club!), we’ll be doing a monthly round-up of our cookbooks. We have a really nice and extensive collection, but it’s easy to get lost in the sheer number of them. Hopefully these posts help! In honor of our February spice ginger and the fact that Chinese New Year was last week, we’ll be focusing on Chinese cookbooks this month.
Continue reading “Cookbook Corner: Chinese”
For 2022, the Berryville Library is hosting its own Books, Spice, and Everything Nice spice club. Stop by the library to get the spice of the month and then stop by the blog on the first Tuesday of the month for recipes and more information on the featured spice. We’ll also be adding monthly posts about cookbooks in our collection. For February, our spice is ginger!
Continue reading “Books, Spice, and Everything Nice: Ginger”
The arrival of new books at the library is always a matter of interest to me. Partially because I consider it research for this blog but also partially because I’m nosy and just want to see what’s new that I might like! A few weeks ago, Mary-Esther pulled this one aside and asked me if I’d heard about it or the crime in question. I hadn’t, but I was intrigued. Thanks to Mary-Esther for the excellent suggestion! This is a fascinating book about a bizarre crime that happened virtually next door to us forty years ago.
Continue reading “Molly May’s Witnesses for the Lamb (2021)”Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For January, we’re looking at biographical fiction set in 19th century Cuba and Gilded Age New York City, a family history trilogy set in Ireland and beyond, a modern romance between pen pals, a YA book about a budding young writer who stumbles across more than she bargained for with her first assignment, and an audiobook that is the first nonfiction from a novelist.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Cuban Revolutionaries, Irish Family Sagas, Romantic Pen Pals, Teenaged Journalists, and Historic Kidnappings”In honor of our Books, Spice, and Everything Nice theme (and spice club!), we’ll be doing a monthly round-up of our cookbooks. We have a really nice and extensive collection, but it’s easy to get lost in the sheer number of them. Hopefully these posts help! 🙂 In honor of our January spice anise, we’ll be focusing on Italian cookbooks this month.
Continue reading “Cookbook Corner: Italian”
For 2022, the Berryville Library is hosting its own Books, Spice, and Everything Nice spice club. Stop by the library to get the spice of the month and then stop by the blog on the first Tuesday of the month for recipes and more information on the featured spice. We’ll also be adding monthly posts about cookbooks in our collection. We’re kicking off this program with a most ancient spice–anise!
Continue reading “Books, Spice, and Everything Nice: Anise”
Our theme for the library this year is What a Wonderful World, and to that end, we’re focusing on seeing the wonder in our world. Usually, every month at the desk, we have an article available for patrons to read and discuss with Julie, our library director, but this year, we’re handing out poems instead. Our trusty library goose is also helping us pen a monthly column that focuses on some of the gems in our poetry collection.
For December, our poem is Barbara Crooker’s “Ode to Chocolate.” We’ve been sharing poems this year to highlight our poetry collection, and we want to encourage you to continue to check out our poetry resources in the library system. If you need some regular poetry in your life, definitely check out the digital poem of the day from Poetry Foundation and/or Poets.org.
I want to wrap up the year by thanking all of you for reading and following the blog and providing a teaser of our plans for next year. They involve food. 😀
Continue reading “Penelope’s Poetry Parlor: December (and a Sneak Peek for Next Year!)”Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For December, we’re looking at historical fiction about Kentucky pack horse libraries during the Great Depression, a fantasy about a green thumb and deadly plants, a comedic children’s mystery, and Mary Roach’s latest nonfiction romp.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Pack Horse Librarians (Again), Poison Gardens, Hippo Mysteries, and Problem Wildlife”
Berryville Book Buzz 