Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For December, we’re looking at an unusual, animal-centric memoir; a pulse-stopping suspense novel; and a hilarious ode to the quirks of families.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Featured Creatures, Suspense, and Rake Thieves”
When I was a teenager, I discovered Georges Simenon’s delightful Maigret book series. Maigret was an ordinary man, refreshingly devoid of the quirks, tortured backstory, and “chosen one” vibe that many fictional detectives have. I honestly don’t remember which Maigret stories I read–I just remember enjoying them, so much so that I still cite them as favorites. They remind me a bit of Nordic Noir but with a decidedly less dour tone.
We’re focusing on newer books, movies, and television shows for 2018, but that doesn’t mean we’re entirely ignoring old favorites! After all, what’s that saying–what’s old may just become new again (or something like that)?
November 1st marked the 147th anniversary of Stephen Crane’s birth. Crane’s life was tragically cut short by tuberculosis, but he still made a mark on modern American literature during his 28 years.
Fittingly for us to remember in the month that also commemorates Veterans Day (and the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I), Crane is probably best known for a war novel: the classic The Red Badge of Courage.
However, there is more to Crane’s work than just the story of a young Union soldier named Henry Fielding. . . .
Wilbur is a sweet pig with a big problem. He’s, well, a pig. And no matter how delightful of a friend he is to young Fern, the young girl who saves him from a tragic early end, or Charlotte, the spider who lives in the barn, he’s still going to end up as Christmas dinner. That is, unless Charlotte can think of a way to save him. . . .
Confession: I’ve never read this book until now. Yes, I know that makes me a weirdo–who hasn’t read Charlotte’s Web?, you may ask. Well, me, that’s who. However, since it was the winner of the Great Berryville Read and is now officially our town’s favorite book, I decided to remedy my ignorance. And I’m glad I did.
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For November, we’re looking at a debut highly autobiographical novel about the Iraq War, heroin addiction, and bank robbery; a searing piece of investigative journalism about the opioid crisis in Appalachia; and a much-anticipated history on American presidents.
I usually write here from my perspective as a staff member at the Berryville Library, but I’m going to switch sides, if you will, for today and write from my perspective as a board member for our Friends of the Berryville Library group.
[Usually blog posts are written by Shirley, Berryville’s library services associate, but today we have a special treat–a guest review written by Courtney, one of our local business owners and fellow book bloggers. She’s guiding us through the world of historical Christian fiction.]
One of my favorite things about reading is learning through story. I believe reading encourages empathy and understanding of humanity with all its flaws and virtues. I also love history. Combine these two, and a reader can learn amazing and lesser-known things about true history and the way people lived in different eras. This is why one of my favorite genres is historical fiction — especially Christian or inspirational fiction because I believe its message of hope and faith to be relevant to life today.
I’m delighted to share a list of historical Christian fiction books that I have read and can highly recommend.
For the past several weeks, we’ve been voting through the Great Berryville Read brackets. Last night, we unveiled our local winner and then watched the countdown for the national vote live at our results party at the library.
Continue reading “And the Great Berryville Read winner is . . .”
While we wait to learn the results for both the Great American Read and Great Berryville Read, I thought it would be interesting to compare notes with the released list of the country’s favorite books with the books that made our Top 10.
Continue reading “Exploring our Great Berryville Read Finalists”
It’s The Final Countdown! (Warning: that video perhaps features more 80s hair than you need on a Monday morning. Or perhaps it’s exactly as much 80s hair as you need on a Monday morning. I don’t judge!)
But I do digress! For the past several weeks, we’ve been encouraging people to submit their brackets to help us determine Berryville’s favorite book. We have been keeping track of everyone’s votes, and now we’re going to unveil the final bracket. This features the winners of each round, as well as the next 3 highest-scoring books in the voting.
Since we were doing bracket votes, and we didn’t have the same number of participants every week, we also factored in which books received the highest average number of votes. This required some mathematical calculations, which Julie and Jen were kind enough to provide. (No math-impaired library bloggers were hurt in the making of these brackets.)
Berryville Book Buzz 