Whitman Public Library

Meat Free Monday Cookbook

whadmin — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:49:03 +0000

You do not have to be a vegetarian to love this cookbook! The concept is simple—eating meat-free one day a week can significantly help the environment by cutting down on the greenhouse gases produced by farm animals. You won’t feel like you’re missing anything when you try some of these amazing (and amazingly simple) recipes like the “Spinach Tart” on p. 32, the “Crunchy Cauliflower Macaroni” on p. 51, and the delicious “Peanut Butter and Banana Cupcakes” on p. 64. Check this book out for simple, yummy, and healthy recipes.

-Jessi

Enchanted April

whadmin — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:36:34 +0000

Two proper Englishwomen, determined to get away from their drab lives and inattentive husbands, find paradise in the serene countryside of the Italian Riviera in this enchanting adventure starring Josie Lawrence and Miranda Richardson. When the pair rent a magnificent villa for a month, they share expenses with two unlikely companions- an austere widow and a bored socialite. At first, personalities clash, but the hideaway holds a special magic that soon sparks friendships and reminds the women of ways to live and love that have long eluded them. Stellar performances and breathtaking scenery make the Academy Award nominated Enchanted April a captivating delight for everyone who’s ever dreamed of taking the perfect holiday.
-Mary

Strong Women & Literature

whadmin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:23:56 +0000

Did you know the library has three active book clubs? One of these, the Strong Women and Literature book group meets on the first Thursday of each month, at 6:30pm. The group title refers to the types of books we read: with strong women as the central theme–although for some books the women’s strength has been hotly debated. Join us this week to help us choose titles for the next year ahead!

Elizabeth the Queen, by Sally Bedell Smith

whadmin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:55:35 +0000

From the moment of her ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II has been the object of unparalleled scrutiny. But through the fog of glamor and gossip, how well do we really know the world’s most famous monarch? Drawing on numerous interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to show in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II, who has led her country and Commonwealth through the wars and upheavals of the last sixty years with unparalleled composure, intelligence, and grace.

Pure, by Juliann Baggott

whadmin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:34:16 +0000

If you loved the Hunger Games, you’ll likely enjoy this. Pressia lives in a world that has been blow apart and melded back together in odd and disturbing ways. The detonations that cost millions of lives saved some, but left most to a terrible fate. The only ones that remain unscathed are labeled “The Pures” and are also the only ones protected from the harsh post-apocalyptic world, and when one of them ventures out into the “real” world and finds Pressia, the real story begins…A very fast-paced and exciting read! -Jessi

Go on an eBooks Holds Spree!

whadmin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:41:44 +0000

Have you tried to download a library eBook and found yourself on a long wait list? Did you try to find a title and it wasn’t there (like books by the publisher Penguin, who does not sell eBooks to libraries)? Did you start the process hopeful, and end feeling frustrated? Me too!

Librarians around the country are feeling the pain of not being able to deliver the eBooks that we know our patrons want. And even though it may seem like we are not embracing eBooks, we are trying. The interest is there: in 2011, there were 1.6 billion book and title catalog pages viewed, up 130% from 2010! There is definitely a demand, we’re just working on the supply. Last Sunday, I put holds on ten different children’s books for my iPad (I went with the ePub format for optimum viewing). The emails saying it’s my turn arrived on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Today is Friday, and I haven’t even gotten to download Thursday’s titles yet (thankfully I have 3 days to check out before they expire). Sure, it is not the instant gratification of downloading a book from Amazon on my kindle, and settling right in to read, but how can I complain? I mean, it is a free book that won’t gather digital dust after my infant grows too big to care about the Baby Farm Animals book I picked out for him.

Borrowing library eBooks right now is definitely a flawed system. But if you think about it, borrowing physical library books isn’t that different. You may come to the library hoping to take home Lisa See’s latest, only to find that you have to be put on the holds list. So, you meander down to her spot on the fiction shelf and discover a book you never knew she wrote. Voila, library magic!

I know the current selection of eBooks may not lead you in quite the same happy direction as above, but it is a way to try new authors and genres if you’re looking for a book to check out immediately. If you’re anything like me, maybe you’ll even forget you had placed the hold, and then applaud yourself when it is your turn. So go on a hold spree, right now. Its even better than a shopping spree because instead of a credit card statement, you’ll get an eBook!

By the way, if you’re interested in how to download eBooks (and audio books) come to my Overdrive Workshop on Thursday, April 5 at 5:15 pm (please just give us a call to sign up: 781-447-7613).

Binocular Vision, by Edith Pearlman

whadmin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:51:39 +0000

In this sumptuous offering, Edith Pearlman provides a feast for fiction aficionados. Spanning four decades, these twenty-one vintage selected stories and thirteen new ones take us around the world, from Jerusalem to Central America, from tsarist Russia to London during the Blitz, from central Europe to Manhattan, from Maine to Massachusetts. These charged locales, and the lives of the endlessly varied characters within them, are evoked with a tenderness found in only our most observant seer.

-Mary

Trail of the Spellmans, by Lisa Lutz

whadmin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:10:29 +0000

With the fifth and newest in the series (Trail of Spellmans) just recently released, this is a series that you should definitely catch up on! The Spellman Files is the first in the series, and introduces you to this hilariously dysfunctional family of investigators. Main character Lizzy Spellman is a treasure trove of wit, and her family’s antics will keep you intrigued to the end. Other books in the series: Book Two—Curse of the Spellmans Book Three—Revenge of the Spellmans Book Four—The Spellmans Strike Again Book Five—Trail of the Spellmans All are available in the library! -Jessi

Emily, Alone, by Stewart O’Nan

whadmin — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:41:26 +0000

I have been reading books by this author for a few months now and have decided he really is a master of description. This novel, a sequel to Wish You Were Here, details the life of Emily Maxwell, a widow of several years who must learn to live more alone than she ever has, while battling her own age and infirmity, her loneliness and her tendency to find everyone she knows rather irritating. The book has many funny, excruciatingly-observed moments that are a mark of O’Nan’s writing. Though there is some sadness here, there is also bravery, wit, intelligence and a willingness to forge ahead through a new time of life and make it work.
-Barbara

Readalike The Hunger Games!

whadmin — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:32:22 +0000

The Hunger Games Movie premiers in a week! If you just can’t wait to satisfy your dystopian reading tooth, check out our guide on some of these fantastic readalikes!
The Hunger Games Readalikes