Trends, styles, and aesthetics come and go over the years, and most of us grab bits and pieces of them to build something of our own. One trend that gained traction in 2020 and continues into 2021 is #cottagecore, an aesthetic that celebrates an idealized version of cozy cottage life, featuring home baking, knitwear, and […]
The end of every year usually brings all sorts of wrap-up lists: “best of” collections of everything from cookware and electronics to music and YouTube makeup artists. At the library, we see an almost endless array of “best of” book lists, some organized by reviewer or review site, others by genre or format, and still […]
My grandfather’s cousin Jack was incredibly focused when it came to genealogy. Working in the pre-internet days, he traveled, called, wrote letters, and faxed to dig up records from the U.S. and across Europe to fill in as much of his family tree as he could. He filled a bin full of binders that contained […]
The Christmas when I was 12, my uncle gave my mother the audiobook tapes of “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt as a gift in our family exchange. She may have listened to the first tape once, but otherwise I don’t think she ever heard them, because I stole them away almost immediately. I began listening […]
Looking for a new job, or thinking about a career change, can be both exciting and terrifying. About three and a half years ago, I was in the middle of deciding if I should change careers and go back to school to become a librarian. Once the decision was made and school was underway, it […]
It’s clear that one of the things that keeps us connected in this time of quarantine and distancing is our love of, and reliance on, stories. It’s often books, but it’s also TV and movies, podcasts and comics, and those funny short videos that pop up on social media about the excuses you can make […]
Last week, the library hosted its version of Jolabokaflod, the Icelandic holiday tradition that includes exchanging books and drinking cocoa. Several staff members, including myself, picked a few of the books we loved from the previous year to talk about, and it was fun to see how different people reacted to titles we mentioned, growing […]
Every two minutes, someone is forcibly displaced. This staggering statistic was shared by husband and wife photojournalist team Daniel Farber Huang and Theresa Menders during the Sept. 22 discussion of their photographic project, “The Power of Faces,” which is currently on exhibit in the library. The figure comes from statistics compiled by UNHCR, the U.N. […]
In the 1998 film “You’ve Got Mail,” Tom Hanks’ character tells his anonymous online penpal, played by Meg Ryan, “Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” He’s got something there. […]
Our Summer Reading program for adults has begun! This year, we’re challenging you to read in a variety of genres and formats. Most readers already know what they like, and what they really don’t like, but it’s the stuff in between that poses the problem. You know people who read romance, fantasy, or poetry, for […]
This won’t surprise you, but we’re big into storytelling at the library. I presume that, by now, you’ve noticed the books, but we also share stories through our film and cultural festivals, oral history programs, music and the arts, food, and sometimes through objects. I’ve long been a collector of small objects: coins, sea […]
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