The View From Circulation - What's Trending, Unique, & Informational

The staff welcomes many of you back to the library as we fall into a new rhythm. Spring has brought an abundance of great reading choices and we can't wait to share our favorites with you. When the "ready for release book" cart comes up from technical services we are hoping, along with some of you, that our name comes up when we check it in. Anticipated reads are "talked about" months before they are released, therefore, often we have forgotten to place a hold on them and have to wait until many of you have read and pressed them into our hands. Here are a couple off the good reads off of recent carts that our staff we are eager to press into your hands: Brood by Jackie Polzin   This is a sweet read as the narrator leads us through a year of change and reflection along with the interesting challenges and joys raising and caring for her chickens. Although the premise sounds a bit strange, the Goodread's description captures this novel:   " Brood  is a da...

Our book clubs have been active throughout the pandemic. Most are meeting via zoom.  The book clubs are reading a variety of selections, although, most are historical or literary fiction. Most popular selections include general patron favorites such as,  The Dutch House , Where the Crawdads Sing,  Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine  , Beneath the Scarlet Sky, and The Silent Patient . But what really makes a good book club book? A lot of book clubs choose books they think everyone is going to enjoy. We find some book club leaders struggle with selecting options that might not appeal to everyone. However, if everyone likes the book, does that make for good discussion? As a member of a book club for over 20 years some of our best discussions are based on books where opinions were divided. Also, books where the character's experiences are foreign to us stimulate interesting discussion. What about size of the book? This is definitely something to consider so that al...

Enjoying these cozy reading days of winter?  The mini-library is open for browsing and if you are wondering what to read next we have staff pick and popular books from 2020 selection carts, as well as, our newest releases ready for check-out.  This months reading recommendations include : The Chicken Sisters by K.J. Dell'Antonia  : A delightful story that entertains with old family feuds, a reality tv food competition, friendships, love, and the messiness of family. Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz: If you haven't read Magpie Murders I recommend starting with that book and then enjoying continuing with this inventive mystery that uses another author's (fictional)  mystery book to solve a crime.  Filled with twists and suspense and especially recommended for anyone who enjoys good British crime fiction or clever cozy mysteries. Can't Even: How Millenials Became the Burnout Generation   by Anne Helen Peterson: This book resonated with two of our...

Publisher’s weekly sent out the bestselling print books of 2020. The report indicates that print books still outsell ebooks, but ebooks have definitely gained popularity in 2020. Interestingly, Amazon (the largest seller of ebooks) does not report its ebook sales to any major industry sources. The top 25 include: 1. Barack Obama, A Promised Land (2,574,531 copies sold) - Memoir / Political 2. Stephenie Meyer, Midnight Sun (1,311,147 copies sold) - Fiction YA Series 3. Dav Pilkey, Dog Man (1,240,277 copies sold) - Children’s book; 2019 top selling series 4. Mary L. Trump, Too Much and Never Enough (1,235,924 copies sold) - Biographical / Political 5. Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (1,235,099 copies sold) - Fiction YA series  6. Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing (1,132,973 copies sold) - Fiction published in 2018; #1 in 2019 7. Glennon Doyle, Untamed (1,018,536 copies sold) - Memoir/ Personal Development 8. Jeff Kinney, The Deep End (920,709 copies s...

How are you choosing your books? Based on reviews, word of mouth, going back to an old series or favorite authors? I placed holds on a number of books recommended through two podcasts I listen to,  "From the Front Porch" and "Currently Reading" , and was pleased to find a number of them lived up to their recommendations. Christina Baker Kline, author of patron favorites The Orphan Train and A Piece of This World , has written a wonderful novel set in nineteenth century Australia. The Exiles is based on the stories of the indigenous people being torn from their land, European women imprisoned and sent to Australia for their sentences, and English who are set on forcing their culture on native people. Weaving these disparate people and cultures through the lives of three women, The Exiles ,  entertained and enlightened my knowledge of Australian culture and history. To get a better understanding of the indigenous names and places mentioned at the beginning of the b...

Now that we have moved indoors into the Merry Room we are able to bring down many more selections for browsing. As technical services process new books , our "TBR" (To Be Read) lists are growing steadily. What does yours look like? Are you excited about books coming out in the fall or busily reading backlists of favorite series or authors?  I recently enjoyed a backlist mystery by William Kent Krueger titled "Iron Lake" . It is the first of a large series set in upper Minnesota with the main character Cork O'Connor . If you have read and enjoyed William Kent Krueger's recent best-selling novels "This Tender Land" or "Ordinary Grace" you will enjoy diving into this series.  Browsing what is available in the Merry Room I found two of my favorites from this year:  "The Water Keeper" by Charles Martin and "Dearly Beloved" by Cara Walls .  I was very surprised to see the availabilty of the audiobooks   "The Exiles...

The Circulation staff is back to work and busy checking in your reads and fulfilling your requests. We are happy to be helping those of you who are placing your requests online or via phone. We definitely enjoy seeing your smiling faces visiting the browsing tent and the  Merry Room which we have recently moved to on the lower floor of the library for browsing and checking out books, dvds, music, and audiobooks. When you visit we are happy to retrieve items inside based on your requests. As always, we enjoy helping with reading recommendations.   I asked our staff  for some recent reading recommendations.  One said she "was brought right back into the Hunger Games" while reading the prequel to the series by Suzanne Collins'  Ballad of Songbirds and Sna kes , Another recommendation is  Peace Talks  by Jim Butcher, a contemporary science fantasy/mystery . It is the latest in the Dresden Files series.  Foul is Fair is a new young  adult novel ...