Using the new OverDrive Next Generation website, you smashed a record on December 26, checking out 3,488 eBooks from HCL in 24 hours (previous record: 2867). Congratulations! Keep on reading!

The end of the year is list-making time! I'm always paying particular attention to the nonfiction titles that make the lists, and this year several titles have been appearing on multiple lists. Call them the "Best of the Best of": Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo, The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. Four by Robert A. Caro, The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane, Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity, Andrew Solomon, and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. Get on those reserve lists before they grow any longer!

Now that you've got a sparkly new tablet or eReader, you can borrow thousands of eBooks free from the library and use them on your device. Our eBooks page offers videos for getting started, links to useful help pages, and check for classes at our libraries for in person help with your device.

Ever wonder why tablets might be the more popular eReader of the holiday season? Articles about eReaders from our databases offer insight, including this one from Time magazine about publishers incorporating images, audio, and video content into electronic books, thanks to the availability of the tablet format.

Do you know about a writers' group formed in the 1980s, made up of Minnesota authors known as the Scribblies? Many of them are still in print. Here's a list:
Steven Brust
Emma Bull
Kara Dalkey
Pamela Dean
Will Shetterly
Patricia Wrede

This year offers new dedicated eReaders with built-in lighting for your reading. Take a look at some previews in these illuminating articles from OverDrive, Wired, and Engadget.com.

The OverDrive Holiday Gadget Guide has a section called Kid Friendly Tablets to help you choose a device for your child to use. You'll be all set to borrow our childrens eBooks, including Curious George Christmas Countdown.

Surface, Kindle Fire, Nook HD, or the iPad Mini...how to choose! OverDrive, our eBook provider, has a holiday gadget guide with descriptions of the popular devices on the market this holiday season.

Even though most devices will work with OverDrive Digital Media, check to make sure your gift will be perfect! Visit OverDrive Compatible Devices to find out which eReaders will work with OverDrive. Giving a compatible device opens up your loved one's world to over 30,000 eBooks and downloadable audiobooks.

Just in time for the holidays, the December, 2012 issue of Consumer Reports evaluates electronics, including eBook readers, as well as tablets for multipurpose use. The articles include trends, what to look for, and ratings.

It's the perfect time of year to curl up with a holiday romance:

The Little Amish Matchmaker by Linda Byler
Christmas Roses by Amanda Cabot
All the Pleasures of the Season by Lecia Cornwall
Yours, Mine, and Ours by MaryJanice Davidson
Holiday Kisses by Gwynne Forster
His Mistletoe Bridge by Vanessa Kelly
Silver Bells by Diana Palmer
Together for Christmas by Lisa Plumley
Last Chance Christmas by Hope Ramsay
The Bite Before Christmas by Lynsay Sands & Jeaniene Frost
Picture Perfect Christmas by Melanie Schuster
The Three Kings by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

Calvin Trillin is part of the Talk of the Stacks program on December 6. We've got his books in print and electronic.

A book is always a thoughtful gift. But it's sometimes confusing to wander around a bookstore. The New York Times can help. They have compiled a Holiday Gift Guide of this year's notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, selected by the editors of the New York Times Book Review. Still unsure what to buy? Librarians have great suggestions for you. Just ask... we're happy to help. Also check out Bookspace's What We're Reading for even more book ideas.

There's generally a 2-3 year lag between when a title gets published in Japan and when it gets published in the U.S. Not all titles get translated, which also makes collecting manga a challenge. There are a number of Japanese manga awards out there and here are some titles owned by the library that have won these awards.

Thermae Romae by Mari Yamazaki won the Cartoon Grand Prize (a/k/a Manga Taisho) in 2010 for this story about a Roman architect who moves forward and back in time in his pursuit of the perfect bathhouse design.

One Piece: Romance Dawn for the New World by Eiichiro Oda won a Best Japan Cartoonist Award this May,

Cross Game by Mitsuru Adachi won a Shogakukan Manga Award for the shojo division in 2008.

Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga won a Shogakukan Manga Award for the shonen division in 2010.

Sign up to be alerted when new books by your favorite author are added to the library with the Author Alert tool.

Geoff Dyer is part of the Talk of the Stacks program on November 17. We've got his books in print and electronic.

Doctor Who has been on my mind lately. I found some great resources in the collection that might be interest to other Whovians or people not yet introduced to the Doctor.

Who is the doctor: the unoffical guide to Doctor Who, the new series by Graeme Burk & Robert Smith
Doctor Who, the encyclopedia: the definitive guide to the hit BBC series by Gary Russell
The Doctors: the story behind every face of the iconic time lord by Craig Cabell (eBook)
The TARDIS handbook: the offical guide to the best ship in the universe by Steve Tribe.

Did you know the the Oxford online dictionary has an entry for Whovian? Who knew?

Check out our Romantic Suspense list for books that combine adventure and thrills with a love story.

As of this writing, Gillian Flynn's runaway bestseller Gone Girl has 1800 requests in the Hennepin County Library catalog! Maybe you're waiting for the book or you're facing withdrawal after finishing it and are desperate for similar reads. Fortunately for you, the library has put together just such a list: If You Liked...Gone Girl.

From popular recent titles such as In the Woods to lesser-known thrill rides like Eye Contact, explore the twisted minds of today's most respected mystery writers and enjoy new worlds of the sharp, suspenseful candor you loved (or soon will love) in Gone Girl.

On the waiting list for Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail ? While you wait try A Walk in the woods: rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson or Lost in the wild: danger and survival in the North woods by Cary J. Griffith or maybe a title from HCL's Outdoor Survival and Adventure list

Be sure to register for a class to learn the basics about eBooks and eReaders, and how to find, check out and download eBooks from the Library.

Hilary Mantel made history yesterday. She was the first woman and the only Briton to win the Booker Prize twice. Ms. Mantel won her second Booker for Bring Up the Bodies. She won her first in 2009 for Wolf Hall.

Take a Digital Books Tour to show you how to browse, checkout and download digital books from the library.

One Minneapolis One Read, a community-wide book club now in its second year, is off and running with this year's selection, Spirit Car by Diane Wilson. The Minneapolis Parks & Recs, Minneapolis Public Schools and many other businesses and community organizations have encouraged a wide reading of the book, and have supported corresponding programming to foster an ongoing dialogue.

Here at HCL we are pleased to welcome author Diane Wilson to Minneapolis Central Library on Monday, October 15 at 7 p.m. Come hear the author do a reading from her book, answer questions from the audience, and sign personal copies and those for sale at the event by Magers & Quinn. It promises to be a wonderful evening.

October is the perfect month to hunker down with a blanket and a gripping novel. As the sun begins to set earlier and the weather gets colder, readers from all walks of life look forward to the escapist delights mysteries have to offer, especially in light of the ghoulish holiday that awaits us later in the month.

But for those not prone to be too scared in the midst of dark and stormy nights, the "cozy" genre of mystery provides a lovely blend of intrigue and civility. Authors of this kind know how to tell a good story that keeps you guessing, then wrap it up with a nice cup of tea. If you're interested in dipping into a mystery that won't give you nightmares, check out the Bookspace list on Cozy Mysteries for some great suggestions.

The comics anthology Tales from the Crypt no longer exists but there's still a lot of great horror comics available. Here are just a few I recommend:

George R.R. Martin's Fevre Dream adapted by Daniel Abraham: vampires on a Mississippi steamboat just prior to the Civil War

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman: humanity struggles to survive a zombie apocalypse

American Vampire by Scott Snyder & Stephen King: vampires from the old country struggle with a new breed of American vampire during the Golden Age of Hollywood

Lock & Key by Joe Hill: something monstrous and evil is trapped in a mysterious house, and the family who lives there struggles to survive

The National Book Foundation announced its 2012 finalists this morning. The non-fiction honorees, all available through the library, are:

Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956 by Anne Applebaum

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4 by Robert A. Caro

The Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Martinez

House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by Anthony Shadid

Get on the request lists now and/or check out free samples of the most of the titles via the GalleyCat blog! Winners will be announced on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012.

Use the search box in OverDrive Help to find articles specific to your need.

Werewolves and vampires and shapeshifters, oh my! Check out new releases at ParaNormal Romance and Paranormal Romance Writers.

Naomi Wolf will be part of the Talk of the Stacks program on October 4. We've got her books in print and electronic.

Celebrate National Reading Group Month and rededicate your commitment to reading with your book club.

The Mythopeic Awards are given to books that best exemplify "the spirit of the Inklings," a group of friends and Oxford professors including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, who met to critique each others work and explore many subjects through wide ranging discussions.

Here are the nominees and winner for 2012:
The Uncertain Places by Lisa Goldstein (winner)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (nominee)
The Heavenly Fox by Richard Parks (nominee) - not owned by HCL
Deathless by Catherynne Valente (nominee)
Among Others by Jo Walton (nominee)

Acclaimed author Larry Watson will speak at the Ridgedale Library on Saturday, October 6th at 1:00. I read and very much enjoyed two of his novels Montana, 1948 and his latest American Boy. Mr. Watson creates characters and stories that are impossible to forget. So begins David Hayden's story of what happened in Montana in 1948: "From the summer of my twelfth year I carry a series of images more vivid and lasting than any others of my boyhood and indelible beyond all attempts the years make to erase or fade them...."

Please join us on October 6th to meet Larry Watson.

We have audiobooks available from many sources from the library as well as from the Web. Check out Mutiny on the Bounty from One Click Digital, then listen to William Bligh's A Voyage to the South Sea from Internet Archive.

The Minnesota Craft Brewer's Guild's annual Autumn Brew Review took place this past weekend on the grounds of the old Grain Belt Brewery, and it reminded me once again of the sheer explosion of growth the U.S. and Minnesota craft brew industry is currently experiencing. Consult this list for beer history, lore, cookery, and more!

As a curious reader you may explore comics but are you a curiouser reader who wants to go beyond the comics stories themselves into how they are constructed and what their appeal may be? If you are a curiouser reader, check out these books:

Any of Scott McCloud's comics theory books, including Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics.

Any of Stephen Weiner's books on comics history and development, including The 101 Best Graphic Novels, The Will Eisner Companion and more.

Michael Chabon will be a part of the Talk of the Stacks program on September 15. We've got his books in print and electronic.

Fall into a love story with more than education on the curriculum!

Great-Aunt Sophia's Lessons for Bombshells by Lisa Cach

The Duchess Diaries by Jillian Hunter

Slicker by Lucy Jackson

Three Brides, No Groom by Debbie Macomber

Seasons of Second Chances by Diane Meier

Two Weeks to Remember by Betty Neels

Amy Inspired by Bethany Pierce

Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith

Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan

Tell us your email address and we'll send you a weekly email update listing new titles ordered for the library collection.

I'm a big fan of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries (most famously, Devil in a Blue Dress) and so I was nervous picking up a novel that is not one his Noir detective stories. But Mosley can tell just about any story and keep you engaged and he succeeds with The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey. Ptolemy Grey is 91, in the early stages of dementia and in need of settling some very important business. Enter seventeen year old Robyn, and young woman taken in by Ptolemy's extended family who enters into a helpful and challenging relationship with the old man. As always, Mosley's characters are incredibly interesting with all the flaws and beauties of real people. This is not a shoot 'em up edge-of-your-seat novel, but there is some shooting and you'll care enough for Ptolemy to remain on the edge of your seat till the last page. Another great one from a great African-American novelist.

In addition to the library's eBook collection, you can find more free eBooks from Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg.

Named for the character in the classic comic strip Krazy Kat by George Herriman, this award recognizes great independent comics and their creators. Winners will be announced in early September. The 2012 Nominees are as follows:

Outstanding Graphic Novel
Big Questions by Anders Nilsen
Harvey Pekar’s Cleveland by Harvey Pekar and Joseph Remnant
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
Troop 142 by Mike Dawson (not in library collection)
A Zoo In Winter by Jiro Taniguchi

Also check out the nominees in Outstanding Artist, Outstanding Story, Outstanding Series, Promising New Talent and more.

"The Women's National Book Association has announced
Ann Patchett as the winner of the 2012-2013 WNBA Award. The award is presented by WNBA to a living American woman who derives part or all of her income from books or the allied arts and has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation. Patchett, in addition to authoring a number of bestselling books, opened Parnassus Books in Nashville in 2011." - Publishers Weekly. Read more about Ann Patchett and her award.

The winners will be announced in early November, but check out all the great World Fantasy Awards nominees to decide for yourself which is the best.

Best Novel:
Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman
11/22/63 by Stephen King
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
Osama by Lavie Tidhar
Among Others by Jo Walton

Listen to a list of the best summer and fall books of 2012 on the Minnesota Public Radio website or join in on the blog.

The Minnesota State Fair is happening August 23 through September 3, 2012. Here are some books to help you enjoy the fair even more.

My Help from the OverDrive Digital Help page lets you customize info according to your device.

Beloved Irish author Maeve Binchy died today at age 72. Her first novel Light a Penny Candle was published in 1982. Read more here. Fans may want to watch this video on Maeve's philosophy of life.

I finally found the time to read that most acclaimed novel by Canadian master Robertson Davies, 'Fifth Business'. It was a thoroughly engaging and deeply satisfying read. It is the story of the life of the narrator, Dunstan Ramsay, a retired school master who relates his experiences from early childhood to the present. We meet a host of wonderfully told characters engaged in any number of mild and intense encounters, and follow Dunstan’s development as an insightful but conflicted man. All of the story lines – from small town gossip and meanness, to the terror of World War I, to the intricacies of the magician’s craft, to unrequited love – draw you in with wonder and exquisite writing. I plan to read both sequels in this series, known as The Deptford Trilogy.

San Diego ComiCon wrapped last weekend and the Eisner Award Winners have been announced.

Best Continuing Series: Daredevil by Mark Waid, Marcos Martin, Paolo Rivera, and Joe Rivera

Best Limited Series: Criminal: The Last of the Innocent by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Best Publication for Young Adults (Ages 12-17): Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

Best Reality-Based Work: Green River Killer by Jeff Jensen

Best Graphic Album - New: Jim Henson's Tale of Sand by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl with Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team going to Ramon K. Perez for this book as well

Best U.S. Edition of International Material: The Manara Library by Milo Manara and Hugo Pratt

Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Asia: Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki

Best Writer: Mark Waid for Irredeemable, Incorruptible and Daredevil

Best Writer/Artist: Craig Thompson for Habibi

As part of their multiyear Celebration of the Book, The Library of Congress has created an exhibition of 88 Books that Shaped America. You've probably heard of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Thomas Paine's Common Sense, but how about Amelia Simmons' American Cookery or Jacob Riis's How the Other Half Lives? The exhibition runs through September 29, but If you can't make it out to Washington D.C. check out the list and add your own input!

According to CBS and an annual Central Connecticut State University survey, the Twin Cities are in the top ten most literate cities in the
U.S. The article lists information about book clubs in the area.

Nora Ephron died yesterday at age 71. I love her movies (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Julie & Julia) and her 1983 novel Heartburn is a personal favorite. Nora Ephron's wit made this story delightful even though it's based on Nora's marriage and divorce from Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein. She will be missed tremendously. Read more about Nora Ephron here. And here are Nora's Must Reads.

Sometimes contemplating the end of the world as we know it through a book can be thoughtful experience, and very often it's action-packed as well. Check out book lists such as If You Liked...The Hunger Games and the YA list Apocalypse & Dystopia to discover some great titles about the possibility of a dark future for humanity.

Browse through our Readers' Lists for even more books on this and so many other topics your fellow readers have discovered.

“A fictional biography whose subject in the beginning is a sixteen-year-old boy in the Elizabethan era and in the end -- three hundred years later -- is a thirty-six-year-old woman.” Okay, so would you pick up a book based on this summary? I was actually intrigued by the summary of Orlando, especially by its being written by Virginia Woolf. This is a wonderfully fun novel and a wild ride through four centuries, exploring the roles of men and women at different eras and the social mores of those times. Woolf cleverly matches her prose style to the literary style of the period in which Orlando lives, creating always-changing moods and sheer delight for the reader. I have read that the novel is based in part on Woolf’s life with her lover Vita Sackville-West, and that may be. But most of all, this book is just plain fun to read. A great introduction to an incredibly talented author.

Did you know the summer blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises (hitting theaters on July 20) riffs off of one man's work? Frank Miller re-imagined a Batman even darker than the vigilante crime fighter who came before, one burdened with black thoughts and dark deeds. Check out his Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, and Batman: Year One to meet the Batman who inspired David Fincher's film!

One of our greatest writers, Ray Bradbury, died yesterday at age 91. He wrote more than 27 novels and 600 short stories. “You must write every single day of your life... You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads... may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” ~ Ray Bradbury
And more on Ray Bradbury and libraries: http://nationalbook.tumblr.com/post/24555708196/remembering-ray-bradbury-1920-2012

Romance Writers of America states:

On average, a published romance author writes one-and-a-half romance manuscripts per year. On average, one to two romance novels per author is released per year.

In general, romance fiction is bought from an author by a publisher (sometimes through an agent) by way of a contract. The contract almost always involves a cash advance and then a royalty pay-out.

Authors can make anywhere from $3,000 to several million dollars for their first book. Like the authors, contracts and royalty rates vary greatly.

It's Summer and local Farmers' Markets have opened. Cook and enjoy what you buy.

The library now offers OneClickdigital for even more downloadable audiobooks.

The children's Carnegie Medal was established in 1936.  This June at the American Library Association's annual conference the first  winners of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced.

The three finalists for Fiction are The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright, Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks, and Swamplandia! by Karen Russell. Find the nonfiction finalists here. The selection committee includes chair Nancy Pearl of Book Lust fame. How exciting to have Carnegie Medals for both adult and children's literature!

Club Book will host 10 free author events during the summer/fall 2012 season. Check out the Club Book website for details.

eBooks are available many foreign languages. Click on Advanced Search to limit your search by language.

Mexican novelist and essayist Carlos Fuentes died May 15 at the age of 83. In his obituary, The New York Times described him as "one of the most admired writers in the Spanish-speaking world." Fuentes wrote The Old Gringo in 1985, and his latest work Destiny and Desire was published in 2011. 

This award for best science fiction novel published in the U.S. will be presented the first weekend in July. Here are the nominees:

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline (Crown)
This Shared Dream, Kathleen Ann Goonan (Tor)
Soft Apocalypse, Will McIntosh (Night Shade)
Embassytown, China Miéville (Del Rey)
The Islanders, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
The Highest Frontier, Joan Slonczewski (Tor)
Dancing with Bears, Michael Swanwick (Night Shade)
Robopocalypse, Daniel H. Wilson (Simon & Schuster)
Home Fires, Gene Wolfe (Tor)
Seed, Rob Ziegler (Night Shade)

Many comics fans have seen the film The Avengers. Did you know you could read Avengers comics at the library? You can also follow the solo adventures of the Incredible Hulk, the Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and more.

EBooks are a great way to enjoy a book without everyone else knowing what you're reading. Maybe that's why romance is currently the most popular genre for eBooks. 

Book Tours at the MIA! These are "lively discussions of works of art related to popular books." Drop in Tuesday mornings at 11:30 or Thursday evenings at 6:30 for a free docent tour. Some of the fiction titles coming up for tours are Dreams of Joy (June), Luncheon of the Boating Party (August), Cutting for Stone (October) and Madonnas of Leningrad (December). Past titles also can be explored when you arrange a private tour with the MIA. For more information, please read here.

I’ve just now finished this book and want to write this before the experience subsides.  One reviewer of As God Commands, the award-winning novel by Italian author Niccolo Ammaniti, said “If the Coen brothers ever wanted to go Italian, this’d be prime adaptation material.”  Indeed.  This is a brutal, sometimes darkly humorous novel of three men and one man’s son from the underside of society, bleeding anger and scheming on ways to make something of their lives.  Ammaniti, also the author of the brilliant suspense novel I’m Not Scared, describes characters, places and circumstances with a sense of foreboding and reality that cannot be denied.  I stopped halfway through, horrified by an event in the story, and decided to return it unread the following morning.  But at the library I picked it up just to read to the end of that page and wound up ignoring my responsibilities and reading the whole damned book in one long sitting.  For better or for worse, this is what a great book can do.

Romance continues to be the fastest growing segment of the eBook marketplace. Read the New York Times and Wall Street Journal articles.

I just got a hold of the beautiful new Taschen book Alex Steinweiss: The Inventor of the Modern Album Cover.  It was strange to think there was a time when there wasn’t album cover artwork, be it beautiful, clever, or just provocative. (Though I suppose I should get used to that time again with music as physical object quickly disappearing!)  It reminded me of other books about album covers I have enjoyed.   Check them out.  The list includes retropectives of album cover artists like Steinweiss, Flora, and Warhol; collections of genre-specific album covers (jazz, disco, hip-hop anyone?); and odd little gems about sleevefacing and Mingering Mike, a soul artist whose entire career is the invention of a teenage boy living in a D.C. ghetto.  

The highly anticipated sequel to Jennifer Johnson is Sick of Being Single, entitled Jennifer Johnson is Sick of Being Married, will be released in October. Reserve your copy on Hennepin Library's catalog today!

The 2012 Pulitzer Prizes were announced this week, but alas, no prize was awarded for Fiction. This has not happened since 1977. The jurors read some 300 books but none was chosen for the coveted prize. A few came close: read more about it.

BookSpace has a list of the Pulitzer Prize winners in fiction, nonfiction and poetry for the past ten years.

Dora Saint, known to millions of readers as Miss Read, died April 7 at the age of 98. The first Miss Read novel, Village School, was published in 1955. "In the world of Miss Read, almost no problem was so great that it couldn’t be solved by a glass of milk, a good cup of tea and the passage of time," says the Washington Post.

Help the Pew Research Center understand your use of digital technologies and how it affects libraries in the 21st century by taking this survey.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project's most recent publication indicates the average eBook reader is reading more books than non-eBook readers. Other interesting statistics are also mentioned in the article, The Rise of E-Reading.

Even though spy thrillers are not my cup of tea, I took a chance with The Expats by Chris Pavone. Kate Moore is a CIA agent and her husband Dexter does not know that little tidbit about his wife. Dexter, a banking security consultant, announces they must move to Luxembourg. Kate is happy to leave behind her undercover job and devote herself to their two young sons. However, she begins to suspiciously view their new friends in Luxembourg and soon she even questions her husband's actions. Kate investigates and the plot becomes more complicated. She enjoys being back in spy mode but things come to a feverish climax as Kate and Dexter manage so many deceptions. Do they even know each other?  Pavone's debut novel is a very entertaining page-turner.

What do Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson, Mickey Mantle, Hack Wilson, Toni Stone, and Roberto Clemente have in common? Their careers are all a part of the rich history of baseball.
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If you’re one of the many adults who are hooked on The Hunger Games, you’ll find some similar reading ideas on our new If You Liked...The Hunger Games book list.

Or maybe you have a reader too young for this dark story? KidLinks provides great suggestions with If You Like The Hunger Games for the under 12 set.

The Horror Writers Association is awarding the Bram Stoker Vampire Novel of the Century this year, and the panel of distinguished judges have selected these short-listed titles out of a field of 35 books:

The Soft Whisper of the Dead by Charles L. Grant (not in the library collection)
Salem's Lot by Stephen King
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

The winner will be revealed later this month. We'll keep you posted!
NOTE: And the winner is...I Am Legend by Richard Matheson!

The library has growing collections of titles available for kids & teens to enjoy on their reading devices.  For kids we are mainly purchasing fiction.  For some out of print titles we have found that we can sometimes get an eBook version even if the physical format is no longer available.  There is not as much available in non-fiction or picture books in an eBook format but we continue to look for topics and titles that are of interest to our patrons. We are purchasing teen titles when they are available in an eBook format.  Unlike many adult titles the eBook versions of many teen books are not available until the physical version is published.  This can cause a delay in availability for some titles. As with the adult eBooks there are several large publishers that do not currently have a lending model for libraries.  However, there are still many eBooks of interest that are available in our library collection!

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay are two of my favorite novels by one of my favorite authors, Michael Chabon.  My latest foray was into Gentlemen of the Road, a rollicking, old-style adventure that kept me both amused and engaged.  I am blown away by Chabon's breadth of style and creativity.  This novel reads like those childhood adventures (Arabian Nights, Adventures of Tin-Tin) you read late into the night with a flashlight.  Travel with Zelikman, a cranky physician with a strange taste in hats, and ex-soldier Amram, a beast of a man responsible for most of the clever (often hilarious) quips, as they make their rootless way through the Caucasus Mountains, circa A.D. 950.  Historical fiction?  More like hysterical fiction!

Barnes & Noble announced the 2011 winners of their Discover Great New Writers award.  Winning the nonfiction award is Kosher Chinese, the memoir of an American Jewish Peace Corps volunteer serving in Guiyang, China.  Check it out!

Several major publishers do not currently support a public library lending model for eBooks, including Simon & Schuster, MacMillan and Scholastic. For example, we are able to purchase Twilight novels as eBooks since they are published by Random House but not the Hunger Games series which is published by Scholastic. At this time we are unable to purchase any Vince Flynn titles in eBook format. Why do we have some titles in a series available as an eBook or audiobook and not others? When possible, the complete series of an author’s backlist is purchased.  However, since not all publishers currently support a library lending model, it can cause some unfortunate gaps in our eBook and audiobook collections. Janet Evanovich’s titles are an example; her first 16 numbered titles were published by MacMillan so eBooks are not available for libraries to purchase. Smokin’ Seventeen and Explosive Eighteen are published by Bantam which are available for purchase and are in our eBook collection.

The Pen/ Faulkner Award is a national prize that honors outstanding works of fiction by American writers each year." The winner will be announced in March, 2012. Past winners.

The British Science Fiction Awards short list was announced recently. Sometimes there's a lag before these books get released state-side and/or added to library collections. Top 5 Nominees for Best Novel include:

The Islanders by Christopher Priest
Embassytown by China Mieville
Osama by Lavie Tidhar
Cyber Circus by Kim Lakin-Smith (available as eBook only in U.S.)
By Light Alone by Adam Roberts (not available in U.S.)

The winner will be announced in April at London's Eastercon!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since I read Gloria Naylor's wonderful novel, “The Women of Brewster Place.”  Now I’ve had the hard pleasure of reading an equally powerful story by an author deserving of more recognition, Stewart O'Nan .  "Everyday People” is the story of an African-American neighborhood in Pittsburg, one that has lost its center and suffers the urban decay plaguing too many of our minority-intensive communities.  The story follows the lives of a half dozen characters ranging from a wheelchair-bound graffiti artist to an elderly woman who’s lost children to violence, to a young woman struggling to balance motherhood with college to an Italian ice-cream van driver who has served the neighborhood for decades.  O’Nan has an uncanny ability to lend reality to the characters he invents.  I missed them all for a week after finishing the book.  The last line of this book, by the way, is one of the best I’ve read in years.    

According to one list I found, the top 5 best selling manga titles are One Piece, Dragon Ball (the original series is out of print but there is a U.S. retelling), Kochikame (not available in the U.S.), Slam Dunk and Naruto.

Even though he can't swim, Monkey D. Luffy vows to become King of the Pirates once he sets out on his row boat to find the legendary treasure One Piece.

Obtaining a Dragon Ball (there are seven total) becomes the quest of young Goku once he leaves his home in the forest.

You can't find Kochikame here in the U.S., but the comic mishaps of middle-aged cop Kankichi Ryotsu have been entertaining Japanese audiences since 1976.

Slam Dunk tells the story of awkward bruiser Hanamachi Sakuragi, rejected by over 50 girls until the fearless Haruko brings basketball into his life.

Read Naruto to follow the adventures of the orphan Uzumaki Naruto as he tries to graduate from ninja school despite the terrifiying force that hides within him.

What do the Wanderer, the all Black Tank Battalion, and the Homestead Grays have in common? They are all small parts of the rich history of African Americans. The pages of these titles bring Black History to life!

Nominated titles from this year or last year, provide fodder for book club reading. Consider attending the Awards Gala on April 12, 2012 to celebrate Minnesota's literary culture!

USA Today recently reported that Minneapolis is the third most literate city in the country (Washington D.C. and Seattle are #1 and #2).  Our wonderful libraries and bookstores must take some credit! http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-10-literary10_ST_N.htm  Let's see Minneapolis take the #1 spot next time!

Christmas Eve is not starting well for under-sheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman of Posadas County, New Mexico. Statute of Limitations is part of the Posadas County series.  The  Chief of Police has a heart attack while confronting car thieves, Sheriff Torrez has a pulmonary embolism Christmas morning; a deputy's fiancée is murdered that afternoon; and former sheriff (and Estelle's best friend) Bill Gastner is brutally attacked that night. Just visiting everyone in the hospital would be a full time job, let alone tracking down the perpetrators and raising two children.  This series is a favorite of mine.

Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) has named Connie Willis as its latest Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, and has joined fellow women Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Andre Norton on this lifetime achievement list.

Living in Minnesota is a connection between these Grand Masters: Poul Anderson and Clifford D. Simak.

Other great masters of writing you can check out include Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, Damon Knight, Frederik Pohl, Ray Bradbury, Alfred Bester, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Fritz Leiber, and the first ever winner, Robert A. Heinlein (1975).

John Barron of the Chicago Sunday Sun-Times says of Chad Harbach's novel The Art of Fielding, "It's hard to figure who wouldn't take to this captivating, breezy debut... it has it all: love, the search for identity, redemption, a superbly drawn setting, engaging characters...and baseball." It's been compared to John Irving's The World According to Garp (which piqued my interest as Garp remains one of my all-time favorite novels). Ten years in the writing, The Art of Fielding brought Harbach a whopping $665,000 advance. It's a character-driven novel set at a fictional Wisconsin college. I loved the first half.  Then Harbach lost his way and my interest waned. Where was this book going, I wondered?  I wasn't emotionally engaged at its dramatic and tear-jerking ending. Tighter editing was sorely needed (the book goes on much too long at 512 pages).   Harbach's talent is evident but I hope he finds a new editor.

Want to know which comics Europeans love the most? Check out the British Eagle Awards.

Favourite New Comicbook - Daytripper by Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba
Favourite American Comicbook: Colour - Batman & Robin by Grant Morrison
Favourite Manga - Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
Favourite European Comicbook - Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales
Favourite Continued Story - The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman

Unfortunately the Favourite British Comicbook: Colour (2000AD by various) and Favourite British Comicbook: Black & White (Commando by various) aren't readily available here. Check out the list for even more suggestions!

According to the Federal Government, some of the most popular New Year's resolutions are:
•Drink Less Alcohol
•Eat Healthy Food
•Get a Better Education
•Get a Better Job
•Get Fit
•Lose Weight
•Manage Debt
•Manage Stress
•Quit Smoking
•Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
•Save Money
•Take a Trip
•Volunteer to Help Others 

Maybe your top resolution this year is to keep your resolutions!   Whatever your goals might be, use the library to help you achieve them.  Our Health and Wellness Subject Guide is full of resources, and we have books for almost any resolution can think of. Here's a book list with a few titles to get you started:
Making (and Keeping!) Your New Year's Resolutions

Booklist has named the year's top 10 Romance Fiction featuring "smart, strong, and witty women rescuing animals, creating elegant dresses, studying medicine, and falling in love with men who truly cherish their wonderful, authentic selves."