The Minnesota Book Award finalists were named in eight categories. The state book awards gala is April 13, 2013 in Minneapolis.

Like you do every year, you took a long hard look at yourself after the holidays and decided you needed to get fit, manage your debt, get more organized, etc. About now you're realizing just how hard it is to break bad habits. You might find yourself heading to the library to look for The 4-Hour Workweek, The Power of Habit, or Daring Greatly to help you figure out how to get back on track.

Did you resolve to read more in 2013? Check out last week's issue of New York Magazine, which took some interesting, thought-provoking, and sometimes humorous looks at self-help as a category. In The Power of Positive Publishing, Boris Kachka looks at the history and changing nature of self-help publishing. In The Self in Self-Help, Kathryn Schulz wonders how we can help our self if we don't even know what a self is. In How to Read 31 Books in Four Minutes, staff writers read and summarize 31 currently popular self-help books so you don't have to! And for a little comic relief, SNL's Bill Hader, provides 7 Steps to Becoming a Highly Effective Bill Hader.

The Mystery Writers of America released the Edgar Nominations for best mystery writing on January 16th. How many have you read?

OverDrive offers multiple ways to search our digital collection. You can use Advanced Search to narrow your search topic, it's in the upper right corner of the OverDrive page. Or, if you start with a subject area to browse through you can then limit your results by the categories offered in the Filter Search By column.

In 2002 one hundred authors from 54 countries were asked to name their top 10 works of fiction of all time. The result is this compilation of the 100 Best Books of All Time. I have read only 23 of these titles so I have some catching up to do. I was surprised to see Pippi Longstocking on this list but Norwegian Book Clubs came up with the idea to do the compilation so perhaps I shouldn't be too surprised. Take a look and see how many you have read (so far). By the way, if you click on the Print icon, you can see the 100 titles at one time.

Since 1975 the Science Fiction Writers of America recognizes outstanding authors with a lifetime achievement award called the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master. Here are just a few of the winners, including some from Minnesota!

Robert A. Heinlein (1975)
Clifford D. Simak (1977) - Minnesota
Andre Norton (1984)
Ray Brandbury (1989)
Damon Knight (1995)
Poul Anderson (1998) - Minnesota
Ursula K. Le Guin (2003)
Anne McCaffrey (2005)
Michael Moorcock (2008)
Connie Willis (2012)
Gene Wolfe (2013)

Visit the OverDrive Help page for information on using eBooks. You'll find an introduction to the new OverDrive Read interface, as well as information for using your specific device, including downloading software to get you started.

Booklist named their best books of 2012 and USA Today listed the top sellers of the year.

Edina native Todd M. Johnson will read from his accomplished debut novel The Deposit Slip tomorrow night (January 8) at 7:00 p.m. at the Ridgedale Library. Publisher's Weekly says, "With an irresistible set-up, suspense, a subtle love triangle, strong dialogue, characters, and a focused plot, Johnson makes a strong first literary case." Books will be available for purchase and signing.

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Take Franz Kafka's advice and browse the over 16,000 downloadable audiobooks the library offers for your listening pleasure.

For millions of avid readers, the term "book club" inevitably calls to the mind the wildly successful Oprah Book Club of yesteryear. Beginning with The Deep End of the Ocean in 1996, Oprah Winfrey engaged passionate readers and undoubtedly created many, many new readers with her show's monthly book discussion, often including the book's author for the conversation.

Although she no longer has a television show for a platform, Winfrey recently announced the commencement of Oprah 2.0 to continue her love of discussing books. This new online book club maintains the spirit of the original while utilizing technology from a new era. Based on the number of requests in Hennepin County for her two current picks, Oprah wasn't the only one who missed the book club! Feeling nostalgic for the original? Check out our list of titles from Oprah 1.0 to get some great discussion-provoking titles for your own book club, too.