Short Takes 7/27/2017

Louise Penny has a new book coming out. GLASS HOUSES will be available August 29, 2017 from Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio.

Here's a great article 20 MUST-READ NOVELS BY FEMALE MYSTERY AUTHORS. I've read seven of these authors but not necessarily the specific book mentioned: S.J Rozan; Minette Walters; Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell; Ngaio Marsh, P.D. James; and Patricia Highsmith.

14 Summer Reading Challenges for Adults Here's an interesting variety of reading challenges to inspire your summer reading.

Leslie Odom Jr has signed a book deal with Macmillan with a release date set for March 2018.

John Green has his first new novel, TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN, in 6 years coming out this October. His last book was THE FAULT IN OUR STARS in 2012.

Short Takes 9/24/2016

JSO (Jackson Symphony Orchestra, MI) composer, Spring Arbor University Music Department Chair, and now author, Jonathan Bruce Brown will be speaking at the Jackson District Library's Carnegie Branch on Friday, September 30th at 6:30 pm.

Dissonance, Brown's first book, is a mystery about music, Michigan, and its people.

American Library Association Picture

History was made on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 after Carla Hayden was sworn in as the first African American and woman appointed as the librarian of Congress. Read more HERE.

What are your favorite banned books? Celebrate Banned Books Week 2016 by reading one! An annual event celebrating the freedom to read. "Find out which challenged books made the 2015 list, which was released as part of the 2016 State of America’s Library Report." Read more HERE. (How can #1 on the top 10 on the video be John Green's Looking for Alaska? I loved that book.) 

 

Keeping Up with John Green

Although I came to John Green's writing too late and too old to be a 'nerdfighter', I fell in love with The Fault in Our Stars (and John Green) like any of his young army of fans. In fact, so did our entire book group to varying degrees. (You can read my brief review HERE.)

There is an extensive and wonderful article about him in The New Yorker called The Teen Whisperer that you really should read even if you haven't read any of his books at all. If it doesn't entice you to see what all the fuss is about, I'll be surprised.