Category: Recommendations

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Booklists Recommendations Virtual Book Club

Such a Fun Age

by Adult Services Library Associate Beth

As part of our ongoing commitment to promoting and facilitating community dialogue and engagement, Bexley Public Library is joining with other central Ohio libraries in a Let’s Talk About Race: One Book – One Community program, which has at its center the book STAMPED: Racism, Antiracism, and You. The program kicked off on November 9 and will conclude with a virtual author talk by Jason Reynolds on January 24, 2021. To complement this ongoing program, the BPL Virtual Book Club is reading Kiley Reid’s debut novel Such a Fun Age; a sharp, witty and provocative exploration of race, class and privilege. Be sure to register for the event and join us for a lively and timely discussion on January 13, 2021!

I first heard of Such a Fun Age while working one January evening at BPL. The book was featured on a list of 2020’s most anticipated debut novels (it made the list despite technically being published in 2019, albeit on the very last day of that year.) After learning a bit more about the novel, I knew I had to read it, and as soon as possible. Luckily enough, CML’s Driving Park branch had a copy available, and so I rushed there immediately after work to grab it – along with a few other titles because, like most of you, I’m incapable of leaving a library with just one book. I started the book the very next morning and once again found myself lucky. I had that whole day off with no other obligations to take me away from reading, and so I read it cover-to-cover in one day. I just couldn’t put it down. Reid offers a thoroughly engaging depiction of the complexities of relationships that cross class and racial lines. The characters are fully-formed, authentic and complex. The lessons imparted are important. And after nearly a year, it’s still a book I think about from time to time. 

It’s no surprise then that the book was Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize – though I am surprised it didn’t at least make the Shortlist, if not win the prize outright. The book also won Best Debut Novel in the Goodreads Choice Awards. Though I personally voted for Reid’s book to win the latter, 2020 was a great year for debut novels; making it a difficult choice. And so, if you find yourself having finished Such a Fun Age, and are looking for that next great read, I’ve also included here a list of my other favorite 2020 debut novels. (You can also find a more in-depth reviews for Russell’s My Dark Vanessa in an older post on this blog, as well as a Book Chat video for Anappara’s Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line on our YouTube channel.)

Happy reading, happy holidays, and see you all in the New Year!

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Booklists Recommendations

‘Tis the Season

by Adult Services Library Associate Nichole

While the holidays feel different this year, I’m incredibly grateful that the library has helped me keep up the cheer with books, movies and music!

When I’m not listening to Taylor Swift’s latest album Evermore (currently available on Hoopla!) these are the albums I have playing on repeat:

  • A Christmas Album by The Drifters | digital
  • Christmas with the Rat Pack | CD / digital
  • The Christmas Album by Leslie Odom Jr. | CD / digital

My holiday book picks are sure to make you miss the ones you love, but they’ll also make you appreciate any “me time” you get this season!

I don’t know about everyone else, but I always watch the same Christmas movies every year; Home Alone, The Santa Clause, Krampus (we all have our favorites!). But this year, with so much time spent at home, I’m finding new holiday favorites to throw into my yearly rotation. Even better, the following titles are available on Hoopla so you don’t even have to leave your couch to find some Christmas cheer!

From all of us as BPL, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!   

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Bexley History Booklists Recommendations

A Century Before Covid-19, Bexley’s First Pandemic

by Local History Librarian David

Research for this article contributed by Scott King-Owen, Ph.D, Teacher, Bexley City Schools.

One month before the First World War ended a second wave of the deadly Spanish Influenza pandemic, initially spread in military encampments by troop movement, found its way into the civilian population of central Ohio. Like Covid-19, a century later, the absence of medicine for treatment or a vaccine for prevention necessitated avoiding crowds, through isolation or quarantine, to control spread of the respiratory virus. 

Continue reading “A Century Before Covid-19, Bexley’s First Pandemic”
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Booklists Recommendations

Hanukkah Sameach!

by Adult Services Library Associate Nichole

Hanukkah is right around the corner, so what better time to dive into our collection and find books that will help us celebrate this special time of the year. 

If you’re looking for books to sharpen your hosting skills or to learn more about Hanukkah, look no further than these titles:

If you’re looking for books to share with the little ones to teach them more about the Festival of Lights, check out these titles:

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Booklists Recommendations

BPL Staff Favorites of 2020

by Adult Services Library Associate Nichole

As 2020 comes to a close, I asked staff to reflect on their favorites books, movies, and albums from this year. Some staff found it easy to narrow it down, while others couldn’t choose just one! Here are the BPL staff favorite books of 2020:

  • Christian’s Pick – The Lucky Star by William T. Vollmann | print
  • David’s Pick – COVID-19: The Pandemic that Never Should Have Happened and How to Stop the Next One by Debora MacKenzie | print
  • Hannah’s Pick – Wilderness Chef: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Outdoors by Ray Mears | print
  • Juliana’s Favorite Memoir – This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire by Nick Flynn | print
  • Juliana’s Favorite Fiction Read – Writers & Lovers by Lily King | print / digital
  • Leann’s Science Fiction Pick – A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor by Hank Green | print / digital
  • Leann’s Favorite Thriller – The Guest List by Lucy Foley | print / digital
  • Nichole’s Pick – Being Lolita by Alisson Wood | print
  • Sue’s Pick – Deacon King Kong by James McBride | print / digital

Our favorite films from 2020 include:

  • Christian’s Pick – Feels Good Man *currently unavailable through the CLC
  • Juliana’s Pick – The Devil All the Time *currently only available on Netflix
  • Nichole’s Pick – The King of Staten Island | DVD / Blu-Ray

And finally, our BPL staff favorite albums from 2020 include:

  • Christian’s Pick – Heaven to a Tortured Mind by Yves Tumor | CD
  • Hannah’s Pick – Old Flowers by Courtney Marie Andrews | CD
  • Jeff’s Pick – Lianne La Havas | CD / digital
  • Juliana’s Pick – Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers | CD
  • Kim’s Pick – Women in Music Pt. III by HAIM | CD
  • Nichole’s Pick – Circles by Mac Miller | CD / Vinyl / Digital

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Booklists Recommendations

Native American Heritage Month

by Adult Services Library Associate Nichole

This November marks the 30th anniversary of Native American Heritage Month, as declared by President George H. W. Bush in 1990.

The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.

National Congress of American Indians

To celebrate the writers of the Native American community, check out these titles which are available with your Bexley Public Library card:

  • Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot | print / digital
  • Abandon Me: Memoirs by Melissa Febos | print
  • Tending the Fire: Native Voices & Portraits | print
  • Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir by Deborah Miranda | digital
  • Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo | print
  • The Pale-Faced Lie by David Crow | print / digital

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Bexley History Booklists Recommendations

Is Jeffrey Mansion Haunted?

by Local History Librarian David

The feeling of a ghostly presence, knickknacks moved out of place, someone or something tapping one’s shoulder, but is Jeffrey Mansion, the Jacobethan Revival home on North Parkview Avenue, haunted?

Tales of its haunting have been attributed to unidentified individuals and their mysterious and unreported deaths. Perhaps it’s the spirit of a young woman, said to have been murdered there, that haunts the third floor, or that of a man, one supposedly hung himself in the tower while another from the staircase.

Donated to the City of Bexley in 1941, the original owner, former Mayor of Columbus Robert Hutchins Jeffrey, had the stone and brick residence built in 1905. He had long since moved out when he died in 1961 at Grant Hospital. His wife Alice Kilbourne Jeffrey died inside the home in 1922, but only after an illness lasting several months.

During the seventies, children experienced sightings of a witch, her white hair outlined by light in a second floor window. Then, opening the window, in a “scratchy, shaky, haunting voice,” the woman scared the children off. 
But, that was just Violet Ketner, who with her husband John, were live-in caretakers for nearly two decades. “I’m not really afraid,” she told a reporter from the Dispatch. “I’ve never seen anything.”  

For more ghostly tales and scary stories from around Columbus and Ohio explore these titles:

  • Haunted Ohio Series by Chris Woodyard / print
  • Haunted Ohio: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Buckeye State by Charles A Stansfield / print | digital
  • A Haunted History of Columbus, Ohio by Nellie Kampmann / print
  • Columbus Ghosts: Historical Haunts of Ohio’s Capital by Robin L. Smith / print
  • Columbus Ghosts: More Central Ohio Haunts by Robin L. Smith / print

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Booklists Recommendations Virtual Book Club

BPL Virtual Book Club | Autumn 2020

by Adult Services Library Associate Beth

With just less than a month to go, the second meeting of the BPL Virtual Book Club is just around the corner! The upcoming meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 4 at 7PM, and we’ll discuss the book Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie. It’s an award-winning book, well received by critics and readers alike, and is sure to generate an engaging discussion. Register to join us! I’m still in the midst of reading the book, but I’m enjoying it so far. It seems like a book I could usually finish in just a day or two, but I’ve been trying to take my time with it. Not only to better prepare for the discussion, but I also have a feeling it is a book I’ll be sad to see end. 


If you’re like me and don’t want to race through the book just yet, you might be looking for another book to absorb yourself with in the meantime. These books share a variety of themes with Shamsie’s: identity, belonging (especially as experienced by an “outsider”), and the nuances of strained/difficult relationships. They follow well-developed, complex and sympathetic (though often flawed) characters. They’re books that evoke a strong sense of place and that attempt to humanize and explore sometimes difficult political stories; i.e., my favorite kinds of books. Indeed, several of these make my list of all time favorite reads!

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Booklists Recommendations

Banned Books Week 2020

by Adult Services Library Associate Nichole

Banned Books Week was launched in the 1980s, a time of increased challenges, organized protests, and the Island Trees School District v. Pico (1982) Supreme Court case, which ruled that school officials can’t ban books in libraries simply because of their content.

While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10

Every year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list of the top 10 challenged books to bring to light censorship that still plagues libraries and schools.

Of the 566 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the book:

  • George by Alex Gino | print / digital
    • Reasons: for LGBTQIA+ content and a transgender character; for sexual references; and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint and “traditional family structure”
  • Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin | print / digital
    • Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, for “its effect on any young people who would read it,” and for concerns that it was sexually explicit and biased
  • A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, illustrated by EG Keller | print / digital
    • Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content and political viewpoints, for concerns that it is “designed to pollute the morals of its readers,” and for not including a content warning
  • Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg, illustrated by Fiona Smyth | print / digital
    • Reasons:  LGBTQIA+ content; for discussing gender identity and sex education; and for concerns that the title and illustrations were “inappropriate”
  • Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack, illustrated by Stevie Lewis | print
    • Reasons: featuring a gay marriage and LGBTQIA+ content; for being “a deliberate attempt to indoctrinate young children” with the potential to cause confusion, curiosity, and gender dysphoria; and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint
  • I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas | print
    • Reasons:  LGBTQIA+ content, for a transgender character, and for confronting a topic that is “sensitive, controversial, and politically charged”
  • The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood | print / digital
    • Reasons: profanity and for “vulgarity and sexual overtones”
  • Drama written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier | print / digital
    • Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content and for concerns that it goes against “family values/morals”
  • Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling | print / digital
    • Reasons: referring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual curses and spells, and for characters that use “nefarious means” to attain goals
  • And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson illustrated by Henry Cole | print / digital
    • Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content

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Booklists BPL News & Information Online Resources Recommendations

Gear Up for the 2020 Election

by Adult Services Library Associate Beth

Election Day 2020 is now a mere 43 days away. Somehow this seems like both a lifetime away and, well, tomorrow. Regardless of how you plan to vote this November, Bexley Public Library is here to help! To encourage everyone in the community to exercise one of their most fundamental rights, we are hosting two drive-in voter registration events with The League of Women Voters on Tuesday, (TOMORROW!) September 22 from 3-5PM and Thursday, October 1 from 5-7PM. Both events will be held in the BPL parking lot and will also feature musical guests and food trucks. Join us as we celebrate – maybe not the election itself, but at least our ability to have a say in its outcome! And be sure to visit http://bexleylibrary.org/vote or give us a call at 614-231-2793 to get more information on deadlines, procedures, accessing voting materials, etc.

In the spirit of the election season, I’ve composed a list of some of my favorite “political” (I’m using that term in a fairly broad sense) books. And while this list is attached to a post about preparing for the upcoming election, I’ve chosen books that, I think, are largely non-partisan, and don’t focus much on presidential elections or candidates. Rather, they’re books that have helped me better understand and refine my own political worldview, while also helping me better understand those views I may not agree with. Importantly, several of these books put the struggles and concerns of real people at their centers: in my mind, what politics should always be about. Such stories help us build empathy for, and an understanding of people who aren’t always politically aligned with us already. Happy reading! 

  • The Populist’s Guide to 2020: A New Right and New Left are Rising  by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti | print
  • Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis | print / digital
  • Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Hedges and Sacco | print
  • With Liberty and Justice for Some by Glenn Greenwald | print
  • Strangers in their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild | print / digital
  • Hate Inc. by Matt Taibbi | print / digital
  • We’re Still Here: Pain and Politics in the Heart of America by Jennifer M. Silva | print / digital (e-audiobook only)
  • Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg | print / digital