Category: Recommendations

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Recommendations

Celebrating Women’s History Month: Reflections, Stories, and Empowerment

By Public Service Associate & Content Coordinator Hannah

I knew I wanted to write a Women’s History Month post, but I didn’t know how to go about it. After all, this month is an opportunity to celebrate the vast accomplishments of women throughout history and the ongoing contributions we make. It’s a time to acknowledge the resilience, creativity, and courage of individual women and the communities that empower them. It’s also a moment to honor and encourage women to support one another on our journeys whether on a grand scale or in quieter, more personal ways. So, with all that in mind, I turned to the library, a natural source of inspiration, and it came through.

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Recommendations

Make February a Month of Movie Mania: Oscar Homework with BPL

by Public Service Associate Juliana

Image from Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail

I adore this time of year. The release of Oscar nominations makes it completely appropriate to stay home cuddled on the couch night after night watching movies. The 97th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for March 2, so for the month of February, I consider movies my homework.

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Recommendations

Create a Reading Journal This January

by Public Service Associate Juliana

Photo by Juliana Farrington

January is a perfect time to set up new systems. Last January I decided to start a Reading Journal. I was interested in more than keeping a list. I’ve kept a reading list for years, and it didn’t feel like enough anymore. I read lots of books and spend lots of my time reading, and in 2024 I noticed that while my year end totals were admirable, I wasn’t retaining much of what I read. I couldn’t spout out plots or tell you spoilers. I rarely ever remembered the endings. I wanted to be able to have something to say about a book a month or year after I’d read it or at least have the journal to refer back to. Ultimately, I wanted the time I invested in reading to count for more. 

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Recommendations Staff Book Reviews

Leah Recommends Award-Winning Young Adult Fiction

by Associate Librarian Leah Boyden

Earlier this year I took a course on engaging teens within libraries. As a lover and reader of young adult material and former middle school teacher, this task was right up my alley. A former student of mine encouraged me to write a blog post for the library and because of their encouragement I signed up!

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Recommendations

Haunted Novels for Fall

by Public Service Associate Juliana

Many Octobers I have steeped myself in scary movies, but this year I feel driven to read something scary. There’s no better place to start than with a classic from horror queen, Shirley Jackson. When I searched the fiction stacks I found The Haunting of Hill House. Orange and black cover, inky, black-edged pages and the title in gothic font, I was immediately obsessed.

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Booklists Recommendations

Fantastical Detectives in Magical Realms

by Public Service Associate Autumn

I love a good mystery novel, though I came to them much later than I should have. As a teen, when I had run out of my own books to read (for the week) and my family could not make it to the library, my grandfather gave me several Agatha Christie novels from his collection.1 But I didn’t read them that week. In fact, I didn’t read them until after I watched BBC’s wonderful adaptation, Poirot. But then, I was hooked: the twists and turns, the rooting out of each motive and link, fishing through all the red herrings, and perhaps most importantly, the satisfaction of knowing how all the pieces fit together in the end. It warms my order-loving soul.2 I immediately went back and read the Agatha Christie originals, then moved on to Arther Conan Doyle, Rex Stout, Stephen Spotswood and many more.

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Recommendations

Lifelong Learning: A (Quick) Study of Oysters

by Public Service Associate Juliana

image from Taylor Shellfish

 “Unless you’re vegetarian or vegan, you can’t go to Seattle and skip a platter of freshly shucked Pacific Northwest Oysters.”

— Lonely Planet Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest

At the start of every travel journal, after flight details and a packing list, I create a checklist of things to do. Most recently, while planning a trip to Seattle, the list included Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, Seattle Central Library, coffee, and oysters.

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Recommendations

Five Ways to Browse Books in the Library

by Public Service Associate Juliana

Often, we come to the library looking for something specific – a book with a lot of buzz, something a friend recommended, one from our long TBR list, one we saw on #BookTok. What if we approached books in a different way? What if instead of a list of titles we browsed with a list of rules that encourage randomness? What if we weren’t attached to the outcome? What might we discover?

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Recommendations

Take a Look into Space: Weird and Fascinating Extrasolar Worlds

by Public Service Associate Autumn

Unless you have been living under a rock (or outside of North America), you probably noticed the eclipse that occurred on April 8, 2024. The media took to calling it “The Great American Eclipse”, as it covered only Mexico, the mainland United States and a small swath of Canada. Maybe you traveled to see the totality personally, maybe you just noticed the streetlights coming on at two in the afternoon and maybe you decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and stayed inside, away from the madness.

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BPL News & Information Recommendations

Preservation

by Public Service Associate & Creative Content Coordinator Hannah

Did you miss Preservation Week? Don’t worry, it will be here next year!

My bad jokes aside, preservation – an umbrella term for activities that reduce or prevent damage to extend the life of things – can easily slip one’s mind. But a recent trip to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the Library of Congress thoroughly renewed my appreciation for preservationists and collecting institutions. In this BPL blog post, I hope to get you to think about, thank them, and as always share some great books.

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