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.
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.
by Public Service Associate Juliana
Midori’s cooking was far better than I had imagined it would be, an amazing assortment of fried, pickled, boiled, and roasted dishes using eggs, mackerel, fresh greens, eggplant, mushrooms, radishes, and sesame seeds, all done in the delicate Kyoto style.
— from Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
One of the many, many things that I love about the library is that you can develop an interest in something and absolutely take off with it. By which I mean, you can mine the catalog for any and every resource, and you can follow any connection that happens to come your way. I ended up doing this type of deep dive with Japanese breakfast. An interest was born, I followed one lead to the next and the next. From television to cookware, cookbook to novel, memoir to music. It has been such a fun journey; I have to share it.
By Associate Librarian Debbie
I enjoyed so many wonderful books in 2022! Here were some of my favorites in no particular order..
by Public Service Associate Juliana
February 18th is Toni Morrison Day in Ohio. To celebrate, I’ve spent the last couple weeks rereading my favorite Morrison novel, Song of Solomon. Toni Morrison’s novels live on the top shelf of my bookcase at home, a space reserved for reverence. I first read her as a college student, and she quickly superseded the ranks to become one of my favorite authors.
by Public Service Associate Beth
On Monday, August 16 at 12 pm, in partnership with the Clio Society of The Ohio State University and Bexley Public Library, Professor Ori Yehudai will present Leaving Zion: Jewish Emigration from Palestine and Israel after WWII. While most scholarship surrounding the creation of the nation of Israel is from the perspective of Jewish immigration into Israel, Professor Yehudai flips the narrative and focuses on Jewish migration out of Israel and Palestine. He will discuss why, for various reasons, Jewish migrants decided to leave Israel for other countries between the years of 1945 and the late 1950s.
Register for Professor Yehudai’s presentation here. The virtual event will be recorded, so even if you can’t attend the event live, you will receive a link to the recording about a week later. Professor Yehudai’s book Leaving Zion is also available to reserve at Bexley Public Library.