As someone who works at a library it’s no surprise that my favorite conversations are about books and that my favorite question to ask is “What are you reading?” I particularly love to ask my mom and my sister because they are almost always reading something I need to know about or something I’ve read and should revisit. This happens on a regular basis thanks in large part to the Gilmore list.
Happy Birthday, Toni Morrison! Mark your calendars! February 17th is Toni Morrison Day, and there’s no better time to immerse yourself in her work. Read, watch, listen, or attend, there are myriad ways to honor Morrison’s legacy.
Maybe you watched The White Lotus week by week as it aired or maybe you waited and devoured it all in a single weekend. Either way, The White Lotus season two has an excellent cast and plot line that keeps viewers eager to catch the next episode. But for me, the real draw was the setting. I love to travel and have a preference for books, movies, and shows with a strong sense of place. After watching season 2 in its entirety, I immediately set out in search of books that would allow me to stay within the setting. More Italy please, because I am simply not ready to leave that stunning, shimmering, sunny country in the middle of the Mediterranean.
I visited my sister in mid November and she already had the Christmas music playing. She said if she starts listening early enough she actually gets to enjoy holiday music. If she waits until after Thanksgiving, it’s December already, and there’s so much running around in December that the music just gets lost.
That same week, with the idea of starting early in order to savor, I began to collect lists and stories from staff of our favorite holiday films and traditions that surround them. The responses flooded in.
I lived in Pittsburgh for a brief stint while in school, the only time and the only place I’ve ever lived anywhere other than Ohio. During those years, the concept of Home was almost always on my mind, as I tried to feel at home in a new place while simultaneously feeling very, very homesick. Home has always meant Ohio and my family. To me home is the house by the creek, wild blackberry bushes and Queen Anne’s lace along the back drive, Mamaw and Poppy’s house next door, Mom’s no-bake cookies cooling on the counter, Dad’s boots by the door, meals with my siblings, my childhood bedroom.
//image still from official trailer, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
I was never a vampire reader, no Dracula, The Queen of the Damned, or Salem’s Lot. My preferred medium for vampire lore has always been film. With that said, I have always been drawn to movies based on books. Interview with the Vampire based on the Anne Rice novel and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust based on the novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi, are two of my favorites. I recall staying home sick from school in the early 2000s watching Vampire Hunter D for the umpteenth time. I paused on a favorite scene and decided to draw the still, copying exactly what I saw on the screen. When I wrote about the experience in the journal I had to keep for art class, my teacher commented that I had “experienced the healing power of art.” I’ve returned to this thought many times throughout my life, the idea that art can heal. And now with that connective tissue, I forever equate vampire movies as a kind of magic medicine.
The U.S. has commemorated Family History Month every October since 2001 when Congress passed a resolution for its annual observance. Did you know that here at the Bexley Public Library we have our very own Memory Lab for preserving photos, documents, and audiovisuals into a digital format? The lab features a photo scanner, VHS converter, slide/negative scanner, and more. Come cross something off your to-do list this October and preserve your family’s history for future generations.
One of the many wonderful things about working at the library is that not only do we give recommendations but we often receive them. My TBR list is always growing, and I’m constantly discovering new authors to read based on what patrons are reading and enjoying. Most recently a patron recommended to me the 2012 novel Heft by Liz Moore. She liked it so much that when she returned it she hoped to find more books written by Moore, as well as read-alike authors and titles.
Have you experienced something similar? Is there an author or book that really struck a chord with you? The staff here at BPL can help. Come find us. We love these types of questions and conversations. For a truly tailored experience, you might consider signing up for Personalized Picks where we select titles and put them on hold for you.
Florence + the Machine’s newest release, Dance Fever, might just be my favorite album of 2022. I first heard the song titled “My Love” one morning in mid May while getting ready for work, and I feel like I haven’t stopped dancing since. And I’ll tell you – after a little research – this turns out to be a very suitable response.
While writing this blog post I heard Jack White’s voice in my head singing the lyrics from Hotel Yorba: “Let’s get married/ In a big cathedral by a priest/ ‘Cause if I’m the man that you love the most/ You could say, “I do” at least.” The lyrics have repeated over and over as we get deeper into wedding season and all of June’s marriage vibes.