Looking Ahead to 2013!

Best Books of 2012 lists are well and good, and you can find a bajillion or three of them, everywhere you look (don't believe me? Click here: it's the 2 trillion results you get from googling "Best Books of 2012") and in a mere four days, 2012 will go into the history books.  It's time to start looking forward, and not just to that funky baby with the top hat and sash (he freaks me out just a little).

No, I've got something better for your anticipatory needs: Flavorpill's 30 Most Anticipated Books of 2013. The good news? The release dates are spread over the next several months, so you've got plenty of time to read them all.  The bad news? Most of them aren't in the catalog yet.  So read up, make your list (do a happy dance because there's a new David Sedaris book coming out in April!!!) and keep an eye on the catalog!

Happy New Year!

Oh, and Happy Reading!

Holiday Break Programs for Kids, Teens & Families

Ah, Christmas break.  Memories made by the tree, opening gifts, spending time with family, and celebrating any number of holiday traditions.  So much to look forward to.  But, once the parties are over, how do we continue to keep the season special and the family engaged in positive activities?  Herrick District Library is here to help, with a great line up of programs for kids, teens and families.

Main library activities for kids:

• Special Holiday Story Time (ages 0+), Saturday, 12/2, 10am
• Make Sparkly Winter Slime (4 years+), Thursday, 12/27, 10am - 12pm
• Indoor S'more Book Schmooze (3rd - 5th grades), Thursday, 12/27, 2pm - 4pm
• Family Movie Marathon, Saturday, 12/29, 10am - 5pm

Main library activities for teens:

• Teen Iron Chef: Snacks & Party Food (online registration requested), Thursday, 12/27, 2pm
• Cardboard Sword Fight, Friday, 12/28, 2pm
• Minute to Win It, Wednesday, 1/2, 2pm
• Spy Academy, Thursday, 1/3, 2pm

North branch activities for families:

• Holiday Stories and Craft, Tuesday, 12/18, 4:30pm
• Holiday Stories and Craft (same program offered twice), Wednesday, 12/19, 10am
• Winter Wonderland Stories, Thursday, 12/27, 3pm

Let us help you fill your holiday break with goodness and cheer.  Click HERE to view a pdf flyer describing each program in more detail. 

Attention Book Groups

The setting is Anniwaldi, India, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels behind the Mumbai International Airport.  From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the twenty-first century's great, unequal cities.  (description from publisher)

Available as a Book Group To Go Bag

Attention Book Groups

The Cloud Atlas is Herrick Book Group to Go's latest fiction title.  The book has been made into a major motion picture.  The author, David Mitchell, combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Haruki Murakami, Umberto Eco, and Philip K Dick.  The result is brilliantly original fiction that reveals how disparate people connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky.   (description from publisher)

Oprah 2.0 Bookclub Pick!

Oprah's latest selection, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, has been one of those debut novel Cinderella stories, and flurry of publicity has been fun to watch--and that from a book that was released only yesterday!  For more information on how to participate in Oprah's bookclub, check out the Oprah 2.0 website.

goodreads of the Year!

'Tis the season for "Best Books of the Year" lists!  And here's one of my favorites!
This week, Goodreads announced their Choice Awards 2012 winners.  I'm partial to this particular list because the site is a social network for book lovers (think Facebook for people who are habitually hiding behind a book cover), and the list is generated entirely by votes cast by the website users.
Anyway, without further ado, the winners are....
Best Fiction: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Best Mystery & Thriller: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Best Historical Fiction: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Best Fantasy: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King
Best Paranormal Fantasy: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
Best Science Fiction: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Best Romance: Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James
Best Horror: The Twelve by Justin Cronin
Best Memoir & Autobiography: Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Best History & Biography: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith
Best Nonfiction: Quiet by Susan Cain
Best Food & Cookbooks: The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier by Ree Drummond
Best Humor: Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
Best Graphic Novel: The Walking Dead Volume 16: The Larger World by Robert Kirkman
Best Poetry: A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver
Best Young Adult Fantasy: Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Best Young Adult Fiction: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Best Middle Grade & Children's: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
Happy Reading!
Best Picture Book: Olivia the Fairy Princess by Ian Falcolner