Newly Notable -- Let's Pretend This Never Happened

In case you happen to be a fan of the Bloggess (and I'm convinced that the only people who aren't are the ones who haven't heard of her yet), check out the book trailer for her memoir Let's Pretend This Never Happened:



Because hey, an Elizabethan mouse? Who can resist that?  Now you KNOW you want to read it, don't you?

Facebook Boot Camp

Join us for a power tour of Facebook*. 

Friday, May 4 9:30-11:30am
Saturday, May 12 9:30-11:30am
Thursday, May 17 2-4pm
Monday, May 21 6-8pm



Timothy Haines will be leading participants through the in's and out's of the Facebook profile, pictures, timeline, friends, privacy, and more.  Meet in the lower level computer lab.  Limited seating available.  Contact the Reference Department (616.355.3720 or reference@herrickdl.org) for more information.

*Active Facebook account required. 

Attention Book Groups

Here is a non-fiction choice for your book group.

The Swerve: how the world became modern by Stephen Greenblatt

One of the world's most celebrated scholars has crafted both an innovative work of history and a thrilling story of discovery, in which one manuscript, plucked from a thousand years of neglect, changed the course of human thought and made possible the world as we know it. This book is the winner of the 2011 National Book Award for non-fiction. It is available as a Book Group to Go bag.

What Pulitzer?

Here's a first...
Well, not actually a first--it happened once before. In 1977. The Pulitzer Awards were announced yesterday and, no kidding: they didn't award one for fiction this year.
The three books on the finalist list were: Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, and The Pale King by David Foster Wallace.
The Pulitzer gave only the statement, "The three books were carefully considered, but in the end, none mustered the mandatory majority for granting a prize, so no prize was awarded."
C'est la vie. For more information on the other awards that were granted this year, see the 2012 Pulitzer Awards page.

Newly Notable -- Between the Lines

Hey, good news, Picoult fans!
The wait this time? Not so long! Jodi Picoult's next book (a collaborative effort with her daughter--how cool is that?) Between the Lines is getting released on June 26! Anyone else smell the perfect beach read coming at us?
Here's what we know so far: Delilah, a bookish teen, finds herself drawn to a fairytale called "Between the Lines." It speaks to her--not really, not at first--she just loves it. Then, one day, the main character, Oliver, starts talking literally.
Although it's being promoted as Teen novel, I mean, come on! It's Jodi Picoult! Am I really NOT going to put a hold on it? (See what I did there? Practicing my teen-talk? Clever, no?)
Happy Reading!

Attention Book Groups

Another new Book Group to Go bag.

Abandoned on a 1913 voyage to Australia, Nell is raised by a dock master and his wife who do not tell her until she is an adult that she is not their child, leading Nell to return to England and eventually hand down her quest for answers to her granddaughter. The Forgotten Garden is an excellent page-turner that is difficult to put down.

Attention Book Groups

A new historical fiction novel for your book group:

Seven-year-old Rachel is forcibly removed from her family's 1890s Honolulu home when she contracts leprosy and is placed in a settlement, where she loses a series of new friends before new medical discoveries enable her to reenter the world.

Available as a Book Group to Go Bag.