Complete your TicTacToe for prizes!

Have you been looking for a good non-fiction book to read to complete your form for Adult Summer Reading? If you like animals you'll probably enjoy Ever By My Side by Dr. Nick Trout. Think of vet Nick Trout as an updated, urban James Herriot. His first book, Tell Me Where It Hurts, takes you to Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston where he is a staff surgeon while this latest book is memoir about his growing up with animals. Both are filled with the joys and tribulations of owning pets and how pets make our lives richer. I listened to the books on CD (yes, they count on your forms) while traveling and truly enjoyed the behind the scenes look at veterinary medicine and how relationships with animals shape our lives.

Remember your TicTacToe entry forms for Adult Summer Reading are due by Monday, August 15. There are lots of great prizes this year and you can enter multiple times - every time you read three more books to complete a new form. Just drop the form off at the main desk at Socastee Library!
~Sharon

National Library Week - What to Read?

As a lifelong fan of reading, I can't say enough about libraries. As a child, my favorite summer days were the ones when the bookmobile would visit the small town in which I lived. How gratifying to see the same joy on the faces of my customers at Socastee Library!

When I first began working in the public library, I had been a school librarian for 30 years with the last 24 of those years in elementary schools so my knowledge of adult books was rather limited. While I could easily recommend books by Clive Cussler as an author of great suspense novels and Michael Palmer for medical mysteries, I frequently found myself receiving reader guidance rather than offering it.

Thanks to the patron who insisted I read by Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn as well as the lovely lady who sang Kristin Hannah's praises as she returned Between Sisters. I hope this week you will treat yourself to a trip to Socastee Library. I'll be one of the workers at the circulation desk and will be glad to help you find a great read. - Debbie

National Library Week - Library Workers Day

What I really like about Socastee Library is the professional, friendly, and courteous staff. They are all so willing to help people find books that interest them and find answers to questions. It truly is a great place to visit when you know such welcoming people are inside. Remember them on National Library Workers Day on Tuesday, April 12. One of my favorite characters is Odd Thomas of the book of the same name by Dean Koontz. In fact, if you like him in the first book, you'll enjoy the rest of the series about him. He's the kind of guy you wish was your best friend. Now, he does have some different (or odd!) talents, but those just make the story interesting. Give him a chance to be your friend by reading the book! ~Sharon

Book suggestions for Young Adults

"Somebody Everybody Listens To" by Suzanne Supplee is a Young Adult novel about a recent high school graduate who wants to become a country music star. Retta Lee Jones is a talented singer, known for her beautiful voice in her small hometown, but can she compete in Nashville with all the other girls pounding the streets to stardom. Will she become "somebody everybody listens to," or end up going home defeated?
This newly acquired book is recommended for anyone interested in music and in chasing dreams. It can be found in the Young Adult section of the library.

Need a good book to get you in the mood for Halloween? Check out one of the novels on display in the Young Adult area. Among the titles are:
Doppelganger by David Stahler Jr.
Blood Beast by Daren Shan
The Ghosts of Kerfol by Deborah Noyes
Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber


Linda

Christopher Paolini

Fantasy fans: Christopher Paolini will be signing books at Market Common in Myrtle Beach Monday, October 25. Click here for event details.

If you're reading, re-reading, or would like to read Paolini's Inheritance Cycle, check out some of the formats we carry:

• Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr in print
• Eragon, the 2007 film version
• Eragon or Eldest on CD audiobook
• Eragon on Playaway(Never used Playaway? It's a self-contained digital audiobook -- just plug in headphones, no other equipment required!)

And, of course, this wouldn't be a library blog post without recommending some further reading! If you enjoy the world of Eragon and have already read Tolkien, try some of these other series that are great for readers of any age:

• Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen by Garth Nix
• His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman
  

Happy reading!
-Alan

Readers and e-readers

If you're an avid reader, at some point you've probably grappled with the issue of e-readers. Is it worth it to spend $200 or more on a gadget when you could be spending it on books themselves (or reading books free from the library)? Is reading a novel from a screen the same as reading from a page? Can you get away with reading trashy books on a Kindle since no one will see the cover? :)

The debate has been going on for years and may never be settled. I saw an article, though, with a slightly different perspective. Emma Silvers writes:

"Out of every argument I've heard in favor of e-readers -- no dead trees, portable research, "it's the future," etc. -- my least favorite might be the central point of the thing: the fact that it allows you to choose from thousands of books at any given time. I simply don't want that kind of potential for distraction. Would I have ever made it through any book by Herman Hesse if I'd had the choice, with a press of a button, to lighten the mood with a little Tom Robbins? Will anyone ever finish "Infinite Jest" on a device that constantly presents other options?"

The whole article is here at http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/09/02/why_i_wont_buy_ereaders/index.html and is worth a read. What do you think?

[For the record, I have an e-reader (Sony PRS-505) but pretty much only use it for public-domain titles I can download for free.]

-Alan

Book Clubbers Welcome

Book clubs are wonderful. It is absolutely amazing to discuss a book with another person and get a totally different insight of the author's message. Of course, it is also comforting to find someone shares your excitement or who appreciates a certain passage beckoning you to take a trip down memory lane. How satisfying to recognize in someone else the anger the author made you experience! It is even redeeming to learn someone else thought a particular title was a total waste of time!

Another great benefit of being in a book club is discovering other books to read. Members are always sharing their latest find and advising one another if a certain title should be read before another one by the same author.

If you've never been part of a book club, you really should give it a try. In most cases, each member reads (or listens to) the same book and the facilitator prepares questions for discussion. I've yet to attend a meeting where we didn't get off-track from the book, but that's part of the fun too.

Socastee Library has several book clubs from which to choose. Each one is hosted by a library staff member. The most popular one is the one devoted to mysteries. Mysterious Mondays meets the second Monday each month at 6:00 in the evening. Last year, each monthly reading selection was set in a different country - and not a single one was written by James Patterson!

If the Book Fits Book Club is Socastee Library's eclectic reading group. Each month's selection is chosen completely without being limited to a certain genre and over the years a wide variety of books have been shared - from Pat Conroy's cookbook to the historical novel The Red Tent. The meetings are held the fourth Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

There is one Socastee book club which meets in the afternoon. It is devoted to southern fiction, but not limited to southerners. Recent reads have included The Prince of Tides, Ya-Yas in Bloom, and Sweetwater Creek. The meetings are held the third Wednesday each month at 1:30.

For each of these book clubs, the library staff stockpiles all the county library system's copies of the titles which are then made available for book club members to check out. At times we also borrowed books from Chapin Memorial Library as well as libraries around the country to provide enough copies for all interested persons.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention.......book clubs always have food! Refreshments and coffee just go hand-in-hand with a good read. Like the commercial said - "Try it, you'll like it!"

The FroggyOne @ Socastee