Short Reads for a Short Month

February is the shortest month, so maybe it’s a good time for a few short stories? 420 Characters is a collection of VERY short stories. Each contains 420 characters or less because they were born as a posts on “a famous social networking site.” This collection features stories that are gritty, poignant, dark, and whimsical by turns. Don’t like one of them? You can move on to the next in less than a minute!

I Could Love You

Nicholson, the author, is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter. He wrote the screenplays for the Shadowlands and Gladiator, which have wildly varying subjects.

This book centers on relationships - between married couples, young singles, and artists and their relationship to their work. I read it in a day (yes, I had the day off) but I found it fascinating.

The book ponders relationship questions such as fidelity, trust, love, lost love, and hope. A friendly warning: this is not a "feel good" book. If you are blissfully in the stages of first love, this may not be for you. Too much reality.  

It is a sequel to "The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life". If you haven't read the first one, don't worry. While it may be useful, it's not necessary to understand the relationships.

View it in the library catalog here.

Read this if you enjoy Joanna Trollope, Nick Hornby, or Jonathan Tropper.

Black History Month Reading Relay

Each Saturday during the month of February members from two organizations, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, as well as some of the youth they mentor, will be reading books at various branches to honor the many contributions and achievements of African Americans, past and present, while promoting literacy in our community.

All ages are welcome.
On Saturday, February 4, from 1:00-2:00 pm, the Suwanee, Duluth, and Peachtree Corners branches will host readings.

On Saturday, February 11, from 1:00-2:00 pm, the Mountain Park, Norcross, and Elizabeth H. Williams (Snellville) branches will host readings.

On Saturday, February 18, from 1:00-2:00 pm, the Centerville, Grayson, and Lawrenceville branches will host readings.

On Saturday, February 25, from 1:00-2:00 pm, the Buford, Hamilton Mill, and Lilburn branches will host readings.

For directions to any of our branches please click here and then click the branch you'd like to visit.

Fairy tales with a facelift

Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a maze of a story. It starts as a competition between an author who's a serial killer (the women in his stories never make it out alive) and a woman who challenges him to change his ways through a variety of competing tales. This woman is not his wife, but his wife also becomes ensnared in the stories as each character tries to challenge their ideas of love and relationships and individual humanity.

Rubber ducks and chameleon squid: A look at our oceans

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea by Donovan Hohn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

During a winter storm in the Pacific Ocean thousands of toy ducks fell off a ship transporting them to the United States from a factory in Asia. What happened next? It turns out the answer to that question is a little bit complicated.

Did you hear the one about the politician?

Deadly Campaign by Alan Orloff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Just can't get enough politics in the news these days? If so, you're in luck, because this mystery begins at a speech by an up-and-coming congressman. While the crowd is applauding the candidate masked thugs break into the room and begin roughing people up. Fortunately no one gets seriously hurt, but plenty of folks are rattled, and the budding politician's uncle asks his friend Channing Hayes to find out why they were attacked.

Best Books of 2011

Here are links to the Best Books of 2011 from various sources (in no particular order). Search the library catalog for titles here.


Atlanta Journal Constitution Best Books of the South


Publishers Weekly


NPR





Library Journal