Book Birthdays: Moby Dick

download (2)One hundred sixty four years ago today, Herman Melville’s masterpiece was released in Great Britain, four weeks ahead of its publication in the United States.  Since that time, Melville’s book has widely come to be accepted as one of the greatest–if not the greatest–work of American fiction.  But the reviews that graced the London press in the late October of 1851 were hardly generous in their praise.

“This is an ill-compounded mixture of romance and matter-of-fact. ” Stated the London Athenaeum.  “The idea of a connected and collected story has obviously visited and abandoned its writer again and again in the course of composition. The style of his tale is in places disfigured by mad (rather than bad) English; and its catastrophe is hastily, weakly, and obscurely managed….”  Meanwhile, the London Spectator complained, “The chapter-spinning is various in character; now powerful from the vigorous and fertile fancy of the author, now little more than empty… phrases… it repels the reader instead of attracting him….Melville’s mysteries provoke wonder at the author rather than terror at the creation; the soliloquies and dialogues of Ahab…induce weariness or skipping”.

melville
Mr. Melville himself

It is true that some  reviewers were smitten with Melville’s use of language and the philosophical nature of his work; the London John Bull mused, “Who would have looked for philosophy in whales, or for poetry in blubber?”  On the whole, though, Melville’s work didn’t receive a very warm welcome to the British market; readers expected adventure, excitement, and some racy fun from Melville, whose work, up to this point, was largely sea-faring adventures of the dime-novel variety.  The philosophical tone, intense passages of description and contemplation, and the general darkness of the book turned many off.  However, a good deal of the criticism directed toward the book initially wasn’t really Melville’s fault at all.

whaleInternational copyright laws didn’t exist in 1851, so books that were published in one country could easily be pirated and printed in another, largely without issue.  One of the few only ways to avoid having your own work stolen from under your nose was to arrange to have a book printed in Britain (where it would then be protected under British copyright laws) and swiftly publish it in the United States before merchant ships could bring the book across the Atlantic (where printers often waited on the docks to collect new books from England) to be pirated.  Unfortunately, Melville was not the most time-conscious of authors–he was nearly a year late, and almost $700 in debt to his American publishers with the book–and as a result, he was writing the final scenes while proof-reading the earlier pages that were sent back from the publisher.  With time being so scant, Melville barely had time to get his dedication to the printers, and never had time to change the title; what we now know as Moby Dick hit the British market with the title The Whale, a rather unremarkable and far less memorable title, indeed.

Type-setters were also notorious for playing fast and lose with the author’s work; words or sentences (or chapters) that were deemed too sexualized, politically dangerous, or potentially blasphemous  were removed without notification–as a result, nearly 1200 words were removed from Melville’s manuscript, in which characters and narrators blame God for acts of human error, any mention of sex, prostitutes, or Queequeg’s underwear was cut out, and all of Chapter 25 disappeared, as it satirized the British monarchy.  All in all, more than 600 differences exist between the British and American editions of Moby Dick, from omitted text to typos to grammatical and punctuation mis-prints.

moby_dick_1But perhaps the most egregious error of all was the fact that the book’s Epilogue, detailing Ishmael’s miraculous survival (spoiler alert?), never made it to the first British edition.  As a result the London Spectator was forced to ask, no doubt echoing the concerns of many readers, “not only is Ahab, with his boat’s-crew, destroyed in his last desperate attack upon the white whale, but the Pequod herself sinks with all on board into the depths of the illimitable ocean.”…So, as Dublin University Magazine asked “how does it happen that the author is alive to tell the story?”

Taken in this light, it’s a bit more understandable why Moby Dick met with such harsh reactions, poor sales (hardly 300 copies of the first 500 books were sold), and hastened Melville’s decline into literary obscurity.  Though the book did much better when published in the US four weeks later, it wasn’t until the early 1920’s that critics began recognizing Melville’s work for the genius that it truly is.

So come and savor the full and complete version of Moby Dick today, take some comfort in knowing that even the greatest works of literature, and their remarkable authors, need a little extra time to get it all right.3105370

Saturdays @ the South: Diversity in Books

diversity

This past week, various social media channels exploded over a controversy about the representation of marginalized children in literature. Some were saying that there are plenty of books out there about diversity, while many others decried that, despite what is out there already, there are not nearly enough. I won’t reproduce the arguments or participants here, as some of the links I provide will give you some background so you can decide for yourself how you feel about it. What I’d like to focus on instead is the concept of voices in literature and the rights of all readers to relate to someone in a story. This isn’t the same as banning books. Banning means stifling voices that are already out there. Today’s post is about voices that haven’t been heard yet, voices that often don’t appear on people’s radar to prompt a challenge.

large-fears-layout_custom-80936bf117fe3d55dc4cc7c44bc023c514af5e81-s400-c85

Earlier this year, Myles Johnson, not finding quite the right story already out there, and instead of waiting for the world of literature to catch up, created his own story. Johnson led a successful Kickstarter campaign to publish his book Large Fears about a young African-American boy who loves pink and in an attempt to seek acceptance wants to journey to Mars. Many are finding this story a breakthrough because it’s a unique voice that hasn’t been represented (or if it has, it hasn’t been represented enough) in books. Blogger Crazy Quilt Edi was one of them and wrote an impassioned entry about what this book meant to her and her community at large. And she talked about voices and young people not having the tools to sustain themselves during tough times because books with relatable voices weren’t there to help them.

Voices in literature are important. Regardless of who they represent, they are the voices we cling to when we need comfort  or need to see something of ourselves in the world when it seems like the world doesn’t recognize who we are. I’ve been extremely lucky in my reading life to have found voices that seem like they speak directly to me, or offer to take me away into a world where it didn’t matter that I was different because differences either didn’t matter or were celebrated in that book’s world. Sometimes those voices were from people just like me; other times they were from characters who were nothing like me, but still somehow seemed like they understood me just the same. These were the books that sustained me, the stories that helped me through the difficult times in my life and the voices that carried me across the threshold of difficulty into something more hopeful. I am fortunate because I found these voices and every bit as fortunate to know that these voices were already out there for me to find.

Not everyone is as lucky as I have been to find voices who sympathize, who understand or who simply echo some of your own thoughts. These are the voices that give us the tools to deal with some of the joys and hardships that life throws our way. The world is vast and despite technology making it smaller, that doesn’t mean that every voice has been heard. The world of literature is almost as vast, but that doesn’t mean that every voice has spoken. People are entitled to a vast array of opinions, but that doesn’t mean that every voice has been recognized. Readers have the right to find a piece of themselves inside a book. Children deserve to see a face they recognize in a picture book. Teens deserve to recognize their own problems in characters’ struggles. Adults deserve to recognize pieces of their life in literature. If that voice isn’t out there yet or isn’t spread far enough for people to hear it, then somewhere there’s a reader who hasn’t found their literary connection and that’s tragic. Not necessarily because that reader hasn’t found a favorite book (although that is heartbreaking to me) but because that reader hasn’t been able to find an emotional tool to sustain themselves when they truly need it the most.

Some of us are lucky to be sustained by voices in books that have already been heard or accepted, but that doesn’t mean that everyone can find relatable literature out there. We need diverse books because we owe it to ourselves and to everyone to encourage new voices to be heard. Literature doesn’t need to have an agenda to connect with readers. It only needs to have a voice that others can share or use for themselves when they feel like they have no voice of their own.

In the spirit of unique and underrepresented voices and diversity in literature, here are some selections to consider that are in no way definitive or exhaustive:

3554591A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

This 2015 Man Booker Prize-winning novel presents a different perspective in award-winning literature, becoming the first Caribbean writer to win the esteemed and coveted prize. James’s epic novel looks at Jamaica over the last three decades, giving a new, modern voice to to the Kingston of the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

3652539Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

In this collection of honest essays, Jenny Lawson becomes a new voice for mental illness, expounding upon her philosophy to live live “furiously happy” enjoying the moments when she can live life to the fullest and forgiving herself when that can’t happen. She looks unflinchingly at her problems in the hopes that others might benefit from her struggles and be able to “come out the other side” but does so in an irreverent, hysterically funny way that forces anyone reading it to reconsider the stigma of mental illness. In laughing and encouraging us to laugh with her she creates a safe, palatable space to consider some of life’s darkest thoughts.

3514048Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah and Ian Hoffman

This empowering picture book of a little boy who likes traditional “girl things” in addition to traditional “boy things” speaks not only to those who are gender nonconformists, but also to those who don’t understand some of the struggles they face. It takes a realistic look at those who want everyone to conform to their ideas of what people “should” be and those who want to be free to explore their individual tastes unencumbered by stereotypes.

3171183Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

This heartfelt tale of identity tackles issues of family, homosexuality and Mexican heritage, while giving voices to those still struggling to find their place in the world. Saenz writes “to be careful with people and words was a rare and beautiful thing.” This is precisely why diversity in books needs to be encouraged and why this multiple award-winning book should be recognized for it.

2435655Code Talker: A novel about the Navajo Marines of World War II  by Joseph Brunchac

This novel takes the view of two Navajo teens enlisted by the Marines to become Code Talkers, using their native, ancestral language that was disparaged throughout much of their youth, to send secret messages during World War II. Though this story is fiction, it’s based on the real Code Talkers who helped end the war in the Pacific with their uncrackable code.

This weekend, dear readers, I encourage you to seek out a book that has an unexpected or underrepresented voice. The recognition of diversity breeds understanding and compassion and those are qualities we can never have enough of. You never know, you may find something in that new voice you didn’t even know was within yourself.

 

A Frightening Five Book Friday

Picture1

In honor of our month-long celebration of All Hallows Read here at the Library, this week’s Five Book Friday will be showcasing some of our favorite creepy, ghoulish, and eerie books that we have on display for you this month (scary books have the best adjectives).  Some of these books are tried-and-true, staff-approved scary-stuff, and some are new, both to the library, and to us, but all of them are just itching to meet you, and to send chills down your spine….

3578839Trigger Warning : Short Fictions and DisturbancesIt would simply be poor form not to start our list with a book by the creator of All Hallows Read, and author of you loveliest nightmares, Mr. Neil Gaiman.  Though this collection is a wild compendium that revisits several of Gaiman’s previous novels, like American Gods and The Ocean at the End of the Laneand also provides plenty of new mysteries, adventures…and a really unsettling tale about Click-Clack the Rattlebag, who holds the secrets to all the things that make noise in the night….Newcomers to Gaiman’s marvelous imagination are sure to be enthralled, but for fans who have had a taste of his work, or who follow him on social media, there is a world of fun to be had in this book.

3562382Through the WoodsAs we mentioned in one of our posts with staff recommendations, Emily Carroll’s work is a chillingly beautiful blend of words and images that reinvents the graphic novel, and breaths new life into those wonderfully dark stories that kept you up at night as a child…monsters in the forest, voices in the shadows…The Irish Times raved “Carroll has a mainline to the reader’s psychic pressure points, the kind of fears and phobias that go all the way back to the cave. She also has the confidence to let her images do the work when it best serves the story … It’s a beautiful artefact, confidently written and lavishly designed. Just don’t bring it to bed.”

259122920th Century GhostsJoe Hill may be Stephen King’s son, but his work, without a doubt, stands on its own merits (he specifically took a pseudonym in order to let his work fly or sink on its own).  This book of short stories has overtones of King’s more visceral horror stories, but also shown influences from Lovecraft, Kafka, and Poe, at times, as well.  Overall, Hill tends to be a bit more aggressive in his storytelling than his Dad, but it’s clear he inherited the writer’s gift.  These stories, which range from a human-turned-locust who plagues his Nevada hometown to a ghost who perpetually haunts an old theater, are moving, frightening, and powerful by turn, making it a read that is sure to linger, even after all the Trick-or-Treaters have gone home.

3553458The Supernatural Enhancements: If you hadn’t been able to tell from the multiple posts on this book, Edgar Cantero’s debut novel is instantly addictive and thoroughly unforgettable, and a quick favorite among our library staff.  When A, a youngish European man, inherits a house from an uncle he never met, he blindly moves to Point Bless, Virginia along with his enigmatic friend Niamh, who is mute, but far from silent.  As the two begin to explore the odd house, and the legacy of A’s tortured family, readers are treated to a bit of a ghost story, a bit of a mystery, a bit of a thriller, and a surprise ending that leaps out and pounces.  Told through letters, transcriptions, and descriptions from the video surveillance cameras Niamh sets up around the house, no one is quite sure what is going on, but this only enhances the suspense of this terrifically gripping tale.

3143152The Fall of the House of Usher and Other TalesWe round off our list with the master of the horror genre, and the mascot of All Hallows Read himself, Edgar Allan Poe, whose stories have scared, fascinated,and disturbed generations of readers. While the titular tale is the perennially haunting one of a house that is gradually consuming its cursed inhabitant, this collection also features Poe’s Dupin stories, which helped inspire the creation of Sherlock Holmes, as well as The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym, an adventure tale straight out of your wildest nightmares.  Mostly, though, these are Poe most well-known, and most unsettling stories to keep you up late tonight…

Happy Reading, Beloved Patrons, and Happy All Hallows Read!

AHR13_WebBanner

Wednesdays @ West: Nothing says Autumn quite like…

applespiceteaapple spice tea, apple cider donuts and a cozy chat about books.  That’s right book lovers, last Tuesday was the fall inspired Literatea at the West.  For the latest book news and books highlighted by library staff, check out the October Newsletter.

Here’s what the Literatea attendees having been reading recently:

lovesongofqueeniehennessyThe Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy  by Rachel Joyce, which is the companion piece to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.  Both works are highly recommended by the ladies of Literatea, who suggest you read Harold Fry first.

 

codetalkerSince one of our topics this month was teen literature that adults can love too, Code Talker by Joseph Bruhac got an enthusiastic recommendation.

 

 

pariswifeThe discussion of Circling the Sun by Paula McLain, which was recommended in September by Dale at the West Branch, continued.   The general agreement seems to be that this one is an enjoyable read, but not quite as good as McLain’s The Paris Wife.

wivesoflostalamosSince the West Branch afternoon book group read The Wives of Los Alamos by Tara Shea Nesbit for October, that title came up for discussion.  Some of our Literatea ladies very much enjoyed the way it was written (using the first person, plural “we” throughout the book) and others gave it a big thumbs down.  Is there anything more intriguing than a book people can’t agree upon?

whenbookswenttowarWe also talked about the other title being read and discussed by a West Branch book club this month was When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning, which is a fascinating look at the role that ideas, censorship and most importantly books played in World War II.  It’s a title that would be of interest to anyone who loves books or history (and really, who does that leave out?).

wrightbrothersSpeaking of titles that will appeal to the history buffs among us, The Wright Brothers by David McCullough also gets and enthusiastic thumbs up for its readability and the intriguing story of these famous, yet not well understood Americans.

 


grandmothersorryA few other titles were mentioned as worthy of adding to your reading list: The Sea by John Banville, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, We Never Asked for Wingby Vanessa Diffenbaugh, and A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry both by Fredrik Backman.

Well that’s all for the October Literatea, dear readers.  Literatea will be on a bit of a break for the next few months.  To hold you over until we return, you can take a look at the newsletters for past Literatea events and, of course, keep reading Free For All!

Seriously, I have waited all day to post this:

The Free-For-All would like to congratulate Marlon James on winning the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings!

_86105473_marlon-james

This is only the second year the award is open to all English-writing authors, and, as a result, James is the first Jamaican writer to win the £50,000 award.  He is also the first author ever whose prize-winning book was published by an independent publisher (Oneworld).

3554591In describing the book, which was inspired by the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the 1970’s, and the long-reaching consequences of that event, Man Booker Prize chairman Michael Wood called James’ work “startling in its range of voices and registers, running from the patois of the street posse to The Book of Revelation. It is a representation of political times ad places, from the CIA intervention in Jamaica to the early years of crack gangs in New York and Miami.

“It is a crime novel that moves beyond the world of crime and takes us deep into a recent history we know far too little about. It moves at a terrific pace and will come to be seen as a classic of our times.”

The judges were unanimous in their decision, Wood continued:  “We started, as we have done for the whole year, talking about all the books,” said Wood. “As we talked certain books sounded further away than other books. At a certain point it dawned on us this was the book.”

Diedre Mills, Jamaican Deputy High Commissioner has also released a statement about James’ success: “We are very proud but not too surprised. Jamaicans excel at whatever they do.”

This BBC article has video of the prize announcement, in which the selected book is carried onto the stage swathed in a white cloth and dramatically revealed, James’ joyful reaction, and his acceptance speech.

Be sure to come in and check out A Brief History of Seven Killings soon, as well as all the past winners of the illustrious (and delightfully dramatic!) Man Booker Prize, soon!

*For those who have already read the book, and/or for those who prefer some ambiance to your reading, James has also released a playlist to accompany his book, which you can find here, complete with audio recordings.

Bookish Pets!

254214_612194774660_5704142_ngrreading

 

The UK’s largest bookseller recently put out a request via Twitter; the staff at their flagship store were looking for a fictional pet….

Which got me thinking about bookish pets, and pets in books…Though our library doesn’t have any pets (that aren’t imaginary), there are a few Library Animals around the world whose stories are truly epic, and serve to highlight what a great place libraries are for the two-legged and four-legged visitors alike!

Check out, for example, Library Cat, the sort-of-official-stray cat of The University of Edinburgh Central Library.  According to this article from the Scotsman, “Jordan” was originally adopted by a local friary in the hopes that he would catch mice.  “Jordan” had much loftier ambitions, however, and a love of heated libraries and turquoise chairs.  When he began appearing regularly in the nearby library, and tolerating the affection of staff and patrons, he was given a library card, a new nickname, and allowed free reign of the building.  His fame grew to such an extent that when Library Cat decided to spend a few nights with his Friar Friends, rumors of his demise caused such turmoil that a national newspaper investigated, and offered conclusive evidence that Library Cat was alive, well, and very grumpy after being woken from his nap.  

Library Cat is apparently also exceptionally tech-savvy, updating his Facebook account and Twitter on a regular basis, and keeping in touch with the Keele University Squirrel and the University of Portsmouth Penguin, whose name is Pablo, and is so cute I can hardly bear it.

From Library Cat's Facebook page:  "Books, he suddenly thought. Books! When I need restored faith in the kindness of humans, I turn to books."
From Library Cat’s Facebook page:
“Books, he suddenly thought. Books! When I need restored faith in the kindness of humans, I turn to books.”

 

Library-Cat-235x187In Russia, Kuzya the Cat made international news when he was actually hired as a member of staff in Novorossiysk, a city on the Black Sea.  Kuzya was a stray who showed up at the library in October of 2012.  The staff welcomed him inside, as all good library staff do, and Kuzya quickly decided that the library was a lovely place to stay.  However, because he was a stray, Kuzya lacked the appropriate documentation required by Russian law (which mostly involved a rabies vaccine and micro-chip).  The staff quickly got that sorted, and even acquired a cat passport for Kuzya (which is a thing in Russia, apparently), but he was so cute, so public-spirited, and so talented at bringing people into the library, that he was soon promoted to “Assistant Librarian”.

Kuzya can still be found in the Novorossiysk Library, wearing a bowtie, because that is what gentlemen do, and, according to sources,  plays “Pushkin the Cat Scientist” in plays for children, in addition to his vigorous routine of napping in the stacks, napping in the newspaper racks, and napping in the comfy chairs before snacktime.

 

Kuzya's passport and letter of employment
Kuzya’s passport and letter of employment

 

So, in honor of the library pets* around the world, across the universe, and in other realms entirely, here are some nominees for Best Literary Pet.  Any suggestions for our Library Pet are entirely welcome.

downloadMog the Cat: Judith Kerr based a good deal of her series about the forgetful and often perplexed Mog the cat on her own family, including the names of the children in Mog’s house, and Mog’s south London neighborhood.  It’s nearly impossible not to fall in love with the portly, adorable Mog (who was brought to life through Kerr’s illustrations), and her adventures are the kind of funny, slightly absurd tales that parents will enjoy right alongside their kids.

1220764Tock the Dog: Aside from being one of the most wonderfully original, imaginative, unforgettable books you will ever read, The Phantom Tollbooth also features Tock, the watchdog–whose body is part watch–who guides the hapless Milo through his adventures. Tock is also a guard dog who protects against, you guessed it, wasted time.  Though vigilant in his duties, Tock is also a stalwart friend to Milo, staying by his side, flying him out of the Mountains of Ignorance (because, of course, time flies…), and offering some of my favorite advice in all of literature to Milo when he winds up in the Doldrums: “Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking.”

1496430Gruffalo: Julia Donaldson wrote The Gruffalo as an adaptation of a Chinese folktale involving a fox and a tiger.  However, when she couldn’t think of a rhyme for ‘tiger’, she created an animal whose name would rhyme with “know”…and hence, the Gruffalo, a hybrid animal who lurks in the forest, was born.  Her beloved tale offers a wonderful lesson in courage and bravado, and has been adapted into a film and now has a sequel, The Gruffalo’s Childwhich continues to play on the idea of myth and reality.

HarryHedwig-200Hedwig: I think it goes without saying that Harry Potter’s snowy owl, Hedwig, would make this list.  As heroic as her illustrious owner, and as brave as any human in the world of the Harry Potter series, Hedwig has a personality all her own: she disdains the immaturity of other owls, isn’t afraid to speak her mind, and will even go so far as to peck Harry’s friends to remind them to write to him regularly.

———————-

*A note: we were unable to find any Library Dogs, per se, but very much encourage you to take a look at the Library Dogs website, dedicated to service dogs and the wonderful work they do with children in libraries across the country.

Saturdays @ the South: Mood Reading

book-questions
I don’t know what to read next…

This is a pretty common statement we hear at the library and it always presents a delightful challenge to the library staff. Delightful because it gives us the opportunity to open up a conversation about books; challenge because the reasons why a patron might be stumped on what to read next are as astronomically varied as our wonderful patrons. Sometimes it’s because they’re waiting on the next book by their favorite author and are looking to read something similar; sometimes it’s because they’ve tired of a genre and they’re looking for something completely new; sometimes it’s because they need to recommend a book that will appeal to everyone in their book discussion group. I could go on, but I think you get the idea…

How do you pick when you have choices like this?
How do you pick when you have so many options?

These conversations can be lengthy or brief but when done well, the patron will walk away with a smile and a new book to enjoy. These can be some of our most rewarding conversations as very often, the person working at the desk will also come away from it with a smile and book recommendation or two. Many times these conversations will hone in on what you’re in the “mood” to read. Are you in the mood for something fast-paced? A light, relaxing read? Something you can really sink your teeth into on these increasingly chilly autumn nights? These types of mood indicators can often help us pick out a book for you that maybe you hadn’t considered, but are still likely to enjoy.

But, what if you’re at home browsing the catalog for something to put on hold? Or the library is closed (we don’t like to, but it does happen occasionally)? Or maybe you just can’t quite articulate what you’re looking for enough to have a conversation with someone at the desk yet. Well, we at the library love helping people, and sometimes that means helping people help themselves. So this week, instead of recommending specific books I’d like to introduce you to a great (free!) tool the library offers, which can put together some book recommendations. You can access this tool anywhere you have an Internet connection, and it can help you along during those times you’re stuck on what to read next.

Go to the library’s homepage, go to the “eLibrary” menu and select “Articles/Databases.”Screenshot 2015-10-07 11.48.23


This will take you to our databases page. At the top there will be a dropdown menu where you select: “Readers/Literature Resources” and click “Go.”

Screenshot 2015-10-07 11.48.36

 

There are all sorts of cool tools on this page you’ll end up on, but the one pertinent one for this post is NoveList Plus.

Screenshot 2015-10-07 11.48.50 (2)

The NoveList Plus page is pretty fascinating all on its own because you can find authors or titles similar to ones you just read, browse through articles about books, and more. But if you’re looking for a book to fit your mood, you’ll want to click “Browse By” then “Appeal.”

Screenshot 2015-10-07 11.49.14

Once you’ve navigated your way to what NoveList calls the “Appeal Mixer” you can really have some fun!

Screenshot 2015-10-07 11.50.46

For example, I was still a bit caught up on comfort reads from last week and found that many of the books I talked about have well-developed characters, a richly plotted storyline and a leisurely pace. So I plugged that combination of characteristics into the three drop-down menu options, clicked “Find Titles” and it even picked one of my comfort reads!

Screenshot 2015-10-07 11.51.00

George Eliot’s Middlemarch is right there, along with at least a dozen other books that have similar characteristics (clicking the blue arrows will get you to more selections). There are dozens of combinations you can pick, including books with bold illustrations, books with a creepy tone (just in time for All Hallows Read), books in which authors exhibit an accessible writing style and so much more. You can even pick only one or two options and see what pops up. Maybe you have a child that can’t decide what to read? You can click on the tab for the appropriate age group and create an appeal mix for something he or she is in the mood for. If you scroll down from the mixer, there are some suggestions for mood to get you started like “Leisurely paced and Atmospheric” or “Menacing and Suspenseful” and maybe this is all you need to find a new book that will suit your mood.

tumblr_static_3c5kvbua0qo0k0ws0sw4ck04o

So if you’re just not sure what to read next, try exploring this tool and discover something you might not otherwise have picked. Of course, you’re always welcome to come to the library where we will love to talk books with you and do our best to recommend something that will appeal to you, whatever your mood!

 

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." ~Frederick Douglass