Memphis Reads Archive

This Memorial Day weekend the History Channel will show a remake of the television miniseries Roots, an adaptation of Alex Haley's novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, originally published in 1976.






If your book club decides to read and discuss Alex Haley's best-selling book, the library has a service designed for book clubs called Books in a Bag.


ABOUT BOOKS IN A BAG

Each book club kit comes with 10 copies of the title, one bound informational booklet with discussion questions and copies of the pamphlet "How to Start and Sustain a Book Club." Some kits have book and movie questions as well! 

Here are a few more guidelines:

• Bags are free and can be checked out by anyone with a valid Memphis Public Library and Information Center card.
• Each cardholder may checkout one bag at a time for a period of six weeks. Bags are not renewable.

Labels: Book Clubs, Resources

It is very important to remind everyone there is help out there for those who are struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts. For many, finding a book in the library has been the starting point for understanding and coping with depression. Please browse and share the sources below if you or someone you know needs help.  

Browse the MPLIC catalog for books about depression and suicide prevention.

LINC 211 of the Memphis Public Library (click for information and hours)

Resources for immediate help:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Photo credit: dany_masson via photopin cc

Labels: News and Notes, Resources

They call it "the world's largest newsstand" and it's now available at the Memphis Public Library. Users can download magazines from a current selection of 97 titles, thanks to Zinio Digital Magazines. 

"Zinio Digital Magazines offer Library customers unlimited access to complete, full-color issues of popular magazines for free. Using their Library cards to check out and download their favorite titles, readers can convert their traditional magazine racks into digital ones."    --Click here to learn about ZINIO

Labels: Resources

Each service requires a library card number and PIN. There are checkout limits for each service but they are not included in the number of materials checked out from library branches.

Go to www.memphislibrary.org and click the Mona Lisa “eBooks & eAudiobooks” icon to begin searching. The start page has a handy information guide with more details.

Labels: News and Notes, Resources

Christian at the Cordova Branch suggested a new site for readers called Small Demons  (www.smalldemons.com)

A Salon.com article describes Small Demons as "an encyclopedia and 'Storyverse' that catalogues names, places, songs, products and other categories for thousands of books.  Officially launched in August, Small Demons is the book world’s latest mind game and guilty pleasure and a proving ground that everything really is connected." 

Read the rest of Salon's New Search Engine Connects Literary Dots

Thanks, Christian!

Labels: Resources

Want an easier way to find newsletters and updates from your favorite authors? Try Author Yellow Pages, originally featured on the Memphis Public Library's MPLIC Reference Highway Blog.

“AuthorYellowPages.com is a searchable directory of author websites. After years of hearing from readers who wanted easy access to authors and their websites, The Book Report Network created this website where authors can list their Official and Publisher websites, as well as Fan and Press mentions that they want to share with their readers.” –From the website.

Visit authoryellowpages.com

Labels: Resources

Happy New Year!

Ready to try the new e-reader you got for Christmas? Do you want to read books on your new smartphone?

Visit the Memphis Public Library's Digital Media Collection page to browse and checkout e-books and audiobook titles with a library card. Take the guided tour to learn about downloading and device compatibility requirements. The media collection is powered by OverDrive.

Discover which titles were the most popular in the U.S. from OverDrive's recent release of the "Most Downloaded Books from the Library" in 2011.

Labels: Resources

Can't remember that author who was talking about that book on that show? Sign up for the Memphis Public Library's Books on the Air newsletter and book-related updates will be sent to your e-mail.

The Books on the Air newsletter, "provides descriptions of recent TV and radio appearances by authors and their recently released books."

Click the link below
Subscribe to Books on the Air and other library newsletters.

The selection is near the bottom of the list.

Labels: Resources

"Humanities Tennessee's newest project is Chapter 16: a community of Tennessee readers, writers, and passersby, at www.chapter16.org. The site posts original content each weekday: reviews, author Q & A's, original essays and poetry, and features. Chapter 16 covers new books by Tennessee writers and writers visiting Tennessee on tours."

For more details:
http://www.chapter16.org/content/about-chapter-16

--submitted via email

Labels: Resources

The Fiction Database is an online resource for fiction titles. They specialize in romance and Westerns, but cover other genres of fiction as well.

Although you have to pay for a subscription to the database, it has several useful features that can be used for free.

The "new releases" section allows users to select a month and year to see which books have been or are scheduled to be released then. Currently, users can look as far ahead as December, 2008.

Another useful feature of the site is the complete author lists which can be sorted by title or publication date. Author's works that appear in anthologies are also included on the site, so you may be able to find some short stories you didn't know existed by your favorite authors.

Other lists that users might find helpful include complete series lists (especially for series with multiple authors that share a continuity, like Star Wars or Star Trek) and author pseudonym lists to help users find books by writers who use more than one name (like Victoria Holt).

I didn't find the book details pages to be all that useful, but they do link to outside reviews, usually hosted at Amazon.com. Users who are not paid subscribers must also look at the version of the site with advertising, but that is not uncommon on the Internet.


Jesse Pool, Highland Branch Library

Labels: Resources

The Mid-Continent Public Library has a web page devoted to movies that are Based on the Book.

Currently, they list over 1,250 movies that are based on books, and you can search by movie title, release year, book title, or book author. Their web site lists movies released in the United States since 1980 and they cite the Internet Movie Database as a source.

Thanks to Philip Williams from the Cordova Branch for sharing this web site.

Labels: Books and Movies, Resources

Your book club meets in two days, you have to lead the discussion, and you have no idea what to say about the book. Or, possibly another scenario, you have to suggest a book for the club but haven't a clue. What do you do?

A couple of websites that have been a big help to me in leading book club discussions and suggesting titles that book club members might enjoy are Reading Group Guides and Reading Group Choices.

Both websites have discussion questions for a number of popular book club titles, suggestions for books that other clubs have enjoyed, book club contests, newsletters, and other tools which can make planning for your next book club meeting exciting and less stressful.


Jesse Pool, Highland Branch Library

Labels: Book Clubs, Resources

The Commercial Appeal has its own book blog, The Shelf Life, which features book reviews and news.

Some of the books discussed are new, while others have been around for a while, but are topical. Some posts highlight a Memphis connection, as well, such as this post about Memphis author Molly Caldwell Crosby's NPR interview about Elmwood Cemetery, yellow fever, and her book The American Plague.

Labels: Blogs, Resources

From Debbie Stevens, East Shelby Branch Library:

"I happened upon this blog - http://www.streetfiction.org/ - its creator is a corrections librarian and the blog is 'dedicated to reviewing street fiction, also known as urban fiction, street lit, or gangsta fiction. One of the fastest growing genres, these books expose the reader to drugs, violence, sex and and the gritty realities of street life in urban America.'

One of the nice features is its fairly comprehensive list of books and authors, not to mention reviews."

Labels: Blogs, Resources

I love audiobooks. I find that I can listen to books that I would never finish on my own if I were actually reading them, and by listening to audiobooks I get to "read" a lot more books than I might otherwise have time for.

Last year a coworker introduced me to The Great Courses by The Learning Company. At first, I was a little skeptical of the idea of hours and hours of college lectures. However, I was won over after listening to the first 15 minutes of Famous Romans. I marvelled at the energy, passion and animation that the professor had in relating the various biographical sketches of the famous Romans of the course title. I learned all kinds of interesting things about ancient Rome and the series left me hungry for more. Recently, I finished Plato, Socrates and the Dialogues and have been thinking about pulling out some of those old philosophy 101 text books that have been in the back room undisturbed for the past 10 years or so.

Since my coworker pointed these out to me last year, I have been listening to these courses during my commute to and from work and have really enjoyed the classroom-style lectures in a variety of subjects such as literature, philosophy, religion and history. The materials are available in CD, cassette and DVD formats. Each lecture runs from 30 to 45 minutes. The courses come with a course guide to help you better understand the subject and follow up with reading on your own as well. The professors teaching the courses all come from very respected colleges and universities. The Great Courses will probably appeal to audiobook listeners who enjoy non-fiction titles and people who didn't get enough of these types of classes in college. I still listen to audiobooks in the car, but now I do it between classes.

Labels: Resources, Reviews by Jesse Pool

Five Chapters

Read original fiction online.

"A five-part story will be published every week, serial-style, beginning on Monday and with a new installment every weekday. The editor of FiveChapters.com is David Daley. David curated the 20-Minute Fiction in issue 12 of McSweeney's, created the Tag-team Fiction series for The Journal News, and is the former features editor of Details magazine."

Labels: Resources

Who Reads What?

Each year retired librarian Glenna Nowell asks a group of celebrities what they are reading. This year's list, the 19th such compilation, features novelists Robert Crais, Carolyn Hart and Ursula Le Guin as well as chef Wolfgang Puck.

In 1991 the Washington Post published an article about Ms. Nowell's then four-year old service: " 'I was looking for a hook that would get people to read a book, ' " Nowell said, adding that she also wanted to steer readers toward books other than bestsellers. After looking at news and fashion magazines and listening to suggestions from readers, Nowell put together her first list of VIPs to be contacted. She got their addresses from celebrity references at the Gardiner [Maine] Public Library."

You can access the article for free from any library location using our online database America's Newspapers.

Submitted by Sarah Frierson, Business/Science Department

Labels: Resources

"A LOOK INSIDE" is one of many cool, new features of the Library's new online catalog. Reviews and summaries are now available for many items. To access this feature, click one of the small icons at the bottom of an item record (the red arrow in the diagram to the left points to an example). These icons also appear on many "hit" (or results) lists.

Labels: New Online Library Catalog, Resources

Critical Compendium: A Daily Dose of Book Reviews From Around The World

Use this resource to find links to online book reviews. Sources include newspapers and journals from around the world, but literary blogs have not been included.

Submitted by Sarah Frierson, Business/Sciences Department

Labels: Resources

Follow these links to read excerpts of fiction and non-fiction books:

CNN
A good archive of excerpts, but the site is not currently being updating.


Denver Post
Excerpts of popular titles.

New York Times
Registration required to access older titles.

USA TODAY
Titles listed from A to Z.

Washington Post
Registration required to access older titles.

Labels: First Chapters, Resources