West Slope Community Library » Reading

Adult Winter Reading 2011-12

westslopelibrary — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:54:06 +0000

Winters in Oregon can be cold, dark, and wet—perfect reading weather! So join us for our third annual Adult Winter Reading program. The conversation and books you find here at the library are the perfect antidote to cabin fever.

Running December 5, 2011 to February 8, 2012, Adult Winter Reading is a great way to catch up on your reading, win prizes, and have fun. Here’s how:

READ
Check out and read at least one book. Need suggestions? Browse our list of online reading resources, or ask us.

REVIEW
Write a review for each book you read and drop your review off at the library. We will have review forms at the desk, or you can download forms and fill them out at home.

WIN
Every participant wins a $5 gift certificate for the Friends of the Library Used Book Sale. Submitted reviews will also be drawn in a weekly raffle for prizes, including treats and gift certificates to The Human Bean.

HAVE FUN
Join us in January and February for our adult programs, including art classes, film showings, and book groups. Check our Programs & Events for a complete, up-to-date list of library programs.

If interested, you can download and print a publicity flyer to keep or share. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Adult Winter Reading 2011-12 is made possible by the Friends of West Slope Library.

Featured Resource: World Book Encyclopedia

westslopelibrary — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:30:14 +0000

School starts soon. To prepare for upcoming research reports and papers, take a look at the World Book Encyclopedia, available online in five different versions through WCCLS.

The different World Books give you access to a plethora of multimedia content, thousands of e-books, and tens of thousands of reference articles. You can even find much of the content in Spanish through Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos.

We also have the 2005 and 2008 print versions of World Book available here in the library if you want to browse through the volumes or check one out.

To access this world of information, all you need is your library card. Read more from WCCLS about World Book Encyclopedia. And if you need any help using the library’s online services, feel free to contact us.

First Novels: Try One!

westslopelibrary — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:06:46 +0000

All of us have our favorite authors. We re-read our favorite titles by them, and get excited when one of their new books is published. Everyone is so busy, why waste time on a book written by someone that you do not know anything about? Here’s why: an author often puts their best effort into that first novel.

There are many, many people out there who are remembered best by that great first novel they wrote. A few classics that you will recognize include

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

Some recent impressive first efforts include:

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
The Beach by Alex Garland
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
The Shack by William P. Young
Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg

Now, for some really new releases, you might consider:

The Faculty Club by Danny Tobey
Tinkers by Paul Harding (winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction)
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
The Quickening by Michelle Hoover
Then Came the Evening by Brian Hart.

We’ve barely scratched the surface of the possible new writers out there for readers to discover. Give somebody’s “first” a try, and maybe you’ll discover a new favorite.

And if you have any suggestions on debut novels, please let us know in the comments below!