Category: General

Rockin’ Reads, Part Two: More Reviews from Adult Summer Challenge Participants

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

Looking for your next good read? Take a tip from one of our Adult Summer Challenge participants:

Noelani L. on The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish: Hilarious and heartfelt! Audiobook read by the author is excellent. Enjoyed this on my commute to and from work.

Leslie J. on The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian: Love his books. Can’t put them down. This one had me up late into the night trying to figure out who done it.

Laura M. on Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: The book is written in a fascinating style of quotes from fictional characters and historical accounts of Willie Lincoln’s illness, and imagined experience in the graveyard neighborhood, during Abraham Lincoln’s presidential term. It’s emotional, touching, and imaginative. Quite funny in parts. If you liked Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, you will probably like Lincoln in the Bardo.

Robert B. on Grant by Ron Chernow: Most of us think of Ulysses Simpson Grant as a great general but a poor president. Ron Chernow’s tour-de-force biography casts Grant in a completely different mold, emphasizing his fight against the Ku Klux Klan in the post-Civil War South as well as his determined support for African American rights. Chernow also enumerates those qualities of Grant that made him the first modern general to emerge from the Civil War. This is a large book but definitely worth the time and effort it takes to make your way through it.

Holly T. on Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong and Wreck the Halls: Cake Wrecks Gets “Festive” by Jen Yates: […]Cake Wrecks is an active blog in which people submit pictures of professionally made confections that are just freakin’ WRONG. The books are the best of the worst of these submissions. Laughable spelling and grammar, literal interpretations of instructions, and questionable icing choices are among some of the travesties you’ll find, and they’re made even more amusing by the author’s commentary. The way the world is right now, we could all do with some laughter, and the Cake Wrecks books deliver.

Lakeisha H. on Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill  : […]Walking the streets that I’m familiar with in this book was a comfort and joy. The main character finds not only his personal story but the very deep and historically valid and important story of African Americans in Baltimore. What is wonderful is Baltimore becomes a character in the book. It’s not often you get to read about Baltimore in any other capacity other than crime and violence. The glory of Uptown, the impact of the A.M.E., the beauty of Charles Village, and the people of Baltimore are showcased in this book that could be considered a historical fiction. Extremely worth reading.

Tammra F. on First Star I See Tonight by Susan Elizabeth Phillips: Cooper and Piper made for a very interesting storyline. Piper was a treat to read about. She reminded me of a little bit of myself. She seems to think out loud and it makes for a very funny and interesting read. Cooper is just wonderful and I love that he doesn’t give up on Piper and seems to understand her better than she understands herself.

Join the fun! For a chance to win fabulous prizes in the Adult Summer Challenge, create a free Beanstack account and log each book you finish between June 13 and August 15.

A Royally Mysterious Afternoon at the Roland Park Branch

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

by Julie Johnson, Roland Park Branch Manager

On Saturday June 23, former Roland Park resident Eleanor Herman returned to her childhood library for an intriguing presentation on The Royal Art of Poison:  Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, Filthy Palaces and Murder Most Foul.

Herman explained that actual poisoning may have been hard to detect because royals used arsenic, lead, gold, and mercury in their cosmetics (got to keep that dewy, soft complexion, you know), did NOT use their chamber pots, decorated with lead paint, and physicians were certain that mercury, blood-letting and dead birds split in half and placed on the head of the patient would save the royal life. All those fatal practices create a conundrum for investigators.

The program got fantastic reviews.  One attendee said, “This was a wonderful experience!”  Another called it “a fabulous program” while a third said it was “thoroughly enjoyable.”  The forty-plus attendees were treated to photo-illustrated talk with Ms. Herman in Renaissance dress.

Fans lined up afterward to buy a signed copy at The Ivy Bookshop’s table. Check out these short, fascinating videos from the book.

Join us for more Writers LIVE author programs #atthepratt. And of course, check out more titles by Eleanor Herman at the Pratt Library. Just click on the cover!

Celebrate Pride Month Through Visual Art and Fashion

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

by Flory Gessner, Fine Arts and Music Librarian

Celebrate Pride Month, which occurs each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan, with us by digging into LGBTQIA+ materials in the Humanities and Fine Arts Departments. Check back all month for more recommended reading.

Click on a cover to reserve your copy today!

Visual Art

Fashion

Have you checked out one of these titles? If so, let us know on social media and tag it #atthepratt.

Rockin’ Reads, Part 1: Reviews from Adult Summer Challenge Participants

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

Libraries rock, and so do many of the books our Adult Summer Challenge participants have read so far! Check out these sample reviews:

Linda F. on The Last Painting of Sarah De Vos by Dominic Smith: Gripping story that takes us from NYC in the 1950s to Amsterdam in the 1600s to Australia in 2000. Lots of fascinating details about the techniques of painting, combined with history and insights into love (maternal, spousal, romantic).

Kameron K. on Daring Greatly by Brene Brown: Brene Brown does it again! In Daring Greatly, Brene Brown sheds light on how our culture of scarcity leads to internalizing shame. She reviews an “armory” of defense mechanisms, which we use to mitigate vulnerability but actually get in the way of connection. Poignant stories and anecdotes are woven throughout and her easy-to-read and accessible writing make this book a pleasure to read.

Bethany B. on Love Letters of Great Men: What a treat! I picked this up with great interest in having a glimpse into love of the past. For me, not every letter was so enthralling, but just the opportunity to experience these personal letters is incredible. Dating way back and sprinkled with some super-familiar names, as a love-letter writer myself, this is a truly special collection of history. Looking very forward to reading the women’s collection.

Kia R. on The Misadventures Of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae: Absolutely loved this book. I laughed, I cried, and being that I am myself an awkward black girl I felt every word she wrote on these pages.

Kelly B. on Calypso by David Sedaris: This newest collection of essays is perfect for fans of writing that is sincere, profane, and occasionally profound.

R. H. on The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson: As long as you can overlook and/or are not disturbed by (or perhaps prefer) profanity, this book–as well as the audiobook read by Roger Wayne–is a reasonably approachable way to consider how to let go of some issues that might be making it difficult to get through life and return your focus to where it would be better spent. I was impressed by his perspective given his relatively young age.

Wanda Q. on The Perfect Nanny by Leїla Slimani: They had everything, she had very little. They took advantage of her kindness. She slowly began to resent her life or lack of, to compare her meek presence to their thriving life. It slowly began to boil over and she sought revenge the only way she could….

Valerie S. on The Stars Are Fire by Anita Shreve: A true page-turner, highly recommended. Unless something comes along posthumously, this is Anita Shreve’s last novel (she died in March 2018). This one takes place in Maine just after WWII, focusing on a marriage between a war veteran and his younger bride. I don’t want to say more because part of the book’s appeal are the surprises and plot turns throughout. If you start it, you will hardly be able to take a pause until you finish it.

What have you read lately? For a chance to win fabulous prizes in the Adult Summer Challenge, create a free Beanstack account and log each book you finish between June 13 and August 15. If you’re posting your reading on social media, use the hashtag #atthepratt.

A Night of Laughs with Jeff Dugan

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

by Julie Johnson, Branch Manager, Roland Park Branch

Jeff Dugan, former television producer for the Discovery Channel, is a funny guy. He started his June 7th program with a throw-away joke or three and then headed straight for the other funny bone with a few readings from his book, Ins & Outs: A Life in Television.

Who knew that being the unintended camera pool feed for ALL the networks at Pope John Paul II’s entry into Giants Stadium could be so entertaining? Well, at least in the telling. At the time, perhaps “terrifying” is a better adjective.

How about the best way to get a French television company to cough up the “clean tapes” for a television program? Why, have your local fixer pretend to be you having a full-scale meltdown in the office, of course.

And yes, he did work with Oprah while she was in Baltimore.

You’ll have to read to book find out more. Click on the cover to check out his book in the collection.