Category: Reviews

Love Songs at the Library

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

by Flory, Fine Arts and Music Librarian

Looking to serenade someone this Valentine’s Day? Come to the Fine Arts and Music Department at the Central Library to find the perfect song. From Beyoncé to Broadway Hits, we have the sheet music for collections of love songs that span decades, genres, instruments and languages!

Browse our catalog for some of our scores by using search terms like “Love Songs,” “Wedding Songs,” “Ballads,” “Popular Music,” “Hits,” or even  the title of a film you know the song is in.

Our massive song index can help you find “that one song, by that one guy,” so you can do your thing! Our music specialists can be reached by phone at 410-396-5490, online, or IRL at the Central Library Fine Arts and Music department. Let us help you find the guitar, vocal, or piano music to “your song,” to up your Valentine’s Day game. Click a the title below to reserve your copy.

Pratt Staff Picks Best of 2017: eAudiobooks

Posted on by Meghan McCorkell

Need a new book to listen to in the car on the way to work, or on your way to grandmother’s house this holiday? Click the cover to reserve your copy of…

Best eAudiobooks 2017

THE TRUTH ACCORDING TO US

By Annie Barrows

[Recommended by Michele Ringer-Weil] From the co-author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society comes a wise, witty, and exuberant novel, perfect for fans of Lee Smith, that illuminates the power of loyalty and forgiveness, memory and truth, and the courage it takes to do what’s right.

HOMEGOING

By Yaa Gyasi

[Recommended by Anne Calhoun] Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indelibly drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.

SMALL GREAT THINGS

By Jodi Picoult

[Recommended by Lynn Scott] In Small Great Things, Jodi Picoult tackles the profoundly challenging yet essential con­cerns of our time: prejudice, race, and justice.

That’s all for Best Of 2017.  Head over to our Facebook page and let us know what your favorites!

Pratt Staff Picks Best of 2017: Young Adult Titles

Posted on by Meghan McCorkell

All week long, the Pratt librarians are picking the best books of 2017 for your reading list.  Click on the cover to reserve your copy now.

Today– we introduce you to…

Best Young Adult Titles 2017

THE HATE U GIVE

By Angie Thomas

[The Most Recommended YA Title of 2017] Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. That is shattered as she witnesses the shooting of her best friend by a police officer.

                                                                                    JANE, UNLIMITED

By Kristin Cashore

[Recommended by Lucie Ferguson]An instant New York Times bestseller—from the award-winning author of the Graceling Realm series—a kaleidoscopic novel about grief, adventure, storytelling, and finding yourself in a world of seemingly infinite choices.

THE GREAT AMERICAN WHATEVER

By Tim Federle

[Recommended by Julie Johnson] Quinn Roberts is a sixteen-year-old smart aleck and Hollywood hopeful whose only worry used to be writing convincing dialogue for the movies he made with his sister Annabeth. That was before a car accident changed everything.

                                                                            FLYING LESSONS & OTHER STORIES

Edited By Ellen Oh

[Recommended by Will Robinson] In partnership with We Need Diverse Books some of the biggest names in literature come together to tell ten distinct and vibrant stories.

LONG WAY DOWN

By Jason Reynolds

[Recommended by Deborah Taylor] Jason Reynolds’s fiercely stunning novel takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother.

 EMBER IN THE ASHES

By Sabaa Tahir

[Recommended by Ariel Greenway] Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free. When Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, their paths cross and they realize their destinies are intertwined.

GET CODING! LEARN HTML, CSS AND JAVASCRIPT AND BUILD A WEBSITE, APP AND GAME

By Young Rewired State

[Recommended by Liz Bosarge] Crack open this book and set off on several fun missions — while simultaneously learning the basics of writing code.

Check out #PrattChat tomorrow for the Best Graphic Novels 2017.

Pratt Staff Picks Best of 2017: Nonfiction

Posted on by Meghan McCorkell

It’s Day 2 of Pratt Staff picking the best book of 2017.  Click on the cover to reserve your copy.

Today we look at….

Best Nonfiction 2017

SOVIET DAUGHTER: A GRAPHIC REVOLUTION

By Julia Alekseyeva

[Recommended by Tom Warner] Soviet Daughter provides a window into the life of a rebellious, independent woman coming of age in the USSR, and her impact on her American great granddaughter, two extraordinary women swept up in the history of their tumultuous times.

THE LIFE CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP

By Marie Kondo

[Recommended by Chelsea Shockley]  This #1 New York Times best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing.

                        HIDDEN FIGURES: THE AMERICAN DREAM AND THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE BLACK WOMEN MATHEMATICIANS WHO HELPED WIN THE SPACE RACE

By Margot Lee Shetterly

[Recommended by Jeanne Lauber]  The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space.

FENCES

By August Wilson

[Recommended by Linda Owens] Troy Maxson, is a strong man, a hard man. He has had to be – to survive. For Troy Maxson has gone through life in an America where to be proud and black was to face pressures that could crush a man, body and soul. But now the 1950s are yielding to the new spirit of liberation in the 1960s… a spirit that is changing the world Troy Maxson has learned to deal with the only way he can…a spirit that is making him a stranger, angry and afraid, in a world he never knew and to a wife and son he understands less and less…

Check back in with #PrattChat tomorrow for the best in Children’s and Graphic Novels.

Pratt Staff Picks Best of 2017: Fiction

Posted on by Meghan McCorkell

Still looking for the perfect holiday read? The Pratt Staff has you covered all this week with their top picks for 2017.   Just click on the cover to reserve your copy now.

Today we start with……

Best Fiction 2017

THE HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS

By Nadia Hashimi

[Recommended by Helen Bennett]: A vivid, unforgettable story of an unlikely sisterhood—an emotionally powerful and haunting tale of friendship that illuminates the plight of women in a traditional culture—from the author of the bestselling The Pearl That Broke Its Shell and When the Moon Is Low.

                                THE FIFTH SEASON

             By N. K. Jemisin

[Recommended by Ann Gordon]  After the empire Sanze collapses and the vast continent Stillness becomes ravaged by a red rift which darkens the sky, Essun, whose daughter has been kidnapped by her murderous husband, crosses Stillness in a desperate attempt to save her daughter.

 

 

LILAC GIRLS

By Martha Hall Kelly

[Recommended by Anne Calhoun]   For readers of The Nightingale and Sarah’s Key, inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this remarkable debut novel reveals the power of unsung women to change history in their quest for love, freedom, and second chances.

 

PRUSSIAN BLUE

By Philip Kerr

[Recommended by Tom Warner]  When his cover is blown, former Berlin bull and unwilling SS officer Bernie Gunther must re-enter a cat-and-mouse game that continues to shadow his life a decade after Germany’s defeat in World War 2…

   

MISS SUSIE SLAGLE’S

By Augusta Tucker

[Recommended by Holly Tominack]  Originally published in 1939, this book spent six months on the national bestseller lists and went through 23 hardcover printings. “A novel written out of love and meticulous observation” (“New York Herald Tribune”), the story recounts the trials and tribulations of a group of Johns Hopkins medical students who boarded at Miss Susie Slagle’s house on Biddle Street in Baltimore during the years before World War I.

 

CHEMISTRY

By Weike Wang

[Recommended by Lucie Ferguson]  A luminous coming-of-age novel about a young female scientist who must recalibrate her life when her academic career goes off track; perfect for readers of Lab Girl and Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You.

Check in tomorrow for Pratt Staff picks for Best Nonfiction Titles of 2017.