Category Archives: Books

CMLE Reads Across MN: Patty Jane’s House of Curl

Patty Jane’s House of Curl, by Lorna Landvik

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, and it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota!

This is not a new book, but if you want a nice cozy story this one might be just what you need!

From Amazon: “Patty Jane Dobbin should have known better than to marry a man as gorgeous as Thor Rolvaag, but she was too smitten to think twice. Yet nine months into their marriage, with a baby on the way, Thor is gone. It’s a good thing Patty Jane has her irrepressible sister, Harriet, to rely on. For it’s been said that a fine haircut can cure any number of ills, and before long the Minnesota sisters have opened a neighborhood beauty parlor complete with live harp music and an endless supply of delicious Norwegian baked goods. It’s a wonderful, warmhearted place where you can count on good friends, lots of laughter, tears, and comfort when you need it–and the unmistakable scent of somebody getting a permanent wave.”

 

March books for our Goodreads book groups!

March is here, so let’s start reading some new books in our online book groups! Do you want to join us? Get on Goodreads and search for our groups CMLE Librarian Professionals and CMLE Librarians Enjoying Books. You can simply join our groups or post your thoughts about the books in the discussion!

For our group CMLE Librarian Professionals we will be learning how to strengthen our willpower and reach our goals by reading Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson.

“The strategies outlined in this book will not only help everyone reach their own goals but will also prove invaluable to parents, teachers, coaches, and employers. Dr. Grant Halvorson shows readers a new approach to problem solving that will change the way they approach their entire lives.”

For our group CMLE Librarians Enjoying Books we will be reading Agatha Christie’s The Body in the Library!

“Colonel Bantry has found the strangled body of an exotic blonde bombshell lying on his library hearth – and the neighbors are beginning to talk! When Miss Marple takes an interest, though, things begin to move along nicely, and its all far more convoluted – and sordid – than the genteel Bantrys could have imagined.”

We hope you can join us in one or both of our online book groups! We wish you happy reading in March!

CMLE Reads Across MN: Hooper

Hooper, by Geoff Herbach
Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, and it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota!

It can be tough to find good YA books aimed at boys, or about “boy” interests, like sports. This book does that, and adds in some interesting social justice issues – always important issues to YA readers!

“For Adam Reed, basketball is a passport. Adam’s basketball skills have taken him from an orphanage in Poland to a loving adoptive mother in Minnesota. When he’s tapped to play on a select AAU team along with some of the best players in the state, it just confirms that basketball is his ticket to the good life: to new friendships, to the girl of his dreams, to a better future.

But life is more complicated off the court. When an incident with the police threatens to break apart the bonds Adam’s finally formed after a lifetime of struggle, he must make an impossible choice between his new family and the sport that’s given him everything.”

Book Suggestion: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

We love to read books, and to talk about books. Check out our entire series here! Need more book chatting and suggestions in your life? Listen to our Books and Beverages podcast!

I had this book recommended to me, and I’m so glad I decided to give Edith Wharton another chance! I listened to the audio version of Ethan Frome to help me win last year’s reading challenge and was not a fan. But so far I’m enjoying The Age of Innocence! The social commentary is biting, and the character descriptions are pretty fantastic (some make me laugh out loud). Plus, it’s very interesting to read about New York City in the 1870s. If you are a fan of Jane Austen it’s probably safe to say you’ll enjoy this book as well.

From Goodreads:
“Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal during the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, a time when society people “dreaded scandal more than disease.”
This is Newland Archer’s world as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional May Welland. But when the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a disastrous marriage, Archer falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will either courageously define his life—or mercilessly destroy it.”

Spring is coming – you should read some good books!

check out this reader! he’s on top of his TBR pile of books! great work Carson!!

We love to read books!

You love to read books!

Let’s all read books this year!!

Building on people’s interest in the books we suggest in our Books And Beverages podcast, we have started two book challenges for everyone in 2018.

Here are a few FAQs you might ask:

Are these high-pressure, high-volume challenges?? NO!

  • One challenge will read 25 books (50 if you get ambitious); the other reads 30. If you don’t get them all? *shrug* Read what you enjoy!

Will everyone point and laugh at me if I read books about vampires or YA books instead of The Important Classics?? NO!

  • Actually – we’ll look forward to your recommendations! We like fun books here, and that can include anything that sounds fun to you, including important classics AND vampires.

I never know what to read next. Can I get some recommendations? YES!

  • We want this to be easy, so one book challenge actually follows our book group podcast topics; you can listen to the suggestions everyone gives, then read a fun book for yourself.

I’m pumped up and ready to read!! Where do I find these so-fun book challenges?

  • CMLE Reading Challenge: Read through our 25 reading prompts for an interesting year in discovery of ideas; read two of each for 50 chances to try more new things and to hear what people have to say in different ways.
  • CMLE Book Group Podcast Reading Challenge: We have a book group podcast, Books And Beverages, and each week we talk about a different genre. For this challenge, you can read a book from each of the first 30 genres we are discussing. If you need book suggestions, you can listen to the handy podcast episode for all kinds of ideas! Join our book group podcast here.