You probably already know that at CMLE, we offer a service called “Notable Dates for your Noggin” which feature special holidays and birthdays of authors, as well as publications of well-known books. In an effort to help you get more from this service, we’ve decided to select one “Notable Date” each month to feature. We will include a few fun programming and activity ideas too, all for you to use!
October 25th is World Pasta Day. Spoiler alert: this post may cause cravings and/or hunger.
The obvious way to celebrate World Pasta Day is with recipes. At your library, you could display some pasta cookbooks, or even just books or materials that feature Italy.
Otherwise, get into the spirit of World Pasta Day through books. And who better to read about pasta with than Strega Nona? The book is read out loud in the video below, or order a copy here.
Share your pasta receipes, or favorite pasta related books with us!
Looking for more fun holidays or days to celebrate? Check out our Notable Dates Page!
Attention, book-loving CMLE members! (We hope that is most of you!)
You may have read our earlier post introducing CMLE’s two new book groups on Goodreads. One of our groups is aimed at professional development for librarians, and the books that we will be reading will hopefully be useful to you in your place of work. Our second book group is more about reading for fun, and the books we read will be a little more light-hearted!
Do you want to read with us, but need to borrow a copy of either book? CMLE has two copies of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and one copy of Curiosity Thrilled the Cat that are available to borrow!
Email Angie and let her know if you are interested. Looking forward to reading together!
As a library system, filled with library people, we like to read books. So let’s get together and read books and chat about them!
We have set up two monthly book groups on Goodreads, where we have a forum to discuss our books. If there is interest in holding in-person book group sessions at host locations, that would also be great; but we want it to be accessible to everyone, so we will always have an online discussion where we can all share in the reading. (If you want to have an in-person monthly meeting, either at CMLE Headquarters, or in another location – email Mary !)
We will have two copies of the paper book to share, if you want to borrow one for a few days. Email Angie to get on the borrowing list!
The first group will be have a professional theme; here we will read books that may be helpful to you at work. They may be specifically library-oriented, or may be books that would be relevant to the work we do in our libraries. We have a preliminary list of books that might be interesting to our members; and we encourage you to suggest books that we all might enjoy!
For our October book in this group, we will be reading “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondō. “Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again.” Can this help you at work?? We will have to read the book to find out how!
Below is a fairly long video (42 minutes) Kondo gave at Google. She, and her translator, work through her entire system of sorting and keeping objects in the house.
And here is a short video, with just music in the background, where Kondo helps a woman organize her bookshelf:
They may be aspirational, but the results look good!
Our other book group will be a fiction book group, with readings we do for fun. There may be a theme of “librarian as main character” through the books we read, but that will not be a requirement. As library people, we all hear too much of the comment “it must be so fun to sit around and read books at work all day;” and it’s amazingly frustrating!! But of course, most of us really do like to read books! So we can have this time to enjoy a book together each month.
In October, we will be reading “Curiosity Thrilled the Cat” by Sofie Kelly. “When librarian Kathleen Paulson moved to Mayville Heights, Minnesota, she had no idea that two strays would nuzzle their way into her life. Owen is a tabby with a catnip addiction and Hercules is a stocky tuxedo cat who shares Kathleen’s fondness for Barry Manilow. But beyond all the fur and purrs, there’s something more to these felines.”
This book does not come with videos, but we have a couple of other ones for you to enjoy:
Who wouldn’t want a job as Kitten Librarian?? (not technically a library; but still a great idea!)
And these important helpers in the Huron Library in London, Ontario are clearly making an important contribution!
Stacks the Library Cat has a pretty significant fan club at the New Castle library in Pennsylvania
Both of these books are available in paper, eBook, and audio formats; so pick a format that works for you! Content is the important part; flexibility of format is just a bonus.
In case you are looking for some travel inspiration, or just want to feast your eyes on some beautiful architecture, check out this article from the BookBub blog that highlights 32 of the world’s most beautiful libraries. The list is diverse with the libraries that are included, with designs that range from Baroque to extremely modern. It’s interesting to see the various influences that have impacted the libraries’ designs – many are theological, some have been influenced by nature, or the history of their location. In the article, each photo features a short description that discusses the uniqueness of each library. Here are some samples:
The very first library profiled is the Abbey Library of St. Gall in Switzerland. It’s a World Heritage site and also contains the earliest known architectural plan, written on parchment!
The impressive Kansas City Central Library in Missouri is number thirteen on the list. It’s easy to tell the function of the building from the outside, since one of the walls features huge paintings of the spines of 22 different books! Each book is twenty-five feet high and nine feet wide.
Take a look at the Tianyi Pavilion Library in China at number twenty-seven on the list. It’s the oldest private library in Asia! The tranquility of the location is very obvious. The library is next to a lake and surrounded by gardens.
It’s so hard to choose a favorite, but I think the libraries in Austria are especially breathtaking. Which one(s) would you like to visit in person?
Just as finishing an excellent book can make you sad and a bit lonely, the same can be true when you finish a really great TV series! Maybe you had some extra time over the summer or holiday weekend and binge-watched an entire show, and now can’t imagine becoming as emotionally invested into a new story. Well, this list is here to help!
In this article from YALSA’s“The Hub” blog, author Tara Kehoe offers some suggestions for your next book, based on your favorite TV series. You can read a few options below:
Are you a fan of Gilmore Girls? Give these titles a try (and check out this librarian’s blog):
Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
Loved The Walking Dead (and struggling with the wait for the beginning of Season 7?!) Check out these books:
Forest of Teeth and Hands by Carrie Ryan
The Stand by Stephen King
Enjoyed Friday Night Lights? Maybe you’ll like these titles:
The Bridge from Me to You by Lisa Shroeder
The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
If you have a favorite TV series and can think of a book or two that would appeal to fans, let us know in the comments!
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Looking for more fun holidays or days to celebrate? Check out our Notable Dates Page!
