Less Censorship, More Unicorns
I hate Banned Books Week. There. I said it. Well, not the week itself, obviously. As a lifelong supporter of the freedom to read, though, I hate that Banned Books Week is still necessary in 2016. You’d think we’d be a bit further along by now.
When Kissing Scares People
When I read Two Boys Kissing three years ago, I knew I was holding a banned book. A reader gets an immediate sense of what acclaimed young adult author David Levithan’s novel is about; however, as with so many great books, Two Boys Kissing is much more than its title and cover.
Love Your Library: 5 Favorite Film Librarians
This month I’m taking a break from watching heaps of sad movies to focus on something a little happier — namely libraries and my favorite movie librarians. As noted earlier on this fine blog, September is officially Love Your Library Month in Allegheny County. Donations given during this month will be eligible for a match from the Jack Buncher Foundation. The generous match of $125,000 will be split among all libraries in the Allegheny County Library Association.
We Could Be Heroes If We Knew What That Meant
Alison Green, the star of the comic Strong Female Protagonist, used to be a superhero named Mega-Girl. She was pretty good at it, too; then she had an existential crisis and went off to college to learn other ways of saving the world. Leaving Mega-Girl behind isn’t all that easy, though: as Alison tries to cobble together a normal life at school, she keeps running into awkward situations.
Love Your Library This Month
September is officially Love Your Library Month in Allegheny County.
Childhood Favorites
Working in the Children’s Department, I am often reminded of books that I have long forgotten. Whether it’s a patron asking for a specific location of a book or a child in need of recommendations, some of my all-time favorites have begun to resurface right before my eyes.
Tournament of Sadness: Round 2
This is the second in a series of posts I will be writing to determine the most depressing movie we have in the library’s film collection. I will be watching 16 devastating movies in the coming months — feel free to join in the “fun” and share your feedback!
Experience the Future of Food
This Friday renowned chef Bryant Terry will share his food knowledge and show off his culinary chops at CLP-Homewood.
Love Your Perfume
Clocking in at a mere 140 pages, Andrew Lam’s Perfume Dreams is deceptively slim. Its contents, however, will resonate with readers long after they’ve finished it. Though Lam eagerly embraced American life and assimilated easily, he never really could leave Vietnam behind, and he explores the immigrant experience in this beautiful collection
Throwback Thursday: Houdini vs. The Afterlife
In the 1920s, America had a brief but intense fling with spiritualism. Eventually the phenomenon became so widespread that Scientific American decided to hold itself a little contest, with a $2,500 prize for the first medium who could convince a panel of judges that they were the real deal.