A Few of My Favorite Things

Pipestone County Star – 06-25-2015

Everyone has a few authors they can’t live without – you know what I mean: the authors whose books you will purchase right away or try to place a hold on months before they’re going to be released.  I have several and I thought I would share them with you.  Who knows, maybe they will become pleasures for you, too!!

Mary Roach is one of my favorites. I will buy every book that she writes and I would even love to have her over to my house for dinner.  She is a science/humor writer that explores what happens to human bodies in unusual conditions, from death to space travel and everything in between.  During an interview with Peter Siegel on NPR, he asked her how she picks her topics and she responded with "Well, it's got to have a little science, it's got to have a little history, a little humor—and something gross." (NPR July 30, 2012).  She has six books so far: “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers,” “Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife,” “Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex,” “Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void,” “Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal,” and “My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places.”

James Rollins is an author I will read over and over.  Though his books follow a very standard save-the-world kind of plot, they are well-written and very engaging.  Rollins tends to write just on the edge of what could possibly be real, backing up all of his stories with scientific facts that make you stop and think.  He writes an adventure series called Sigma Force and a series with a more gothic turn along with Rebecca Cantrell called The Order of the Sanguines.  Both are excellent and Rollins also has a group of stand-alone novels that he wrote before the two series started.  The stand-alones are almost my favorites – a small bit of romance, a HUGE amount of adventure, and a definite building of the anxiety to save the world!

George R. R. Martin is the author of “Game of Thrones” which has become a hit series on HBO.  Don’t get me wrong, those books are great, but he has several others that are even better, including “Fevre Dream” and his Wild Card series, which tackles the idea of mutant viruses in a whole new way.  Martin is an expert at strange fantasy, both in the classic sense, the historical sense, and the urban arena.  His books whisk me away to an alternate reality and I adore his sense of the dramatic.  And he’s not afraid to kill off main characters.  I love that in a writer.

Kathy Reichs writes the Temperance Brennan series upon which the TV series Bones is loosely based.  While I occasionally enjoy watching the show, the books are SO MUCH better.  Reichs writes for a character that is much like herself, a medical examiner in two different departments – one in North Carolina and the other in Quebec, Canada.  She includes excellent descriptions of the processes and the science behind the medical examiner’s job and the books are detailed and fascinating.  Of course, if you don’t like all the ins and outs of dead bodies, she’s probably not a good author for you.

Hope you are having a great summer so far!!

Event Update:  Summer Reading Program is well under way, but it’s not too late to sign up!! We have activities on Tuesdays at 2:00 until July 14^th and kids can continue to read for prizes until August 31^st.  Stop in and sign up today!

We are currently working on organizing another bus tour – this one to explore the Wabasha Street Caves in St. Paul.  The caves were used during Prohibition for illegal activities and have a rich historic past.  Keep your eyes peeled for more information!

We are also planning on a possible genealogy workshop for the fall.  Have a lot of experience or interest in family history? Keep watching the paper for more information.

In October, Lorna Landvik will be coming to the region for a tour – Meinders is planning on doing a program called “One Book, One Community” during this month to culminate with her visit.  We are still trying to choose our favorite Landvik book so if you have any suggestions, please let a librarian know!  Stay tuned for more information!

Book Club: We are thinking about trying to start a new book club in the fall.  If you are interested, please stop in and let a librarian know! It would be great to get this activity up and running again.

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  Call for the date of their next meeting.

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The summer hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10AM – 8PM, Friday from 10Am to 5PM and Saturday from 10AM to Noon.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.

Using the Catalog at Home!

Pipestone County Star – 06-11-2015

Searching online from home is a great option for people who have a lot of books to look up or a list of things they are looking for.  Not only can you use the regular library catalog for Plum Creek, you can also search the entire state from your home computer.  To search Plum Creek, go to www.plumcreeklibrary.org/pipestone and click on the “Library Catalog” button on the left side.  To search the whole state, go to www.mnlinkgateway.org and do your search.  You will need your library card and pin (the last four digits of the card) for either search option.

Some of the best features on the Plum Creek website are Cart and Lists.  I’ll start with the cart.  It functions a lot like internet sites where you can make purchases.  You can choose all sorts of books while you search the catalogue and place them into your cart, which will save them for you just for that session.  You can search various subjects and titles and not lose the books you’ve already looked at, as long as you place them in the cart.  This allows for you to choose how many holds you’d like to place at once and if you want to save any of them for later.

That brings me to lists.  You will have an option in your cart of placing a hold or adding an item to a list.  If you add to a list, the system will save that book for you until you delete it and you can place a hold on it in the future if you would like to.  This is a GREAT place to keep track of books you WANT to read, but don’t have time to right now.  The list will save it.  The cart will NOT.  If you leave anything in your cart when you log out, it will not be there when you log back in.

There is also a way that we can leave you messages.  Say you leave your wallet in the library and we find it before you realize it’s missing.  We could leave a note for you so the next time you log into your account, it will tell you that we have your wallet.  You can’t send messages back to us, but you can give us a call or email us in response.

There are other features that will make your on-line experience more friendly.  I encourage you to fiddle around with the website and press buttons, see where it takes you.  There’s no better way to learn than doing it yourself.  I especially encourage fiddling with the MN Link site for the whole state.  There are some great features there I haven’t gone into detail about and it is a fantastic resource to anyone who loves more unusual books and authors.

If you are interested in getting started with the website or on MN Link and have never done it before, or need a little help, come in and see us!  We would be more than happy to help you get started.

And please don’t hesitate to call if you have questions – we’d be glad to help!

Event Update:  We have just begun the Summer Reading Program for kids! Activities are Tuesdays at 2:00 PM from now until July 21^st, but kids can read and collect prizes until the end of August.  Stop in to sign up and get started!

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  Call for the date of their next meeting.

Book Club: We are thinking about trying to start a new book club in the fall.  If you are interested, please stop in and let a librarian know! It would be great to get this activity up and running again.

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.