Guest Post: Download FREE Audiobooks May Through August!

May 22, 2015May 29, 2015 / cheshirelib / 1 Comment

Children’s librarian Nicole is an avid audiobook listener. Today, she’s taking to the blog to pass along a great opportunity to listen to some free audiobooks this summer!

For its sixth year running, AudioFile is making free downloadable audiobooks available for children, teens and adults. The program is geared towards inspiring teens to discover new books and authors, but the books themselves have great crossover appeal for adults (and some children) as well. Starting in May, two free audiobooks are available each week for downloading. The audiobook pairings are “listen-alikes” – a classic and a popular contemporary titled paired by theme.

A detailed list of the free audiobooks (along with listening clips) is available online at http://www.audiobooksync.com/. If you want to make sure you don’t miss any of the titles, you can also choose to receive text prompts when new audiobooks are available by sending the text message “syncya” to 25827.

Whether you’re new to audiobooks, or you’re a long-time fan, this is definitely an annual event that you don’t want to miss out on! And if you’re new to downloading audiobooks, have no fear – staff members at Cheshire Public Library are available for personal one-on-one tutorial sessions to help you along the way. Call Cheshire Library at 203-272-2245 to make an appointment.

Check out the great titles that AudioFile is making available to the masses this season!

May 21-27

X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz & Kekla Magoon (read by Dion Graham)

Here in Harlem by Walter Dean Myers (read by Muhammad Cunningham, et al.)

May 28-June 3

The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz (read by Jennifer Ikeda)

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (read by Eloise Oxer & Paul English)

June 4-10

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty (read by Fiona Hardingham et al.)

Dracula by Bram Stoker (read by David Horovitch and a full cast)

June 11-17

The Living by Matt de la Pena (read by Henry Leyva)

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger (read by Richard M. Davidson)

June 18-24

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (read by Sasha Pick)

Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies & Alison Leslie Gold (read by Barbara Rosenblat)

June 25-July 1

Monster by Walter Dean Myers (read by a full cast)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (read by William Golding)

July 2-July 8

Echoes of an Angel by Aquanetta Gordon & Chris Macias (read by Robin Miles)

Buddha Boy by Kathe Koja (read by Spencer Murphy and a full cast)

July 9-15

The Explorers Club by Neil Benjamin (read by Carson Elrod et al.)

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (read by Michael Prichard)

July 16-22

Crows & Cards by Joseph Helgerson (read by MacLeod Andrews)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (read by Robin Field)

July 23-29

March by Geraldine Brooks (read by Richard Easton)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (read by Christina Ricci)

July 30-August 5

Courage Has No Color, The True Story of the Triple Nickles by Tanya Lee Stone (read by JD Jackson)

John Ball’s In the Heat of the Night by Matt Pelfrey (adapt.) (read by Ryan Vincent Anderson et al.)

August 6-12

Under a War-Torn Sky by L.M. Elliot (read by Elizabeth Wiley)

The Old Brown Suitcase by Lillian Boraks-Nemetz (read by Sofia Newman)

Our Patrons Pick Their Favorite Books of 2014

February 3, 2015January 16, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

For the last several years, The Department of Human Services of Cheshire has had a mitten tree in the library’s lobby, requesting the public to donate holiday gifts for needy girls and boys. Our patrons have always been very generous and we thank you very much!

This year, after the gifts were gathered up to be delivered, we turned the mitten tree into ‘what was your favorite book of 2014′ tree.

Here’s what you said:

Children:

A Cheese Colored Camper – Geronimo Stilton
Because of Mr. Terupt – Rob Buyea
Biscuit – Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Daddy Hugs – Karen Katz
Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney (3)
Dragons – Lucille Recht Penner
Frozen adapted by Sarah Nathan and Sela Roman
Gathering Blue – Lois Lowery (YA)
Humphrey Series – Betty Birney
I Spy series – Jean Marzollo & Walter Wick
I Survived Series – Lauren Tarshis
I’m Too Fond of My Fur – Geronimo Stilton
Isabelle – Lawrence Yep
It’s Hard to be 5 – Jamie Lee Curtis
Junie B., First Grader At Last – Barbara Park
Last Olympian – Rick Riordon (YA)
Little House on the Prairie – Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Looking for Alaska – John Green (YA)
Miss Daisy is Crazy – Dan Gutman
Molly Moon Series– Georgia Byng
Number the Stars – Lois Lowry
Okay for Now – Gary Schmidt (YA)
One For The Murphys – Lynda Mullaly Hunt (YA)
Out of My Mind – Sharon M. Draper
Polar Express – Chris Van Allsburg
Rainbow Fairy Series – Daisy Meadows
Rangers Apprentice Series – John Flanagan
The BFG – Roald Dahl
The Blood of Olympus – Rick Riordan (YA)
The Fault in Our Stars – John Green (YA)
The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien (YA)
The Last Battle – C.S. Lewis
The Lost Warrior – Erin Hunter (Graphic Novel)
The Maze Runner – James Dashner (YA)
The Penultimate Peril – Lemony Snicket
The Secret of the Snow – Thea Stilton
Warriors: Bramble Star’s Storm – Erin Hunter

Adult:

A Man Called Ove – Frederick Backman
A Week in Winter – Maeve Binchy
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr
Being Mortal – Atul Gawande (Nonfiction)
Child of Mine – David & Beverly Lewis
Clifton Chronicles – Jeffrey Archer
Daughter of Fortune – Isabel Allende
I Am Malala – Malala Yousafzai (Nonfiction)
Pegasus – Danielle Steel
Ready Player One – Ernest Cline
Sin Undone – Larissa Ione
Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good – Jan Karon
Summerset Abbey – T.J. Brown
The Aviator’s Wife – Melanie Benjamin
The Bible
The Boys in the Boat – Dan Brown (Nonfiction)
The First Phone Call From Heaven – Mitch Albom
The Invention of Wings – Sue Monk Kidd
The Language of Flowers – Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Leftovers – Tom Perrotta
The Lost Empire of Atlantis – Gavin Menzies (Nonfiction)
The Silkworm – Robert Galbraith
The Spirit of Steamboat – Craig Johnson
The Walk Series – Richard Evans
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – John LeCarre
Vienna Prelude – Bodie Thoene
Written in My Own Heart’s Blood – Diana Gabaldon

If you don’t see your title here, there were a few mittens that we could not decipher.

10 Books We’re Looking Forward to in November

November 9, 2014October 29, 2014 / Louise / Leave a comment

It’s November, time to put on a sweater, throw another log on the fire, and give thanks for a lot of great new books coming your way!

Every month, librarians from around the country pick the top ten new books they’d most like to share with readers. The results are published on LibraryReads.org. One of the goals of LibraryReads is to highlight the important role public libraries play in building buzz for new books and new authors. Click through to read more about what new and upcoming books librarians consider buzzworthy this month. The top ten titles for November are:

Us by David Nicholls
Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover by Sarah MacLean
Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble by Marilyn Johnson
The Burning Room by Michael Connelly
Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes
The Forgers by Bradford Morrow
In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon edited by Leslie S. Klinger and Laurie R. King
Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas by Stephanie Barron
Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet

Linda Reads: Mean Streak by Sandra Brown

November 6, 2014October 24, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

Combining the nail-biting suspense and potent storytelling that has made Sandra Brown one of the world’s best loved authors, Mean Streak is a wildly compelling novel about love, deceit, and the choices we must make in order to survive.

Summary

Dr. Emory Charbonneau, a pediatrician and marathon runner, disappears on a mountain road in North Carolina. By the time her husband Jeff, miffed over a recent argument, reports her missing, the trail has grown cold. Literally. Fog and ice encapsulate the mountainous wilderness and paralyze the search for her.

While police suspect Jeff of “instant divorce,” Emory, suffering from an unexplained head injury, regains consciousness and finds herself the captive of a man whose violent past is so dark that he won’t even tell her his name. She’s determined to escape him, and willing to take any risks necessary to survive.

Unexpectedly, however, the two have a dangerous encounter with people who adhere to a code of justice all their own. At the center of the dispute is a desperate young woman whom Emory can’t turn her back on, even if it means breaking the law. Wrong becomes right at the hands of the man who strikes fear, but also sparks passion.

As her husband’s deception is revealed, and the FBI closes in on her captor, Emory begins to wonder if the man with no name is, in fact, her rescuer from those who wish her dead – and from heartbreak.

My Thoughts

Be prepared to keep reading this book until you’re done. I started the book before my plan to clean my bathroom, but wound up reading it until I finished it! The suspense was nonstop and there were many twists that I just didn’t see coming. The story is fast-paced, the characters are likeable and believable. The suspense has you on the edge of your seat, the humor puts a smile on your face, the drama has you gasping in surprise and when you’re finished, you’ve been thoroughly and exquisitely entertained. It makes my top ten favorite books.

Author Biography

Sandra Brown is the author of more than sixty New York Times bestsellers. She began her writing career in 1981 and since then has published over seventy novels, bringing the number of copies of her books in print worldwide to upwards of eighty million. Her work has been translated into thirty-three languages.

A lifelong Texan, Sandra Brown was born in Waco, grew up in Fort Worth and attended Texas Christian University, majoring in English. Before embarking on her writing career, she worked as a model at the Dallas Apparel Mart, and in television, including weathercasting for WFAA-TV in Dallas, and feature reporting on the nationally syndicated program “PM Magazine.”

She is much in demand as a speaker and guest television hostess. Her episode on truTV’s “Murder by the Book” premiered the series in 2008 and she was one of the launch authors for Investigation Discovery’s new series, “Hardcover Mysteries.”

In 2009 Brown detoured from her thrillers to write Rainwater, a much acclaimed, powerfully moving story about honor and sacrifice during the Great Depression.
Brown recently was given an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Texas Christian University. She was named Thriller Master for 2008, the top award given by the International Thriller Writer’s Association. Other awards and commendations include the 2007 Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature and the Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Source: Amazon

Beat Them at their Own Game!

October 12, 2014October 12, 2014 / Susan O. / Leave a comment

Are you tired of feeling boggled when that internet meme comes around, pretending that it’s SOOOO impossible to think up a movie title without the letter “T” in it? Beat them at their own game and look super-smart to all your friends: here’s 100 easy movie titles that never use the letter T – and there’s a lot more than that! How many have you seen? If you haven’t seen them all, check out our catalog and watch one today!

Apo calypse Now
Life of Pi
Black Swan
Blood Diamond
Million Dollar Baby
Donnie Darko
Ghandi
High Noon
Fanny and Alexander
Groundhog Day