Monrovia Book Club

2011-08-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

eBooks

2011-03-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

Saying Goodbye

2010-10-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

We are discontinuing the Book Club Blog. Thank you so much for the support our followers have shown over the past year.

Please visit our Library Blog http://monroviapubliclibrary.blogspot.com/ or our Library website http://cityofmonrovia.ws/community-life/library to stay current with all the wonderful things happening at the Monrovia Public Library.

2010-10-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

It's October...

and we may think of the odd, occult, enigmatic, or eerie.

What scares you? The supernatural or the natural? The known world or the unknown? Do you prefer to read for excitement or comfort? Do you like the occasional thrill, in your reading, of hearing something go bump in the night?

2010-09-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

Views on terrorism and September 11

Almost nothing stirs stronger emotions than our memories of September 11, 2001. Much has been written: facts, opinions, speculation, fiction. Almost everyone has a story. Where were YOU when you heard about the September 11 terrorist attacks?

2010-07-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Reading theme for August 2010:

FANTASY WORLDS

2010-06-30T15:45:00.000-07:00

Reading theme for July 2010:

Going on vacation?

Where are you going?

Where have you been?

Where would you like to be?

Where would you go again in a minute?

Where will you never go again if you can help it?

2010-06-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

Mysteries featuring cats, dogs, and the occasional dinosaur:

“The cat who…” mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun, featuring Koko and Yum Yum
The Midnight Louie mysteries by Carol Nelson Douglas
The Sneaky Pie Brown mysteries by Rita Mae Brown
The Alice Nestleton mysteries by Lydia Adamson
Mysteries by Marian Babson
The Joe Grey mysteries by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Dog lover’s mysteries by Susan Conant
The bloodhound mysteries by Virginia Lanier
The Melanie Travis mysteries by Laurien Berenson

The Rex mysteries by Eric Garcia

2010-04-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

What do you believe? Is your faith strong, or uncertain, or do you have none? Are you interested in learning more? Does reading about religion reinforce your views or widen your perspective?

From books of prayer to calls for atheism, from deep spirituality to quizzical skepticism, perspectives on faith are represented at the library. A few examples:

How to know God by Deepak Chopra

10 things your minister wants to tell you (but can't, because he needs the job) by Oliver Thomas

Our journey to the sky : a guide to the process of spiritual formation by Mary K. Delurgio

The faith club : a Muslim, Christian, Jew-- three women search for understanding by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, Priscilla Warner

How to expand love by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The heart of the Buddha's teaching by Thich Nhat Hahn

Rise, let us be on our way by Pope John Paul II

Nothing : something to believe in by Nica Lalli

The Bible : a biography by Karen Armstrong

The end of faith by Sam Harris

The art of the inner meal : nourishing mind, body, and spirit by Donald Altman

Surprised by joy by C.S. Lewis

2010-03-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

Reading for April 2010:

Stories set in Los Angeles and nearby

Do you feel at home as you read?

2010-02-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

Reading for March 2010

2010-01-28T11:04:00.000-08:00

Reading theme for February 2010

Suggested reading:

A furnace afloat : the wreck of the Hornet and the harrowing 4,300-mile voyage of its survivors

Wave of destruction : the stories of four families and history’s deadliest tsunami

Miracle in the Andes : 72 days on the mountain and my long trek home

On a wing and a prayer : interviews with airline disaster survivors

Nine minutes, twenty seconds : the tragedy and triumph of ASA flight 529

Titanic survivor : the newly discovered memoirs of Violet Jessop, who survived both the Titanic and Britannic disasters

Capsized

Alive : the story of the Andes survivors

Adrift : seventy-six days lost at sea

Desperate journey, abandoned souls : true stories of castaways and other survivors

Miracles on the water : the heroic survivors of a World War II U-boat attack

Storm tactics handbook : modern methods of heaving-to for survival in extreme conditions

Soul surfer : a true story of faith, family, and fighting to get back on the board

The survivors club : the secrets and science that could save your life

Death raft : the human drama of the Medusa shipwreck

Gales of November : the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

In harm’s way : the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the extraordinary story of its survivors

Killer weather : stories of great disasters

The great international disaster book

The greatest disasters of the 20th century (1975)

The end of the world : a history

Eye of the storm : inside the world’s deadliest hurricanes, tornadoes, and blizzards

Black cloud : the great Florida hurricane of 1928

Divine wind : the history and science of hurricanes

The great deluge : Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Category 5 : the story of Camille, lessons unlearned from America’s most violent hurricane

Isaac’s storm : a man, a time, and the deadliest hurricane in history

2009-12-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

Reading theme for January 2010

Hungry for some entertainment? The Monrovia Public Library has some tasty mysteries, often spiced with recipes and puns. You might like to sink your teeth into these books. And these are only a few slices of the pie.

Diane Mott Davidson:

The Cereal Murders ~ Tough Cookie ~ Sticks & Scones ~ The Last Suppers

Tamar Myers:

Custard’s Last Stand ~ Thou Shalt Not Grill ~ The Crepes of Wrath ~ Eat, Drink, and Be Wary ~ Gruel and Unusual Punishment

G.A. McKevett:

Just Desserts ~ Bitter Sweets ~ Murder a la Mode ~ Peaches and Screams

Peter King:

Dine and Die on the Danube Express

Phyllis Richman:

Murder on the Gravy Train ~ The Butter Did It ~ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Ham?

Janet Laurence:

A Tasty Way to Die ~ Recipe for Death

Philip R. Craig:

A Vineyard Killing ~ Vineyard Blues

Susan Wittig Albert:

Thyme of Death ~ Rosemary Remembered ~ Chile Death ~ Lavender Lies

2009-11-23T17:51:00.000-08:00

Reading theme for December 2009

Values, ethics, decisions, and success

What's most important in life? What defines your best behavior? What choices will take you where you want to be? How do you balance your needs with the needs of others? Of course there is no single answer. But many authors have tackled the questions.

See if any of these books have advice you can use. See if any of these authors have values that match yours. See if reading them will confirm what you already know, or point you in a new direction.

Or, if you have a favorite book on values, share it with us.

Jon M. Huntsman 174 HUNTSMAN
Winners never cheat : everyday values we learned as children (but may have forgotten)

David Foster Wallace 370.112 WALLACE
This is water : some thoughts, delivered on a significant occasion, about living a compassionate life

Joe Massengale and David Clow 650.1089 MAS
Six lessons for six sons : an extraordinary father, a simple formula for success

Martha Beck 158.1 BECK
Finding your own North Star : claiming the life you were meant to live

Rafe Esquith 370.1 ESQUITH
Teach like your hair's on fire : the methods and madness inside room 56

Cal Ripken, Jr 796.357 RIPKEN
Get in the game : 8 elements of perseverance that make the difference

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams 973.4 JEF
"Ye will say I am no Christian" : the Thomas Jefferson/John Adams correspondence on religion, morals, and values

John C. Maxwell 158 MAXWELL
Today matters : 12 daily practices to guarantee tomorrow's success

Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber 158.1 UKLEJA
Who are you and what do you want? : a journey for the best of your life

Peter S. Temes 158.1 TEMES
The power of purpose : living well by doing good

Rushworth M. Kidder 179 KIDDER
Moral courage

Jamie C. Miller 649.1 MILLER
10-minute life lessons for kids : 52 fun and simple games and activities to teach your child trust, honesty, love, and other important values

Jan Goldstein 296.7 GOLDSTEIN
Sacred wounds : succeeding because of life's pain

Dwight Currie 170.44 CURRIE
How we behave at the feast : reflections on an age of plenty

Jimmy Carter 306 CARTER
Our endangered values : America's moral crisis

Norma J. Livo PARENT & TEACHER COLLECTION 398.2 LIVO
Bringing out their best : values education and character development through traditional tales

Jim Taylor 306.874 TAYLOR
Your children are under attack : how popular culture is destroying your kids' values and how you can protect them

Jim Wallis 261.7 WALLIS
God's politics : why the right gets it wrong and the left doesn't get it

Laura Schlessinger 158 SCHLESSINGER
Stop whining, start living

Harold S. Kushner 296.3 KUSHNER
Overcoming life's disappointments

John G. Miller 158.1 MILLER
QBQ! : the question behind the question

Joy Browne 158 BROWNE
The nine fantasies that will ruin your life (and the eight realities that will save you)

M. Scott Peck 174 PECK
A world waiting to be born : rediscovering civility

2009-10-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

Reading theme for November 2009

VAMPIRES

Suggested reading...but feel free to choose your own

Novels by:

Nancy Baker - The Night Inside
L.A. Banks - The Awakening, The Hunted
Patricia Briggs - Bone Crossed
P.C. Cast - Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, Untamed
MaryJanice Davidson - Undead and Unwed
Melissa de la Cruz - Blue Bloods, Masquerade, Revelations
P.N. Elrod - I, Strahd
Christine Feehan - Conspiracy Game, Dark Curse
Andrew Fox - Fat White Vampire Blues
Heather Graham - Kiss of Darkness, Blood Red
Claudia Gray - Evernight
Laurell K. Hamilton - Skin Trade, Obsidian Butterfly
Charlaine Harris - Club Dead, Dead Until Dark
Kim Harrison - White Witch, Black Curse
Tom Holland - Lord of the Dead
A.M. Jenkins - Night Road
Jeanne Kalogridis - Covenant with the Vampire
Elizabeth Kostova - The Historian
Brian Lumley - Blood Brothers, The Last Aerie
Amanda Marrone - Uninvited
A. Lee Martinez - Gil's All Fright Diner
Richelle Mead - Vampire Academy, Shadow Kiss, Frostbite
Brian Meehl - Suck It Up
Stephenie Meyer - Twilight, New Moon, Breaking Dawn
Christopher Moore - Practical Demonkeeping
C.E. Murphy - Heart of Stone
Kim Newman - Anno Dracula
Kimberly Pauley - Sucks to Be Me
Anne Rice - The Vampire Lestat, Memnoch the Devil
Fred Saberhagen - A Sharpness on the Neck
Ellen Schreiber - Vampire Kisses, Vampireville
L.J. Smith - Night World, Vampire Diaries
Justin Somper - Blood Captain
Vivian Vande Velde - Companions of the Night
Guillermo del Toro - The Strain
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - Darker Jewels, Writ in Blood

Non-fiction:

In search of Dracula
by Raymond T. McNally

Slayers and their vampires
by Bruce A. McClelland

Vlad the impaler
by Enid A. Goldberg

and of course the original:

DRACULA
by Bram Stoker

2009-09-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

Monrovia Book Club

reading theme for October 2009

the books of

Alexander McCall Smith

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series (featuring Precious Ramotswe)

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Morality for Beautiful Girls
Tears of the Giraffe
The Kalahari Typing School for Men
The Full Cupboard of Life
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Blue Shoes and Happiness
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
The Miracle at Speedy Motors
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

The Sunday Philosophy Club series (featuring Isabel Dalhousie)

The Sunday Philosophy Club
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
The Right Attitude to Rain
The Careful Use of Compliments
The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday

The 44 Scotland Street series

44 Scotland Street
Espresso Tales
The World According to Bertie

The Portuguese Irregular Verbs series (featuring Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld)

Portuguese Irregular Verbs
The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs
At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances

and other books

The Girl Who Married a Lion and Other Tales from Africa

Dream Angus : the Celtic God of Dreams

and don’t forget his children’s books

Akimbo and the Lions
Akimbo and the Elephants
Akimbo and the Snakes
Akimbo and the Crocodile Man
The Five Lost Aunts of Harriet Bean
The Cowgirl Aunt of Harriet Bean

Harriet Bean and the League of Cheats
Max & Maddy & the Chocolate Money Mystery
Max & Maddy & the Bursting Balloons Mystery

2009-08-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

Opening October 1, 2009