Author Archives: Tessa Timperley

Friday Reads: “The Word is Murder: A Novel” by Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz is the author of over forty-five novels, including the Magpie Murders Series which has been made into a BBC TV series. He’s also a writer for BBC Television including series like Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War. Horowitz has written this new semi-autobiographical murder mystery series as a new spin off on the Sherlock Holmes and Watson partner dynamics.

Writing himself into the book as the one of the main characters, Anthony Horowitz is a TV writer and author living his life in London when he’s approached by private detective and police consultant Daniel Hawthorne, with the proposition to write about his interesting cases for a new book series. In a very Holmes like way, Hawthorne is brilliant with his deductions but has a personality that is hard to like.

Hawthorne comes with a case, Diana Cowper, the mother of a famous actor with a troubled past has been murdered in her own home, the day before she visited a mortuary to make her own funeral arrangements. As if she knew what was coming or even planned it herself. This unlikely duo will investigate the case together, Horowitz will follow all the twists and turns of the case with Hawthorne leading the way. 

The Word is Murder is the first novel in the Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery Series. There are now three books in the series, including The Sentence is Death and A Line to Kill.

Horowitz, Anthony. The Word is Murder: A Novel. Harper.2018.

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#BookFaceFriday “Across the Desert” by Dusti Bowling

Is it hot out here, or is it just #BookFaceFriday?

Well, we weren’t able to find a desert for this week’s #BookFace, but we did the best we could. If your kids are looking for a little adventure this summer, look no further! NLC has several great titles in their book club kit collection that would be great for taking their minds all over the world, like this week’s #BookFaceFridayAcross the Desert” by Dusti Bowling (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2023.) A middle-grade action-adventure story, about survival, friendship, and courage. It’s available for checkout as a book club kit or as an audiobook from Nebraska Overdrive Libraries. We have 10 copies available for your library to borrow today! We also have several other titles by Dusti Bowling available on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, check them all out today.

“Experience has taught Jolene she can only count on herself, and she doesn’t think she counts for much. But when she witnesses her friend’s accident in the desert via live stream, she finds the strength to rescue them both. Across the Desert combines compelling adventure, honesty, danger, and love.”

―Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 188 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

 
 

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#BookFaceFriday “I am Princess X” by Cherie Priest

Once upon a time, there lived a #BookFaceFriday!

Don’t let the summer slide happen for your tween and teen readers. With no homework to keep them busy, summer is a great time to start a YA book club. NLC has several great titles in their book club kit collection that would be perfect picks like this week’s #BookFaceFridayI Am Princess X” by Cherie Priest (‎Scholastic Inc., 2016.) Don’t be fooled by the crown, this is no fairy tale! A young adult mystery, interspersed with graphic novel elements, it will surely draw in younger teen readers. It’s available for checkout as a book club kit or as an audiobook from Nebraska Overdrive Libraries. We have 10 copies available for your library to borrow today! We also have discussion questions available on the Book Club page so your book club members have a great place to start when talking about what they’re reading.

“Priest’s YA debut is an engrossing cyberthriller packed with a puzzling mystery, crackerjack detective work, and an eerie, atmospheric sense of place. Teens who roll their eyes at adults out of touch with Internet culture will eat this up.”

— Booklist, starred review

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 188 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

 
 

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#BookFaceFriday “Sidetracked” by Diana Harmon Asher

On your marks, get set, #BookFace!

School is out, and that means Summer Reading Programs all over the state are gearing up. With this #BookFaceFriday we’re racing to the finish line with “Sidetracked” by Diana Harmon Asher (Harry N. Abrams, 2017.)

It’s available for checkout as a book club kit or as an eBook or audiobook from Nebraska Overdrive Libraries. The 2023 Summer Reading Program theme is “All Together Now,” kids will be reading all about Kindness, Friendship, and Unity, the topics for this year’s program. You can find a list of other titles on the Nebraska Library Commission 2023 SRP Book List, created by Sally Snyder, our Coordinator of Children and Young Adult Library Services.

“An entertaining mix of events, conversations, anxieties, and reflections, Joseph’s first-person narrative engages readers on page one and never lets up…Justice is sweet when bullies get their comeuppance in this rewarding first novel.”

– Booklist

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 188 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

 
 

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#BookFaceFriday “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus

We can’t wait to see your reaction to this #BookFaceFriday!

We’ve got #BookFaceFriday down to a science! This week’s title is brand new to our collection and has been incredibly popular among readers! It’s #1 New York Times Bestseller, “Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel” by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday, 2022)! It’s also available as an ebook and audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. We’ve added several new titles to our collection lately, so be sure to browse all the new books available on our Book Club Kits page; just look in the Browse Options section and select the Browse New Additions link for our latest reads. Add it to your to-be-read list today!

“Garmus tells a familiar story in a completely original voice in her delightful debut novel…Zott is an unforgettable protagonist, logical and literal and utterly herself…The novel deftly mixes comedy and tragedy, with only one very clear villain: the patriarchal culture of mid-20th century America, the days of which are numbered because of women like Zott…For those who admire a confident, bone-dry, and hilarious authorial voice, this novel achieves the difficult task of being both sharply satirical and heartwarming at the same time.”

— Historical Novels Review

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “The Paris Architect” by Charles Belfoure

Sneak a peek at today’s #BookFaceFriday!

This week’s #BookFace is brand new to our collection and would make a great book club read! We so appreciate when libraries donate their book club reads to us so we can share them with all of you! One of those recently donated titles is “The Paris Architect: A Novel” by Charles Belfoure (Sourcebooks Landmark, 2013), gifted to us by Bellevue Public Library! This title is also available as an ebook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. You can find this title and all the new books available on our Book Club Kits page; just look in the Browse Options section and select the Browse New Additions link for our latest reads. If you loved “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles or “The The Nightingale” by Kristen Hannah, this would be a great pick. Add it to your to-be-read list today!

“Architect and debut author Belfoure’s portrayal of Vichy France is both disturbing and captivating, and his beautiful tale demonstrates that while human beings are capable of great atrocities, they have a capacity for tremendous acts of courage as well.”

— Library Journal

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Thirteen Moons” by Charles Frazier

Take a hike with #BookFaceFriday!

Wander out into the great unknown with this week’s #BookFace! “Thirteen Moons: A Novel” by Charles Frazier (Random House, 2006) is available as an NLC Book Club Kit.

Book club kit already checked out? Read this title as an ebook or Audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. We also have Frazier’s award-winning novel “Cold Mountain” available as a book club kit. Add it to your to-be-read list today!

“Thirteen Moons brings this vanished world thrillingly to life… One of the great Native American, and American stories, and a great gift to all of us, from one of our very best writers.”

Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “The Woman in the Library” by Sulari Gentill

Shhhh! This is a #BookFaceFriday!

Happy National Library Week! We pretty much consider every week Library Week, but here’s a special #BookFace just for you. We have curated all the library-themed books into one place, the “Library Love: Stories centered around the library/librarians” collection on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. One of the titles is “The Woman in the Library” by Sulari Gentill (Poisoned Pen Press, 2022.) This thrilling murder mystery is available as both an eBook and an Audiobook.

“Ned Kelly Award winner Gentill (Crossing the Lines) presents a complex, riveting story within a story. The fictional story of an author writing about another writer with messy, complicated friendships and suspicion is an innovative literary mystery.”

―Library Journal (Starred Review)

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

 
 

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#BookFaceFriday “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah

This week’s #BookFaceFriday is larger than life.

 We are here for all the amazing memoirs and nonfiction works available right now, we couldn’t help but highlight “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood” by Trevor Noah (One World, 2015.) It’s available as a book club kit and on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. In fact, Nebraska OverDrive Libraries has over 3,700 titles in its Nonfiction: Biography & Autobiography section alone. This excellent memoir is available as an eBook.
“Powerful prose . . . told through stories and vignettes that are sharply observed, deftly conveyed and consistently candid. Growing organically from them is an affecting investigation of identity, ethnicity, language, masculinity, nationality and, most of all, humanity.” — Mail & Guardian (South Africa)

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team
Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries! Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
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#BookFaceFriday “Might Kindred” by Mónica Gomery

An ode to #BookFaceFriday!

April is National Poetry Month, and we wanted to celebrate by highlighting some of the amazing poetry NLC has in its collection. Like this week’s #BookFaceFriday, “Might Kindred” (University of Nebraska Press, 2022) is a winner of the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry.

One of the most prestigious academic presses in the country, the University of Nebraska Press sends us around 75 select titles per year, which are added to the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse, also known as the Nebraska State Documents Collection. This collection is comprised of publications issued by Nebraska state agencies, ensuring that state government information is available to a wide audience and that those valuable publications are preserved for future generations. University of Nebraska Press books, as well as all state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons.

“These generous and sensitive meditations on belonging and the first-generation experience cast intimate light on shared human experiences.”
Publishers Weekly
Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
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#BookFaceFriday “The Dearly Beloved” by Cara Wall

We are gathered here today for #BookFaceFriday!

This week’s #BookFace is brand new to our collection and would make a great book club read! We so appreciate when libraries donate their book club reads to us so we can share them with all of you! One of those recently donated titles is “The Dearly Beloved: A Novel” by Cara Wall (Simon & Schuster, 2019), gifted to us by the Kearney Public Library! This title is also available as an ebook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. You can find this title and all the new books available on our Book Club Kits page; just look in the Browse Options section and select the Browse New Additions link for our latest reads. Add it to your to-be-read list today!

“Underlying the very readable, honestly human propulsion of her characters’ lives in their near-entirety, Wall does a tricky thing quite well, exploring the facts of faith and love at both their most exalting and most trying.”

— Booklist

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Things Not Seen” by Andrew Clements

We didn’t see this #BookFace coming!

Don’t blink or you’ll miss this week’s #BookFaceFriday! The Nebraska Library Commission has Book Club Kits for a wide range of readers, including kids’ chapter books and Young Adult titles. One such YA title is “Things Not Seen” by Andrew Clements

(Puffin Books, 2004) it is book one in a three-part series, and the winner of the American Library Association Schneider Family Book Award. It’s available as a book club kit for your teen or YA book club. This is one of many YA titles NLC has available in our Book Club Kit Collection, titles like A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, we also have titles by Laurie Halse Anderson, Gary Paulsen, and Neal Shusterman, just to name a few. This week’s #BookFace and other YA titles can be found on the NLC Book Club Kit webpage, you can search by grade level or by genre. This service allows libraries and school librarians to “check out” multiple copies of a book without adding to their permanent collections, or budgets.

“Clements’s story is full of life; it’s poignant, funny, scary, and seemingly all too possible. The author successfully blends reality with fantasy in a tale that keeps his audience in suspense until the very end.”

— School Library Journal

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Frog Music” by Emma Donoghue

It’s not easy being green with this #BookFaceFriday!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We’re celebrating with an Irish author for this #BookFaceFriday. Born in Dublin, Emma Donoghue is a worldwide bestselling author, and we have several of her books available, like “Frog Music: A Novel” (Back Bay Books, 2015.) This title is available as both an eBook and an Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. It’s also a part of the “St. Patrick’s Day: Irish Authors/Settings” collection on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. Check out all the titles in this carefully curated collection of books by Irish authors or with Irish settings/themes.

“Donoghue flawlessly combines literary eloquence and vigorous plotting in her first full-fledged mystery, a work as original and multifaceted as its young murder victim…. An engrossing and suspenseful tale about moral growth, unlikely friendship, and breaking free from the past.”

―Sarah Johnson, Booklist (Starred Review)

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

 
 

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#BookFaceFriday – “Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer” by Robert Cochran

This #BookFaceFriday is a hole in one!

March is Women’s History Month and we’re shining a light on the impressive Nebraska women featured in our collection. Like this week’s #BookFace,Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer” by Robert Cochran (‎University of Nebraska Press; Illustrated edition, 2009.) You can find this title in the Nebraska Library Commission’s permanent collection; the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse receives documents every month from all Nebraska state agencies, including the University of Nebraska Press (UNP). UNP books, as well as all Nebraska state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons. Find great reads to celebrate Women’s History Month in all of NLC’s collections, including Book Club Kits, and Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.

“Cochran’s well-researched and well-written book places Louise Pound securely in her time and place and reveals much about the plight of women in higher education in a not-so-distant  past. . . . It is an invaluable work on the history of women in the professions in the early twentieth century.”

—Shirley Anne Leckie, Journal of American History

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “What’s the Matter with Mary Jane?” by Candas Jane Dorsey

Take a walk with this #BookFaceFriday!

Pop that collar and take a stroll with this week’s #BookFaceFriday. If these blustery Midwest days are too much for your daily walk, why not just sit down with a good book, like “What’s the Matter with Mary Jane?: An Epitome Apartments Mystery” by Candas Jane Dorsey (ECW Press, 2021)? This title is available as both an eBook and an Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. We also have the first book in Dorsey’s Epitome Apartments series “The Adventures of Isabel” available as well.

“A wise-cracking, grammar-obsessed, pansexual amateur sleuth is thrust into the world of the uber-rich when her enigmatic, now-famous childhood friend breezes back into her life begging for help with a dangerous stalker.”

book jacket

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

 
 

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Friday Reads: “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death” by Jean-Dominique Bauby

For me, the hallmark of all my favorite books is that I enjoy reading them over and over again. Maybe years apart or for some I revisit them every year, but I always come back. If I like a book enough that I want to re-read it, I know it’s a classic for me. This is one of those books. Written entirely by a man bed-bound and paralyzed, Jean-Dominique Bauby, suffered a massive stroke and was left in what doctors thought was a completely vegetative state. In truth, his mind was intact but he could no longer communicate with the rest of his body, what is now known as locked-in syndrome. Yet through blinking and eye-movement alone, he wrote what is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. It is both his memoir and treaties on life and death and how he copes with the hand he’s been dealt. Translated from Bauby’s original french by Jeremy Leggatt, this short (only 131 pages) but poignant book will make every reader look at the world differently.

Bauby, Jean-Dominique. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death. Vintage. 1998.

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#BookFaceFriday – “Black Print with a White Carnation” by Amy Helene Forss

#BookFaceFriday celebrates Black History Month!

Extra, extra, read all about it with this week’s #BookFaceFriday,Black Print with a White Carnation: Mildred Brown and the Omaha Star Newspaper, 1938-1989” by Amy Helene Forss (‎University of Nebraska Press; Illustrated edition, 2014.) You can find this title in the Nebraska Library Commission’s permanent collection; the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse receives documents every month from all Nebraska state agencies, including the University of Nebraska Press (UNP). UNP books, as well as all Nebraska state documents, are available for checkout by libraries and librarians for their patrons. Find great reads to celebrate Black History Month in all of NLC’s collections, including Book Club Kits, and Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.

“In addition to its well-researched look at Brown’s career, the book provides an informative description of the history of black-owned newspapers in North America, going back to the founding in 1853 of the Provincial Freeman, an antislavery newspaper in Canada.” ―Omaha World-Herald

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Really Good, Actually” by Monica Heisey

There’s no crying in #BookFaceFriday!

Laugh until you cry with this week’s #BookFaceFriday. If ever there was an anti-Valentine’s Day read this one is it. If you love “Bridget Jone’s Diary,” or just belting out “All By Myself” by Celine Dion, I think you’ll enjoy the messy love life in this read. Whatever your Valentine’s Day plans, you can find your next book on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. Like “Really Good, Actually: A Novel” by Monica Heisey (HarperCollins Publishers, 2023), it’s available as an ebook and an audiobook today.

“Heisey’s portrayal of the joys and pitfalls of online dating will ring true, and Maggie’s self-deprecating, often snarky humor keeps the deeper themes of the story from getting too heavy. It’s a thoroughly modern take on 1990s chick lit, exaggeratedly over the top in the best possible way. Readers will cheer messy Maggie on as she stumbles inelegantly toward a happy, postdivorce life.”

— Booklist

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive. Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,554 audiobooks, 32,935 eBooks, and 3,940 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” by Helen Simonson

We are hung up on this #BookFace!

As Valentine’s Day approaches, we wanted to share the love with this week’s BookFace. Check out “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand: A Novel” by Helen Simonson (Random House Publishing Group, 2010), available as a book club kit, as well as an Ebook or Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.

This book club kit is one of many that includes a large print copy. If your book group needs large print options, you can filter your search results to show which kits have them available by selecting the “Large Print” button in the Limit Search to Sets that Include Special Formats field of the Search Options section on our Book Club Kit page. Leaving the other search fields empty will display all of the kits with large print copies.

You can also borrow this title and others like it in the “Armchair Travel” curated collection on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, full of books that will transport you all around the world. Simonson is a New York Times bestselling author, and her book “The Summer Before the War,” is also available for readers in OverDrive and as a kit.

“With courting curmudgeons, wayward sons, religion, race, and real estate in a petty and picturesque English village, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is surprisingly, wonderfully romantic and fresh . . . the best first novel I’ve read in a long, long time.”

―Cathleen Schine, author of The Love Letter

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper” by Phaedra Patrick

Sit for a spell with #BookFaceFriday!

This week’s #BookFace would make a charming book club read! A story about hope, healing, and self-discovery, it has great discussion written all over it. And just your luck, “The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper” by Phaedra Patrick (MIRA, 2017) is available as an NLC Book Club Kit. Book club kit already checked out? Try one of the many read-alikes we have in our book club collection, or read this title as an ebook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. If you’re a fan of “A Man Called Ove” or “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” this is the read for you. Add it to your to-be-read list today!

“Phaedra Patrick understands the soul. Eccentric, charming, and wise, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper is about finding courage, generosity, and compassion, even when all seems lost. With clear-eyed prose and a moving story, Patrick reminds us how selfless people can be she reminds us to be brave. The Curious Charms is not just for those who are mourning over love or the past. This book will illuminate your heart.”

Nina George, New York Times bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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