Tag Archives: bookface

#BookFaceFriday “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells

“Wait a minute, #BookFace. Are you telling me that you built a time machine…!

We’re springing forward through time this weekend with daylight savings, but this week’s #BookfaceFriday is going much further!

The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells (The Perfection Form Company, 1979) is a dystopian, post-apocalyptic, science fiction novella about a time traveler’s firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years into the future where he discovers two separate human species. It’s available as a Book Club Kit from the Nebraska Library Commission, with 12 copies for your reading group to borrow. You can also find “The Time Machine” as both an eBook and an audiobook with other stories through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, along with several other novels from H.G. Wells.

“This book being one of the forerunners in time traveller genre throws light on a completely different kind of future from the conventional techie high-fi version. This book introduced me to a unique possibility.

H.G Wells has done an excellent job by describing the minute details about the future earth and making us imagine the world he envisioned. His creativity and attention to detail amazed me. The book was written in the 1890s and yet is still a masterpiece and relevant now.”

Medium

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

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday – “Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin

Notes on a #BookFaceFriday

Celebrate Black History Month with this week’s #BookFaceFriday,Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin with an introduction by Edward P. Jones (Beacon Press, 2012.) You can find this title in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries curated collection “Black History: Paying tribute to black history, culture, and contributions” created to help users find great reads to celebrate Black History Month. Its over 100 titles consist of literature, fiction, nonfiction, autobiographies, and biographies. Nebraska OverDrive has several James Baldwin titles available for readers, in both ebook and Audiobook format. You can also browse the Nebraska Library Commission’s Book Club Kits collections for African American voices!


“The wonderful thing about writers like Baldwin is the way we read them and come across passages that are so arresting we become breathless and have to raise our eyes from the page to keep from being spirited away.”
―Edward P. Jones

“He named for me the things you feel but couldn’t utter . . . articulated for the first time to white America what it meant to be American and a black American at the same time.” ―Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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 “Modern Romance” by Aziz Ansari

This #BookFace has excellent comedic timing!

This week’s #Bookface goes out to everyone who just wants someone who can make them laugh. Celebrate Valentines Day with Aziz Ansari’s offbeat tales of dating in the modern world, “Modern Romance” (‎ Penguin Press, 2015) will have you laughing and shaking your head the entire read. It’s available as a as an ebook and audiobookthrough Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, and is the perfect addition to any February reading list.

“With his first foray into the literary sphere, Ansari handedly accomplishes what he set out to do. Modern Romance provides insight into what people do to find love. He infuses their stories with his sass and parallels their shame with much of his own. On top of that, Ansari’s advice is easy to follow and backed with science and research. Modern Romance is the pinnacle of romantic guides—at least until a new dating app makes it obsolete.”

VOX

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “The Dead Husband Cookbook” by Danielle Valentine

This #BookFace is cooking up a mystery!

Sharpen your knives, and get ready for a perfectly scrumptious #Bookface. If you’re looking for a Valentines read but aren’t a fan of romance, then this week’s #BookfaceFriday, “The Dead Husband Cookbook” by Danielle Valentine (Sourcebooks, 2025) is just the pick for you. It’s available as a as an ebook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, and is the perfect addition to any anti-valentines day reading list.

“A tasty and wildly macabre story that foodies and horror fans will devour, probably in one big gulp…Valentine scatters an enjoyable assortment of recipes throughout the narrative that will tempt the reader into heating up the skillet.”

Booklist, STARRED review

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Some Like it Cold” by Elle McNicoll

Brrr it’s #BookFace in Here!

This this week’s #BookfaceFriday is for all those people who love the winter and the cold. “Some Like It Cold” by Elle McNicoll (Wednesday Books, 2024). Recommended for high school readers, this romance novel is Hallmark movie meets will-they-won’t-they rom com. It’s available as a as an audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens. If you are not one of those people who enjoy the cold, please wrap up in your coziest blanket with a hot beverage and disassociate from the frigid temps outside with a good read. (This is what I will be doing.)

“Some Like It Cold is a heartfelt romance that is sweeping in its scope and tender in its emotional depth. McNicoll has crafted a powerful ode to love in all its forms: of community, of home and of ourselves – as well as the genre of romance itself. A clever, poignant and healing love story”

Bea Fitzgerald, Sunday Times bestselling author of Girl, Goddess, Queen

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Prairie Lotus” by Linda Sue Park

Happy trails it’s #BookFaceFriday!

We hope no one dies of dysentery in this week’s #BookfaceFriday, it’s “Prairie Lotus” by Linda Sue Park (Clarion Books, 2022). Recommended for kids in grades 5-7, is a kids historical fiction novel that explores the hardships and adventures of American frontier life especially for a young half-Asian girl. It’s available as a Book Club Kit from the Nebraska Library Commission, with 10 copies for your reading group to borrow. You can also find “Prairie Lotus” as both an audiobook and eBook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens. Linda Sue Park is an award winning author with a large collection of work, and you can find many of her titles on OverDrive, NLC also has “A Long Walk to Water” and “When My Name was Keoko” available for checkout in our Book Club Kits collection. You can read more about Prairie Lotus and how in our Book Club Spotlight post.

“Strongly reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s novels in its evocative, detailed depictions of daily frontier life….[Hanna’s] painful experiences, including microaggressions, exclusion, and assault, feel true to the time and place, and Park respectfully renders Hanna’s interactions with Ihanktonwan women. An absorbing, accessible introduction to a troubled chapter of American history.”

Publishers Weekly, 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

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday – “Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind” by Nate Bargatze

Have a laugh with #BookFaceFriday!

So many #BookFace‘s, so little time! If you’re feeling like you didn’t get a chance to read all the amazing books that came out last year, or you just like to wait until the hold lines are shorter, you’ll love this week’s highlighted Overdrive collection. One of those amazing books published in 2025 was “Big Dumb Eyes” by Nate Bargatze (Grand Central Publishing, 2025), the comedian’s first book, full of heart and his classic funny stories. This title is available as an eBook and Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the curated collection, “Best Books of 2025.” Find out what you missed last year in this great collection of over 300 titles.

“I Went To Career Day For My Daughter’s School… They Put Me At A Table With A Surgeon… They Asked Him, ‘How Long Do You Have To Go Have To Go To School To Be A Surgeon?’ He’s Like, ’54 Years,’ Or Whatever. They Asked Me, ‘How Long To Be A Comedian?’ I Was Like, ‘You’re Good Now'” Nate Bargatze

“The Southern comic delivers a good-natured memoir of his years in the trenches… Bargatze never takes himself too seriously, but there’s plenty of grown-up self-awareness here along with the yucks.”

Kirkus Reviews

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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 “Dory Fantasmagory” by Abby Hanlon

It’s a fantasmagory #BookFaceFriday!

This week’s #BookfaceFriday is bursting with character!

Dory Fantasmagory” (Dial Books, 2015) is the first in Abby Hanlon’s ongoing children’s series all about Dory. Recommended for kids in grades 1-4, “Dory Fantasmagory” is filled humor and charming pencil-drawn illustrations. It’s available as a Book Club Kit from the Nebraska Library Commission, with 3 copies for your reading group to borrow.
You can also find the next five books in the Dory Fantasmagory series as audiobooks through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens.

This title came to us via a donation from Sower Books in Lincoln! We love that book stores and book clubs around the state regularly donate their books so that more people can read them. So we want to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have sent us donations!

“This inventive child is irresistible…Charming, funny and true to life.”

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

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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Friday Reads and #BookFaceFriday – “Taste of Home: The Best Family Feast”

This combo #BookFace & #FridayReads is cooking up a great meal!

It’s that time of year again where we’re cooking big meals for family events, and sometimes that means being brave and trying new recipes. I found a simple solution with easy access to magazines on Nebraska OverDrive Libraries! “Taste of Home” just one of 4,615 English titles now available as an eBook from Nebraska OverDrive Libraries! Magazines do not count against a reader’s checkout limit of 6, and magazine issues may be checked out for 7, 14, or 21 days, depending on your library’s policy. Along with all the English-language titles, you have access to Spanish-language titles, and many other languages including French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Afrikaans, and Italian.

With 50+ recipes to choose from, it’s fun looking for something new to try in the kitchen. The issue has recipes for Thanksgiving classics such as a Favorite Dutch Apple Pie, Foolproof Gravy, and Parker House Rolls, along with some more fun and funky iterations like Oyster Stuffing, Dill Pickle Potato Salad, and Sweet Potato Coconut Pie with Marshmallow Meringue. However my favorite option is the Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake, a delicious looking combination of two of my favorite desserts. With the clear instructions that Taste of Home provides, I’m hoping to make a yummy dessert for my family to share on the holidays.

Taste of Home is America’s #1 cooking magazine and your #1 recipe resource for delicious, family-favorite dishes! And you’ll love the variety—200+ easy recipes and tips in every issue will help make any occasion special, from everyday meals to holiday celebrations.”

Taste of Home Blurb

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 196 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,164 audiobooks, 45,416 ebooks, and 6,269 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available in our Book Club collectionpermanent collection, and Nebraska OverDrive Libraries. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

Taste of Home: The Best Family Feast. September 26, 2025.

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#BookFaceFriday “Walking in Two Worlds” by Wab Kinew

Watch your step! It’s #BookFaceFriday!

November is National Native American Heritage Month Month, join in paying tribute to the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans. Check out “Walking in Two Worlds” by Wab Kinew (Tundra Book Group, 2021). It’s a YA fantasy novel about a teenage girl caught between her gaming life online and the real world. It’s available as an audiobook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the “Native American Heritage” curated collection. Peruse this collection of over 160 titles that range from YA to nonfiction, available all November.

“With dizzying action set in virtual reality, Walking in Two Worlds is at once exhilarating, clever, and poignant, seamlessly blending traditional knowledge with science fiction for an important entry into the genre of Indigenous Futurism. It doesn’t just walk in two worlds, it sprints.”

David A. Robertson, award-winning author of the bestselling The Barren Grounds

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Yellowbird, There’s a Problem” by Lee Bachand

The cat is out of the bag, it’s #BookFaceFriday!

This #BookFace is ready for the hunt! “Yellowbird, There’s a Problem” by Lee Bachand (Lee J Bachand; 2013) follows Amy “Yellowbird” Becker, fashionista, genius, and heir apparent to her grandfather’s powerful shipping company as she arrives on the NSU campus. Powerful forces work to take her out of the picture, but Yellowbird won’t go down without a fight.

We have 4 copies for your reading group to borrow in our Book Club Kit collection.

“Get ready for a wild ride around the world. This book has everything; intrigue, suspense, and mystery with lots of action. Amy Becker “Yellowbird” is the total package, beauty, brains, and brawn. As the heir apparent to her great uncle’s dynasty, she fights and claws her way through a man’s world.”

Reader Comments

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 – “Victorian Psycho” by Virginia Feito

Happy Halloween #BookFaceFriday!

It’s a #BookFace bloodbath! If you’re still looking for a Halloween read consider checking out the suspenseful thriller “Victorian Psycho” by Virginia Feito (Liveright, 2025), a riveting tale of a bloodthirsty governess who learns the true meaning of vengeance. This title is available as an eBook and Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the curated collection, “Scare Up a Good Book: Horror and dark reads.” Find your perfect horror read in this collection of over 250 titles, available all October.

“Sleek, deadly and paced like a runaway train, Feito’s novel is an absolutely delectable mashup of horror sensibilities, and one of 2025’s must-read genre releases. …At just 200 pages, Victorian Psycho is lean, lithe and clear in its purpose and its violent delights. It’s a book you can easily finish in a single sitting, yet Feito’s prose is so dense with meaning and subtlety that you may just pick it right back up again.”

BookPage, starred review

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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 “Over My Dead Body” by Sweeney Boo

Creepy and cooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re all together ooky, the #BookFace family!

We’ve been at the Nebraska Library Association Conference this week connecting with Nebraska’s librarians and Library staff! Sally Snyder, NLC’s Children and Youth Services Coordinator, also had a table there full of her giveaway books, all available for libraries to take home with them. One of those books is this week’s #BookFace, “Over My Dead Body: A Witchy Graphic Novel” by Sweeney Book (Candlewick Press, 2022). Aimed at readers grade 8 and up, this witchy graphic novel set at a magical school is sure to round out your YA collection of Halloween and October themed reads!

Spooky, mysterious, and also full of heart, this graphic novel is an enchanting story of friendship and found family. An exciting fantasy full of mystery and witchcraft.”

Kirkus Reviews

This title comes from our large collection of children’s and young adult books sent to us as review copies from book publishers. When our Children and Young Adult Library Services Coordinator, Sally Snyder, is done with them, the review copies are available for the Library System Directors to distribute to school and public libraries in their systems.

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

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#BookFaceFriday – “Everyone is Lying to You” by Jo Piazza

Smile pretty it’s #BookFaceFriday!

Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead in this week’s #BookFaceFriday! This social media influencer thriller is sure to keep you on your toes; check out “Everyone is Lying to You: A Thriller” by Jo Piazza (Dutton, 2025.) This title is available as an eBook and Audiobook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the curated collection, “Scare Up a Good Book: Horror and dark reads.” Find your perfect horror read in this collection of over 250 titles, available all October.

“Jo Piazza dazzles in Everyone Is Lying To You, pairing a witty, inviting tone with a pulpy, seedy mystery full of sharp twists–a combination as fun as it is clever. . . . Add to that Piazza’s deliciously ripped-from-the-headlines plot, and you have the makings of an edgy, juicy thriller that doesn’t let up until its explosive end.”

—Bookreporter

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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 “1984” by George Orwell

Sometimes it feels like #BookFace is watching me!

“Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights!” is the theme of this year’s #BannedBooksWeek, and we are celebrating with a banned #BookFace! The Nebraska Library Commission supports readers and the freedom to read so we make sure our various collections reflect that. “1984” by George Orwell (Signet Classic, 1961) has been challenged and banned for its political themes, particularly being perceived as pro-communist or anti-government, its explicit sexual content, and its portrayal of surveillance and censorship. A book is considered challenged when calls are made for it to be banned or removed from the public’s access. This is one of many banned or challenged titles NLC has available in our Book Club Kit Collection, titles like The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Looking For Alaska by John Green, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and the Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling, just to name a few.  This week’s #BookFace and other banned books can be found on the NLC Book Club Kit webpage. This service allows libraries and school librarians to “check out” multiple copies of a book without adding to their permanent collections, or budgets. NLC also has several banned or challenged titles available to our Nebraska OverDrive Libraries, including “1984” as both an ebook and an audiobook.

“This work remains as powerful, timely, and important now as it was when first published in 1949—even more so as Orwell’s totalitarian vision unfolds disquietingly in the present day. The novel challenges students with thought-provoking ideas that will spark discussion, composition, research, and debate. In one of the original dystopian cautionary tales, past history is changed to serve an agenda and independent thought is outlawed. Orwell’s text guides readers out of complacency so that they never slacken the vigil against oppression.”

— School Library Journal

You can find more information about Banned Books Week and the fight against censorship at ALA.org/advocacy/bbooks! What are you doing to celebrate Banned Books Week? Let us know!

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

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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 – “Tender is the Flesh” by Agustina Bazterrica

You’ll want to devour this #BookFaceFriday!

I ate this #BookFace with some fava beans and a nice Chianti! Spooky season is upon us and nothing sets the vibe like a scary story. This week’s #BookFaceFriday is the perfect way to get your adrenaline flowing; check out “Tender is the Flesh” by Agustina Bazterrica (‎Scribner, 2020.) This title is available as an eBook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is a part of the curated collection, “Scare Up a Good Book: Horror and dark reads.” Find your perfect horror read in this collection of over 250 titles, available all October.

“From the first words of the Argentine novelist Agustina Bazterrica’s second novel, Tender Is the Flesh, the reader is already the livestock in the line, reeling, primordially aware that this book is a butcher’s block, and nothing that happens next is going to be pretty.”

—New York Times Book Review

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 192 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 29,081 audiobooks, 44,746 eBooks, and 6,170 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 “Family Ties” by Gary Paulsen

As far as anyone knows we’re one big happy #BookFace!

Snap a picture, it’s time for this week’s #BookfaceFriday, “Family Ties” by Gary Paulsen (Wendy Lamb Books, 2014). Book five in his Liar Liar series, family antics and the ties that bind are put on center stage in this quirky, funny YA read. Family Ties is available as a book club kit from the Nebraska Library Commission. You can also find the first four books in the Liar Liar series as e-books through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries: Kids & Teens. Family ties is one of thirteen titles by Gary Paulsen available to schools and public libraries as a book club kit.

This title came to us via a donation from the John A. Stahl Library in West Point! We love that book clubs around the state regularly donate their books so that more book clubs can read them. So we want to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have sent us donations!

“The fifth book (following Vote) about now fourteen-year-old Kevin Spencer is funny and off-beat. He continues to see life through his self-centered lens, but, in a bid to impress the beautiful Tina, Kevin volunteers to plan his uncle’s wedding. The plot is a bit over-the-top, but since Kevin is not an entirely reliable narrator, readers won’t expect logic.”

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

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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#BookFaceFriday “Smithsonian Magazine – The Noble Fury of Samuel Adams”

This #BookFaceFriday is making history!

We’re in Washington D.C. for this week’s #BookFace! The Smithsonian Magazine is just one of 4,401 English magazine titles available as an eBook from Nebraska OverDrive Libraries! Three years of issues are available of many titles, as well as some single titles (generally special edition issues of certain magazines or items like adult coloring books). Magazines do not count against a reader’s checkout limit of 6, and magazine issues may be checked out for 7, 14, or 21 days, depending on your library’s policy. Along with all the English-language titles, you have access to Spanish-language titles, and many other languages including French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Afrikaans, and Italian.

Smithsonian magazine places a Smithsonian lens on the world, looking at the topics and subject matters researched, studied and exhibited by the Smithsonian Institution—science, history, art, popular culture and innovation—and chronicling them every day for our diverse readership.” —Smithsonian Magazine Blurb

We just had to bring this week’s bookface with us to the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.! The Nebraska Center for the Book has selected one youth book and one adult book by Nebraska authors to represent the state at the 2025 National Book Festival: “Ted Kooser: More than a Local Wonder” by Carla Ketner and “The Long March Home: A World War II Novel of the Pacific” by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee. Both titles will be part of the National Center for the Book’s Great Reads from Great Places program. Check out the festival schedule, featured authors, and highlights for past events on the Library of Congress’s event page! You can even enjoy the event from home and watch the festival through the National Book Festival website.

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 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 “Fish Out of Water” by Katie Ruggle

Dive in to #BookFaceFriday!

This #BookFace will have you gasping for air. Now that the kids are back in school, hopefully all of you moms out there have a little more time for reading, and if you enjoy a good romance novel you’ll want to check out “Fish Out of Water: A Novel” by Katie Ruggle (Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2024). It’s a slow burn to spicy romance novel set in the Colorado wilderness, with the classic tropes of grumpy hero, charming heroine, and only one sleeping bag. It’s available as an eBook through Nebraska OverDrive Libraries and is one of sixteen Katie Ruggle titles we have in the OverDrive collection.

“Romance lovers will have no trouble rooting for this raunchy heroine and her strong, protective hero.”

Publisher’s Weekly

Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 194 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 26,898 audiobooks, 36,794 ebooks, and 5,133 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? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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