Library News and Notes

The 2013 selection for Lancaster County’s One Book, One Community initiative is The Cellist of Sarajevo by Canadian author Steven Galloway, a novel that explores themes of survival and self-sacrifice during the Yugoslav conflict. Inspired by a true event, Galloway tells the story of a cellist who decides to honor the memory of twenty-two friends…

Author Dan Brown is known for his fast action, suspenseful stories featuring puzzles, code-breaking and conspiracies. His latest is Inferno, a novel that brings back The Da Vinci Code’s Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. In Inferno, Langdon wakes up in a Florence, Italy hospital with no memory of the last two days. Fleeing a mysterious underground…

Does time seem to pass faster as we age? According to Richard Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, there may be a way to slow our perception of the speed of time. In a NY Times article Dr. Friedman explained that childhood years seem to unfold more slowly because of…

Don’t drop the ball. Do an end run around the summer doldrums and find knockout reads that go the distance. Borrow a book about sports from the Lititz Public Library. Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales Nearly five hundred interviews with current and…

A culinary novel is a feast for the senses. These books are available to borrow from the Lititz Public Library. The Abundance by Amit Majmudar When they learn their mother is dying, a brother and sister return home with a plan to immerse themselves in their Indian roots by learning to prepare her favorite recipes….

The popularity of novels for young adults is climbing steadily. Part of their popularity is due to commercial hits such as Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, a novel that explores the nature of friendship, loyalty and love set in a future world where an annual televised fight-to-the-death pits young people against one another. Borrow The…

Spend a rainy afternoon with a “summer” movie from the Lititz Public Library. Summer Interlude (1951) An accomplished ballet dancer is haunted by her tragic youthful relationship with a shy, handsome student. A Summer in Genoa (2008) A man moves his two daughters to Italy after their mother dies in a car accident. Indian Summer…

More than simply profiles of more than one person, these collected biographies focus on relationships and reveal insight into their subjects’ time and place in history. Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon by Andrea di Robilant The world of late 18th and early 19th century Venice is described through the letters Lucia…

Some modern mystery writers use historic settings to add atmosphere in their stories. Take, for example, Steve Hockensmith’s Holmes on the Range, the first book in a series featuring the Amlingmeyer brothers, Big Red and Old Red, two cowboys working on an 1892 Montana cattle ranch. Big Red spends the long nights on the range…

Literary fiction is often described by what it’s not. It’s not a mystery, science fiction saga, romance or thriller. Readers can expect a multilayered story with characters who linger long after the book is closed. These well-reviewed literary fiction novels are available to borrow from the Lititz Public Library. The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud…