Please remember that libraries in general and books in particular can be a source of comfort and entertainment, a mode of travel, a way to explore new ideas, learn new things, and they can even push us out of our comfort zones from time to time! Whether you like to curl up in a comfy chair with a book from your favorite genre or challenge yourself to think differently and explore new ideas, the Andover Libraries are here for you.
At this time of year, all sorts of Best of 2020 lists are appearing. We have searched all kinds of Best Books of 2020 lists ranging from Amazon to various magazines, libraries, and newspapers and have come up with a list that includes books that appeared on several lists that one or the other Andover library has. Between the two libraries we own almost all of the titles on the collective best-books lists! How many of these books have you read? Come check some of them out.
Interestingly, many of the books checked out most frequently from our libraries in 2020 were not published in 2020. The best among Andover readers (of all ages) were:
Fiction
Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate, published in 2017
Walk the Wire, by David Baldacci
Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens, published in 2018 and on the best seller list of the New York Times for over two years!
Nonfiction
Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, by Judy Christie, published 2019
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, by Charlie Mackesy, published 2019
The Splendid and the Vile, by Erik Larson
Children/Youth
Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey, published 1948
Mindcraft Combat Handbook, by Stephanie Milton, published 2014
Stuntshow, Hot Wheels Fiction, published 2008
Good news! The State Library has greatly expanded its list of e-magazines that can be checked out. These are short-term additions due to the pandemic and will be available through May. If you haven’t already taken advantage of the State Library’s collection of e-books, audio books, and e-magazines, now is the time to start. It would be a great New Year’s Resolution!
To borrow materials from the State Library, you need to download the free app “Libby” from your app store and onto your tablet or smartphone. When you log in, your library card number will be your usual library card number preceded by 4300. So if your library card number is 123, your State Library Card number will be 4300123. Once on Libby you can check out electronic materials from the State library.
Teresa Hanafin, a writer for the Boston Globe, asked her readers to submit the names of their favorite books that they found funny and/or uplifting, i.e. a good antidote in times of a pandemic. Hundreds and hundreds of people from all over the world submitted their favorite reads. She ended up publishing a final list with the top 200 titles. The books are listed alphabetically by the author with a brief description by the reader who submitted the title. Perhaps you will find your next read here: BostonGlobe.com/2021/01/04/arts/fast-forward-2020-winter-bookies-reading-list/.
The WABL walkers are continuing to walk, a great social distancing activity! We meet around 10:15 AM on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Bachelder Library and, using both sides of the road (at least 12 feet of social distancing), we walk up Chase Hill Road, on to Emery Road until the end of the road, and then we double back to the library. This is a hilly walk with magnificent views.
This month the book club will be meeting on Wednesday, January 27, at 7 PM via Zoom to discuss the award winning The American Nation: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard. According to Goodreads, it is “an illuminating history of North America’s eleven rival cultural regions that explodes the red state-blue state myth. North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn’t confront or assimilate into an ‘American’ or ‘Canadian’ culture, but rather into one of the eleven distinct regional ones that spread over the continent, each staking out mutually exclusive territory.”
Please let Lee or Priscilla know if you would like a copy of the book and if you’d like to join the meeting.