Summertime Is Reading Time!
Happy summer reading, B-W Patch.com readers! My name is Paula Kelly, and I'm the director of the Whitehall Public Library. Obviously, I love books and libraries, and I thought it would be fun to start an online conversation about what folks in the local community are reading this summer.
Oh my goodness, I just finished a great page-turner called Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. If you love a nail-biting dark and twisted tale, this one's for you! It's a cut way above the average best-seller and will leave you breathless 'til the end. I also recently finished Ann Patchett's State of Wonder. She is an amazing writer who can craft sentences so perfectly that, at times, you have to re-read them. This book is an incredible adventure tale that takes place in an Amazonian jungle. You can just feel the heat and hear the insects (and snakes)!
What are you reading? What can you recommend? I'd love to know. Don't forget that there is almost nothing that you can't get at the public library. Books, audiobooks, DVDs, CDs, magazines, e-content (and even e-readers as well as novelty cake pans!) ... they're all available to you for the "price" of a free library card. We're next door to the Whitehall Pool, so grab a book for the deck chair and a movie to watch when you get home. Sign up for summer reading, come on in for a program, or just stop by for a great cup of coffee in our Second Chapter Café.
Stay tuned, fellow readers. I'll be in touch!
In This Blog Post
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Whitehall Public Library
100 Borough Park Dr, Pittsburgh, PA -
Whitehall Municipal Swimming Pool and Edwin F. Brennan Plaza
100 Borough Park Dr, Pittsburgh, PA -
Jacqueline C. Marino
9:50 pm on Saturday, June 23, 2012
I just finished reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet by Jamie Ford and I loved everything about it. Rich character development combined with a captivating story for a truly enjoyable read. I would highly recommend this book!
Whitehall Public Library
11:06 am on Sunday, June 24, 2012
I've had lots of folks recommend that book, it's one I plan to get around to reading. One of the library's bookgroups read it and it got a big thumbs up!
Staci Zemaitis
12:40 pm on Sunday, June 24, 2012
Loved that book Jacqueline! I am currently reading Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. LOVE it so far!!!
Whitehall Public Library
12:45 pm on Sunday, June 24, 2012
It never lets up Staci!
Whitehall Public Library
2:37 pm on Friday, July 6, 2012
I just finished Robert Goolrick's "Heading Out To Wonderful" which I really liked. His books are dark and intense, and his writing is gorgeous. I'd recommend it for sure, but still prefer "A Reliable Wife"
Heather Gardner
11:58 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Finished "I, Michael Bennett" by James Patterson. Now reading "One Breath Away" by Heather Gudenkauf.
Whitehall Public Library
4:32 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Sounds like you like a good page turner! I'm reading one now as well. Harlan Coben's "Stay Close". I really enjoy his books, one minute you're laughing, the next you're cringing!
Whitehall Public Library
4:35 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
I almost forgot! I am also reading an excellent memoir called "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed. It's about one woman's solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail and how it changed her life. It's Oprah's latest pick.
http://www.cherylstrayed.com/wild_108676.htm
Chrissy Witt
8:34 pm on Thursday, July 26, 2012
I just finished "the Paris wife" by Paula McLain....good read about Ernest Hemmingway's first wife Hadley
Whitehall Public Library
4:04 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012
I haven't read it, but have heard lots of good things about it. I also didn't see the movie about Hemmingway on HBO this summer, that had good reviews as well.
Whitehall Public Library
12:08 pm on Monday, August 6, 2012
I just wanted to recommend the book I'm currently reading, "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave. It is very powerful and extremely well written.
From a Washington Post book review: the story…”hinges on a single horrific encounter. On a beach in Nigeria, the lives of Little Bee, a teenager from a small village, and Sarah O'Rourke, editor of a posh British women's magazine, are brought into brutal conjunction. Little Bee and her older sister have the misfortune to live on valuable Nigerian oil deposits, for which their family pays a deadly price. Sarah and her husband, heedless tourists out for a walk in the sand, are confronted in an instant with a choice: Save the girls at great personal cost or ignore them.” It is told as a very personal story, and speaks to the impacts of living in our global society. --you can request it at the library in print, audio, playaway or e-audio!
Whitehall Public Library
10:41 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
The Baldwin Borough Public Library and the Whitehall Public Library are among the 840 organizations selected to receive the Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA). The program aims to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world. The Allegheny County Library Association (ACLA) applied for this award on behalf of a group of interested member libraries.
This unique collection will be displayed within each library. In addition, programs focused around collection items are being planned for 2013.
As part of the program component, book group members from both libraries will be meeting with Baldwin High School students to discuss the award-winning graphic novel, Persepolis, by Marjane Sartrapi, one of the titles included with the Bookshelf.
The libraries will host a luncheon and book discussion at the Baldwin Borough Public Library on March 13th at 11:30 pm. Registration is required.
The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association.