Top 5 Romantic Books at the Library - E-Book Edition

Earlier this week, we posted about the top 5 most checked out romantic books in the Dick Smith Library's physical collections. This time we're listing the library's top 5 romantic e-books - which, by the way, can be checked out by Tarleton students, faculty, and staff no matter where you are.

1. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to go to Singapore with her boyfriend to meet his family, she finds out that he is, in fact, very wealthy and one of the most eligible bachelors in all of Asia.

You can find Crazy Rich Asians by clicking here.

2. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The first book in Aveyard's Red Queen YA fantasy series, in which those with Red blood serve those with Silver, who have superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red but discovers that she has an ability only Silvers should have. Those who like love triangles may want to check this out.

You can find Red Queen by clicking here. The e-audiobook version is also available.

3. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor and Park are two teens growing up in Omaha in the 1980s. Park has an American father and a Korean mother and does his best to blend in. Eleanor is the "new girl" with a difficult family situation. They find themselves drawn to each other, and their friendship gradually morphs into something else.

You can find Eleanor & Park by clicking here.

4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

In this Beauty and the Beast-inspired YA fantasy, Feyre is taken to a magical kingdom for the crime of murdering a faerie. She eventually begins to fall for her captor, who is suffering from a mysterious curse.

You can find A Court of Thorns and Roses by clicking here.

5. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Yes, Outlander managed to make it onto both the library's print book and e-book top 5 lists. If you're a fan of the TV series, you might want to read (or reread) one of the books in this time travel romance series to make the wait for Season 5 a little easier.

You can find Outlander by clicking here.

Top 5 Romantic Books at DSL

It's February, and you know what that means: it's almost time for Library Lovers Week! Oh, and also Valentine's Day.

Here are the top 5 checked out romantic books in the Dick Smith Library's physical collections. If you prefer e-books, don't worry, we'll be posting a similar list for those on Wednesday.

1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander is the first book in Gabaldon's time travel/historical fiction/romance series. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is transported from the year 1945 to 1743 Scotland. She finds herself torn between her memories of the life and husband she left behind and the new life she begins building with Jamie Fraser, a young Highland warrior.

You can find Outlander in the General Stacks upstairs with the call number: PS3557 .A22 O98 1991












2. Foul Play by Janet Evanovich

You may know Janet Evanovich best as the author of the long-running Stephanie Plum mystery series, but did you know that she'd previously written several romantic comedies? Foul Play is one of them. It stars Amy Klasse, a woman who loses her TV job to a dancing chicken and its attractive handler, and Jake Elliott, the veterinarian who offers Amy a new job as his receptionist. When the chicken disappears, Amy and Jake work to prove Amy's innocence and end up finding romance along the way.

You can find Foul Play in the General Stacks upstairs with the call number: PS3555 .V2126 F597 2008

3. Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson

Jennifer returns to the village where she grew up because her beloved grandmother is in a coma. While there, she discovers a stack of letters that her grandmother wrote to her, telling her about her life. As she learns her grandmother's secrets, Jennifer also reunites with Brendan, a childhood friend. If you're a fan of emotional books, you may want to check this one out.

You can find Sam's Letters to Jennifer in the General Stacks upstairs with the call number: PS3566 .A822 S26 2004











4. The Big Bad Wolf Tells All by Donna Kauffman

Tanzy Harrington is a romance columnist who likes dating but isn't interested in settling down. She thinks men fall into two categories: wolves and sheep. Women date wolves but marry sheep, and she prefers wolves. When her aunt asks her to house sit, Tanzy finds herself in close proximity with her aunt's new personal assistant, Riley, a total sheep...or is he?

You can find The Big Bad Wolf Tells All in the General Stacks upstairs with the call number: PS3561 .A816 B54 2003

5. The Secret by Julie Garwood

In this historical romance, Judith Hampton, an English woman, promises to be by her Scottish best friend's side when she gives birth, and to learn everything about midwifery that she can in order to help her survive. Iain Maitland, Laird of his clan, acts as her escort, and the two gradually fall in love with each other.

You can find The Secret in the General Stacks upstairs with the call number: PS3557 .A8427 S4 1992B

National Native American Heritage Month

           

https://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/ 

November is the National Native American Heritage Month, celebrating the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans.

Learn More!

American Indian Histories and Cultures database has access to art, historical documents, maps, an interactive chronology tool, and so much more! This is a wide-ranging digital resource presenting a unique insight into interactions between American Indians and Europeans from their earliest contact, continuing through the turbulence of the American Civil War, the on-going repercussions of government legislation, right up to the civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century.

With Mango Languages, you can learn about Cherokee and Potawatomi languages.

Texas State Archives has extensive historical resources focusing on local history, indigenous nations of Texas, and Native American relations.

Want to get involved or learn about indigenous culture first hand? Learn powwow traditions and etiquette, find an event in your area,  and learn more about native american culture.  UT Arlington's Native American Student Association has one of the largest annual powows in Texas. The 25th Annual Benefit Powwow will be February 29, 2020 and is open to the community. 

Tarleton's Office of Diversity and Inclusion  is another great place to learn more about other cultures, get involved, and give back to the community. They have programs to help students from diverse backgrounds succeed in life and at college. 


Check out these books by Native American authors!

 There There by Tommy Orange - OverDrive

As we learn the reasons that each person is attending the Big Oakland Powwow—some generous, some fearful, some joyful, some violent—momentum builds toward a shocking yet inevitable conclusion that changes everything. Jacquie Red Feather is newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind in shame. Dene Oxendene is pulling his life back together after his uncle's death and has come to work at the powwow to honor his uncle's memory. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield has come to watch her nephew Orvil, who has taught himself traditional Indian dance through YouTube videos and will to perform in public for the very first time. There will be glorious communion, and a spectacle of sacred tradition and pageantry. And there will be sacrifice, and heroism, and loss.


Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko - Call# PS3569 .I44 C4 1986

Tayo, the hero of Leslie Marmon Silko’s groundbreaking novel Ceremony, is a half-blood Laguna Indian who returns to his reservation after surviving the Bataan Death March of World War II. As he struggles to recover the peace of mind that his experience of warfare has stolen from him, Tayo finds that memory, identity, and his relations with others all resemble the colored threads of his grandmother’s sewing basket. The elements of his personality feel knotted and tangled, and his every attempt to restore them to order merely snags and twists them all the more. Tayo’s problems, however, extend far beyond the frustrations and alienation he encounters in trying to readjust to peacetime. Having risked his life for an America that fundamentally disowns him, Tayo must confront difficult and painful questions about the society he has been fighting for.


The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdich - Call # PS3555 .R42 P55 2008

Though generations have passed, the town of Pluto continues to be haunted by the murder of a farm family. Evelina Harp—part Ojibwe, part white—is an ambitious young girl whose grandfather, a repository of family and tribal history, harbors knowledge of the violent past. And Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, who bears witness, understands the weight of historical injustice better than anyone. Through the distinct and winning voices of three unforgettable narrators, the collective stories of two interwoven communities ultimately come together to reveal a final wrenching truth.


You don't have to say you love me by Sherman Alexie -OverDrive 


Family relationships are never simple. But Sherman Alexie's bond with his mother Lillian was more complex than most. She plunged her family into chaos with a drinking habit, but shed her addiction when it was on the brink of costing her everything. She survived a violent past, but created an elaborate facade to hide the truth. She selflessly cared for strangers, but was often incapable of showering her children with the affection that they so desperately craved. She wanted a better life for her son, but it was only by leaving her behind that he could hope to achieve it. It's these contradictions that made Lillian Alexie a beautiful, mercurial, abusive, intelligent, complicated, and very human woman.
When she passed away, the incongruities that defined his mother shook Sherman and his remembrance of her. Grappling with the haunting ghosts of the past in the wake of loss, he responded the only way he knew how: he wrote. The result is a stunning memoir filled with raw, angry, funny, profane, tender memories of a childhood few can imagine, much less survive. An unflinching and unforgettable remembrance, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME is a powerful, deeply felt account of a complicated relationship.

Read the BANNED book before you watch the series!

For Banned Books Week, check out these three books that have been turned into a hit series. 

1. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Catch-22 is about Yossarian, a pilot during WWII, who is being sent on missions that only a crazy person would agree to. The catch? If you know you’re crazy, you can’t really be crazy, so he’s off on another impossible mission.  Find it on the shelves in print, audio or as an e-book, call # PS3558 .E476 C3385.

     

   2. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 

     Offred navigates the dangerous life of being a “handmaiden”, forced to live a life of servitude while humanity struggles to deal with crippling levels of infertility. Tired of being oppressed, Offred dares to resist even if it means her life and the lives of those she trusts.  Find it on OverDrive, or on the shelves at call # PR9199.3 .A8 H3. 

      3. His Dark Materials  by Phillip Pullman 

     This exhilarating three part series features Lyra and Will, two children trying to out run child-stealing Gobblers and soul-eating Specters. Together they stumble upon an unthinkable weapon, terrifying secrets, and facedown a seemingly impossible task. Find it on OverDrive, or as an ebook, call #PZ7 .P968 G444.

Summer Reading Recommendations - Three from Kim Gragg

A couple months ago, the Library posted a video on our YouTube Channel with staff recommendations for summer reading.  Here's the "why?" behind some of those recommendations, as well as other books that did not make it into the video.  All are available as e-books in our OverDrive collection.

Kimberly Gragg, our Circulation and Interlibrary Loan Manager, had three suggestions.

Kim said, "I really enjoyed The Alice Network. It’s historical fiction and based on a network of spies that utilize women to get knowledge on the enemy in World War I." This fascinating story is based on the real-life "Alice Network" of mostly-female spies centered in Lille, France, on the border with Belgium.  This book has two story lines, one set during World War I and the other in 1947.  Eve Gardiner is the character that ties them together.

The tale goes back and forth in time and between narrators.  The other narrator is Charlotte "Charlie" St. Clair, who enlists Eve's help in 1947 to find her French cousin Rose, who disappeared in World War II.  Author Kate Quinn does a masterful job weaving them and other characters (some real-life), places, and incidents into the story.

Lois Lowry's The Giver is a popular fantasy.  This 1994 Newbery Medalist has become a classic, and one that is frequently challenged in schools and libraries, for reasons ranging from “contains graphic themes,” and  “contains blasphemous ideas and content,” to “depicts ideas and actions that are inappropriate for young readers,” and “inappropriate for [elementary] grade level.”

The plot in a nutshell:  Jonas, the main character, learns his utopian world is really dystopian.

Same Kind of Different as Me is the true story of a wealthy white man, Ron Hall, and a homeless black man, Denver Moore, brought together by the white man’s wife, Deborah, who dies from colon and liver cancer. The book is short chapters alternately narrated by Ron and Denver.

The Giver is also available in both print and audiobook format, both on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library.  Same Kind of Different as Me can also be found in print in the General Stacks on the upper level of the library.

Summer Reading Recommendations - Two Audiobooks from Amanda Pape

A couple months ago, the Library posted a video on our YouTube Channel with staff recommendations for summer reading.  Here's the "why?" behind some of those recommendations, as well as other books that did not make it into the video.

Amanda Pape, Coordinator for Archives and Special Services, has a 45-minute one-way commute to the Stephenville campus, so she is a big advocate of audiobooks.  These suggestions are available as e-audiobooks in our OverDrive collection.


"'The Nightingale' is the code name for a member of the French Resistance during World War II, and it's also the last name (in English) for three characters in the book, Vienne Rossignol Mauriac, her younger, single sister Isabelle Rossignol, and their father Julien Rossignol.  They are each part of the resistance, in different ways.  Vienne's story in some ways is the most compelling, for she has to pretend to be 'normal' both for the sake of her children and because of the German officers billeting in her home.

Kristin Hannah states in her author's note and a conversation in the reading group guide that she based Isabelle on a 'young Belgian woman named Andrée de Jongh, who had created an escape route for downed airmen out of Nazi-occupied France.'

Polly Stone was an excellent reader - she has lived in France, and it shows in this audiobook, which won the 2016 Audie Award for Fiction and was a finalist for best female narrator and Audiobook of the Year."  The Nightingale is also available as an e-book in OverDrive.

"Barkskins is an epic (713 pages in print) novel tracing two families involved in different ways in the timber industry in North America (primarily - also a bit in New Zealand as well).  It starts in 1763 with two French immigrants to Canada, René Sel and Charles Duquet.  Both are indentured servants, but Duquet runs away and becomes a successful fur trader - and eventually a timber baron, changing his surname to Duke.  Sel marries a Native American woman, and their descendants work in the forest, but rarely own much.

The book then follows down each line about six generations, to 2013.  Along the way, the two families intersect.  Some characters are more memorable than others.  In particular, I liked René's great-great grandson Jinot Sel and his (mis-)adventures in New Zealand, as well as Lavinia Duke Breitsprecher, who is about as ruthless in business as her great-great-grandfather Charles.

The stories move all over the world too, from Nova Scotia and Maine to France, London, Amsterdam, New Zealand, China, and the Amazon, as well as to various American cities (Boston, Detroit, Chicago) as the Duke company enterprises move westward.  Lots of period details make the settings come alive.  It's obvious author Annie Proulx has done her research.

Actor Robert Petkoff is an outstanding reader on the audiobook, creating appropriate accents and voices for each character that help to distinguish them."

Summer Reading Recommendations - Two from Tracy Holtman

A couple months ago, the Library posted a video on our YouTube Channel with staff recommendations for summer reading.  Here's the "why?" behind some of those recommendations, as well as other books that did not make it into the video.  All are available as e-books in our OverDrive collection.

Tracy Holtman, our Assistant Director for Collections Management, had two suggestions.

"What I liked about The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend [by Katarina Bivald] was that it was different from what I normally read.   Two women correspond sending book recommendations.  However when the woman from Sweden visits, her pen-pal has passed away.  She stays in the friendly small town, and opens a book store, giving book recommendations to everyone.

I enjoyed revisiting all the books mentioned. (It was nice to know I had read several!!)  It was just a good sweet book – small town America."

Tracy also recommends the Sullivan’s Crossing series, set in rural Colorado, because "It was by an author I love [Robyn Carr], with a family storyline.    I like family stories – this one [What We Find, first in the series] is about a daughter and her aging father.   (And of course some romance too.)   Just a good, short, fun read."

We also have the next two books in the series in OverDrive:  Any Day Now, and The Family Gathering.

Summer Reading Recommendations - Two from Lisa Wan

Recently the Library posted a video on our YouTube Channel with staff recommendations for summer reading.  Here's the "why?" behind some of those recommendations, as well as for other books that didn't make it into the video.

Lisa Wan is our Tarleton - Fort Worth Librarian.  Here are her recommendations, both of which are available as e-books in our OverDrive collection:

"A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles, takes the reader into the fictional life of a Russian gentleman imprisoned in a world-class Russian hotel during the Russian Revolution.  I enjoyed the fictionalized glimpse of old world life in Russia through descriptions of the hotel life, but the real gem for me was growing to know the characters more deeply and enjoying their interactions. The book’s ending is intriguing, leaving my friends and I in disagreement about the conclusion.

I read The Only Woman in the Room, by Eileen Pollack, because I know that women still struggle to belong in primarily male-dominated fields.  Pollack’s book is her biographical story as one of the first two women to earn a degree in physics from Yale University. Pollack describes her encounters, not only with learning physics, but also with, literally, being the only woman room in a the classroom full of men.  Pollack’s unbarred description of the struggles of a female in a STEM [science - technology - engineering - math] field in the 1970s gave me perspective on the subtle prejudices women face when working in a male dominated field, yet encouraged me with her will to overcome."

Summer Reading Recommendations - Non-Fiction Titles from Joshua Wallace

Recently the Library posted a video on our YouTube Channel with staff recommendations for summer reading.  Here's the "why?" behind some of those recommendations, as well as for other books that didn't make it into the video.

Joshua Wallace, our Instruction Librarian, says,

"I enjoy reading non-fiction works, and personally find it difficult to become engrossed in fiction. If you’re like me then here are some books you might enjoy.

Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah – This autobiography is an emotional rollercoaster, and you probably want to have a box of tissues handy when reading it. Adeline’s mother died two weeks after giving birth to her, and the family considered her bad luck as a result. Years later her father remarried, and her stepmother was exceedingly cruel. Despite these challenges, Adeline excelled academically. As this family drama unfolds, World War II and the Chinese Civil War occurs in the background." 

[This e-book is available 24/7 in our OverDrive collection.  The next two print books can be found in the General Stacks on the upper level of the Dick Smith Library.]

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris – "A hilarious read that is a nice break from the tear-jerker mentioned above. You might still need that box of tissues, but this time it will be because you’re laughing too much. This is a collection of autobiographical (possibly humorously exaggerated) essays of the author’s life. From taking a speech therapy class in his childhood, to living abroad in France, and much more in between. This author finds humor even in the mundane and challenging events of his life.

Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy by Eri Hotta – This work tells the story of Japan’s decision to bomb Pearl Harbor from the Japanese point-of-view. This book reveals that many Japanese officials realized that bombing the US would have terrible consequences, but the tragi-comic realities of Japan’s government and society at the time pushed them along this disastrous course. Hotta is a great writer and the way she tells the story makes this book hard to put down."

Summer Reading Recommendations - Three from Melissa Cookson

Recently the Library posted a video on our YouTube Channel with staff recommendations for summer reading.  Here's the "why?" behind some of those recommendations, as well as for other books that didn't make it into the video.

Melissa Cookson is our Cataloging Librarian, and an avid consumer of books, manga, and anime.  Here are her recommendations, most of which are available 24/7 in our OverDrive collection:

In Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, "the last remaining fragment of a warship AI [artificial intelligence] seeks revenge against the person who nearly destroyed her and who killed the person she most cared about. It’s the first book in a trilogy that must be read in order. It took me a while to adjust to the way the world of the trilogy worked and the story’s slow pace, but it was worth it. The first book was gut-wrenching and fascinating, and the second and third books, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy, were even better. I’d recommend the trilogy as a whole to folks who enjoy science fiction with prominent artificial intelligence characters and a nice 'found family' aspect."

[Note that all three books are also available in print in the General Stacks on the third floor of the Dick Smith Library, with nearly identical call numbers to those provided in the links.  Ancillary Mercy is in OverDrive as an e-audiobook.]

Radiance, by Grace Draven, "is a fantasy romance featuring a political marriage between two beings who find each other physically repulsive. Brishen and Ildiko were a wonderful pair right from the start, determined to make their marriage work out as best as possible. I loved their efforts to be both friendly and honest with each other."

In 14, by Peter Clines, "Nate moves into an unbelievably cheap apartment and gradually discovers that it has more issues than just its massive green cockroach infestation. I loved watching Nate, along with his neighbors, uncover the apartment building’s mysteries. The atmosphere was wonderfully suspenseful and slightly creepy, made even better by Ray Porter’s excellent narration."

[This book is only available in our collection as an audiobook on compact discs, found on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library in the Audiovisual Collection.]

Fiction and Popular Nonfiction by Black Authors

If you'd like to read fiction or popular nonfiction by Black authors, the library has some good options to choose from. Below are just a few of them.

Fiction:

 

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (format: paper) – In this Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction novella, Binti, the first of the Himba people to ever go off to space and attend the prestigious Oomza University, encounters angry and deadly aliens called Meduse. The Dick Smith Library also owns a copy of Okorafor’s Lagoon, a “first contact” sci-fi novel set in Lagos, Nigeria.

Everfair by Nisi Shawl (format: paper) – An alternate history steampunk novel set in the Belgian Congo.

The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Historical Romance Anthology (format: paper) – This collection includes Lena Hart’s “Amazing Grace,” Kianna Alexander’s “Drifting to You,” Piper Huguley’s “A Sweet Way to Freedom,” and Alyssa Cole’s “Let It Shine.”

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley (format: paper) – Walter Mosley’s first published book, a hardboiled mystery starring Easy Rawlins, a recently unemployed black war veteran who’s hired to find a young white woman.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (format: paper) – In this time travel novel, Dana, a modern black woman, finds herself traveling back and forth between her home in the present (1976) and a pre-Civil War Maryland plantation.

Beloved by Toni Morrison (format: paper | audiobook | e-book) – This Pulitzer Prize winning novel was inspired by the story of Margaret Garner, who escaped slavery in Kentucky by fleeing to Ohio.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (format: e-book) – In this contemporary YA novel, Starr Carter witnesses a police officer kill her unarmed best friend.

Nonfiction:

Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina by Michaela DePrince with Elaine DePrince (format: e-book) – The memoir of Michaela DePrince, a Sierra Leonean-American ballet dancer who currently dances as a soloist for the Dutch National Ballet.

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (format: e-book) – This book, recently made into a movie, tells the story of the African American women mathematicians working at NASA, starting with World War II and continuing on through the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Space Race.

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae (format: audiobook) – A collection of humorous essays, read by the author herself.

We Have Fun Reading Too!

Now that final exams are almost over, don't forget to take a little time to relax and have fun over the holiday interim.  The Tarleton Libraries can help with that too!   

We offer videos and movies you can watch, audiobooks for listening while you are on the road, and leisure books to read.  All of these are available in both physical and electronic formats for you to enjoy. 

You can search the library catalog to find DVDs, CD, and books that are fun, casual, leisure items.  One of the best avenues for finding these materials in digital format is to use one of our databases - OverDrive.  OverDrive is a pet project of mine :)

Can’t find what you want to read?  We would LOVE LOVE LOVE for you to submit title recommendations!   You can do that via OverDrive at https://tamus.overdrive.com/account/lists/recommendations.   Additionally, when you search OverDrive for a title, if no matches are found, it displays book covers that you can click on to recommend for purchase.  You can also submit title recommendations via the library website at http://tarleton.wufoo.com/forms/m1lgbv6n18gqf6t/. This recommendation form is best for requesting print/physical items.

Enjoy the holiday break, and have a very Merry Christmas!