Title: She’s Come Undone
Author: Wally Lamb
Genre: fiction
Why did you choose to read this book?
She’s Come Undone has been on my to-read list and I saw it on the library’s display of books for Mental Health Awareness Month (May).
What did you like about it?
I thought it was well-written and a compelling portrait of a fictional character, Dolores Price. The novel is told from her perspective and follows her through her 30s. Continue Reading →
Need some more suggestions to work your way through the Durham Tech Library’s Read Great Things Challenge? This month, in addition to our previous post about memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies, we’re highlighting fictionalized stories about real people.
Any of these books will count for this category in the challenge, but you are more than welcome to find your own book as well. Many of the books below can be found in our libraries, along with so many more!
In a repeating series highlighting current and recent reads around Durham Tech, here’s Durham Tech’s awesome faculty and staff’s favorite reads from all of 2017:
As always, if you’re interested in a title, check out the master list of the books below and their availability to see if you can find it at Durham Tech or if you’ll need to request it through interlibrary loan (find this request under eforms). Need help doing either of these things or don’t yet have a library card? Ask in the library.
Here’s the list of Durham Tech’s favorite reads of 2017 (and their availability) in pdf format: Durham Tech Best Reads of 2017
Is your department, club, campus, committee, or subgroup interested in participating in a What We’re Reading blog post? The goal of the What We’re Reading posts is to highlight books, professional literature, blogs, or any other things you might be currently reading or have recently finished. Contact OCC librarian Meredith Lewis for more information.
Looking for a way to challenge your reading self in 2018?
Have we got a plan for you!
What is the Read Great Things Challenge?
The Read Great Things Challenge is a reading challenge sponsored by the Durham Tech Library throughout 2018 that encourages folks to diversify or increase their reading goals by completing books that fit into at least 10 of the following 12 categories:
- A book being turned into a movie or tv show in 2018
- A biography, autobiography, memoir, or a fictionalized account of a real person’s life
- A book about or that features sports
- A book of poetry or a book written in verse
- A book you previously started or were assigned and never finished
- A book that takes place in a country or place you’d like to visit
- A book you chose for the cover
- A book that takes place during or is about a historical event 50 years or more in the past [1968 or before]
- A popular science book [nonfiction books that talk about scientific topics from a non-textbook point-of-view]
- A book with a supernatural creature, occurrence, or event
- A book about cooking or food
- A book suggested by a Durham Tech librarian either in-person or on the Durham Tech Library Blog
We’ll be highlighting a different category on this blog each month. Your can always ask a librarian for recommendations if you can’t think of a book to read for a certain category (which conveniently fills that final awesome category).
How do I participate in the Read Great Things Challenge?
It’s pretty simple –just start reading! You don’t have to sign up and you can start at any point in the year. You’ll need to choose books that fit into at least 10 of the 12 categories by the end of Fall Semester (December 2018) to complete the challenge.
There’s also a joinable Sakai site (listed under Membership on your Sakai home page once you sign in) that we’ll be using if you want to discuss books you’re reading and recommend some of your own great reads. Email Meredith Lewis (OCC Librarian) or the library for more information.
What kind of book counts as a “great thing”?
All books count–hardcover, paperback, ebooks, audiobooks, graphic novels, comic books, library books, books you own, books you’ve borrowed… If it fits into one (or two) of the categories and you’ve read it/want to read it, that counts. As long as it’s read in 2018, you’re good to go.
Can I count a book for multiple categories?
One book can count for up to two categories.
How do I win the challenge? (What do I win?)
To win and complete the challenge, you should finish books in 2018 that fit into at least 10 of the 12 listed categories. In late November or early December, we’ll have bookish prizes available for those who bring their completed book list to the library or fill out the completion form.
You’ll also get a personal sense of satisfaction and bragging rights. (And who doesn’t love those?)
Do the books have to be from the Durham Tech Library?
Nope, but we’re glad to point you in the direction of one already in our collection. We have some great books just waiting to make it on your list.
Download a pdf of the checklist and challenge guidelines here: Read Great Things Challenge 2018
Title: And the Mountains Echoed
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Genre: fiction
What did you like about it?
Through various characters from 1952 until the current decade, it provides different views of Afghanistan. Some characters are born there and leave; some are not from there, but end up there; and others spend their entire lives there.
The book portrays Afghanistan as a place of poverty in relation to the West, of hardship and suffering; and that is even before the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. After decades of constant struggle, internally as well as externally, Afghanis face a difficult prospect of rebuilding. The ravages of war have destroyed physical and political infrastructures and inflicted great suffering, especially on women and children.
The characters all have some relation to one another (whether they know it or not). The prime motive for each character is love: familial as well as doctor/patient and chauffeur/rich employer. Continue Reading →
Thanks to a grant that earmarked $3000 for library resources, the Durham Tech library expanded its collections of Middle East-related materials. The grant was funded by the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies.
The staff of the Durham Tech libraries strive to keep the library relevant in the lives of students, faculty and staff. Think about all the resources and services the library provides–study space, reserves, books, DVDs, e-books, article databases, computers, expertise, etc.–and let us know what we are doing well and what we can do better! Are there services the library does not yet provide that we should? Are there some things we should stop doing? We want to hear from you.
We have set up a dry erase board in the library where you can leave comments. Today it is right by the entrance: you can’t miss it! You can also email your thoughts to library@durhamtech.edu.
It’s April, which means we’ve been reading poetry (or re-reading some of our favorites) for National Poetry Month!
To help you keep track of your progress in books you’re currently reading, the Durham Tech Library has created some coloring page bookmarks for you.
Click on the images below to access the pdf of the coloring page bookmarks and print them out for yourself– remember to print 2-sided short edge (which–side note–is also how you print an awesome brochure). We recommend using some cardstock.
Contains: Anecdote of Men by the Thousand by Wallace Stevens, The Dogs at Live Oak Beach, Santa Cruz by Alicia Ostriker, Cotton Candy by Edward Hirsch, and My Madonna by Robert W. Service
![2017 poetry month bookmarks: Sea Grapes by Derrek Walcott, somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond by e.e. cummings, [a haiku rumination on sushi] by Yosa Buson, and Exit by Rita Dove](https://i0.wp.com/libraryblog.durhamtech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/sushi-screengrab.jpg?resize=300%2C252&ssl=1)
Contains: Sea Grapes by Derrek Walcott, somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond by e.e. cummings, [a haiku rumination on sushi] by Yosa Buson, and Exit by Rita Dove
Contains: The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams, Next Time Ask More Questions by Naomi Shihab Nye, The Tyger by William Blake, and El Poema by Homero Aridjis (translated by Eliot Weinberger)
Is your department, club, campus, committee, or subgroup interested in participating in a What We’re Reading Wednesday blog post? The goal of the What We’re Reading posts is to highlight books, professional literature, blogs, or any other things you might be currently reading or have recently finished. Contact OCC librarian Meredith Lewis for more information.
For those who enjoy reading, summer can be a great time to re-read old favorites, discover new authors, or just make a dent in a to-read list.
Click through the slideshow to see Durham Tech Faculty & Staff’s incredibly diverse favorite reads of summer 2016.
You can check them out for yourself from the display downstairs in the Main Library or by requesting a book through ILL (login through eforms).
Click to see the whole list: Durham Tech Faculty & Staff Best Reads of Summer 2016
Check out these new titles we have for you!
