You may have seen the #blackoutbestsellerlist and #blackpublishingpower hashtags on social media. Are you looking for some books to participate or just your next great read?
Let us help with a few contemporary authors and series to add to your reading list.
CLICK THROUGH FOR BOOK SUGGESTIONSJune is Pride Month!
To learn more about the Stonewall Uprising and to check out some books by and about LGBTQIA+ people’s history, lives, and experiences, click on through.
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There are several movies and TV shows coming out this spring based on books. Several book adaptations have been released as TV series or films earlier this year as well.
It can be really enjoyable to read the book and watch the show or movie. So far, I’ve watched The Plot Against America, Killing Eve, and Normal People. I’m currently reading Just Mercy and then plan to watch the film. Little Fires Everywhere is in my book stack to read, and I want to watch the show as well.
The results are in! Check out Durham Tech’s #QuaranReads (including some friendly faces and a few unpaid work-from-home coworkers).
Continue Reading →Take a look at our new books!
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Dr. Katherine Johnson, part of the human computer team at NASA and responsible for hand calculating NASA’s path to space, has died at 101. She graduated from West Virginia State College with degrees in math and French and briefly worked as a teacher before working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (which would later become NASA) at Langley Research Center. In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
To read about her influence at NASA and the team of black female mathematicians that helped the United States launch successfully into space, we’ve got Hidden Figures in three formats: book, DVD, and children’s book.
Related reading also featuring Katherine Johnson:
Are you participating in the Durham Tech Library’s Read Great Things 2020 Challenge? Desperately want to complete your “Someone else’s favorite book” category but don’t know where to start? Good news! We can help.
Continue Reading →Did you enjoy Delia Owens’s novel Where the Crawdads Sing about a young woman growing up isolated in the marshes of coastal North Carolina in the 1960’s? If you’re interested in reading similar books, consider some of these available in the library or through interlibrary loan (ILL). These would all count for the Read Great Things Challenge 2020 in the coming-of-age novel category.
Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
Fifteen-year-old June must come to terms with the death of her beloved Uncle Finn, an artist, who dies from AIDS in 1980s New York. This is a strong character-driven and sentimental coming-of-age story.
Call number location: Main Campus, PS 3602 .R867 T45 2013
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
This book feature a strong sense of place, wilderness survival, and a young woman moving to and growing up in Alaska.
Call number location: Main Campus, PS 3558 .A4763 G74 2018
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
After two local drowning tragedies, fifteen-year-old Lena is parentless and friendless. This British psychological thriller is mysterious and atmospheric.
Call number location: Main Campus,
PR 6108 .A963 I58 2017
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Both novels offer a historical Southern setting and a trial that illuminates the closed-minded nature of the town’s residents. Both novels feature young female characters who come of age in challenging circumstances.
Call number location: Main and Orange County Campus, PS 3562 .E353 T6 [various years of publication]
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
This brutal and violent novel is a coming-of- age story about a teenage girl living in isolation off-grid with her survivalist, paranoid father in the Pacific Northwest. Be warned though– this is much darker and more intense.
This book can be requested through ILL.
Dance is wonderful. It is one of my favorite things in the world despite the fact that I’m only okay at it on a good day. Who cares? If I’m dancing I’m having a good time.
Many of the dances known in the United States were created by the Black community. Blues dancing, Swing, the Twist, Disco, Lindy Hop, Charleston, Jitterbug, Moonwalk, Cakewalk, and so many more. These are dances that have shaped the look and feel of decades.
See below for a video of Lindy Hop dancers back in the day and books that explore the history of Black social dancing.
Continue Reading →The world lost Dr. Phail Wynn Jr. in 2018 but his legacy in the Durham Tech Library is expanding regularly thanks to a generous donation from GlaxoSmithKline to establish the Dr. Phail Wynn, Jr. Library Endowment.
