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 →Read-alike: Where the Crawdads Sing
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.
What We’re Reading-Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
This book was read by Courtney Bippley, Reference Librarian at the Main Campus Library.
Title: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
Author: Lori Gottlieb
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir
Why did you choose to read this book?
The book got a bunch of buzz when it came out and I knew a couple other people who had read it and said it was good. Then, I read a few of Lori Gottlieb’s advice columns in The Atlantic to see if I liked her writing style. I did, so I brought the book home with me. The idea of reading about therapy from a therapist perspective was very intriguing. Don’t we all want a deeper understanding of how people work?
What did you like about it?
I really liked how honest the author is in this book. She is honest about her own struggles with behavior that is self-sabotaging and how she came to understand her own role in the break up that led to her going to therapy herself.
The other characters in the book, her patients and her therapist, are all really interesting. They’ve been anonymized and various real patients were combined into the supporting characters. They feel very fleshed out with real issues and I fell in love with all of them. Even the ones I didn’t like in the beginning.
And, I’m not gonna lie. I cried reading this book. Multiple times. But, I would not call this a sad book at all. If anything, I think it is a book about hope, recognizing that we all struggle with similar things, and that it’s never too late to work toward becoming a better person.
Who would you recommend this book to?
Anyone who likes a good memoir. Anyone who has been in or is thinking about going to therapy. Anyone thinking about becoming a therapist of any kind. Anyone who likes to read about real people’s lives written and explained in what is both a contextually accurate and compassionate way.
What would you pair this book with?
A box of tissues! Preferably the extra soft kind that moisturize your nose while you wipe away snot. Bonus points for having a novelty tissue box or one with punny sayings on it.
Black History Month-Celebrating Dance
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 Dr. Phail Wynn, Jr. Collection is Growing
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.
Read to honor Dr. King’s legacy on MLK Holiday
Durham Tech Health and Wellness Instructor, Wilma Herndon, invites you to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day by participating in the Day of Reading event. Ms. Herndon is the “Reading is Power Chair” of the local chapter, Beta Zeta. Sign up on Friday, Jan 17th after Durham Tech’s MLK Luncheon or by email at herndonw@durhamtech.edu. There is also a form at Durham Tech’s Main Campus Library desk.
Please visit the library’s display of MLK books on the lower level of the library for potential books and videos to watch. You can also pick up a special MLK bookmark at any of the campus libraries.
Not sure what to read? See some suggestions below which are available in our library.
New Books for a New Year
Get a jump start on the Durham Tech Library 2020 Reading Challenge with one of these new books!
The Above Average Reading Challenge: Read 20 in 20
Did you know that Americans read an average of 12 books per year?* Want to overachieve or just set a goal for yourself to be above average in 2020?
Good news! The Durham Tech Library is here to support your reading goals with the Above Average Reading Challenge: 20 Books in 2020.
Continue Reading →Reading All the Great Things in 2020: Challenge Yourself
A new year, a new list of categories for the Durham Tech Read Great Things Challenge!
New Books for Break
There is still time to check out one (or two or three or four!) of these new books to read over Thanksgiving Break. Books are a great conversation started at dinner and a great way to get some peace amidst the hectic Thanksgiving hubbub.
We have SO MANY great new books that I can’t include all of them. Some of the books not pictured are written by or about such notable people as Jackie Chan, Stan Lee, Harvey Milk, Malcolm Gladwell, Lois Lowry, Dapper Dan, and Edward Snowden. So come grab a book!
Continue Reading →