Mercer County Library Blog

The first Stephen King book I remember reading was The Shining , and I was hooked. As a teenager I ripped through that book and many that followed from Stephen King. Carrie , Salem’s Lot , The Stand , and The Dead Zone were all published when I was in high school, and they were followed by Cujo and Pet Sematary while I was in college. At the time, King was the unquestioned master of horror writing. There were other authors who turned out top horror books - The Omen by David Seltzer, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, and Jaws by Peter Benchley all come to mind. But no one produced the mass quantity and quality of Stephen King. As he continued through his career, King kept pounding out best sellers, but I always felt like the horror aspect was downplayed and the books, while they had a horror edge to them, were more of a storyteller spinning a yarn that you just shook your head and couldn’t believe. Books through the later 1980s and through the 1990s such as It , Misery , N...

Cold weather will be here sooner than we know it, and many physical activities will be forced to move indoors. How is a person to stay active and have fun if they don’t enjoy going to the gym, playing an indoor sport like rec-league basketball, or swimming in a chilly, chlorinated pool while the winds howl outside? (Or they just hate to exercise out in the cold?) What about dance? It’s not necessary to be in a classroom (or on stage!) to enjoy dance. Don’t believe me? As the kid who was obsessed with ballet, I told my parents that what I wanted for Christmas was my own ballet barre in the basement. A simple wooden rail from the hardware store, plus some brackets and wall anchors, and I was in business and could practice every day. I could also stray from my formal barre exercises into jazz, modern, or my own moves because there was no teacher there to tell me what to do. The only limits were my imagination and the height of the basement ceiling. One mi...

As a children’s librarian, I feel very disheartened when I hear young patrons tell me, “I don’t like books.” At times like this, I introduce them to graphic novels. The appealing visual format attracts readers who are intimidated or turned off by traditional books, for whatever reason. The art and wit of graphic novels engage reluctant readers, as they are less wordy and therefore less overwhelming. Their unique format helps readers to build endurance, confidence, and interest in reading.  The presence of speech bubbles, facial expressions, and body gestures makes it easier to understand the context and characters. By starting out reading graphic novels, it is hoped that these reluctant young readers gradually develop an interest in traditional books. The Mercer County Library System has an excellent collection of Graphic Novels under the call number J 741.5. Browse our library catalog to find thousands of juvenile graphic novels – in b...

Earlier this year, I caught the virus that wreaked havoc on the world. Fortunately for me, it only chewed me up and spat me out. After finding my way through the fever and delirium - out of sheer boredom - I reached to the books on my bedside table. Guess what I found? Han Kang’s Human Acts and Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich . Misery truly does love company. No matter who my coincidental companions were, I was going to make the most of it. Human Acts   (ISBN: 9781101906729 ) was for a book club and One Day in the Life of  Ivan Denisovich (ISBN: 0451527097) was checked out for… well, fun reading. And it was going to be good fun because my being bed-ridden was rare and having time to read even rarer. So, did I find anything new? Well, it turns out that no matter how far we have advanced as a species, our capacity to inflict cruelty on each other has remained unchanged. Human Acts is visceral experience of such torture. It is about the viol...

Much like choosing a training regimen for running a marathon, having a strategic approach to reading a series of books at the outset may be helpful to both the would-be series reader and the seasoned series reader alike. Whether it's the Wheel of Time, Harry Potter or Hunger Games, pacing is the key to enjoyment - otherwise it's Expecto Exhaustion! Series choice, reading, pacing and completion are all phases of your reading enjoyment. First off – how does one choose a series? Word of mouth? The desire to be part of the cultural zeitgeist? An innate sense of obligation or, perhaps, even guilt of having underperformed one’s duty at giving enough attention to one author’s or one’s friends’ obsession? The reality is that people who begin to read a series of books may or may not choose to complete it for a variety of reasons. Often, I am told, burnout is the reason. With this in mind, having chosen your series, the next step is jumping into the grand whirlpool of imagination. An e...

It’s not uncommon when you tell someone that you work in a library to hear various versions of “Wow, I’d love to sit quietly and read all day too!” as a response. Is my office literally surrounded by stacks of books? Yes. Is it quiet? Sometimes. Have I ever “shushed” someone? Nope! In fact, as a technology instructor at the headquarters branch, I’m often asking students to shout out an answer to a question if they know it! Before joining the technology instruction department at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch of the Mercer County Library System, I’d worked in event planning, marketing, and membership for different non-profit associations. Fields that also tend to conjure ideas of a workday that’s quite different (and often much less glamorous) than folks think. One thing that was surprising to me as I moved along in my career was just how much I used Microsoft Excel and Word. Need to make name badges, attendee lists, or send a mailing – combine your skills in both programs by using t...

As of August 28, 2022, I have lived in New Jersey for one year. I’m still brand new to the state! I’m glad the library was here to introduce me to what this great state has to offer: pork roll (or is it called Taylor ham?), going down the shore (I inevitably say “I’m going to the beach”, but I’m working on it!), the Pine Barrens, the Jersey Devil, and more. Of course, right after moving, I had to go the DMV—excuse me, the MVC— and update my identification. But if you need to take or retake your driver’s test or you just want to review the driver’s handbook, you can go to Driving Tests on our website and take some practice tests to review your driving knowledge. Be sure to watch out for those jug handles. Beep beep! I enjoy learning about history, especially local history. Several Revolutionary War battles were fought here in New Jersey. That means there’s a lot of history around. The historical markers may be hard to get to sometimes, but there are always books to pick up about loca...