Posted on 12/31/2024 6:37:16 AM PST by fwdude
Some of the most checked-out books in public libraries across the country in 2024 include Kristin Hannah's The Women, Rebecca Yarros' Fourth Wing, and Emily Henry's Happy Place.
These books landed on the year-end wrap lists of public libraries in New York City, Cincinnati, Seattle and other cities.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin, was the most checked-out adult book in New York City and the second-most popular adult fiction book in Denver. There, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store was number one; that novel by James McBride also made the most-borrowed lists at libraries in San Francisco, Westport, Conn., and Louisville, Ky.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
RE: Henry Miller books
“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
Every man has his own destiny...the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads.”
“It may be that we are doomed, that there is no hope for us, any of us, but if that is so then let us set up a last agonizing, bloodcurdling howl, a screech of defiance, a war whoop! Away with lamentation! Away with elegies and dirges! Away with biographies and histories, and libraries and museums! Let the dead eat the dead. Let us living ones dance about the rim of the crater, a last expiring dance. But a dance!”
- Tropic of Cancer
—Henry Miller
Glad I gave up on most fiction long ago. Such a waste of time.
Yeesh, danged NPR and old hippies. Never read any of them, again.
Remember my uncle sent me Bridges of Madison County 30 years ago, trash book.
Great point! Or books that you want to read but are so shallow that you can glean from it everything you need in one reading.
Public libraries are "reading libraries," or I call them "recreational libraries," and rarely have books that challenge or require work to get through.
I tried to find Issac Newton's Principia, a classical must-read, in my public library but it was not to be found. Not enough pretty pictures, I guess. But that might be one worth purchasing.
RE: progress on the reading list
The excellent vigilante justice film series with Denzel Washington The Equalizer has him working on reading the rest of the books on the list his beloved wife was finishing before she was murdered. He helps down and out people get justice and find hope in their lives.
Girl (hopelessly sinking into prostitution by a violent Russian mobster pimp), asking Denzel about The Old Man and the Sea he is reading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVcoE8mGOyw
Three movies I recommend. One synopsis line: “Aiding the exploited and oppressed by serving unflinching justice, he’ll need all of his skills to settle the score.”
BTTT
I didn’t know this about Henry Miller:
“In the spring of 1927, Miller was living in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights with his second wife June Miller and her lover, Jean Kronski. He had recently obtained a new job working for the Parks Department.”
Jerry’s cousin Jeffrey worked for the Parks Department too!
I have a tablet computer with the Libby App.
Libby connects to the library that checks my library card and then allows me to check out as many books as I want. I seldom get more than one at a time but always have one.
So, just as I no longer need to physically go to Walmart to purchase what ever I want, I don’t need to travel to the library either.
The problem is that often, the book I want is already checked out.
I've wondered about that. My wife reads popular fiction constantly. For the life of me, I can't get into it. I've tried.
One I really did like was Where the Crawdads Sing. That was good. The movie was good too--rare for contemporary movies.
My Father read constantly, but he read mostly classics. I'm the same way.
As for movies-- Most movies made in recent years are utter mindless trash. Filthy language. Pornographic sex scenes, themes. I'm no prude, and I have been everywhere, seen everything, and done just about everything, and I can cuss with the worst of 'em, but mindless trash is a turn off. Also I have no intention of watching pornography with my family--children--grandchildren.
Also, where movies are concerned--I hate explosions, car chases, gunplay, and sword fights. Mindless stuff like that is as boring as trash movies and chick flix.
Initiative to do what? There is very short list of things library staff can do or need to do.
Not even on the list, I enjoyed the “Murderbot Diaries” series.
That’s where I’m at. I don’t have any more room for fiction books at home (and I rarely reread them), so I’ve taken to electronic books. I’m currently on a Louis L’Amour binge so I can go through his books whenever I want for free without ever setting foot in a library.e
Public libraries are no longer needed, just another tax drain on taxpayers.
Me too. I get better stories, character studies, etc. from real people.
Women don’t think that way. That is a man’s way of thinking.
You hadn’t heard of #30?
I'll wait for the More Cowbell special edition.
A few years ago, I think some legislator slipped a requirement in a library funding bill that all Ohio public libraries have to be open to all state residents, so I’m a member of many libraries instead of just the local two where I work and live. Libby is good about allowing electronic check out from any of them.
The most interesting and scary thing is WHAT IS NOT BEING READ.
I liked Kristin Hannah’s “The Women.”
I saw “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” in the bookstores but never felt a desire to read it. Also saw “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” there and it seemed to scream of woke BS. No, thanks.
I think Emily Henry writes romance novels. Probably fine, if that’s your thing. It’s not mine.
I haven’t heard of the other ones.
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