location

Durham Public Library
7 Maple Avenue
Durham, CT 06422
860-349-9544

Hours:
10:00am - 9:00pm * Monday through Thursday
10:00am - 5:00pm * Friday and Saturday

blog description

"You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians."--Monty Python


Saturday, June 29, 2013

Oops, I read that already! (Setting up a Reading History)

Have you ever brought home a stack of books from the library only to find you've already read 2 or 3 of them?  If you set up a reading history on your library account, you'll be able to keep track of which books you've read.  It's easy...

Go to www.durhamlibrary.org

Click on My Account

Fill your last name and patron ID number (library card barcode, no spaces)

Click on Submit

Click on My Reading History

Click on Opt In

And you're finished!  Any items checked out on your account from the time you opt in will be recorded until you delete them or choose to opt out.

Friday, June 7, 2013

PATRON PICKS --THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE

Noel's pick is The House of Special Purpose, by John Boyne.

About the book:
Part love story, part historical epic, part tragedy, The House of Special Purpose illuminates an empire at the end of its reign.  Eighty-year-old Georgy Jachmenev is haunted by his past--a past of death, suffering, and scandal that will stay with him until the end of his days.  Living in England with his beloved wife, Zoya, Georgy prepares to make one final journey back to the Russia he once knew and loved, the Russia that both destroyed and defined him.  As Georgy remembers days gone by, we are transported to St. Petersburg, to the Winter Palace of the czar, in the early twentieth century--a time of change, threat, and bloody revolution. As Georgy overturns the most painful stone of all, we uncover the story of the house of special purpose.  (from Goodreads)

Noel says:  Flashbacks between an impoverished boy's coming of age in the Tsar's Winter Palace and his life/marriage in 1980's London.

PATRON PICKS -- ORDINARY GRACE

Noel's pick is Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger.

About the book:
New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961.  The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were at the ready at Halderson's Drug Store soda counter, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack.  It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president.  But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a summer in which death assumed many forms.

When tragedy unexpectedly comes to call on his family, which includes his Methodist minister father, his passionate, artistic mother, Juilliard-bound older sister, and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother, Frank finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal.  (from Goodreads)

Noel says:  Wonderful characters, excellent writing--twists & surprise ending.  Set in Minnesota, small town 1960's.