eBranch Blog

June 29, 2004

2004 Christy Awards

The 2004 Christy Awards, which honor the best in Christian fiction, were announced on June 25.

Contemporary
Lisa Samson. Songbird
The wife of a popular televangelist discovers a family secret that threatens to destroy her marriage and her husband's ministry.

Fantasy
Karen Hancock. The Light of Eidon
The first novel in a new dynamic series follows the life of Abramm Kalladorne in his turbulent search for truth and self--a search that will transform him from a sickly, head-in-the-clouds youth to a legendary hero of strength and courage.

Futuristic
Jerry Jenkins. Soon
In the aftermath of World War III, the world is resolved as never before to eliminate war, and all agree that the surest way is to institute a worldwide ban on religion. But something big is coming--something that can't be stopped--and it is coming "soon."

Historical
Lynn Austin. Fire by Night
The drama of the Civil War unfolds through the eyes of two very different Northern girls. Book two of the Refiner's Fire series. The first book is Candle in the Darkness.

Romance
Hannah Alexander. Hideaway
Devastated by her sister's death, E.R. doctor Cheyenne Allison retreats to an isolated farm in Hideaway, Missouri. But a dangerous vandal terrorizes the town, and Cheyenne finds an unexpected demand for her medical skills.

Suspense
Ted Dekker. Thr3e
Three is a psychological thriller that starts full-tilt and keeps the reader off-balance until the very last suspense-filled page.

June 28, 2004

Color Your World...Purple!

Each week during the Summer Reading Program we are featuring a color. This week's color is Purple!. There's purple play time, craft time, and reading time.

There are many shades of purple. From calming lavender to deep dark violet with many variations in between. Purple wildflowers add color along country roads. From juicy grapes and plums to cool purple popsicles, purple is a part of summer. Take time to notice the purple in your world.

June 21, 2004

Color Your World...Green!

Each week during the Summer Reading Program we are featuring a color. This week's color is Green!. There's green play time, craft time, and reading time.

Green is nature. Green is the grass beneath our feet or the leaves in the trees above our head. Green feeds us with healthy beans, peas, lettuce, pears and grapes. Green hops like a frog and slithers like a snake. Green is all around us so spend some time noticing the green in your world.

June 18, 2004

Wall Street Journal Best Selling Books

We have added the WSJ Best Selling Books lists for fiction, nonfiction, and business. These are updated weekly.

June 16, 2004

Sweeping Romances & Romance @ the Movies Lists

In Sweeping Romances "Read the original stories that inspired some of the greatest romantic movies of all time." In Romance @ the Movies find a selection of the "greatest romantic movies" of all time that are based on books.

Emma
Emma Woodhouse is a young woman who, having engineered the marriage of her companion, turns her attention toward making a match for the local vicar and her new protegee, Harriet Smith. Her one voice of reason and restraint is Mr. Knightly, who has known her since she was a child and who watches her behaviour with wry amusement and sometimes with real anger. Emma presides over the small provincial world of Highbury with enthusiasm, but she will find it is all too easy to confuse good intentions with self-gratification. Directed by Douglas McGrath. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Based on the book Emma by Jane Austen. See also: Clueless.

June 15, 2004

New York Times Business Bestsellers

We have added the New York Times Business Bestsellers list. This list is updated monthly. The number one book this month is:

Ron Chernow. Alexander Hamilton
Chernow brings to light nearly fifty previously undiscovered essays as he explores Hamilton's fiery journalism, his youthful poetry, his magisterial state papers, and his revealing missives to colleagues and friends. Moreover, he conjures up portraits of Hamilton's celebrated peers, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Burr with all their shortcomings as well as their oft-sung triumphs."

New Romance Category

We have added a booklist category for Romance.

Love & Laughter Book List

The books on the Love & Laughter book list take one part love and mix it with one part laughter and you get a rollicking good romantic comedy. Compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list.

Suzanne Finnamore. Otherwise Engaged
What happens to an attractive, intelligent, formerly rational woman when the man she has been chasing finally pops the question? Eve has 12 months and 27 Valium left until the big day--plenty of time to contemplate the exasperating ritual otherwise known as modern marriage.

Love Among the Ruins Book List

When love has failed you and you don't think you ever want it again, you'll sometimes find it in unexpected places on the Love Among the Ruins book list. Compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list.

Mary Sheepshanks. Picking up the Pieces
Kate is in her fifties, recently widowed, and coping with the difficulties--and occasional pleasures--of flying solo. Helped and hindered in equal measures by her delightful but wicked old mother-in-law, Cicely, she finds new strengths and must face undiscovered weaknesses. But when her daughter is estranged by her husband, Kate finds herself forced into a role she cannot assume, and realizes it is time to stop outside her family's preconceived notions. What follows is a delightful story of the relationships and unspoken power struggles between four generations of women.

June 14, 2004

USA Today Bestseller List

We have added the USA Today Bestseller List which encompasses fiction, nonfiction, hardcover, and paperback.

Merriam Webster's Top 10 Words of 2004

Merriam Webster has come up with the top 10 words of 2004 based on submissions from website visitors.

1. defenestration
2. serendipity
3. onomatopoeia
4. discombobulate
5. plethora
6. callipygian
7. juxtapose
8. persnickety
9. kerfuffle
10. flibbertigibbet

Link via J-Walk Blog

Color Your World...Yellow!

Each week during the Summer Reading Program we are featuring a color. This week's color is Yellow! There's yellow play time, craft time, and reading time.

Yellow is the bright color of a smiley face. Yellow shines down on us during the day as the sun and lights the night as the moon and stars. Yellow drives you around as a taxi or school bus. Yellow is sweet as a banana and sour as a lemon. Take time to notice all of the yellow in your world.

June 11, 2004

New Bestseller Lists

We have added the Publisher's Weekly Bestseller Lists for Fiction | Nonfiction | Audio Fiction | Audio Nonfiction | Religion

We have also added Library Journal Bestseller Lists for Fiction & Nonfiction.

This is in addition to our New York Times Bestseller Lists for Fiction & Nonfiction.

These lists are updated weekly.

June 08, 2004

Clear Lake City-County Freeman Branch Library

The all new 42,000 square foot Clear Lake City-County Freeman Branch Library had it's grand opening at 10 AM today. The new library has self check out, an Internet Caf?, the Teen Zone, Betty's Place - the children's room, a training lab, a meeting room, conference room, and five study rooms.

New Books/Movies/Audio Lists Updated

The New Books, Audios, and DVDs/Videos lists have been updated with titles cataloged in May 2004.

June 07, 2004

Elizabeth Berg & Barbara Delinsky Book List

List of authors similar to Elizabeth Berg & Barbara Delinsky provided by the staff at the West Universty Branch Library.

Jeanne Ray. Julie and Romeo
This deliciously funny and wickedly sexy novel of love found (finally!) and love threatened (inevitably) tells the story of Romeo Cacciamani and Julie Roseman, who fall in love, despite the fact that their families have hated each other for as long as anyone can remember.

Color Your World...Blue!

Each week during the Summer Reading Program we are featuring a color. This week's color is Blue. There's blue play time, craft time, and reading time.

Blue is a pleasing color that many people find very relaxing. Blue is the sky and the sea. Blue can be as large as a whale swimming in the ocean or as small as a blue jay singing in a tree. Blue spreads across the Texas countryside in fields of Bluebonnets, our state flower. Take notice of all the blue in your world.

June 04, 2004

Jennifer Crusie Book List

List of authors similar to Jennifer Crusie provided by the staff at the West Universty Branch Library. Also check out the Sassy, Smart, Female and Funny book list.

Sarah Shankman. I Still Miss My Man But My Aim Is Getting Better
Finishing her waitressing shift and preparing for Songwriters' Night at the local country music club, promising singer Shelby Kay Tate becomes the unknowing target of an obsessive stalker.

Family Found Book List

The Family Found book list includes books that deal with creating a family from unrelated people. Provided by the staff at the West Universty Branch Library.

Lois Battle. Florabama Ladies? Auxiliary & Sewing Circle
A funny, heartfelt, and poignant novel about the surprising power of a group of small-town women when the local lingerie factory closes its doors.

June 03, 2004

A Summer of Books Book List

When it gets hot outside curl up with one of these summer books on the Summer of Books book list. Compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list.

Barbara Kingsolver. Prodigal Summer
In a beautiful hymn to wildness, Kingsolver celebrates the prodigal spirit of human nature and of nature itself. Over the course of one humid summer, as the urge to procreate takes over the countryside, the novel's characters find their connections to one another in the forested mountains of southern Appalachia.

Summer Movies List

The lazy, hazy days of summer are a good time to catch up on movies. These Summer Movies range from campy comedy to romance to thriller and all take place in the summertime.

Indian Summer
A group of childhood friends, now in their thirties, reunite at Camp Tamakwa. Directed by Mike Binder. Starring Alan Arkin, Bill Paxton, & Elizabeth Perkins.

June 02, 2004

Historical Romance Book List

From the old west to old England these Historical Romances take you on a jaunt through history. Compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list.

Sara Donati . Into the Wilderness
A beautifully wrought, passionately evoked novel of early America. When Elizabeth Middleton leaves England to join her father and brother in the remote mountain village of Paradise, New York, she does so with a strong will and an unwavering purpose: to teach school. First in the Nathaniel & Elizabeth series.

June 01, 2004

Sherlock Holmes Returns Book List

The great detective has inspired a number of sequels and companion novels by other authors. The Sherlock Holmes Returns book list includes books that feature Holmes himself and others that feature major and minor characters from the Holmes stories (e.g. Watson & Mycroft).

Jamyang Norbu. Sherlock Holmes: The Missing Years
Two years after Sherlock Holmes was killed in a last deadly struggle with archcriminial Professor Moriarty, popular demand made Sir Conan Doyle resurrect the great detective. This new mystery by one of Tibet's foremost writers holds the key to a mystery and tells what happened to Holmes during those two missing years.

Anna Karenina - New Oprah's Book Club Selection

Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina has beauty, social position, wealth, a husband, and an adored son, but her existence seems empty. When she meets the dashing officer Count Vronsky she rejects her marriage and turns to him to fulfill her passionate nature -- with devastating results. One of the world's greatest novels, Anna Karenina is both an immortal drama of personal conflict and social scandal and a vivid, richly textured panorama of nineteenth-century Russia.

Oprah's Book Club List

Color Your World...Read! - 2004 Summer Reading Program

The 2004 Summer Reading Program, Color Your World...Read! kicks off today. All branches will be having activities from June 1 - July 31. You can register for the program at any branch - or register for the online program. Each week, online, we will feature a color. This week's color is RED.