February is African American History Month, a time dedicated to “paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society” 
Let's be honest: a lot of supposedly grand love stories tend to, well, let us down in the end. But there is one special relationship that never truly let's us down. What's that you ask? As any good bibliophile knows, the answer, of course, is books. Their stories can sweep you away, provide a laugh, a cry, an escape-- and you don't even have to take it out to dinner. Valentine's Day is upon us once again, so here are a few titles, for kids, teens and adults, to enjoy.
I think we can all agree that 2018 gave us some good, and not so good, things. It did, however, produce some pretty amazing reads. So these next two blogs are purely selfish, I must admit. I mean, can “books I like” actually be a worthwhile theme, and if so, is it worthwhile enough to dedicate two weeks to? You never know until you try is my motto, so let’s do it. This week it’s about fiction, and the books I read and loved this year. I’m not saying they’re the best of the best, but they’re the stories that stuck with me and now I’m sharing them with you. I've got some for all ages, and maybe even interests, here, from picture books all the way up to adult. 
Now that that December is really here, life is getting more and more difficult. People are travelling, which leads to cranky road trips, stores and roads get crowded with all the holiday shoppers, and it just seems like you have less and less time to get everything done. All those things combined means that it gets harder and harder to get to the library and get the books that you need to keep your sanity. Fortunately, your HCPL website is here to help, offering electronic books and audiobooks that you can download, read or listen to, and return, without any need to go to the library! That’s right! You can have books for road trips, audiobooks for traffic, and you get this with just a click of a button, no need to go outside! What’s more, we have plenty of sites to choose from. 
Have you ever heard the phrase about how life is an empty book and we’re the authors? Well, I couldn’t remember exactly how it went so I went on a little Google search and found…a lot of very similar quotes that all boil down to the same thing. My life, well, probably wouldn’t make the most interesting of reading materials to the general public, but there are some works out there, some people out there, that have filled their books with some amazing things. With that in mind, here are a handful of biographies for each age group, perfect to learn from and be inspired by. 
Let’s talk about kindness. There’s a lot of negativity being thrown around these days, and sometimes it’s hard to be empathetic and keep your head up. But, as the old adage says, it cost nothing to be kind. It’s not easy, I’m well aware--it takes courage to be kind in the face of everything the world may throw at you and, sometimes, we need a little help remembering how. So, here are a few titles, for the youngest all the way up to the oldest, to help us remember that, even when things seem insurmountable, a little bit of kindness can go a very long way. 
We’re into the heart of October now, and while next week we’ll have some not so spooky options for the younger crowd, it’s now time to get to the truly spooky stuff—the books that will get your heart racing, palms sweating and mind whirring. I’ve got eight books for teens and eight for adults here, all terrifyingly creepy in their own way. From zombies to ghosts to monsters that go bump in the night, to the scariest thing of all: humanity, these recommendations are not for the faint of heart. Might want to sleep with a light on after these. 
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