Happy New Year! Dear readers, welcome to another year with many great reads ahead of us! Before I launch into my new adventures in reading for the coming year I would like to share my December favorites with you. I was surprised that I managed to read so many in December despite being busy with the holidays. Below you will find tantalizing choices from the genres of thriller, non fiction, and historical fiction. I hope that one of my recommendations sparks someone’s fancy.
I am currently a bit obsessed with Riley Sager’s books. His thrillers just hit all the right “I can’t put this book down!” vibes. This is Riley Sager’s second thriller novel. Each is a stand alone, but since I found I liked this author I have decided to read them in publication order. If you like creepy summer camp stories that involve suspicious rich people, a possibly haunted lake, a deep dark woods, and vanished young campers then this is one for you! This one in particular was very atmospheric with perfectly eerie visuals.
Emma Davis spent a few days at Camp Nightingale when she was thirteen. That stay was enough to traumatize her for life. During her stay the other three girls in her cabin disappeared without a trace. No one knows what happened to them. The mystery remains unsolved. Emma has been haunted by not knowing what happened to her friends into her adult years. She copes by painting them over and over and covering their images with paintings of the forest. No one knows the girls are hidden in the paintings but her. It is an odd coping mechanism, but it helps her. As an artist, Emma is so successful that the rich owner of Camp Nightingale, Franny, takes an interest in her paintings. After purchasing a painting, Franny informs Emma that she intends to reopen Camp Nightingale for the first time after the disappearances. She invites Emma to come work for her as the art teacher. Seeing this as an opportunity to tie up loose ends and solve the mystery once and for all, Emma accepts. Once there odd things start happening and Emma can’t help but feel that she is being watched. Is someone trying to keep the truth from coming to light? Will more girls disappear? Read The Last Time I Lied to find out!
When the weather gets cold, I like to get cozy and settle in to a game. I have a bad habit of playing a few games at the same time and bouncing between them as my interest in a particular game fluctuates. This week’s blog post is a list of the games I’m currently playing. If a game is on multiple platforms, I’ll include links to the different versions.
Obsidian developed my favorite Fallout game, so I’ve been partial to their games for the last few years. They’ve continued a design choice since Avowed that I appreciate. Avowed was open enough that it felt like an open-world game, but it was contained enough that I didn’t feel punished by going in a particular direction. Sometimes open-world games prioritize the size of the world without filling it with enough content to reward exploration, and to be honest, as I’ve gotten older, I don’t want to spend hundreds of hours sifting through a game to find what’s worth looting. Avowed also allowed you to upgrade the equipment that you liked throughout the entire game, so I didn’t have to waste time on loot grind. It was nice to see The Outer Worlds 2 kept that streamlined design, and I find the Outer Worlds setting interesting. Outer Worlds’ setting tends to be a little more comedic than Fallout: New Vegas was, but it still itches that Obsidian itch.
People generally look ahead in the New Year, to the dawning possibilities and the existential dread of endless choice. It’s not for me, this embarrassment of variety, this perversion of content creation, this deluge of intellectual property. Let’s, you and I, with the power of library catalog software, look at some of the books that have been available for checkout since their publication or since Mead first opened its doors in 1897.
The Overcoat (1842) by Nikolai Gogol The Russians are great to read in winter. I love feeling desolate. Gogol is my particular favorite among them. His writing is bleak and luminous, much like some winter days. This short story is considered his greatest.
The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins Collins is often credited for writing some of the first stories we could compare to modern mystery fiction. As a fan of classical mysteries myself, I have found Collins to be slightly long-winded and dusty, but others will revel in his gilded language. He is contemporaneous to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who I encountered first, and who is still my Victorian ideal for mystery/adventure writing.
The Hamlet (1940) by William Faulkner Faulkner makes my head hurt. He is not for me. I find the prose dense and hard to parse. The rest of the world disagrees, and the rest of the world has a bigger, higher-functioning brain than I, with which to comprehend Faulkner. Visit any library in the country and you are likely to find something by William Faulkner, and Mead is no exception.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) by Betty Smith I have never read this book but I always knew about it. There was this gag in a 1940s Looney Tunes cartoon in which a bunch of tough New York City dogs are getting ready to kick Bugs Bunny’s ass, so he grasps around him and holds something out to defend himself. All of a sudden all the dogs RACE away from Bugs, which is when we learn the title of the book: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. That’s right. A dog pee joke. Mid 20th century animation has provided me with an education in the humanities, and has made me the refined citizen I am today.
Anyhoo, I bet the book is worth a read since it has been in continual circulation since its publication.
The Once and Future King (1958) by T.H. White This is the five-book collection of White’s definitive retelling of the Arthurian legend. The first book, The Sword in the Stone, was published in 1938, and is an abiding classic. Mead’s copy was published in 1958 and has been in constant circulation since. Do you get a sense of time and place from old objects like books? I do.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1962) by C.G. Jung The esteemed Swiss psychiatrist and physiotherapist spent his last days finalizing this autobiographical work. His contribution to the field of psychiatry has impacted the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, and literature. The man defined the concepts of introversion and extroversion, for one, and we all frame ourselves through this lens. Read all about it, in his own words here.
Never Cry Wolf (1963) by Farley Mowat Hey, I never read this book either, but I HAVE seen the movie. There is a scene relating to canines and canine urine in this story, which I think dovetails nicely with my remarks about A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.
Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) by Jean Rhys Remember how Mr. Rochester was keeping his crazy wife hidden in the attic? Yeah, that wasn’t so cool, was it? The mad wife has a name, Antoinette Cosway, and this is her story.
Twiggy: How I probably just came along on a white rabbit at the right time, and met the smile on the face of the tiger (1968) by Twiggy This book is tall and thin, just like Twiggy. Damn her, for pushing these unrealistic beauty standards on printed material.
I Sing the Body Electric! And Other Stories (1969) by Ray Bradbury Isn’t that the title of a song from the hit 1980 musical, Fame? That’s what I thought for a long time until I became familiar with the work of Walt Whitman. We all learn at a different pace.
As for Bradbury, his work doesn’t need promoting. He is easily one of the most beloved authors of the 20th century. We had to read one of the Illustrated Man short stories in 6th grade English class and then we had to read the same story in freshman English four years later. Sheboygan Area School District’s failure to branch out from “The Veldt” in the 1990s is a failing I won’t soon forgive.
How does Mead staff decide what stays on the shelf and what goes? Once material has been added to the collection, it mostly depends on how often something circulates. Books that sit unmoving for three years are usually removed from the collection, or “weeded”, to make way for newer, more sought-after titles. This material is donated to the Friends of the Mead Public Library, who then use it to stock their fabulous annual book sale. I love the process of managing the collections at our library, and I love the ecosystem of access it creates.
What are your favorite books published in the 20th century or earlier? What is the earliest-published book you have ever read? Mine is The Pillow Book of Sai Shonagon, first published in Heian-era Japan in the year 1002. Available now in the Monarch catalog!
It’s that time of year again! Last year, I surveyed a sampling of the years’ greatest sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. You can read that post here – all of those books still come highly recommended. Now the time has come to do the same for the new releases of 2025. The same caveat from last year applies: I’m only one person, I can only read so many books in a year. Therefore I couldn’t possibly include every amazing new speculative fiction release from the past year, no matter how much I might like to. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t point out that 2025 has been an absolute banner year for horror, and this list leans a lot more towards that genre than last years’. With the preamble out of the way, let’s get started!
In the city of Tilliard, opera is bloodsport, perfume is politics, and one person can have many names over the course of a life. We view this city through the eyes of Guy Moulène, one of the rank and file of Tilliard’s pest control companies. On a routine job, Guy discovers an insect the size of a dragon – one that may be even more dangerous after it’s slain. Guy’s story entwines with that of Asteritha Vost, perfumer to Tilliard’s elite. When Aster becomes entangled with Mallory vont Passant, a newcomer to Tilliard with a past shrouded in mystery, she unearths secrets that may shake the city to its core – that touch upon the past of her ruthless employer, Grand Marshal Maximian Sorav. As a work of horror fantasy, The Works of Vermin is no less than the total package. Tilliard’s atmosphere of rotten beauty is pitch-perfect, calling to mind Jeff Vandermeer’s Ambergris and China Miéville’s New Crobuzon. Innes also delivers on pacing and plot – there’s a sequence of plot twists about three quarters of the way through that literally made my jaw drop. Prospective readers should definitely exercise discretion about content, as this story goes to some extremely dark places. That said, it’s also suffused with some welcome macabre humor: when things get that bad, sometimes there’s nothing to do but laugh. The Works of Vermin was a privilege to read, a book over four-hundred pages that I wish was longer. If Ennes ever wants to return to the Tilliard setting, I’ll happily come along, bugs and all.
What better way to ring in the New Year than by reading some New Books. Please enjoy this monthly list compiled by library workers across the country who are excited to read the following titles:
The Bookbinder’s Secret by A.D. Bell (St. Martin’s Press) Lily is in limbo. She loves books and her binding trade, but her father is distant and her employer seems not to value her. Her life is turned upside down when she is given a burned book and the secrets it holds. This is truly a wonderful read full of mystery, love, and intrigue. —Susan Willis, Chanute Public Library, KS NoveList read-alike: The Binding by Bridget Collins
All the Little Houses by May Cobb (Sourcebooks Landmark) Cobb’s latest gasp-out-loud read doesn’t disappoint, bringing readers back to the East Texas town of Longview, where wealth, booze, secrets, sex, and very bad—some might even say murderous—behavior abound. Readers will not be able to take their eyes off this propulsive thriller. —Carol Ann Tack, Merrick Library, NY NoveList read-alike: The Empress of Cooke County by Elizabeth Bass Parman
Anatomy of an Alibi: A Novel by Ashley Elston (Pamela Dorman Books) This is a tale of two women: Wealthy Camille is living the high life, while Aubrey works as a bartender. Who is telling the truth? An unhappy marriage, skeletons in the closet, and a murdered husband make this a story worth reading! —Jo Hic, Phillips Public Library, WI NoveList read-alike: The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson
Women of a Promiscuous by Nature Donna Everhart (Kensington) In this stunning character-driven novel set in the 1940s, Everhart introduces the inmates and staff of the Industrial Farm Colony for Women. As readers are drawn into the life of the Colony, the lofty goals as well as the terrible cruelty and injustice of the place are slowly revealed. Highly recommended. —Vicki Nesting, St. Charles Parish Library, LA NoveList read-alike: The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church
No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah (Sourcebooks Landmark) In this satirical book-within-a-book, the Lamberts’ dog, Champ,is accused of biting the neighbor’s daughter. The eccentric pet-obsessed matriarch Sally refuses to believe this, so the family goes on the run with Champ in tow. Twisty and puzzling. —Magan Szwarek, LibraryReads Ambassador, IL NoveList read-alike: Cat Fight by Kit Conwa
It Should Have Been You: A Novel by Andrea Mara (Pamela Dorman Books) When a woman accidentally sends a private message meant for her sisters to the entire neighborhood group chat, the ensuing chain of events exposes secrets and causes deadly anguish. This book was a wild ride that will captivate readers from the first page —Debbie Frizzell, Johnson County Library, KS NoveList read-alike: You Deserve to Know by Aggie Bloom Thompson
How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder: A Novel by Nina McConigley (Pantheon) When their uncle arrives from India, two sisters’ adjustment to a dual culture life in smalltown Wyoming in the mid-1980s becomes complicated. This debut hits on touchy subjects with grace, as the sisters choose to fight instead of being silent victims. Those of us who spent many hours at teen sleepovers will delight in the nostalgia scattered amidst the actual crime and justice served. —Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin, TX NoveList read-alike: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithewait
Vigil: A Novel by George Saunders (Random House) Saunders knows how to capture the essence of life in a story all about death. This message is wrapped in a Christmas Carol package about a ghost ushering a greedy, selfish man into the afterlife. This climate story effectively hammers home that climate change affects everyone and everything irreparably, but we must also carry on. —Sabrina Unrein, Mahwah Public Library, NJ NoveList read-alike: The Apology by Jimin Han
The Elsewhere Express: A Novel by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Del Rey) This enchanting, whimsical fantasy is a warm hug for the soul. A magical train that appears to those who are lost is absolutely charming, and creativity shines in the descriptions of the train’s wondrous cars, from lily-pad picnics to jellyfish swimming through clouds. A journey not just through a magical world, but also of self-discovery, hope, and finding one’s sense of purpose. —Lee V., New York Public Library, NY NoveList read-alike:The Rainfall Market by Yeong Gwang You
Bonus Pick:
The Poet Empress by Shen Tao (Bramble)
Top Non-Fiction:
When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy by Beronda L. Montgomery (Henry Holt & Co.
Pick of the Month:
Is This a Cry for Help? By Emily Austin (Atria Books) After she learns of the death of her ex-boyfriend, librarian Darcy has a mental breakdown and takes leave from her job at a public library. With time, therapy, and support from her wife, Darcy returns to work while coping with the guilt and book-banning protests. This reflective, heartwarming, and character-driven read delves into grief and identity with care and humor. —Kristin Skinner, Flat River Community Library, MI NoveList read-alike: Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett
While library workers may be slightly biased (the top pick features a librarian as the main character, for example), perhaps we can all agree that there are few things in this life better than a fine, fine, list. Oh the lists I have known, what joy. If none of the featured titles are causing brain excitement, please consider using Mead’s Your Next Five Books tool, or Your Next Five Movies, if the occasion calls for cinema.
It is that season again! During these snowy winter months a favorite past time of many of us is curling up with a blanket and putting in a movie that puts you in that certain holiday mood. Some of my favorites include the classics such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town and the Home Alone movies. As these are very well known and common cozy classics I will not be covering them in this blog post. To be honest, my taste in Christmas movies ranges towards the darker side (except for one glaring exception). Dear readers, I hope you find something of interest as I share my Christmas favorites.
This Christmas movie has been my #1 favorite since childhood and is the exception to the darker theme of others on this list. I grew up in Dundee Wisconsin. There was not much there. There is still the gas station that is a hub and general store for the tiny town. What the gas station no longer has are VHS tapes to rent out. It was a very small selection and always a special treat when mom took me to pick something to rent. Beauty and the Beast and The Enchanted Christmas often came home with me. (As an adult I now own the movie on DVD so I can watch it whenever I please.)
The movie is set in the between time in the original Beauty and the Beast movie. (My husband complains that this does not make sense as they would have had no time to celebrate Christmas, but hey suspend your disbelief and embrace the whimsy!) Belle finds out that the inhabitants of the castle have not celebrated Christmas since the Enchantress cursed the Beast. In fact the Beast has forbidden the celebration of Christmas as it reminds him of his curse and makes him angry. Belle sets out to restore the Christmas spirit to the castle and break the ice of the Beast’s cold and angry heart. This movie also includes one of my all time favorite Christmas songs ever: As Long As There’s Christmas. For warm fuzzy feelings and magic that warms the heart check out Beauty and the Beast and The Enchanted Christmas.
Dear reader, although November has come and gone, the shipping season on the great lakes won’t end until the Soo Locks close at 11:59pm on January 15th 2026. And even once they do close we can still talk about ships because how else will us ship nerds survive the long barren winter?
But there’s more to wait for than the reopening of the Soo Locks on March 25th 2026. What’s that, you ask? The new book about the Edmund Fitzgerald, The Gales of November by John U. Bacon. This book was released just ahead of the 50th anniversary of the ship’s sinking. However, I can’t talk about it because I haven’t read it yet! The last time I checked I’m still number 32 in the holds queue for it. Isn’t there something exciting about checking your placement in the holds queue for a book you really want? It’s like Christmas day when you finally get the notification that it’s available for checkout!
So while you wait for your copy of The Gales of November to come in, I’ll spend our time together talking about other books either about the Fitzgerald sinking or other shipwrecks that have happened on the Great Lakes.
For three decades following World War II, the Great Lakes overtook Europe as the epicenter of global economic strength. The region was the beating heart of the world economy, possessing all the power and prestige Silicon Valley does today. And no ship represented the apex of the American Century better than the 729-foot-long Edmund Fitzgerald—the biggest, best, and most profitable ship on the Lakes.
But on November 10, 1975, as the “storm of the century” threw 100 mile-per-hour winds and 50-foot waves on Lake Superior, the Mighty Fitz found itself at the worst possible place, at the worst possible time. When she sank, she took all 29 men onboard down with her, leaving the tragedy shrouded in mystery for a half century.
In The Gales of November, award-winning journalist John U. Bacon presents the definitive account of the disaster, drawing on more than 100 interviews with the families, friends, and former crewmates of those lost. Bacon explores the vital role Great Lakes shipping played in America’s economic boom, the uncommon lives the sailors led, the sinking’s most likely causes, and the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind—”the wives, the sons, and the daughters,” as Gordon Lightfoot sang in his unforgettable ballad.
Focused on those directly affected by the tragedy, The Gales of November is both an emotional tribute to the lives lost and a propulsive, page-turning narrative history of America’s most-mourned maritime disaster.
Dear reader, one thing I love the most about nonfiction books is the fact that they not only give an in-depth account of the topic they’re covering, they also give you the backstory leading up to it, such as the political climate, social attitudes, etc. It’s especially fascinating to read about such things when you haven’t grown up in the time period the book is covering.
For instance, in a recent documentary I watched on the Edmund Fitzgerald it was mentioned how the Coast Guard was trying to cut costs by automating certain lighthouses. It was strongly advised not to automate the Whitefish Point lighthouse, which was a crucial point to warn sailors of dangerous shoals, but automated it was and on the night of the Fitzgerald’s sinking the infamous storm had knocked out power to the lighthouse, thus depriving the Fitzgerald’s crew of yet another point of navigation. In the same documentary it said while the Fitzgerald was at the ore dock in Superior, WI a crane operator had damaged the ship’s navigational equipment, so by the time they were out in open water and in the thick of the storm they were basically running blind. One speculation on the cause of the Fitzgerald’s sinking is, due to this lack of navigational equipment, they inadvertently steamed too close to the shoals of Caribou Island and damaged the hull of the ship unknowingly. Even 50 years later we still do not know what ultimately led to the Fitzgerald’s tragic sinking. Her final resting place in Canadian waters was in 2006 declared a gravesite due to the remains of all 29 crew members still being on board, so there are no longer dives down to the wreck to investigate it.
When she was built the Fitzgerald was the largest and fastest ship on the Great Lakes. In fact, when she was launched into the water for the first time she was the largest to have done so. In the same documentary it mentioned how her accommodations for visiting dignitaries and their families were appointed with the most up to date technology and luxuries of the time. She was the star of her fleet and consistently broke old records and created new ones for the most cargo hauled in a season. She was also the first ship to have a welded hull. This allowed her to be built in record time. Here lies another speculation on the cause of her sinking, with some saying it was this accelerated, welded design that led to a compromise in structural integrity.
This theme of being the largest ship on the Great Lakes also applies to another shipwreck, that of the Carl D. Bradley, which sank in Lake Michigan in 1958.
Last month I found myself in a bit of a reading slump. Life was busy and many of my library holds were taking their time coming in (yes, they came in all at once so I had some catching up to do!). I had a great time reading through a wide variety of genres in the past month, and I am super excited to share my favorites with you! Below you will find suggestions for genres in fantasy, non fiction, historical fiction, and thriller/horror. I am an eclectic reader! Dear reader, I hope you find something on this list that brings you as much delight as these reads brought to me.
Here is a list of movies I watched this fall and what I thought about them and what you should also watch or watch instead. Many of the movies came off of the New York Times list of the best films of the 21st century, so far. Get your free access to the NYT courtesy of Mead Library by clicking HERE if you’d like to see the list for yourself.
Memories of Murder (2003) dir. Bong Joon Ho Rural South Korean detectives struggle and fail to bring a serial murderer to justice. Based on true events. This is a must-watch for disciples of international film, true crime, Bong Joon Ho, and Song Kang-Ho. Gripping, disturbing, gorgeous, and frustrating.
Companion movies: The Bone Collector (1999); Frenzy (1972); LA Confidential (1997); Zodiac (2007)
Michael Clayton (2007) starring George Clooney and Tilda Swinton Fancy attorney “fixer” Michael Clayton must figure out who is killing off everyone related to a multi-billion dollar lawsuit in this taught thriller because he might be next. Great cast. Beautifully shot. Slick narrative devices. Morally grey protagonists. This baby has really got it all.
Spotlight (2015) starring Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams The incredible, harrowing, and heartbreaking true story of the Boston Globe breaking the Catholic sex abuse scandal in 2001. This won the Oscar for Best Picture and rightly so. We will be discussing this film at the Feb. 2026 meeting of Movie Club. I am screening it that week, too, check the calendar for details. I watched this slack-jawed and all in one go, and while my mouth is often slack, it is rare that I watch an entire movie all in one sitting.
Black Orpheus (1959) dir. Marcel Camus A fabulous retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set against the colorful backdrop of Carnival in Rio with an all-black cast. This dreamy interpretation captured international attention and was awarded the Palme D’or at Cannes.
Companion movies: Singin’ In the Rain (1952); The Red Shoes (1948); Touki Bouki (1973); The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1967)
The Intouchables (2011) dir. Olivier Nakache Sweet and unexpected buddy comedy in which a good natured recidivist stumbles into employment as the caretaker of a wealthy quadriplegic aristocrat. Worlds collide here to great effect. There is an American remake starring Hal from Malcolm in the Middle and that little fella from Jumanji. I haven’t seen it and cannot attest to its charm or lack thereof. It’s called The Upside (2017).
Companion movies: Amelie (2001); The Bucket List (2007); Captain Fantastic (2016); Notting Hill (1999)
The Menu (2022) starring Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy A chef and his staff at the height of their celebrity and abilities have a strange reaction to the lofty position they have attained. This one gets bloody but it’s FUNNy blood, you guys. No it isn’t actually. Trigger warning, you guys, actually.
Companion movies: Pig (2021); Ready or Not (2019); Saltburn (2023); Triangle of Sadness (2022)
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) starring Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson Large British men do man things in the service of His Royal Majesty during WWII. Although there were several Large Men featured throughout, I found the movie to be inexplicably boring despite looking slick as heck. What a waste of Large Men and their various abilities. I would watch Alan Ritchson grout tile tho, to be fair. Stick to Ritchie’s early work like Snatch (2000) and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).
Companion movies: The Dirty Dozen (1967); The Great Escape (1963); Inglorious Basterds (2009); Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
All of the movies listed above are available in the Monarch catalog on DVD, BluRay, and/or streaming formats. Don’t forget to check Kanopy and Hoopla when looking for something to watch. Are none of the titles I listed appealing? Consider using Mead’s Your Next Five Movies film-recommendation tool. Take a look HERE. We also offer a book recommendation tool Your Next Five Books if movies are not appealing at the moment.
The weather is crisp, the leaves are abandoning ship, and I’m thinking of all the ways I can stay as cozy as possible. Reading and pouring myself cups of tea are essential activities. This is also the stretch of time where I carry my knitting projects in my bag everywhere I go. If you’re even mildly curious about knitting, or already deep in the craft, our catalog has a great assortment of books to inspire you to make something out of seemingly nothing.
Vogue has published many knitting books over the years—some excellent, some… less so. But if there’s one to add to your shelf, Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book is the one. It’s more of a tome than a travel companion, but it covers almost everything you might want to know: a stitch dictionary, patterns, fiber guides, yarn weights, and more.
My favorite part is the clear breakdown of garment shaping and construction. Understanding why something comes together the way it does is invaluable. If you can “read” your knitting, it becomes much easier to identify mistakes, fix them, and even adjust or design your own patterns.
Standout: The fiber guide is wonderfully thorough. In my early days, I picked yarn at random and then wondered why my finished hat didn’t match the slouchy photo in the pattern. Turns out fiber matters.
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