Staff Picks

  • Staff Picks Poetry Month: The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell

    April 3, 2024Staff Picks Poetry Month: The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell
    The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell was published in the early 1970s, a time of apocalyptic malaise and unmooring. He dedicated it to his two young children, Maud and Fergus, and the theme of death and rebirth is redolent throughout. This is arguably Kinnell’s best work, a poetic masterpiece, but one I read as ...
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  • Staff Picks: Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

    April 2, 2024Staff Picks: Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare
    Kel is snatched from the orphanage at a very young age and taken to the palace.  He trains for years to be the Sword Catcher – someone who studies Prince Connor so intently he can substitute for him any time things get too dangerous, and who can defend him from a plethora of attacks. As ...
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  • Staff Picks: Aurora’s Anticipated Non-Fiction: February and March

    March 28, 2024Staff Picks: Aurora's Anticipated Non-Fiction: February and March
    The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster by John O’Connor If you’re anything like me, the phrase “I Want to Believe” summons visions of flying saucers, extraterrestrial visitors, and the intrepid renegade government employees who tirelessly track them across the United States. If you have the good fortune of not being especially ...
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  • Staff Picks: The Silo Series by Hugh Howey

    March 21, 2024Staff Picks: The Silo Series by Hugh Howey
    I am not a fan of post-apocalyptic sci-fi, nor do I read sci-fi often.  However, the Silo Saga was recommended to me and I am so glad I tried it! I don’t know how the TV series is compared to the books, but I always find the books better.  The series has great characters, a ...
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  • Staff Picks: Favorite Audiobooks

    March 14, 2024Staff Picks: Favorite Audiobooks
    In the car, in the air, you can listen anywhere! PFL staff love audiobooks and think you should too.  Favorite titles below can be found in CD book form or on cloudLibrary.   Juvenile: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (Read by Claire Danes and enhanced with sound effects) How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (Read exuberantly and ...
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  • Staff Picks: Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day by Dan Nott

    March 7, 2024Staff Picks: Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day by Dan Nott
    Using an array of sketches, diagrams, and sequenced panels, graphic novelist Dan Nott presents an introduction to three modern wonders: the internet, electricity, and water systems. He explains the three topics through many facets—their historical development, their technological intricacies, their social importance, and their future challenges. Much of the information in Hidden Systems might be familiar ...
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  • Staff Pick: Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano

    February 29, 2024Staff Pick: Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano
    Mysterious disappearance of a loved one? Check. Ages-old evil entity? Check. Scary things back from the dead? Check. All this plus a weird island that can’t be googled and seems to have stopped evolving past 1994. Makes for a page turning horror/psychological thriller.  And did I mention fun 1994 references? Dead Eleven is told through a mix of ...
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  • Staff Pick: O Beautiful by Jung Yun

    February 22, 2024Staff Pick: O Beautiful by Jung Yun
    I listened to the audiobook, O Beautiful by Jung Yun on the CloudLibrary online catalog and was invested in the story from the first few lines. It’s about a woman named Elinor in her forties trying to reinvent herself after a modeling career from her youth. When she gets the opportunity to write an article on ...
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  • Staff Picks: Selfish, Shallow, and Self Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids edited by Meghan Daum

    February 15, 2024
    Leaving aside those who wish to have children but don’t,  there are surely as many reasons for not being a parent as for being one and as many ways to be as to not be one. The essays in Selfish, Shallow, and Self Absorbed are thoughtful and honest about the challenges of living an “authentic” ...
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  • Staff Pick: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

    February 6, 2024Staff Pick: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
    Traditional fantasy takes on a brutal edge in Rebecca Yarros’ new novel, the immensely popular Fourth Wing.  Violet Sorrengail, the youngest of the General’s three children, enters the Rider’s Quadrant with every eye on her – and not much hope of surviving the next few weeks.  After all, a quarter of Rider Candidates never make ...
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