Trending topics: True crime

Crime scene do not cross tape with book covers The Queen by Josh Levin, Diamond Doris by Doris Payne, Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth, I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná With HBO’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark premiering this Sunday, we’ve got true crime on the brain. A wide genre of nonfiction, true crime encompasses everything from the gangsters of the 20s to the rise and fall of Bernie Madoff to serial killers. The selections on this list include … Read more

Books in Brief, episode 5: Black Lives Matter

Books in Brief: Book covers for Homegoing, How to Be an Antiracist, Just Mercy, White Fragility

Need some book recommendations? Your librarians are here to help! Don’t miss this episode of Books in Brief, a video series featuring four great digital title recommendations in about two minutes. Collection Management Librarian Kathy recommends four titles to help educate yourself. Black Lives Matter digital titles Watch the episode above and then find all … Read more

Classic & contemporary: Black Music Month

Person using headphones

By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná Designated in 1979 by President Carter as Black Music Month and renamed in 2009 by President Obama, African-American Music Appreciation Month is a celebration of Black music, Black joy, and Black excellence. Black artists have been originators and redesigners of sound across all musical genres. Check out these albums and … Read more

Relevant reads: Culture

Book covers for Magical Negro, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, and Wayward Lives Beautiful Experiments on painted canvas

By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná Culture is created, manifested, and maintained. It cannot not exist without people actively perpetuating it, and it does not exist in a vacuum. These books explore Black culture in America, how it shapes and is shaped by music, and the ways racial and socioeconomic inequalities influence it. You can find … Read more

Black Lives Matter

Book covers for The New Jim Crow; Something Happened in Our Town, Homegoing; When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir; Black Brother, Black Brother; The Usual Suspects; Citizen; A Phoenix First Must Burn; Piecing Me Together; I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness; Voice of Freedom, So You Want to Talk About Race; Black Enough

Dear Oak Park Community, We are sickened and horrified by the needless killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. We are frightened for the black and brown members of our staff and our community who daily must endure the racism of our society. We are furious at the inequities that cause … Read more

Relevant reads: Pandemic novels & short stories 2020

Illustration of people wearing surgical face masks

By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná From the plague to the 1918 influenza to now, pandemics have been unwelcome members of society. Touching everyone and everything, global sickness and the changes we have to make to get through makes us anxious and sends us looking for an escape. No wonder we turn to fiction that explores … Read more

Hulu’s ‘Normal People’: Watched it? Read these!

Sally Rooney on table with plant and pencil

By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná Whether you read it when it first came out, want to read it before you start the new series, or just finished the series and want the source material, we’ve got you covered. Hulu’s Normal People, based on Sally Rooney’s book, tackles the damaging effects of secrets and miscommunications.  You … Read more

Books in Brief, episode 4: Need some comfort reading? Try these titles!

Books in Brief with book covers for We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry, Textbook by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, The Princess Bride by William Goldman, and The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

Need some book recommendations but don’t have a lot of time? Your librarians are here to help! Don’t miss the fourth episode of Books in Brief, a new video series featuring four great digital title recommendations in about two minutes. Collection Management Librarian Kathy recommends four titles to bring a little comfort to your reading. … Read more

The best cookbooks of 2020

Assorted cooking spices

Whether you’re using this time to cook and bake up a storm or you just love beautiful cookbooks (we certainly do!), check out this year’s James Beard Foundation Book Awards nominees. Award nominees & our favorite digital cookbooks & magazines 2020 James Beard Foundation Book Awards Each year, the James Beard Foundation presents awards to … Read more