What Have You Been Reading? Detective, Detective, Spy Edition

When left to my own devices, I tend to binge-read about subjects or to binge-read authors and/or series. That works well for me, but it’s something I try to avoid inflicting on the readers of this blog because I seriously doubt anyone else is as interested in some of these literary rabbit trails as I am. (You’re welcome.)

Lately, however, I’ve been exploring some mystery and espionage thriller series I’ve been meaning to read for a while, and I did want to share those.

We Get By With a Little Help From Our Friends (Of the Berryville Library)

If you’ve been following our blog for any length of time or are a resident of Carroll County, you likely know about our quest to raise money for a new library building. Whenever people ask us what they can do to help, donating to our Berryville Library Building Project fund probably comes to mind first. And, of course, that’s a fantastic way to help. But if you really want to help, we ask that you also join the Friends of the Berryville Library.

This week is National Friends of Libraries Week. Friends groups are indispensable allies for libraries everywhere, but our Friends group is particularly important to us because it has been one of the driving forces in helping us reach our goal of building a new library.

Television: When You’re Late to the Party. . . .

I’ve written on here before about my propensity for being years late to iconic TV shows. It’s almost always things that have been strongly recommended to me before, and it’s usually something I know is right up my alley, and I always eventually end up watching whatever it is and wondering why I didn’t watch it sooner. But I still keep doing it!

I love Westerns, but it took me 13 years to get around to watching Deadwood. I love modern Westerns and crime shows, but it took me about 5 years to get around to watching Justified. (It should feel quite flattered compared to Deadwood.)

I also love espionage thrillers and crime dramas but until recently had never gotten around to watching either The Americans or The Wire. You see where this is going. . . .

Everyone Needs a Little Help from Their Friends!

I’ve often written on here about the importance of Friends of the Library groups, in particularly our own hard-working Friends of the Berryville Library, Inc. And that importance can’t be overstated now, especially since we launched our fundraising campaign for a new library facility six months ago.

We’ve raised an amazing amount of money in that time (nearly $985,000–39% of our goal), and we have continued to grow our Friends membership to a record 175 people.

Be a Friend . . . to Our Library!

I’ve written on here before about the importance of Friends of the Library groups. Libraries provide their communities with a better future through access to information, books, and technology (and more), but Friends of the Library groups provide libraries themselves with a better future. That’s because Friends groups provide funding and volunteers for operations and services that the library may not be able to provide the community with their existing budget and staffing. They also function as advocates for the library.

How to Lose Your Mind Watching Cats, a Step-By-Step Guide

I’d like to think of myself as a rational person, one who makes measured, well-thought out decisions. Sometimes, I make impulsive decisions, however. These are almost always bad decisions. My latest impulsive decision was to watch last year’s critically panned adaptation of the musical Cats. I have no idea what I expected, but all the internet chatter about how bad this movie is still didn’t prepare me for what I was to witness. I thought about giving it a conventional review, but this is not a conventional movie. So, instead I wrote this, a guide to watching Cats. I sacrificed my sanity, so you don’t have to sacrifice yours. You’re welcome.

Beware, there be spoilers . . . and incredibly creepy cats.

Life in the Time of COVID-19

There is no denying that we are living through a historic moment right now as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds. Not since 1918 have we as a society experienced a global pandemic.

It was a week ago today that the Berryville Library closed to the public as a safety precaution, and all across Berryville, Carroll County, Arkansas, the United States, and the world, life looks very different than it did just a few short days ago.

Library Interrupted

Since March 17, the Berryville Public Library’s building has been closed to the public, but that doesn’t mean we’re not serving our community and trying to do as much as we safely can. It’s been a bit of a learning curve for us–since the COVID-19 coronavirus is so new, we’ve had to basically write our own how-to guide to cope, based on the information currently available.

So . . . what are we doing behind closed doors for now?

Old Favorites: Horror

Now that we’re well into October, it’s that time of year where reading or watching something terrifying just seems . . . right.

I’m not necessarily an avid horror reader or watcher ordinarily, though I do like being scared. My taste veers more toward psychological horror and the horror classics, but I am certainly willing to try other sub-genres.

Some of my favorites?

Want to Help The Library? Become a Friend!

As we’re in the early planning stages of building a new library facility (and raising the money to pay for it), it’s been so energizing to see how many people in our community are excited and want to help. That’s what they ask–how can I help?

And the short answer right now is please join the Friends of the Berryville Public Library.

I’ve written about the Friends on here before, but I wanted to talk about this wonderful group and the work they do again as we kick off our Friendsraiser for the month of October.