Wednesday, August 31, 2011

When Does Love Become Obsession?




'Some secrets are strong enough to pull you under...'







From the cover of Deb Caletti's newest book Stay, and there are numerous times in this story that you believe the secrets are going to pull someone under.







Clara (a recent high school graduate) and her father are spending the summer at the beach in hiding. Clara has spent the previous year in a relationship that turned obsessive and her father wants her out of harm's way. Now, no one -- family nor friends -- knows where she and her father are spending the summer. Their story goes back and forth from the present to past events. As the story unfolds, you see the start, middle and disintegration of Clara's relationship with Christian. But unexpected is that her father has a secret of his own. As their summer passes, Clara meets Finn and her father meets Sylvie. Both Finn and Sylvie have stories of their own.


Clara struggles constantly with her fear...the fear that no matter where she goes, it may not be far enough away from Christian.



Rarely do I give in to the urge to 'look forward' in a story, but in this book I could not resist. I almost ruined it for myself, but I caught myself just in time. :P


I will definitely be checking out some of Deb Caletti's previous books.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Weird Reference Books

This week at Pearl, we've been compiling a list of all of the resources that we offer to share with patrons like you. If you're not familiar with the CREDOreference collection, you should be. It's a collection of more than 500 reference books that are housed online for your use. All you need is your library card number! And the best part is--CREDO will show you how to do the citation for each source in its collection! (Click here to get started using this awesome collection.)

Being such a large collection, CREDO offers books on a LOT of topics (remember this when it's time for a research paper and you have to have a reference book source!!). While looking through the list, I came across some oddly specific and otherwise hilarious books that you have access to. Take a look:



  • The Biographical Dictionary of Dissenting Economists
    (because economists that aren't dissenting just aren't interesting enough)

  • The Dictionary of Existentialism
    (because nothing recognizes the importance of the individual like a book that purports to define this movement)

  • Encyclopedia of Cremation
    (honestly, I don't even know what to say about this one...)

  • Eurojargon
    (this book is a handy reference guide to help people unfamiliar with the European Union understand its acronyms and abbreviations...but come on. "Eurojargon" is hilarious.)

  • Handbook of Vegetable Pests
    (important for everyone's personal library!)

  • Rawson's Dictionary of Wicked Words
    (maybe it's best not to share what you read in this one with your teachers or parents...)

  • The Wisden Archive of Cricketer's Lives
    (I know how many avid cricket fans we have around here!)

There are many more hilarious books in this collection, and there are also any number of reference books that will be helpful to you as you continue your studies this year. Click on the link above to get started and, as always, contact your librarian if you need help!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Books about Schools You Don't Attend

School is in full swing over here in Pearl and we remember from our teen days that the routine of the schoolweek can occasionally be a drag. For a bit of an escape, check out these books about teens in boarding schools that might be a bit different from your school experience:




A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma is shipped off from the life she knows in India, to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

Click here to request this book from your library.



Looking for Alaska by John Green
Miles "Pudge" Halter is abandoning his safe, boring life. Fascinated by the last words of famous people, Pudge leaves for boarding school to seek what a dying Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring. Their nucleus is razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska, who has perfected the arts of pranking and evading school rules. Pudge falls in love with her. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, though, it is only in coming face-to-face with his problems that Pudge discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.

Click here to request this book from your library.



Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Lissa Dragomir is Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a girt for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi: the fierce vampires who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them. After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden in the deep forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger... and the Strigoi are always close by. Rose and Lisssa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard dawn, lest the evil undead make Lissa one of them forever.

Click here to request this book from your library.


None of these books interest you? Stop by the Pearl Library and we'll be glad to help you pick out a book you're sure to love!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Books to Look Forward to

By now, most of you are back in school. We understand that it's not everyone's favorite time of year, so the staff of the Pearl Library has compiled this list of just a few of the books we're the most excited about that will be published during this school year. Check it out:



Pandemondium by Lauren Oliver (Delirium Trilogy, Book 2, March 6, 2012)













Fever by Lauren DeStefano (Chemical Garden Trilogy, Book 2, February 21, 2012)











Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta (Lumatere Chronicles, Book 2, March 13, 2012)














Inheritance by Christopher Paolini (Inheritance Cycle, Book 4, November 8, 2011)












Nightshade by Maryrose Wood (The Poison Diaries, Book 2, October 11, 2011)













Crossed by Ally Condie (Matched Trilogy, Book 2, November 1, 2011)















The Death Cure (Maze Runner Trilogy, Book 3, October 11, 2011)










We hope you're as excited as we are about these upcoming books! Come in to the Pearl Library and we'll help you make a reading list that will make the start of school a little more fun.