Looking for a Good Read?

Do you find yourself wondering what to read next? Here are some ways to find good books -traditional and digital - at Lake Forest Library.

Come to the Library:
- Ask a staff member – library employees read a lot!
- Look at the recommendations on our “Too Good to Miss” shelf. (It’s in the rotunda to the right of the circulation desk. Each shelf holds two novels, two mysteries and one nonfiction title.)
- Pick up Book Discussion Group lists. Selections are from the finest contemporary fiction. Some are challenging, some are fun. All are worth a read.
- Look for bookmarks, compiled by staff members in the rotunda and at the reference desk.

Visit our Webpage:
- Search the catalog – Bibliocommons. You’ll find all kinds of book lists including Staff Picks, New Titles, Award-winning Books, and Bestsellers. Users also post their comments about books.
- Check out our database section. Look under Arts & Literature. Through Nextreads you can sign up for email newsletters full of book recommendations. Or select NovelistPlus or GoodsReads for more suggestions.

Connect through Social Media:
- Visit Twitter. The library tweets daily on a wide range topics including books, websites and music.
- Follow us on Facebook. Both Adult Services and the Childrens post reading recommendations several times a week.
- Read our blog. Once or twice a week we post a new blog. Recent posts include a list of resources on gardening and an article about “Super Summer Spots for Reading”.
- Have you been pinning? Check out the library’s Pinterest boards on new books and videos.

Not finding what you want?  Give us a call at the Reference Desk, 847-810-4610.

Armchair Gardening

Ahhhh…Armchair Gardening

When the thermometer hits 90 and the humidity is making your hair curl it may be too hot to be digging in your garden.  Still want to connect with nature but not wanting to venture outside?  Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life  is part memoir, part investigative journalism.  She and her family vow to eat only food they grow themselves or in their neighborhood.  635.0973 KIN   Checkout her website:animalvegetablemiracle.com/org/net.  

The $64.00  by William Alexander is the story of how one man nearly lost his sanity, spent a fortune and endured a Existential crisis in the quest for the perfect garden. With Bill Bryson like humor, this author pens a memoir of battling deer, weeds and weather all in search of the joy of the harvest.  635 VEGE ALE   
How to Cheat at Gardening and Yard Work contains shameless tricks for growing radically simple veggies, lawns, landscaping and more. Author Jeff Bredenberg takes the anxiety out of the pursuit of perfection. Cheat sheets of hard to kill plants, zero maintenance marvels and learning to embrace "Gardening mistakes" set the stage for a relaxed, low stress approach to your garden.   635.9 BRE

The Bad Tempered Gardener  by Anne Wareham ranges from the strangeness of obsessing over plants to the everyday life of deadheading, weeding and finding meaning in it all.  635.9  WAR

 The Writer in theGarden   edited by Jane Garmey will reaffirm that some of the best gardening is done while perusing a library book, feet up, lemonade in hand.  635.9 WRI

All these titles and many more can be found in the Lake Forest Library Gardening Collection.  The Librarian's at The Reference Desk will be happy to help you find them on the shelf.

The Wide World of Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to listen to your favorite radio show whenever you want. Want to go on a jog and listen to Fresh Air? Just download their podcast to your MP3 player or smart phone. Or clean the house with the Click and Clack Brothers from Car Talk? You can download it right to your computer and listen. There are a wealth of podcasts on subjects ranging from classic literature to home repair.

Podcasts can introduce you to new and interesting topics that you either never knew about or never knew where to start researching them. They package their educational material into narratives and are usually hosting by interesting personalities like Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant from Stuff You Should Know or Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich from Radiolab. Or the podcast could just be an amazing presentation series, like TED talks.

Or look at podcasts that can help develop your current interests. Searching via iTunes can be a good start, as well as on NPR's site. The best part? They are almost all free! So dig deep into the trove of podcasts out there and listen to anything that interests you. And, if you want to learn more, stop by the reference desk and one of the librarians will be happy to help you find more information on apiaries, economic theory, or the the book by one of the numerous interesting people interviewed by Milt Rosenberg.

What are your favorite podcasts?

Farm Fresh Books at the Farmer's Market

Maybe you saw us at the Lake Forest Farmer's Market last weekend, or maybe you missed us. We will have a stand at the market every Saturday during July from 9:30 to 11:30. That means you have three more chances to see us!

Why are we there? The Farmer's Market is a great community event for Lake Forest. We want to add to the already great atmosphere by providing cook books (to give you great ideas for the fresh foods), food related mystery books, and children's books about gardening. We'll also have the LibraryBox set up with recipes for fresh fruits and veggies like Tomato Corn Pizza and Caramel Strawberries. There will also be a tree set up with apples attached to it. Pull an apple and win a great prize like a toy, movie, or even a set of the Hunger Games books!

If that isn't enough, you can also talk with our amazing librarians and library staff! So before you load up with fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs, come and talk to us to find a recipe and win a prize!

7 Super Summer Spots for Reading (and the books to read there)

Summertime reading evokes lazy afternoons stretched out under a tree on a blanket, or swaying in a hammock.  Here are some local spots  for young people who might want to take their reading on the road to enjoy a new best seller or classic.

Lake Forest Library Courtyards – These “secret gardens” flank the front entrance and are only open during the summer months.  As the chipmunks scurry by, read Brian Jacques’ Redwall series to find out what is REALLY going on with woodland animals.

 Attend  Canterwood Crest, a private boarding/ riding school and dip into the first chapter before you even go home.  Or read what Michelle Obama has done with   The First Garden to encourage healthy eating.

 Lake Forest Beach – After beach volleyball and cooling off in the lake, relax with the classic Swallows and Amazons.  You’ll wish you were with these British children as they spend the summer  exploring  the lake in their own boats.  Or go to Key West with Turtle in Paradise and commiserate with her as she goes to stay with relatives she doesn’t (yet) know.

South Park, West Park, Northcroft Park ... – Bring a couple of the new “hot” picture books like Pete the Cat and Duckling Gets a Cookie  along in the stroller to read after some strenuous swinging and sliding, while you sip some drinks under a shady tree.

Local Coffee Shops – Meeting up with with some friends at Starbuck’s or Caribou Coffee?  While you wait, bring along a copy of popular best sellers  Rick Riordan’s Lost Hero or Veronica Roth’s Divergent.  Lost Hero takes up where the Lightning Thief  leaves off, with new characters discovering they are descended from ancient gods.  Divergent takes place in a dystopian Chicago (hmm, what happened to the city that works?) where our heroine must make difficult life choices and finds herself along the way.  Books make pretty good conversation starters!  

Market Square – The heart of Lake Forest has many benches for relaxing, people watching and reading.  Take a break here with The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  If you haven’t seen the wonderful movie, it’s about 2 children who discover a clockworks invention hidden in a Parisian train station.  Part graphic novel, the pencil drawings won a Caldecott Award.  Fans of Erin Hunter’s Warriors series might want to see if the manga version has created a good visualization of the fearsome cats.

 Lake Forest Open Lands – Our city is lucky to enjoy so much open green space.  Open Lands Park is an oasis in town at Deerpath and Green Bay Roads.   In Chomp. the newest Carl Hiaason book for young people, a Florida Everglades wildlife refuge is the setting for a survival show where not everyone  may survive.  If you want a book with local flavor, start in on Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer, set in Chicago environs.  Three precocious youngsters solve a puzzling mystery using clues the author has provided the reader.   

Your Own Back Yard – Camping out!  A summertime classic.  With a tent, a flashlight and some creepy stories, you’ll be up all night. Scary Stories to tell in the Dark will definitely send you under the covers.  If you prefer laughing to shrieking, try the comix adventures of  Big Nate as he gets in and out of trouble.

Remember, in addition to the well-thumbed paperback, so many books are now available in audio form, or to download onto an eBook reader.

Roy Lichtenstein

The Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective exhibition is at the Art Institute of Chicago through Sept. 3, 2012.  The library has many books on Lichtenstein and his works.  You’ll find a selection of them on this page.  Just click on the title link below the book cover picture to go to our catalog, where you can read more about the book and check on its availability.  And if you want to find other books that we have on Lichtenstein, just follow this link to our catalog:  Roy Lichtenstenstein Books at LFL.

Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective 
by James Rondeau

This catalog for the Art Institute’s Lichtenstein exhibition spans all of his career and includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, and collages.  Several contributors discuss influences on Lichtenstein and his styles and subjects.  The book includes a complete chronology of his life and work and is the most thorough work on Lichtenstein since his death in 1997.

Roy Lichtenstein In His Studio
by Laurie Lambrecht

Lichtenstein’s former Administrative Assistant Laurie Lambrecht photographed him working on two major series, Reflections and The Interiors. The photographs capture his working methods, materials, and archival materials such as scrapbooks and sketchbooks that document his career. (from book jacket)

The Art & Life of Roy Lichtenstein
by Susan Goldman Rubin

This bright and bold children's book (grades 4-8) includes full color pictures of Lichtenstein's pieces as well as some of the works that inspired him. Rubin includes Lichtenstein quotes and episodes of his personal life to help show the evolution of his art.  The book also includes a glossary, index, and list of additional sources.

The Prints of Roy Lichtenstein:
A Catalogue Raisonne 1948-1997
by Mary Lee Corlett

This catalog includes Lichtenstein's graphic work up to his death in 1997 (390 color plates and 60 black-and-white prints). The catalog was published in connection with a retrospective exhibit of prints at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Each print is documented with detailed information.