The library will be closing at 7pm tonight due to a power outage in the area.

Books Movies and Music

The latest books, movies and music to hit library shelves, with some classics and great obscure stuff thrown in. Read staff and customer reviews here. Find out how you can contribute to this blog, and tap into our personalized reading request service.

Recent Books Movies and Music Blog Posts

Hard Knocks

Knowing Too Much is Deadly in Hard Knocks

PI Jack Reilly is short on cash so when Bucky, a friend of Jack’s incarcerated brother, wants to meet with the investigator Jack goes against his better judgment and agrees. Unfortunately, Jack made the wrong decision because Bucky is a blackmailer and wants Jack to be the backup for the information so the victim of the blackmail couldn’t just kill Bucky and have the information die with Bucky. Jack doesn’t want anything to do with it, but it’s too late – Bucky gets murdered and the information is on its way to Jack.

community-novel-chapter-4

Read the Community Novel: Chapter 4 by Antonette Coffee

Just discovered us? Start reading with chapter 1 please! Kevin was so engrossed in carrying out his reading of the initial grant proposal that just relieved of her duties Evelyn Blackmon had left behind for any unwilling, unenthusiastic, bored-to-death beneficiary such as himself that he hadn’t noticed Kate entering his office. Kate chucked the morning [...]

ereader try before

Ereaders: Try Before You Buy

The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library has a new and improved ereader display where you can test some of the newest ereaders and tablets.

bigideasff

Big Ideas from DK Publishing

DK publishing is famous for books filled with great photographs and concise explanations especially in their Eyewitness series, and now they have undertaken concepts in The Philosophy Book and The Psychology Book where big ideas are simply explained.

community-novel-chapter-3_v2

Read the Community Novel: Chapter 3 by D.L. Rose

Just discovered us? Start reading with chapter 1 please! “You have got to be kidding me.” Kate’s eyes were wide as she looked at the chair Kevin had pulled up to his desk. He shrugged, not sure what comfort he could offer her. He opted for a joke instead. “Just wait until you see your [...]

120514a

Fiction & Nonfiction NYT Bestsellers

This might be a first, Charlaine Harris’s latest Sookie Stackhouse novel debuts at #1 on the bestseller list! Find all of this week’s bestsellers at the library. There are two ways to get your hands on a bestseller title; place a request and wait for it, or try your luck and check the new title shelves the next time you come in!

guysread2012WebFeature

Guys Read Comes to the Library

We’re starting a boys’ club to get more of our young gents excited about reading. Our Guys Read field office charters this Saturday!

The Yard

The Birth of Forensic Pathology in The Yard

Inspector Little was found in a trunk murdered with his eyes and mouth sewn shut. It’s a grisly scene, but that doesn’t compare to Jack the Ripper’s killings that have just recently ended. With a city still on edge, Inspector Walter Day with only a week on the job is assigned to the case, and he gets help from an unlikely place: Dr. Bernard Kingsley who is not officially a part of Scotland Yard but a part of the new science of forensic pathology.

Read the Community Novel: Chapter 2 by Diana Marsh

Just discovered us? Start reading with chapter 1 please! The specter of the previous week’s excitement still lingered in the office when Kevin arrived Tuesday morning. As he passed Evelyn’s office he paused to peek inside. It was less about curiosity than the simple, cubicle farm-inspired hunter/gatherer instinct: when the herd is culled, their office [...]