Read with MLC: Read a Book Adapted for the Screen and Watch the Adaptation

Welcome to December, and the last month of the 2024 Read with MLC reading challenge! This month's prompt is to read a book that has been adapted for television or the movies and then watch the adaptation. Finding a book you truly love can be a magical experience. It's always exciting when a TV or movie adaptation is announced, but there's always the niggling worry that the lead won't look how you imagine... Or that they'll leave out your favorite scene from the book... Or --worst yet-- plot will be drastically changed. Hollywood depends heavily upon the already published written word: Forbes reported a while back that movies based on books draw in 53% of that almighty cash than those written without the benefit of a previously published work. TV and streaming networks also have a field day each year (field year?) with adaptations; there were dozens and dozens in 2023 and 2024, and that's just the past few years. What do librarians think of the trend? Those here at the Mississippi Library Commission have quite a few favorites, which you can check out below!

Read With MLC: Listen to an Award-Winning Audiobook

Welcome to November, and the eleventh month of the 2024 Read with MLC reading challenge! This month's prompt is to listen to an award-winning audiobook.

People listen to audiobooks for a lot of very different yet valid reasons. Some people can't see to read the words on the page, like those with blindness or visual impairments. Others, like those with dyslexia, have trouble processing the printed word. Still others, like people with arthritis or broken limbs, can't hold a book to read. Seriously, Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, the world's longest novel, clocks in at thousands and thousands of pages. (Incidentally, if you fall into one of these categories, you're eligible for MLC's Talking Book Services. You can learn more here.) Some people don't have time to sit and read a book, while others enjoy the experience of having someone read to them. Other people like to rest their eyes after a day staring at screens, and others find that the audiobook experience can be downright more enjoyable than a book that's slow or unwieldy. Truth be told, a lot of MLC staff love to listen to books! While not all of our suggestions below are "official" audiobook award winners, they are, in our hearts, exceptional audios.

Read with MLC: Retelling of a Classic

Welcome to October, and the tenth month of the 2024 Read With MLC reading challenge! This month's reading prompt is to read a retelling of a classic. Once a tale has been released into the public domain, the sky's the limit when it comes to storytellers and their ability to put their own stamp on an older work. (Want to learn more about when works hit the public domain? Check out one of our earlier posts here.)  Meg Donohue, author of the Wuthering Heights retelling You, Me, and the Sea says that, "Reimaginings present a unique delight to readers because they manage to combine the pleasure of surprising twists with the comfort of a familiar story." Whether you long to hear the "Wicked" Witch's side of the story (Wicked by Gregory Maguire) or you want to see Anne of Green Gables succeed in the modern world (Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler), there's a retelling of a classic out there you're going to love.

Read with MLC: Book in Translation

Welcome to September, and the ninth month of the 2024 Read With MLC reading challenge! This month's reading prompt is to read a book in translation. Why should we read books originally written in languages other than English? Georgi Gospodinov, winner of 2023's International Booker Prize for his book Time Shelter, says, 

When we have ears and eyes (and a translation) for the story of the Other, when we hear and read it, they become a person like us. Storytelling generates empathy. It saves the world. Especially a world like the one we live in today. We write to postpone the end of the world. And the end of the world is a very personal thing. It happens in different languages. Translation gives us the sense that we are working towards this postponement together.

Still, when some people think of translated fiction, their thoughts may immediately turn to dry, ponderous tomes that have no connection to their lives or interests. Luckily, the staff at the Mississippi Library Commission have shared some of their favorite works in translation below.

Read with MLC: Historical Fiction

Welcome to August, and the eighth month of the 2024 Read With MLC reading challenge. This month's reading prompt is to read a work of historical fiction. What drives so many of us to explore the past instead of the present or the future? When Time Magazine(1) asked historical fiction great E.L. Doctorow what the difference was between a historian writing history and a novelist, he responded, "The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like." Experiencing a semblance of what our Cro-Magnon ancestors thought about, living through the American Civil War, dodging accusations during the Salem Witch Trials... These are the great experiences historical fiction offers us.

Read With MLC: The Year You Were Born

Congratulations, y'all! We've made it halfway through 2024 and this year's Read With MLC reading challenge. We dedicated the month of July to reading a book published the year you were born. Sure, reading the latest bestseller can be really satisfying, but reading older books can be a rewarding experience as well. While doing research for a project in 2018, Emily Temple, the managing editor of Literary Hub, noticed that, just like today, the books that were the most popular weren't necessarily the ones that made the biggest impression on society, and therefore, aren't remembered as well. She collected the top ten best-selling booklists from 1918 forward and added in a sprinkling of "classics" from each year. The result is a kaleidoscope of titles of all genres and for all tastes. If you're interested in Temple's findings, here is her list of the most popular fiction and nonfiction books of the past century.

We asked our staff if they've read anything from the year they were born. Check out their thoughts below!

Book Clubs Transform Us All

Book clubs are social gatherings for the literary-minded, providing a space to discuss literature, share insights, and enjoy discussion with fellow readers. However, within the confines of a correctional facility, a book club can be much more than just a leisure activity. Book clubs can serve as a bridge between inmates and the outside world. They become a transformative tool that fosters rehabilitation, education, and emotional well-being among inmates. It also promotes critical thinking and reflection, builds communication skills, and fosters a sense of purpose and belonging. Books often reflect real-world issues and challenges, allowing inmates to stay connected to societal developments and current cultural topics. Furthermore, book clubs often involve external volunteers or facilitators fostering positive interactions with members of the community and breaking down the barriers of stigma and exclusion.

Read With MLC: Colorful Titles

Welcome to June, and the sixth reading prompt for our 2024 Read With MLC reading challenge: read a book with a color in the title. The idea behind our reading challenge is to inspire you to explore books year-round. There are tons of popular books available with a color in the title: just think about popular classics like Anna Sewell's Black Beauty or Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, human beings can identify approximately ten million colors. That's a lot of book possibilities!

Read With MLC: Short Stories

Welcome to May, and the fifth reading prompt for our 2024 Read With MLC reading challenge: read a short story collection. May is actually Short Story Month and reading one is a great way to celebrate this brief but tantalizing literary form. Lauren Groff, guest judge at last year's O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction said of short stories, "They are quick, breathtaking windows into other humans’ souls, which is where the infinite resides, in my personal credo. The story form is infinitely malleable, gorgeously economical, and endlessly surprising." Don't know where to start finding one, or some, to read? We have some ideas below!

Read With MLC: Celebrity Memoirs

Welcome to April, and the fourth reading prompt for our 2024 Read With MLC reading challenge: read a celebrity memoir. Is there anything more delicious than escaping your own life to peer into the intricacies of someone else's? Affairs, addiction, divorce, abuse... seeing how others deal with adversity somehow makes our own more manageable. Add in the shiny gloss of reading a tell-all book about someone famous? You can see why celebrity memoirs are a booming business. 

If you look at the past five years, the top US sales slots go to famous people from a variety of backgrounds. In 2020, Barack Obama's A Promised Land sold 17 million copies. He was closely followed by Prince Harry's Spare, with 16 million copies, Michelle Obama's Becoming, with 14 million copies, and Britney Spears's The Woman in Me, with 11 million copies. And these are figures for just the first week of sales! If you're wondering which memoirs your local librarian liked as opposed to national sales figures, you need look no further than below this graphic!

Read with MLC: Graphic Nonfiction

Welcome to March and the third reading prompt of our 2024 Read with MLC challenge: read a work of graphic nonfiction. Nonfiction comics have been around for longer than you might think. Thomas Nast, who created political cartoons, started drawing as a teen in 1856. The Republican elephant was one of the artistic brainchildren of his decades-long career. He brought other popular figures to the forefront of American consciousness, figures just as beloved and enduring as, say, Superman, like the Democratic donkey, Uncle Sam, and Santa Claus. Robert Ripley and his Ripley's Believe It or Not franchise started in 1918 as a single panel comic and grew to encompass a wealth of researchers to back up his claims. There are many more examples, here in America and across the world. While fiction comics dominate the reading landscape, there is a wide world of graphic nonfiction available that has literally exploded onto our reading shelves. If you have a thirst for knowledge and a love of art, this may be the perfect type of book for you.

So... Just what is available out there? I scanned our shelves for some of our top graphic reads and found some in an array of subject areas that are sure to tickle your nonfiction reading taste buds.

Finding Your Nonfiction Niche

We all know fiction genres: romance, science fiction, fantasy… all types of books that have their own shelves in bookstores everywhere. But what about nonfiction? Most people know what nonfiction is: books about real world concepts, people, or events. You might not know it, but there are different types of nonfiction. Much like fiction genres, there aren’t any hard and fast rules for nonfiction genres—if you ask ten different people about these genres, you’ll get ten different answers. But if you want to dig deeper, here are some categories you might start with. 

Reading Black Mississippi

February is Black History Month, which makes it a great time to visit the bookshelves and refocus your reading on some of the great Black authors out there. There are a ton of Black Mississippi authors--historical and modern--just waiting for you to discover them. Their perspectives on Mississippi life and culture are must-reads, but you might not know where to start if you're not familiar with the local writing scene. These suggestions cover a multitude of writing styles and genres, so you ought to be able to find something in your favorite areas to get yourself started. 

Read with MLC: Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

There's something about clearing out the holiday decorations and putting up a new calendar that makes anything and everything seem possible. Start exercising? You got this. Eat healthier? You can do it. Learn a new language? Research your roots? Read more? Turns out there's probably a book for that, and we've got you covered at the library.

Alongside those New Year resolutions, we challenge you to join our 2024 Reading Challenge. January's prompt is to read a book that has the word "New" or "Year" (or both!) in the title. There are quite a few books that qualify in our library catalog (surprise, surprise), but here are a couple of wide-ranging suggestions:

Books We Loved in 2023

Elisabeth Scott

Reference Librarian

"You must love working at the library. You get to sit there and read whatever you want all day." While that is my dream gig, life at the Mississippi Library Commission is much more involved with getting books and library services out to people in the state than whiling away the hours flipping pages. When we're not hard at work at MLC, some of us like to read and some of us don't, just like the regular population. For those of us who are book lovers and have the time in our lives to savor books, we do a lot of reading.

We weren't able to share our "Books We Loved" list for 2022; life got in the way. Our favorite reads have been fun to share with you over the years, though, so we're pleased to take the tradition back up this year. You can look back at previous "Books We Loved" entries here: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 juvenile and adult, 2016 parts one and two, and 2015. Remember: these aren't books that were necessarily published in the year of the list, just ones that staff read and enjoyed that year. Also, these are staff reads, not MLC recommendations, so please research each book before reading to make sure the content is something you personally will enjoy. Without further ado, here are the books we loved in 2023!

Read with MLC: 2024 Reading Challenge

Elisabeth Scott

Reference Librarian

I don't know if you've noticed, but the angels are heralding, the treetops are glistening, and 2024 is nigh upon us. If you're anything like me, you're already cheating on your 2023 reads (Sorry! I promise I'll finish you next week!) by poring over all of the "best of 2023" book lists and checking out the 2024 reading challenges. I think I like planning what I'm going to read almost as much as snuggling down with a good book. (Of course, I always reserve the option toss all my planning and lists away to snag a book from a library shelf.) Like last year, the Mississippi Library Commission partnered again with the Mississippi Center for the Book (MS CFB) to create another reading challenge for you, our beloved readers.

Read with MLC: A Book With Less Than 100 Pages

Elisabeth Scott

Reference Librarian

When we chose 100 pages as our reading cap for December's part in our Read with MLC Challenge, we did so with the knowledge of just how busy this time of year can be. The hustle and bustle of the holiday season melded with the gloom of suddenly shortened days can be a very real reading inhibitor. Once we hit the front door, binging a series on TV sounds mighty attractive. It turns out, though, that reading can clear the mind and free the spirit: winging your way to another world for half an hour or so might be all you need to change your mood for the better. Here are a few lists of very short books (though perhaps not all exactly under 100 pages) that you can use to fulfill December's goal.

 

• Book Riot's beginner's guide to SFF novelettes
• Esquire's list of books to read in one sitting 
• The Guardian's list of 50 great short stories
• LitHub's list of novellas for our current age of distraction
• Modern Mrs. Darcy's list of nonfiction books that you can finish in a day
  
• The Nebula Awards list of nominees and winners for best novelette
  
• Powell's essential list of novellas

We'll be announcing the categories for our 2024 Reading Challenge later this month, so be sure to check back to get your reading engines primed!

Read with MLC: Library eBooks

Elisabeth Scott
Reference Librarian 

While print still reigns supreme (75% of Americans read a print book in the past year), eBooks continue to soar in popularity (30% of us read an eBook in the last twelve months.) Libraries have been loaning out eBooks since the late 1990s, and even though they've had their challenges with publishers, eBooks and libraries are a match made in heaven. That's why we chose to designate October our #ReadWithMLC month to check out an eBook from your library.

Just how do you dive into the wealth of eBooks at your library? And what even qualifies as an eBook? It helps to know what you're looking for. Some librarians call anything that's electronic an eBook, bringing eAudiobooks, eComics, and eMagazines into the mix. Others are more fixed in their definition, only classifying text-based novels and nonfiction as eBooks. We tend to fall in the eEverything camp, so here are a few of the most popular eLenders Mississippi libraries use.

• hoopla digital
  This eBook lending platform is currently available at every public library in Mississippi. Make sure your library card is up to date; you'll need it to access the three titles available to you every month. Tip: hoopla has binge passes available each month. These passes let you access as much content of a certain type for a whole week. Current binge passes include classic funny papers, magazines, and an R.L. Stine spine chillers collection.
• Libby (Overdrive)
  If you've tried hoopla but need more books, check to see if your library has Libby. This app lets you place holds if the title is checked out, much like a real library. Many libraries across Mississippi give you access with your library card, including Jackson/Hinds, Madison County, and the entire Mississippi eBook Consortium. Tip: Libby lets you create notes and highlight favorite lines while you're reading so you'll be all ready for book club discussions.
• cloudLibrary (Bibliotheca)
  While currently only available at two library systems in Mississippi--Central Mississippi and Mid-Mississippi--that's nine counties that have access to these eResources. This service is very similar to hoopla and Libby. Tip: cloudLibrary users can borrow from other libraries. Just think of all those books!
• BARD
  BARD, or Braille and Audio Reading Download, is a specialty app that serves those who are unable to read standard print due to a visual, physical or organic reading disability. There's a huge selection of current and older literature, as well as children's books. Tip: If you own a braille eReader, you can download braille books from BARD directly to your device, just like with your Talking Books.
  
• MAGNOLIA and LearningExpress
  If you thought these two educational powerhouses were only for looking up articles and taking practice tests, think again! Scholarly books on a variety of subjects are waiting for you in MAGNOLIA, like Magill's Medical Guide and Salem Press Encyclopedia. Many of the topics covered on LearningExpress include an eBook or two on their subject, like ACT Power Practice and Algebra Success in 20 Minutes a Day. Tip: Everyone in Mississippi has access to these through their public library. You don't even need a card!
  

We've come a long way since eReading started skyrocketing twenty years ago, and we're convinced that they're only going to get more popular. If you need ideas for your next great eRead, fill out our quick and easy Bookmatch questionnaire and click the box to join in on the #ReadWithMLC fun. And hey, we're forever grateful that we're no longer trying to read eBooks on our flip phones, like some of the examples from this 2003 NBC clip.

MLC's Book Club Guide to the American Southern Vampire

Katie Gill
Cataloging Librarian

This post originally broadcast on MLC Moments on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

What do you think of when you think of vampires? Most people think about Count Dracula, the tall, imposing, Eastern European, prototypical vampire—the sort who lives in a castle and dines on the blood of young women, who’s repulsed by a cross or garlic, and who can only be killed by driving a wooden stake through the heart. Mention Dracula, and that’s a cue for everybody to do their best or worst Bela Lugosi impression—“the children of the night, what beautiful music they make.”

Shorty McShortersons

Beth Samson
Continuing Education Coordinator

“I’m too busy to read books.” “I love reading, but I have so many things to do.” How many times have we heard these phrases? How many times have we said these phrases? Our lives have become so busy that we find it difficult to pencil in time to read an entire novel. Sad, but understandable. However, there is a middle ground: short stories. Bite-sized bits of literature to give us our reading fix while still leaving time to go… adult. One of my personal favorites is one that is, pleasantly enough, in the public domain: “A Scandal in Bohemia”, the first short story of Arthur Conan Doyle starring Sherlock Holmes. 

 

 

This story is part of the book, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of Sherlock short stories and the third Sherlock work overall. It consists of three “chapters” and is about as long as the average fanfiction that genuinely has a plot. What attracts me most about this story (other than the mention of the former kingdom of Bohemia itself) is the fact that it is the sole work featuring the infamous Irene Adler. I absolutely adore her, and I praise Doyle for the creation of such a delightful character. I also appreciate the levels of wit and snark in the story, customary of Holmes, but wonderful to find in other characters as well.

To give a brief, spoiler-free summary, Watson visits Holmes after he has been married for some time. Holmes tells him about this mysterious letter (well, trying to be mysterious letter) that is requesting a meeting and his help. Apparently, the King of Bohemia had…well, indiscretions with Ms. Adler, a “well-known adventuress” about five years previously. She has proof of this relationship and the King is absolutely determined to get it. Enter Sherlock: the only man that the King believes able to retrieve the proof from the woman with “the face of the most beautiful of women, and the mind of the most resolute of men”.

This story will always hold a special place in my heart, not just because of how much I enjoy it, but also because it showed me the value of short stories. I highly recommend it, regardless of your schedule.

P.S. You can check it out at MLC or your public library, plus you can download it on BARD. Also, since it’s in the public domain, you can read it anywhere! For example, here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1661/1661-h/1661-h.htm#chap01