May 24, 2016

News & Updates
Books can be borrowed from the LRC over the summer holiday and returned in the Fall, so don't  forget to start thinking about which books you'd like to read this summer. 

How about a horror story that takes place overnight in an IKEA? Or a hilarious YA novel about a high school boy who enters a knitting competition? What about a graphic novel that explores gender expression and what it means to "dress like a girl"?

Find these below, or stop in the LRC and ask for some book recommendations.

YouTube Pick of the Week

Caffeine is Americans' favorite psychoactive substance. Here is a brief history of caffeine addiction from The Atlantic.

Books

Horrorstor (2014) by Grady Hendrix

Location: FIC Hendrix
Availability: click  here

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they'll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, Horrorstör comes packaged in the form of a glossy mail order catalog, complete with product illustrations, a home delivery order form, and a map of Orsk's labyrinthine showroom. 
-- Goodreads

more details on Horrorstor...


Boys Don't Knit (In Public) (2015) by T.S. Easton

Call Number: FIC Easton
Availability: click here

Seventeen-year-old Ben Fletcher is a professional worrier. As a result of recklessly biking into Mrs. Frensham, a grouchy traffic guard, while on an ill-advised alcohol-stealing venture with his "idiot friends," Ben has been placed on probation for a year. 

Originally published in the U.K., Easton's novel is structured as the journal Ben is required to keep, which makes for a candid and intimate narrative. The other two requirements of Ben's probation are joining an afterschool activity and "Giving Something Back" to the community-namely "performing basic maintenance and cleaning work" for Mrs. Frensham. Ben signs up for knitting class and is shocked to discover that he's a natural knitter: "The only thing that kept me going today was the thought of knitting class tonight. How sad is that?" The methodical craft quiets Ben's anxious mind, but he worries about letting his friends and crush find out about his hidden talent, even as he practices for an upcoming knitting competition. 

This funny and lighthearted novel captures the excitement of finding a passion in a story about taking life "one stitch at a time."  -- Publisher's Weekly



Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir  (2014) by  Liz Prince
 
Call Number:  GRA Prince
Availability: click  here

Growing up, Liz Prince wasn't a girly girl, dressing in pink tutus or playing pretty princess like the other girls in her neighborhood. But she wasn't exactly one of the guys, either. She was somewhere in between. But with the forces of middle school, high school, parents, friendship, and romance pulling her this way and that, "the middle" wasn't exactly an easy place to be.

Tomboy  follows award-winning author and artist Liz Prince through her early years and explores--with humor, honesty, and poignancy--what it means to "be a girl."  -- Goodreads

more details on Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir...

Tech Corner

iGIF Keyboard

If you're trying to communicate the ineffable, sometimes you really need a GIF. For those who may not know, GIF's are moving picture files that can be embedded in text messages, emails, or on websites. This app is the best, freely-available GIF keyboard out there. There is a wide library of GIFs to browse through based on many criteria (e.g. movie, TV show, celebrity, emotion, action, etc.), or you can search for a specific GIF by keyword. Once you find the perfect digital expression of the complex idea you are trying to communicate, simply click the GIF and it will be copied and ready to paste in a text message or email.

Whether it's an announcement you're making...


Or a complex emotion you can't find the right words for...

You'll always have a way to say what you want to say...

Download this app by clicking here...
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