Merry Christmas! We wish you and your families all the best of the season.
Thank you to all who have participated in our Food for Fines program this month. Together we have collected 277 items and over $400 for the Wheatland County Food Bank and waived over $1,400 in fines.
We want to welcome back members who have been scared away by high fees on their accounts. Please know that our priority is to make sure the library’s resources are accessible to everyone. We will be glad to work with you to find a solution and get your account back to good standing.
As Christmas approaches, the library has two gifts for you:
1) An automatic holds program. Do you ever wish that when a new book came out from your favourite author, your friendly library staff would just know you wanted it and place a hold for you? Your wish is coming true! Sign up on our website or with library staff to be added to the automatic holds list for your favourite authors. When a new title by them comes into the catalogue, we will place the hold for you, and before long, the book will be waiting for you on our holds shelf. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!
2) The second gift is even better: an automatic renewals program! Three days before your Strathmore items are due, our catalogue will automatically attempt to renew them for you. If they have already been renewed twice or are on hold for someone else, the renewal will not go through. Otherwise, you will receive a notice that your items have been renewed and their new due date. Please note that this program only applies to Strathmore Library items. Items you have borrowed from other libraries will need to be renewed manually until more libraries join the plan. We hope this helps you avoid incurring overdue fines in the future!
I have been reading a lot as the days have been getting darker. Here’s what I have enjoyed in the last month or so:
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – This is a great pick for anyone looking for a story of comfort and vivid imagination. I listened to this on audiobook and was transported back to my childhood. I always like a story of good triumphing over evil.
The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths was a delightful and charming murder mystery. When an elderly woman named Peggy is found dead in her apartment, no one is suspicious until her friends find a card identifying her as a “murder consultant.” Further inspection finds dozens of crime novels, each dedicated to Peggy. When the writers of these novels are targeted, Peggy’s eclectic friends take to the road in pursuit of the killer.
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn features three estranged friends reunited in 1947 in search of a traitor. A mysterious letter takes them back to their time as codebreakers at Bletchley Park during the war. The novel immerses you in the stressful challenges the codebreakers faced every day while keeping you guessing as to who could have betrayed their cause.
For a lighter wartime read, try The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan (author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir). It features four women battling to host a BBC radio program meant to help women prepare tasty meals under rationing. Each woman has something different at stake as they battle for the chance to change their lives.
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah was heartbreaking but wonderful. Set in the dust bowl of Texas in the 1930s, the book masterfully portrays the uncertainty and desperation of migrants just trying to survive. I haven’t read much set in this time and place, so I appreciated Hannah’s meticulously researched novel.
If you’re a fan of Ken Follett, his new book The Evening and the Morning will be exactly what you’ve come to expect: a vividly told story that spans a decade and features a wide community of characters. Despite the novel’s breadth, the writing is completely immersive and you feel you know the characters intimately. I enjoyed this one on audiobook, which is a good way to go if 900+ pages seems too much to take on.
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr was my favourite book of the month. Three separate stories set in different times and places mean that it takes a bit of time and commitment to get into it, but the writing and storytelling is every bit as good as it was in All the Light We Cannot See. The story is populated by young people, from children facing the siege and fall of Constantinople in 1453 to a young girl born on an interstellar ship in the future seeking a new home. This book will enthrall you if you’ll let it.
We will be closed for Christmas from December 24th – January 2nd, but we look forward to seeing you back on the week of January 3rd. Have a wonderful holiday.
