Friday, July 27, 2018

Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered by Austin Kleon


Title: Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
Author: Austin Kleon
Genre: Art, Business

Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon is a short, quick read that merges a how-to guide with the inspiration of a self-help book (but without the cheese). With Kleon's encouraging advice, you will finish the book feeling inspired and confident on how to move forward in promoting your creativity. Kleon lays out 10 easy ways for creatives to share with others what they're doing in a way that's authentic and meaningful. From how to talk about your creative ventures to strangers (even if you aren't making any money from it yet) to practical ideas of what to post on social media (even if you don't have a "finished product"), Kleon's presentation is really approachable, and any creative (artists, writers, musicians, etc.) would find something beneficial to glean from this book. Highly recommended.

- Sarah P.

Check out Show Your Work! @ the library.

Friday, July 20, 2018

Poetry Review: "Love Her Wild" by Atticus and "Elise Cowen: Poems and Fragments" by Tony Trigilio


This week's review compares two poetry books. The first is Love Her Wild by Atticus, and the second is Elise Cowen: Poems and Fragments by Tony Trigilio. Read on to discover which may appeal to you!

Looking for something light to read this summer? Try some poems!  In Love Her Wild, mysterious instagram poet Atticus collects some of his most evocative writings.  These short, lyric observations capture the beauty and adventure in life from the delight in wild places to the irrepressible energy of young love.  Read about moonlit nights in the desert and love that tears poems from your flesh alongside stark black and white photographs of the world he so lovingly describes.  Love Her Wild is the perfect book to bring along on a picnic or to the beach.

Or, if love and beauty aren’t your cup of tea, Elise Cowen has an extended metaphor about corpses that might speak to you.  Following her suicide in 1962, nearly all of Cowen’s work was burned for their unsettling exploration of sex, drugs, and mental illness.  In Elise Cowen: Poems and Fragments, Tony Trigilio collects and comments on the sole surviving notebook of the legendary beat poetess, best known for dating Alan Ginsberg.  In this glimpse into the mind of one of the most prolific writers you’ve never read, Cowen questions the source of her madness, the social mores of her time, and the role of women through a proto-second-wave-feminist lens.  Read about cockroaches and pot shards and the charmlessness of love.  This book is can’t-miss for any fan of the beat generation, or anyone curious to see how poems evolve from draft to finished form.

- Leah

Check out Lover Her Wild and Elise Cowen: Poems and Fragments @ the library.



Friday, July 13, 2018

Touch by Courtney Maum


Title: Touch
Author: Courtney Maum
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

Sloane Jacobsen has a knack for knowing the next big thing. She's a trend forecaster by trade and she's the one who predicted the now famous smart phone swipe. She's now been hired by a big tech company, Mammoth, to help them stay ahead of the curve and create a must-have item. Problem is, what Sloane sees as the wave of the future flies in the face of Mammoth's bottom line. Sloane is also coping with a long-term boyfriend, Roman, who is increasingly touting a non-touch agenda in favor of an all digital sex life. Now add a sexy younger co-worker who challenges what Sloane really wants for her personal forecast and you have Touch.

- Sarah R.

Check out Touch @ the library.

Friday, July 6, 2018

Need to Know by Karen Cleveland


Title: Need to Know
Author: Karen Cleveland
Genre: Spy Thriller

Vivian is a CIA analyst. She has been working on the Russia account, trying to find sleeper cells of Russian spies within U.S. communities. When she finds a picture of her husband included in a group of potential spies what should she do? Can she trust him anymore? What will it cost her to do the 'right' thing for her family of four young children? This page-turner will keep you wondering beyond the final page...

- Elizabeth

Check out Need to Know @ the library.