New Halloween Reads!

With Halloween falling on a Tuesday this year, this weekend is sure to be filled with pre-Halloween fun. Whether you are heading out to a fall-fest, getting ready for the trick-or-treaters, or just planning on staying at home with the porch lights out, here are some new Halloween books:

From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty:  Author and mortician Caitlin Doughty travels around the world to research different culture's death customs. For the reader wondering what happens after death, here on Earth.

All I Want for Halloween by Marie Hart: Here's a romance novel about a spin the bottle game at a masquerade ball, and the hunt for the man she kissed. For the reader who likes holiday driven romance.

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King: In a world where women are encased as they sleep, and become violent if the casing is disturbed, one woman is immune to this. Fans of Stephen King, and horror area probably already of the wait list, so why not join them!

The Apparitionists by Peter Manseau: I think the sub-title tells you what you need to know about this book, "a tale of phantoms, fraud, photography, and the man who captured Lincoln's ghost". For the historian or paranormal fan.

Basic Witches by Jaya Saxena: Looking for a self-empowering read, that might make mention of magic and spells? More of a self help book than actual witchcraft, this is for the reader looking to be a better more confident person.

If there isn't something on this list for you, check out this list of New Creepy Books for Halloween from the Book Bub blog!

Craft Fail: When Homemade Goes Horribly Wrong by Heather Mann

In a world of pinning cute DIY craft projects on Pinterest and shopping Etsy for unique, one-of-a-kind items, we all stop to think, "Hey, I could totally make that." But thinking about and successfully executing a project are two completely different things...

In her book, Craft Fail: When Homemade Goes Horribly Wrong, Heather Mann, avid perfectionist, crafter, and blogger shares some of the most epic fails to be submitted to her "Craft Fail" titled blog. From marbled nail art that looks like a few bottles of your favorite nail polish broke open to completely gone wrong cakes, this book gives readers (including expert and novice crafters alike) comfort in knowing that not every project is going to turn out craft show worthy. 

This little book, filled with wit and pictures is a quick, hilarious read. Whether you steer clear of craft projects because you're afraid of failing or if you are constantly pinning to-do projects on Pinterest, this book is sure to give you a laugh.

Check out Craft Fail: When Homemade Goes Horribly Wrong @ the library today! 

Empire by Martin Hyers and William Mebane

Martin Hyers and William Mebane traveled across the United States from 2004 to 2007, taking photographs of Americana. They photographed homes, schools, museums, zoos and businesses and the contents of these places. The result is a photographic record of the good, the bad and the ugly of American culture (plus everything in between). And if you have a bit of the Peeping Tom in you, this is the book for you. There are many exterior photographs of modest houses, apartment buildings, shops and automobiles. Interior shots include furniture, family photographs, books, computers and printers, toys, games, wallpaper, carpeting, food, hobbies and collections. Perhaps this sounds mundane but the photographer’s eye and the layout of the book make Empire by Martin Hyers and William Mebane an entertaining and informative record of modern American cultural history.

Check out Empire @ the library!

Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past by Ransom Riggs

In a world obsessed with selfies, a picture is just something we take for granted, but photographs weren't always as easy to take and develop as they are today. Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued From the Past by Ransom Rigg, the author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, tells various stories using old photographs. If you enjoy human interest stories, have an interest in history, or just love looking at old photographs, this is the book for you. As Riggs mentions in the forward of his book, he has long had an interest in old photographs that he's found at antique stores and resale shops. While questioning how families can just discard a piece of their familial history, Riggs began to buy the old photographs, but only old photographs that had some kind of caption or writing somewhere on them. 

With the sometimes adorable, sometimes quirky, sometimes awkward photos he bought, Riggs tells a story by intertwining pictures of complete strangers into chapters that focus on love, war, and illness, among others. Not only are some of these pictures funny, many are thought provoking, endearing, heartwarming, and some even tug at your heart strings.

Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past is a fast read, coffee-table-type book that is sure to make you wonder just exactly who the subjects are in the photographs and what their long lost story actually is.

Check out Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past @ the library.

Mother by Judy Olausen

Judy Olausen’s mother, Vivien, is definitely a good-natured good sport. In her daughter’s book of photographs, Mother, she is the only model and she proves to be willing to pose in all manner of ridiculous situations and costumes in this send-up of the 1950’s ideal housewife and mother. In pictures filled with 1950’s memorabilia, she washes, dries and irons laundry. She scrubs, vacuums, shops, cooks and waits for the man of the house to arrive. Mother goes to church. Mother serves drinks. Mother gets her hair done. Mother goes camping. Mother IS a coffee table. Mother IS driftwood. Mother IS roadkill. Mother IS a doormat. Mother is an excellent model and MOTHER is just plain funny.

Check out Mother @ the library! Also check out other books featuring moms with our May book display!

Humans of New York by Brandon Staton

New York City has a population of over eight million people. Photographer Brandon Stanton has been photographing many of these people since 2010 and now in his book, Humans of New York, he has compiled four hundred of his pictures. Since his aim is to create a photographic census, he has included a wide swath of New Yorkers: wealthy, poor and middle class; young and old; native born and immigrant; the beautiful and not so beautiful; the eccentrically dressed and the elegantly dressed; introverts and extroverts; people doing well and people who are down and out; musicians, dancers, athletes, intellectuals, models and ordinary working people. There are pictures of feet, hands, mustaches, hair and tattoos and lots of dogs. As a reader, you can choose to flip through the book randomly or examine each photograph carefully. Just be sure to find the “Sultan of Wisconsin.”

Check out Humans of New  York @ the library!

Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis

Epic life pretty much sums it up! In the early 1900’s many believed, including Edward Curtis, that the American Indians and their cultures were going to disappear. Curtis photographed American Indians and documented their languages, religions, alphabets, art, etc. as much as humanly possible. He felt that this endeavor was a race against time. This artistic and cultural achievement was also radical for its time, because the majority of this country believed that American Indians had no culture or religion and were barely human. Curtis sacrificed everything for this undertaking, his business, family, money and reputation. This book is recommended for readers that enjoy biographies of larger than life personalities or histories of the United States, photography, the America West, or American Indians.

Check out Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher @ the library!

Mary Coin by Marisa Silver

Mary Coin is the story of two women struggling during the Great Depression. Photographer Vera Dare, who began her career taking formal photographs of the society women of San Francisco, left her children in the care of another family and traveled into the rural parts of California, photographing migrant farm workers. Mary Coin was one of these migrants, a widow with six children who traveled from one California farm to another, working for any employer who would hire a woman for his picking crews. When their paths crossed, Mary was at her lowest point. A freeze had killed the crops she hoped to pick. Her car had broken down and money was scarce. She and her children were dirty, hungry and exhausted, living in a tent. The Great Depression and her husband’s death had taken her from poverty to destitution, from a family who never had anything to a family who had nothing.  Vera took several photographs of Mary and her children. One of these pictures became an iconic symbol of the era. Although Vera became famous, Mary remained anonymous and neither woman profited financially. People and families are shaped in part by their experiences, and in later, more prosperous years, Mary’s children were close and protective of her while Vera’s became distant and cool.  More than seventy years later, Walker Dodge, a college professor, has come to suspect that his family has a connection to the famous photograph. He investigates the evidence, but too much time has passed and he is never able to ferret out the truth.