Find Your Next Read: Cozy Horror
What is cozy horror? Like its cousin cozy mysteries, blood, gore, and jump scares are kept at arm's length or are only alluded to.
Summer Scares: Horror Anthologies To Chill You To The Bone
I love to read scary stories in the summer. Not only are the days longer (so I'm "safe" for longer), but also, I like to read outside, which means there…
Dig Into a Story!
"There's More to the Story!" is the theme for 2023's National Library Week. What better way to find out more about a story than to dig into the story with…
What Is the Law?: “The Island of Dr. Moreau” Retellings
There's something about a mad-scientist story that really gets under your skin. Laboratories full of terrifying experiments, strange contraptions, horrible henchmen, and more come together to make a story that…
There’s More to the Story! Non-Traditional Items
Westlake Porter Public Library circulates books, sure, but did you know you can check out a DVD player? That's just one of the non-traditional items that the library makes available…
Classic of the Month: The Mating Season
Ever since I was in high school, the Bertie and Jeeves adventures were some of my all-time favorites. I devoured as much P.G. Wodehouse as I could get my hands…
Learn a New Language from the Comfort of Home!
Expand your horizons and increase your appeal in the job market by learning a new language. From Spanish to Swahili, the library offers two databases, Mango Languages and Transparent Language…
Asadora!: A Historical Manga Mystery
Asa Asada's mother is going into labor, and poor, unnoticed, forgettable Asa is sent to track down a doctor. But, on her way home from the doctor's, two events happen…
I Can Hear Lies: Usotoki Rhetoric
If you're looking for a manga series with a really interesting "hook," then I can recommend about 12 of them just off the top of my head! But, today, we're…
Lore, and Lore, and Even More!
I was looking for something to read and decided to check my TBR list on Goodreads to see if I had read all of the Lore books. Which Lore books…
The Classic of the Month: Beau Geste
In this installment of The Classic of the Month, we'll be looking at a military mystery of sorts. This book starts off with a bang, as we hear a story…
A Quick History of Black Cartoonists
American comic strips have been around for just over a century. The newspaper business took off around 1900, and comics were one way to draw more readers to the paper.…
The Commonplace Book
I've always been a big fan of writing, journaling, note-taking, etc. But, I've found it hard over the years to keep up with a diary or a bullet journal. There's…
Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe
It's a hill I'm willing to die on. Hirohiko Araki is a horror writer. I've had serious debates with friends who argue that his writing falls more under the umbrella…
The Classic of the Month: Of Mice and Men
I still remember the first time I read Of Mice and Men. I was in high school and had picked up a copy at random because it looked so small…
Little Books with Giant Characters!
There is something truly awe-inspiring about a giant! These characters are truly "larger than life" and add a wonderful dose of fantasy to any story. Some giants are good and…
15 Classic Children’s Books for Readers of All Ages
There's nothing quite like a classic children's book. As I'm sure many of my dedicated readers already know, this librarian is a huge fan of the classics. And I especially…
The Classic of the Month: Frankenstein
The past few installments of The Classic of the Month have all been speculative fiction. And today, we're continuing that theme with one more... Frankenstein. This terrifying tale is a…
Reading Challenge 2023
Hello, readers! Every year, I put together a big reading challenge for the staff here at the library. This comprises of 40+ prompts that they can use to help them…
More Graphic Novels You Can Read Right Now with Hoopla
A few weeks ago, I came to you with a list of graphic novels you could read online right now. If you liked what you saw and would be interested…
The Classic of the Month: The Time Machine
Welcome to our latest installment of The Classic of the Month! Today, we're going to look at one of the earliest examples of a science fiction novel, The Time Machine…
Four Classic Vampire Stories (That Aren’t Dracula)
Count Dracula is probably the world's most recognizable vampire--and with good reason! This blood-sucking bad guy has been terrorizing generations of readers, ever since he first appeared on paper in…
An Elderly Native American Woman (Navajo) Wearing Turquoise Rings on Her Fingers Touches a Woven Navajo Basket
Youth and Teen Fiction in Honor of Native American Heritage Month
November is Native American Heritage Month. This month has been chosen to honor the complexity and honor of Native American culture and history. The following are titles aimed at a…
Author Spotlight: Rafael Sabatini
For about two and a half years, my grandpa and I read together over the phone. What started off as a COVID quarantine activity soon took on a life of…