Susan Ryeland is a London book editor who has just received the latest manuscript from one of her most irascible authors, Alan Conway. Much as she dislikes him, he’s the best seller at her publishing house, so there’s no question that she will give the book her full attention. But the manuscript’s ending appears to…
It’s time for another edition of Locally Sourced, the podcast series where we ask local business owners to talk about an influential or special book they’ve read. Paul Patricelli is owner of GRIL, a brand new grilled cheese takeout restaurant in Mundelein. Paul shares how Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen encouraged him to…
When one of the regular customers of the Bright Ideas Bookstore hangs himself as she is closing the store one night, Lydia is shocked to find a picture of her ten-year-old self sticking out of his pocket. Joey had been one of their regulars, part of a scruffy and mostly harmless group fondly nicknamed the…
Welcome back to what is a much, much more uplifting entry in my series on the history of Mundelein! When we left off in my last post, the year was 1950 and having weathered the trials of the Great Depression and Second World War, things in Mundelein were finally beginning to look up: New businesses…
I have been an avid reader since I was a child (a librarian who likes to read, quelle surprise!), but audiobooks are a fairly recent discovery for me. Despite friends going on and on about their many virtues, I resisted giving them a try for the longest time. Why would I want to take the…
Novels can help readers better understand what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes. When I read “Ginny Moon’’, I gained great empathy for the main character and all the people in her life trying to help her succeed. Ginny Moon is a 14-year-old autistic girl who never feels she belongs. She desperately…
In this episode of our podcast, we get some recommendations from Nate, one our podcast hosts but also one of our library’s Bookies, a new service to get book, movie and music recommendations from our librarians. You can find Nate and all our other Bookies at our website at cooklib.org/bookies. Mentioned in this episode: Books…
Occasionally, we like to check in and see what our patrons are learning about with their free access to Lynda.com. For the month of May, we noticed an emphasis on photography and graphic design. Must be gearing up for those vacation pics and summer video projects! These were the top 10 courses viewed in May.…
Welcome back to what is possibly the most disaster-filled entry in my series on the history of Mundelein! At the end of my last entry, Mundelein was on top of the world: with miles of newly paved roads, the addition of another railroad line running through the town, and Samuel Insull himself giving the dedication…
Jenny, our local history librarian returns to the podcast to talk about Libertyville’s 19th century claim to fame- the best spring water in the nation! Jenny shares her research on Libertyville icon Frederick Grabbe, the German immigrant, Civil War hero, and beekeeper who founded the Abana Spring Water company. Read Jenny’s blog post Frederick Grabbe…
