Northeast Regional Library Blog

The Hilarious History of ‘OK’

The English Language’s Most Successful Export Is A Joke Here’s a quiz: let’s say you’re setting off to see the world and aside from please and thank you in a smattering of languages you pretty much only know English. What is the one word that most of the people you encounter will also know? That’s right. It’s OK. Yep. It’s very probably the most widely recognized word in the world. And its origin story is literally a joke. The definitive Read more…

August’s Best New Fiction

August’s Best New Fiction This month’s best new work includes the second book of the Half-Drowned King Viking fantasy trilogy, a portrait of a Midwest town in decline, a debut roman à clef by an Iraq veteran currently imprisoned for bank robbery, and a historical about the Black Plague. And for lighter, contemporary reads, enjoy a sorority-set drama, a romance in Paris gone wrong, and an octogenarian-led cozy mystery.  The Masterpiece, by Fiona Davis In 1928, Clara Read more…

Recommended ‘Shark Week’ Reading

Recommended ‘Shark Week’ Reading What danger lies beneath the ocean waves? Luckily for us readers, this question has consumed both novelists and nonfiction writers alike for ages. So, just in time for the annual Shark Week (the Discovery Channel’s eight days of all things shark-related), we’ve rounded up some great books on the creatures of the sea.  Nonfiction Peeks at Creatures of the Deep Fictional Fears That Keep You On Shore Some Chum for the Kids Discovery Read more…

Why Public Libraries Are Amazing

WHY PUBLIC LIBRARIES ARE AMAZING They may not exactly be socialism, but they’re a model of good publicly-run institutions. by NATHAN J. ROBINSON f you wanted a single article to demonstrate why millennials object to the prevailing “neoliberal” economic ideology, it would be this piece in Forbes: “Amazon Should Replace Local Libraries to Save Taxpayers Money.” In it, economics professor Panos Mourdoukoutas argues that libraries have outlived their usefulness, and that their function should be privatized. Technology, he says Read more…

The Book Is (Almost Always) Better Than The Movie

The Book Is (Almost Always) Better Than The Movie It’s undeniable that a book original usually blasts its movie version out of the water. But why is that so? Below, six reasons books almost always take the cake. Filmmakers, consider this your cheat sheet for bringing book-based movies more up to snuff. The Movie Gets Lost In Translation It’s widely known that Stephen King was unhappy with Kubrick’s approach to putting The Shining on the screen. King Read more…

‘We Love to Read,’ Corinth Mom Says

‘We Love to Read,’ Corinth Mom Says By Josh Mitchell Corinth Today News Editor Four-year-old Lyla Reed of Corinth loves to read a children’s book series about a pigeon. She was at the Corinth Library with her 6-month-old sister, Lydia, and their mom, Amy, on Friday looking for some exciting stories. “We love to read,” said Amy, adding that it helps her children with language development, listening and comprehension. The mom and her children sat Read more…