Staff Picks
Book News!
2023 Lambada Literary Awards Announced
Lambada Literary
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association Announces 2023 Nebula Award Winners
Nebula Awards
Swampscott poet wins Mass. Book Award
Salem News
The Must-Read Titles in the 23rd Annual Massachusetts Book Awards announced
Massachusetts Center for Books
Throwback Thursday: Peripheral Vision
Sit back, relax, and maybe have some tissues at hand because we're talking about Turnovers Peripheral Vision. The band took a step back from their punk roots and delivered one of the best indie/dream pop albums to come out of the the early 2010s. The title track...
ThrowBack Thursday: Staff Music Picks
Noelle and Jillian Recomend: The Clash London Calling. London Calling is one of The Clashs best known works. This album offers punk, new wave and even reggae inspirations. Must listen songs from this album are Rudie Can't Fail, Spanish Bombs, Clampdown and I'm Not...
Restaurant Reviews: Pintxo Pincho Tapas Bar. Woburn
Pintxo Pincho Tapas Bar, located on 385 Main Street in Woburn brings the flavors of mainland Spain to the North Shore! The layout is exactly what you would see down an alleyway after leaving the Plaza Mayor in Madrid. It is a perfect spot to bring a date,...
Restuart Reviews: Lil Devils Deli. Salem MA
Lil Devils Deli is an excellent spot to grab a slice or a sub in the heart of downtown Salem. Located on 48 Congress Street, Lil Devils has been serving up New York style pizza. The dough is made in house every day and has every topping you can imagine. They also...
Throwback Thursdays Album Reviews: The New Amsterdams: Worse for the Wear
As someone who listens to fast, in your face music, there are times where you need an album to put you in a calm, easygoing mood. Worse for the Wear by The New Amsterdams is that album for me. The album is full of lively anthems, twangy banjoes and all in all good...
Restaurant Reviews: Pots
Pots is a hot pot restaurant that opened in Peabody a couple months ago. Over the weekend, I was able to try and out. It was a great expierence and will be coming back for more. At Pots, you have to make a reservation. The process is easy and can be done all...
Throwback Thursday Album Reviews: Lifetime’s Lifetime
Lifetime's : Lifetime (2007) Lifetime's self title has been in constatant rotation of one of my favorite albums since the first time I've heard it. One of the most underrated melodic hardore records ever, this album is full of fun tunes, good times and songs that...
Restaurant Reviews: Trackside Bar and Grill
Trackside Bar and Grill is one of my favorite restaurants. Mostly known as a neighborhood spot in downtown Peabody, Trackside has been serving some of the best Portuguese Cuisine on the North Shore for years. The service is outstanding, the quality of food is...
13 Scary Movies to binge watch on Friday the 13th
1. Friday the 13th (2009) - A group of young adults visit a boarded up campsite named Crystal Lake where they soon encounter the mysterious Janon Voorhees and his deadly intentions. 2. Scream (1996) - A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is...
Ari Reviews: Sage’s Kitchen (Local Restaurant Review)
Ari Reviews: Sage’s Kitchen (Local Restaurant Review)If you are looking for a new place to eat in the North Shore area, I highly suggest you should make a drive over to Sage’s Kitchen which is located at the historic Salem Willows Park in Salem, MA. This restaurant...
All Kinds of Lives September Newsletter
All Kinds of Lives: a monthly newsletter featuring new books, movies, music, and local events focused on diversity in social and family situations
Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award 2023 List
Hey Teens! Your summer reading adventure may be over, and now it's time to vote for your favorites! If you read at least one book from the Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award list, featured below, then you can vote for your favorites anytime between now and...
The Biography Book Club Recommends: A Reading List
The Biography Book Club meets every third Monday at 6:30 pm online through Zoom from September-June. This is a list of titles the individual members read over the summer. To join this book club, register through the library’s calendar of events, choose the event,...
Max Reviews: They Were Here Before Us – Eric LaRocca
Content warning for this review: the book being reviewed is pretty gross, it’s a horror book. Discussing the content of the book may be a little gross too. If you like being grossed out, you may enjoy this book! If not, you may want to check out something else. A...
Max Reviews: Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is the dark space fantasy I didn’t know I needed. In a galaxy with nine ancient houses with nine rulers and heirs adept in different forms of necromancy, the Emperor needs necromancers. Each necromancer has their swordsman, their...
Ari Reviews: When You Wish Upon A Star – Elizabeth Lim
If you love books about fairies, Disney, the movie Pinocchio, magic, adventure, family, friendship, love, and fantasy, I highly recommend you checking out “When You Wish Upon A Star” By Elizabeth Lim. This is another great Disney Twisted Tales series I have read...
Max Reviews: Jackal – Erin E. Adams
Filled with suspense and social commentary, Jackal filled me with dread and outrage throughout the book. This debut novel by Erin E. Adams takes place in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the author’s hometown, which is largely white and racially segregated. Jackal follows...
All Kinds of Lives July Newsletter
All Kinds of Lives (July 2023) by Shilpa Jacobie and Max...
All Kinds of Lives July Newsletter
All Kinds of Lives (July 2023) by Shilpa Jacobie and Max...
Ari Reviews: Why Beethoven: A Phenomenon in One Hundred Pieces – Norman Lebrecht
If you love music, classical music, and the composer Ludwig Van Beethoven, I would highly suggest you read this Why Beethoven: A Phenomenon in One Hundred Pieces! This is a great music history book that dives into the stories behind Beethoven’s musical compositions...
Celebrating the Legacy of Octavia E. Butler: A Reading List
Last week, I made a post about the literary career of Octavia E. Butler in celebration of her receiving the inaugural Infinity Award, which is meant to honor authors who have passed but whose legacies live on. To celebrate not just her career, but also her legacy,...
Celebrating the Career of Octavia E. Butler
In May, Octavia E. Butler was awarded the inaugural Infinity Award, which aims to award writers who’ve passed but whose legacies continue to inspire. To celebrate her legacy, I wrote a small piece about her works in the library’s monthly newsletter about diversity...
Celebrating Disability Pride Month: A Reading List
July is known as Disability Pride Month! Disability Pride initially started as a day of celebration in 1990—the year that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. That same year, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day. This month is meant...
Ari Reviews: Come See the Fair – Gavriel Savit
If you enjoy stories involving magic, spooky tales, seances, adventure, etc. you need to check this book out! This was a great middle school children’s book that had all of the above mentioned with so many twists and turns that I could not put this book down and...
Max Reviews: Five Survive – Holly Jackson
Eight hours. Six friends. Five survive. That’s the tagline for Holly Jackson’s Five Survive, a teen thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole read. What starts off as a road trip from Philadelphia to a warm spring break destination turns into a tense...
Summer Screams: A Discovery List
Autumn tends to be the season that gets the most credit for being the spooky season, but summer offers its own opportunities for thrills and chills- summer camp shenanigans, vacations gone wrong, cult rituals, and more! Now that it's officially summer, I wanted to...
All Kinds of Lives June Newsletter: The Anniversary Issue
All Kinds of Lives (June 2023) by Shilpa Jacobie and Max...
Max Reviews: Hijab Butch Blues – Lamya H
Hijab Butch Blues chronicles the life of Lamya H, a queer Muslim writer and activist, through a series of salient and beautifully written prose essays. The essays range in topic and span much of Lamya's life. In it, Lamya covers topics ranging from xenophobia,...
Celebrating Juneteenth: A Reading List
The Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, but it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came...
Angelina Reviews: Station Eleven
Station Eleven NovelStation Eleven is a novel written and published by Emily St. John Mandel in 2014. It's a story that takes place in the great lakes region before and after a fictional flu pandemic that has killed off most of the population. As a sub-plot the...
Ari Reviews: Strangers in the Night – Heather Webb
If you are a big fan of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner , and historical fiction I would highly suggest checking out Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb. I am a big fan of Frank Sinatra and love the era of classic Hollywood so I had to...
Celebrating LGBT+ Pride Month: A Discovery List
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. This...
Max Reviews: The Sunbearer Trials – Aiden Thomas
At the start of every decade, ten teenage semidioses are selected by Sol to compete in a series of challenges, known as The Sunbearer Trials. The winner of these challenges will become the Sunbearer, carrying light and life to all temples of Reino del Sol to...
Angelina Recommends: Finding Me – Viola Davis
The host of our biography book club, Angelina, recommends April's book club choice: Finding Me by Viola Davis. About her memoir, Davis says: This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This...
Ari Reviews: Anatomy: A Love Story – Dana Schwartz
I have been wanting to read Anatomy: A Love Story for a while on my To-Read List and finally have gotten the chance to check this one out and this was a wonderful Young Adult Historical Fiction book I have read in quite some time! The story is set in early 19th...
Julie Reviews: Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
My colleague Chelsey recommended Andy Weir’s (then) new book about a year ago and I was intrigued and added it to my TBR list. But that’s a long list and I just recently got to reading it. I loved it! Project Hail Mary, like Weir’s huge hit The Martian, is about...
All Kinds of Lives May Newsletter
All Kinds of Lives (May 2023) by Shilpa Jacobie and Max...
Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month: A Reading List
May is Jewish American Heritage Month! This month gives us the opportunity to celebrate the diverse and vibrant history, culture, and contributions of Jewish Americans through the years. There area many ways to celebrate Jewish American Heritage. One way we are...
Ari Reviews: Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story – Alan Riding
If you are a big music history and opera fan I would highly recommend reading the book “Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story” By Alan Riding. As a big opera lover I really loved reading this book. It took me into the history and world of opera that dates back to...
Ari Reviews: Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story – Alan Riding
If you are a big music history and opera fan I would highly recommend reading the book “Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story” By Alan Riding. As a big opera lover I really loved reading this book. It took me into the history and world of opera that dates back to...
Celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month: A Discovery List
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of...
Ari Reviews: The Wicked Ones: A Dark Ascension Novel – Robin Benway
The Wicked Ones is a Disney young adult book that tells the backstory of Cinderella’s stepsisters Anastasia and Drizella. The book gives us a glimpse into what caused them to become the stepsisters we know from the movie Cinderella. The book starts off when...
Stories Beyond Border: A Chinese American Diasporic Reading List for Kids and Teens
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All Kinds of Lives
Check out our monthly newsletter featuring new books, movies, music, and local events focused on diversity in social and family situations.
Discovery Lists
If there isn’t a particular book or movie/tv series calling your name, peruse our discovery lists. Something might catch your eye and become your next best discovery. Check out our discovery lists, like one of the ones featured below:
