Books and More: Catch reading before summer ends

By Betty Himes

July 09, 2009 10:26 pm

— Summer is slipping by with the sun beckoning you to come outside or chores patiently reminding you that they need attention. It's still possible to sneak in a little reading and the library has lots of titles to lure you away from a humdrum existence.
This week the Adult Summer Reading Program is featuring a mix of fiction and nonfiction. The recycling books are nonfiction or true; the mysteries and quilting stories are fictional, made-up stories.
Many recycling books demonstrate how you can reuse items you would usually discard or how you can recycle items discarded by others. “Eco Craft: Recycle, Recraft, Restyle” is full of ideas for using common materials to make something attractive and useful, like totes made of tough, shiny, metallic-looking coffee bags. “Recycle!” by Moira and Nicholas Hankinson presents over 60 projects for your home and garden. These colorfully presented plans require tools and expertise to create handy and striking designs including a potting stand, a water feature for the garden and a tool rack.
Jennifer Chiaverini tells heartwarming stories of people learning to recycle cloth as our ancestors did by creating quilts in the Elm Creek Quilts series. “Quilter's Apprentice” introduces the main characters and expands with continuing stories as relationships are stitched with the characters' dreams and hopes. You may find yourself drawn in as families and friendships develop over quilting frames.
Lilian Jackson Braun's stories share the unlikely detective team of a cat and a newspaper reporter. Jim Qwilleran encounters a surprising number of crimes while covering the “Arts” beat. Beginning with “The Cat Who Read Backwards,” Siamese cat Koko sniffs out clues and ensures the team will pounce on the guilty party before the story ends. It's lighthearted fun for escaping whatever problems lurk in your path.
It's not too late to sign up for the Adult Summer Reading Program. Just fill out a form and list the titles you read in June and July on the handy reading log provided by the library. Anyone who signs up and turns in a list of three books listened to or read by July 31st will be eligible to attend the concluding festivities which will include refreshments and a drawing for prizes.