book recommendations
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Self-Care Inspiration from the Library
Some of us intend to implement new, healthier habits while staying home, but there still aren’t enough hours in the day. Others have personally been affected by the pandemic, or the past month has led to feelings of loneliness, anxiety or depression. Whatever your situation, self-care will not make everything perfect, but healthy living tends…
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10 Short Books to Help Boost Your Annual Reading Goal
We’re nearly through half of 2020 and it’s safe to say the year isn’t turning out how any of us envisioned. We are all working together to try to flatten the curve of a global pandemic. It’s the sort of situation we would prefer to encounter in a thick Stephen King book or on the big…
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Sunshine State Young Readers Award Program 2020 Book List
On April 23, the Florida Association of Media in Education revealed this year’s titles for the Sunshine State Young Readers Award Program (SSYRA). The SSYRA is a statewide initiative to encourage students to read independently to improve reading fluency. Books picked for the annual lists appeal to a wide audience, have literary value, represent different…
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Tiger King Companion
Hey all you cool cats and kittens, it’s Melissa at Orange County Library System. If you are like me, you’ve binged Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness while quarantined. After I finished the documentary, I was left with some questions, such as, If you cover someone in sardine oil, will tigers eat them? I cannot…
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Imagine Your (Scary) Story This Summer
In February 2019, the Horror Writers Association, (a global group of horror writers and publishing professionals), announced its inaugural reading program, Summer Scares, to book lovers and libraries everywhere. The program, now in its second year, is designed to connect libraries with horror creators and to promote the genre as a wonderful option for satisfyingly…
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A True Crime Aficionado’s Guide to At-Home Entertainment
True crime became my favorite genre of media after I read Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood in the 8th grade. Initially, my gnawing need to consume true crime stemmed from the desire to learn everything I could to avoid being kidnapped and brutally murdered. However, over the years, I became more enraptured by understanding the…
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Read-Alikes You Can Read Right Now
As we are adapting to our new way of life that includes social distancing, people also need to find new ways of entertaining themselves. Luckily this includes books! While the library has temporarily suspended home delivery for physical items, our digital collection, including Overdrive, Hoopla and RBDigital to name a few, is still accessible 24/7 from the…
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Roses are Red, Violets are Grateful, That National Poetry Month Happens in April
April is a time where flowers bloom from their winter sleep, birds sing as they fly across the skies and writers pick out their new seasonal pens of inspiration to write with. Well, not so much that last part. Among other celebrations, April is also recognized as National Poetry Month. National Poetry Month found its…
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Become Your Best Self with the Enneagram
I never expected to benefit from yet another personality test but as it turns out researching my Enneagram type was a wise choice. With a limited investment of time, you can learn a ton about yourself and the people you love. The Enneagram types, represented by numbers one through nine, are more than personalities. They help to explain a person’s worldview, self-image and motivations. For example, I learned that people of my type, the Four, strive to be unique and authentic. They tend to…
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The Mayor’s Picks
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings is a strong supporter of libraries and has even been a participant in the African American Read-In in the past. As we know him to be an avid reader, we were curious (and thought you might be too) about his favorite books by African American authors. I Know Why…
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