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Welcome to the fourteenth entry of our blog series 'Lost in the Stacks' - with recommendations by Dublin City Libraries staff. This one was submitted by Jessica from Cabra Library.

Welcome to the thirteenth entry of our blog series 'Lost in the Stacks' - with recommendations by Dublin City Libraries staff.

More great recommendations from our colleague Lara in Phibsboro Library. History defines the Deep South as the original seven states of Confederacy, although the term was first used long after the Civil War ended. Before the war, the region was known as the “Lower South" and included Georgia, Florida, northern Alabama, North Louisiana, East Texas, and Mississippi. The term "Deep South" is defined in a variety of ways: most definitions include the states Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana.Oh, but don’t you love that feeling when a good book grabs you and won’t let you go?  I’ve just finished Attica Locke’s latest novel Heaven, my Home and can’t wait to read more of her work.  Texas Ranger, Darren Matthews, is fighting fires on all fronts.  His marriage is just about hanging on, his mother is blackmailing him, and his career is on the line.  Against the backdrop of a newly elected Donald Trump and fresh waves of racial violence, Matthews is sent to a sleepy town in East Texas to investigate the case of a 9-year-old boy who goes missing on Caddo Lake.The child is the son of a white supremacist who is currently in jail, and the main suspect is a black man. The story is fast moving and gripping, and the author writes superbly.  The murky waters and twisted trees of Lake Caddo serve as a metaphor for all that is hidden beneath the surface of this divided community.  Heaven, my home, was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award longlist this year. Locke’s novel, Pleasantville, is also available and I look forward to reading that next!Diane Chamberlain is another American writer, who writes gripping stories set in the Southern states, where respectable facades often hide scandalous truths. Her latest book, Big Lies in a Small Town, weaves two stories together.  In 2018, Morgan Christopher, is released from prison on one condition: that she restore an old post office mural in the Southern town of Edenton. The mural hides a darker story however, of jealousy, madness and murder.The story switches back to 1940 when a young woman called Anna Dale, wins a national competition to paint a mural for a post office in a sleepy town in North Carolina. This is a gripping read. If you enjoy this, The Stolen Marriage, by the same author is another page turner where a marriage is not all that it seems, and where everyone is hiding something. There have been many strong female writers who have written about life in the southern American states, often focusing on the continuing legacy of slavery and racial divisions.To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has become a modern American classic, still much loved sixty years after its publication in 1960. Although classed as a children’s book, it is a wonderful read for any age. I can still remember the first time I read this book in my twenties. I walked around the house reading it as I went, unable to put it down. Told through the eyes of six-year-old Scout, the story recounts the trial of a black man who is accused of raping a white woman in a small town in Alabama. Scout’s father, Atticus Finch, is the lawyer who defends the black man, and is the moral compass of the novel. Loosely based on elements of Harper Lee’s own life, this book was her only published work until Go Set a watchman was published in 2015.Beloved by Toni Morrison is another American text which deals with the horrors of slavery and the psychological impact on those who were enslaved. Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1987 for Beloved. It was inspired by the true story of Margaret Garner who escaped slavery by travelling over the border from Kentucky to Ohio.  She was pursued by slave hunters and killed her 2-year-old daughter so that the child would not grow up in slavery. In the story, the family is haunted by the ghost of her baby daughter. The book was adapted into a film in 1998, starring Oprah Winfrey in the leading role.Mildred D. Taylor is most famous for her classic children’s book, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, which was published in 1976 and won the Newbery Medal the following year. The story follows the story of the Logan family, a poor black family who struggle to survive at the height of the Depression in rural Mississippi. Racism is a constant theme in this, and the later books in the series. Her latest book  All the days past, All the days to come is the final book of the series on the Logan family.Watch our how to video on Borrowbox.Access eBooks/eAudiobooks on your phone, tablet or reader. Once you have installed the app, search for Dublin in the ‘Library’ field provided and then sign in using your library membership card number and PIN.Members of other library authorities will need to access BorrowBox using a different link

Welcome to the ninth entry of our blog series 'Lost in the Stacks' - with recommendations by Dublin City Libraries staff exploring our first-rate catalogue, links provided, nudging you towards making an inspired selection. Short story collections usually get short shrift but this is not the case today in this quirky blog written by staff member, Brian, from our Relief Panel. Are you sick and tired of short stories parading the underbelly of life? – if so, try cocktails by the pool with John Cheever. As a bonus you’ll get the wonderfully wicked rant ‘The Worm In The Apple’ and in ‘The Swimmer’ get a brilliant description of Burt Lancaster’s torso.Celebrated opening lines of novels include “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know” from Albert Camus’ ‘The Outsider’ and from ‘Murphy’ by Beckett “The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new”. Perhaps less celebrated but my personal favourite begins the short story  ‘An Interest In Life’ (from ‘The Collected Stories Of Grace Paley’) – “My husband gave me a broom one Christmas”. What follows is a story opening both perfectly put together and hilarious.I recently re-read the story ‘The Lost Salt Gift Of Blood’ from ‘Island : collected stories’ by Alistair MacLeod. I was beguiled again by MacLeod’s huge sense of a small place, by his divination of the familial ties that bind us and by his plainspeak about the unspoken.On listening to ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ recently I thought to myself that, with no offence to Morrissey and the boys, I’d prefer to be re-reading a paragraph from the short story ‘ Smorgasbord’ (collection ‘The Night In Question’) by Tobias Wolff that ends with the line “I let the light go out”. I don’t know where to start going on about this collection so I won’t.  Just read.  

Welcome to the third entry in our blog series 'Lost in the Stacks' - recommendations by Dublin City Libraries staff exploring overlooked gems and helping you find your next read!Our entry today comes from one of our wonderful librarians, Jessica, and looks at some of the best essay collections in our libraries!Essay CollectionsIs there a greater joy than settling comfortably with a beverage of your choice and reading a well-crafted essay?There is a particular form of literary alchemy that takes place in the best essays - the fusion of the personal with social commentary combined with a stylistic elegance. Often offering a unique perspective on a cultural moment or a brief window into another world, a good essay has a habit of staying with you long after the pages have turned and the book is closed.Here is a selection of the very best essay collections for you to enjoy. If you'd like to borrow any of the books discussed below, simply click on the book cover or title to be taken to the reserves page, where you'll need your library card and PIN to request the book.1. Pulphead: dispatches from the other side of America by John Jeremiah SullivanPulphead is a fascinating collection of essays exploring pop culture and subcultures of American life fused with memoir and aspects from the writer’s own life. Written with a gentle wit and probing intelligence, it is hard to resist reading the entire collection in one go.2. Changing my mind: occasional essays by Zadie SmithThis is a fabulous collection of Zadie Smith’s book reviews, film reviews and non-fiction prose. Witty, honest and refreshing, it is a pleasure to dip in and out of.3. Naked by David SedarisDavid Sedaris has cornered the market in humorous memoir based essays. The stories here are sardonic, wry and darkly hilarious with a touch of pathos and just the right amount of hindsight and self-knowledge to balance the comic absurdity.4. Men explain things to me by Rebecca SolnitThe title essay of this book has gained iconic status since it was published but each of the essays in this book are powerful reminders of why we need feminism. Essential reading.5. This is the story of a happy marriage by Ann PatchettAnn Patchett is best known as a novelist but this book collects her earlier non-fiction articles. This is a fabulous collection of personal essays and memoir pieces that explore key moments in her life. Her writing is warm, engaging, and shining through with humour and kindness.

The e-resource featured in this week’s blog is World Book Online. A suite of three websites from the publishers of the famous World Book encyclopedias. Supplying you with accurate information at age appropriate levels in a controlled safe learning environment.From pre-primary to secondary school – from the wobblers and toddlers to tweenies –  World Book provides fast and accurate information at every level in an immersive learning environment. The information is reliable, age-appropriate, and easy to read and comprehend.·         Early World of Learning for ages 3 to 6 years: this is a resource for preschoolers and children in early primary education. Developed with experts on early childhood education, it offers rich resources designed for the younger child.(An example of a webpage on World Book Online)·         Kids for ages 7 to 11 years: this is a premier reference website developed especially for young students. It features an intuitive user interface, thousands of easy-to-read articles packed with stunning illustrations, videos, interactive maps, and a wealth of engaging games and activities.(Example of the search function on World Book Online)·         Student for ages 12 to 15 years: this contains numerous tools to engage users in 21st-century education and blended-learning practices.(Further example of the search function on World Book Online)And best of all, it’s free with your Dublin City Public Libraries membership card.See World Book Online for more details.

70 years ago today the Allied forces landed on the Normandy beaches, thus beginning the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe (Operation Overlord). The Normandy landings on D-Day, codenamed Operation Neptune, involved the largest seaborne invasion in history. A myriad of books have been written about the war, the events of June and afterwards, and a myriad of documentaries and films have appeared on our TV screens ever since.Utah, Gold, Omaha, Juno, Sword - the names of the Normandy beaches where thousands of landing craft poured ashore. Over 160,000 soldiers crossed the English Channel on D-Day, and many soldiers lost their lives before they even left their landing point. Then too there was the airborne assault, with thousands of planes involved, soldiers landing behind enemy lines in order to secure bridges and other strategic points.There are many truths, and many myths, surrounding D-Day, and to help you get a clearer picture of what actually happened, and to help you understand the true nature and horror of war, we have compiled a list of books and films readily available in or via our branch libraries.One of the best known military history books has to be The Longest Day by Irish-born war correspondent Cornelius Ryan and first published in 1959. This remarkable history sometimes reads like a novel, but is based on the experiences of real people and entailed a huge amount of research. A 1962 film based on the book, and featuring many leading actors of the time, is also called The Longest Day. Unfortunately copies of the book are in short supply and we don't have the film version, but don't let that stop you requesting it and we will see what we can do.Right: Cover of first edition of The Longest Day.Other titles to seek out include:D-Day, the battle for Normandy by Antony BeevorD-Day by Martin GilbertD-day, piercing the Atlantic wall by Robert KershawTwo sides of the beach, the invasion and defence of Europe in 1944 by Edmund BlandfordThe D-Day companion, leading historians explore history's greatest amphibious assault, editor, Jane PenroseSix armies in Normandy, from D-Day to the liberation of Paris, June 6th-August 25th 1944 by John Keegan ...and DVDsThe World at War Box set (11 DVDs, 1343 mins) Episode 17: The development and execution of Operation OverlordBrothers in Arms - The Real Band of Brothers (1 DVD) Useful WebsitesThe Royal British Legion Facts & Figures of D-Day.The D-Day Museum and Overlord Embroidery (Portsmouth).Below: The front page of the Irish Press, 7th June, 1944.You can access the Irish Newspaper Archives online at any branch of Dublin City Public Libraries free of charge.

Between 1845 and 1850, out of a population of approximately 8.2 million, some one million died and another million were forced to emigrate. By 1881 the population had fallen to 5.2 million and continued to fall for many more years.

While Nordic authors and settings seem to dominate my crime reads, the list is not exclusively Northern European I am glad to say. I have even endeavoured to go beyond wider Europe, taking in the US of A, the Middle East, south-east Asia, and even Africa. And it is to Africa that I travel in this post, with two authors to mention, South Africa's Deon Meyer and Zimbabwe's Alexander McCall Smith.

Best selling American crime writer Patricia Cornwell is in Dublin today, here to take part in one of the opening events of the Bram Stoker Festival, happening this weekend. The event, The Anatomy of Fear - From Stoker to Scarpetta with Patricia Cornwell, takes place in Trinity College, and the author will be introduced by the state pathologist, Dr. Marie Cassidy! Very appropriate given the subject matter and the significant role forensic science plays in her Dr. Kay Scarpetta series.Cornwell has sold over 100 million copies of her books worldwide, and wouldn't you know it, you can borrow her books in our branch libraries and read away to your heart's content (check below).Right: Patricia Cornwell in Trinity College, 26th October 2012 (click thumbnail to enlarge)The 20th novel in the Scarpetta series (The Bone Bed) has just been published (25th October in fact), so while not yet on our bookshelves is on order and soon to arrive. In this latest, Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta returns to solve the mysterious disappearance of a palaeontologist.But don't despair, unless you are a Cornwell fanatic and have already read the other nineteen in the series, you have plenty to keep you going in the meantime. So check the links below for availability of the series titles in the library catalogue:Post-mortem (1990)Body of Evidence (1991)All That Remains (1992)Cruel and Unusual (1993)The Body Farm (1994)From Potter's Field (1995)Cause of Death (1996)Unnatural Exposure (1997)Point of Origin (1998)Black Notice (1999)The Last Precinct (2000)Blow Fly (2003)Trace (2004)Predator (2005)Book of the Dead (2007)Scarpetta (2008)The Scarpetta Factor (2009)Port Mortuary (2010)Red Mist (2011)The Bone Bed (2012) (just published, to come)In the following video clip, the bestselling author is talking about her 18th Kay Scarpetta thriller, 'Port Mortuary'.Visit the Patricia Cornwell website.