Step 2: Library staff will email or call to let you know what day to expect the book to arrive from Amazon or let you know if it is not available. Please contact us at library@cityofsanrafael.org if you don’t receive your book on the day estimated.
Step 3: Keep the item as long as you want. When you are finished, please try to return the item to a staff member at the San Rafael Public Library during library open hours. Please inform staff that you are returning a Zip Book. The item must be returned in order to request an additional item. Please be sure to tell staff that it is a Zip Book so that we can mark it as returned. If you really need to, you can put the item in the book drop in its original Amazon packaging – please mark it “Zip Book”.
Step 4: You will be asked to complete a short survey which allows us to track patron satisfactory level with the program.
Step 5: Repeat for a total of 3 times per month.
Zip Books is a statewide project of the California State Library and NorthNet. The Project is funded in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the California Library Services Act. Zip Books is administered in California by the State Librarian.
All of Marin is reading this book, and we have lots of events happing around the book throughout Marin, so join the experience and learn some history along the way.
Here’s what’s happening at the San Rafael Downtown Library.
February 27, 6:30-7:30 Book Talk with Librarian, Pam Klein
March 6, 6:30 – 7:30 Russian Culture Talk with professors Svetlana Kristal and Krista Hanson entitled: Loyalty Through Betrayal: Us Versus Them in a Russian Context
March 30, 6:30 – 7:30 Russian Travel talk with Rea Franjetic of Cosmopolitan Tours, entitled: Armchair Travel to Russia.
April 2, 1:00 – 4:00 – Faux Ukrainian Egg Decorating
Request a copy of The Tsar of Love and Techno in print, large type, or as a downloadable e-book or e-audiobook.
Read more about the book, the author, and all events in Marin on the One Book One Marin site here.
With the Rio Olympics starting on Friday, we thought we’d bring a taste of Brazil to those not planning to go. We also updated our Olympic-themed list from four years ago.
If you’re playing along with our Adult Summer Reading Program, Bookshelf Bingo, then you can use one of these books to complete the square, “Book set somewhere you’ve never been (but want to go).” But hurry, there’s just one month left in the summer program. Don’t miss out on our great prizes and a chance for even better prizes with the bingo raffle!
And if Brazil has never tickled your fancy, then try these lists based on other locales:
Regardless of what you think of the newest Ghostbusters movie, the library can help you find some ghost stories with female leads. Try these books to start:
What were people reading in the year you were born? Read a blast from the past with these lists of popular and notable books throughout the decades. If you’re playing along with our Adult Summer Reading Bookshelf Bingo, you can complete a square by reading a book published in the decade you were born!
These lists were partially taken from an enormous list, Books of the Century , with best-sellers, historically significant books, and Book-of-the-Month Club selections, which was compiled by Daniel Immerwahr, an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Northwestern University.
We picked ten books from each decade from 1920 through the 1990s. We did not ensure that one book from each year was taken, but rather picked books for a breadth of representation of what a particular decade offered. I’m sure we missed a few obvious or important choices; let us know what you think!
p.s. You can also find books published in a particular year by looking at the award winners for that year; though technically many awards are given the year after a book was published. See our Fiction Winners and Mystery Winners handouts.
There’s nothing wrong with going on a beach-read bender over the summer. In fact, if you’re playing along with our Adult Summer Reading Bookshelf Bingo, you’ll earn a completed square when you finish that “Guilty Pleasure” book.
What, you only read Pulitzer-Prize winners? That’s okay, too. There’s no rule that says a guilty pleasure has to be poorly written! It can be a book you’re reading when you’re really supposed to be doing something else… like cooking dinner, or doing the laundry.
In any case, I’m sure you won’t have trouble finding a fun book for yourself, but just in case, here are some book lists we’ve made that can help.
Speaking of dinner, if you love food (and who doesn’t), try some of these culinary reads. Our list ranges from light-hearted fiction featuring a chef kidnapped by a pirate, or a caterer with a magic touch, to non-fiction by adventurous food critics and a baker in Paris.
Or try this list combining romance and comedy, that we’ve called My Funny Valentine.
Or if fiction isn’t your thing, we can hook you up with some humorous non-fiction!
Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone you didn’t do your laundry— so go ahead and grab a book! If you want more suggestions, just drop by the library or contact us.
It’s summer time: which means it’s time to read books and win prizes with the library’s Adult Summer Reading Program- Bookshelf Bingo! We’ve got lots of fun rewards and raffle prizes for when you complete bingo square challenges such as Try a project from a home/garden/cookbook, or read a Book set in the past or the future. A new square this year, recommended by a previous Bingo participant, is Patron Pick. She even provided her own list of patron picks!
You can see a few of her picks, as well as some titles that were recommended by last year’s Bookshelf Bingo players, on our Patron Picks list! Another good source for well-loved books is this list: Reader’s Choice 2015, the result of the reference librarians asking people who came to the help desk in January for the favorite book they read last year.
Both of these lists show the wide variety of really good books out there waiting for you. Come by the library and pick one up. And while you’re here, don’t forget to sign up for our Adult Summer Reading Program. It lasts from June 1 – September 6, 2016. (For the little ones, the Youth Summer Reading starts June 10.) Happy Reading Everyone!
At this weekend’s Nebula Awards, female authors dominated the ceremonies, winning prizes for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story. The Nebula Awards are presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.
This year’s winner for Best Novel was Uprooted, by Naomi Novik. Other winners included Nnedi Okorafor for her novella, Binti; Sarah Pinsker for the novelette, Our Lady of the Open Road; and Alyssa Wong for her short story, Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers. Even the Young Adult fiction award, called the Andre Norton Award, went to a woman: Fran Wilde, for her novelUpdraft.
The final Nebula Award, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, went to Mad Max: Fury Road, written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nick Lathouris. (Not a female screenwriter among them, sure, but at least the movie had strong female characters!)
Evoking Eastern European folklore but with a strong, intelligent female narrator, Uprooted tells the story of Agnieszka as she discovers and develops her magical abilities to help protect her quiet village from the corrupted Wood that surrounds her home.
If you’re looking for more award-winning Science Fiction, see our list of Favorite Nebula winners. Interested in trying Science Fiction, but not sure where to start? Try our list: Science Fiction for Beginners, with tons of titles sorted by their appeal factor.
Also, here are the other novels that were nominated for the Nebula’s Best Novel award this year:
Looking for a good mystery? Try an award winner! The Edgar Awards and the Agatha Awards were both recently announced. Have you read these titles yet? Also see this handout with past winners of the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel and the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel.
The Edgar Awards are named for the father of the modern detective novel, Edgar Allan Poe. They are awarded by the Mystery Writers of America.
The Agatha Awards honor “traditional” or “cozy” mysteries, as typified by the works of Agatha Christie. They are chosen by the mystery fan organization Malice Domestic, Ltd.
The 2015 Agatha Award Winners (which were awarded in 2016) are:
If you need help finding these books, or want more suggestions of mysteries to try, drop by the library, call, or contact us online. We’re always happy to help connect you to a great read!
Congratulations to the 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner, Viet Thanh Nguyen, for his book The Sympathizer. The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is awarded to “distinguished fiction published in book form during the year by an American author.”
This year’s Fiction winner, according to the Pulitzer website, offers “a layered immigrant tale told in the wry, confessional voice of a ‘man of two minds’ — and two countries, Vietnam and the United States.”
To see past Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners, see our list online or download our Fiction Winners handout, which lists winners of the Man Booker, National Book Award, and Pulitzer.
Other Pulitzer Winners
Pulitzer Prizes were also awarded in the following literature areas:
Congratulations to the 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner, Viet Thanh Nguyen, for his book 
