News

08 14, 2020

The Civil War & President James A. Garfield

By admin|2020-08-14T16:00:06-04:00August 14, 2020|

By now, many people know how Mentor’s own President James A. Garfield served in the Civil War, but how did he feel about the war and its causes?

Garfield catapulted to national fame because of his role in the impressive victory during the Battle of Middle Creek in 1862. Even before he donned a soldier’s uniform, though, Garfield had strong convictions and opinions about the events which led to the Civil War. Ranger Alan Gephardt of James A. Garfield National Historic Site will discuss Garfield’s private and public sentiments about the war and the cause for which millions fought.

Our Civil War series with our friends from Lawnfield continues during a special online program at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 9. The topic will be on the role Civil War veterans like Sherman and Sheridan played in the Indian Wars. The talk will be hosted via Zoom. Registration is required, and you can sign up on our website.

By the way, if you’re interested in Civil War history, several talks in our Civil War series can be viewed online in their entirety, including:

Antietam: The Deadliest Day in US History
The Atlanta Campaign
Gettysburg
The Fourteenth Amendment
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Life & Legacy of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

08 12, 2020

Amanda Flower Interview: Meet the mind behind the mysteries

By admin|2020-08-12T16:00:12-04:00August 12, 2020|

Bestselling and award-winning writer Amanda Flower is the mind behind more than 30 mystery novels, including The Magical Bookshop Mysteries, The Amish Candy Shop Mysteries, and the Magic Garden Mysteries – many of which you can borrow from your library.

She discusses her newest mystery, “Mums and Mayhem” as well as:

what inspired her Magic Garden Mystery series
what “the English” get wrong about Amish communities
her favorite job ever (and why it involved wearing a pink checkered ball gown)
where she finds joy and peace of mind during a global pandemic.

By the way, we love a good mystery at Mentor Public Library, and we’ve hosted several of our favorite mystery authors over the years. You can see our interviews with them (and, in a few cases, their entire talks) on our YouTube channel, including:

Karin Slaughter, author of the bestselling Grant County and Will Trent series
D.M. Pulley, author of The Dead Key and The Unclaimed Victim
James Badal, author of In the Wake of the Butcher about the Kingsbury Run Torso Murders. (The linked video includes several graphic crime-scene photos and may be upsetting to some people.)
Jane Ann Turzillo, author of Wicked Women of Ohio and Unsolved Murders & Disappearances in Northeast Ohio
Vivien Chien, author of The Noodle Shop Mysteries
Brad Ricca, writer of Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City’s Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated a Nation

08 8, 2020

All Booked Up with Cailey & Meg: Mysteries with Mary

By admin|2020-08-08T12:00:14-04:00August 8, 2020|

We don’t have Cailey this week, but we have a magnificent substitute. Mary the maven of our Mystery Book Club has dropped by to discuss two of her favorite newer mysteries. She and Meg review:

The Lost Man by Jane Harper
The Last Flight by Julie Clark
Wherever She Goes by Kelley Armstrong
The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders.

Most of the books they discuss can also be borrowed as ebooks using OverDrive or Libby. All you need is your Mentor Public Library card.

By the way, if you enjoy mysteries, you can join out It’s a Mystery Book Club with Ms. Mary. Each month, they discuss a different Thriller, Suspense, True Crime, Noir, Detective or Mystery novel. In October, they’re reading The Lost Man.

07 31, 2020

Just the Facts: Nonfiction Book Reviews

By admin|2020-07-31T12:00:01-04:00July 31, 2020|

We have thousands of nonfiction books on our shelves and millions more that you can get with your CLEVNET card.

So where’s a reader to start?

Fortunately, you have Ms. Mollie to serve as your guide through an entire Dewey Decimal System of subjects.

Her new series, Just the Facts, introduces and reviews different nonfiction titles in our collection. Here are some of the books that she’s reviewed:

Don’t Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing & Bring More Joy to Your Life by Anne Bogel. Bogel explains how perfectionism, analysis paralysis, and falling down research rabbit holes can stop us from accomplishing our goals.
How to Be Fine: What We Learned from Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books by Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer
The More or Less Definitive Guide to Self-Care by Anna Borges.

Greenberg and Meinzer take a more light-hearted approach, discussing the good, bad, and ugly of self-help. Meanwhile, Borges takes you through a tour of what self-care is (taking care of oneself) and what it isn’t (being selfish or completely self-reliant.)

We premiere a new episode of Just the Facts at noon every other Friday.

07 25, 2020