Tagged Nonfiction
Pam's Picks: Favorite Books of Legendary Actress Pam Grier
It’s the 50 Anniversary of the blaxploitation film Foxy Brown starring Pam Grier . The film is credited for revolutionizing the way women were portrayed in cinema. To celebrate this milestone, the legendary actress did a special…
The Year of James Baldwin: Kick-Off Event and Programming
Join the Education, Philosophy, and Religion Department on Saturday, February 17 at 11 a.m. for Inaugurating the Year of James Baldwin: God’s Revolutionary Voice . The event will take place in the Skyline Room on the Fourth…
Dena's Favorite Books of 2022
Welcome to Year 11 of my annual list of favorite books and the third year of pandemic reading! I've started getting my reading mojo back and have been spending a bit more time reading than watching tv this year—268 books read…
Celebrating February's Food Days
Did you know that there are important dates in February beyond Groundhog Day (Sorry, Punxsutawney Phil!), Presidents' Day, and Valentine’s Day, where specific foods are celebrated? Here's just a few to mark on your…
More Than Stonewall: LGBTQ Historical Nonfiction
All October we'll be talking about LGBTQ History on the Free Library's blog! So far we've discussed LGBTQ Historical Young Adult Fiction and LGBTQ History Told Through Comics and Graphic Novels . This week, we turn our…
What Philadelphia Read in 2020
The longest year ever is coming to a close. (Amen.) That means that it’s time to peruse some Best of 2020 book lists! Across the web you can find tons of these kinds of lists. Two of my favorites are Book Riot’s Best Books…
Join Our New YA and Adult Multicultural Book Club!
Are you interested in reading new authors? Are you looking for a safe place to discuss literature and culture? Then this book club is for you! The YA / Adult Multicultural Book Club has a focus on authors of color and expanding cultural…
Banned Books Week | A Focus on Nonfiction Reads
Every year around this time, the Free Library and other libraries around the country celebrate reading challenged books during Banned Books Week . Why are there banned books? These could be any book titles suggested by library patrons…
New Titles Coming to the Free Library in July!
In this time of self-reflection and evaluation of our own and our society's biases and attitudes around race, our suggestions include new titles in which race is a central theme, as well as a primer on voting and why it matters. We…
Spring 2020 Author Events Preview
As we head into the roaring '20s, let’s look forward to the Spring 2020 Free Library Author Events schedule , highlight a few of our guests, and offer up some other important details... Tickets go on sale to the public today,…
Maritime Disasters: Commercial Ships, Catastrophic Sinkings
I’ve been called a walking disaster many times, and frankly, there's a lot of truth to it. I spill things, drop things, say things, and eat things I shouldn’t. But I’m nothing compared to a misadventure on the open…
New Titles Coming to the Free Library in October!
Our October suggestions are a mix of fantasy, history, romance, health, and adventure—truly, something for everyone—and they’re all coming to a neighborhood library near you this month! Young Children (Up to 2nd…
Fall 2019 Author Events: Cultural Connections
During this fall season of Free Library Author Events , we’re seeing a lot of cultural connections between our authors and speakers. Let’s talk about the events taking place two days in a row, both off-site at the same…
Celebrate National Read a Book Day!
Today is National Read a Book Day , and as a book lover and Free Library staff member it’s my sworn duty to encourage everyone I meet today to pick up a book, so expect some recommendations here. Reading can be so much more than…
It's All Just a Little Bit of History Repeating Itself Again
History is endlessly fascinating to me; twentieth-century history in particular is full of triumphs and dark chapters. Sometimes it takes some distance to get perspective on events of the day and to notice patterns in…
The 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winners Are...
The winners of the 2019 Pulitzer Prizes were announced at Columbia University in New York City on Monday, April 15. The Pulitzers recognize achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature, and musical composition,…
The Mystery of Missing Persons
Many things go missing – overdue books, keys, socks in the dryer – but none of those can compare with the gravity of when a person simply disappears. Approximately 90,000 people are missing at this very moment in the United…
An American Author in Paris
"For two centuries," writes The New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik in the preface of his 2004 collection Americans in Paris: A Literary Anthology , "Paris has been attached for Americans to an idea of happiness, of good…
Dena's Favorite Books of 2017
Every year I read a lot of books. Out of the 339 that I read in 2017, I've picked out the 36 that I liked the best . 2017 was a hard year, and I found myself looking for books that were happy and not particularly difficult or…
Need a Last Minute Gift Idea? Check Out These 10 Popular Titles!
Looking for gift ideas for your favorite readers or for something to read yourself? Here’s a list from public libraries across the country of the 10 most popular books for adult readers in the past month. Mystery and suspense…