@ Your Library
The staff at the International Falls Public Library wish everyone a safe, happy book-filled Christmas! May you know the delight of a wonderful book and share that wonder with family and friends.
Are you traveling this holiday season? Long car trip ahead? Then stop by and pick up some audiobooks to listen as you travel (or download from either Overdrive or Hoopla). Here are some great titles to listen to as a family. Hans Christian Anderson wrote many stunning fairy tales. A newer translation from the original Dutch and read by Kate Reading and Richard Matthews is a wonderful way to pass many hours. Very long car trips would be needed to listen to The Complete Sherlock Holmes in 2 volumes of 25 discs each. But given that much of his writing was in the form of short stories, these make for great listening in chunks.
I loved reading Gene Stratton-Porter’s books as a child but didn’t realize until I was an adult how poor her characters were in terms of actual money because they were rich in friends and appreciation of nature. A Girl of the Limberlost is a wonderful story of a young girl who loves being alone out in the woods but also has wonderful friends whose lives she brightens.
Classics can be great family listens and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is a great story of pirates, treasure and the original Long John Silver. Shakespeare makes great listening as well, but they can get a bit long winded at times and the language can be a barrier. Look no further than The Reduced Shakespeare Company Radio Show for the complete works of William Shakespeare (abridged) onto three discs with plenty of humor, politics and storytelling.
The Colonial Radio Theatre has produced eight seasons of western adventures in “Powder River” with lawman-turned-rancher Britt MacMasters and his son Chad. They set up ranching in Clearmont,, Wyoming but Britt’s past soon haunts him as outlaws come seeking revenge.
Don’t forget to take along books wherever you go. I have discovered I love traveling with e-books as they don’t take up space in my luggage anymore (and can now bring along board games). The following books spoke of holiday reading to me even though none of them have anything to do with the holidays, go figure. Winter of the Gods by Jordanna Max Brodsky is the second book of the Olympus Bound series and takes place in New York City in the winter. We Light the Lost by Jill Santopolo brings the universal truths of first love to life. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy travels many years across the Indian subcontinent filled with brokenness and war but also hope, love and peace, a dazzling tale by the author of The God of Small Things.
The library will be closed Saturday, December 23 – Monday, December 25 for Christmas. We will be open until 6pm Friday, December 22 and re-open at 10am on Tuesday, December 26th.