Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating Disability Pride Month: A Reading List

July is known as Disability Pride Month! Disability Pride initially started as a day of celebration in 1990—the year that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. That same year, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day. This month is meant to celebrate disabled persons embracing their disabilities as integral parts of…

Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating Juneteenth: A Reading List

The Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, but it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay,…

Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating LGBT+ Pride Month: A Discovery List

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. This month-long celebration demonstrates how LGBTQ Americans have strengthened our country, by using our…

Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month: A Reading List

May is Jewish American Heritage Month! This month gives us the opportunity to celebrate the diverse and vibrant history, culture, and contributions of Jewish Americans through the years. There area many ways to celebrate Jewish American Heritage. One way we are celebrating at the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers is through this reading list that…

Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month: A Discovery List

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10,…

Ari Reviews: Leech – Hiron Ennes

Leech is a gothic science fiction horror story that is about a young doctor from the Interprovincial Medical Institute that takes on a mysterious medical case at an isolated chateau after the baron’s former physician passes away suddenly. The young doctor will take on a challenging assignment at the baron’s chateau due to a mysterious…

Black text on white background that reads "Discovery Lists." On the image, there is a black film reel in the upper left-hand corner. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a music staff with music notes on it. Between the words "Discovery" and "Lists" there is a black and white sketch of an opened book with flowers growing out of it.

Book Recommendations based on Best Picture Nominees: A Discovery List

It is award season! In celebration with the 95th Academy Awards ceremony tomorrow night, we have compiled a list of recommendations based on nominees. This discovery list includes at least one book recommendation for every film nominated in the Best Picture category. All Quiet on the Western Front If All Quiet on the Western Front…

Icon that says Black History Month on black background

Black History Month: A Reading List

February is Black History Month. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.…

"Native American Heritage Month" in yellow and green text on a black background. This logo is from: nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov

Native American Heritage Month: A Reading List

November is Native American Heritage Month. The National Congress of American Indians tells us: [t]he month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general…

Julie’s Colleen Hoover 101

Colleen Hoover. So many patrons have been coming in lately looking for her books. Many don’t have a particular book in mind, but they’ve heard she’s good and want to try a book of hers. Wondering what brought on this surge in popularity, I Googled it: TikTok. She had been growing in popularity for a…

Chris S. Recommends: The Complete Cosmicomics – Italo Calvino

“In Italo Calvino’s cosmicomics, primordial beings cavort on the nearby surface of the moon, play marbles with atoms, and bear ecstatic witness to Earth’s first dawn. Exploring natural phenomena and the origins of the universe, these beloved tales relate complex scientific concepts to our common sensory, emotional, human world. Now, The Complete Cosmicomics brings together…

Chelsey Recommends: Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir

Chelsey’s comment: I just finished Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and highly recommend it! “Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature…

Rachel Reviews: Ghosts – Dolly Alderton

Ghosts starts and ends on Nina Dean’s birthday but, in between, the reader gets to spend a year in the life of someone trying to figure it out. She falls in love and also out of it, she starts arguments and then reconciles them, she struggles and makes mistakes and realizes big things… and then…

Ari Reviews: The Social Graces – Renée Rosen

I enjoyed reading this book. I could not put this book down and as a historical fiction book lover this one I highly recommend for those who love historical fiction. The Social Graces takes you into 1870’s New York City during the Gilded Age that focuses on the Vanderbilts and Astors in the book. It…

Next Up with Chris

Next up on Chris’ to be read list: Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders “February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies…

Rachel Reviews: The Ex-Talk – Rachel Lynn Solomon

The Ex Talk—two rival coworkers pretend to be exes in lieu of unemployment!—is a fresh take on enemies-to-lovers with that certain charm I loved in Today Tonight Tomorrow. The addition of Shay’s personal life and her feelings of inadequacy, imposter syndrome, and lingering grief gave an otherwise tropey romance layers, but I especially enjoyed how Solomon…

What Jen is Reading…

“A timeless murder mystery with the fascinating, glamorous Mitford sisters at its heart, The Mitford Trial is the fourth installment in the Mitford Murders series from Jessica Fellowes, inspired by a real-life murder in a story full of intrigue, affairs and betrayal… It’s lady’s maid Louisa Cannon’s wedding day, but the fantasy is shattered shortly after…

Fran Reviews: Eternal – Lisa Scottoline

Lisa Scottoline has brought to life the fear and terror of Mussolini’s reign and the horrors of Fascism in World War II Italy. Through the characters of Elisabetta, Marco, Sandro and their families. the reader can visualize what it felt like to be a Jew or a friend of a Jew and the inhumane consequences…

What Jen is Reading…

“IN A TIME OF RASPUTIN’S MAGIC AND ROMANOV MYSTERY, A YOUNG GIRL FINDS HERSELF AT THE HEART OF THE ROYAL FAMILY She was an orphan, ushered into the royal palace on the prayers of her majestry. Yet, decades later, her time spent in the embrace of the Romanovs haunts her still. Is she responsible for…

Michelle Reviews: Warlight – Michael Ondaatje

“We order our lives with barely held stories. As if we have been lost in a confusing landscape, gathering what was invisible and unspoken…sewing it all together in order to survive…” Nathaniel and his sister Rachel were children when their parents left them in the care of a man they called The Moth. The connection…

What Jen is Reading…

The Mitford Scandal – Jessica Fellowes (Also available in Large Print) “In the third book in the Mitford Murders series, lady’s maid Louisa Cannon accompanies Diana Mitford into a turbulent late 1920s Europe. The year is 1928, and after the death of a maid at a glamorous society party, fortune heir Bryan Guinness seizes life…

Sue Reviews: Writers & Lovers – Lily King

Lily King is a local author, having grown up on the North Shore, her father was a teacher at Pingree and she is an alumni of the school. Her latest book Writers & Lovers is a book about grief, determination and challenging decisions. Casey Peabody, a young girl living in Brookline is mourning the unexpected…

Notes from Spring 2021 Book Buzz Presentations

After watching several webcasts presented by marketing teams from various publishing houses my notebook is now full up with lists of upcoming titles of interest. Below is a very small selection of fiction and non-fiction titles pulled from those lists (release dates range from February to June). Happy (future) reading! We Begin at the End…

Julie Recommends: International Mysteries

  Three of our more popular mystery authors are Louise Penny, Donna Leon, and Ann Cleeves, whose books are set in Quebec, Venice, and England respectively.  Always on the lookout for new (to me) mystery series with international settings, here’s one I’m enjoying now, and a few I’ll be trying soon.  And if you’re looking…

Fran Reviews: White Ivy – Susie Yang

What a delightful surprise this novel was! The reader goes from feeling sorry for Ivy to castigating her for her choices. Through the many plot twists and turns, this hard to put down novel will have the reader guessing and making their own choice on how to perceive the main character. About White Ivy: “Ivy Lin…