Author: Jess Serrenti

Fight the Cold Weather With A Good Book

 

Cold weather is back and so is “Cabin Fever,” the mid-winter book club for adults at Lackawanna County libraries. All you have to do is sign up and start reading.”

 

There are no required books. Members can read anything in the libraries’ collections. When they check out a book during the month, they will be given a “quick rate” card to jot down their impressions of it. A selection of these comments will be posted on the Library System’s website.

 

Cabin Fever runs throughout the month of February. Registration begins at all Lackawanna County Library System libraries on Monday, January 26.

 

 

Lots To Do @ the Library

 

Looking for things to do in the New Year? Look no farther than the Library.

 

Lackawanna County Libraries have activities and programs every day to satisfy kids, tweens, teens and adults.

 

Story times for kids are a great way to start a life-long love of reading and books. Tweens can find a safe place to go with their friends for activities that are parent-approved. For teens, the library offers stimulating fun and peer group interaction. Adults can join book clubs, craft groups or just sit down with like-minded people to discuss the topics of the day. There are lectures, workshops, group projects and exhibits going on at Lackawanna County libraries. Many of our libraries have activities that the whole family can enjoy together.

 

Check out the Events section of this website and find things for you to do all year long and get involved @ the Library.

 

Merry Christmas from all of us at the Lackawanna County Library System

 

 

Abington Community Library  •  Albright Memorial Library  •  Nancy Kay Holmes Branch Library

 

Carbondale Public Library  •  Dalton Community Library  •  North Pocono Public Library

 

Taylor Community Library  •  Valley Community Library

 

Lackawanna County Children’s Library  •  Lackawanna County Library System Bookmobile

 

 

Great Dishes From Area Tables

 

Malls aren’t the only busy places during the Holiday Season: Kitchens are, too. So why not share your favorite Christmas or New Year recipes and pick up some new ones for your recipe file during our Holiday Recipe Swap. Appetizers and desserts, entrees and side dishes, whatever your guests like best at your holiday table you can share with us.

 

Submit your recipe for others to enjoy and check out the Recipe Gallery for new ideas.

 

 

A Family Pack For Scranton Man

 

Austin Murphy, a Scranton resident and patron at the Nancy Kay Holmes Branch Library in Green Ridge, has won tickets to “The Happy Elf,” a new musical comedy by Grammy® Award-winning and Tony® Award-nominated composer and lyricist, Harry Connick, Jr. “Elf” is having its premier holiday run at the Scranton Cultural Center. With a cast of nearly 100 singers and dancers – many from our area – the production is fun for the whole family.

 

For those who didn’t win the Library System lottery of four tickets, seats can still be obtained at the Fidelity Bank Box Office at the SCC or by calling 344-1111. A true community event, a portion of the proceeds from each performance benefits a local nonprofit organization.

 

 

West Scranton neighbors will gather next week to kick off the holiday season and mark the beginning of a campaign to improve the quality of life and increase civic pride in that historic area.

 

Children’s Tree Lighting

Sunday, December 14^th  •  5:30-7:30 P.M.

Hyde Park Community Garden, N. Bromley Ave. & Jackson St.

 

Join West Scranton neighbors for a festive community get-together. Caroling, a winter poetry reading for the kids and adults, ginger house building and a cookie exchange are some of the activities planned. Bring two dozen cookies representing your family’s heritage and share them with everyone.

 

Welsh Tea & Cookie Night

Wednesday, December 17^th  •  7-8:30 P.M.

United Baptist Church, 213 South Main St.

 

Learn how the Welsh helped shape West Scranton with author Barbara Taylor and ambassador of Welsh culture Beth Landmesser, plus Kitty Purosky giving a glimpse of how Christmas was experienced by children in Wales. Tea and Welsh cookies will be served.

 

The tree lighting and tea and cookie events are sponsored by the Scranton Neighborhood Pocket Park Collaborative, an initiative funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council that supports community dialogue and planning, leading to the use of a neighborhood pocket park as a host site for public events and humanities programs.

 

The Lackawanna County Library System is one of six area non-profit organizations participating in the effort under the leadership of the Scranton Area Foundation.

 

 

Staff Selections for Readers of Every Age

 

Books make great Christmas gifts and who better to recommend books to buy than Lackawanna County librarians? We asked staff members from all ten libraries in the System to tell us what books they will be giving this year and we’re happy to share their selections with you.

 

When you’re in the market for gift books, look no further than Library Express on the upper level at Steamtown Mall. Library Express is not only a library, it’s a bookstore, too – Scranton’s only bookstore, in fact.

 

So start your shopping by checking out the books Lackawanna County librarians will be giving this year. There’s something here for every reader on your list.

 

Fiction

 

Non-Fiction

 

Children’s Books

 

 

This Year’s Great Reading

It’s book list time, that end of the year period when critics, literary journals and websites publish what they believe to be the best or most significant books of the year. The editors of the New York Times Book Review call theirs the “100 Notable Books.”

 

Click here to see that list and find out if it agrees with your reading list for 2014.