Haunted House Fiction: The Haunting of Hill House

Haunted House Fiction: The Haunting of Hill House September 18, 2017 Who doesn’t love a haunted house story? This fall, as we head towards Halloween, watch the blog for reviews of great spooky reads. The Haunting of Hill House is one of…

Haunted House Fiction: The House of the Seven Gables

Haunted House Fiction: The House of the Seven Gables October 1, 2017 As a former high school teacher who served up Nathaniel Hawthorne to juniors via The Scarlet Letter for many years, I have a love relationship with Hawthorne’s extensive and…

Ryan Darrow

Ryan Darrow, Branch Manager

Haunted House Fiction: Victorian Ghost Stories, An Oxford Anthology

Haunted House Fiction: Victorian Ghost Stories, An Oxford Anthology October 11, 2017 This book’s introduction illuminates the question:  What makes a Victorian ghost story Victorian?…

Haunted House Fiction: Carnton Plantation Ghost Stories

Haunted House Fiction: Carnton Plantation Ghost Stories October 29, 2017 Now, here’s a book that will challenge your historical perspective!   Be prepared to alter your…

Haunted House Fiction: The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton

Haunted House Fiction: The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton October 15, 2017 Avid readers love to stumble across a real gem of a book for reading several times over. One of my favorite…

Southern Festival of Books

Southern Festival of Books October 5, 2017 Have you picked out who you’re going to see at the Southern Festival of Books October 13-15? The festival is free and open to the public, and sessions take place at the Main Library and War Memorial Auditorium…

Take Me to the River

Take Me to the River May 31, 2018 If you want a straight-up, studio-jam experience of the legendary Memphis music scene, this DVD will not disappoint you and will leave you wanting more and more and more…

Halloween Hoopla Double Features

Halloween Hoopla Double Features October 23, 2017 NPL curated film pairings for a scary night in, all streaming on Hoopla!  Looking for some good horror movies to…

Flamenco, Flamenco

Flamenco, Flamenco March 29, 2018 Ah, here is something to be savored and enjoyed!  I make no bones about Flamenco’s being my favorite art form, but biases aside, this is a magnificent, gorgeous, jaw-dropping film by a master director, Carlos Saura…

Band Books

Band Books October 4, 2017 Last week, libraries nationwide celebrated Banned Books week. This week, Nashville Public Library uniquely celebrates BAND Books. In the past few years, we…

Weapons of Math Destruction

Weapons of Math Destruction October 2, 2017 You've heard of Big Data? This is how it works. Cathy O'Neil is a world class number shark. After a fancy education, she ended up at hedge…

Goodbye, Tom Petty

Goodbye, Tom Petty October 3, 2017 Tom Petty, composer of the soundtrack to a generation of baby boomers—and beyond—died yesterday. He played with the bands the Heartbreakers,…

2nd Wednesday Book Club's next book is Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

2nd Wednesday Book Club's next book is Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders October 11, 2017 The long awaited first novel from George Saunders--a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an…

NaNoWriMo#2: The Craft

NaNoWriMo#2: The Craft November 9, 2017 Welcome to Part #2 of my NaNoWriMo series. We are now nine days into NaNoWriMo, and at roughly 2,000 words a day, you should have written about 18,000 words. Are you keeping pace? Need help…