It’s that time again: the new year. That means new goals, new resolutions, a new you. As you dust off those sneakers and that yoga mat, envisioning this new healthier, fitter, more powerful (insert your own adjective) version of you, don’t forget to revamp your reading goals, too.

Each new year Goodreads asks members to pledge their annual Reading Challenge, the number of books they intend to read in the upcoming year. Whether you’re a Goodreads member or not, what are your reading goals for this year? Will you strive for a reasonable 12, just one book a month? Or will you take on a larger challenge and go for one a week, 52 book in a year?

To help get you started, here are some unique challenges designed to guide you through your 2019 reading journey:

• Keep it simple with an A-to-Z Challenge: Read a book whose title or author starts with every letter of the alphabet. For example: A – The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho or The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. With 26 letters, this challenge will give you two weeks per book.
• Regularly read mysteries? Think outside of your go-to genre by reading An Assortment of Genres this year.
• Don’t care to branch out? Then try setting a number and reading new books within your favorite genre or your favorite topic. Start with these lists of Mysteries/True Crime titles, of books about Global Issues, of Non-Fiction titles, or Banned Books and add in your own.
• Pack your suitcase and read a book from every country around the world. Or, try reading a book from each state in the U.S.!
• Lastly, for those serious readers, try a list designed to make you hunt for a variety of books, including some very specific qualifiers, like you’ll find in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge or the 2019 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge.

No matter what kind of reading challenge you set for yourself this year, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is here to support you. If or when all those other resolutions fall away, we’ll be here to settle you in on the couch with a good book. Happy new year!

Dana Eure, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's acting library director, made a guest appearance on WCNC's "Charlotte Today" on Jan. 10, 2019, and shared six cozy books to read this wintry season. 

Adult fiction

Northern Lights

Lunacy is Nate Burke's last chance. As a Baltimore cop, he watched his partner die -- and the guilt still haunts him. Maybe serving as chief of police in this tiny, remote town, where darkness falls by midafternoon and temperatures plunge to zero and below, will bring some kind of solace. It isn't as if he had anywhere else to go.

Blackberry Winter

From the New York Times bestselling author of Always and The Violets of March comes an emotional story of a dreadful storm, a missing child cold case, and a determined reporter who just may have a stronger connection with the past than she realizes. 

Seattle, 1933. Single mother Vera Ray kisses her three-year-old son goodnight and departs to work the night shift at a local hotel. She emerges to discover that a May Day snow has blanketed the city, and that her son has vanished. Outside, she finds his beloved teddy bear lying facedown on an icy street, the snow covering up any trace of his tracks--or the perpetrator's.

Seattle, 2010. Seattle Herald reporter Claire Aldridge, assigned to cover the May 1 "blackberry winter" storm and its twin, learns of the unsolved abduction and vows to unearth the truth. In the process, she finds that she and Vera may be linked in unexpected ways.

Sarah Jio burst onto the fiction scene with two sensational novels-- The Violets of March and The Bungalow . With Blackberry Winter-- taking its title from a late-season, cold-weather phenomenon--Jio continues her rich exploration of the ways personal connections can transcend the boundaries of time.

Adult nonfiction

Making Winter: A Hygge-inspired Guide For Surviving The Winter Months

Want to survive those dark and freezing winter months? The Danish do it with hygge--a concept that's all about coziness, simple pleasures, and the company of loved ones. Embrace this warmhearted philosophy with these 25 creative crafts and recipes, which range from gorgeous trinkets to snuggly woolens and tasty treats. You don't have to be an expert with a crochet hook or a whiz in the kitchen to complete the projects, which include easy-to-follow instructions and photographs. Make vintage ornaments, bake plum and orange blondies, crochet boot cuffs, and more--and you'll feel hygge warming you no matter how cold it is outside

Teen fiction

Snow Like Ashes

Orphaned Meira, a fierce chakram-wielding warrior from the Kingdom of Winter, must struggle to free her people from the tyranny of an opposing kingdom while also protecting her own destiny.

Picture book

Lost and Found

While trying his best to help a penguin that has shown up at his door, a boy journeys all the way to the South Pole, only to realize that the penguin was never lost.

Samson in the Snow

When friendly giant mammoth Samson falls asleep and wakes up in the middle of a blizzard, he finds and shelters a little red bird and a flower-loving mouse, beginning new friendships for all.

Stay warm and cozy this winter! 

They say never judge a book by its movie, and, of course, we never would, but it’s still fun to see our favorite stories and characters translated to the big screen. The new year will bring many movie adaptations of popular books to the screen.

Check out the originals from Charlotte Mecklenburg Library before you head to the theater!

Time to revisit the classics. The film version of Richard Wright’s Native Son hits the screen in January, while in December moviegoers can enjoy Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Jack London’s The Call of the Wild. Modern classics like Pet Sematary by Stephen King, Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt will also shine on screen in 2019. A few classics are also finding their time to shine as TV series, including Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and The Watchmen by Alan Moore. We have the authors’ original tales available in all formats--traditional print, audio CD, e-book and digital audio.

Prefer some hair-raising suspense? This fall, Amy Adams stars in the movie based on A. J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window, while Helen Mirren will lead the cast of an adaptation of Nicholas Searle’s The Good Liar. Three Seconds by Anders Roslund and Borg Hellstrom is the basis of this spring’s thriller The Informer.

If you enjoy World War II historical fiction, this spring check out The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook before Keira Knightley stars in its big-screen adaptation or C. S. Forester’s The Good Shepherd, whose movie will feature actor/author Tom Hanks.

Dramedy more your type? Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project and Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette are also coming to theaters this spring.

Fans of young adult literature will surely spend plenty of time at the movies this spring with the release of film adaptations of Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott, The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon and All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. The movie Chaos Walking is based on Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go.

For younger readers, check out the story of The Sword in the Stone before the January release of The Kid Who Would Be King. In February, favorite children’s series How to Train Your Dragon will debut another title – The Hidden World. Fans of Artemis Fowl can catch up on the book series before the movie version hits theaters in summer 2019.

Just don’t be one of those people who says, “I saw the movie but didn’t read the book.”

PRESENTED BY   

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM      

                                                               

Be part of a big, exciting, community-wide book club, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s annual Community Read. We’ve selected books for every age group, and there are plenty of ways to participate.



1. Join the biggest book club in town.

We’re more than a great community. We’re a book club. And with a book selection for every age group, everyone is invited to join in the fun. This year, the signature title for the program, which takes place in March 2019, is The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. The companion titles for younger readers are Wishtree by Katherine Applegate and Love by Matt de la Peña. Join your library and your community! Take the pledge and start reading.

Adults and Teens: The Hate U Give  by Angie Thomas

Preteens: Wishtree by Katherine Applegate

Children: Love by Matt de la Peña

2. Join a conversation or two.

There are also a lot of conversations taking place around The Hate U Give and its relevant themes. Join a conversation, use your voice and help change the narrative of our community.

3. Be a partner

Host your own Community Read program. Start a book club, family story time program, be a guest speaker or volunteer at your local school. More importantly, what type of impact can you make in our community? How can your voice be heard? Share your work by using our Community Read Partner Event form.

4. Read the books, then meet the authors!

Save the date for these two amazing author events happening during Community Read in March 2019. Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give, will appear in Charlotte on March 19. Matt de la Peña, author of Love, will visit ImaginOn on March 28. Tickets are free but limited. Stay tuned for more details and ticket information.

5. Spend time with your neighbors at a local program.

Community Read is so much more than reading the books – we hope you will visit your local branch to participate in a program too. With Community Read themed story times, book discussions and programs, there is sure to be something your whole family can experience! More so, the Library welcomes all of our community members to use the Community Read program as an opportunity to come together to discuss issues, seek understanding and create innovative solutions to community challenges beyond the program! Check out the calendar for all Community Read programs and events.

Read together. Share together. Be part of your community.

Invite your friends and family to participate. Make new friends. Join book club discussions hosted around our community. Visit cmlibrary.org to learn more.

To better serve its customers, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library introduced new changes to its DVD circulation policy. As of Jan. 14, 2019, the following changes have taken effect:

• Customers can borrow most items for three weeks

• Customers can borrow new release and fiction DVDs for seven days 

• Customers can renew most items up to three times (instead of two)

Click here to search our extensive DVD collection.

There are three categories of DVDs: 

1)  Rentals - are new films containing the green labels and are available on the shelf at various locations. 

• Can be borrowed for up to seven days
• $2 fee to check out
• Late fee assessed is 25 cents per day
• 10 DVDs maximum checkout allowed
   

2)  Fiction - (Adult and Children’s items)

• Can be borrowed for up to seven days
• Late fee assessed is 25 cents per day
• 10 DVDs maximum check out allowed
• Can be renewed up to three times
   

​3)  Non Fiction DVDs 

• Can be borrowed for three weeks (same as before)
• Late fee assessed will be 25 cents per day
• 10 DVDs maximum check out allowed
• Can be renewed up to three times 

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library now offers cardholders professional attire and accessories to check out for job interviews or important meetings through its STARS for Success program through the Job Help Center at Main Library. The rental items include dress shirts, padfolios, neckties and scarves, and are available for a one-week checkout period with an opportunity to renew the checkout for another week. Returns can be made to any Library location.

“The Library is proud of its long history in helping our community find successful, meaningful careers,” said Seth Ervin, chief innovation officer for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. “We’re constantly looking at ways to improve lives and build a stronger community, and we see this as filling a need for our cardholders. We’re happy to make these items available.”

“A lot of people come in to the Job Help Center with questions about their resume and cover letter,” said De’Trice Fox, a librarian at Main Library. “We continue to help customers improve those items, but now we’re excited to also help nail the first-impression with free professional clothes and accessories to go along with their dynamite resumes.”

Uptown’s AJ’s Dry Cleaners has partnered with the Library to dry clean every piece after use at a subsidized rate. This allows each item to benefit more members of the community in finding jobs. A similar program exists at ImaginOn: The Joe and Joan Martin Center for teen job-seekers.

For more information about job help programs and resources, visit cmlibrary.org/services/job-help.

As February nears and as store shelves overflow with hearts and pink-hued stuffed animals, we can't help but feel the love for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. 

With 20 locations across Mecklenburg County, there's a lot to love about the Library. We asked our staff to share their favorites, and we've included a sample here.

But that can't be enough, of course. Throughout February, we'd love to see your favorite place at the Library! Share a picture on your favorite social media platform of your favorite spot at the Library, tag @cmlibrary and use #CMLFavoritePlace. Also, send us pictures of your favorite spot to [email protected].

We'll share a selection of photos on our own social media platforms to spread the love. 

So, where's your favorite place at the Library?

My favorite place in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is the Welcome Desk at ImaginOn: The Joe and Joan Martin Center. Every day, I’m able to greet and inform customers of the magic of ImaginOn. More importantly, I get to meet families, visitors, parents and children of all ages. By far the most rewarding part of my job is when a customer comes back to say “thank you” for the warm welcome and/or tour of the building.  Several years back, I had a parent say the reason her children enjoy coming to ImaginOn is because of me. How can this not be my        favorite place in the whole world?!

-Frank Mendoza, ImaginOn                                                                                                  

My favorite place at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is near the fireplace at the Matthews Library, snuggled up reading a good mystery!

- Kim Arlia, Main Library

 My favorite place in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is the Robinson-Spangler North Carolina Room’s archival vault because it holds all sorts of cool historical treasure. I love learning about Charlotte’s history through unique artifacts, diaries, love letters and photographs.

-Sydney Vaile, Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room

My favorite place in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is hanging out at the Scaleybark Library during special holidays. The family programs offered are a blast and make library visits extra special. #CMLFavoritePlace

Beatriz Guevara, Scaleybark Library

My favorite place in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is ImaginOn: The Joe and Joan Martin Center. I've loved watching my daughter fall in love with books and with theatre in a city that cares enough about children to build a palace for both, just for them.

-Melanie Baron, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation

 My favorite place in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is performing outreach storytimes on air at Seacrest Studios inside the Levine Children’s Hospital. Young children and their families listen and watch from their hospital rooms as I read stories and sing songs. I love bringing the Library out into our community!

-Lonna Vines, Hickory Grove Library

  Our favorite place in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is the Mecklenburg Room inside the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room at Main Library. The wood paneling is remarkable, and the access to historical information is unbeatable!

-Teleia White and Jenni Gaisbauer, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation

My favorite place in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is definitely sitting in the storytellers chair in the Spangler Library at ImaginOn: The Joe and Joan Martin Center during family storytime! This is the place where I have a front-row seat watching stories come to life in the eyes of our youngest customers!

-Cynthia McDonald, ImaginOn

My favorite place at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is the front entrance of Main Library. I always read the quotes on the columns, even though I pass by them nearly every day, and any front entrance of a library always tempts me to enter.

-Karen Beach, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation

My favorite place in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is my monthly armchair travel presentation with the Outreach team at Huntersville Oaks. I love “travelling” the world wth my favorite seniors for outreach!

- Darcey Mesaris, North County Regional Library

My favorite place at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is at the checkout!  I can't wait to start reading or watching my materials. 

- Ann Stawski, Main Library

My favorite place in Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is the puppet closet in the offices of Spangler Library at ImaginOn: The Joe and Joan Martin Center. It’s where we house a collection of not only our fabulous puppets but our favorite storytime books, flannel board kits, silly costumes and weird props, and it’s where we hunker down to plan every single one of our programs. Walking into this room always reminds me of how creative and magical my job is.

-Becca Worthington, ImaginOn

Full-court fever is indigenous to North Carolina, but it’s especially strong this winter as we welcome the NBA All-Star Game to our Hive Feb. 15 through Feb. 17. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library can help you prepare to cheer on Kemba Walker as he represents your hometown Hornets with books that cover everything from the history and rules of the game to today’s hottest hoopsters. Check out RBDigital for access to back issues of Slam, and the latest player news in ESPN the Magazine. And teens, join us at ImaginOn: The Joe and Joan Martin Center on Feb. 7 for our NBA Jam Tournament!

Here’s a jam-packed list of All-Star materials to get you in the game.

For adults

• Challenge your friends to find out who knows the rules and penalties the best with NBA Rules Quiz Book by Wayne Wheelwright. 
• Basketball: A Love Story by Jackie MacMullen is a new book that documents hundreds of basketball legends, including Steph Curry, Dr. J, Phil Jackson, Cheryl Miller and Lisa Leslie, talking about their passion for the game.
• Rise and Fire: The Origins, Science, and Evolution of the Jump Shot—And How It Transformed Basketball Forever by Shawn Fury is part history book, tracing the history of the game from dirt courts of the 1930s to state-of-the-art NBA floors, and part memoir, featuring interviews with some of the game’s greatest shooters, including Jerry West and Denise Long.
• Chasing Perfection: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the High-Stakes Game of Creating an NBA Champion by Andy Glockner is everything you want to know about the data analysis and theory that go into building a winning NBA team.

Celebrating Carolina’s own

• The Boy Who Never Gave Up: Stephen Curry by Anthony Curcio is a picture book biography of Charlotte’s own Golden State Warrior.
• Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry by Marcus Thompson is a biography for adults, written by a Warriors reporter who focuses on Curry’s work ethic and intensity.
• In Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream by Roslyn Jordan, Michael’s mother and sister team up to tell children the story of his hard work and dedication.
• There Is No Next: NBA Legends on the Legacy of Michael Jordan by Sam Smith is an oral history featuring interviews with the icons, including Phil Jackson, Reggie Miller and Karl Malone, who coached, competed against and played with Michael.
• Michael Jordan in His Own Words by Geoffrey Giuliano is more than just “his own words,” because the audiobook includes interviews with Scottie Pippin, President Bill Clinton, David Stern and more.
• In In the Land of Giants: My Life in Basketball, Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues tells the story of all 5 feet, 3 inches of himself making it to the NBA.
• Resilience: Faith, Focus, Triumph by Alonzo Mourning details the faith, focus and determination that have carried him through life. (Yes, he spent most of his career with the Miami Heat, but the Hornets drafted him to the NBA, so we can take a little credit for his success!)

Picture books

• H.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination by Christopher Myers is a fun look at two friends competing against each other with one crazy shot after the other.
• Dickie V’s ABCs and 1-2-3s: A Great Start for Young Superstars by Dick Vitale is nothing short of “Awesome Baby!”
• Join the crowd at “Mastadon Square Garden” for an entertaining game of Dino-Basketball by Lisa Wheeler.
• George learns kids can overcome obstacles and achieve their goals in Curious George Joins the Team by Cynthia Platt.
• Swish! by Bill Martin offers high-energy rhymes in a fast-paced story of a girls’ championship basketball game.

Fiction and nonfiction for children

• Basketball Belles: How Two Teams and One Scrappy Player Put Women’s Hoops on the Map by Sue Macy tells the story of the first-ever intercollegiate women’s basketball game, when Stanford took on the University of California at Berkeley in 1896.
• In Hoop Genius: How a Desperate Teacher and a Rowdy Gym Class Invented Basketball by John Coy we learn how James Naismith invented the game in 1891.
• Basketball’s Greatest Players by S.A. Kramer is for beginning readers and features 11 legends of the game.
• There’s no better way to get excited about physics than with Slam Dunk! Science Projects with Basketball by Robert Gardner.
• Elena Delle Donne, WNBA MVP, Olympic gold medalist and Global Ambassador for Special Olympics, writes the Hoops series to entertain young readers.
• Free Throw is a title from Jake Maddox’s sports series, in which young athletes find their inner strength through challenge and struggle.
• In Slam Dunk! by Sharon Robinson, the new kid in school works to raise money to start a basketball team at his Harlem middle school.
• Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, by Lisa Yee tells the story of a basketball prodigy’s struggles with academics and parental expectations.

Young adult basketball-themed fiction

• Chuck Bell’s upset about spending the summer with his grandparents but discovers a passion for basketball in Rebound by Kwame Alexander.
• Hooper by Geoff Herboch is the story of a Polish orphan whose talent for basketball should be his ticket for success in the U.S., but social dynamics complicate his path.
• Teens in Oakland, California, learn the benefits of dedication and teamwork in L.J. Alonge’s Blacktop series.
• Two basketball players with tragic pasts, one African-American and one Irish-American, find friendship in Boy 21 by Matthew Quick.

And, finally, to answer the question that’s been gnawing at you since you began reading this blog post, yes, we do have Space Jam on DVD.

See you on the court and in the Library.

P.S. We’ve compiled all these resources into one comprehensive list so you can easily keep track of your basketball books.

Celebrate Black History Month this February with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library by reading books and attending programs that highlight and celebrate black history and culture. This tradition dates back to 1926 and is celebrated in February because Fredrick Douglass, author and abolitionist, and Abraham Lincoln, the “Great Emancipator” and president, were both born in February. The Library has a wealth of information about Black History Month, but take a look below at some of our top picks.

One great book to share with children is the multi-award-winning The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud. In this story, a young girl named Hannah and her father use a coded quilt from her mother to find their way to freedom from slavery. One fun activity for families to do while reading this book is to encourage children to design quilt squares and attach them to a poster board to replicate a freedom quilt.

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor is the perfect book to share with second-graders and older children; this book also won the 1977 Newbery Medal. Set in the Great Depression, this book follows Cassie as she confronts racism. If you’re looking for more, this title is the sequel to Song of the Trees and is followed by two other books and a prequel.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone stars Justyce in this young adult fiction book. Justyce is a great student, on his way to an Ivy League college. After an incident involving the police, Justyce turns to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. However, after another incident with an off-duty officer, Justyce battles with himself and asks, “What would Martin do?” This is a powerful story and is a good way to start conversations with teens about race and violence.

Octavia E. Butler’s novel Kindred is the first science fiction novel written by an African-American woman. Dana is celebrating her birthday in California when she’s whisked away through time to antebellum Maryland. Through multiple time traveling trips, Dana soon learns she‘s meant to protect a young slaveholder because he’s the father of Dana’s great grandmother. This book gives the modern woman a glimpse into the horrors of the antebellum South and slavery. Kindred is great for both young adults and adults.

Along with vast amounts of fiction available to start conversations during Black History Month, the Library has numerous biographies to help readers learn more about African-American culture and history. Just search the catalog on our website. Be sure to check out our young adult and children’s booklist as well as a booklist that can inspire people of all ages.

For other options, visit Beatties Ford Road Regional Library and the LATIBAH Museum's exhibit of Door of No Return: Story of the Middle Passage. This event is free for families, but you must register online. Additionally, ImaginOn:The Joe and Joan Martin Center and West Boulevard will also offer programs for children to celebrate Black History Month.

This blog was written by Serena Guest, library collections associate, at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

Did you know that with your Charlotte Mecklenburg Library card you have access to over 30,000 independent movies and documentaries? Kanopy offers a multitude of titles for your viewing pleasure and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library customers can view up to 6 films per month. Learn more about Kanopy here.

Check out the top five titles Charlotte Mecklenburg Library users have viewed and enjoyed over the past month:

As They Made Us (2022) - Abigail (Dianna Agron), a divorced mother of two, who is struggling to balance the dynamic forces within her dysfunctional family as she attempts to cultivate new love. This movie is rated R.

A Promise (2013) - Alan Rickman stars in this simmering early 20^th- century love story about a triangle between an aging factory owner, his young bride (Rebecca Hall) and his handsome protégé. This movie is rated R.

Spencer (2021) The marriage of Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart) and Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) has long since grown cold. Though rumors of affairs and a divorce abound, peace is ordained for Christmas festivities at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate. But this year, things will be profoundly different. Spencer is the imagining of what might have happened during those few fateful days. This movie is rated R.

God’s Pocket (2014) - Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christina Hendricks star in this deliciously twisted comedy about life and death on the mean streets of Philadelphia. This movie is rated R.

Monster Be Good! (2012) - With Monster Be Good!, little ones are invited to lead some wily monsters into becoming more well-behaved happy creatures. This short kids movie is rated G and also available in Spanish and Hindi.

Happy viewing!