Tag Archives: Digital Collections

New Year New Language?

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Have you ever made it your New Year’s Resolution to learn a new language? I speak 3 languages: 2 fluently (English and French) and one considerably less fluently (German). During the pandemic, I started work on a fourth language, but it was Klingon, and once the world started up again, it fell by the wayside.

Illustration of a Klingon bat'leth (weapon from Star Trek).

(For now: I have EVERY INTENTION of picking it back up again in the future. Is it useful? No. Is it suuuuuper fun to be able to say, “I’m learning Klingon?” HIja′!) Learning a language is hard. Learning a language as an adult is very hard.

Kids and grown ups learn in very different ways. Kids’ brains are like information sponges. Adult brains are more rigid: always trying to save energy by reusing what they already know. If we grew up here in Canada (which I didn’t but that’s beside the point for the moment), we probably learned French as a second (or third) language in school.  That’s important: we learned French as kids, and we probably stopped using it just as soon as we weren’t being forced to take it anymore.

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Top 10 of 2020: Overdrive and Hoopla

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kindleI know we left 2020 in the dust (not that 2021 is looking all that much better so far), but forget that for a minute—let’s look back at the top titles borrowed from Overdrive and Hoopla in the past year, and see what kinds of trends have emerged in these, dare I say, unprecedented times.  

As the outside world closed up, forcing us all to turn inwards, what sort of activities did you find yourself doing? If you found yourself reading a ton more than normal, you’re in good company (conversely, if you found yourself unable to concentrate on books, you are also in good company). While plenty of people found themselves in a reading rut thanks to the existential crises caused by COVID, the general trend of reading during lockdown actually increased overall. A study out of the UK reported an almost doubled rate in reading, from 3.5 hours a week to a reported six. From the same study, “A third said they read more printed books, 18% consumed more e-books, and 9% listened to more audiobooks”. A third of people reading more paper books in a single year is nothing to sneeze at.  

But stats like this are actually not surprising; there is historical precedence for this kind of thing. An industry analyst for NDP (a market research firm) notes that historically, book sales are resistant to economic downturn; even the Great Recession of 2008 saw a year-over-year increase in book sales. While on the surface this may come as a shock, it makes sense if you consider books for their personal value rather than just their financial cost. When the going gets rough, as it most certainly did in 2020, people often turn to books not just as a form of entertainment, but also for escapism, distraction, and for mental wellbeing.  

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Books for Your Zodiac Sign

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moon and birdsBook suggestions come in all sorts of ways. Maybe your friend read something that they couldn’t stop raving about, or maybe you follow various celebrity–led book clubs, or maybe you just like to browse the new and hottest books at your local library or bookstore. But have you ever considered a recommendation based on your zodiac sign? If you’re stuck for something to read in these times of lockdown, below is list compiled specifically to align with your astrological sun sign. Even if you think astrology is a bunch of hooey, it can still be fun! And of course, all recommendations are offered in digital formats! 

Since we’re currently in Taurus season, let’s kick the list off there.  

Recipe for a Perfect Wife book coverTaurus (April 20 – May 20) 

Recipe for a Perfect Wife – Karma Brown

The bull sign might be known for its stubbornness, but it’s got more going on than just that! A love for hands-on, earthly pleasures like cooking, gardening, romance, and a quality piece of clothing is also something a Taurus revels in. Recipe for a Perfect Wife is a parallel story of two wives in two vastly different times—the 1950s and now—who grapple with what it means to be a “perfect wife”. Connected by the older woman’s cookbook, modern woman Alice comes to know the truths lurking beneath a seemingly perfect life, and starts to reflect on her own. Tradition–loving Taurus will enjoy this exploration of conventionality through the ages—particularly the snippets of hilarious and absolutely horrifying “advice” for young women from the 19th and early 20th century that Brown prefaces her chapters with. And oh yeah—this book also comes with a bunch of recipes, some more questionable than others! 

Find it on: Overdrive│Hoopla

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