Let Us Help You Find Your Perfect Match

Have you ever needed help finding a good book? MatchBook is here to help with that! The librarians at Sewickley Public Library have created this easy-to-use online form that you can use to get great reading recommendations. Librarians have been the go-to resource for finding reading material for ages. Now you can get help with your book list from the comfort of your own home.

Every time a form is filled out, one of our librarians will receive a notification. They will make 3 to 5 title recommendations based on the information that you entered. Users should expect a response within one week.  The service is available for all ages and can be accessed at www.sewickleylibrary.org/matchbook.

Please note that during the COVID-19 closure, librarians are unable to request physical items for patrons. All recommendations will be available in an online format (ebook or eaudiobook). 

Let Nostalgic Gaming Take You Back

You may be familiar with the Internet Archive – a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, music, and of course the Way Back Machine, which archives websites. But did you know it is also a treasure trove of free gaming software?

That’s right! The archive is home to a gigantic software library which hosts thousands of games. You may remember classics like The Oregon TrailPac-Man, and Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

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I Have a Dream…Remembering the Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech at the March on Washington calling for civic and economic rights and demanding an end to racism. A minister, activist and civil rights leader, King was a driving force in the Civil Rights Movement and an inspiration to a nation.

On January 20, 2020, we continue to celebrate the life and achievements of Martin Luther King, Jr. through his inspiring words, action and ultimate sacrifice.
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The Great American Read @ SPL

Have you heard about The Great American Read?  This eight-part series from PBS explores the power of reading through the viewpoints of America’s Top 100 books.  They examine writer’s perspectives, reader’s receptions, and what these books say about diversity our nation.  At the end of the series, the results from a nationwide survey will be announced of what book wins the title of America’s best-loved book. The aim of the campaign is to get the country reading and talking about books – something we do here every day at the Sewickley Public Library!

We thought it would be fun to have our community vote for their favorite book from the Top 100 list of titles from The Great American Read.  Find the voting station set up in the library’s lobby where you can vote for your favorite book! Will it be Little Women? The DaVinci Code? Gone Girl? War and Peace? Come help us decide by casting your ballot anytime throughout the summer.  Voting will be open through Saturday, August 4th.  We will announce the winner on Monday, August 6th!

You can find more information about The Great American Read on the PBS website.  Or jump straight to the list of all 100 titles.

Happy voting!

 

Celebrate Fat Tuesday!

Celebrate Fat Tuesday!

fattuesdaysplGet in the mood for Mardi Gras with these books and DVDs!

American Horror Story: Coven  (DVD)
The exceptional young witches at Miss Robichaux’s Academy are under assault by forces of ignorance and hate. Caught in the turmoil is new arrival, Zoe, who harbors a terrifying secret of her own. Fiona, a Supreme Witch with unimaginable powers, is determined to protect the Coven, but her obsessive quest for immortality will lead her to cross paths with a formidable voodoo queen and a murderous slave owner cursed with eternal life.

Fat Tuesday By Brown, Sandra (Print Book)
It’s Mardi Gras week in the French Quarter, a perfect time for narcotics cop Burke Basile to avenge the acquittal of his partner’s murderer by kidnapping the defense attorney’s sheltered wife. So begins Sandra Brown’s riveting story of corruption in the Big Easy. As the crisis reaches a fevered pitch, the line between saint and sinner blurs. Who will find redemption as the clock ticks toward midnight on Fat Tuesday?

Keepsake crimes By Childs, Laura (eBook)
New Orleans scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand delights her customers with the sophisticated looks she achieves with their scrapbooks. But among her client’s keepsakes she finds a tip of her own-about a murder

Paper crafts for Mardi Gras By McGee, Randel (Print Book)
Dress up as a jester or a king or queen and lead a Mardi Gras parade! Follow storyteller Randel McGee as he explores the history and symbols of Mardi Gras in PAPER CRAFTS FOR MARDI GRAS. Create a Columbina mask, paper bead throw necklace, a gold doubloon necklace, a rhythm maker, and more!

Treme, the Complete First Season (DVD)
Amid the ruins of New Orleans, ordinary people–musicians, chefs, residents–find themselves clinging to a unique culture and wondering if the city that gave birth to that culture still has a future.

New Fiction Books – August 2015

Absolutely True Lies
Rachel Stuhler
F STU
Struggling writer Holly Gracin is on the verge of moving back home when she gets hired to write the memoir of eighteen-year-old Daisy Mae Dixson, a former child star who has moved into both blockbuster movies and pop music.

Architect's ApprenticeThe Architect’s Apprentice
Elif Shafak
F SHA
One of Turkey’s preeminent writers spins an epic tale set at the height of the Ottoman Empire and that is teeming with secrets, intrigue, and romance.

Aurora
Kim Stanley Robinson
F ROB
From a preeminent science fiction author, the compelling story of our first voyage beyond the solar system, to find a new home.

A Better Man
Leah McLaren
F MCL
What if the only way you could get out of your marriage was to become the perfect husband?

The Bones of You
Debbie Howells
F HOW
A psychological thriller that revolves around a young woman’s murder and another woman’s obsession with uncovering the secrets in an idyllic English village.

Charlie Martz and Other Stories: The Unpublished Stories
Elmore Leonard
F LEO
A collection of never-before-seen stories from the inimitable master of crime fiction.

China Rich Girlfriend
Kevin Kwan
F KWA
The author of Crazy Rich Asians, is back with another entertaining novel of social climbing, secret emails, and fashion world scandal.  A comedy of manners that takes readers on a tour through Asia’s most exclusive club of the extremely rich.

Circling the SunCircling the Sun
Paula McLain
F MCL
The  author of The Paris Wife now looks at a fearless and captivating woman—Beryl Markham, a record setting aviator in colonial Kenya and who, as Isak Dinesen, wrote the memoir, Out of Africa.

Death and Mr. Pickwick
Stephen Jarvis
F JAR
A Dickensian novel about the rough-and-tumble world that produced an author that defined an age.  For fans of Charles Dickens!

The Flicker Men
Ted Kosmatka
F KOS
“If Stephen Hawking and Stephen King wrote a novel together, you’d get The Flicker Men.” — Hugh Howey

French Concession
Xiao Bai
F XIA
An atmospheric tale of espionage and international intrigue set in Shanghai in 1931 — a decadent world of violence, and betrayal filled with femmes fatales, criminals, revolutionaries and spies.

House Rivals
Mike Lawson
F LAW
Joe DeMarco is a fixer for an influential congressman, but this time out he is traveling to North Dakota to protect a passionate but naïve twenty-two-year-old blogger who has been crusading against a billionaire oil tycoon.

Love Lies Beneath
Ellen Hopkins
F HOP
Once a widow, twice divorced, Tara is a woman with a past she prefers to keep to herself.  She is gorgeous, affluent and content living alone in her mansion in San Francisco, until she meets Calvin Lattimore.  But then…

The New Neighbor
Leah Stewart
F STE
How much can you really know about the woman next door?  Nice reviews!

The Other Daughter
Lauren Willig
F WIL
Finding out the circumstances of her birth, after her mother’s death, upends Rachel Woodley’s life and reveals that everything she thought she knew about herself is a lie.

A Paris Affair
Tatiana de Rosnay
F ROS
The author of Sarah’s Key presents a collection of short stories that explores forbidden loves in the City of Light.

A Place for Us
Harriet Evans
F EVA
As Martha Winter writes out the invitations to her eightieth birthday celebration, she knows that what she is planning to reveal at the party may ruin the idyllic life she and her husband have spent more than fifty years building.

Pretty Is
Maggie Mitchell
F MIT
A fiction debut in which two young women face what happened the summer they were twelve, when a handsome stranger abducted them.

Royal Wedding
Meg Cabot
F CAB
The author of the Princess Diaries series presents the very first adult installment which follows Princess Mia and her prince charming as they plan their fairy-tale wedding.  Will this fairy-tale have a happy ending?

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Natasha Pulley
F PUL
Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. Atmospheric!

White Crocodile
K.T. Medina
F MED
Tess Hardy thought she had put Luke firmly in her past.  Then he calls from Cambodia, where he’s working as a mine clearer, and there is fear in his voice. Two weeks later, he’s dead.  Against her better judgment, Tess is drawn to Cambodia and the killing fields.

The Woman Who Stole My Life
Marian Keyes
F KEY
Beautician Stella Sweeney is living an ordinary life when she falls very ill, falls in love, then falls into a glamorous new life in New York City. When her dream life is threatened, will she rally to reclaim love and happiness?

New DVDs – July 2015

New Feature-Length Films, Foreign Films, and Classics

5 flights up
American sniperas
Blaze
Cut Bank
The last metro
Druid peak
Ex machina
Focus
Get hard
Goonies
Jupiter ascending
Jurassic Park ultimate trilogy
Kill me three times
King of hearts
Last knights
Longest ride
Maggie
Mr. Turner
Paul Blart, mall cop 2
Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Seeds of yesterday
Shoot the piano player
Stand up guys
The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie
While we’re young
Woman in gold
Yesterday, today and tomorrow

New Television Series

Bitten
House of cards. The complete third season
Incredible journey of Mary Bryant
Mystery science theater 3000 XXXIII.
The office. Season four
Witches of East End. Season 2.

New Non-Fiction DVDs

History of Christian theology
Masters of photography: learn photography from 12 National Geographi masters.
Maya to Aztec: ancient Mesoamerica revealed.
Moms Mabley

New Fiction Books – July 2015

All the Single Ladies
Dorothea Benton Frank
F FRA
The popular author returns with another tale from the Lowcountry of South Carolina, where three unsuspecting women are brought together by tragedy and mystery.

delicious foodsDelicious Foods
James Hannaham
F HAN
Darlene, once an exemplary wife and a loving mother to her young son, Eddie, finds herself devastated by the unforeseen death of her husband. Unable to cope with her grief, she turns to drugs, and quickly forms an addiction. One day she disappears without a trace.  

The Fixer
Joseph Finder
F FIN
When former reporter Rick Hoffman loses his job, fiancée, and apartment, his only option is to move back into the decaying home of his miserable youth.  But during the renovation of the house he discovers something amazing hidden in the walls.

The Forgotten Room
Lincoln Child
F CHI
Professor Jeremy Logan, the “enigmalogist” who specializes in solving problems of the seemingly supernatural variety, receives an urgent summons from the director of Lux, one of the most respected think tanks in America.

The House of Hawthorne
Erika Robuck
F ROB
An intriguing glimpse into the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne and his talented and artistic wife, Sophia.

Invasion of Privacy
Christopher Reich
F REI
In a dangerous new age of high-tech surveillance, a young mother takes on a powerful internet magnate in a harrowing quest to learn the truth behind her FBI-agent husband’s death.

The Invasion of the Tearling
Erika Johansen
F JOH
In this sequel to the acclaimed The Queen of the Tearling, the evil kingdom of Mortmesne invades the Tearling, with dire consequence for Queen Kelsea and her realm.

Language Arts
Stephanie Kallos
F KAL
Charles Marlow teaches his English students that language will expand their worlds. But linguistic precision cannot help him connect with his autistic son, or with his ex-wife, or even with his college-bound daughter who has just flown the nest. He’s at the end of a road he’s traveled on autopilot for years.

The Little Paris Bookshop
Nina George
F GEO
Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary.  From his floating bookstore on a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life.

Love May Fail
Matthew Quick
F QUI
After Portia Kane escapes her ritzy Florida life and her cheating husband, she finds herself back in South Jersey, a place that remains largely unchanged from the years of her unhappy youth. Lost and alone, looking to find the goodness in the world she believes still exists, Portia sets off to save herself by saving someone else—a beloved high school English teacher who has retired after a traumatic incident.

The Meursault Investigation
Kamel Daoud
F DAO
A retelling of Albert Camus’s classic The Stranger, from an Algerian perspective.  The recipient of several international prizes.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry
Fredrik Backman
F FRE
From the author of A Man Called Ove, a warmhearted novel about a young girl whose grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters, sending her on a journey that brings to life the world of her grandmother’s fairy tales.

Pinnacle Event
Richard A. Clarke
F CLA
With the 2016 presidential election just weeks away, five simultaneous murders on three continents lead to an investigation revealing the recent black market sale of five nuclear weapons.  But who bought them? What is their intended target?

The Precipice
Paul Doiron
F DOI
When two female hikers disappear in the Hundred Mile Wilderness—the most remote stretch along the entire Appalachian Trail — Maine game warden Mike Bowditch joins the desperate search to find them.

Remember Me This Way
Sabine Durrant
F DUR
One year after her husband Zach’s death, Lizzie Carter is laying flowers on the site of his fatal accident.  But as she puts her flowers down at the roadside, she sees a bouquet of lilies. She isn’t the first to pay her respects… but who is Zenia?  A title that has been compared to Gone Girl.

The Sunken Cathedral
Kate Walbert
F WAL
A moving novel that follows a cast of characters as they negotiate one of Manhattan’s swiftly changing neighborhoods, extreme weather, and the perils of twenty-first century life.

Tin Men
Christopher Golden
F GOL
After political upheaval, economic collapse, and environmental disaster, the world has become a hotspot.  In this perpetual state of emergency, all that separates order from anarchy is the military might of a United States determined to keep peace among nations waging a free-for-all battle for survival and supremacy.

The Truth According to Us
Annie Barrows
F BAR
The author of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society  evokes the charm and eccentricity of small town , Macedonia, West Virginia through the life an inquisitive young girl, her beloved aunt, and the alluring visitor who changes the course of their destiny forever.

The Ultimatum
Dick Wolf
F WOL
When hacker Merritt Verlyn releases sensitive documents from the NYPD Intelligence Division to WikiLeaks, some of New York City’s deadliest criminals suddenly gain access to Detective Jeremy Fisk’s unlisted home address.

The Water Knife
Paolo Bacigalupi
F BAC
The American Southwest has been decimated by drought. Nevada and Arizona skirmish over dwindling shares of the Colorado River, while California watches, deciding if it should just take the whole river all for itself. Into the fray steps Las Vegas water knife Angel Velasquez.  Great reviews!

New DVDs – June 2015

New Feature-Length Films, Foreign Films, and Classics

Adventures of Priscilla, queen of the desert
American graffiti
Carlito’s way
Chappie
Clerks
Duff
Earth girls are easy
Focus
Forger
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
I love you to death
If there be thorns
Jupiter ascending
Kingsman, the secret service
Lazarus effect
McFarland, USA
Memento
Moulin Rouge
Of human bondage
Old fashioned
Project almanac
Relatos salvajes
Reservoir dogs
Run all night
Serena
SpongeBob movie, sponge out of water
Survivor
The French connection
Timbuktu
Unfinished business
Velvet goldmine
Wait until dark
Welcome to Me

New Television Series

Falling skies. Season 4
Graceland. The complete season 2
Justified. The complete final season (season 6)
The newsroom. The complete third season
Parks and recreation. Season seven
Pretty little liars. The complete fifth season
Ripper Street. Season three
Rizzoli & Isles. The complete fifth season
Teen wolf. Season 4
Transporter: the complete second season.
Two and a half men. The complete eleventh season
Two and a half men: the complete twelfth and final season
Workaholics. Season five.

New Non-Fiction DVDs

A midsummer night’s dream
Concerto inaugrale
Die Fledermaus
How Jesus became God
King Arthur: history and legend
Raising emotionally and socially healthy kids
Red army
The science of mindfulness: a research-based path to well-being
The skeptic’s guide to American history
The Wrecking Crew!
Through the wormhole. Season 5
Tosca
What remains