Story Tags

Happiness Project

A Clean Slate

Self Help in the New Year

Clear your mind and home, and act on your aspirations in the New Year. Try these bestselling self-help books by lifestyle professionals offering researched and tested methods in orderliness, time management, self-actualization and personal finance.  

American Panda by Gloria Chao

Real Reads

Teen Read Week 2018

Teen Read Week is a chance for teens to look back on their favorite books of the year and try something they don’t usually read.  The novels listed below were written in 2018 and cover a wide range of experiences within realistic fiction. Some are humorous, some are thrillers, some are romantic, but all are make for good reading. This year's Teen Read Week is Oct. 7-13, 2018 and the theme is "Its written in the stars".

The Arrangement by Ashley Warlick

Recipe for Fiction

Novels of Food and the Senses

A perusal of a list of the top 100 novels will inevitably yield a book with memorable food and or drink.  Sometimes there is even a clue as to what it is made of (sadly the butterbeer in the Harry Potter books lacks these details). A recipe or an experience well described can reveal something important about the main character or become a way for the reader to participate in the story.

Skeletons on the Zahara

True Survival

Non-Fiction Adventure

True-life adventure stories have made for popular reading for generations. The books listed below are retellings of bestselling firsthand accounts published in periodicals and books, months or days after the return home. Well researched, these newer works combine multiple firsthand experiences of survivors as well as rescuers wherever possible and make these much read stories even more accessible.

Fifty Shades of Grey

Guilt and Pleasure

Twists on Familiar Classics

Whether it’s a guilty pleasure or a great work, a well-told story of romance sought, found or lost is a joy to read repeatedly and, for some exceptional fans, to be imitated. For the month of love, revisit some enduring page-turners and tales they inspired (check out the movies as well). Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (1892)

Global Babies

A Difference Book List

Children, Tweens and Teens

In honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day/Week many will seek out opportunities to make their communities more inclusive. Some will give aid to the unseen. Some will make their feelings known through writing campaigns and protests. Others will learn more about those who are different from themselves. The following book list is in the spirit of inclusion through seeing and validating difference.

Thanking the Moon

Traditions and Tales of China

Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

On the fifteenth day of the Eighth Moon (October 15 in 2017) family members come together to honor the Moon Goddess, Chang E and enjoy an evening under the especially large Harvest Moon. Sharing poems and stories are a traditional activity of the holiday. The books listed below include beloved Chinese tales, stories of family, and books to help prepare for the day and evening of the seasonal event:

The First Chinese American

Golden Dreams Deferred

The Chinese American Experience

If you are looking for a new literary experience in Washington, D.C., drop by the DC Public Library table during this month’s "Talk Story" event hosted by the Chinese Community Church located at 500 I (Eye) Street, NW.

Be the Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story

Empowering Ourselves, Empowering Others

A "Build a Better World" Reading List

Summer is around the corner, and with it comes fun in the sun and the Library's 2017 Summer Reading Program, Build a Better World. All ages are invited to enjoy programs and, of course, the Library's wide selection of books, ebooks, and audiobooks. Below is a list of books for nearly every age with a message about the power of the individual to make a difference in the world.  

bookcover of thunder rose

Outlandish Women

Picture Book Tall Tales

Seen as a uniquely American brand of humor, tall tales are told in a straightforward manner as if to indicate the truthfulness of the account. Hyperbole and well-known American landmarks, like the creation of the Grand Canyon and western geysers in Dust Devil are also a common feature of the genre.

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