Staff Picks

Talking with Teens About Dementia

Books are one of the best ways to open the door on a topic and start a conversation with your teen about tough issues like a dementia diagnosis. While there are many books out there, below are some of our staff's recommendations to help get the conversation started for your family. For more on dementia, visit RichlandLibrary.com/Access.
Staff Picks

Talking with Children About Dementia

Books are one of the best ways to open the door on a topic and start a conversation with your children about tough issues like a dementia diagnosis. While there are many books out there, below are some of our staff's recommendations to help get the conversation started for your family. For more on dementia, visit RichlandLibrary.com/Access.
Blog
Richland Library Ballentine

What Can You Do In Ballentine's MakerSpace?!

What's most important, in my opinion, are the connections between people and their ideas that happen in these spaces. And that you are making a thing - something you can hold and be able to say, "I made this!

Staff Picks

Black Widows: Fictional Female Killers

Female serial killers, spree killers, vengeance killers - find them all in this list! Spoiler warning: in some of these books knowing that the killer is female may be a spoiler.  Proceed at your own risk.
Blog
Richland Library North Main

Coming Full Circle with Music

"Joining different people with different ideas and gifts to contribute is truly beautiful...."

Staff Picks

Celebrating Dorothea Benton Frank

Dorothea Benton Frank, beloved author of Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms, passed away on Monday, September 2 at the age of 67.  Celebrate the life of this South Carolina author by re-reading your favorite titles or checking her out for the first time.  
Staff Picks

Cli-Fi: Climate Change in Fiction

"Cli-fi" is a catch all term for fiction that in some way explores the consequences of climate change.  The Chicago Review of Books runs a monthly column, Burning Worlds, highlighting the best of these books.  Some are set in our present and some in our future; all address the impact of our climate on our stories.
Staff Picks

LibraryReads for September 2019

Each month, LibraryReads lists the top ten titles recommended by librarians across the country.  All these books will be published in September 2019, so stay ahead of the curve and get on the holds list now!
Staff Picks

New Historical Fiction

These are the must read historical fiction titles for 2019 (so far!)
Staff Picks

Pairs Nice with Pumpkin Spice

A little scary, a little cozy, a little back-to-school... these titles all have some quality that makes you want to grab your pumpkin spice latte or hot apple cider and curl up with a bowl of popcorn.  
Database

Enciclopedia Moderna

For high school students to adult. Enciclopedia Moderna is a Spanish language reference source perfect for both native Spanish speakers and students of the Spanish language.

Staff Picks

World Class Series

In a book slump?  Thinking about starting a new series?  Here are a few suggestions of the first book in a series, across all genres that will help you get the reading bug.
Database

MEDLINE

MEDLINE provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more.

Staff Picks

Dreaming of Autumn?

Ready for fall colors and temperatures? Get in the mood with these films set in autumn.
Staff Picks

Unquiet Minds: Mental Health Memoirs

Memoirs can offer a window into the lives of people experiencing mental illnesses and provide connection, representation, and information.  This list showcases a wide variety of diagnoses and experiences.
Staff Picks

The Art of Origami

Looking to learn the art of origami and don't know where to start. These items are sure to put you into a folding frenzy.  
Blog
Richland Library Blythewood

STEAM Ahead With Reading

I’m proposing a new acronym: STREAM – Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics.

Staff Picks

Lend Me Your Eyre

Are you a fan of Jane Eyre?  Do you want to be?  Check out these titles that are inspired by Charlotte Bronte's classic story.  And check out Jane Eyre too if you haven't already.
Staff Picks

Swoonworthy Single Parent Romances

Romances about single parents come with extra stakes - nobody wants a child to get attached to somebody and then be disappointed.  These books all feature a single mom or single dad working hard to raise a child alone and find lasting love.
Blog
Richland Library Main

Last Summer Hoorah!

Turn the page on the final days of summer with some great picks from Richland Library staff.

Blog
Richland Library Main

Ghosts of Photographers Past

Working with photograph archives I often feel the “presence” of the photographers who created the collection. It is as if they are watching to make sure I get it right.

Staff Picks

If You Loved Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch Try...

Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece The Goldfinch is an expertly crafted coming-of-age story full of everything an award winning book should have and more. It is emotional, gripping, and paced to match real life with an over-arching melancholy tone. The connection between art and humanity is one of the prominent themes, and Tartt's arresting language makes this book one that will stick with you for years to come. The audiobook is a work of art in and of itself, with the narrator David Pittu's Audie award-winning perfomance.
Staff Picks

Just One Word

Do books with one-word titles pique your curiosity? These authors chose a single word to represent hundreds of pages of storytelling.  If you've ever wondered what these titles mean, check them out and discover how a story can be distilled into just one word. 
Blog
Richland Library St. Andrews

Ask a Flower: Herbs

Come here for the answers to all your herb questions!

Staff Picks

Indigenous Arts: Books by Native American Authors

Decolonize your bookshelf with these books from Native American and Canadian First Nations authors.  From fantasy to memoir to young adult and graphic novels, these authors are writing rich and varied books for everyone.  You may notice that there are many recent titles - we are currently in the middle of a Native literary Renaissance, so expect to see even more great books from these perspectives!
Staff Picks

Wide Open Spaces: American Road Trip Books

Summer is almost over, but there's still time for a road trip!  Get some snacks you'd never buy anywhere but at a gas station, make a playlist, and set your cruise control for these books about traveling across our vast country by highway.
Staff Picks

Brave New World (of Business)

If you’re interested in recent trends in business, check out these new titles recently added to our collection.  Several consider how the world of work has been radically transformed.  Seasonal Associate is German novelist Heike Geissler’s account of her stint working at an Amazon fulfillment center in Leipzig.  Philadelphia journalist Emily Guendelsberger writes of her experiences at a series of similarly stressful stopgap jobs in
Staff Picks

Get to First Base: Sports Romances

Already love sports romances, or ready to dip your toe in the pool?  To play doubles, you'll need to really get your head (and heart) in the game.  Are you ready to make a forward pass?  Be careful - you might get thrown a curve ball, but you definitely miss 100% of the shots you don't take!
Blog
Richland Library Main

A Tribute to Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison was an inspiration. A bold, beautiful, strong, Black woman. A Nobel prize winning author extraordinaire, an empowered and outspoken literary icon, I always looked up to her in admiration. Here is a blog in remembrance.

Staff Picks

New in Science

Check out these titles recently added to our science collection.  The Weather Machine is the latest from Andrew Blum, author of the critically acclaimed Tubes, an exploration of the out-of-sight and (mostly) out-of-mind physical infrastructure of the Internet.  In his new book, Blum examines the history of weather forecasting and the rise of increasingly complex - and accurate - forecasting models built on huge amounts of data gathered from satell
Staff Picks

What's New in Biography

Check out these biographies and memoirs recently added to our collection.  The list includes the fourth memoir from award-winning British/Zimbabwean author Alexandra Fuller, Travel Light, Move Fast, about the death her father, which has been praised by one reviewer as a "gorgeously written tribute to a life well lived and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable loss and grief."
Blog
Richland Library Main

C. A. Johnson Online Yearbook Collection Grows

King Jeffcoat is a hero. This summer, thanks entirely to his efforts the Richland Library Local and Family History Center scanned and made freely available online C. A. Johnson High School yearbooks from 1950-1972.

Staff Picks

Batter Up! 🍰

Make the last days of summer even sweeter with these tasty cake recipes!
Staff Picks

Oh the Horror!

Can't get enough of that creepy crawly feeling?  Want to feel the hair rise on the back of your neck?  Check out these horror titles - some classics, some new and some short stories!
Staff Picks

Breathless Books

Check out these page-turning thrillers that start off with a bang and keep moving until the last page!
Blog
Richland Library Main

Hit 🔄 on Your Summer Reads

Before taking one last summer trip, don't forget to pack these suggested titles with you.

Staff Picks

LibraryReads for August 2019

Each month, LibraryReads lists the top ten titles recommended by librarians across the country.  All these books will be published in August 2019, so stay ahead of the curve and get on the holds list now!
Blog
Richland Library Main

Columbia during the Cold War

Historic images in the Local History collection illuminate Columbia during the Cold War era as marked by a mixture of fear that we might experience a nuclear disaster and optimism that we could survive one.

Staff Picks

Southern Cooking Makes You Good Looking

If there's one thing we know how to do here in the South, it's eat.  Anyone can eat, but you gotta learn to cook.  These are some of the best books to show you how.
Staff Picks

Magical Mystery Tour: Mysteries Blended with the Supernatural

Do you like your mystery with a supernatural twist?  The list of books below will appeal to readers who like mysteries and don't mind magic or ghostly goings-on, to fantasy readers that like a strong sense of suspense in their stories, and even romance readers who like their suspense mixed with the paranormal. Many of the books in this list are the first in the series, so there are plenty more books to be added to your TBR pile if any of these tickle your fancy!
Staff Picks

Read Like a Boss

Whether you're just starting your career or you're a seasoned pro, these books can help you improve your performance, productivity, and interpersonal skills at work.
Staff Picks

2019 Debut Authors

Looking to discover a new favorite author? Check out some of these must read books by 2019 debut authors. 
Staff Picks

How to Be Happy

How do you want to be happy?  Are you looking for the Australian "fair go", the Hawaiian "aloha", the Danish "hygge", the Finnish.... "pantsdrunk"?  Enjoy these books on the global search for happiness.
Staff Picks

Small Towns Big Quirks

Sometimes a Small Town can feel, well, too small, especially when it's filled with quirky and eccentric characters. Check out these novels that are small in place and big in character.
Staff Picks

Growing Up 80's

If you've finished the latest season of Stranger Things and you're full of nostalgia, check out these books about coming of age in the 1980's!
Blog
Richland Library North Main

So you want to read...Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler's Birthday was on June 22nd, so you may have been seeing her name on different blogs and news sites.

Staff Picks

Found in Translation: Great Literature from NYRB

American (and British) writers get so much coverage in book reviews that we occasionally need reminding that English-language authors don’t have a monopoly on talent.  New York Review Books, the publishing arm of the venerable New York Review of Books, has for years helped to address this imbalance by releasing great literature in translation by writers from around the world, some of them well known but many unjustly neglected/overlooked.
Staff Picks

Can't Get Enough of Stranger Things?

Are you suffering from Stranger Things binge withdrawal?  Do you need more of that weird, spooky goodness in your life?  Binge on these titles instead!
Blog
Richland Library St. Andrews

Open Mic Night (July 2019)

We celebrated big with nearly 100 people attending Rasheen Richardson's last Open Mic at St. Andrews.

Staff Picks

Beyond Lothlorien: Diverse Epic Fantasy

Do you miss Game of Thrones?  Love Lord of the Rings?  But also like reading books with diverse casts including people of color and LGBT+ characters that draw on a variety of cultural traditions?  This list is for you! "High" or "epic" fantasy, as opposed to "low" fantasy, tends to take place in a world other than our own.  It may involve epic quests, big stakes, and lots of magic.  Elves and dragons are permitted but not required!
Blog
Richland Library Main

Tea Obreht's Inland: A Book Review

Following nearly eight years after her New York Times bestselling hit The Tiger’s Wife, Tea Obreht’s new novel Inland is worth every bit of the wait.

Staff Picks

Tales from a Cold Climate

It is HOT outside.  My glasses fog up when I poke a toe out there.  My steering wheel isn't safe to touch without potholders.  I don't want to read books about people sweating at the beach - I want to read books about people dying of hypothermia in Antarctica!  Mountaineers!  Norwegian mysteries!  Russian folk magic!  Turkish delight!   Try one of these cold weather stories to cool off your brain, even if you can't really cool off your seat belt buckle.
Staff Picks

Water-wise Gardening

Love to garden, but hate high water bills? Check out these books on water-wise plants. And on Wednesday, July 10, come learn some tips on growing Heat & Drought Tolerant Plants from Richland County's Master Gardeners.
Staff Picks

"We Choose to Go to the Moon": The Apollo Legacy

With the fiftieth anniversary of the first moon landing coming up soon, on 20 July, read up on the storied Apollo space program in a variety of titles that consider it from every angle: the technological challenges, the personalities involved, the world political backdrop, and more.  Noted historian Douglas Brinkley's American Moonshot: John F.
Staff Picks

Self-Help Classics

Some things never go out of style.  The books on this list offer advice that has stood the test of decades (and in the case of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations millenia!)  Check out one of these perennial favorites.
Staff Picks

Feather Your Nest: Fiber Arts for the Home

Does your home need a little refresh?  Living room looking a little stale?  Bedroom too sterile?  Update your space yourself!  These books will help you knit, crochet, sew, and use other techniques to make your space shine.
Staff Picks

Adventures in Road Tripping

If you need some inspiration for your own summer travel plans, or if you want to take a journey without leaving the comfort of your favorite reading spot, check out these novels about road trips. Join characters as they learn more about themselves while they travel across America, throughout the world, and even across dimensions!
Staff Picks

Definitely Not Beach Reads

For most people, a "beach read" is an accessible, fast paced book that sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages while you're half-distracted by your vacation.  Some people, however, like to take a different kind of book with them to the beach - something they don't have the leisure to read the rest of the year.  Something thick, or dense, or gloomy, or antique, or... well, Russian.  This list is for those people - the ones who love hard books.
Staff Picks

22 Spike Lee Joints

For over 30 years Spike Lee has been entertaining and challenging us with his films. Take a look back over the accomplished career of our most prolific Black director from his first film She's Gotta Have it to his Oscar winning BlacKkKlansman.  
Blog
Richland Library St. Andrews

Ask a Flower: Tomato Edition

Are you a first time tomato-grower? Come here for answers to all your tomato questions!

Staff Picks

Celebrated and Annotated : Classic Literature

It's time to revisit the classics! Explore your old favorites with extra historical, social, and political context, and learn more about the story behind the story. 
Staff Picks

Summer Scare: Books That Will Make You Jump

Looking for something spooky, dark & twisted, or downright terrifying to read over summer break? Try these titles that will keep you up at night. 
Staff Picks

25 Good Books on Parenting

The oft' repeated woe of parenting is that children do not come with a training manual. There is never just one right way to raise a child. We parent according to our instincts and our personalities. A lot of books have been written on this subject. There is an information overload out there based on the different personal perspectives on parenting. Some people believe in helicopter parenting, others insist on French Style parenting. There are tiger moms and then there are the more lenient moms.
Staff Picks

It Wasn't Funny at the Time - Hilarious Memoirs

I'm not saying there's no tragedy in these memoirs - some of them have a lot of awful things in them.  I'm saying that whether they're sad or not, they're also full of laughs - just like life.  Enjoy some of these humorous memoirs!
Staff Picks

Under the Southern Cross: Australian Reads

Check out some of these books by authors from the land down under!  From suburban domestic thrillers to cattle station memoirs to explorations of indigenous culture, there's something for everybody in Australian literature.
Staff Picks

Books About Books

If you like books, you might like reading about books and others who love them.  Check out these titles that are sure to make you rethink your relationships with ink and paper.  Some are familiar and others are strange, but all will show how a love of books can shape a life.
Staff Picks

Shortlisted: 2019 Dublin Literary Awards

Every year, public libraries around the world are invited to nominate titles of high literary merit for the International Dublin Literary Awards. Submissions are narrowed down to ten for the shortlist. Check out the 2019 shortlist--including one of Richland Library’s nominees, Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie.
Staff Picks

Operation Overlord: D-Day Remembered, 75 Years On

On the 75th anniversary of the landing of the allied forces on Normandy's beaches, few US veterans of the invasion  survive to give first-hand accounts of what happened.  Fortunately, Richland Library has a large collection of books (including personal narratives) covering the invasion from many angles.  Among the more recent are best-selling historian Alex Kershaw's The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II and
Blog
Richland Library St. Andrews

Open Mic Night (Jun 2019)

Song and rhyme flowed at St. Andrews with over 15 performers taking the stage.

Staff Picks

Tokyo Thrillers: Japanese Suspense in Translation

We may be living in a golden age of literature in translation - a wider variety of books from more countries in more genres is available at your fingertips than ever before.  If reading books translated from another language is a unique way to immerse yourself in another culture, reading crime fiction is a way to sample the worst parts of another society from a safe distance.  Crime fiction is very popular in Japan and fortunately many major authors are getting great translations - check some of them out!
Staff Picks

In Their Own Words: Read by the Author

Did you know some of your favorite authors have narrated their own audio books? Check out one of these titles today to hear the story straight from the source. 
Staff Picks

Novels in Verse

Once upon a time, every book was also a poem.  Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Mahabharata, Beowulf - all our oldest stories are told in verse.  As prose took over printed books, stories told in verse became rarer.  It's hard to write a book of poetry that tells a story but is still great poetry; these novels for teens and adults do it well.  
Staff Picks

LibraryReads for June 2019

Each month, LibraryReads lists the top ten reads recommended by librarians across the country.  All these books will be published in May 2019, so stay ahead of the curve and get on the holds list now! Check out libraryreads.org for annotations from librarians and archives of past favorites.
Staff Picks

24 Films: A Cinematic Visa to Iran

Journey into the richness of Iranian cinema with this selection of films by renowned directors Abbas Kiarostami, Asghar Farhadi, Jafar Panahi and others. Encounter the humanity and traditions of people often considered abstractly and politically on newscasts accompanied by the frantic drumbeat of war. Several of these directors made acclaimed films set outside of Iran, their talent translating across cultural and political borders. 
Staff Picks

Race Matters

Are you ready to explore issues of race and racism in America? This list features a broad selection of titles related to race equity and inclusion.
Staff Picks

Teleport through historical fiction

Who says you can't teleport! Teleport back in time, following these independent women. Hurry to your local library or personal electronic device to check them out and see what you would do in their place! Ask your local librarian for even more suggestions.
Database

Fold3 Library Edition

Fold3 Library Edition's coverage includes public military records combined with first-person content like bios, photos and letters from all US wars and conflicts, and the following sp

Staff Picks

Circadian Rhythm - Single Day Books

Some books take place over weeks, months, even millenia (I'm looking at you, James Michener.)  Others are set in a far shorter period of time.  Enjoy this list of books, long or short, that take place over the course of a single day or less!
Staff Picks

Move over 1984 and Brave New World

Women who lead! Women are doing it for themselves!  Rush to your library before these titles disappear, like water bottles from the grocery store's shelves.   Ask your local librarian for even more suggestions.
Staff Picks

Ear Reading Favorites for Teens

Plug into these engaging titles for teens while walking, biking, or kicking back on the beach. 
Staff Picks

Haunted Houses

Moving can be difficult, but it's even worse when the former residents of your new home don't want to leave! Check out these chilling tales of haunted houses.
Staff Picks

Women VS Zombies VS Mad Scientists

Mind over movement   Tired of same old, same old in stories?  Want to mix things up? Then slide over to your local library or personal electronic device to check them out. Ask your local librarian for even more suggestions.   
Staff Picks

Books to Get You Pumped for Summer Reading

It's time to start building your summer reading list! Whether you'll be sitting poolside, beachside, or just anywhere with A/C, these books are sure to help beat the summer heat. Here are a few titles to look out for in the coming weeks to get you pumped up for Summer.