Book Bucket List | Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich

I love October.  It's the beginning of fall, it's finally cooling off, and we have the holidays coming up.  This year, the county wide reading program, One Book One San Joaquin is also in October!  This year we are featuring the Gothic classic, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.  For kids, we are promoting an awesome picture book by Adam Rex called Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich.  There are many stories and poems in this book and the art is pretty amazing.  This book has been flying off our shelves here in Manteca and will also be the theme to many craft programs throughout the county.

If you want to get in the spirit of Halloween and celebrate this creative book, join us at one of our Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich programs!

Friday, October 10 at 3:30 pm - Cesar Chavez Central Library

Tuesday, October 14 at 4:00 pm - Manteca Branch Library

Thursday, October 16 at 4:00 pm - Tracy Branch Library

Monday, October 27 at 6:30 pm - Mountain House Branch Library

So come to your local branch and check out your copy of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich.  Also check out our website for more One Book, One San Joaquin program information!

Book Bucket List | Classic Read-a-likes

Authors steal.  All the time, but it's impossible not to be influenced by someone whose books you've loved or hated, depending. I was reading an article recently about contemporary novels that are modern retellings of classic works.  I thought it was a really interesting article as a lot of the time when I'm reading, I think "Oh this is a lot like this or that book." So I'm going to share a couple of the pairings they presented that highlight some of titles I'm actually interested in adding to my bucket list.

The first comparison is between Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence and Francesca Segal's The Innocents.  Both books follow the scandals of upper class and privileged families that deal with the fall out and consequences of their character's actions.  In The Innocents, Ellie is kicked out of college for her after hours activities. She then captures the hearts of more innocent men not quite ready for the force of nature that is Ellie.  This book is an homage to Wharton's classic, where in the world of fancy balls and high society in New York the nonconformist Ellen, a Countess, turns everything upside down.

 

Another book that takes inspiration from a classic is Laurie Sheck's A Monster's Notes. This book reimagines Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which is the book we're featuring for this year's One Book, One San Joaquin by the way, and looks at what Shelley's life would have been like if she would have actually met the monster in real life.  This is a perfect book to read in conjunction with the original classic.

So there's two options for retelling I'm going to add to my list.  I'm especially excited to read The Innocents, because who doesn't love a good family scandal?

Book Bucket List | Vote for the Book!

 

This year for One Book, One San Joaquin 2014, we will be doing things a little differently.  We are leaving it up to our community to choose the featured book! In addition, we are moving this community wide program to October. Just click the image below or this link here.

The three titles up for the vote are Dracula by Bram Stoker, Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

We will announce the winner at the end of January, and then start planning programs and events based on the winning book! So keep an eye out for One Book, One San Joaquin updates as we announce the winner!