Library Books ATM

Contra Costa County Library in California is getting ATMs that dispense library books in four locations around the county, with the first in a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station. The machines hold from 270-400 books. Patrons select books from a list of genres, and the machine authenticates their library card and dispenses the chosen […]

Author Obit: William F. Buckley, Jr., 24 Nov. 1925 - 27 Feb. 2008

Conservative commentator, author and journalist (founder of National Review) Bill Buckley has died today at age 82 after suffering with diabetes and emphysema. Among his books are God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of ‘Academic Freedom’ (1951), McCarthy and His Enemies (1954, with L. Brent Bozell), spy novels featuring Blackford Oakes, Right Reason: A […]

Author Obit: Phyllis Whitney, 9 Sept. 1903 - 8 Feb. 2008

Phyllis Whitney, prolific writer of romantic suspense for adults and novels and mysteries for young adults, died yesterday at age 104 of pneumonia. Her last book, Amethyst Dreams (1997), set on Topsail Island, NC, was published when she was 94. She was just getting around to working on her autobiography.
Obituary in the NYT.
Whitney’s website.

Around the U.S. in Literature

The Columbia Spectator started a series on Thursday that will feature one book that “captures the essence” of each of the 50 United States. The first state is Alabama, and the book is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Check back each Thursday for a new state, new book.
Lots more lists of fiction set […]