Vol. 37, No. 4
December 2007

LOOKING FOR A GOOD BOOK?

There are lots of ways to find books you would like to read.  Every other month you receive Talking Book Topics from the National Library Service, which lists all the books released since the last issue.  Talking Book Topics is available in large print, on cassette, on a diskette, or online at www.loc.gov/nls.  Braille books can be found in Braille Book Review, on a diskette, or online at the same address.  In addition, your librarians periodically send you lists of books produced at our library.   They are printed on yellow paper, and each bibliography contains 25 to 30 books produced in our studios here at the library or at our studios in Sun City or Mesa.  We also have additional subject bibliographies that you can request covering everything from action and adventure to World War II fiction. Some of our newer bibliographies are titled The Supernatural, Sea Adventures, and World War I Fiction.  We also have a short bibliography of books with a Christmas holiday theme.

Our collection is so large that we couldn’t possibly send you a list of every book we have available, but you can search online at www.lib.az.us/braille or call us to ask for a book by a favorite author or on a particular subject.   Our librarians are always ready to help you find books that you would like to read.  Sometimes they can locate books at other libraries for the visually impaired or determine that the book you just heard about is being recorded and will be available soon.

We are always curious about which books are most popular with our readers and at the end of the federal fiscal year we take time to determine what was borrowed most frequently over the past twelve months.  Four books by Zane Grey and three by William Johnstone were among the top books from October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007, indicating that westerns are still very popular with our readers.  The four by Zane Grey are Robbers’ Roost (RC 61810), The Westerners (RC 61887), The Ranger and Other Stories (RC 61692), and The Arizona Clan (RC 59829).  The Johnstone books include Ordeal of the Mountain Man (RC 62335), Valor of the Mountain Man (RC 62336), and Creed of the Mountain Man (RC 62334).  The other books on the most popular list are A Deadly Judgment: A Murder She Wrote Mystery by Donald Bain (RC 61107), Miracle by Danielle Steel (RC 60644), The Million Dollar Marriage by Eva Rutland (RC 61710), and The Moth by Catherine Cookson (RC 61560).  Two Arizona-produced books also made the list, Outlaw Mountain by J. A. Jance (AZC 2509) and Arizona Goes to War (AZC 2651).

We are also curious about the popularity of the books recorded here in Arizona.  In addition to the ones listed above, the most borrowed Arizona books included another by J. A. Jance, Skeleton Canyon (AZC 2337), and two by Tucson author Nancy Turner, These Is My Words (AZC 2519) and its sequel, Sarah’s Quilt (AZC 2850).  Incidentally, These is My Words has been chosen to be the 2008 OneBook Arizona book, so if you’d like to read it you should get your name on the list soon, since this book has been in very high demand for several years and the OneBook honor will make the demand even greater.  Other popular Arizona books from last year are the perennial favorite When We Went First Class (AZC 2440) by Ellen Williamson; Desert Honkytonk (AZC 2666) by Roger A. Bruns, the story of the Southwest’s most notorious variety house;  and Betty Webb’s Desert Wives (AZC 2611), a mystery novel set in the polygamous Arizona strip.

As a side note to information about locally produced books, we wanted you to know that Dining in Arizona: 101 Great Places to Eat 2006-2007 Edition (AZC 2889) was completed recently and is ready for your perusal.  There are bound to be some changes in the restaurant scene as time goes on, so this is better read sooner rather than later.

We wish you our best for the holiday season and happy reading for the New Year.

 

Director: Linda Montgomery and Editor Catherine Coughlin.

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