How do I love my local public library? Let me count the ways.

The great, smart, public spirited, hardworking people at the Monroe County Public Library aren't letting budget blues or holiday overload get them down -- instead they're keeping up great public service, like this online display of books by writers who will appear at the upcoming Key West Literary Seminar (spaces still open for the second session! free Sunday afternoon sessions both weekends!). My man Christopher, owner of the increasingly essential Voltaire Books, just stopped by and told me they have books by all the seminar writers -- what a great Christmas gift! And if that's not enough reason to love this library, here's another: Saturday is the season's first book sale in the Palm Garden. Woo hoo! Lord knows I don't need more books in my house but these are still irresistible bargains for any bibliophile (and you never know when you might find, say, a signed first edition Elizabeth Bishop in there). It has happened. As a weekday gal, it's also good to see these events back on Saturdays.

Heading north

In today's Miami Herald, my story about Dennis Lehane and his new book "The Given Day," a big historical epic which I strongly recommend. It's set in Boston in 1918-1919, leading up to the Boston Police strike -- lots of real people figure, including Babe Ruth, although the main characters are fictional. It's a big book, at 720 pages, but an absorbing read. And it gets you into the historical fiction groove, which I hope many people are already, with the upcoming Literary Seminar. Right now, I'm reading Gore Vidal's Burr, a book I read many years ago -- closer to 20 than 10, yikes! It's a great one, too, funny and surprising, all the stuff that made Vidal the man of letters we love (and fear). Sounds like he was on his game at the Book Fair last night; can't wait to hear what he has to say at the Key West Literary Seminar, on the eve of Obama's inauguration in January.

Tomorrow I'm heading up to the Book Fair, where I hope to see Lehane and many, many other writers -- because, gosh, I just don't have enough to read already.

catching up

I really have been reading a lot, or at least I was until we got cable and the Tour de France took over my waking, non-working hours. But I can see the end and the stack is piling up. I read Dominion by Calvin Baker, who will be appearing at the Key West Literary Seminar in January. It was a little outside my normal reading, which is the best kind (it's the reason I joined a book group years ago although that fell by the wayside when I was pursuing my master's). I read Women and Ghosts by Alison Lurie, a slim book of short stories that I think I might have read before, unless that was an effect of its eerieness. It reminded me how much I like her, and how much I need to read The Last Resort even though I have a strange fear of reading about places I know and love. (Haven't been able to make myself read Tracy Kidder's Hometown yet, either, about Northampton, Mass., where I was born.) I read Sacrifice by Eric Shanower, the second volume in his Age of Bronze series of graphic novels about the Trojan War -- it was as good as the first, though it does suffer from that effect of many of the guys looking the same; you can distinguish them by their headbands, though. Over the Fourth of July weekend, perhaps influenced by the reintroduction of cable television into my brain, I found myself craving brain candy so I read The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory (author of The Other Boleyn Girl and numerous other works of Tudor Trash). I gulped that down in a day and a half so maybe I'm not over my Tudor thing entirely; plus it was fun to hear from/about a couple of the lesser-known Henry VIII queens (Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard, or Nos 4 and 5 if you're counting). And just today I finished Dreaming Up America by Russell Banks, which I'll be reviewing for Solares Hill shortly. Whew.

Littoral Gets Critical (or Critical Gets Littoral)

Must be synchronicity -- or is that serendipity? -- but just a day after I point out how cool the National Book Critics Circle's blog Critical Mass is, they go and link to Littoral, the most excellent of local literary blogs (or national literary blogs for that matter). The specific item that caught their interest was Arlo Haskell's interview with Barry Unsworth, historical novelist and one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming Key West Literary Seminar. Since taking on this blog and making it his own, Arlo's really classing up the joint.

What to read ...

Wondering what to read this summer? The Monroe County public library has an idea; here's the press release sent along from Anne Layton Rice: What now? Is June eBook of the MonthBestselling author Ann Patchett offers an essay on hope and inspiration for graduates and anyone at a crossroads Based on her lauded commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College, this stirring essay by bestselling author Ann Patchett offers hope and inspiration for anyone at a crossroads, whether graduating, changing careers, or transitioning from one life stage to another. With wit and candor, Patchett tells her own story of attending college, graduating, and struggling with the inevitable question, What now? From student to line cook to teacher to waitress and eventually to award-winning author, Patchett's own life has taken many twists and turns that make her exploration genuine and resonant. As Patchett writes, "'What now?' represents our excitement and our future, the very vitality of life." Praised as “The best graduation present on the market…” by Publisher’s Weekly, What now? highlights the possibilities the unknown offers and reminds us that there is as much joy in the journey as there is in reaching the destination. Provided through the generous support of HarperCollins Publishers, What now? will be available to Monroe County Public Library patrons June 1-30. If you have already established a NetLibrary account through Monroe County Public Library Library, visit www.netLibrary.org and log in.  If you do not have a NetLibrary account, you can create an account from any Monroe County Public Library library computer.  Library hours and directions are available here: www.keyslibraries.org For more information, contact Anne Layton Rice at rice...@monroecounty-fl.gov

Other ideas should be on the air Sunday from 9 to 10 a.m. on U.S. 1 Radio (104.1 for local listeners, us1radio.com for those far away) when I, along with Kristina Neihouse and Christine Bell from the public library, will be on Cruisin with Grusin to talk about summer reading. I'll be talking about all the cool stuff you can get here at the college library -- anyone in the Keys can belong! -- as well as all the stuff to read before next year's Literary Seminar. So listen up.