Wanna See What Books the BPL Staff Recommends? Get Your Free Copy of our 2013 Books for All Seasons!

Each year, BPL staff review their favorite books from the previous year (or years) in a free guide called Books for All Seasons, which will be available free to you year-round. Well, as luck would have it, 2013's Books for All Seasons is hot off the press and ready for you now at any BPL location! Books for All Seasons includes recommendations for adults, teens, and children in both fiction and nonfiction. Each book is chosen by a staff or board member as one that they enjoyed reading in the previous year—not necessarily one that was published in the previous year.

This year’s edition includes so many good fiction titles, including the following:
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Kings Go Forth by (Birmingham author) Joe David Brown
The Reverend's Wife by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Summer gothic : a collection of Southern hauntings
The Sacred Place by Daniel Black
The Reverend's Wife by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Sanctuary Cove by Rochelle Alers

Nonfiction titles featured include the following:
Born to Rise : a story of children and teachers reaching their highest potential by Deborah Kenny
Both of Us: My Life with Farrah by Ryan O'Neal
Butterfly in the Typewriter: The Tragic Life of John Kennedy Toole and the Remarkable Story of A Confederacy of Dunces by Cory MacLauchlin
Open : An Autobiography by Andre Agassi
Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons by Tim Russert

For children and teens, staff reviewed titles such as Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantosand and Haunted Histories: Creepy Castles, Dark Dungeons, and Powerful Palaces by J. H. Everett and Marilyn Scott-Waters. These and many other reviews should appeal to readers of all ages and interests.

The Birmingham Public Library staff wants you to find the best books to read for the upcoming year and, with that in mind, we've published this free annual guide to take you, our library patrons, directly to great reads.

And guess where the Big Guy himself goes to find new books to read? That's right. Vulcan doesn't just stand up there on the mountain doing nothing all day. Check out what we caught him perusing...

            This picture of big Vulcan comes from our famous Archives Dept (and was  "doctored" by some BPL staffers).