Somerville Reads

"The Witches" Display 2016
September 12th 2016

The new display at the Somerville Public Library on Highland Ave, created by our one and only staff member, Thy, is now in our glass case for viewing. The display features books, movies and upcoming programming happening all surrounding the Somerville Reads 2016 book "The Witches" by Stacy Schiff.

Below are some pictures of the display:

 

Martian-Inspired Recipes
October 6th 2015
Remember Mark Watney in The Martian modifying the astronaut habitat to grow potatoes? Over at Quirk Books Danielle Mohlman has posted some potato recipes from various online sources. And if you're interested in food real-life astronauts would eat, Tara Ziegmont of Feels Like Home has instructions for making astronaut pudding. The post includes a video of an astronaut on the International Space Station demonstrating how he and his co-workers make dinner. Yum.
No Martians in the Martian
September 16th 2015
One noteworthy feature of The Martian is the absence of any, well, actual Martians. In many science fiction works set on Mars, most notably Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, the presence of an intelligent native species is a key plot element. And thanks to the work of Percival Lowell, whom I wrote about in yesterday's blog post, many credulous people believed that Mars was inhabited. And given that contact between different human cultures has often resulted in war, there was little reason... Read Post
Why Mars?
September 15th 2015
The selection of The Martian for Somerville Reads raises the question, "Why Mars?" No one would ever write a book called The Venusian or The Plutoniac. But the words "Martian" or "Mars"  command attention. And they long have. But why? What is it about this planet that has fascinated humanity for so long? A partial explanation is that Mars is distinctive-looking. The planets we can see without telescopes look like more or less white stars. Mars, on the other hand, is a striking reddish color.... Read Post
The Martian!
June 6th 2015
Our next book for Somerville Reads, our annual community one town/one book series of events, is the critically acclaimed best-seller The Martian, the story of an astronaut stranded on Mars and his struggle for survival. The Wall Street Journal called it "The best pure sci-fi novel in years." Kirkus Reviews praised it for being "sharp, funny and thrilling."  A film adaptation directed by Ridley Scott (the genius behind one of the best sci-fi films of all time) will be in theaters in November.... Read Post
Somerville Reads!
June 11th 2013
The Art Forger  by B. A. Shapiro  is our book for this year's Somerville Reads. Inspired by the 1990 Gardner Museum heist, the Art Forger is  the story of Claire Roth, a struggling young artist who makes a meager living painting reproductions. Her luck seemingly changes when an art dealer offers a very large fee and a one-woman show at a hip gallery in return for copying a painting that bears an unsettling resemblance to one of the missing Gardner works.  Is it authentic? And why is someone... Read Post