From all of us at the Los Angeles Public Library, at the Central Library, and the 72 branches, we are pleased to announce the best books of 2023 as selected by our staff, who volunteered their…
Over the centuries, various forms of expression have been banned or destroyed, and their creators have been censored, imprisoned, tortured, killed, exiled. At the present time, all types of libraries…
From all of us at the Los Angeles Public Library, at the Central Library, and the 72 branches, we are pleased to announce the best books of 2022 as selected by our staff, who volunteered their…
From all of us at the Los Angeles Public Library, at the Central Library, and the 72 branches, we are pleased to announce the best books of 2021 as selected by our staff, who volunteered their…
The novels and poetry of Charles Bukowski continue to have devoted, admiring fans, who can never get enough of his books. We have those books in hard copy, and there is a good representation in…
It is a good thing that the lives of children’s authors are not always reflected in the books they wrote. Some of the most enduring and well-loved of these books were written by people whose lives…
Other than indigenous peoples, we are a nation of immigrants, those who came by choice and those who came by force. As our country keeps growing and changing with new people arriving all the time…
As Women’s History Month ends, we would like to offer you a few e-books and e-audiobooks about intrepid, adventurous women who traveled for the sheer joy of doing something different, to escape from…
The TV serialization of two novels, Sharp Objects and Big Little Lies, has brought attention to a new crop of novels. They are edgy, psychological, thriller, suspense stories with distinct…
In retrospect, it is ironic that the fire took place when it did: April 29, 1986. On that day, progress was quietly continuing with plans for a renovation of the original Central Library and a new…
Dovey Johnson Roundtree was an African American civil rights leader and activist, an attorney and an ordained minister. Her life and contributions are not that well known. Born in 1914, she came of age in a time when African Americans could take nothing for granted about their personal safety, and...
Over the past few years Elena Ferrante has become very well known for her Neapolitan Novel Series, and for the recent television dramatization of the books, which LAPL owns: part one. Season two begins March 16 on HBO. She has written other novels which can be found here. In 2017 The Guardian...
This book is part of a series of books that document Mexican American baseball. They are photographic essays which include meticulously researched information. The focus is baseball, but the books are more than a history of the sport as organized and played by Mexican Americans. The text and photographs present a cultural history of prejudice...
This is the most recent cookbook from the Queen of Cake, Maida Heatter, which is a collection of her favorite recipes. In the introduction she writes about how determined a baker can be to get a recipe, and how much satisfaction there is in baking and giving desserts to others...
One year ago, on September 13, 2018, the Los Angeles Public Library celebrated Central@25. This event commemorated the 25th anniversary of the reopening of Central Library. The day of appreciation, celebration and honors was the idea of Christina Rice, Senior Librarian, LAPL Photo Collection. Preliminary planning began approximately six months...
Toni Morrison possessed and shared with us knowledge about ourselves, through the power of words.The work of the grande dame of Black American Literature has always commanded our attention. Great fiction writers create stories expressed through characters, plot and language that speak truth to all of us. Their work takes...
Even though this book was published more than 50 years ago, Lore Segal's autobiographical novel is a story about refugee children that still resonates today. When the United Kingdom took in over 10,000 children, mostly Jewish, from Germany, Austria and other east European countries, and placed them in the care of...
Street orphan Reseng is rescued by nuns, then adopted by Old Raccoon, the owner of a sensational private library. Being in possession of a library, or being a librarian for that matter, is not a measure of respectability, which is the case with Old Raccoon, whose friends are a strange...
Poetry is the most intense and concentrated form of writing, using words, metre, rhyme and format to express thoughts, feelings and stories that can be fact or fiction. Robin Coste Lewis, Los Angeles Poet Laureate, has used all of these characteristics of poetry to examine the artistic representation of black...
National Poetry Month is almost over, and today is Earth Day, so there is no better time to consider some of the thoughts and ideas of Wendell Berry. He is a gifted and prodigious writer of poetry, novels, short stories, and non-fiction. The Los Angeles Public Library's catalog lists numerous...
