Libraries Pushing Books for Holidays

Editor’s note: The NCSU Libraries’ public relations machine wins our admiration for the following non-traditional, if somewhat self-indulgent, media release.

As an intellectual hub of Wolfpack culture, the NCSU Libraries is proud that its core competencies include obsessively knowing the world of books and always looking for new ways to help the university community satisfy its insatiable curiosity.

In going about our appointed rounds, we have also made a lot of smart friends who are passionate and knowledgeable about good reads—and our friends want to share what they know.

So, in preparation for gift buying and leisure reading around all the upcoming holidays, the NCSU Libraries is releasing its second annual, community-sourced blog of book reviews and recommendations.

Want to know what Greg Volk (’03), the Emmy-winning writer for Discovery Channel’s Cash Cab, thinks is worth cracking open? Or what Dr. Michael Young, head of NC State’s Digital Games Research Initiative, recommends for old-fashioned print entertainment? Or what NC State foodie Dr. Sarah Ash is reading these days on our eating habits (or, better yet, which fictional private detective the nutrition professor avidly follows)?

“The Best Book I Read This Year” is the place to go.

The site contains brief book reviews by NC State students, faculty, university staff, Friends of the Library board members, and library employees. Some are best sellers, some are classics, some are completely quirky, but they are absolutely guaranteed to be the top of the pile for people like you who love books and the communities that they form.

And please, help us keep the list growing by submitting a favorite of your own at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/bestbook/reviews.