Category Archives: Literary Events

August 20: “TEXAS GREAT READ” BONUS BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION

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Please join us on Thursday, August 20 at 7:00 p.m. (Central) for our Texas Great Read book club discussion of SMALL TOWN AUTHOR by John R. Erickson (DBC 25548)

Every year, the Library of Congress asks each state Center for the Book to select a title that represents the state’s literary landscape to highlight at the National Book Festival. The event showcases the importance of books and reading. The festival is sponsored by the Library of Congress and takes place during Labor Day weekend in Washington, D.C.

In honor of this event, the Texas Talking Book Program will host a bonus book club meeting so that our patrons can participate in the Great Texas Read initiative. The Great Texas Read is an event sponsored by Texas Center for the Book.

Our book club discussions are held via Zoom, but you can join using just a telephone!

Participating is easy:

  • Use your landline to dial in via phone.
  • Use the “one-tap” number on your smartphone.
  • Alternatively, join via computer using the Zoom invitation we’ll send a week prior to the event.

To ensure you receive the necessary details, please RSVP in advance.

To RSVP, you can fill out our online registration form: Register Here.

Or if you prefer, reply to this email or call the Talking Book Program at 1-800-252-9605.

Please indicate if you would like us to mail you a digital cartridge of the book, or if you prefer to download it from BARD. Also, please let us know if you would like a reminder via email or phone-call (or both).

SMALL TOWN AUTHOR by John R. Erickson (DBC 25548)

NLS Annotation: A memoir spanning more than fifty years by the West Texas author best known for the Hank the Cowdog series– Provided by publisher. 2025.

We look forward to having you join us on Thursday, August 20!

Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Dina Gachman

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Join the Talking Book Program for an author talk on Tuesday, August 18, at 7:00 p.m. (Central) with author, Dina Gachman.

Reader’s Advisory Librarian, Laura Jean, will discuss Ms. Gachman’s career and her book SO SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS: HOW I LEANRED TO LIVE WITH GRIEF, AND OTHER GRAVE CONERNS (DB 130517). Following the talk, there will be a Q&A session.

Our Author Talks are held via Zoom, but you can join using just a telephone!

Participating is easy:

  • Use your landline to dial in via phone.
  • Use the “one-tap” number on your smartphone.
  • Alternatively, join via computer using the Zoom invitation we’ll send a week prior to the event.

To ensure you receive the necessary details, please RSVP in advance.

We invite you to ask Dina Gachman questions about her book. Please submit your questions by August 11. We will select questions based on the responses to this form, and they may be asked during the event! Fill out the form here: Author Questions.

To RSVP, you can fill out our online registration form: Register Here.

Or if you prefer, reply to this email, or call the Talking Book Program at 1-800-252-9605.

Please indicate if you would like us to mail you a digital cartridge with her book or if you prefer to download it from BARD. Please let us know if you would like a reminder via email or phone-call (or both).

SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS: HOW I LEARNED TO LIVE WITH GRIEF, AND OTHER GRAVE CONERNS by Dina Gachman (DB 130517)

NLS Annotation: “A searching, heartfelt exploration about what it means to process grief, by a bestselling author and journalist whose experience with two devastating losses inspired her to bring comfort and understanding to others. Since losing her mother to cancer in 2018 and her sister to alcoholism less than three years later, author and journalist Dina Gachman has dedicated herself to understanding what it means to grieve, healing after loss, and the ways we stay connected to those we miss. Through a mix of personal storytelling, reporting, and insight from experts and even moments of humor, Gachman gives readers a fresh take on grief and bereavement—whether the loss is a family member, beloved pet, or a romantic relationship. No one wants to join the grief club, since membership comes with zero perks, but So Sorry for Your Loss will make that initiation just a little less painful.” Provided by publisher Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

We look forward to having you join us on Tuesday, August 18!

Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Tim Hemlin

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Join the Talking Book Program for an author talk on Tuesday, June 16 at 7:00 p.m. (Central) with author and educator, Tim Hemlin.

Reader’s Advisory Librarian, Laura Jean, will discuss Mr. Hemlin’s career and his Neil Marshall Series, starting with the first book, IF WISHES WERE HORSES (DBC 18230). Following the talk, there will be a Q&A session.

Our Author Talks are held via Zoom, but you can join using just a telephone!

Participating is easy:

  • Use your landline to dial in via phone.
  • Use the “one-tap” number on your smartphone.
  • Alternatively, join via computer using the Zoom invitation we’ll send a week prior to the event.

To ensure you receive the necessary details, please RSVP in advance.

We invite you to ask Tim Hemlin questions about his book. Please submit your questions by June 9. We will select questions based on the responses to this form, and they may be asked during the event! Fill out the form here: Author Questions

To RSVP, you can fill out our online registration form: Register Here.

Or if you prefer, reply to this email, or call the Talking Book Program at 1-800-252-9605.

Please indicate if you would like us to mail you a digital cartridge with his book or if you prefer to download it from BARD. Also, please let us know if you would like a reminder via email or phone-call (or both).

IF WISHES WERE HORSES: NEIL MARSHALL SERIES, BOOK 1 by Tim Hemlin (DBC 18230)

NLS Annotation: Neil Marshall is a creative writing graduate student at the University of Houston, a struggling poet, and a soon-to-be-divorced man. To make ends meet, he moonlights as a chef for a high society caterer. When his oldest friend, racehorse breeder Jason Keys is murdered, Neil finds himself also moonlighting as a private eye just to stay out of jail. The police view him as their prime-suspect but Neil has an even bigger worry–can he find Jason’s killer before becoming the next victim? Violence, strong language, and descriptions of sex. 1996.

We look forward to having you join us on Tuesday, June 16!

April 30 is Children’s Day/Book Day (El Día de los Niños/Libros)

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Two images one with a child's hand reading along with their finger on a book. The other is a child reading a picture book.

Every child deserves a story. The Talking Book Program offers books for kids in multiple formats.

From the library:

KIKIRIKÍ, STORIES AND POEMS IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH FOR CHILDREN (DBC 26967)

ONCE UPON A TIME: CELEBRATING THE MAGIC OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS IN HONOR OF THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF READING IS FUNDAMENTAL (DB 30836)

WILD THINGS: THE JOY OF READING CHILDREN’S LITERATURE AS AN ADULT (DB 86992)

April 12 is DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) Day!

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Listening is reading too! Celebrate DEAR Day with Talking Book Program audiobooks. Our collection contains more than 169,000 titles on every topic you can imagine!

Image of a person laying down with headphones next to an open book.

From the library:

BOOKS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE: REFLECTIONS BY 100 AUTHORS, ACTORS, MUSICIANS, AND OTHER REMARKABLE PEOPLE (DB 85037)

BOOKS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (DB 33153)

JOY OF BOOKS: CONFESSIONS OF A LIFELONG READER (DB 42728)

April 19-25 is National Library Week

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Image of books on a bookshelf with the words celebrate libraries.

Libraries open doors. Celebrate National Library Week with your local library and your other library, the Talking Book Program! Check out these cool titles about libraries from our collection!

From the library:

LETTER TO A FUTURE LOVER: MARGINALIA, ERRATA, SECRETS, INSCRIPTIONS, AND OTHER EPHEMERA FOUND IN LIBRARIES (DBC 02751)

LIBRARY: AN UNQUIET HISTORY (BR 15100)

LIBRARY BOOK: THE STORY OF LIBRARIES FROM CAMELS TO COMPUTERS (DB 65329)

Texas Talking Book Program Author Talk: Kathryn Casey

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Join the Talking Book Program for an author talk on Tuesday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m. (Central) with thriller and true crime author, Kathryn Casey.

Reader’s Advisory Librarian, Laura Jean, will discuss Ms. Casey’s career and her Sarah Armstrong Series, starting with the first book, SINGULARITY (DBC 18075). Following the talk, there will be a Q&A session.

Our Author Talks are held via Zoom, but you can join using just a telephone!

Participating is easy:

  • Use your landline to dial in via phone.
  • Use the “one-tap” number on your smartphone.
  • Alternatively, join via computer using the Zoom invitation we’ll send a week prior to the event.

To ensure you receive the necessary details, please RSVP in advance.

We invite you to ask Kathryn Casey questions about her book. Please submit your questions by April 14. We will select questions based on the responses to this form, and they may be asked during the event! Fill out the form here: Author Questions

To RSVP, you can fill out our online registration form: Register Here.

Or if you prefer, reply to this email, or call the Talking Book Program at 1-800-252-9605.

Please indicate if you would like us to mail you a digital cartridge with her book or if you prefer to download it from BARD. Her book is also available to be mailed in a large print format. And, please let us know if you would like a reminder via email or phone-call (or both).

SINGULARITY: SARAH ARMSTRONG SERIES, BOOK 1 by Kathryn Casey (DBC 18075)

NLS Annotation: As a single mother and one of the few female Rangers in Texas history, Sarah Armstrong has had to work twice as hard to rank among the best cops in the Lone Star State. But when megawealthy businessman Edward Lucas III is found murdered along with his mistress, Sarah quickly senses that this will be the deadliest case of her career. While others focus the investigation on Lucas’s estranged wife, Sarah disagrees and hunts a suspect only she believes in. Yet nothing in her career could have prepared her for the horror of a young man who is convinced he has been sent from heaven to massacre innocent people. Some violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2008.

We look forward to having you join us on Tuesday, April 21!

March 2 Is Read Across America Day

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Literacy starts young. For most children, an interest in reading starts with picture books at home or in the classroom. Dr. Seuss is a beloved author who has become synonymous with Read Across America, so celebrate his birthday today with some green eggs and ham!

From the library:

CAT IN THE HAT (DB 33062) (BT 13466)

GREEN EGGS AND HAM (DB 34056) (BR 16721)

ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH (DB 22796) (BR 16379)

The Locus Recommended Reading List 2025

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The Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List is an annual, extensive list of the year’s best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror books, novellas, novels, and short stories, compiled by Locus editors and reviewers, published last year. Announced each February, this list serves as a guide for readers and a basis for Locus Awards nominations. This year they looked at over 1,000 titles between short and long fiction.

For more information check out The Locus Website.

Here are the items from the 2025 list that are in the TBP collection.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS

SUNWARD by William Alexander (IN PROCESS)
FOLDED SKY by Elizabeth Bear (DB 131985)
OUTLAW PLANET by M. R. Carey (DB 133439 IN PROCESS)
MODERATION by Elaine Castillo (DB 131689)
BOOK OF GUILT by Catherine Chidgey (DB 133144 IN PROCESS)
DREAM HOTEL by Laila Lalami (DB 127950)
METALLIC REALMS by Lincoln Michel (DB 130471)
WHERE THE AXE IS BURIED by Ray Nayler (DB 129470)
SLOW GODS by Claire North (DB 133944 IN PROCESS)
DEATH OF THE AUTHOR by Nnedi Okorafor (DB 127592, BR 26389 IN PROCESS)
ONE WAY WITCH by Nnedi Okorafor (DB 129970)
ESPERANCE by Adam Oyebanji (DB 130707)
SHROUD by Adrain Tchaikovsky (DB 133509 IN PROCESS)
BOOK OF RECORDS by Madeleine Thien (DB 130513)

FANTASY NOVELS

DEVILS by Joe Abercrombie (DB 129814, BR 26297 IN PROCESS, en español DB 131391 EN PROCESO)
TOMB OF DRAGONS by Katherine Addison (DB 128864)
DROP OF CORRUPTION by Robert Jackson Bennett (DB 130146)
ONCE WAS WILLEM by M. R. Carey (DB 128765)
EVERLASTING by Alix E. Harrow (DB 133195 IN PROCESS)
RAVEN SCHOLAR by Antonia Hodgson (DB 129533)
HONEYEATER by Kathleen Jennings (DB 133964 IN PROCESS)
WRITTEN ON THE DARK by Guy Gavriel Kay (DB 129930, BR 26303 IN PROCESS)
HEMLOCK AND SILVER by T. Kingfisher (DB 132568)
KATABASIS by R. F. Kuang (DB 132323, BR 26579 IN PROCESS)
ADVENTURES OF MARY DARLING by Pat Murphy (DB 132409)
HARMATTAN SEASON by Tochi Onyebuchi (DB 130585)
ROSE FIELD by Philip Pullman (DB 133524 IN PROCESS)
SHADOW TICKET by Thomas Pynchon (DB 133273 IN PROCESS, LB 0007823)
ISLE IN THE SILVER SEA by Tasha Suri (DB 133437 IN PROCESS)
INCANDESCENT by Emily Tesh (DB 130051)
QUEEN DEMON by Martha Wells (DB 133426 IN PROCESS)

HORROR NOVELS

WE LOVE YOU, BUNNY by Mona Awad (DB 133174 IN PROCESS)
POSSESSION OF ALBA DIAZ by Isabel Cañas (DB 132041, BR 26485 IN PROCESS)
SPREAD ME by Sarah Gailey (DB 133263 IN PROCESS)
KING SORROW by Joe Hill (DB 133680 IN PROCESS)
BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER by Stephen Graham Jones (DB 128581, BR 26200 IN PROCESS)
LIBRARY AT HELLEBORE by Cassandra Khaw (DB 131155)
NEVER FLINCH by Stephen King (DB 130236, BR 26240 IN PROCESS, LB 0005618)
BEWITCHING by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (DB 131290, LB 0005631)
IT WAS HER HOUSE FIRST by Cherie Priest (DB 131291)
STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS by Chuck Wendig (DB 128922)

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

SINGULAR LIFE OF ARIA PATEL by Samira Ahmed (DB 129799)
MAKE ME A MONSTER by Kalynn Bayron (DB 133990 IN PROCESS)
COSTUMES FOR TIME TRAVELERS by A. R. Capetta (DB 130109)
EXECUTIONERS THREE by Susan Dennard (DB 132374)
NEEDY LITTLE THINGS by Channelle Desamours (DB 127322)
UNDERWOOD TAPES by Amanda DeWitt (DB 127608)
AMONG GHOSTS by Rachel Hartman (DB 130616)
SKY ON FIRE by E. K. Johnston (DB 131193)
TRANSITION by Logan-Ashley Kisner (DB 133675 IN PROCESS)
STARSTRIKE by Yoon Ha Lee (DB 131928 IN PROCESS)
I AM NOT JESSICA CHEN by Ann Liang (DB 127426)
LEAVING ROOM by Amber McBride (DB 133678 IN PROCESS)
NIGHT SWIMMING by Aaron Starmer (DB 129430)
THEY BLOOM AT NIGHT by Trang Thanh Tran (DB 128117)

FIRST NOVELS

RED RABBIT GHOST by Jen Julian (DB 131683)
WHEN DEVILS SING by Xan Kaur (DB 130122)
DWELLING by Emily Hunt Kivel (DBC 32396)
AWAKE IN THE FLOATING CITY by Susanna Kwan (DB 131718)
LUMINOUS by Silvia Park (DB 128486)
NORTH SUN, OR, THE VOYAGE OF THE WHALESHIP ESTHER by Ethan Rutherford (DB 133051 IN PROCESS)

TRANSLATED NOVELS

ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME, III by Solvej Balle (DB 133345 IN PROCESS)
UNWORTHY by Agustina Maria Bazterrica and translated by Sarah Moses (DB 128442)
VANISHING WORLD by Sayaka Murata and translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (DB 130304)

COLLECTIONS

SINKHOLE, AND OTHER INEXPLICABLE VOIDS: STORIES by Leyna Krow (DB 131784)

ANTHOLOGIES

NIGHT AND DAY: DREADFUL DARK: TALES OF NIGHTTIME HORROR/MERCILESS SUN: TALES OF DAYLIGHT HORROR edited by Ellen Datlow (DB 132678)
THESE BODIES AIN’T BROKEN edited by Madeline Dyer (IN PROCESS)
END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: NEW TALES OF STEPHEN KING’S THE STAND edited by Christopher Golden and Brian Keene; introduction by Stephen King (DB 132544, BR 26600 IN PROCESS)

NON-FICTION

ENSHITTIFICATION: WHY EVERYTHING SUDDENLY GOT WORSE AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT by Cory Doctorow (DB 133269)

ILLUSTRATED AND ART BOOKS

INVISIBLE PARADE by Leigh Bardugo (DB 132020)

NOVELLAS

RIVER HAS ROOTS by Amal El-Mohtar (DB 128099)
WHAT STALKS THE DEEP by T. Kingfisher (DB 133159)
CINDER HOUSE by Freya Marske (DB 133193)
AUTOMATIC NOODLE by Annalee Newitz (DB 131818)
MOUTHFUL OF DUST by Nghi Vo (IN PROCESS)
DON’T SLEEP WITH THE DEAD by Nghi Vo (DB 129212)
MURDER BY MEMORY by Olivia Waite (DB 128766, LB 0005762)
BRIGHTER THAN SCALE, SWIFTER THAN FLAME by Neon Yang (DB 130327)

SHORT STORIES

“Secret Night“ by Nathan Ballingrud (Night & Day DB 132678)
“Fear of the Dark“ by Benjamin Percy (Night & Day DB 132678)