Dear Reader

I trust that everyone had a good 4th of July holiday.  Boy, was it hot!!  I did not have a bbq or go to the pool.  My husband and I went to the movies.  We saw a well-done, horror movie "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" based on Seth Grahame-Smith's novel. Grahame-Smith also wrote the very popular "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."  Both are humorous spoofs that are fun to read.  Never heard of these?  Well, the library now has a service to let you learn about all kinds of books in all kinds of categories.

Dear Reader Online Book Clubs entice you sign up for one, or several book clubs, depending on what you like to read. Immediately, you'll receive a welcome message and the next morning, you will receive a daily "dose of book." On Monday, the Online Book Club starts a new book for each club. Each day you will receive a little more of the featured book. By the end of the week, you will have sampled 2-3 chapters, enough to know if you "just-have-to" finish the book.

To begin, all you have to do is go the Dubuque County Library's website http://www.dubcolib.lib.ia.us/ and click on the Online Book Clubs icon on the left side of the page.  Select the club, or clubs, for the type of books you like to read, enter your email address and each day you will receive an email with a short 5-minute excerpt from a book for those clubs. You can enjoy your daily excerpts with your morning cup of coffee and before long you'll be hooked on a book.

You can choose from the following categories:
Business
Fiction
Good News
Mystery
Teen
Classics
Science Fiction
Nonfiction
Romance
Thriller
Audiobooks
Pre-Publication  and
Author Buzz.

For example, this week the romance club is reading "A Place Called Home" by Jo Goodman.  The mystery club is reading "Port Mortuary" by Patricia Cornwell.  If you like to see what's new, sign up for the pre-publication club that features recently released novels. Join AuthorBuzz where you'll meet 3 to 6 authors a week.  It's a way to get to know all several of writers and their novels.  Kind of like a sampler.

This is a service provided by the Dubuque County Library and we hope it will broaden your reading experience.  If you get hooked on a book, call us and if we don't own it, we will order it to add to our collection.  We want to develop our collection to meet your wants and needs.  So go on, sign up today!!

If you have questions, call your local branch. With the heat wave, it's a perfect time to read.  Have a great weekend and try to stay cool.

Dawn