Showing posts with label math. Show all posts
Showing posts with label math. Show all posts

Friday, December 13, 2019

Love Stories to Warm Up a Cold Evening

I love a good love story any time of year, but there's something extra nice about curling up with a heartwarming read on a dark, cold evening. I've put together a list of a few of my recent favorites, and I hope you'll share yours in the comments!

I've included a rating scale of 1-4 fire 🔥 emojis to give you a sense of how explicit the physical relationship of the characters gets on the page.

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
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With her newest book Sonali Dev has shifted away from her popular Bollywood romance series to create modern variations on Jane Austen's classics, starting with Pride and Prejudice. Trisha is a neurosurgeon from an incredibly rich and powerful family, DJ is a talented chef whose family has struggled for everything they have. There's romance, family drama, some interesting twists, but most memorable are the lusciously delicious food descriptions.


Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
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I'm always a sucker for stories where enemies or rivals discover that they don't actually hate each other, and that all those sparks flying are True Love. McQuiston's debut is exactly that. For years Alex, son of the first female President of the United States, thought he hated Prince Henry, the younger son of the Queen of England. Of course, as the sons of such powerful people, it's going to be more than a little complicated to make things work.


Can't Escape Love by Alyssa Cole
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This is a novella, which means that it is currently eBook only and available to City of Dubuque residents through the library's OverDrive/Libby collection. It also means that this story falls smack in the middle of Cole's Reluctant Royals series, so be wary of spoilers for the other books in this series. Reggie is driven, fiercely independent, and unapologetically nerdy. Gus has a sexy voice, a love for puzzles, and is just breaking into the world of Escape Rooms. They met online, but in person their attraction proves to be impossible to resist.


The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
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Helen Hoang's debut novel is a enjoyable story about a fake relationship between two people who don't feel worthy of the real thing - yet. Stella is successful and accomplished, but Asperger's syndrome makes interpersonal relationships a challenge. Michael is the half-Vietnamese escort she hires to help her learn and improve her skills. I listened to the audiobook, and narrator Carly Robins is fantastic.


The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
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Jasmine Guillory's debut was one of my top three favorite reads for 2019 with what felt a perfect mix of sweet and spicy, humor and drama. Alexa and Drew meet when they get stuck in an elevator together, and then Drew impulsively asks Alexa to be his date at his ex-girlfriend's wedding. It's a fake relationship with an undeniable attraction, but the real conflict comes from how two accomplished professionals with established lives in different cities can make things work.


Intercepted by Alexa Martin
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If you'd asked me a year ago, I would've told you that sports romances weren't really my thing, but Alexa Martin convinced me that I was wrong. It helps that Intercepted doesn't require the reader to be a football expert to understand the story. Marlee has been dating Chris since high school, though they've had a few rough patches over the years. On one memorable break, Marlee had a one-night stand with Gavin, who just so happens to be the new quarterback for Chris's team. Plus Chris still hasn't #PutARingOnIt, which means Marlee is a second-class citizen when it comes to the mean girls club made up of the other players' wives.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Staff Review: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman


I come from a family of book lovers, but it isn't often that we all love the same book. The Man Who Loved Only Numbers happens to be one of the few. Paul Hoffman's biography of the prolific and eccentric mathematician Paul ErdÅ‘s is a fascinating read, even for someone like me who finds math a less than engaging topic. Reading about ErdÅ‘s and his colleagues in this book, I was able to understand how a person could devote their life to a pursuit of mathematical truth.

I also recommend checking out Feynman by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick, a graphic novel biography of the equally eccentric physicist Richard Feynman.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Monday, March 14, 2011

Pi Day


You may or may not remember Pi from math class, but anyone who loves pie can enjoy Pi Day!

Pi is a mathematical constant and its value is based on the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter as represented by the Greek letter seen to the left. Most of us remember the first three digits of Pi: 3.14. Lu Chao, the world record holder for memorization of Pi, was able to recite 67,890 digits!

If you're feeling the spirit of this mathematical holiday, you might want to check out some of the math books (nonfiction and fiction alike!) available at Carnegie-Stout: Books for Pi Day

Alternatively, you might enjoy the pie you can eat over the pi that requires calculators. Check out these cookbooks for some pie inspiration: Pie Books for Pi Day

And to stretch the Pi/Pie as far as it will go (mostly because I love "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society"), a list of books, movies, and television shows with "pie" in the title: Pie Books and DVDs

You may've heard this musical interpretation of Pi on NPR's Morning Edition today, "What Pi sounds like" by Michael Blake: