FY19 Library Budget Presentation Video

Carnegie-Stout Public Library Director Susan Henricks gave a presentation to the Dubuque City Council last evening about the Library's Fiscal Year 2019 budget recommendations.

Here's a link to the video of Susan's presentation. For more information, see the City of Dubuque's Fiscal Year 2019 Budget.

Bingeworthy TV: Superstore

The appeal of a sitcom is that you can sit down for 30 minutes and laugh a little, but if you're like me, it can be tricky to find a show that consistently makes you laugh. I started watching Superstore because I love America Ferrera (Ugly Betty).

Superstore is set in the fictional big box retail store Cloud 9, and very few episodes have scenes outside the store itself. If you don't have experience working in retail, you might think this would limit the stories they can tell, but the writers make good use of their talented ensemble cast. If you enjoyed the recurring background characters and sight gags of Community, you'll find similar appeal here.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by Maurene Goo

If you're looking for a fun, romantic read for Valentine's Day, I suggest you check out I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo. This book is a sweet and goofy look at first love that will remind readers of the fun of watching a romantic comedy, and anyone who loves k-dramas is in for a special treat.

To call 17-year-old Desi Lee a perfectionist is putting things mildly. Desi's mother died when she was very young, and her father was devastated. Desi dedicated herself to being the perfect daughter, excelling in school, in soccer, and helping out at home. Everything about her life is on track, and it seems inevitable that Desi will finish high school and head to Stanford, her mother's alma mater, where she will become a doctor, like her mother. The one blemish in Desi's perfect life is the fact that she is a devastating failure in the romance department.

Not only has Desi never had a boyfriend (or a first kiss), every time she gets even close to the possibility of maybe having a romantic encounter with a boy she likes, she goes down in flames. For example, when she meets the incredibly hot new transfer student, Desi's pants literally fall off. Despite this incredibly cringe-worthy first meeting, Desi is not one to give up. Instead she resolves to overcome her romantic failures and win her crush's heart, taking inspiration from her Korean-immigrant father's favorite television shows.

If you are a k-drama fan, you'll love all of the references to familiar shows. If you haven't seen a k-drama, you're likely to walk away from I Believe in a Thing Called Love wanting to watch one. K-dramas, or Korean dramas, are a specific style of Korean television series similar in some ways to telenovelas. They often have a heavy focus on a romantic plot and typically last for only a single season of 10-20 episodes (though some series last for much longer and some are only one or two episodes long). I highly recommend flipping to the end of the book where there's a list of recommended k-dramas that you can stream (subtitled) through various online services.

~Sarah, Adult Services