The general reading public seldom gets a chance to vote for their favorite book and/or author but here's your opportunity to do so. The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel awards in July at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England.  Laura Lippman, Mark Billingsham, Val McDermid, and Simon Kernick are among the 14 contenders. 

David Suchet is filming 4 new Poirot mysteries for PBS.  Hercule Poirot is Agatha Christie's famous Belgian detective.  Mr. Suchet has portrayed Poirot for 21 years on public television's Mystery! series in over 60 episodes.

Does your audiobook listening include books by Jan Karon, Alexander McCall Smith, Rosamunde Pilcher, or Jane Austen? If so, you might like this list we put together for a patron looking for gentle and inspirational reads in book on cd format.

• Home to Harmony by Philip Gulley
• A company of swans by Eva Ibbotson
• Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
• The house of mirth by Edith Wharton
• Mrs.

If you like Historical Fiction, especially books by Diana Gabaldon, Geraldine Brooks, or Philippa Gregory, you might like these titles as well:

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber
The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Gray by Alison Weir
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

If you like the authors Barbara Taylor Bradford and Nora Roberts, you will probably also enjoy:

• Barbara Delinsky
• Karen Robards

Just in time for summer vacation, Park & Read passes have arrived at the library. A joint venture of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Macy's, the Hammock Company, and the Library of Michigan, the Park & Read program provides a free one-day vehicle permit to any Michigan State Park & Recreation Area - and at many parks, a free hammock to use for the day. Like the popular Museum Adventure Pass program, the passes are "checked out" for seven days; you pick the day you want to use it. So come in for a pass & a book to read while lolling in that hammock.

Ian Rankin, author of the Rebus series, has a new series which will debut in England this Fall.  He spoke about this and his venture into music recently on Scotland on Television (stv.tv).

vs.    Welcome to Stanley Cup 2009 Hockey Fans!!! Can you believe our luck as we once again have a match-up between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Whether you're in the market for a new car or a used car, Autotropolis is a good place to begin your search. This new site is full of great features for both the first-time or experienced car shopper, including the latest car reviews, videos of the latest models, auto industry news, access to daily classified ads, and a list of the Top 10 used cars. Check it out!

Celebrated Canadian author Alice Munro has won the third Man Booker International Prize. One of the richest and most prestigious international literary awards, Munro will take home £60,000.

As part of our ongoing effort to make Canton Library an environmentally friendly building, our Housekeeping staff will be trained and certified in "green" cleaning procedures. It doesn't cost more to use safe effective cleaning products and procedures. In fact, in most cases, it costs less. The benefits are obvious. You get a clean , healthy building without using the products which are harmful to our environment. Using "green"  cleaning products is also much healthier for our Housekeeping staff. There is a wealth of information about "green buildings" available from the U.S. Green Building Council website.  We are also changing over our hand soap to a foaming cleanser and will be installing roll towel dispensers in our restrooms.

Today our first new Chinese books of 2009 go on the shelf. Look for great nonfiction titles, including: Ni gou pin ming ma? by Li Zhiying and Wu yue hua xiu dao yuan by Zheng Huajuan. You'll also find excellent fiction titles, including: Shan shan zuan zhi tang by Shenxue and Shi san ming de yue zui mei by Lu Zhaoqi.

Teach for America, the non-profit group who recruits outstanding recent college graduates to teach for 2 years in urban and rural schools, recently received over 35,000 applications and will place 4,100 mostly in Southern states. Wendy Kopp, the group's founder and chief executive officer, said the surge in applicants is unprecedented and the bad economy is the cause. The Corp began its existence in 1990 and began as an undergraduate thesis topic.

If you are interested in a variety of subjects, including travel, food, fashion, humor and personal narratives then you may also be interested in the following book list that we put together based on one of our patron's request:

If you like the humor found in Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, may we suggest:

• Murder Grins and Bears It: A Yooper Mystery by Deb Baker
• Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
• Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Strohmeyer
• Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen
• The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

On May 7, 2009, the federal government issued the first economic recovery payments to people receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.  The payments are being issued on a staggered basis throughout the month of May.  If you have not received your payment by June 4, 2009, contact the Social Security offices at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) or visit your local Social Security office (34010 Plymouth Road, Livonia, MI 48150) to report your payment has not arrived.

What do you get when you mix Craigslist with Google Maps? MapsKrieg.com! A nifty website that allows you to search visually for real estate, rental properties and sublets by region, neighborhood, even down to the street you'd like to live on. Don't you just love a good mash-up?

This is not a book about sports, though it is by the author of Moneyball and The Blind Side. In his memoir and based on his Slate Magazine column Dad Again, bestselling author Michael Lewis describes the huge disparity between what he expected to feel and what he was actually feeling when his children were born.

Memorial Day weekend is here and we have some beautiful weather! Seems like a good time to start grilling. If you're looking for some inspiration, take a look at some of our brand new titles such as: Serious Barbecue by Adam Perry Lang or Emeril at the Grill by Emeril Lagasse.