OverDrive's free app enables over-the-air MP3 audiobook downloads on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch from CPL's eAudiobook collection. With OverDrive Media Console for iPhone, after logging in to My Account on CPL's eBook website, you can wirelessly download any MP3 audiobook to your Apple device.

Looking to expand your literary choices and discover new authors? Sign up for the 2010 Global Reading Challenge. Created by blogger Dorte Jakobsen with technical assistance from fellow blogger, Kerrie Smith, there are three levels of the challenge: Easy, Medium, and Expert.

For each level you will read writers from Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America (includes Central America) and South America within 2010. Each level becomes progressively more difficult (i.e. more books to read to satisfy the requirements). Jakobsen provides a wonderful list of reading suggestions for each continent.

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) announced the finalists in the 2010 Audies competition, the only awards program devoted entirely to honoring spoken word entertainment. Who is going to win? We will have to wait until the winners are announced at the Audies Gala on May 25th, 2010, at the Museum of the City of New York. Wolf Hall, Anne Frank Remembered, True Compass, Viral Loop, and Elegance of the Hedgehog are among the nominees.

The numbers are in!
The top five most downloaded titles from CPL's eBook collection for April 2010 are:

1. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
2. 13 1/2 by Nevada Barr
3. Die Trying by Lee Child
4. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
5. Caught by Harlan Coben

Age Strong! Live Long! is the focus of the Administration on Aging's Older Americans Month 2010. National Aging Services Network of state, tribal, Area Agencies on Aging such as The Senior Alliance, and community services providers such as Canton Seniors Center offer a wide variety of activities in May and throughout the year. Via AOA:

This year’s Older Americans Month theme — Age Strong! Live Long! — recognizes the diversity and vitality of today’s older Americans who span three generations. They have lived through wars and hard times, as well as periods of unprecedented prosperity.

Dateline April 28, 1930: Nancy Drew, Girl Detective debuts. 80 years later Nancy is still fighting crime, still bringing in the bad guys. More importantly serving as a strong, feminine role-model for thousands of girls. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, and Oprah Winfrey are fans of Carolyn Keene's creation. Nancy Drew novels have been published in 25 languages and over 200 million copies worldwide have been sold.

The Michigan Humanities Council will present the 2010 Michigan Author Homecoming, "Writing War: Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam," with noted writers Benjamin Busch, Philip Caputo, and Doug Stanton

• May 18 in East Lansing
• May 20 in Marquette

The events will celebrate the conclusion of the Council’s Great Michigan Read. Each event will be a moderated, panel-style discussion focusing on the impact of war on culture, particularly in relation to recent United States conflicts (Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam). There will be a book signing. Tickets are available online or by phone at (517) 372-7770.

Looking for something new to read? Check out this year’s shortlists for the Edgar Awards, the Hammett Prize, the Agatha Awards, Strand Magazine Critics Awards,  and the

Deadly Ink announced the 2010 David G. Sasher, Sr. Award — AKA The David — nominations for the best mystery published during the prior year.  Attendees at the 2010 Deadly Ink Mystery Conference will vote for their favorite, and the winner will be announced at the Saturday Night Awards Banquet. The 2010 Deadly Ink Mystery Conference will be held June 25-27, 2010 at the Parsippany Sheraton in Parsippany, NJ. Gillian Roberts is the Guest of Honor.

During a series of events held across North America’s northernmost nation, the shortlists of books nominated for the 2010 Arthur Ellis Awards were announced on April 22 by the Crime Writers of Canada. The prestigious Arthur Ellis Awards are presented in 6 categories for excellence in works in the crime genre published for the first time in the previous year by authors living in Canada, regardless of their nationality, or by Canadian writers living outside of Canada. The CBC News Web site has a partial rundown, but the following list comes from The Rap Sheet. The winners will be announced during a ceremony on May 27 in Toronto.

April 21 is the 100 year anniversary of the death of Mark Twain (November 24, 1832 - April 21, 1910). A keen observer of human nature, Twain's stories portray America as it became a nation. An American humorist, lecturer, essayist, and author, several of Twain's books have been adapted for the screen including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, and a present-day version of The Prince and the Pauper.

The winners of the Left Coast Crime Convention held in Los Angeles this year were announced on March 16. The LCC is an annual event sponsored by fans of Mystery Literature, for fans of Mystery Literature. The intent is to provide an event where fans of the Mystery genre can gather in convivial surroundings to pursue their interest in the genre.

A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell is the 2010 Winner of The Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award.

Canton Public Library is part of the Metro Detroit Everyone's Reading 2010: Presumed Innocent, a legal thriller written by Scott Turow and later made into a movie starring Harrison Ford. On Tuesday, March 23, from 7:00 to 8:30PM in the Community Room, Joyce Simowski (Adult Services Librarian) will share her expertise and love of legal thrillers. She'll talk about a few familiar authors and introduce you to some new authors and their characters as well. The Friends of the Canton Public Library will supply prize baskets to a couple of lucky attendees.
No registration required.

Why is there a body in the library's Mystery stacks? He's promoting this year's Everyone's Reading selection Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow.

In conjunction with several Metro Detroit communities, Canton Public Library offers a variety of events including a book talk, book discussions, and a personal appearance by Scott Turow on Wednesday, April 14 at the Village Theater at Cherry Hill. For a chance to win a pair of tickets to hear Mr. Turow in person go to your patron record and register for the ticket drawing.

Eleventh hour : an FBI thriller by Catherine Coulter

Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy

The shadow side by Linda Castillo

A perfect evil by Alex Kava

If you are a fan of Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear, a Denver, Colorado full-time caterer and amateur detective, series:

The body in the bouillon by Katherine Hall Page

Chocolate chip cookie mystery by Joanne Fluke

Bitter sweets : a Savannah Reid mystery by G.A.

The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the 2009 Strand Magazine Critics Awards. The awards will be presented in the categories of Best Novel and Best First Novel at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The Strand on July 7, 2010, in New York City.

MASTERPIECE on PBS and BBC Worldwide Sales and Distribution, Americas have announced a major co-production deal that includes Sherlock, a Sherlock Holmes with a 21st. century spin on it and three Aurelio Zen mysteries based on the series written by Michael Didbin (1947-2007).

Are you a woman who has a life-changing story about your library? Would you be willing to share it with others? If yes, consider entering the Woman's Day/American Library Association essay contest. Up to four winners will have their essays published in an upcoming Woman's Day issue. Good luck!

The geography of bliss: one grump's search for the happiest places in the world by Eric Weiner

A sense of the world: how a blind man became history's greatest traveler by Jason Roberts

West with the night by Beryl Markham