hoopla Archives – Page 3 of 5 – Spokane County Library District

Ever louder bumps in the night: Scares for all ages

Posted in Explore and Discover on October 24, 2017 at 6:00 am

by Susan Goertz As a chill grips the autumn air and the chlorophyll leaches from the leaves, my mind turns toward the spooky. Nothing to get your heart racing and the cold sweat pouring on a crisp night like a good scary story. Horror is a very broad genre. There are a lot of options […]

Mixtape: The Vietnam War era

Posted in Explore and Discover on September 19, 2017 at 6:00 am

by David Wyatt Music is just as messy and various as life. There are few examples as poignant as the Vietnam War and Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary series about the war (airing now through September 28th on our local PBS station KSPS) to remind us there is no single truth to war, and […]

Sgt. Pepper is 50: How an album revolutionized popular music

Posted in Explore and Discover on August 31, 2017 at 6:00 am

by Melissa Rhoades According to Rolling Stone‘s definitive list: 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band stands as “the most important rock & roll album ever made.” When I fell in love with the album as a preteen in the early 1980s, I had no clue […]

Save a life: Ask FAST questions when you spot a stroke

Posted in Explore and Discover on August 15, 2017 at 6:00 am

by Debbie Rhodes I woke up wandering into my living room thinking why wasn’t I at work? My husband looked at me strangely and in a very uneasy tone asked, “How many children do you have?” I replied, “Why are you asking me such a stupid question?” It turned out he had a very good […]

She screams loudest: Women’s dystopian tales

Posted in Explore and Discover on June 27, 2017 at 6:00 am

by Susan Goertz For me, there is no question that dystopian author Philip K. Dick was a visionary. And interestingly, the physical appearance of his female characters tends to have a direct correlation to their level of intelligence (I’ll let you discover which way the correlation falls out). Reading his novels and stories for a […]

Graphic novels with strong female characters

Posted in Explore and Discover on May 30, 2017 at 6:00 am

By Abra Cole Sometimes, when I find myself in the mood for an upbeat, quick read, I look to the library’s graphic novel sections. Traditional super-hero stories aren’t my cup of tea. I find myself drawn more to the stories that include strong, primary female characters. Luckily these days, there are quite a few great […]

Hollywood vs. novel and short story: dystopian worlds written by Philip K. Dick

Posted in Explore and Discover on April 18, 2017 at 6:00 am

By Susan Goertz Dystopian fiction seems to be enjoying a renaissance right now, at least in my life. And over the years Hollywood has kept up with the appeal, feeding our insatiable appetite for basic human struggles set against the backdrop of social, political, and environmental collapse that keep us glued to the screen. I […]

Dynamic audiobook performers

Posted in Explore and Discover on August 25, 2016 at 6:00 am

By Melanie Boerner I understand that, as a librarian, I am expected to have piles upon piles of books throughout my house and be well versed in all types of literature. With that said, I have a confession to make: I have piles of half-read books around my house. As a full-time working mom of […]

Kids music for road trips

Posted in Explore and Discover, Parents and Teachers on June 23, 2016 at 6:00 am

By Rachel Edmondson Summer has arrived, and with it comes more time spent in the car. At least, that’s the case for my family. Whether it’s driving to swim lessons or taking a road trip, music can be a great way to make time in the car more fun. Of course, if you have the […]

Tags: family, hoopla, kids, music, road trip, travel

Music and conspiracy theories: a primer

Posted in Explore and Discover on April 28, 2016 at 6:00 am

By Brian Vander Veen Sometime during the tail-end of the 80s, my middle-school youth group made us watch a grainy VHS documentary about the evils of contemporary music. The presenter played samples of music that, slowed down and backwards, might have sounded vaguely like blasphemous utterings. He picked apart various band names and album covers, […]

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