2015 Book #33 – Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: Cat Out of Hell
Author: Lynne Truss
Date finished: 4/18/15
Genre: Fiction – Not really sure what genre
Publisher: Melville House
Publication Date: March 3, 2015
Pages in book: 162
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

For people who both love and hate cats comes the tale of Alec Charlesworth, a librarian who finds himself suddenly alone: he’s lost his job, his beloved wife has just died. Overcome by grief, he searches for clues about her disappearance in a file of interviews between a man called “Wiggy” and a cat, Roger. Who speaks to him.
It takes a while for Alec to realize he’s not gone mad from grief, that the cat is actually speaking to Wiggy . . . and that much of what we fear about cats is true. They do think they’re smarter than humans, for one thing. And, well, it seems they are! What’s more, they do have nine lives. Or at least this one does – Roger’s older than Methuselah, and his unblinking stare comes from the fact that he’s seen it all.
And he’s got a tale to tell, a tale of shocking local history and dark forces that may link not only the death of Alec’s wife, but also several other local deaths. But will the cat help Alec, or is he one of the dark forces?

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Simsbury Public Library. I saw this book in a recent BookPage publication I think and a couple other places so when I saw it at the library I thought I would give it a try. To be honest I thought this book was going to be a funny book. It wasn’t especially. Looking back I think there were some parts that were either funny or were supposed to be funny. Overall I found the book to be scary though. Like horror movie scary. Cats that can talk and can kill you just by hissing at you? If that’s not the stuff of horror movies then I don’t know what is.
That being said, the story line was very interesting. The book was only about 160 pages so it was short and well-paced. The story was fairly easy to follow. A lot of people died though. And I am a pretty big fan of cats so the idea of murderous talking cats was more than somewhat unpleasant to me. The story line had a good flow though from one section to the next and I honestly just loved the Sherlock Holmes and other literary and cultural references. Very good book.

The bottom line: Not what I expected but I have to say it was interesting. A bit like a horror movie. But sometimes kind of funny.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

18Apr2015

#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge – Weekly Update #3 April 18th

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Thank goodness tax season is over! Now that I’m not going to be working quite as much, I’m hoping to get some work done on my house and also get some more reading done! Over this past week I was able to read three books for the reading challenge: Every Boy’s Got One, The Magician’s Lie, and I just finished Cat Out of Hell this morning (book review to be posted later today). The first two books I got from the Terryville Public Library and the Cat book I got from the Simsbury Public Library.
As part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, you get an entry into the challenge giveaway for reading one book as part of the challenge but you get an additional entry for reading 5 additional books (up to two additional entries so 10 extra books). Since Vintner’s Daughter was my book 1 for this challenge, that’s my one book for the first part of the challenge. My next 5 additional books were last week’s Cure for the Common Breakup, You’re So Fine, and Find Me and this week’s Every Boy’s Got One and The Magician’s Lie. I’m hoping to get through another 5 books in the next 12 days so that I can get that second additional entry into the giveaway!

So as part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, there are optional weekly update posts. The topic for this week’s post is: Why you love libraries or why you love being a librarian. I worked at the library in my town all through high school and when I was home on breaks from college. I’ve always loved books and reading, ever since I was little. Late in middle school though I really started to get addicted to reading. When it came time for me to find a job in high school, I could think of no place I’d rather work then a library. Luckily for me, the library was within walking distance of my high school. I begged and pleaded with the library director until they gave me a job. I was a big talker (loud too) early in high school so I think they were nervous about giving me a job at first. I have to be honest, I was a pretty rambunctious kid and I think working at the library is really what settled me. I relished the quiet and peace of the library and realized how much I loved and needed those periods of silence through the day.

Another reason I loved working at the library is that I’m absolutely addicted to books. I can’t walk into a book store or a library without buying/checking out a new book, even though I already have a stack of 50 books to read at home and I know that I absolutely do not need another book. And the thing that really fed the addiction is that working at the library I could check the same books out over and over again if I didn’t have time to read them. I think I had one book checked out for almost a year. So really the library was just about the perfect place for me.

Over the years I have learned that I love not only working at my home library but also just going to any library and browsing the books there gives me immense pleasure. I have about a million (might be a small exaggeration) books on my TBR list and coming across one or two of them at different libraries and checking them out to read is a great feeling. Each new book is a new adventure for me and I’m able to travel to so many places through reading. Libraries provide me with that. What could one possibly not love about a place like that?

17Apr2015

2015 Book #32 – The Magician’s Lie by Greer Macallister

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Historical fiction, Magical realism, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: The Magician’s Lie
Author: Greer Macallister
Date finished: 4/17/15
Genre: Fiction – Mystery / Historical / Magical
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: January 13, 2015
Pages in book: 312
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

The Amazing Arden is the most famous female illusionist of her day, renowned for her notorious trick of sawing a man in half on stage. One night in Waterloo, Iowa, with young policeman Virgil Holt watching from the audience, she swaps her trademark saw for a fire ax. Is it a new version of the illusion, or an all-too-real murder? When Arden’s husband is found lifeless beneath the stage later that night, the answer seems clear.
But when Virgil happens upon the fleeing magician and takes her into custody, she has a very different story to tell. Even handcuffed and alone, Arden is far from powerless-and what she reveals is as unbelievable as it is spellbinding. Over the course of one eerie night, Virgil must decide whether to turn Arden in or set her free… and it will take all he has to see through the smoke and mirrors.

My rating: 4 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Terryville Library. I saw this book in a recent BookPage publication I think and a couple other places so when I saw it at the library I thought I would give it a try. From the beginning, this was a really interesting story. The murder is introduced early on in the book and then we learn through the rest of the story how this young woman’s life has gotten to where she is now, in police custody.
The Amazing Arden has had what many would consider a very difficult life. Her story is heart-wrenching and enthralling at the same time. That she has survived so much is truly astounding. There were a couple of drier parts to the story that were a little more difficult to get through but overall I really liked the book. The only thing I still wondered about after it ended was what happened to Ada’s mom? I can’t help but worry that Ray found a way to somehow punish Victor and the mom for Ada’s disappearance.
Ray’s character was just so creepy. The whole time I was reading this book, I found myself looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was following me. Ray is just such a scary person and the whole book just felt so real to me that I felt like I was living the scary parts sometimes.

The bottom line: Really interesting! Pretty dark but I found it riveting. I would recommend it.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

16Apr2015

2015 Book #31 – Every Boy’s Got One by Meg Cabot

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Women's fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: Every Boy’s Got One
Author: Meg Cabot
Date finished: 4/15/15
Genre: Women’s fiction
Publisher: Paw Prints
Publication Date: May 29, 2008
Pages in book: 328
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

Cartoonist Jane Harris is delighted by the prospect of her first-ever trip to Europe. But it’s hate at first sight for Jane and Cal Langdon, and neither is too happy at the prospect of sharing a villa with one another for a week—not even in the beautiful and picturesque Marches countryside. But when Holly and Mark’s wedding plans hit a major snag that only Jane and Cal can repair, the two find themselves having to put aside their mutual dislike for one another in order to get their best friends on the road to wedded bliss—and end up on a road themselves … one neither of them ever expected.

My rating: 3.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I checked out this book from the Terryville Library. I’ve read this book before and liked it a lot. I like all of Meg Cabot’s books, she writes funny, entertaining stories and she doesn’t disappoint with Every Boy’s Got One. This book was in the epistolary style, which I very much enjoy as a writing style. Jane Harris goes to Italy to witness her best friend’s elopement and meets Cal Langdon, a total ass. The descriptions of the Italian hillsides and scenery were just wonderful. I could really feel like I was there. And the food! The meals that Jane described made me just salivate, it all sounded so delicious! And Jane was such a funny character, and I love the WonderCat drawings that got incorporated into the story. The characters were all entertaining and the really fun part about the epistolary style is that you get to see the story from so many different points of view. There were emails to and from almost everyone involved in the story, it makes for a very nice, well-rounded read.
I also thought it was cool that Meg Cabot wrote this story loosely based around a story she herself lived. She eloped in Italy and encountered some of the same difficulties as Holly and Mark do in the novel.

The bottom line: I’ve always liked this book, even reading it multiple times. I would recommend it.

Link to author website
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

11Apr2015

2015 Book #30 – Find Me by Laura van den Berg

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: Find Me
Author: Laura van den Berg
Date finished: 4/11/15
Genre: Not quite sure. Fiction. Apocalyptic. Psychological. This one’s hard to label.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication Date: February 17, 2015
Pages in book: 270
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

After two acclaimed story collections, Laura van den Berg brings us Find Me, her highly anticipated debut novel–a gripping, imaginative, darkly funny tale of a young woman struggling to find her place in the world.
Joy has no one. She spends her days working the graveyard shift at a grocery store outside Boston and nursing an addiction to cough syrup, an attempt to suppress her troubled past. But when a sickness that begins with memory loss and ends with death sweeps the country, Joy, for the first time in her life, seems to have an advantage: she is immune. When Joy’s immunity gains her admittance to a hospital in rural Kansas, she sees a chance to escape her bleak existence. There she submits to peculiar treatments and follows seemingly arbitrary rules, forming cautious bonds with other patients–including her roommate, whom she turns to in the night for comfort, and twin boys who are digging a secret tunnel.
As winter descends, the hospital’s fragile order breaks down and Joy breaks free, embarking on a journey from Kansas to Florida, where she believes she can find her birth mother, the woman who abandoned her as a child. On the road in a devastated America, she encounters mysterious companions, cities turned strange, and one very eerie house. As Joy closes in on Florida, she must confront her own damaged memory and the secrets she has been keeping from herself.

My rating: 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I saw this book at the Terryville Library and I had seen it in one of the recent Book Page publications I think so I thought I would try it. This book was interesting from the start, with a description of an epidemic that has swept the nation, wiping out much of the population in its path. Silver blisters begin appearing on a person’s skin and then their memory starts to go, to the point where they forget what a job or a house or a hand is. Their mind gets eaten away until the person can no longer function and they end up dying. This disease is spread through any kind of human contact, but mysteriously certain people who come into contact with it don’t succumb to the sickness. Joy is one of these lucky few. She came into contact early on in the epidemic but never came down with any symptoms.
Its because of this that she ends up at the Hospital, where Dr. Bek is studying various individuals to try and discover a cure to the sickness. Due to a strange series of events, Joy ends up escaping from the hospital to try and find her mother who abandoned her when she was only a month old. Joy is only about 20 years old by the time she leaves the Hospital but she’s already seen a lot of tragedy and hardship in life.
A lot of weird $h!t happens in this book. The story line was so extremely interesting and the idea behind the book was really thought provoking. After the epidemic ends many survivors end up killing themselves, some out of anger that they survived when their families didn’t and some because they just can’t manage to live in the America that’s developed as a result of the epidemic. The after effects seem to come in waves, the tragedy creating a ripple effect throughout the nation. Other weird stuff happens too. I don’t want to give away too much of the book so I can’t describe all the weird stuff that happens. This book was really interesting, but I have to be honest its not my usual kind of book. It was dark and heavy and weird and thought-provoking and interesting and weird all rolled into one big ball of interesting weird.

The bottom line: Very very interesting, a little dark though. Not exactly my style but I would recommend it.

Link to author website
Link to Amazon

11Apr2015

#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge – Weekly Update #2 April 11th

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Well another week has somehow slipped by. I am anxiously looking forward to the coming week since tax season is over in 4 more days and I will finally have more time for reading! I also have some fun vacations planned in the next couple months that I’m looking forward to. So anyways, I was able to get through 4 books this past week for the reading challenge: The Vintner’s Daughter, Cure for the Common Breakup, You’re So Fine, and Find Me (I finished it this morning so I will have the post up later today). The first 3 books I took out from the Bristol Public Library, and Find Me I borrowed from the Terryville Public Library.

So as part of the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge, there are optional weekly update posts. The topic for this week’s post is: Books you would like to suggest to your library. There have been a number of series and various books over the years that weren’t at my library that I wanted to read. That’s the great thing about CT libraries though, if my library doesn’t have a certain book I can look it up online and find out if another library in CT has it. I can then request that book and it is sent from the other library to my home library for me to borrow! Because of that, there haven’t been too many books over the years that I wasn’t able to find at the library. And for the handful of books that weren’t at any libraries that I could find, I would go to Barnes & Noble and buy the book and then donate it to my library once I finished it! Great system I think.

That being said, my home library usually ends up having the majority of the books that I’m looking for. Partly because I have similar reading interests to some of the librarians and also because they try to order things that they know the patrons will take out (even sometimes specifically me!). So with that in mind, below are a few of the books/series that I have looked for at my home library over the years and have been surprised that they didn’t have as well as a few I’d like to read from my TBR list that they don’t have:

1. The Fairy Tale series by Eloisa James

I thought that this was a really popular series and I was a little surprised that my library didn’t have the series! Especially since there are a lot of romance readers at my library.

2. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

This looks like a good teen series and those tend to be popular at my library.

3. The Great Beanie Baby Bubble by Zac Bissonnette

BEANIE BABIES WERE AWESOME! Every library should have this book, its so relevant to real life.

4. The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford

To be honest I think my library might have gotten this book in the last couple days but I haven’t seen it there yet. This looks like a great book!

9Apr2015

2015 Book #29 – You’re So Fine by Kieran Kramer

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Contemporary romance, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: You’re So Fine
Author: Kieran Kramer
Date finished: 4/8/15
Genre: Contemporary romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date: December 30, 2014
Pages in book: 395
Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Blurb from the cover:

CAN THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME…
Lacey Clark’s dreams of Hollywood stardom didn’t turn out quite the way she planned. Instead, her life is more of the daytime-drama variety: One of her actor ex-boyfriends fathered a child with another　woman, and now, long story short, Lacey is the adopted single mother of his son. She takes little Henry with her to South Carolina to escape the film business but winds up working at a small movie studio,　determined　to do a good job both on set and at “home.” Only problem is she ends up sharing a house with movie star Beau Wilder, who is no role model for Henry—and only spells trouble for Lacey…
LEAD TO A HAPPY ENDING?Beau is arguably the most gorgeous man on the planet—and a known ladies’ man. His wealthy Lowcountry pedigree is rivaled only by his bad-boy charm, a combination that proves irresistible for Lacey. And he adores Henry! If they weren’t both on a movie set, their lives would seem too good to be true…unless the chemistry—not to mention the burning attraction—between them is real, and Hollywood’s golden boy is actually falling for this sassy single mom? When it comes to love, sometimes you just have to throw out the script…

My rating: 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I saw this book at the Bristol Library and I had added it to my TBR list in January (this book was one of my featured “Friday Finds” on Jan 23. At first I found it difficult to really get into the story of this book. I ended up liking it overall but there were a lot of things that I wasn’t a huge fan of. Some of the scenes were hard to follow along with and honestly some of them I thought didn’t really fit. The flow was a little off with some of the book and it made it hard to fully connect with the characters I think. Also, I thought it was a little wordy, it was a pretty long book.
There were also a lot of things about this story that I liked, Henry was a total sweetheart and I found it really touching how amazingly devoted Lacey was to him even though she wasn’t his birth mother. I wasn’t really feeling Beau’s character at the beginning (he was honestly kind of an ass) but by the end I was more fond of him.

The bottom line: Story was ok, not sure I would necessarily recommend but I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading it either.

Link to author website
Link to Amazon

7Apr2015

2015 Book #28 – Cure for the Common Breakup by Beth Kendrick

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Black Dog Bay series, Book reviews, Book series, Reading Challenges, Women's fiction by rebeccabook17

Title: Cure for the Common Breakup
Author: Beth Kendrick
Date finished: 4/6/15
Genre: Women’s fiction
Publisher: NAL
Publication Date: May 6, 2014
Pages in book: 299
Stand alone or series: Black Dog Bay series #1

Blurb from the cover:

Welcome to Black Dog Bay, a tiny seaside town in Delaware known as “the best place in America to bounce back from your breakup.” Home to the Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, the Eat Your Heart Out bakery, and the Whinery bar, Black Dog Bay offers a haven for the suddenly single.
Flight attendant Summer Benson lives by two rules: Don’t stay with the same man for too long and never stay in one place. She’s about to break rule number one by considering accepting her boyfriend’s proposal—then disaster strikes and her world is shattered in an instant.
Summer heads to Black Dog Bay, where the locals welcome her. Even Hattie Huntington, the town’s oldest, richest, and meanest resident, likes her enough to give her a job. Then there’s Dutch Jansen, the rugged, stoic mayor, who’s the opposite of her type. She probably shouldn’t be kissing him. She definitely shouldn’t be falling in love.
After a lifetime of globe-trotting, Summer has finally found a home. But Hattie has old scores to settle and a hidden agenda for her newest employee. Summer finds herself faced with an impossible choice: Leave Black Dog Bay behind forever, or stay with the ones she loves and cost them everything….

My rating: 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I saw this book at the Bristol Library and I have had it on my TBR list for a while so I picked it up. This book is about a brassy flight attendant who has serious commitment issues. She ends up in Black Dog Bay, Delaware to try to heal after a slightly traumatic experience. It is there that she meets Dutch, the Mayor of Black Dog Bay.
There were a lot of things that I liked about this story, the town is cute and kind of quirky cute. The town is known for being the town to go to after a bad breakup, and many of the businesses cater to the recently broken-hearted. It all started with a woman who came to the town a long time ago after her husband left her and when she hit her rock bottom lowest on the beach she was saved by a large black dog. The ghost of this dog is still rumored to roam the beach, saving women from heartache and all that jazz.
This was a cute, light story. A tiny bit too light for me (I couldn’t really get in deep enough with the characters) but it was enjoyable and touching. I will most likely read the next book in the Black Dog Bay series.

The bottom line: Very cute story, sweet and touching. Would recommend.

Link to author website
Link to Amazon

5Apr2015

2015 Book #27 – The Vintner’s Daughter by Kristen Harnisch

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, Book reviews, Fiction, Historical fiction, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

Title: The Vintner’s Daughter
Author: Kristen Harnisch
Date finished: 4/5/15
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication Date: August 15, 2014
Pages in book: 355
Stand alone or series: Rumored to be the first of a future series on winemaking through the centuries

Blurb from the cover:

Loire Valley, 1895. When seventeen-year-old Sara Thibault’s father is killed in a mudslide, her mother sells their vineyard to a rival family whose eldest son marries Sara’s sister, Lydia. But a violent tragedy compels Sara and her sister to flee to New York, forcing Sara to put aside her dream to follow in her father’s footsteps as a master winemaker. Meanwhile, Philippe Lemieux has arrived in California with the ambition of owning the largest vineyard in Napa by 1900. When he receives word of his brother’s death in France, he resolves to bring the killer to justice. Sara has travelled to California in hopes of making her own way in the winemaking world. When she encounters Philippe in a Napa vineyard, they are instantly drawn to one another, but Sara knows he is the one man who could return her family’s vineyard to her, or send her straight to the guillotine. This riveting tale of betrayal, retribution, love, and redemption, Kristen Harnisch’s debut novel immerses readers in the rich vineyard culture of both the Old and New Worlds, the burgeoning cities of late nineteenth-century America and a spirited heroine’s fight to determine her destiny.

My rating: 4.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count for the challenge I am participating in for April, the #ReadingMyLibrary reading challenge. I saw this book at the Bristol Library and thought it might be interesting. I have found over the past few years that I have a fascination with wine, I have taken a number classes to learn more about the different kinds of grapes and the winemaking process. So I picked this book up due to it being about wine. It turned out to be just fantastic. It was very well-paced, I can honestly day I wasn’t bored once. It had everything you could like in a novel; murder, love, family, death, new birth. This book is rumored to be the first in a series about winemaking throughout the last century, and I honestly just can not wait for this author to publish her next novel. This book was so good, I was hooked on the story pretty much from the beginning and I couldn’t let go. The characters came alive for me and I would get so engrossed in the story that I would have trouble dragging my mind back to reality. The descriptions of the rolling hillsides of Napa as well as the description of the Saint Martin vineyard in France (Loire Valley) was just beautiful. Very good novel.

The bottom line: LOVED this book! Love love love, can’t wait for her to publish her next one. I can not say enough good things about this book.

Link to author website
Link to Amazon

4Apr2015

#ReadingMyLibrary Challenge – Weekly Update April 4th

Posted in #ReadingMyLibrary Reading Challenge, 2015, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by rebeccabook17

As part of the #ReadingMyLibrary challenge, there are optional weekly update posts. This week’s topic is to talk a little about your library. Unfortunately I haven’t yet been able to finish any books for the challenge, this weekend is a busy church weekend for me. I hope to read two books in the next week though and I should have a lot more free time after April 15th (I’m an accountant during the day). Also as a side note if anyone is still interested in signing up, there is still time! You can sign up here until April 15th.

The Terryville Public Library is one of my absolute favorite places. Terryville is a relatively small town, pretty much just a blip on the map, but I think our library has a great selection of books and very good resources as well. I was fortunate enough to work at the library when I was in high school and I loved every minute of it. I have always loved reading so working at the library was a perfect fit for me. Stacking the shelves introduced me to a great number of books of all kinds.

When I went away to college, my home library was too far away to go to as regularly as I would like. So I began going to different libraries in the area to see what kind of book selections they had available. This taught me about my great love for not only my home base but all libraries. I love going to new libraries and exploring the different book selections and seeing all the different set-ups. There was one library up near school that I used to study at a lot. It had huge windows so there was a lot of natural light and they left out puzzles on the tables that people could do. It was this library that made me realize that libraries are hubs of the community. They are used not only for finding a book to read but are used for a great variety of resources and social outlets.

Getting back to my home base library, Terryville Library has a personal connection for me. When I was younger, my mother pointed out a portrait hanging in the library stairwell and told me that one of our relatives had been the head librarian at this library. Her name was Dorothy B. Wilcox, and she is my great-great aunt (there may be more or less greats in here, not exactly sure on the number of greats). Below are her portrait and a brief history of the Terryville Public Library, in which she is mentioned.

From the Terryville Public library Website:

History of the Terryville Public Library 1895 – 2015

The beginning of the Terryville Library dates back to 1839, during the Presidency of Martin Van Buren, when thirty citizens of the Town of Plymouth organized a private subscription library. The records of the Terryville Lyceum Library show that it flourished for twenty years. Shortly after the Civil War, interest dwindled. In 1891 the record ends. At that time, a group of far-sighted townspeople were determined that Terryville should have a free library. Miss Gertrude Ells was appointed librarian at 25 dollars a year and the Terryville Free Public Library was born. Shortly afterward , the Lyceum Library donated all of its books to the new library. The collection was housed in the court room in the town hall. In 1922, when the Terryville Public Library opened the door of the new colonial building, the head librarian was still Miss Gertrude Ells, who had as her assistant Mrs. Dorothy Wilcox. Miss Ells was succeeded in 1926 by Miss M. Gertrude Fenn, whose ancestors had been original subscribers of the Lyceum Library. Mrs. Nelly Baldwin was librarian from 1931 to 1938, succeeded by Mrs. Dorothy Wilcox. Mrs. Wilcox retired in 1964 after forty-two years of service and was succeeded by Mrs. John Cox, whose father James Murphy, was a member of the 1895 committee as well as the library building committee. She resigned in 1970 and was succeeded by Georgiana Miloenson who served until 1972. Mrs. Joyce Reid took office in 1972. The book collection in 1922 was roughly five thousand and is now numbered twenty thousand. In 1975 an addition was added to the present library and dedicated on February 22, 1976. This addition provided over 8,000 square feet to the to the original library. Between 1978 and 2006 there were four head librarians; Barbara Brown, Sandra Miranda, Frances Rice and Sharon LaCourse. Lynn White was appointed Director of the Terryville Public Library in January 2007. Portions were adapted from Plymouth, Connecticut 1776-1976 by J. Francis Ryan.