Archive | March, 2020

“You Need to Go From Wanting to Change Your Life to Deciding To Change Your Life”: You are a Badass by Jen Sincero

30 Mar

You Are a Badass
If you’re at home and in the mood to read but don’t know what, then look no further, and check out the large selection of E-book resources at your local Hoboken Public Library. You can download our free online apps that are available with your library card. We offer many online resources and apps such as Libby and Hoopla. It’s easy; all you need to do is download the free app and then sign in using your library card (and for some your four digit pin for your password.) Libby is a great app available for eLibraryNJ and eBCCLS for all new E-books and audiobooks from the New York Times best sellers list. We also, offer Hoopla, an essential app, similar to Netflix expect you get twenty free check outs currently a month. Hoopla includes E-books, audiobooks, movies, and music! The best part is that it’s all free with you Hoboken Public Library card. So if your stuck at home just download the free apps today, you won’t regret it.

If you want a book that helps you to achieve personal growth and a lot of happiness, then check out You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero. Sincero talks about her personal and inspiring stories surrounding how she got through her struggles. She gives advice on how you can improve your life with meditation. By the way, when I started doing meditation once a day, it helped me with my stress. She talks about how you should always love yourself first and how you should let go of the past even though it will be hard. It is small steps with the result of a better you. She writes about how you can reflect on your everyday actions. I like that she always has a story to tell and it helps because you can relate to the many different situations. So, if you want a funny story to laugh and you want to start making changes in your life, I highly recommend this book. I can say from experience that I meditate now (before I did not) and I feel like a happier person and for that I am truly grateful for this book. So thank you Jen Sincero! I am going to highly recommend this book and give it four out of five stars because I feel like I have made a personal change in my life.  If you liked the book you can also checkout her books You Are a Badass at Making Money and You are a Badass Everyday along with the original from eBCCLS and eLibraryNJ.  It is available on Hoopla as a digital audiobook.

Written By
Michelle Valle
Circulation Assistant

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Writing Prompt: Create a Story About a Famous Author

27 Mar


A great story has well developed characters; even a hero has flaws and even the worst bad guy has sympathetic qualities. Many authors write about historic characters and must extrapolate from details about how that person lived their life and documents like letters that they left behind, what their motivations and beliefs were. Some of my favorite characters out there are based on authors.   Joyce Carole Oates has a whole short story collection, Wild Nights!, featuring stories about significant moments in the lives of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway.

For today’s exercise think about an author and positive and negatives qualities they would have. Think what types of language they would use when speaking to others and how they would interact with the world around them. What would they choose to eat, what music would you have them listen to, how would they dress in private and public?

You can do some research online. For New Jersey residents, I recommend checking out The Literary Reference Center, which you can access with your Hoboken or other New Jersey Library Card thanks to the New Jersey State Library and the Institute for Museum and Library Services. I did some research on Poe and learned from the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, that “Poe’s literary executor, R. W. Griswold, overemphasized Poe’s personal faults and distorted his letters. Poe was a complex person, tormented and alcoholic yet also considerate and humorous, a good friend, and an affectionate husband” (p1-2). That’s given me an idea for a darkly funny short story featuring him.  I’m not the only one that thinks Poe is great inspiration; you can check out The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard and The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl to see how authors have incorporated him into their fiction.

Once you have spent some time creating your character portrait, you may already have some story ideas, but if not think of what situations you could put your historic author in that would highlight some of the traits and behaviors you have learned about. Your story could involve them being a writer or instead focus on something completely outside their writing life.

What author would you chose to write about? Share them in our comments. Also let us know if you would be interested in connecting with other writers in an online writing group. You can also reach me at hplwriters@gmail.com.

This is the second in our new blog post series of writing prompts. We will continue to share our favorite books and media with you earlier in the week, but now each Friday we are sharing writing prompts to get you creating your own great work! The stay at home order that is in effect for NJ (and similarly in many other states and countries) is the perfect time to start working on that novel or other piece of writing you usually do not have time for.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Head of Reference

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