Et Cetera

I love when my holds appear on the @libby.app after months of waiting! Ottessa Moshfegh's 'My Year of Rest and Relaxation' was a strange read and worth the wait. Set in the early 2000's and even ending with the Twin Towers collapse, a young woman tries to escape depression, grief, and the nastiness of her own character by over-medicating with prescription pills.

The Charles and Helen Yundt Charitable Foundation is accepting applications for the 2025 Traditional and Non-Traditional scholarship program. Recipients will receive a minimum scholarship of $1,000.00. There may be several scholarships awarded.The qualifications for the scholarship are:1. Attends or attended the Vinton-Shellsburg High School2. Has financial need3.

This month I read 'The Frozen River' by Ariel Lawhon, my selection for our library's Community Book Club. Set in late-1700's Maine, we meet Martha Ballard, a powerhouse of a woman, mother, and midwife. In the story, Martha provides expert testimony during a rape trial, is compelled to seek answers on a suspicious death, helps deliver dozens of infants, and narrates all this and more through diary entries that give readers a glimpse of what life was like during this time in our nation's past.

A LaPorte City student is among 34 Iowans nominated for acceptance to U.S. military academies by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.Brayden Bohnsack, La Porte City, was nominated to enter the United States Air Force Academy during the 2025-26 academic year.“I’m honored to nominate these 34 extraordinary Iowans to our nation’s prestigious military academies,” Grassley said in a news release.

I recently read 'The Bletchley Riddle' by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. If you want to read a historical fiction book, I don't know what better team there could be, other than Sepetys and Sheinkin. Both authors love history and writing for middle grade and young adult. They also are very decorated with many awards and achievements! 'The Bletchley Riddle' is a "middle grade historical adventure that follows two siblings at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers, as they try to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother’s death.

I'm currently reading 'The Blue Sisters' by Coco Mellors, which explores topics I've been gravitating towards recently: grief after the loss of a family member, coping mechanisms (which often lead to self-medicating,) and family addiction. I don't know if it's the holiday season or the fact that several family members have passed away unexpectedly in the last few months, but I want to read about the sad bits of life and Mellors is delivering so far.

Upper Iowa University is pleased to announce July and August 2024 graduates and their respective degrees/honors. Local graduates are as follows:July 2024 GraduatesLori Marie HugLa Porte City, IABachelor of ScienceCommunication StudiesMagna Cum LaudeTia Layne HunterVan Horne, IABachelor of SciencePsychologyCum Laude MeritumAugust 2024 GraduatesAmy L

VPL Note: We have a large selection of books by Jan Brett in our Children's Library, including her latest title 'Alice in A Winter Wonderland.' Check them out today!"With over forty-one million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up.

I have finally found a book that showcases the true wretchedness complete and utter heartbreak can cause after the sudden, unexpected ending of love. And the hilarity beneath it all! Dolly Alderton's ‘Good Material’ is a book I wish I had read during my divorce: I might have come out of it a little less injured.Alderton knows her way through the warped landscape of love and loss and writes with such humor that I found myself laughing and crying throughout each chapter to the point of absurdity.