March 31, 2023 - Winter Reading Numbers

Another Thursday, another snow storm. Another Saturday, another 10 inches of snow.  Winter can’t seem to get the hint that it should go away. Now!   The Winter Reading Program has been finished for enough time for us to have gathered the statistics.  Some of which are detailed below. During the 2021-2022 Winter Reading Program there were 138 participants. Those participants read 9,979 books. Donations of Dragon Dollars to the Dane County Humane Society, the National Eagle Center, the DeForest Area Needs Network (D.A.N.N.) and the DeForest Area Public Library’s Endowment totaled $925.  During this year’s 2022-2023 Winter Reading Program, There were 170 participants (a 23% increase) read an astonishing 12,043 books (a 21% increase).  Donations to the UW Urban Canid Project, the library’s Endowment, D.A.N.N., and the Humane Society totaled $1,109 (an increase of almost 20%).  All in all, this was a very successful program for a winter that has yet to end.

And while we’re waiting for winter to truly, completely, absolutely end, we are also waiting for the spring book titles to appear. Below are the paltry few titles that arrived this past week. Enjoy!

New Non-Fiction

New Fiction

“On the Line: A Riveting Novel of Suspense” by Fern Michaels. Mateo Castillo is a rising star chef on the Manhattan culinary scene. But just as he’s about to reap the rewards of his skill and hard work by being featured on a major TV cooking competition, Mateo collapses in his restaurant’s kitchen—and regains consciousness in a hospital emergency room. the test results threaten to uncover a dark secret that exposes his family to dangers from the past—while clouding the investigation into who is trying to hurt Mateo in the present . . .

“Loyalty” by Lisa Scottoline.  Readers will be transported to the dramatic and ruggedly beautiful island of Sicily, the jewel of the Mediterranean, where lush lemon groves and mouth-watering cuisine contrast with a turbulent history of colonization and corruption. Scottoline brings her decades of thriller writing to historical fiction, creating in Loyalty a singular novel that no reader will be able to put down.

“Hiss and Tell: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery (Book 31)” by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown.
When a series of mysterious deaths spoil the Christmas season in Crozet, Virginia, Mary Minor “Harry” Harristeen and her beloved cats and dogs lend the police a helping paw in this exciting holiday mystery from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown.

New Titles Possibly Appropriate for April Fools’ Day (Generated by Bard the AI interface of Google) Which will never appear on our shelves:

  • “How to Be Invisible “This book is actually just a blank page.
  • “How to Read Minds” This book is full of instructions on how to read minds, but they are all just gibberish – because that’s what one’s mind looks like to someone else?
  • “How to Be Happy” This book is full of advice on how to be happy, but it's all just empty promises.

Then I asked for titles appropriate for April Fool’s Day without “How to” in the title and got:

  • “1001 Ways to Prank Your Friends”
  • “The Art of the Prank”
  • “The Pranks That Made Me Famous”  

Bard very seriously explained that on April Fool’s Day people play pranks on their friends so the above are very appropriate titles. 


Then I asked for titles with authors and got:

  • "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Being a Genius" by Dr. Albert Einstein.
  • "How to Lose Weight and Keep It Off" by Cookie Monster.
  • "The 7 Habits of Highly Rhyming People" by Dr. Seuss.
  • "The Art of Cooking Chicken" by General Tso.
  • "The 4-Hour Life" by Tim Ferriss.

Bard has a quirky sense of humor – obviously.

Public Service Announcement: Brian, the library’s mischievous elf, will not be available for pranking on April Fools’ Day due to an unfortunate indoor-tobogganing accident. All books escaped with their pages intact.

Tangentially, chickens will no longer be available for checkout at the library. 

Happy April Fool’s Day! 

If you would care to reserve any of the first three titles listed, give us a call at 846-5482 and have your library card handy or visit our website at www.deforestlibrary.org!  The library is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.  Can’t make it in when we’re open?  Call and ask about our electronic locker system