Episode Transcript
[00:00:17] Speaker A: Greetings readers. Welcome to the first January edition of Library News. Welcome to 2026. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and your new year is off to a good start.
This month we discuss the new programming for 2026 Bard Top 10 Fiction, the Braille Challenge and much more.
Three new programs are starting this month.
First up is our Virtual Coffee Hour. Shake off the winter chill and brighten your day with our cozy Virtual Coffee Hour held on Zoom.
Join us for a relaxing, conversation filled break where you can sip your favorite warm drink, connect with others and enjoy a little lift during the colder months.
This informal gathering is the perfect chance to unwind, share stories, meet new people and feel part of a friendly community all from the comfort of home. Bring your coffee, tea, cocoa or whatever warms your hands and heart.
Whether you're looking for company, conversation or just a cheerful way to start your day, our Virtual Coffee Hour is here to help you beat the winter blues. We can't wait to see you there.
Starting January 6, 2026, virtual coffee hour will be held every Tuesday at 10am and Friday at 2pm until the end of February.
Contact the library to get the Zoom link or call in number or go to IowaLibrary blog. No registration necessary.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Next is a music introduction and exploration class for youth ages 8 through 14.
Join instructors from the Philheman M. D' Agostino Greenberg Music School for an eight week course that will include a mix of theory, listening, analysis and performance as students engage with music that interests them while also exploring new genres. Beginning January 15th and running through March 5th. It will take place every Thursday from 5:30pm to 6:30pm via Zoom. The class is free, but spots are limited. Contact the library to get signed up.
[00:02:08] Speaker C: And of course we have the return of Peekabox. Get ready to explore the globe one city at a time.
We invite you to travel through the pages of exciting books set in Olympic host cities from around the world. Each month, participating patrons will receive a cartridge of specially curated books set in that month's Olympic host city and a sticker to stamp the passport they will receive with their first box.
As the year unfolds, readers will build their passports, fill them with stamps and discover new cultures, iconic locations and inspiring stories connected to the legacy of the Olympic Games.
Contact the library to get signed up or go to www.iowalibrary.blog.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Now for the top 10 fiction books downloaded from Bard the judges list DB 105337 by John Grisham Lacey Stoltz from the Whistler DB86026, is thinking about leaving the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct when she's contacted by Jerry Crosby.
Jerry's father was murdered 20 years ago and believes a current judge was behind it. Lacey must discover the truth.
Edge of a thriller DB131455 by Brad Thor after six months abroad, America's Top Spy returns to a new administration, a new set of global priorities, and a power struggle the likes of which the United States has never experienced.
Drawn into a web of deceit and deadly politics, Scott Harvath is thrust into a high stakes conspiracy that could change the course of history.
A cabal of shadowy elites is maneuvering for control, and if they succeed, they will bring the country to its knees. When trust is fleeting and survival means making impossible decisions, Harvath finds himself at the precipice. The actions he takes will shape the future of America and might cost him everything he holds dear.
With enemies at every turn, one wrong move could push the nation over the edge.
The list DB131793 by Steve Barry After a 10 year self imposed exile, Brent Walker is returning home to Concord, a quaint town in central Georgia nestled close to the Savannah River.
Two years ago his father died, and now Brent, hired by Southern Republic Pulp and Paper Company as its assistant general counsel, is returning to care for his ailing mother. For decades, Southern Republic has invested heavily in Concord, creating a thriving community where its employees live, work and retire.
But the genteel sheen of this quiet town is deceiving, and when a list of cryptic code surfaces, Brent starts to see the cracks. Southern Republic's success is based largely on a highly unorthodox and deadly system to control costs known only to the three owners of the company.
Now one of them, Christopher Bozen, has had a change of heart.
Brent's return to Concord, a move Bozen personally orchestrated, provides his conscience with a chance at redemption. So a plan is set into motion, one that will not only criminally implicate Bozen's two partners, but also place Brent Walker square in the crosshairs of men who want him dead. With only one course left available, find and reveal the shocking secret of the list.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: The Asheville Christmas Cabin DB 131463 by Hope Holloway and Cecelia Scott when the Chamber sisters receive an invitation for their jet setting aunt to spend the entire month of December at the family's cabin in Asheville, North Carolina, they have one question. Why. The retreat, tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains, may be the site of many happy childhood holidays and summers, but it also holds sad memories. The sisters and their aunt have spent 25 years avoiding the cabin and renting it to strangers. Why would Aunt Elizabeth want her dearest, darling nieces to put their busy lives in three different states on hold and spend a month in the mountains?
Eve, Angie and Noel, triplets born on Christmas Day, owe their very lives to their aunt, and they agree they must go.
Once there, not only do they learn to let go of the past and embrace a bright future, but they all start to see their lives in a new way. Big city girl Noelle comes face to face with her first love, and feelings for this single dad are strong, tempting her with a small town lifestyle that she never imagined she'd embrace. Eve, a stressed out mother of three, revels in the change of scenery and begins to learn the art of letting go of complete control.
And when Angie's rocky marriage truly cracks, she finds a new kind of joy with a connection to the past and a reconnection with her daughter. Can one Christmas in Asheville change everything? THE Palm beach murders Thrillers DB130268 by James Patterson, Tim Arnold, James O. Bourne and Duane Swartinski Palm beach doesn't just have billionaires, yachts and private planes. It also has the best murder plots money can buy.
This is three books in one in let's play make believe. Chrissy and Martin don't believe in love at first sight, and certainly not on a first date. But from the instant they lock eyes, life becomes a sexy romantic dream come true. That is, until they start playing a strangely intense game of make believe. A game that's about to go too far. In Nooners, everyone who knows Tim says he's a good guy, but the popular advertising exec has a problem.
A lot of the people who know him are getting murdered, and by the time he figures out why, Tim won't feel so good anymore. In Stingrays, a teenager goes missing on a Caribbean beach and the local police are baffled. It's up to the Stingrays, a world class team that solves the unsolvable to unearth the truth. A truth that no one will believe.
The Unraveling of Julia A Psychological Thriller DB1301460 by Elisa Scottaline Lately, Julia Prinsker is beginning to think she's cursed. She's lost her adoptive parents. Then her husband is murdered by when she realizes that her horoscope essentially foretold his death, she begins to spiral. She fears her fate is written in the stars, not held in her own hands. Then a letter arrives out of the blue informing her that she has inherited a Tuscan villa and vineyard. But her benefactor is a total stranger named Amelia Rossi. Julia has no information about her biological family, so she wonders if Rossi could be a blood relative. Bewildered, she heads to Tuscany for answers.
There, Julia is horrified to discover that Rossi was a paranoid recluse with delusions of grandeur who believed herself to be a descendant of the Duchess Caterina Sforza, a legendary Renaissance ruler. Julia is stunned by her uncanny resemblance to Rossi and even to Catarina. Then she unearths eerie parallels between them, including an obsession with astrology.
Before long, Julia suspects she's being followed. And a strange thing begins to happen.
Not even a chance meeting with a handsome Florentine can ease her disturbed mind. When events turn deadly, she breaks with reality. Julia's harrowing struggle becomes a search for her identity, a race to save her sanity, and ultimately, a question of her very survival. She didn't see it coming. DB 131459 by Shari Lapena. When a beloved wife and mother disappears, a luxurious condo building transforms into a potential crime scene. And the investigation begins. Can the detectives find her before it's too late? Bryden and Sam have it all. Thriving careers, a small apartment in a luxury condominium, supportive friends and a cherished daughter. The perfect life for the perfect couple. Then Sam receives a call at his office.
Bryden, working from home that day, has failed to collect their daughter from daycare. Arriving home with their little girl, he finds his wife's car in the underground garage upstairs in their apartment. Her laptop is open on the table, her cell phone nearby, her keys in their usual place in the hall. Except Bryden is nowhere to be seen. It's as if she just walked out. How can she have disappeared from her own home? And did she even leave the building at all? With every minute that passes, and as questions swirl around their community, Bryden and Sam's past seems a little less perfect. Their condominium a little less safe.
Their friends, neighbors and relatives no longer quite so reliable.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: Unscrewed DBC 32231 by Louis Greenman. When homicide detective Jack Rivera is accused of murdering his ex girlfriend who left him for his wealthy father, psychologist Christina McMullen is determined to clear his name. As she digs into the victim's past and high powered connections, she uncovers dangerous secrets that that could prove Rivera's innocence or put her in the killer's sights.
An Inside job A Novel DB 131804 by Daniel Silva Sometimes the only way to recover a stolen masterpiece is to steal it back Gabriel Allen has been awarded a commission to restore one of the most important paintings in Venice.
But when he discovers the body of a mysterious woman floating in the waters of of the Venetian lagoon, he finds himself in a desperate race to recover a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting, a portrait of a beautiful young girl, has been gathering dust in a storeroom at the Vatican Museums for more than a century, misattributed and hidden beneath a worthless picture by an unknown artist because no one knows that the Leonardo is there. No one notices when it disappears one night during a suspicious power outage. No one but the ruthless mobsters and moneymen behind the theft and the mysterious woman whom Gabriel found in a watery grave in Venice, a woman without a face. The action moves at breakneck speed from the galleries and auction houses of London to an enclave of unimaginable wealth on the French Riviera, and finally to a shocking climax in St Peter's Square, where the life of a pope hangs in the balance.
Framed in death DB13, 1970 by JD Robb Manhattan is filled with galleries and deep pocketed collectors who can make an artist's career with a wave of a hand.
But one man toils in obscurity, his brilliance unrecognized, while lesser talents bask in the glory he believes should be his.
Come tomorrow, he vows, the city will be buzzing about his work. Indeed, before dawn, Lieutenant Eve Dallas is speeding towards the home of the two gallery owners whose doorway has been turned into a horrifying crime scene. Overnight. A lifeless young woman has been elaborately costumed and precisely posed to resemble the model of a long ago Dutch master, and Dallas plunges into her investigation Save.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: The date for the 2026 Braille Challenge the Iowa Regional Braille Challenge will be held Saturday, February 14, 20, 2026 at the Iowa Department for the Blind.
Braille readers in grades one through 12 from Iowa will gather to test their Braille skills in five reading comprehension, Braille spelling charts and graphs, reading proofreading, and Braille speed and accuracy.
Again this year there will be a foundational group which welcomes students at any grade level, including preschool and kindergarten to participate.
So no matter your Braille skills, please please join us for this fun day of Braille. Winners of the Iowa Regional Braille Challenge may go on to compete in the national finals in California.
The theme for 2026 is Love Braille. This year, following the competition, there will be a Valentine's party that will include crafts, snacks and fun. And we are also celebrating our 20th year as a regional Braille Challenge host.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: Site Join Us for Makerspace Monday on Monday, January 12th from 6 to 7:15pm you can join us in person or via Zoom. This month, banish the winter chill with a burst of color and touch. Join friends at the library for a hands on session where we'll melt crayons into dazzling sun catchers and handcrafted bookmarks. We'll enjoy a delicious hot cocoa bar and warm up the conversation with our fun Pass the Snowball Prompt Toss while learning all about January fun facts. All ages are welcome. You can find the link to register on our blog at IowaLibrary blog or call the library and we can help you get registered. For any questions about Makerspace Mondays, contact Denise bean at Denise Beanind State IA US or 515-452-1338.
[00:14:45] Speaker C: A special edition of the National Library Service program the Many Faces of Bard will be held on Tuesday, January 13th at 3pm Central Time.
The topic for the program will be Bard 2.0 an overview and the program will be conducted in Spanish. This means that the presentation will be in Spanish and all questions and answers will be in Spanish. NLS will resume English programming for the Many Faces of bard in February.
NLS's Smart speaking to the Smart speaker will be held Thursday, January 15th at 6pm and that all May Eread will be held on Tuesday, January 27th at 6:00pm all programs are held via Zoom and the topics for Smart Speaking to the Smart speaker and that All May Eread have not been released yet. Check out our blog, IowaLibrary blog for updated information.
Contact the library to get more information or go to www.loc.govnlS.
[00:15:44] Speaker A: The library will be closed on Monday, January 19th in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.
Please don't hesitate to contact the library with any questions or comments at 515-281-1323 or by email at librarylind state ia us. The library is open Monday through Friday, 8am to 4:30pm Happy read.
