By Riley Fontana
Hometown Weekly Reporter
“Mocktails and Must Reads” is a special after-hours event for patrons of the Westwood Public Library (WPL) that allows readers an early jump on fall books. Participants are also given early access to the Friends of the Library book sale.
The night began with the reopening of the library as patrons mingled about picking up their fall-themed mocktails. Everyone made their way up to the book sale room on the second floor and began to pick out novels for themselves and those in their lives. The book sale is organized into genres as well as a wall for puzzles and games which makes finding what people enjoy easier.
After some shopping and mingling everyone moved into the community room for fall book recommendations from the library staff, each member gave six book suggestions with trivia sprinkled in between each speaker. Book suggestions were kept quick and snappy to entice those in the audience to go out and pick up copies for themselves.
Lizzy suggested readers try “The Night Guest” by Hildur Knútsdóttir, an Icelandic horror novel about a young woman struggling to sleep. Kristy recommended “So Thirsty” by Rachel Harrison, a non-traumatizing vampire novel about two women and one life-changing night out. Julia suggested, “Model Home” by Rivers Soloman which she summed up as “Discovering what's scarier if the house is haunted or if the house was never haunted.”
Up next was Caroline who recommended “The Hitchcock Hotel” by Stephanie Wrobel, a novel about an Alfred Hitchcock fanatic and his brand new hotel. Liz really enjoyed “The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco” by Michelle Chouinard which was described as “It’s not a thriller, it’s a cozy mystery.” All of these recommendations and many more can be found in the “Books to Fall for” booklets available at the library. There are recommendations for every genre, but librarians are also able to suggest more tailored book ideas for patrons.
“Mocktails and Must Reads” was a great kick-off to fall reading for the Westwood Public Library. Supported by the Friends of the Library and their book sale, this event gave everyone a longer to-be-read list than they walked in with. The book sale is open to all patrons on the last Saturday of every month.
