Philbrick Hall at Parkway Central, Free Library of Philadelphia

Join us for a showing of French New Wave Does Americana – Three Films by Jean-Pierre Gorin on April 6 starting at noon:
After working with film luminary Jean-Luc Godard on his most groundbreaking work, Jean-Pierre Gorin left France in the mid-70s, and headed West to accept a teaching position at UC San Diego. While there, Gorin made a series of experimental documentaries that explore life in Southern California in all its alienating glory. In celebration of Phibrick Hall’s new acquisition of several hundred Criterion Collection films, Philbrick Hall will present a free film screening of three of Gorin’s seldom seen films: Poto and Cabengo, a film about impoverished twins who create their own language; My Crasy Life, a film featuring a Samoan street gang in Long Beach; and Routine Pleasures, a movie about members of a model train club who play with the real and imagined western landscapes. Light refreshments will be served.

Location: Room 108 at the Parkway Central Library
Movie Schedule: (Movies to be shown consecutively following timeline below.)
12:00 p.m.:Poto and Cabengo
1:20 p.m.:My Crasy Life
3:00 p.m.: Routine Pleasures

Tickets are free, reservations are not required.

Looking for a quiet place to read with others who share your passion for books? Come to the Silent Book Club! We will meet in comfy chairs in the BRIC this Thursday, March 21, at 5:30 p.m. and silently read for an hour. Bring your favorite book, or download an ebook or audio book from our online collection. Don’t have a book to bring? Choose a book, magazine, or graphic novel to read from the vast collections housed right here at the Central Library. Light refreshments will be served. For more information call us at 215-686-5320

Check out the First Annual Libby Award winners!

And the award goes to...The winners of the first Libby Book Awards Presenting the winners of the first annual Libby Book Awards, nominated and chosen by librarians, for the best books of 2023. Borrow in the Libby reading app!

Come browse our new "You're In Luck" collection. Hot books with no wait time!
If it's on the shelf you can grab it - two week loan period, two books at a time, no renewals, no holds.

Dena's Favorites 2023
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
Amina Al-Sirafi is living a life of quiet retirement after a career as the most infamous pirate on the Indian Ocean. When she’s persuaded to do one last simple job, it quickly becomes clear that the last thing she’s facing is simplicity.

The adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi : a novel "The first book of "a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman's determined quest to seize a final chance at glory--and write her own legend ... Amina al-Sirafi should be content. Af...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman
Billy is living a fine life as a music teacher and Margot is a reclusive former rock star he had a crush on when he was young. When Billy's son schemes to bring Margot into his dad's life, they both might realize that life could be so much more than what they have now.

Charm city rocks a love story "When a single dad meets the former rock star crush of his youth, everything they thought they knew about happiness and love is thrown into chaos in this hopeful, heartwarming romantic comedy Billy Perkins is happy. No, for real. It's kind of his thing, actually. And why wouldn't he b...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Behind the Scenes by Karelia Stetz-Waters
Business consultant Rose (who has a secret hobby) might be the only chance for filmmaker Ash to complete her last movie. And while their attraction is immediate, Ash's painful past might turn everything into a disaster.

Behind the scenes "Business consultant Rose Josten might not have officially reached "pug lady" middle age, but she's already got the pugs-along with their little Gucci coats and trash-lovin' appetites. Still, life is good, with her work, her sisters, and a secret hobby creating incredibly ta...

Dena's Favorites 2023
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles
When Gareth inherits a house and title from the father who abandoned him, he never expected to find that an old lover is also in Romney Marsh - the leader of a family of smugglers. Now old secrets and dangerous foes threaten them both.

The secret lives of country gentlemen "Bridgerton meets Poldark in this sweeping Regency romance of smugglers, adventure, mystery, and life-changing love from celebrated author KJ Charles. Abandoned by his father, Gareth Inglis grew up lonely, prickly, and well-used to disappointment. Still, he longs for a connection. When he meets...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
When lonely widow Vera Wong discovers a co**se in her tea shop, she takes it upon herself to solve the crime since the police clearly don't know what they're doing. Along the way the murder mystery becomes the catalyst for creating a found family that she didn't know she was missing.

Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers "Knives Out meets Kim's Convenience in this captivating mystery by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady--ah, lady of a certain age--who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite l...

Dena's Favorites 2023
The Marquis Who Mustn't by Courtney Milan
When Naomi Kwan invents a fake engagement, the last thing she expected was for the handsome stranger to play along. But Lui Ji Kai has his own reasons for the fraud, although the engagement might be the only thing that’s not a lie.

The Marquis who mustn't One good fraud deserves another... Miss Naomi Kwan has spent years wanting to take ambulance classes so that she can save lives. But when she tries to register, she's told she needs permission from the man in charge of her. It would be incredibly wrong to claim that the tall, taciturn Chinese n...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Rook by William Ritter
Abigail Rook is the new bridge between the supernatural and mortal world, but she has no idea what she's doing. The world isn't slowing down for her though, so she'll just have to figure it out as she goes. This is a standalone set in after the events of the Jackaby series, but you should really read the first books first.

Rook This standalone adventure set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Jackaby series brims with humor, heart, and--of course--a hefty dose of supernatural mayhem. Abigail Rook never intended to be the mortal bridge between the human and supernatural world. But now, the power of the Sight--and...

Dena'a Favorites 2023
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
A group of friends reunites over the years to honor a decades-old pact to throw each other living funerals in order to remind themselves that life is worth living and that their lives mean something, to one another if not to themselves.

The celebrants "It's been a minute--or five years--since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation when their adult lives officially began. Now Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle find themselves at the brink of a new decade, with all the responsibili...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
Celine and Bradley used to be best friends, but now they're arch rivals. When they’re made to work together while competing for a grand prize, they’re forced to confront their messy past and discover whether a new relationship can grow.

Highly suspicious and unfairly cute From the New York Times bestselling author of the Brown Sisters trilogy, comes a laugh-out-loud story about a quirky content creator and a clean-cut athlete testing their abilities to survive the great outdoors--and each other. Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He's a star football player,...

Dena's Favorites 2023
The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater
A sharp gothic fantasy/romance about a governess who’s more than she seems determined to steal her young charge back from the faeries.

The Witchwood Knot Olivia Atwater returns to the world of Half a Soul with "a sharp and beautiful gothic romance" (Alix E. Harrow). Dive into The Witchwood Knot, and enjoy a dark faerie tale set in a magical version of Victorian England. The faeries of Witchwood Manor have stolen its young lord. His governes...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Sweeten the Deal by Katie Shepard
This is the Sugar Daddy trope turned on it’s head - Caroline hires Adrian on an es**rt site so she can get a little culture (and he can get a lot of cash). This is a surprisingly sweet and thoroughly entertaining opposites attract romance.

Sweeten the deal "When a sugar-mama arrangement throws together two people who couldn't be more different, they soon discover how powerfully opposites attract in this charming new romance by Katie Shepard. MBA student Caroline Sedlacek realizes that her personal balance sheet is a little lopsided. On the a...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Witch King by Martha Wells
When the demon Kai wakes up after being murdered, he will have to pull together his allies and try to find out what happened to both him and the world. A lyrical fantasy of trust, friendship, power, and betrayal. From the author of the Murderbot series.

Witch king "After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai's magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well. But why was Kai imprisoned in the first pl...

Dena's Favorites 2023
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian
Nick is a scrappy reporter in 1950’s New York and Andy is the unwilling heir apparent to the newspaper he works at. This is a historical romance filled with the little charms of daily life and a couple coming to terms with who they are and what that means.

We could be so good : a novel In the late 1950s--a hostile time for gay men--reporter Nick Russo forms an unlikely friendship with Andy Fleming, the son of a newspaper-tycoon father, and as they work closely together, they fall in love and must decide if, for the first time, they're willing to fight.

Dena's Favorites 2023
Invitation to a Banquet by Fuchsia Dunlop
Fuchsia Dunlop’s magnum opus exploring the history, philosophy, and techniques of Chinese culinary culture, weaving together history, mouthwatering descriptions of food, and on-the-ground research conducted over the course of three decades.

Invitation to a banquet : the story of Chinese food

Dena's Favorites 2023
The Wake-Up Call by Beth O'Leary
Izzy and Lucas are hotel receptionists and arch-rivals. When a scheme to return a lost wedding ring turns into the last hope to keep their faltering hotel afloat, the competition between them intensifies. As hostilities become more complicated, more than the future of the hotel seems to be at stake.

The wake-up call "Two hotel receptionists--and archrivals--find a collection of old wedding rings and compete to return them to their owners, discovering their own love story along the way. It's the busiest season of the year, and Forest Manor Hotel is quite literally falling apart. So when Izzy and Lucas...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Thief, Liar, Lady by D.L. Soria
In this fairytale reimagining Cinderella is running a grift on the royal family in order to secure a future for herself and her family. But with war looming and the wrong prince inconveniently entering the picture, she’s in danger of losing control of the scheme - which could prove fatal.

Thief liar lady : a novel "I’m not who you think I am. My transformation from a poor, orphaned scullery maid into the enchantingly mysterious lady who snagged the heart of the prince did not happen—as the rumors insisted—in a magical metamorphosis of pumpkins and glass slippers. On the first evening of the ball, I...

Dena's Favorites 2023
A Power Unbound by Freya Marske
The powerful and satisfying conclusion to a wonderful q***r historical fantasy/romance trilogy (read A Marvelous Light and A Restless Truth first). Against a backdrop of treachery, power, and the fight for all the magic in England, a reluctant aristocratic ally and a frustratingly attractive opportunist find their enmity becoming something else entirely.

A power unbound

Dena's Favorites 2023
Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly
When Alexei decides to hike the Pacific Crest trail solo, he was not expecting to keep running into outgoing Ben over and over along the way. Over the course of 2500 miles, the two men find that they will need to face their past to build a future together.

Something wild & wonderful "When Alexei Lebedev finally comes out to his conservative community, it does not go well. That's how he ended up on the rugged Pacific Crest Trail, hoping he can figure out a new life plan in the thousands of miles it'll take to walk the famed hike. He's prepared for rattlesnake...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World (in a Big Way) by Roma Agrawal
The nuts and bolts that make up our world may be tiny, and are often hidden, but they've changed our lives in dramatic ways. A fascinating look at the history of seven inventions - the nail, spring, wheel, lens, magnet, string, and pump.

Nuts & bolts : seven small inventions that changed the world in a big way

Dena's Favorites 2023
Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai
A Chinese immortal and a French elf team up in this urban fantasy. Elle and Luc both have secrets from their past that they’re trying to hide. When they’re compelled to work together, will their chemistry overcome the ties of family and duty?

Bitter medicine "As a descendant of the Chinese god of medicine, ignored middle child Elle was destined to be a doctor. Instead, she is underemployed as a mediocre magical calligrapher at the fairy temp agency. Nevertheless, she challenges herself by covertly outfitting Luc, her client and crush, with high-pow...

Dena's Favorites 2023
Oh My Mother! by Connie Wang
A funny, touching, and heartfelt memoir in essays exploring the author’s complicated relationship with her mother and both of their places in each other’s life and the world.

Oh my mother! : a memoir in nine adventures "A mother-daughter adventure around the world in pursuit of self-discovery, a family reckoning, and Asian American defiance"--

Dena's Favorites 2023
Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death by Maria Vale.
When the Angel of Death makes a mistake and accidentally saves Molly instead of taking her soul, things get complicated fast. An odd, compelling romance.

Molly Molloy and the angel of death Death needs a do-over. Azrael--angel of death, grim reaper, destroyer of worlds--messed up. Instead of taking Molly Molloy's soul, he patted her on the back and saved her from a chicken wing and now she can see him. Talk to him. Touch him. Say "no" to him. And worst of all, make him q...

STARTING TOMORROW - The 12th annual countdown of Librarian Dena's Favorite Books of the year.
Each day in December we'll post one of Dena's favorite books published in 2023 and available at the library. Follow along to find some great reads!

Thursday June 15th at 6 pm!
Mapping Afrofuturism: Samuel R. Delany in conversation with Science Fiction Scholar Alex Wermer-Colan

Events: Mapping Afrofuturism: Samuel R. Delany in conversation with Science Fiction Scholar Alex Wermer-Colan The writer Samuel R. Delany, in conversation with literary scholar Alex Wermer-Colan, reflects on a life of imaginative mapping, talking about his experiences growing up reading and writing science fiction, building and mapping alternate realities of our past and future. Join us for this rich and in...

Here's the entire collection of Dena's favorite books of 2022!

Blog: Dena's Favorite Books of 2022 Welcome to Year 11 of my annual list of favorite books and the third year of pandemic reading! I've started getting my reading mojo back and have been spending a bit more time reading than…

Dena's Favorites 2022
One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World by Michael Frank
Stella Levi tells the story of the Jews of Rhodes, their deportation to Auschwitz, and a life defined by and in opposition to the history, tradition, joy, and devastation of her youth.
https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/2619319