September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. Anyone who signs up for a library card this month will be entered in a weekly drawing for a library bookbag and mouse pad.

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Storytimes this month are Wednesday and again Sept. 24 at 10 a.m. Wednesday is Good Manners Month with a "Manners Matter" storytime, and the Sept. 24 them celebrates National Chicken Month with a "Here Chicky-Chicky!" storytime.

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DID YOU KNOW?

-- 6,065 people visited the library during the month of August.

-- 6,305 items were checked out or renewed. -- Over 63 hours were logged in by volunteers. -- 41 new library cards were issued.

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Check out the book sale. Library personnel are constantly restocking book sale tables. Stop by and check out the great selection of children's and adult books, as well as audiobooks.

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The library staff extends a sincere thank you to those who have sent in donations, including memorials and honorariums. Gifts are always welcome and appreciated.

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Author read-alikes!

If you like Nancy Atherton, you might also like Lilian Jackson Braun, Rita Mae Brown or Anne George.

If you like Terri Blackstock, you might also like Karen Kingsbury, Lori Wick or Dee Henderson.

If you like J.D. Robb, you might also like Kay Hooper, Brenda Joyce, Carla Neggers, Sandra Brown or Julie Garwood.

If you like Kathy Reichs, you might also like Karin Slaughter, Elizabeth Peters, Jan Burke, Iris Johansen, Tess Gerritsen, Janet Evanovich or Patricia Cornwell.

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New books at the library:

"Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts -- Abroad and Within," by Nate Self. For the first time, Army Ranger hero Nate Self tells his story. He recounts the Roberts Ridge Rescue mission, the ferocious battles in Afghanistan, and the lone war of attrition that Nate Self has waged against post-traumatic stress disorder. Self opens up his whole life -- tragedies, successes, failures, and a struggle with suicidal thoughts -- to share the facts and to show how his family and his faith pulled him through.

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"Talk of the Town," by Lisa Wingate. The show American Megastar is the hottest thing on television but its associate producer, Mandalay Florentino, is worried. She's just arrived in the tiny town of Daily, Texas, to arrange a surprise "reunion concert" for hometown finalist Amber Anderson. Only it turns out everyone in town seems to know the secret. And paparazzi are arriving. Word from Hollywood is that Amber has disappeared with a "bad boy" actor. Can anything go right in this tumbleweed town?

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"Cost," by Roxana Robinson. When Julia Lambert, an art professor, settles into her idyllic Maine house for the summer, she plans to spend the time tending her fragile relationships with her father, a repressive neurosurgeon, and her gentle mother, who is descending into Alzheimer's. But a shattering revelation intrudes: Julia's son Jack has spiraled into heroin addiction. In an attempt to save him, Julia marshals help from her elderly parents, remarried ex-husband, removed sister, and combative eldest son. Ultimately, heroin courses through the characters' lives with an impersonal and devastating energy, sweeping the family into a world in which deceit, crime and fear are part of daily life.

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"The Gargoyle," by Andrew Davidson. As the book opens, the narrator of "The Gargoyle" is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and suffers horrible burns over much of his body. As he recovers in a burn ward, he awaits the day when he can leave the hospital and commit carefully planned suicide -- for he is now a monster in appearance as well as in soul.

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"The Pact of the Wolves," by Nina Blazon. When 16-year-old Bianca arrives at her new boarding school, she is startled to hear that its history includes rumors of witchcraft and torture. The building itself rests on the foundation of a medieval convent with a troubled past. There is also a secret society whose members begin to harass her. One night she stumbles over the body of a dead woman. With the help of her friend Nicholas, Bianca begins to piece together the story of the mysterious woman and the convent's disturbing history. But Bianca can't shake the feeling she is being followed. She soon realizes she can't trust anyone -- not even Nicholas.

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Other new books at the library: "The Case Against Barack Obama," by David Freddoso

"Life With My Sister Madonna," by Christopher Ciccone

"Into the Fire," by Suzanne Brockmann "Smoke Screen," by Sandra Brown

"Acheron," by Sherrilyn Kenyon

"Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Sanction," by Eric Van Lustbader

"Say Goodbye," by Lisa Gardner "The Magician," by Michael Scott