See You at the Library
201 South Main Street

Attention teens: Check out our growing selection of books for young adults. It includes series -- "Bluford High," "Fear Street," "Summer Share" and "First Kisses," as well as other fiction.

Nonfiction topics range from drunk driving to forensics, from ESP to global warming, and students' rights to UFOs.

Please feel free to make suggestions for purchase, too.

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We still have lots of books for sale at the library. Stop by and check out our great selection of fiction, nonfiction, and audiobooks! Hardcovers are $1, softcovers are $.50, and children's books are $.25. Audiobooks are $5 each.

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We appreciate everyone who donated items or money for our Support Our Troops program. There are still many troops that could benefit from your generosity. Please drop off donations at the library during regular business hours. Some of the items needed include Chapstick, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, batteries, and ready-to-eat foods.

Please note that shampoo, lotions, soaps, etc. should be unscented. A more extensive list of requested items is available at the library or on the city's website. Cash donations also are being accepted to help cover the cost of postage.

We recently received another thank-you note from one of the soldiers who received a care package. It reads: "Thank you so much for the wonderful care package that you sent to me. It is always nice receiving packages, especially from home. Thank you also for the kind words in the card that you sent. Sometimes this job can be very hard, so it is nice to hear words of encouragement and support from home. Thank you again! Capt. Alicia M. Garceau, ER Nurse, Balad, Iraq."

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All preschoolers are welcome to January storytimes: Wednesday and again Jan. 23. Themes for this month's storytimes are "Let it snow!" and "Winter wonderland." Story times begin at 10 a.m. and last 35-45 minutes. There are stories and music with Miss Julia. For information, phone the library at 556-3251.

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We were encouraged when we received the library's first check from Shopforthelibrary.net, but there is still much online shopping to be done. Please sign up to participate at www.shopforthelibrary. net and be sure to select the Lampasas Public Library as your library to support.

Once registered, download "AutoTrack", and shop online and earn money for the library. A number of businesses donate a portion of the purchase price to the library of one's choice, and it's free. Call the library for more information on this easy fund-raising opportunity.

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Recent memorials have been given in memory of Ben Hamric, Peggy Haydon and Edward Dimas. A donation also was given in honor of Kate Harlien.

* * * Did you know:

Despite the library being closed December 22-25 for Christmas, 4,545 people visited the library in December.

4,514 items were checked out in December.

1,066 people used the free Internet access computers in December.

86 reference questions were answered in December.

262 informational questions were answered in December.

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The library continues to collect used ink cartridges and toner cartridges for recycling. Instead of sending toner cartridges back to the manufacturer for recycling, drop them off at the library at your convenience. This is an easy way to help protect the environment while helping the library.

* * * Don't forget to "check out" the self check-out service. It's fast and convenient.

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There are several internet searches to benefit the library, including GoodSearch, to help raise money for the Library Foundation. GoodSearch donates money to organizations and charities for searches conducted on its website. Visit www.goodsearch.com and enter "Library Foundation" as the charity of choice. Then select The Library Foundation of Lampasas Texas. From then on, every search from the website earns money for the Library Foundation.

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Author read-alikes:

If you like Maeve Binchy, you might also like Rosamunde Pilcher, Anita Shreve, Lynne Hinton or Sue Monk Kidd.

If you like Lillian Jackson Braun, you might also like Rita Mae Brown, Nancy Atherton, M.C. Beaton, Garrison Keillor or Marian Babson.

If you like Stephen Cannell, you might also like Stephen Walsh White, John Sandford, Robert Crais, Michael Connelly or Martha Grimes.

If you like Brad Meltzer, you might also like David Baldacci, John Grisham, Vince Flynn, Robin Cook, James Patterson, Stuart Woods or Steve Martini.

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New at the library:

"Rescuing Sprite: a Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish," by Mark R. Levin. Persuaded by his wife and son, Mark and his family adopt a dog from the local shelter, a Spaniel-mix, with the name Sprite.

Sprite and their other dog, Pepsi, a half-border collie/half-cocker spaniel, become fast friends. They do everything together, and the Levin family falls in love with him. But on Halloween night, shortly after joining their family, Sprite suddenly collapses and is rushed to the animal hospital. It is the first of many such visits, and the start of a long journey for the Levin family, filled with much joy and anguish. Sprite's health deteriorates, and between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2006, the Levin family said their emotional final goodbye. But new hope comes when the Levins least expect it.

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"End Games," by Michael Dibdin. The final installment in this award-winning series brings Italian police detective Aurelio Zen to remote Calabria, where the Venice-born-and-bred detective feels uncomfortably like a foreigner. It's a routine assignment, and Zen is biding his time in Calabria while the locals go about their mysterious business. Routine, that is, until an advance scout for an American film company suddenly vanishes.

Beneath the surface of a tightknit traditional community -- with secrets and loyalties that go back centuries -- violent forces are at work. Zen is determined to find a way to penetrate the code of silence and uncover the truth behind a brutal murder. However, his mission is complicated by another secret that has drawn strangers from the other side of the world on a hunt for buried treasure.

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"A Promise to Remember," by Kathryn Cushman. Andie Phelps is the envy of Santa Barbara. A devoted mother with a loving son and a successful husband, her greatest joy comes from reaching out to others.

Melanie Johnston is the envy of no one. A single mom who works long hours to pay the bills, and her greatest joys relate to her teen daughter and son. Then an accident changes everything.

When opposite worlds collide, the impact reaches far beyond these mothers' personal losses. Two wounded women. Two families seeking hope. A community torn apart. How far will they go to fulfill a promise to remember?

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"Now & Then," by Robert B. Parker. When a simple case turns into a treacherous and politically charged investigation, Spenser faces his most difficult challenge yet -- keeping his cool while his beloved Susan Silverman is in danger. Spenser knows something's amiss the moment Dennis Doherty walks into his office. The guy is aggressive yet wary, in the way men frightened for their marriages always are. So when Doherty asks Spenser to investigate his wife, Jordan's, abnormal behavior, Spenser agrees. A job's a job, after all.

Not surprisingly, Spenser catches Jordan with another man, tells Dennis what he's found out, and considers the case closed. But a couple of days later, all hell breaks loose, and three people are dead. This isn't just a marital affair gone bad. Spenser is in the middle of a hornet's nest of trouble, and he's got to get out of it without getting stung.

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"Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit," by Lou Dobbs. Lou Dobbs examines the public policy choices over the past 30 years that have eroded individual liberties, disenfranchised the middle class, reduced worker rights and pay, and led the nation into social and political division at home as well as into conflict around the world.

Dobbs lays out the folly of continuing to follow existing domestic and foreign policies that have enriched and entrenched the elites, and burdened to the breaking point the rest of America. He posits a determined course for both prosperity and the survival of the American dream in a society that is desperate for new leadership and new ideas. Most important, Dobbs explores how we must and can restore the fundamental national value of equality of rights and opportunity for all Americans.

"Independents Day" is an independent populist's view of the critical issues and challenges that confront the presidential candidates and American voters as the 2008 election approaches.

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"No Time for Goodbye," by Linwood Barclay. The house was deathly quiet. That was the first sign that something was terribly wrong. Fourteen-year-old Cynthia Bigge woke that morning to find herself alone. Her family: mother, father and brother, had vanished without a word, without a note, without a trace.

Twenty-five years later, Cynthia is still looking for answers. Now she is about to learn the devastating truth.

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Other new books at the library:

"The New Year's Quilt," by Jennifer Chiaverini

"Natural Superwoman," by Uzzi Reiss, M.D., OB/GYN

"Splitting Harriet," by Tamara Leigh

"Let Them Eat Cake," by Sandra Byrd

"A Proper Pursuit," by Lynn Austin.