Libraries are so full of people's stories, aren't they? And the best place to look for people's stories is the biography section of New Canaan Library. We have an impressive collection of titles, including biographies and autobiographies, and they range from pure history to tell-all tales.

In our next issue of Beyond the Best Seller we are going to recommend biographies, autobiographies, and those popular fictional tales of people's lives.

Biographical fiction is a way that writers tell a famous person's story but they do it with their own twist. It allows them to make a case for what they believe about the subject. So many of us read these fictional tales and they are so vivid to us, they become as real as a well-researched biography to us. And often they are quite well researched, really.

And what about our own stories? We will be making recommendations for those of you who want to begin writing your own memoir, or for those who are interested in making a scrapbook of their own life.

Look for the next edition of Beyond the Best Seller in early October. It will invite you to delve into someones life, either through fiction or nonfiction. The Library is so full of stories.....

Patron to Patron Reviews are now available for you all to read! What a treat it was to have the summer reading program for adults this year. We asked you all to write reviews that we could share with other patrons. We received 113 reviews: 53 nonfiction and 60 fiction. What a breadth of genres were represented! It is so interesting for us to read what you all think about the books you read.
We have put together all the reviews in one publication, available in the Library. Do look for a copy when you visit.

Great recommendations for good reading on our September list, from our staff to you:

Fiction: Fans of legal thrillers will want to check out Martin Clark's The Legal Limit. It is a fictional account of a real murder case from the 80's, and the author is a circuit court judge.
Another thriller, Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain features serial killer Gretchen Lowell (first introduced in Heartsick) escaped from prison and on the loose.
In a gentler vein, Garden Angel by Mindy Friddle tells the tale of two women from different backgrounds forging a bond when trouble strikes them both. The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey is a novel about friendship and the role of luck in our lives.

Non-Fiction:
Have you had trouble with a home renovation? Your situation will pale when compared to David Giffel's in his book All the Way Home. This book is the very entertaining story of one family's home purchase and major renovation.
The prolific author Larry McMurtry has written Books: a memoir, a work of non-fiction about his life with books. He grew up without any, and became such a bibliophile that over the years he has amassed a large library of his own.
Fans of 60's music and those who remember the 60's will enjoy Janis Ian's autobiography Society's Child, named after the song that catapulted her to fame. Throughout her career ups and downs she met and worked with many icons of the music industry, and her book is scattered with stories about them as well.
Fall is coming and what better way to spend part of a day than exploring nearby trails?
AMC's Best Day Hikes CT is a four- season guide to hikes for CT residents. It may inspire you to lace up your boots and get outdoors!
Check out the entire list for more recommendations.....keep reading, and tell us what you've been reading, too! You may post comments here.