This puzzle becomes available in September, the month in which International Talk Like a Pirate Day has been observed every year since 2002. Did you know Mango Languages has a six-lesson course on how to talk like a pirate? (Mango can help you learn over 70 other languages, so why not?) Anyway, to commemorate the occasion, we leave you with this joke to tell a friend:
September 2023 Book of the Month
Called A Best Book of the Year by the New York Times and NPR, September's Book of the Month is The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty. Winner of the National Book Award in 2022, it is a mesmerizing story that will stay with you long after you finish it.
September 2023 Puzzles: Double crossword bonus!
This month we present two crosswords, MA State Parks and Some Pretty Good Books. For those partial to the first, did you know you can get passes to Massachusetts State Parks and properties owned by the Trustees of Reservations from our museum passes collection? For those partial to the second, check out our Book recommendation newsletters, Book recommendation archive, and New York Times Best Sellers pages. Still don't know what to read? Tell us what you like and we'll send you a personalized list of suggestions! MA State Parks
August 2023 Mid-Month Sudoku
This puzzle drops on August 15, which is also known as National Lemon Meringue Pie Day. In honor of this fact, we searched "Lemon Meringue Pie" in New York Times Cooking to see what came up. (We recommend you not do this while you're hungry or you'll go crazy.) It's got recipes with names like Cranberry Lemon Meringue Pie, Extra-Lemony Meringue Pie, Dolester Mile's Lemon Meringue Tart, Lemon Meringue Pots de Crème, and more.
August 2023 Book of the Month
Called charming and uplifting by Booklist magazine, The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick is a perfect read for the sunny days of August!
August 2023 Puzzle: Seen on Highways
If you are planning a long road trip, games like The Alphabet Game and Ghost can help keep boredom at bay, but be sure to also load up on audiobooks! If your car has a CD player (and lucky you if it does!), then there are more than 4,000 audiobook CDs you can borrow from the library and almost 35,000 titles to choose from within our library's network! If your car has Bluetooth, Apple Car Play, or Android Auto—or an audio cable than can connect to your car stereo's AUX port—you can use your smartphone to play any of thousands more digital audiobooks using the Libby, by OverDrive and Hoopla Digital apps. Please get in touch if you would like us to help you find great books to listen to or to get set up with either of these apps.
July 2023 Mid-Month Sudoku
This month's Sudoku comes with surefire way to make money using unassailable numbers logic: Ask a friend if you can borrow a dollar. If they say yes, tell them to give you just fifty cents of it. When they ask why, explain that that way they'll owe you fifty cents, and you'll owe them fifty cents, and you'll be even. Quod erat demonstrandum!
July 2023 Book of the Month
Set on the coast of Maine and called "A magnificent storytelling feat" by the Boston Globe and "a must-read books of the year" by Time Magazine, Fellowship Point by Alice Elliot Dark is July's Book of the Month. Come on in and get your copy while supplies last!
July 2023 Puzzle: Vile Characters
All the bad guys in this month’s puzzle come from books (and film, and in at least one case, a play). Love them or hate them, they’re often the characters most responsible for keeping us immersed in a story, so let’s give them credit for that, anyway. If you’ve been reading like a fiend lately, turn yourself into a hero by logging how many minutes you’ve read for our community reading challenge this summer! Also—breaking news!—we’ve just added a couple new games to our board games collection, including one called, appropriately enough, Villainous: Infinite Power.
June 2023 Mid-Month Sudoku
As Sudoku solvers who know and appreciate the numbers 1 through 9 we thought you might enjoy these helpful conversions for people who struggle with the metric system 1 million microphones 1 megaphone 2000 mockingbirds 2 kilomockingbirds 1 millonth of a fish 1 microfiche 4536 graham crackers 1 pound cake 10 rations…