Reality TV
This week marks 20 years since The Truman Show was released. In June 1998, we first sat down in theaters to watch a somewhat surreal story of a man (played by […]
book lists
Time Travel
Our 2018 Summer Reading starts this Saturday, June 2nd! Sign up to participate at pasadena.beanstack.org. The theme this year: “Reading Takes You Everywhere!”… including through time! To get you started, […]
Mental Health in Fiction and Memoir
Saturday, May 19 is our second annual Pasadena Mental Health Day. Please join us at Central Library to learn more and find out about quality mental health services and resources […]
steaM: Math in Fiction
This year we are celebrating STEAM at PPL, and across the City of Pasadena. We’ve got lots of great STEAMy things planned to get you immersed in science, technology, engineering, […]
Celebrating Shakespeare in April
Tradition has it that William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, based on baptismal records we have. April 23 also happens to be the date that he died in […]
Fantastic Libraries in Fiction
April 8-14 is National Library Week. In honor of the occasion, we’re celebrating fantastic libraries in fiction. Come on in to the library, check out some books, and work […]
(Nothing) Lost in Translation
April is a month when we celebrate poetry. Consider the difficulty of translating anything between two languages, and then add the nuance and complexity of poetic language-song lyrics, for […]
Rocket Girls: Women in Aviation and Aerospace
Our 2018 One City, One Story book, Rise of the Rocket Girls, is the riveting true story of the women who launched America into space. While Rise of the Rocket […]
Toxic Titles
We’re inspired by an article on Atlas Obscura about preservation issues for Shadows from the Walls of Death, a sample-book of wallpaper with deadly properties, owing to the use of a wildly […]
African-American Olympians
The 2018 Winter Olympics are over, but to say farewell and celebrate Black History Month, here are some books that examine the lives of some ground-breaking African-American Olympians from previous […]