Tips and Tricks to Searching the Library Catalog

The NOBLE catalog is the gateway to all the materials your public library provides. Come discover digital resources and items from your home, and now you can reserve physical titles for curbside pickup! See our post on Curbside Pickup for more information.

At the NOBLE library catalog, you can find not only print books, DVDs, and books on CD, but also item records for some of the ebooks and downloadable audiobooks you can check out online, with information on where to check them out on Overdrive or hoopla. For a complete list of the titles available in the library’s online services, including music and video streaming, please search directly through Overdrive/Libby, hoopla, and RB Digital.

Using “Basic Search” for keywords, such as “Jenny Colgan,” and limiting to “Marblehead Library” will show you all the formats of works by this author. For any physical item, you can request the item to be reserved for you to pick up as part of the Curbside Pickup service. For records that say “e-book” or “e-audio”, click on the title and then click on the link to “Overdrive” or “hoopla” to reserve the ebook or downloadable audiobook copy from these online services.

On the left-hand side of your completed search, there is a “Filter By” section that shows search terms you can use for a detailed search to find similar works. For example, going to “Advanced Search” with the genre term “humorous fiction” will give you an extensive list of titles that you can then filter using the facets on the left for more specific results. 

If you click on one of the titles, you can also scroll down to find links to NoveList (discussed in the blog posts “Discover Your Next Great Read With NoveList” and “More Features of NoveList To Help You Choose What To Read Next!”) with read-alikes and series information, links to professional reviews and Goodreads for reader reviews, and a link to subscribe to newsletters from Nextreads.

Feel free to browse for online collections of ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and more directly from Overdrive/Libby, hoopla, and RB Digital. If you’re ready to check out physical items again, please carefully read our instructions for Curbside Delivery and start reserving items online from your online account! If you need to register for a card, please fill out this form. Questions? Email mar@noblenet.org! 

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Love is in the Air in These Rom Coms!

Here are some romantic comedies that read like a box of chocolates…

Contemporary

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella

Author of Confessions of a Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella is the queen of funny and creator of endearing characters. In I Owe You One, meet the loveable Fixie Farr, who runs a housewares store with her family. After rescuing a stranger’s laptop in a coffee shop from a ceiling collapse, the grateful Sebastian gives Fixie an IOU slip with his business card. When Fixie’s old flame, Ryan, returns, she finds she might need to use that IOU after all. 

Accessible on Overdrive/Libby as an ebook and audiobook.

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

Wedding planner Lina Santos was jilted at the altar, and the ex-groom had sent his brother, Max, to deliver the bad news. Years later, Lina finds the job of her dreams, but it will be working alongside Max, the man who had been the messenger of her heartbreak.

Accessible on Overdrive/Libby and hoopla. 

Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

Accessible as an ebook and an audiobook.

Classic

Emma by Jane Austen

Classic, timeless Jane Austen’s fourth published novel is one of her funniest. Emma Woodhouse is an incurable romantic and matchmaker, though happily single herself. As her efforts go awry for her friend Harriet Smith, she suddenly finds herself falling for a long-time friend and neighbor, Mr. Knightley. 

Accessible as an ebook and audiobook. 

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

The classic chick lit by brilliant author Helen Fielding has everything, even delightful references to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Beginning with Bridget’s assiduously writing down her New Year’s resolutions that she notates in her diary, including not having a crush on her boss,  Daniel Cleaver, and finding a nice, steady boyfriend. The year doesn’t set off the way she planned at all, though.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

This is number one in the series. Nick Young and girlfriend, Rachel Chu, travel to Singapore to attend the wedding of Nick’s friend, Colin, and to visit Nick’s home and family. Rachel visits her friend, Peik Lin, and starts to learn just who her boyfriend and his family really are, and she worries she might not fit in. 

Accessible as an ebook and an audiobook.

Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell

Candace Bushnell started writing for The New York Observer in 1993 and created her own column called “Sex and the City” based on her and her friends’ experience living in New York. These columns were published in an anthology in 1997 and went on to become a popular television series. The book follows the escapades of Carrie Bradshaw, a young writer, and her friends and businessman, Mr. Big, who is a love interest, maybe.

Available on hoopla as an ebook and an audiobook.

Check out more great Rom Com books by visiting NoveList with your library card and under “Recommended Reading Lists” clicking on “Romance” and then “Romantic Comedies,” or browse ebooks directly on Overdrive/Libby and ebooks as well as movies on hoopla.

Cat Stories To Purr-use!

Here are a few books to enjoy with your favorite feline. You can visit NoveList and login with your library card to browse more heartwarming books about cats, or peruse the collections on Overdrive/Libby and hoopla.

James Herriot’s Cat Stories

Revisit these beautifully written classic stories by a beloved vet of the English Yorkshire Dales countryside. Cat lovers will savor each heartwarming story. James Herriot also wrote the classic All Creatures Great and Small, which was made into a BBC television series.

The Cat Who Mysteries by Lillian Jackson Braun

Enjoy this classic mystery series starting with the first book, The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, starring the newspaper reporter Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. Set in the fictional town of Pickax City, Moose County, Michigan, Quill becomes embroiled in mysteries, meeting a cast of characters and, of course, has his cats to help him solve the crime. Luckily there are many volumes to enjoy in this extensive series.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (also in hoopla)

Life of Pi won the Man Booker Prize and, when it was adapted to a movie, four Oscars. It is the story of a boy named Pi who is separated from his family during a shipwreck and survives for 227 days, stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. Pi is the son of a zoo keeper from India and has grown up being around wild animals. Pi and the tiger’s struggle to survive is a test of courage and hope.

Second Chance Cat Mysteries by Sofie Ryan

Meet Sarah Grayson and her cat, Elvis, in this delightful cozy mystery series. Set in North Harbor, Maine, the book centers around Sarah, the proprietor of a secondhand shop who often has to use her sleuthing skills to solve a mystery. There is a likable cast of friends and characters, including Sarah’s grandmother and a love interest named Mac.

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

This is a beautiful story of the bond between Nana the cat and his owner, Satoru. Satoru took Nana in when he was a stray cat and injured by a car. Nana is an endearing cat with a crook in his tale and he becomes Satoru’s beloved companion. Then Satoru sets out on a journey to visit three of his friends with Nana and finally Satoro’s aunt who raised him. They travel across Japan, seeing the sights. Told in the voice of Nana and Satoru, it is the story of courage and friendship.

More Features of NoveList To Help You Choose What To Read Next!

Here are more exciting features of NoveList Plus for the avid reader! We first mentioned this useful book selection tool in a blog post back in April. Here are some features you may not know about!

NoveList has a wide variety of Book Lists. There are fiction lists and narrative nonfiction lists, each separated by age groups. You can browse through different genres such as Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mystery, and Historical Fiction. You can also check out forthcoming titles as well as many specific subgenres.

For example, if you are interested in reading cozies, search under Adult > Fiction > Mysteries > Getting Cozy, where you will find such titles as M. C. Beaton’s The Witch’s Tree (which happens to be in Overdrive and hoopla) and Buried in Books by Kate Carlisle (available as an audiobook on hoopla).

There are extensive lists of Award Winners, which are also separated by age and include fiction and nonfiction. The most recent Pulitzer Prize winner, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, is one of the books displayed under Recent Awards, and it can be checked out on Overdrive.

As we mentioned in the previous NoveList blog post, when you see a book you like and click on the title, a wonderful feature is that you can click on the Series and get a list of the whole series in order, as well as Read-alikes listed on the side.

There are a wide variety of narrative nonfiction book lists, including Biography and Memoir, History, Travel Writing, and Nature and Science. These are also broken down into subcategories.

If you find a title you like, you can visit Overdrive/Libby or hoopla to see if the library has an electronic version of it.

Click here to access NoveList, and feel free to email the Reference Staff at mar@noblenet.org for assistance with using this resource, as well as getting further book recommendations.

Historical Fiction Reviews and NextReads Newsletters

Travel to another time and place with these historical fiction books! You can check these ebooks and audiobooks out with your library card on hoopla or Overdrive/the Libby app.

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

Julian Fellowes created the hit PBS series, Downton Abbey, and won many awards for his screenplays. His novel Belgravia has been filmed for a mini-series. The story begins in 1815 Belgravia, London. On the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, events occur at the famous ball given by the Duchess of Richmond that will follow the characters with their secrets to unfold twenty-five years later. 

Read the Overdrive ebook or listen to the hoopla audiobook. 

Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

Set in early twentieth century Boston, Diamant tells the story of a Jewish girl, Addie Baum growing up with her three sisters and Russian immigrant parents. They live through the 1918 Influenza epidemic. Addie works toward her dream of going to college and becoming a career woman. She enters the work force as a newspaper typist. Diamant began her career as a journalist and is a Massachusetts author.

Read the Overdrive ebook or listen to the hoopla audiobook.

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Award-winning author Colm Toibin delivers an engaging story of Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey’s experiences having to move to Brooklyn on her own to find a job and then being torn between the life she has found there and returning home to her family. Colm Toibin’s wonderful writing depicts life in the 1950s, Eilis living in a boarding house, attending dances, studying at Brooklyn College, her aching homesickness and the people and events that shape the person she becomes.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Abraham Verghese is an American physician and winner of a National Humanities Medal. Born in Ethiopia he emigrated with his family to the United States and did his fellowship at Boston University School of Medicine during the AIDS epidemic. His novel begins in 1947. Twin brothers, Marion and Shiva were born from a secret union between an Indian nun and a British surgeon. Their mother died in childbirth and the father abandons them. The twins grew up cared for by two doctors. The Ethiopian Civil War began and the ill fated love Marion and Shiva shared for the same woman drove them apart. Marion continues his medical training and becomes a surgeon in New York where he becomes reunited with his estranged father and brother. 

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

Set in Jane Austen’s time, Chevalier brings to life the world of Lyme Regis where Mary Anning and her friend Elizabeth Philpot search the rocky beaches for fossils. Mary Anning’s amazing discoveries had a significant impact on the scientific community.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Coates tells the story of Hiram Walker who was born into slavery on a plantation in Virginia in the mid 1800s. His father was the owner of the plantation. Hiram realizes he has an extraordinary photographic memory except he can’t remember his mother who was sold as a slave when he was young. He then recognizes his mother in a vision as a water dancer when he has a near death experience. Hiram wants to escape slavery and embarks on a journey into the Underground and a fight for freedom. Coates began his career as a journalist and is a National Book Award winner for Between the World and Me.

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You can sign up to receive booklist newsletters via email from NextReads through NOBLE. Choose from a variety of genres, including historical fiction, to find your next great read, and search for ebook and audiobook formats to download through Overdrive/the Libby app and hoopla.

You can also search for reading recommendations through NoveList (see our NoveList post for more information on this resource) or contact the Reference staff at mar@noblenet.org.

Discover Your Next Great Read With NoveList

Use NoveList Plus to Discover Your Next Great Read!

Did you know you can access many digital resources at home with your library card? One example is NoveList Plus, which makes it fun and easy to discover your next great read!

Once you log on, with your library card, you can begin searching by browsing fiction, nonfiction, genres, themes, or award-winning booklists. Don’t have a library card? Find out how you can register online!

The “Advanced search” section allows you to search by three different terms. You can scroll down and “Browse” to find preferred search terms by subject/appeals, author, title, series, and dewey number. 

And further down under “Search Modes and Expanders” you can set limits not only for books but for media mentions from TV and radio shows, and by document type for articles and lists within NoveList. You can also limit by year and for forthcoming books.

If you have an author you like, NoveList gives detailed information about that author, the books they have written, and all the series written by the author.

If you click on the title of a book, you can find reviews for it by literary journals. Under “More about this book,” find genres, themes, writing styles, and subject headings. To find similar books, scroll down further to check off several categories of interest relating to the book. 

If you are ready to move on, there is a list of Read-alikes to the right with similar titles or authors you might enjoy.

In addition, under the “Quick Links” tab at the top of the page, there are articles and resources for book discussion groups.

With so much to offer, you are bound to find your next great read with NoveList!

Read about more NoveList features here.