Access to all Library services will be unavailable on Thursday, July 23, 2026 starting at 9 pm due to server maintenance. Services are expected to resume in the early morning hours of Friday, July 24, 2026.
Join as we discuss 'The Names' by Florence Knapp. Ask for your copy of 'The Names' and the discussion questions at the Customer Service Desk. For adults.
"A dazzling debut that asks: Can a name shape the course of a life? In the wake of an enormous, history-making storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to follow his family tradition going back generations, and name the child Gordon. But on the journey there, Cora wonders if it's right to impose the burden of this name and its legacy onto her tiny newborn son. She herself has Julian in mind, and Maia offers up her own suggestion: Bear. What follows are three alternate and alternating versions of both Cora's life and her young son's life shaped by her brave, last-minute choice of name. Spanning thirty-five years, the novel draws us in from the first page, as we follow three unforgettable journeys of one young man, but also his mother, grandmother, and sister. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing. With exceptional sensitivity and depth, Knapp draws us into the story of one family told through a prism of what-ifs, and shows us what we each can do with the "one precious life" we are given. The Names's brilliantly imaginative structure and storytelling, and the emotional, gut-wrenching power of the book itself, are certain to make it a modern classic."-- Provided by publisher.
La Crescenta Library first opened in November 1914 as the 78th branch of the Los Angeles County Public Library. The collection was first housed in a local church building, and subsequently moved several times; once into a school house, later into a local store front, and into the Sears building in 1926.
By 1932, the library had settled into a building at 3930 La Crescenta Avenue. As the population of La Crescenta grew, so to did the demand for a new building. The library found an appropriate site on the corner of Foothill Blvd and La Crescenta Ave, and opened in March of 1963.
By 2005 the population had once again outgrown the library's space, so the La Crescenta community sought a new building. Thanks to funding from Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, and Congressman David Dreier, the County of Los Angeles was able to construct an updated facility in its current location.
The building broke ground in 2007, and reopened in January 2010. The new 14,000 square foot facility, built in the style of the arts and crafts movement, features modern technology and meeting space open to the public.
