Library Board Recommendations

05/07/20

Staff were curious know what our Library board was reading during this time at home. Their recommendations are excellent, so we wanted to share them with all of you. We love that it is a perfect variety of fiction, non-fiction and tv shows so there is something for everyone! Click the title to place a on hold on the item.

Barb P.

I am reading A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams. This takes place in NYC and Rhode Island in the 1930's.

I would also recommend Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, a great

non-fiction read about our judicial system and how it treats the poor and the disenfranchised.

What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon is a great historical fiction that weaves in a romance and fantasy.

I also read the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden, a fantasy series set in Medieval Russia with Russian folktales and the battle against evil.

Haley L.

Fiction: The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish this book. Lefteri used her experience as an NGO worker in Greece at the refugee camps to write this novel about a sensitive beekeeper, who slowly becomes desensitized through the asylum process and his painter wife who is blinded in Syria. This novel is a beautiful story about loss, connection to home, the courage to stay open and vulnerable despite tragedy, and reconciliation. The book jumps between Syria before the war and the process of traveling to find asylum. While it can be a heavy book, it ends with hopefulness and beauty.

Nonfiction: The Book of Delights by Ross Gay

I first heard about his book on "On Being" with Krista Tippett and would definitely suggest listening to his episode. I wanted to read this book because I think it's a perfect meditation for our times. Gay set out to write a short essay every day about something that brought him delight. He thought he might have to stockpile these observations, but he soon found that each day provided plenty of delight. He simply had to learn to pay attention. This book is about finding delight in the most mundane corners and interactions of our lives. This book will make you want to pay attention to all the little ways that each day is beautiful.

Carol C.

Carol just finished and enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. In true board fashion, Barb seconded that this was a great book!

Mary G.

Mary highly recommends Palace for the People: How social infrastructure can help fight inequality, polarization, and the decline of civic life by Eric Klinenberg for all your library lovers out there. This NYTimes article inspired her to pick it up and she is glad she did.

Sarah W.

Book: The Need by Helen Phillips
About a mother of two young children who begins hearing things in her home. The book has a similar quality of leaving you feeling a big unsettled, but not wholly scared while reading it. An existential

thriller and a short read!

TV Show: Yellowstone
The story of a wealthy 6^th-generation ranching family in Montana. The story follows the drama of the family and those in their community and will have you saying, oh, let’s watch just one more episode, to find out what happens next.

Dave M.

Black Hearts White Minds by Mitch Margo is a fast read and a stimulating story about race relations in the US and the south.