International Women's Day

For International Women's Day, read some books (Fiction and Nonfiction) about and by these amazing women:

For more suggestions visit: International Women's Day Books

Dear Ijeawele: or a Feminist Manifesto in 15 Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A few years ago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received a letter from a dear friend from childhood, asking her how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. Dear Ijeawele is Adichie’s letter of response. Here are fifteen invaluable suggestions–compelling, direct, wryly funny, and perceptive–for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent woman.

Enchantress of Numbers: a Novel of Ada Lovelace by Jennifer Chiaverini 

Rigorously educated in mathematics and science by her mother, an only legitimate child of brilliant Romantic poet Lord Byron is introduced into London society as a highly eligible heiress before forging a deep bond with inventor Charles Babbage and using her unique talents to become the world's first computer programmer.

 

The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars 

by Dava Sobel
The little-known true story of the unexpected and remarkable contributions to astronomy made by a group of women working in the Harvard College Observatory from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s.

The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict

A tale inspired by the first wife of Albert Einstein follows the experiences of Mitza Mari, a female physics student at an elite late-nineteenth-century school in Zurich, where she falls in love with a charismatic fellow student who eclipses her contributions to his theory of relativity.

The 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Shortlist

At the end of this year the American Library Association announced the six books shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals. This is awarded for the previous year's best books written for adult readers and published in the U.S. The medals, established in 2012, guide adults in selecting quality reading material. The two medal winners, one for fiction and one for nonfiction, receive $5,000 each and are honored during an event at ALA's 2019 Annual Conference. The medals are made possible by a partial grant from the Carnegie Corporation as a testament to Andrew Carnegie who believed that books can change the world! The winners will be announced on January 27, 2019.
Take a look at the six finalists and decide which one would get your vote -


FICTION:
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
A novel set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris follows the director of a Chicago art gallery and a woman looking for her estranged daughter in Paris who both struggle to come to terms with the ways AIDS has affected their lives.

There, There by Tommy Orange
A large cast of interwoven characters depicts the experience of Native Americans living in urban settings. Perfect for readers of character-driven fiction with a strong sense of place. -- Abby Johnson for LibraryReads.

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Unexpectedly chosen to be a family manservant, an 11-year-old Barbados sugar-plantation slave is initiated into a world of technology and dignity before a devastating betrayal propels him throughout the world in search of his true self.

NONFICTION:
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America by Beth Macy
In a book that includes deeply human and unforgettable portraits of the families and first responders affected, the author takes readers into the epicenter of America's more than 20-year struggle with opioid addiction.

Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
In this powerful and provocative memoir, genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon explores what the weight of a lifetime of secrets, lies, and deception does to a black body, a black family, and a nation teetering on the brink of moral collapse.

The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border by Francisco Cantu
A former agent for the U.S. Border Patrol describes his upbringing as the son of a park ranger and grandson of a Mexican immigrant, who upon joining the Border Patrol encountered the violence and political rhetoric that overshadows life for both migrants and the police.

Reading Reflections 2018

The New Year is fast approaching and it's a perfect time to reflect on what I've read over the past year. It's been a great reading year for me! I've read and listened my way across the genres and for the first time in a long time a nonfiction book is my favorite read of the year, American Wolf: a true story of survival and obsession in the West by Nate Blakeslee. Here are a few of  my other good reads from 2018.  Maybe you'll find one that peaks your interest. What's your favorite book of 2018?

American Wolf: a true story of survival and obsession the West by Nate Blakeslee
An intimate account of the rise and rein of O-Six, the legendary Yellowstone wolf, describes, how after being hunted to near extinction by the 1920's, conservationists worked tirelessly to restore the species against a backdrop of debates specifically affecting the American West.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Celestial and Roy are newly married with a bright future when Roy is convicted of a crime he did not commit. This is not a heroes vs. villain's tale with a neat resolution. It is a complex, muddled, and thought-provoking story about love, family, and the wide-reaching effects of incarceration.

There, There by Tommy Orange
A large cast of interlaced characters depicts the experience of Native Americans living in urban settings. Perfect for readers of character-driven fiction with a strong sense of place.

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Leni and her dysfunctional family embark on a new way of life in Alaska's wilderness in the mid-1970's, hoping this is the solution for her troubled father. In Alaska, each member of the family is tested and when change comes to their community her father's anger threatens to divide the town. This is an exquisitely written novel, descriptive and engaging with well-developed characters and a very strong sense of place.

Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict
Charming, richly-detailed, biographical and historical fiction. In 1860s Pittsburgh, Clara, an Irish immigrant takes a job working as a maid for Andrew Carnegie, with whom she falls in love, and then goes missing.

Get Cooking with these New Cookbooks!

'Tis the season for cooking...and we have some great new cookbooks just waiting to provide you with a bit of inspiration. Here is a sampling of some the best:

Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi
Ottolenghi, an acclaimed London chef and New York Times food columnist, is not known for his simple recipes. Recipes in his previous cookbooks, Jerusalem, Sweet, and Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi to name a few, will send you off in search of little known ingredients and often involve many steps to complete. If you persevere, you will be justly rewarded, but no one would call these recipes simple. That is why his new book, Simple, has been embraced with such enthusiasm. Many of the recipes have fewer than 10 ingredients and can be prepared in under 30 minutes.

Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook by Dorie Greenspan
Dorie Greenspan is another well-known and award-winning cookbook author. Her just-published Everyday Dorie contains casual, easily-made recipes that Greenspan cooks for friends and family. "I don't do fussy - I do inviting and comforting". If you get hooked on Greenspan's recipes, check out her 2016 title, Dorie's Cookies.

Now and Again by Julia Turshen
Julie Turshen wrote a great cookbook in 2016 called Small Victories that celebrates home-cooking. In her new title, Turshen embraces easy, inexpensive, wholesome cooking, gets creative with leftovers and inspires readers to gather people around a table. 

Cook Like a Pro: Recipes and Tips for the Home Cook by Ina Garten
Most home cooks are friends with Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) and her cookbooks. Cook Like a Pro is her 11th cookbook. There is a reason she has so many fans. Her recipes are accessible yet produce impressive results. You may find a new batch of go-to recipes in her latest offering.

News for Audiobook Listeners: The New York Times has a monthly audiobook bestseller list!

Due to the amazing rise in the popularity of audiobooks, this past spring the New York Times newspaper began publishing a monthly audiobook bestseller list. The list combines both physical and digital audio sales.

The October list will appear in the October 14, 2018 issue of the Sunday New York Times. This monthly bestseller list is a great resource for avid audiobook listeners. The list would also be a good place to begin for those just starting to navigate the world of audiobooks. The list typically has 15 fiction and 15 nonfiction titles.

Below is just a sample of some of the titles appearing on the October audiobook bestseller list that are available through the Glenview Public Library.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (available on CD)

A young woman who has survived for years alone in the wild North Carolina marsh suddenly becomes a murder suspect.

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (available on CD)

Book 4 in the Cormoran Strike series. When a troubled young man asks him to investigate a crime he thinks he saw as a child, Cormoran Strike sets off on a twisting trail that leads from London's backstreets to a country manor house. (Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling).

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (available on CD and downloadable through OverDrive)

A New York woman spends the summer with her boyfriend's family in Singapore and is surprised by what she encounters.

Fear by Bob Woodward (available on CD and downloadable through OverDrive)

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist draws on interviews, diaries and other documents to describe the decision-making process in the Trump White House.

Educated by Tara Westover (available on CD, Playaway and downloadable through OverDrive)

In this memoir, Westover recounts her childhood growing up in a strict Mormon survivalist family in Idaho.

In Pieces by Sally Field (available on CD)

The memoir of Academy and Emmy Award-winning actress.
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Scientists Are 'Spying On Whales' To Learn How They Eat, Talk And ... Walked?

Nick Pyenson's research has given us the answers to some of our biggest questions about whales. Nick's rich storytelling takes us to the cool halls deep inside the Smithsonian's priceless fossil collection, to the frigid fishing decks on Antarctic whaling stations, and to the blazing hot desert of Chile where scientists race against time to document the largest fossil whalebone site on earth. Spying on Whales is science writing at its best: an author who is an incredible, passionate writer, at the forefront of his field, on a topic that invokes deep fascination.

Whales are among the largest, most intelligent, deepest diving species to have ever lived on our planet. They evolved from land-roaming, dog-like creatures into animals that move like fish, breathe like us, can grow to 300,000 pounds, live 200 years and roam entire ocean basins. Whales fill us with terror, awe, and affection--yet we know hardly anything about them, and they only enter our awareness when they die, struck by a ship or stranded in the surf.

Why did it take whales over 50 million years to evolve to such big sizes, and how do they eat enough to stay that big? 

How did their ancestors return from land to the sea? 

Why do they beach themselves? 

What do their lives tell us about our oceans, and evolution as a whole? 

Importantly, in the sweepstakes of human-driven habitat and climate change, will whales survive?

The Smithsonian's star paleontologist Nick Pyenson's takes us to the ends of the earth and to the cutting edge of whale research in Spying on Whales to answer these questions and share intriguing facts about these amazing creatures.

Labor Day, Ken Burns and American History

Labor Day and the labor movement grew out of the need to protect the common interest of American workers. Organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours, and safer working conditions. The movement also led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to injured or retired workers.
On the occasion of the coming Labor Day weekend, my thoughts turn to other defining times in the history of America from political and economic struggles to its national pastime and musical history. Who better to lead us on such an explorative journey of American history than Ken Burns, American filmmaker known for his style of using archival footage and photographs in stunning documentary films. His documentaries have earned two Academy Award nominations and have won several Emmy Awards, among other honors. His widely known documentary series include the America collection, history classics, and war series. Fortunately, the Glenview Public Library owns many of them for your viewing pleasure on the upcoming three day weekend. The following are just some of them:

The Vietnam War (2017)
Watch the story about one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history.
Jackie Robinson (2016)
The story of an American icon whose battle for first class citizenship for African Americans transcends sports.
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014)
Three family members that redefined the relationship America had with their government and with each other.
The Address (2014)
Uncovers how President Lincoln's historic words motivate and engage students over 150 years later'
The Central Park Five (2012)
Story about five black and Latino teenagers whose lives were upended by a miscarriage of justice.
The Dust Bowl (2012)
A chronicle of the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history that nearly decimated wheat supply.
Prohibition (2011)
Tells the story of the rise, rule, and fall of the 18th Amendment and the era it encompassed.
The National Parks: America's Best Idea (2009)
This film features those willing to devote themselves to saving land that they loved and practicing democracy.
Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip (2003)
Defying what was thought to be impossible, Dr. Jackson drives cross country for the first time ever.
Jazz (2001)
America's greatest original art form is celebrated in this portrait of the roots for improvisational music.
Not For Ourselves Alone: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (1999)
The little-known story of two women who led the fight to win the most basic civil rights for all American women.
Baseball (1994)
A series that examines nearly 200 years of American history through the prism of our national sport.
The Civil War (1990)
It was the most horrible, necessary, intimate, acrimonious, mean-spirited and heroic conflict of the nation.
The Statue of Liberty (1985)
Examines the nature of freedom and the statue's significance within American life.


There are many others so come visit the AV room at GPL and discover some others for yourself this Labor Day weekend.

In A Recent Memoir, Senator John McCain Rests His Case

Anyone who has followed the saga of Sen. John McCain or ever reacted with emotion to his words or actions will recognize the man speaking in this farwell volume.

The Restless Wave is a plain-spoken and often painful personal accounting; a résumé of a contentious career and a defense of controversial political decisions. It may inspire or enrage. But it is less an effort to provoke such conflicting responses than a paean to McCain's idea of America.

McCain wants to celebrate the America he knew — or perhaps only imagined — in the full flower of its global pre-eminence. Call it heritage or call it myth, it is a concept of America that McCain clearly feels he personifies, and one he senses is passing even as he reaches the end of his own life.

This is a man who should have leave to speak his mind. He has served more than 30 years in the U.S. Senate, after serving almost as long in the U.S. Navy. He suffered more than five years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, ran twice for president as a Republican, once as his party's nominee. Through it all, he has been stubbornly individual, at times cantankerous and even exasperating to friend and foe alike, relishing his political persona as "The Maverick."

At its best, the prose in The Restless Wave has some of the terse effectiveness we associate with the 20th century writer Ernest Hemingway. And on his final page, McCain returns to the model of the Hemingway character he calls his hero, Robert Jordan of For Whom the Bell Tolls. That novel ends with Jordan lying wounded on open ground, armed to fight one last battle that he knows will end with his death. "The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for," Jordan says to himself, "and I hate very much to leave it."

To this, McCain adds his own response: "And I do too. I hate to leave it. But I don't have a complaint. Not one. It's been quite a ride. ... I made a small place for myself in the story of America and the history of my times."

World War II -German POWs on the American Homefront?

I just finished facilitating the May Page Turner's book discussion of the book entitled The Cherry Harvest by Lucy Sanna. It's a memorable, suspenseful coming-of-age and love story which explores a hidden side of the home front during World War II when German POWs were put to work in the Wisconsin farm community of Door County. Struggling to feed their family while keeping their farm going, Thomas and Charlotte Christiansen persuade local authorities to allow German prisoners of war from a nearby camp assist with their upcoming cherry harvest.This is a great book for readers who like historical fiction and family drama. I decided to blog about this when I discovered that the majority of our group, myself included, did not realize that during WWII thousands of WWII prisoners ended up in mills, farm fields and even dining rooms across the United States, especially in the Midwest. Once military base camp labor needs were met, POWs were placed in other areas to be employed by private business owners. In Wisconsin, POWs worked primarily in seasonal agricultural employment, although some worked in the lumber industry or manufacturing. Their labor filled a desperate worker shortage. In fact, there was a prisoner-of-war camp, Camp Skokie Valley in Glenview.

This realization piqued my interest in other books on this topic.

For nonfiction, check out -

Nazi Prisoners of War in America by Arnold Krammer which tells the full story of how the U.S. government between 1942 and 1945, detained nearly half a million Nazi prisoners of war in 511 camps across the country. Krammer describes how the handling of these foreign prisoners led to the hasty conversion of CCC camps, high school gyms, local fairgrounds, and race tracks to serve as holding areas.

For fiction books similar to The Cherry Harvest that share the same genre (historical fiction) and subjects of the World War II and family relationships, check out -

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
This novel is about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of WW II.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
This novel is about two sisters struggling to survive during World War II in France. One sister is rebellious and intent on fighting for France while the other simply wants to survive the war with her family intact. Both sisters learn who they are and what they are capable of as the war wages on.

The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
This is about the Ravensbruck Rabbits: seventy-four women prisoners in the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Using alternating first-person narratives, the characters relate their experiences from 1939 through 1959. Drawing upon a decade of research, Hall reconstructs what life was like in Ravensbruck. More than a war story, this is a tale of how the strength of women’s bonds can carry them through even the most difficult situations

The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff
This is an emotional, heartwarming, and heartbreaking story about a traveling circus in Europe during WW II and the friendship and sorrow of two women aerialist performers.

A Weird-But-True Story Takes Flight In 'The Feather Thief'

The Feather Thief  by Kirk Wallace Johnson is one weird-but-true story. It's a story that leads readers from 19th century scientific expeditions into the jungles of Malaysia to the "feather fever" of the turn of the last century, when women's hats were be-plumed with ostriches and egrets. And it's a story that focuses on the feather-dependent Victorian art of salmon fly-tying and its present-day practitioners, many of whom lurk online in something called "The Feather Underground."

Johnson takes up fly-fishing as a way to manage his PTSD which is a consequence of years of aid work in Iraq. While fishing in the Red River of New Mexico, Johnson's guide began telling him about his own hobby of Victorian salmon fly-tying. The ornate flies, the guide explained, were more of an art form than a fishing tool; they're composed of the iridescent jewel-toned feathers plucked from many of the rarest birds in the world, like the Indian crow and the king bird of paradise.

Then, the guide went on to tell Johnson the bizarre story of a master fly-tier named Edwin Rist. In 2009, Rist — who was then a 20-year-old American student at the Royal Academy of Music in London — broke into the Tring Museum, a suburban outpost of the British Natural History Museum that was established during the Blitz. Once inside, Rist stuffed hundreds of rare bird skins into a suitcase he'd brought along. Many of those birds bore tags identifying that they'd been collected 150 years earlier by a naturalist named Alfred Russel Wallace, who was a colleague of Charles Darwin.

It turns out that what started off for him as an escape from the strains of refugee aid work became a mission to alert readers to the vulnerability of natural history collections like the Tring that may hold answers to the problems of extinction and climate change. These days, scientists can study those bird specimens to learn about rising mercury levels and other changes in the ocean and atmosphere. The Feather Thief is a real-life story that reads like classic thriller.

Grrreat Sewing Guides!

There is a growing trend, which has been dubbed "The Maker Movement", which is encouraging people to learn many of the almost forgotten skills of our recent past. Sewing and needle crafts are just two of the many skills that have enjoyed some revival with the Maker Movement.
Sewing is a skill that is making a comeback among people of all ages across the nation. From teens who want to make a tote, hat or mittens to Gen-Xers who want to personalize and decorate their first home with drapes, pillows and table runners. People want to make a connection with their creativity and their environment. It hasn't hurt that women's fashions now favor personalization: encouraging people to sew appliques on their jeans and vintage looks, which inspire hipsters to up-cycling thrift-store finds.

These two awesome books will provide support and solutions to your sewing questions.

If you are looking for a great sewing guide check out the Reader's Digest New Complete Guide to Sewing. This book is completely illustrated to help you when you find yourself stuck on a technique like pivoting at corners, how to sew gathers or how to put in a center zipper. The book also includes hand sewing techniques, selecting a pattern size and sewing vocabulary.

Another great sewing book that is well illustrated is Simplicity's Simply the Best Sewing Book. It is on a spiral so its easy to view and you can keep close when you are working. Every topic is covered in this how to sew book. From using interfacing to straightening fabric its all here. It really is the best sewing book.

Tony Awards – 2017

The 71st Annual Tony Awards were held on June 11, 2017, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2016–17 season. The ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and was broadcast live by CBS. 

Dear Evan Hansen was written by Pasek & Paul, with a book by Steven Levenson.  It opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in December 2016.

The title character, Evan Hansen, is a high school senior with a social anxiety disorder who finds himself amid the turmoil that follows a classmate’s death.

Won: Best Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Music – Ben Platt as Evan Hansen, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical – Rachel Bay Jones as Heidi Hansen, Best Book of a Musical – Steven Levenson, Best Original Score – Pasek & Paul, and Best Orchestrations – Alex Lacamoire.

Hello, Dolly! (Revival) is a 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder’s 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers.  The musical follows the story of Dolly Levi (a matchmaker), as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly Horace Vandergelder.

Won: Best Performance by a Leading Lady in a Musical – Bette Midler as Dolly Gallagher Levi, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical – Gavin Creel as Cornelius Hackl, and Best Costume Design – Santo Loquasto.

Come From Away is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein.  It is set in the week following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and tells the true story of what transpired when 38 planes were ordered to land unexpectedly in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland.

Won: Best direction of a Musical – Christopher Ashley.

KB

What Are You Reading Lately?

I recently listened to and have now become an enthusiastic promoter of comedian Trevor Noah’s incredible coming-of-age memoir, “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood". 

Trevor Noah, the host of Comedy’s Central’s The Daily Show, relates tales of his growing up during the final years of apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. Because his father was a Swiss-German white and his mother an African black, Noah was "born a crime”. Relations between whites and blacks were strictly prohibited under apartheid law. Noah, a light-skinned child, struggled to find his place in world that seemed determined to cast him as an outsider. While there are certainly funny moments in this memoir, Noah’s book is a fascinating and, at times, sobering look at life inside apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.

Noah is a masterful storyteller with an extraordinary facility with accents, dialects and languages. His narration of the audiobook makes the listening experience particularly intimate and very powerful.

What books have you been enjoying lately?

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History: Women's History Month

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's quote has always been one of my favorites. Who were these women that we did not learn about in a standard history class? Were they really so wild?

Or were they just trailblazers for their time in society? 

Take a look at a few of these titles and make your own decisions.

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon--and the journey of a generation by Shelia Weller

Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct: King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s.

Flappers: six women of a dangerous generation by Judith Mackrell

A biography of six women who declared their independence during the Jazz Age. British heiresses Diana Cooper and Nancy Cunard, Russian artist Tamara de Lempicka, African-American entertainer Josephine Baker, actress Tallulah Bankhead and aspiring writer Zelda Fitzgerald were daring women who defied expectations about what a woman's life should be.

The Scarlet Sisters: sex, suffrage, and scandal in the Gilded Age by Myra MacPherson

Describes the adventures of  Victoria Claflin Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee (Tennie) Claflin who tried to overcome the male-dominated social norms of the late nineteenth century and achieved a remarkable list of firsts, including the first woman-run brokerage house and the first woman to run for president.

Wonder Women: 25 innovators, inventors, and trailblazers whochanged history by Sam Maggs

The title is a fun and feminist look at the brilliant, brainy and totally rad women in history who broke barriers as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, adventurers and inventors, along with interviews with real-life women in STEM careers.

Hidden Figures: the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race by Margot Lee Shetterly

An account of the previously unheralded but pivotal contributions of NASA's African-American women mathematicians to America's space program describes how they were segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws in spite of their groundbreaking successes. ( Our Book It book discussion group is talking about this title on March 22nd.)

And don't forget Vicki Leon's 'Uppity women' series of titles for short bios of fascinating women of their times. There is the Uppity women of the New World, Uppity women of the Renaissance, Uppity women of medieval times , and the Uppity women of ancient times. 
                

So try one of these titles and take a look at her story. You might find a side of history that you have never explored before!

Girl Power!

Coming off the heels of the Women's March a couple weeks back, check out these strong female

characters and be inspired by what they stand for. Fiction and non-fiction titles.

For more options, check out the display in the Teen Scene and add in your own favorite female-driven titles to the mix!

I Am Malala: the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
By Malala Yousafzai

Describes the life of a young Pakistani student who advocated for women's rights and education in the Taliban-controlled Swat Valley who survived an assassination attempt and became the youngest nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hard Choices: A Memoir
By Hillary Rodham Clinton
The former secretary of state, senator, and first lady shares candid reflections about the key moments of her service in the Obama Administration as well as her thoughts about how to navigate the challenges of the 21st century.

Positive: Surviving My Bullies, Finding Hope, and Living to Change the World: A Memoir
By Paige Rawl

A teenager's memoir of the experiences of bullying, being HIV positive and surviving the experiences to become a force for positive change in this world.

Salt to the Sea

By Ruta Sepetys

Titanic. Lusitania. Wilhelm Gustloff. All major maritime disasters, yet the last is virtually unknown. Salt to the Sea rotates between four narrators attempting to escape various tragedies in 1945 Europe. Powerful and haunting, heartbreaking and hopeful–a must read.

The Book Thief

By Markus Zusak

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.

A Court of Thorns and Roses

By Sarah J. Maas

The human world is in peril. Feyre, a semi-literate girl, hunts for her family’s survival. After she kills an enormous wolf, a fierce fey shows up at her doorstep seeking retribution. Feyre is led to beautiful eternal springs, but the journey is not without danger. Maas masterfully pulls the reader into this new dark fantasy series which feels like a mix of fairy tales, from Beauty and the Beast to Tam Lin

National Book Awards Announced November 16, 2016

Colson Whitehead has won the National Book Award for fiction for his novel The Underground Railroad.  A New York Times bestseller and an Oprah Book Club pick, the book chronicles the daring survival story of a young plantation slave in Georgia who makes a desperate bid for freedom as she races through the Underground Railroad with a relentless slave-catcher close behind.

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibrim X. Kendi won the nonfiction award.  A comprehensive history of anti-black racism, this book focuses on the lives of five major players in American history, including Cotton Mather and Thomas Jefferson, and highlights the debates that took place between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists.

The award for poetry went to Daniel Borzutzky for The Performance of Becoming Human.

Borzutzky's work draws connections between the U.S. and Latin America, specifically touching upon issues relating to border and immigration policies, economic disparity, political violence, and the disturbing rhetoric of capitalism and bureaucracies.

The award for Young People’s Literature went to Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell for the graphic memoir March: Book Three.

March: Book Three is the final book in Lewis's graphic memoir trilogy. The trilogy gives a first-hand account of the author's lifelong struggle for civil and human rights. It begins with Lewis's life as a child in rural Alabama and continues to his involvement in the Freedom Vote and Mississippi Freedom Summer campaigns, and the Selma to Montgomery march. While March: Book Three won the Award for Young People's Literature, the whole trilogy will be of interest to a broad audience, including adults.

The National Book Awards, which were established in 1950 and are presented by annually by the National Book Foundation. This year’s awards were open to American authors who published books between Dec. 1, 2015, and Nov. 30, 2016. 

Celebrate the Right to Read: Banned Books Week September 25 to October 1, 2016

Welcome to Banned Books Week 2016. What?  People are still banning books? Yes, they are.

All the books on our display have been challenged within the past year or previous years. And we have a whole book  (Banned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read by Robert P. Doyle) that just talks about the hundreds of other titles that we cannot fit on our small display. New books to the banned list this year are the title  The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri and the children's book The Librarian of Basra: A True Story of Iraq by Jeanette Winter.


Why are people banning books? There can be various reasons that titles are challenged in schools and libraries (and sometimes bookstores) and they can change as society changes.  TIME magazine has a great article entitled What the List of Most Banned Books Says About Our Society’s Fears,  that talks about this topic. What we think is shocking now - may not be so shocking in later years.

But eliminating ones' access to materials and information is what banning is all about - taking one person's opinion and enforcing it on others' choices. It may have worked for awhile in the past - but with today's technology and media - it is hard to keep anything undercover. (And it raises sales on the banned author's titles!)

Everyone is different. What one reader enjoys, the other reader may not. The right book, with the right reader, for the right time is what librarians like to say.

So stand up for your right to read and read the banned book of your choice. I'm going to take The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks of off my TBR shelf and start it this week.

What about you?

The Amazing Nonfiction DVD Collection at the Glenview Public Library! Check Out What's Brand New!

GPL has a wonderful collection of nonfiction DVDs. They cover a wide range of topics, including how-tos, documentaries, biographies, parenting, travel and more. With so many subjects to choose from, there is always something new to discover. The older ones are located in the audio-visual room following the TV series DVDs and the brand new ones can be found on the wall facing the regular shelves. They are organized by subject and have a dewey decimal number. Both nonfiction DVDs and new nonfiction DVDs can be checked out for 14 days and can be renewed pending there are no holds. Reserves may be placed by Glenview and Consortium library card holders. There is a limit of ten checkouts. Best of all, there is no charge!

Here is a list of some current popular titles:
Chaplains: on the Front Lines of Faith 253 CHA
Oh My God: What is Islam 297 OH
The Mask You Live In 305.31 MAS
Netanyahu at War 327.56 NET
Hate Crimes in the Heartland 364.15 HAT
You Belong to Me 364.1523 YOU
Secrets of the Dead: The Alcatraz Escape 365.979 SEC
Tattoo Nation 391.65 TAT
Earth's Natural Wonders 508 EAR
The Real Jungle Book Animals 591.954 REA
Couple's Workouts for Health and Happiness 613.71 COU
Simplified Tai Chai for Beginners 613.71 SIM
Tracey Anderson Targeted Training Boot Camp 613.71 TRA
Supplements and Safety 615.1 SUP
Can Alzheimer's Be Stopped 616.831 CAN
All Things Must Pass 780.2 ALL
Fantasy Sports Gamble 795 FAN
Jackie Robinson 796.357 ROBINSON
Pearl S. Buck 813.52 BUCK
Travel Detective 910.4 TRA
Waikiki: In the Wake of Dreams 919.69 WAI
Secret Tunnel Warfare 940.4 SEC
1916, the Irish Rebellion 941.5 NIN
Saudi Arabia Uncovered 953.8 SAU
Red Lines 956.91 RED


So, broaden your nonfiction world and check a few out today for free!