It's Spring and Nature Beckons! Check Out A Year of Reading - April 2017: the Natural World

By now, I hope the GPL community is familiar with the Year of Reading 2017 brochure that lists thematic monthly book recommendations. If perchance, you're not, you will find them at the Reader Services desk ready for the taking. Pick up a copy - the year is young!

It's April and as the signs of Spring emerge, my literary thoughts turn to the particular genres of eco-fiction and nature writing. How fortuitous then that the theme for April is The Natural World. There are several titles listed. I've read some of them and maybe you have too. So, I've listed some additional titles that you and I might enjoy as well.





Goodnight, Texas by William J. Cobb
In this novel people struggle to survive job loss, severe over-fishing, and a looming hurricane. A lyrical, romantic, comic, and redemptive story about wanting what you cannot have, love amidst the ruins, survival, connection, and hope.

That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx
Assigned to locate land in the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma that can be purchased and converted into pig farms for his employer, Bob Dollar meets the residents of Woolybucket and comes to respect their fierce desire to retain their land.

Anthill by Edward O. Wilson
Presents the adventures of Raff, a modern-day Huck Finn in Alabama, whose love of ants transforms his life and those around him as he fights condo developers intent on destroying an endangered tract of land.

An Inconvenient Truth by Albert Gore
The former vice-president details the factors contributing to the growing climate crisis, describes changes to the environment caused by global warming, and discusses the shift in environmental policy that is needed to avert disaster.

Half-earth by Edward O. Wilson
A conclusion to the trilogy by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the National Book Award-finalist The Meaning of Human Existence argues that humanity must consider the histories of millions of other Earth species and increase the planet's regions of natural reserves in order to prevent future mass extinctions.

A Year of Reading March 2017: Women's History Month

In January, the library introduced a Year of Reading - a list of carefully selected monthly book picks. March is Women's History Month.

Here are some more titles if you enjoyed our March selections:

Girls of Atomic City: the Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II 
by Denise Kiernan

The town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, boomed on U.S military-owned acreage between 1942-1944. Its electricity usage matched that of New York City, and its population reached 75,000 - yet it didn't appear on a single map during World War II. Many new residents were women, recruited at top-dollar wages for positions from chemists to couriers. Sworn to strict secrecy protocols, they were told only that their work would ensure a swift, final World War II victory. The nuclear blast at Hiroshima at last revealed their hidden roles. The Girls of Atomic City brilliantly illuminates a long-overlooked chapter of both World War II and women's history.

The Astronaut Wives Club: a True Story

by Lily Koppel

With selection of the first crew members of the Mercury space program in 1959, a small group of women who had been ordinary military wives became celebrities. As role models and representatives of the space program, NASA demaneded their perfection, from their clothing to the meals they served at home.This intimate, informative group portrait chronicles how they formed a support group (ater extending to the wives the Gemini and Apollo astronauts) and became an essential resource behind the scenes of the space program's early years.

Wild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons, and Completely Corsetless Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era

by Autumn Stephens

A fascinating and sometimes humorous glimpse into the lives of 150 19th-century American women who refused to whittle themselves down to the Victorian model of proper womanhood.

The Aviator's Wife (fiction)

by Melanie Benjamin 

A story inspired by the marriage between Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh traces the romance between a handsome young aviator and a shy ambassador's daughter whose relationship is marked by wild international acclaim.

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker (fiction)

by Jennifer Chiaverini

Presents a fictionalized account of the friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln and her dressmaker Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave.

Enhancing GPL's A Year of Reading 2017: Readalikes for February

February is the month of love and romance and happy hearts. I was so impressed with the February titles for the Love Connections theme, I thought I would enhance this list with similar book picks.

For A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Basi, try:

• Only in Naples by Katherine Wilson - Americans fall in love with Italians and with Italy; while food is a central piece in both memoirs, it's a family affair in Only in Naples, and (at first) a solitary pastime in A Thousand Days in Venice.
• Still Love in Strange Places by Beth Kephart - These two engaging memoirs trace the lives of women who fall in love with foreign men, move to their country, and learn to fit into the local culture. Along the way, each encounters linguistic, cultural, and social challenges.

For Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg, try:

• Data, a Love Story by Amy Webb - Drawing on their own experiences, the authors of these books examine technology's influence on human relationships. Modern Romance surveys the dating pool from a sociological standpoint, while Data, A Love Story recounts the author's personal quest to find love online.
• Labor of Love by Moira Weigel - Each concerned with the vagaries of finding a mate, these issue-oriented books differ in their precise focus. Labor of Love looks at a history of dating in the U.S., while Modern Romance looks at contemporary courting in a number of locales.

For  Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare, try:

• A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James - These witty, upbeat Regency historical romances take the tropes of classic fairy tales and reinvent them as they follow spirited, resourceful heroines and their unlikely aristocratic love interests from Once Upon a Time all the way to Happily Ever After.
• The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn - These romances feature damaged heroes who are forced to spend tie in close quarters with the heroines, during which a romance slowly develops. The stories are full of witty banter, heartfelt conversations, humor, and drama.

For Sweet Little Lies by Jill Shalvis, try:

• You Don't Know Jack by Erin McCarthy - Secrets and lust are the focus of these banter-filled contemporary romances set on opposite coasts. Though Sweet Little Lies favors a heartwarming tone and You Don't Know Jack is funnier, both are steamy and touched with a bit of magic.
• Make You Mine by Macy Beckett - In these banter-filled, heartwarming contemporary romances, the road to true love is rocky, if steamy. Is it the fault of a wish or a curse?

Hope you find a Love Connection with one or more of these titles!

Make 2017 A Year of Reading

Happy New Year! Make 2017 a "Year of Reading" with monthly book picks and related works selected by our librarians. You can stop in the library to pick up a pocket sized guide or visit our website at glenviewpl.org/2017read.

In January, DISCOVER. We kick this off with The Books that Changed My Life: Reflections by 100 Authors, Actors, Musicians and Other Remarkable People edited by Bethanne Patrick. 

Collects one hundred reflections by prominent authors, politicians, actors, musicians, and celebrities on a book that changed their lives and made them who they are today, and why they love them.

Contributors include Al Roker, Carl Hiaasen, Dave Eggers, Emma Straub, Eric Idle, Fay Weldon, Fran Lebowitz, Gillian Flynn, Gregory Maguire, Jeff Kinney, Jim Shepard, Laura Lippmann, Lev Grossman, Liev Schreiber, Margaret Atwood, Mayim Bialik, Nelson DeMille, Rosanne Cash, Susan Orlean, Tim Gunn, and Tommy Hilfiger, among others.

Other titles you might enjoy:

Every Book Its Reader by Nicholas A. Basbanes
In celebration of five eventful centuries of the printed word, Basbanes considers of writings that have "made things happen" in the world, works that have both nudged the course of history and fired the imagination of influential people. Basbanes asks what we can know about such figures as Milton, Gibbon, Locke, Newton, Coleridge, John Adams, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Henry James, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller--even the Marquis de Sade and Hitler--by knowing what they read. He shows how books that these people have consulted, in some cases annotated with their marginal notes, can offer clues to the development of their thought. He then profiles some of the most articulate readers of our time, who discuss such concepts as literary canons, classic works in translation, the timelessness of poetry, the formation of sacred texts, and the power of literature to train physicians, nurture children, and rehabilitate criminal offenders.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
Sara arrives in the small town of Broken Wheel to visit her pen pal Amy, only to discover Amy has just died. The tale of how she brings the love of books and reading that she shared with Amy to the residents of Broken Wheel is just a lovely read. Any book lover will enjoy Sara’s story and that of the friends she makes in Broken Wheel. If ever a town needed a bookstore, it is Broken Wheel; the healing power of books and reading is made evident by this heartwarming book.

Books for Living by Will Schwalbe

‘Every book changes your life. So I like to ask: How is this book changing mine?’ Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club, focuses on a personal collection of books that changed his life. Each book he selects provides a lesson, a reminder as to how to live his life. Readers will remember favorite books, find new books to try, and lessons to think about. Schwalbe’s book is warm, charming, and very personal. It’s a book for all avid readers.