Juli's November Staff Pick

FLOTSAM

by David Wiesner

Oversize PZ 7 .W6367 F65 2006
Vivid storytelling and active imagining are at the heart of this beautiful Caldecott Award winning book. I first discovered Wiesner’s work when I picked up a copy of Tuesday, which the CWC Library also has. Who knew page-turning could be so fun! This book is an ultimate in armchair-travel!

Juli's October Staff Pick

NOWHERE BOY

DVD ML 420 .L38 N69 2008

Learn about the young John, before rock n’ roll, before The Beatles, before Yoko, before the unimaginable in New York City. Imagine a young man from Liverpool in 1950s who was destined to become one of the world’s greatest musicians and peace activists.

This is John Lennon in his early years. This is John Lennon, the nowhere boy who found his way.

Juli's September Staff Pick

The School of Essential Ingredients

by Erica Bauermeister

AUDIOBOOK BAUERMEISTER

This book is a must-hear for fans of food and fellowship. Erica Bauermeister mixes together a diverse group of characters in her novel about a cooking class and encourages us to consider what is truly essential in life and in love. It’s a delicious blend of personal reflections and aspirations and is sure to make you hungry!

Juli's August Staff Pick

BREAKING CLEAN

by Judy Blunt

CT 275 .B57984 .A3 2002

Blunt’s storytelling is as sharp as the barbed wire that surrounded her life as a third generation rancher in Montana. Her memoir sheds light on her life as a ranch child, wife, woman, and mother and is gritty and gut-wrenching while remaining graceful.

This is one of my favorite memoirs.

Juli's July Staff Pick

UTNE Reader & Mother Jones

Interestingly enough, when I studied Journalism as an undergrad, alternative press publications were never mentioned. What a shame! I encourage others to read and explore non-mainstream outlets for information. You just might learn something that the others don’t want you to know!

Juli's June Staff Pick

Amadeus

DVD PR 6037 .H23 A8 1997

This film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1984 but it’s hard to believe Tom Hulce’s performance as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart didn’t win him the Oscar. It was amazing! Music, mayhem, murder plot, and madness… this film has it all!

Juli's May Staff Pick

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
By Laura Hillenbrand

D 805 .J3 Z364 2010

This is an AMAZING true story of survival, resilience, and redemption! Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner in hot pursuit of the four-minute mile, goes from life as an athlete to a life of a captured airman during WWII. Learning of his challenges and determination, which portray both the best and the worst of human nature, evoke a wide range of human emotions and leave the reader feeling relief and admiration for a man who defies the odds, repeatedly.

Juli's April Staff Pick

Staking Her Claim: Women Homesteading in the West
By Marcia Meredith Hensley

WYOMING F 595 .H45 2007

The west was still wild in the early 1900s and it wasn’t just wannabe cowboys who wanted to experience the west and call it home. Surprisingly, there were a large number of single women who wanted to explore the west, plant roots, and make a new life for themselves. It was the west’s wildness and the limitless opportunities available in the wide-open frontier that lured many women to the western states and allowed them to stake their own claims as homesteaders. Learn about the locals who called this area home, including Mary Sheehan Steinbrech. She settled in the Lander area, taught school, and called Fremont County home. Sprinkled with photos and personal accounts of life as a homesteader, Staking Her Claim offers great insight into a homesteader’s life in the wilds of the west.

Juli's March Staff Pick

BIKE LUST: Harleys, Women & American Society
by Barbara Joans

GV 1059.52 .J63 2001

As a female motorcyclist, this book caught my eye a few years ago before I rode in the Iron Butt Rally, an endurance motorcycling event very few Harley riders or women compete in. I was interested in reading about the author’s anthropological perspective. As a woman in a male-dominated sport, endurance motorcycling, I was curious to see if she acknowledged the small population of women in the world of sport motorcycling. She didn’t.
Still, it’s a decent read for those curious about the biker culture in the U.S.

Juli's February Staff Pick

1000 Artist Journal Pages

by Dawn DeVries Sokol

TR 465 .S658 2008

I love this book so much I own it! If you need to declutter thoughts or if you’re interested in keeping a history of your life’s happenings, this book is a great inspirational source to make those things happen. If you’re not into painting, drawing, doodling, gluing, stamping, sketching, or any other artistic medium, this book is STILL great to browse. Read and view what others have spilled onto their pages and see if you’re not even slightly motivated to get messy.

January Staff Picks: Juli's Pick

FOOD, INC.

DVD HD 9005 .F66 2009

Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature
This documentary will hopefully educate you about where your food really comes from and inspire you to make educated, conscious decisions about the foods you purchase AND consume.
• Should corporations be allowed to control our food industry?
• Do you trust how your food is grown, handled, and delivered?
• Do you know HOW you get your food?
If these issues are even remotely important to you, “you’ll never look at dinner the same way again” thanks to this DVD.

Juli's December Staff Pick

TALES OF CHRISTMAS FROM NEAR AND FAR
Edited by Herbert H. Wernecke

PT 1 W495 TA1

Who doesn’t love a good story? At this time of year, people gather to celebrate the season and to share in fellowship, friendship, and family. Memories are shared and made and without a doubt, stories are shared. This collection of Christmas stories includes tales from countries far away, such as India, the Philippines, and Czechoslovakia but also includes stories from the States. I encourage you to share stories from Amish country and Possum Run. My personal favorite is Christmas in the Alps, which is from Switzerland.
Happy Holidays Everyone!

November Staff Picks

Juli’s Pick
Book Lust by Nancy Pearl

Z 1035.9 .P38 2003

Western Memoirs? Magical Realism? Road Novels? Ecofiction? Great Dogs in Fiction?
Spies and Spymasters?
These are just a small few of the reading recommendation categories you can choose from in this book of book suggestions! Nancy Pearl provides quick lists of potential reading material based on your “mood, moment, and reason”!

October Staff Picks

Juli's Pick
The Bridges of Madison County

By Robert James Waller

Oh yes… when I read this, I tried stifling my sobbing but there was simply no use. I had it bad for the fictional Robert Kincaid and found it nearly impossible to accept that he wasn’t really a National Geographic photographer shooting images of the Iowan covered bridges. That was a hard dose of reality to swallow, I admit. And although I’m not one to read sappy romance, this book did capture me and turned out to be a good read.

September Staff Picks

Juli's Pick
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Written by Mark Haddon

PR 6058 .A245 2003
Christopher John Francis Boone is the fifteen-year-old, autistic, protagonist of Mark Haddon's debut novel. He knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This suspenseful story of Christopher's investigation of the suspicious death of a neighbor's dog makes for one fun, yet chaotic, read!

August Staff Picks

Juli's Pick

One for the Money

by Janet Evanovich

NETLIBRARY AUDIOBOOKS

Stephanie Plum has fumbled and stumbled through the pages of sixteen books in this popular series by Janet Evanonich. And although they're not intense whodunits, they are fun, fluff reads with elements of humor, romance, and mystery. Perfect for no-brain reading and escape!

Our accidental heroine becomes a bounty hunter in her hometown of Trenton, NJ, once she finds herself unemployed and out of money. Her first assignment sends her on a hunt for Joe Morelli, a former vice cop on the run from a charge of murder one. Morelli just happens to be the hunka hunka burnin' love who took Stephanie's virginity at age sixteen AND bragged about it graffiti-style in the sub shop in the 'burg they call home.

This book is merely the first of her manhunts that lead her through an interesting cast of criminal characters and into the arms of a couple of hot catches. After reading the first few books in the series you'll find yourself trying to choose between Morelli and Ranger...it's inevitable and pure Evanovich fun!

July Staff Picks

Juli's Pick

The Reader

by Bernhard Schlink

PT 2680 L54 V6713 1997

Set in post-war Germany, "The Reader" takes us through the relationship of Michael and Hanna in three different parts. They meet innocently when Michael is a teenager and Hannah is nearly twice his age. Unexpectedly, their relationship develops into one of sensuality and enlightenment for both. Manhy years after their relationship ends, Michael learns much more about Hanna than she ever dared to reveal when they were together. Her secret exposes her dark history and sheds light on the woman Michael loved and lost while leaving the reader pondering many moral dilemmas associated with a multi-generation romance, WWII Germany, regret, and redemption.

June Staff Picks

Juli's Pick

The Oxford Book of American Short Stories

Joyce Carol Oates

PS 648 .S5 O94 1992

Want to explore a variety of authors but don't have the time to read a gazillion novels? Then read short stories! This collection offers a plethora of famous writers' works for you to sample. Stories I recommend reading first include:

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Ghost in the Mill by Harriet Beecher Stowe

In a Far Country by Jack London

A Late Encounter with the Enemy by Flannery O'Connor

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

That Evening Sun by William Faulkner

Short Stories are perfect for summer reading! Give these a try!