Your Neighborhood Librarian Recommends

  No one is surprised that a librarian reads a lot of books, but it might surprise you that I have read quite a few "self-help" books. Most educators and parents today are familiar with the concept of "growth mindset" (rather than a "fixed mindset") that we can embrace our mistakes and learn from them and in doing so open ourselves up to greater learning. So I have embraced the hardships in teaching, marriage, motherhood, and just generally being a human. I have read books about anxiety (my favorite is "The Anxiety Toolkit"), books about marriage (a big fan of "The Five Love Languages"), and on and on. Oftentimes I find secular books extremely lacking. The faith component for me, in processing life's challenges, is a big one.  I have appreciated the many books offered by Ancient Faith Publishing on topics such as parenting, marriage, and even ecology. The church is a hospital for sinners. How we deal with our own mistakes, shortcomi

Death, the character, would be played by David Tennant. Daisy would be played by Reese Witherspoon.  Why am I not working in a casting agency? Read this if you like chick lit but a little darker and very funny.

First of all, follow Emma Block on Instagram, she is amazing. This was such a positive book. There is no right or wrong when you are learning to paint. Here are two of my exercises.

This is an absolutely gorgeous book. I knew it was autobiographical and memoire together about a Russian immigrant experience but I didn't know much more. Immigrant experience and memoire is another one of the genres I will always read. My grandmother was Ukrainian and Orthodox Christian then Catholic, so I was curious about this book with the Russian dolls on the cover. Bess' grandmother is an Russian Jewish woman, lol-- my grandmother worked in a Jewish deli. If you have a strong ethnic maternal figure in your life you will belly laugh with this book. It is sweet, it is bittersweet, and it is sad. I loved it.

This was superbly funny and I couldn't put it down. It is primo chick lit-- when done well is one of my favorite things. Amnesia, billionaires, a few other chick lit boxes but I can't tell you which because #spoilers. Plan on adding this to your beach bag.

This was the best book I have read in the past six months! I am a total nerd for anything Jane Austen and Jane Austen themed fiction is one of my favorite sub-genres. Each month I preview about a hundred advance reader copies. I usually pick one or two to read and review. The only topic I ALWAYS will review are Jane Austen inspired. Usually they are at least diverting (word chosen intentionally). This was all around great. I liked the characters. I was amused by their banter about all things Jane. I found the story believable and interesting and just plain fun.