My Ideal Bookshelf

As a reader’s advisory specialist I am constantly asked “what are you reading and recommend”.  To me these are loaded questions. 

See, I love books.  Thus My Ideal Bookshelf is overflowing to the point of establishing its own library; build upon my own literary tastes obviously.  As an avid reader, I have been question on the amount of books I own and how I found time to read them all, why I need to keep them after I've finished them and where I plan on putting any new books I acquire.  I have also been accused of reading too much.  Which I find silly, and often reply that reading is much like a stay-cation to me, you get to virevisit it without the aggravation of packing.

Why do I love being a Reader’s Advisory Specialist?  I've loved books for as long as I can remember.  My affection for books began when I was a small, inquisitive and curious little girl.  Of course loving book didn't necessarily make me into a great reader and I wasn't that sort of reader who had her nose in a book every second of every day, although there have been times here and there.  I was more of a book aficionado.  I loved the feel of a book; the knowing that a great tale lived between its hard, protective covers.  I enjoyed the heft of a book and walking among them at a bookstore or when I visited the library.  The enjoyment I get from books grew as I did and as I read.  At first I treasured being read too; the words so easily opening a portal to faraway lands.  Then I valued knowing I could venture off on my own and loved the stories that took me to both real and fictionalized places that introduced me to characters both well-known and new.

There are hundreds of books on My Ideal Bookshelf and I cannot promise I'll be able to narrow it down to just a handful of favorites.  I’m not too sure it is possible to list just a few of the titles which have shaped, inspired and opened my eyes.  Different books at different points in my life have taught me lessons and have reminded me of old ones.  Picking favorites, whittling them down to a few bests of the best may be a lost cause and not for lack of trying on my part.

So here it goes my attempt at My Ideal Bookshelf, in no particular order of favoritism and just in case anyone is asking…

...And here are a few other's I'd like to add (I just couldn't find spine images to include them above).

Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War by Deborah Copaken Kogan

Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs in and Out of the Kitchen by Alyssa Shelasky

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

The Yellow Wall Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Like Life by Lorrie Moore

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (I enjoy everything by this author)

The Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month

Throughout history women have been the creators of greatness, they have been the ones to spur wars, women have also redefined rules and more times than not have brought men to their knees.  All women; the famous and infamous, wealthy and destitute, open-minded and genius - all these women have shaped the world we know.  They have dared us to act, think and do.  And for that we celebrate them!

In celebration of these women and their legacies here is a list of favorite women in writing.

Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch

by Sally Bedell Smith (2012)

The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy and Hard Times

by Jennifer Worth and now a PBS TV Series (2009) 

My Beloved World

by Sonia Sotomayor (2013)

Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court

by Sandra Day O'Connor (2013)

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

by Cheryl Strayed (2012)

Z: a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

by Therese Anne Fowler (2013)

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child

by Bob Spitz (2012)

Don't Lets Go to the Dog's Tonight

by Alexandra Fuller (2011)

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Woman Who Created Her

by Melanie Rehak (2006)

The Widow of the South

by Robert Hicks (2005)

Complete Stories

by Dorothy Parker (2002)

Born For Liberty

by Sara Evans (1989)

Scandalous Women: The Lives & Loves of History's Most Scandalous Women

by Elizabeth Kerri Mohan (2011) 

Feeling Lucky???

Come on in to the library and check out our new display.  If you're feeling lucky pick one of the display books and take it home!

Its Cold Outside

Warm up with these reads....
With all the rainy, slushy snow that came our way this past weekend, you're better off cuddling up on the couch with a good reads.  Try out one, two or all of these we suggest!

Monday Night Book Club

ATTENTION:
Monday Night Book Club Members the meeting date for March 2013 has been changed.  The group will meet to discuss Sutton on Monday, March 18 at 7pm.  The meeting was changed, because Passover begins at sundown on Monday, March 25th.

The Monday Night Book Club's March meeting is changed to Monday, March 18th at 7pm.

Please contact the reference department at 631-288-3335 x114/ 118 or email WellRead@westhamptonlibrary.net with any questions.

New! New! New! for 2013

Here is a list of books either hot off the presses or coming soon that I cannot wait to enjoy!  These are the titles at the top of my 2013 reading list.  Be sure to take a look.  They are books you will be hearing all about.

Last Runaway

by Tracy Chevalier (January 8)

It’s Chevalier’s latest historical saga.  Set in 1850 in Ohio, Chevalier introduces Honor Bright.  Honor is an English Quaker who has a tough time adjusting to her new surroundings.  Feeling sick from leaving England because of family tragedy, Honor is lost in a land she does not recognize.  Both alienated and alone in Ohio she has no choice but to rely on strangers whose principles count for little despite the community’s endeavor for human equality.  Strikingly written with a compelling narrative Chevalier outdoes herself in her latest novel.

Lonely Planet: Better than Fiction

by Various Authors (February 5)

Sit back and relax while you journey through the pages of this original collection of travel stories.  With 32 of your favorite fiction writers as your guide you will become the very best armchair traveler.  You will no doubt marvel at each and every author’s remarkable tale, from Mexico to a host of mysterious and not-so-exotic places.  Author’s like Joyce Carol Oats, Tea Obreht and Alexander McCall smith will have you packing your bags and on your way, globetrotting from one place to another. 

Girls Guide to Love and Supper Clubs

by Dana Bate (February 5)

The perfect sweetly frosted February read; Dana Bate’s second novel brings you to Washington D.C. where you meet Hannah a successful young woman at the height of her career.  Hannah has a dream job at an influential think tank company.  She lives in a posh apartment with her very accomplished boyfriend.  Her life sounds perfect, but Hannah isn't interested in any of it, not her dream job, or chic apartment and certainly not her accomplished, over achieving boyfriend.  After her relationship ends, Hannah takes the leap and does what she has always wanted to do, she organizes a supper club.  Among the flavorsome aromas and satisfying treats Hannah takes on her new adventure with liberated excitement and a teaspoon of trepidation.  So enjoy Bate’s delightfully amusing comedy about a young woman, her ambitions and her scrumptious path to achieving her bliss.

A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life

of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley

by Neal Thompson (May 7)

This biography tells the life and tales of the mysterious cartoonist turned world-traveling millionaire. Robert Ripley attained international fame by celebrating the world's oddities and peculiarities. His shocking showmanship educated us and allowing us to accept, as truth, the unbelievable. His book is filled with what you'd expect, may bizarre and interesting facts. In addition you'll be pleasantly pleased and more often than not entertained.

Family Pictures

by Jane Green (March 19)

In classic Jane Green style Family Pictures is a gripping story of two women.  These two women live on opposite coasts, but are connected in ways they never would have imagined.  Both women have families; with children going off to college and a husbands who travel too much.  Both are feeling bareness neither had predicted.  When a shocking secret is exposed, both women’s lives are pushed to their limits.  Will these secrets destroy their families; will these women who have never met, but are simultaneously experiencing the same events, be able to forgive; if not for themselves, for the sake of their children?

Salt Sugar Fat

by Michael Moss (February 26)

Investigative reporter, Michael Moss, addresses the explosive story of the rise of the processed food industry and how it is linked to the growing obesity epidemic. Through his book Salt Sugar Fat Moss addresses how such companies have reeled us in and caused our addictions to all the bad stuff; salt, sugar and fat.  More importantly, Moss tells us how we can fight back.  How obesity can be stopped and how we can take back our control over what we eat.

The Burgess Boys

by Elizabeth Strout (March 26)

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout has done it again.  Her ability to animate the everyday with such amazing energy is unparalleled in the writing profession.  The Burgess Boy is every bit as prevailing and poignant as any work in current literature.  Jim and Bob Burgess, two brothers from small town Maine are haunted by the awful death of their father and soon find themselves fleeing Maine for the big streets of New York City.  After making a life in New York they are urgently called home to Maine by the sister they left behind.  They find that what they so desperately wished to leave behind has only a thin layer of dust covering it up. The Burgess Brothers return to the place of their childhood and to the long-ago-buried tensions they left so many years earlier. Neither Jim nor Bob are able to escape the shadows of their adolescent past. Both realize that what they hoped would be forever forgotten is about to resurface and what they had hoped would forever stay buried is about to be undone.

Best Kept Secret (The Clifton Chronicles

 by Jeffery Archer (May 14)

The third installment of the Clifton Chronicles picks up right where Harry and Emma left of in Sins of the Father.   As Harry and his family begin to build the life they've always wanted an awful, nasty and dangerous enemy resurfaces.  Each installment of The Clifton Chronicles paints a strategic picture of what life and times were like in Harry and Emma’s world.  Just because you’d like to live a life of happiness and comfort doesn't mean you’ll get to.

2012 Favorites

It’s that time of year.  2012 has come to an end and here is my list of favorite reads from the past 12 months.  Take a look at what I’ve enjoyed!

Novel- The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Mystery/ Thriller/ Suspense - Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Literary Read - Home by Toni Morrison

New Author - Gilly Salt Sisters by Tiffany Baker

Historical Fiction - The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

Series – Sins of the Father (book two in the Clifton Chronicles Series) by Jeffery Archer

Non Fiction - Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Prize Winner/ Notable Book- The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

The Book I can’t Believe I Read - Fifty Shades of Grey Series!

Summer/ Vacation Read - On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

Favorite to Recommend - The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Chicklit - Where We Belong by Emily Griffin

Accidental Find - Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs In & Out of the Kitchen by Alyssa Shelasky

That book I wasn’t going to read, but I’m glad I did - Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Crossover Title - Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Memoir/ Biography - Blood Bones & Butter: the Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton