Communications Manager Kyla Merwin recommends How to Love by Thich Nhất Hạnh. If love makes the world go 'round, and all you need is love...then why is that wonderful, beautiful, four-letter word completely blind, deaf, and dumb? Beyond romantic love, our capacity to love our friends, family, colleagues, strangers, and enemies, we are told, is endless. . .and challenged on a regular basis. One of my favorite, go-to volumes on this crazy, mindless subject comes from Thich Nhất Hạnh, … [Read more...] about Book Review: “How to Love” by Thich Nhất Hạnh
Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More
Book Review: An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
Media and Digital Librarian Aly Wepplo recommends An Untamed State by Roxane Gay. I was working at the Circulation desk when Martha Williams, our Director of Programs and Education, dropped An Untamed State into the return bin. Once she picked it up, she said, she hardly put it down again until it was finished. Three days later, I was making the same recommendation. To everybody. An Untamed State is the story of Mireille, an American woman with Haitian roots. Her parents raised … [Read more...] about Book Review: An Untamed State by Roxane Gay
Five Christmas Novels by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens heralds the winter solstice season with his Five Christmas Novels. After the success attained with A Christmas Carol in 1843, Charles Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840s, maintaining what he called "the Carol philosophy" to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated, and repressed. And what are the five Christmas Novels? In typical Dickens fashion, he drove his message home with a mixture of humor and good cheer. Margaret Lane points out … [Read more...] about Five Christmas Novels by Charles Dickens


