Read and discuss My Stroke of Insight, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's account of her stroke and remarkable recovery.  She will be speaking at the Wharton Center on March 1.

As the New York Times Review stated:  "Jill Bolte Taylor was a neuroscientist working at Harvard's brain research center when she experienced nirvana.  But she did it by having a stroke. On Dec. 10, 1996, Dr. Taylor, then 37, woke up in her apartment near Boston with a piercing pain behind her eye. A blood vessel in her brain had popped. Within minutes, her left lobe — the source of ego, analysis, judgment and context — began to fail her. Oddly, it felt great."

Find out why that was the case and discuss your thoughts with the Nonfiction Book Group.

Confirmed! There will be a drawing for book group attendees for a pair of free tickets to Dr. Bolte Taylor's presentation courtesy of the Wharton Center.

Author Helen Frost must be a genius.  In her new book Crossing Stones, not only has she written a beautifully sensitive portrayal of two Michigan farm families during World War I, but she has done it in a "cupped-hand sonnet" form.  This is a 14-line poem in which the first line rhymes with the last line, the second line rhymes with the second-to-last, and so on, so that the 7th and 8th lines rhyme with each other at the poem's center.  In addition, the poems themselves are arranged as "stepping stones", or as the flowing creek that separates the Norman and Jorgenson family farms.  However, this structure does not detract from the lovely language that envelops the reader and that draws the reader into this story of love, heartache, acceptance and friendship.  The book also imparts a lot of American history that is not seen in too much teen fiction - World War I and its aftermath, and the woman's suffrage movement.  Highly recommended.

Did you make a New Year's resolution to become more fit?  Are you feeling the winter blues?  Would you like to increase your physical energy and level of awareness?  Would you just like to move and have fun?  Perhaps you'd like to try something different and don't know where to get started.  The library can help you along the path to achieving all of your fitness goals!

You can start by joining us for a series of free fitness classes at the library!  Local experts in various mind/body/spirit disciplines will be offering sample classes to help you explore your interests or try something completely new.  All classes are FREE, so you have even more reason to jump in and explore!

The votes are in! BookBrowse.com has announced the 2009 BookBrowse Favorite Awards.  Over 4,000 votes were submitted, and the winners are...

• Overall Winner: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book: Life Lessons from Notable People from All Walks of Life edited by Anita Silvey is a book that called out my name from the moment I saw it in a book review journal.  I couldn't wait for the library to order it!  The title and subtitle of this book describe it perfectly. Editor Anita Silvey brings together testimonies from 110 leaders of society from all walks of life - scientists, politicians, entertainers, artists, athletes - to tell what their favorite children's book was and how it affected their life.

Books have just been selected for our January and February meetings!

January 12 @ 6:30pm:  Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

February 9 @ 6:30pm: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind : creating currents of electricity and hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

Please join us for drinks and discussion!  We meet at Dublin Square Irish Pub in downtown East Lansing.

On November 10th we met at Dublin Square to discuss Dave Eggers' latest non-fiction book, Zeitoun.   This book not only tells the harrowing experiences of the Zeitoun family during Hurricane Katrina, but provides insight into the larger issues of government action in crisis, criminal justice, religion, race and ethnicity, and community.

If you haven’t read the book, it’s definitely a worthwhile read!  For additional information check out these links:

Video Interview with Abdulrahman Zeitoun The Zeitoun Foundation New York Times Book Review Voices of Witness 

Oprah's latest book club selection, Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan is now available as a Lit Kit.

For more information about Lit Kits and the titles available at the library click here.

Are you in a book group? Thinking about joining or starting one? October is National Reading Group Month, so if you're not in a book group already, now is a good time to join. Check out the following web sites for info on reading groups and lists of good books:

National Reading Group Month (with lists of featured books)
Reading Group Choices (sign up for their free newsletter)

Whether it's Simone Weil or Simone de Beauvoir...    Whether it's John Mayer or John Tyler...   Whether it's Marilyn Monroe or Marilyn Manson...

Biographical information is at your fingertips for over 380,000 people--from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas--in the Biography Resource Center. 

Whatever the depth of knowledge you need, it's here.  Brief summary biographies give you "just the facts, ma'am."   In-depth biographies provide overviews of the person's life and
 

This year's One Book, One Community focuses on "The Soloist," a New York Times best seller, written by Steve Lopez, award-winning journalist and Los Angeles columnist.  The book was also made into a recently released, feature film starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr.

"The Soloist" is the true story of Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez's fascination with Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a Julliard trained musician who is homeless and playing Beethoven on a two-string violin in a noisy traffic tunnel.

Did you know ... East Lansing has been a "Tree City USA" community for 22 years?  The natural beauty of our city is evident every day ... and this month the library focuses on our green bounty with a display dedicated to all things "trees."  Come and enjoy!

While August is a great month to delight in the wonder of trees, it's also National Back to School Month!  Start the annual ritual with a trip to the library.  Browse the back-to-school display for plenty of fun and chockful-of-info books (and more) for kids, parents, ... and even teachers! 

Lemonade in hand, hammock at ready ... feed your passion for the Great American Pastime during these long summer afternoons by delving into one of these recent baseball biographies.

The Rocket That Fell to Earth: Roger Clemens and the rage for baseball immortality, by Jeff Pearlman.  Clemens is fierce and hard-nosed, one of baseball's best pitchers, but deeply flawed.  The Boston Globe says this book "develops a stark, unsparing picture of Clemens's life that surpasses anything that's come before."

Satchel: the life and times of an American legend, by Larry Tye.  Leroy "Satchel" Paige could have been the star to break baseball's color line but Jackie Robinson got the first crack.  It's taken this long, says Publishers Weekly, to get the definitive biography of this black showman-athlete, one of the finest pitchers ever, who finally was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.

A-Rod: the many lives of Alex Rodriquez, by Selena Roberts.  Roberts captures one of baseball's greatest players as a tragic figure in pinstripes: the man once considered the clean exception of the steroid generation is revealed as an unmistakable product of its greed and dissolution.

Straw: finding my way, by Darryl Strawberry.  Strawberry was dubbed "The Black Ted Williams," but he faced many personal challenges, including drug use, tax evasion, solicitation, and allegations of domestic violence. Strawberry tells his own story of finding redemption.

Yogi Berra: eternal Yankee, by Allen Barra.  "One of America’s most insightful and precise sports writers artfully separates the myth from the reality of the iconic Yogi," in this gripping biography of the legendary Hall-of-Famer and one of the most quotable figures in American culture. (David Maraniss).  "One of the best baseball books of the year," says Library Journal.

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