What We're Reading Wednesday

Author:  Louise Green
Reader:  Susan K-T., Youth Services Librarian

I love this exercise book!  Why?  Because it includes all the fitness basics: upper body and core, lower body and cardio, and stretch and balance with many terrific color photos of people of various genders, ages, weights, shapes, even including people of differing abilities! There are great explanations of fitness equipment, and most importantly, how to make fitness accessible for everyone!  The author's motto is to embrace the body you have.

Did you know that our library contains not only many various fitness books, but also current and older DVD's on the topics of fitness such as zumba, yoga, aerobics, tai chi, bootcamp, cardio, Qigong, and more that you can check out!  You can even explore exercise on ebooks.

Reader: John A., Business Librarian

I always seem to somehow have both a print book and an audiobook going at the same time. Right now I'm reading Ken Follett's 'Pillars of the Earth' (1989) on my Nook, and listening to Erik Larson's 'The Splendid and the Vile' (2020). 

I started 'Pillars' because my wife, who is a longtime bookstore manager, recommended it to me when I expressed frustration at the density of Umberto Eco's 'The Name of the Rose' (1983).  I found Eco's famous novel beautifully written, but found myself constantly looking up various Latin phrases and anachronistic terms. While 'Pillars' deals with a similar time period (13th century) and monastic settings, it is also very much a thriller along the lines of Follett's other books. Indeed it seems to have as many major plot twists and major catastrophic events as the early seasons of Game of Thrones (I've not read the books yet).  Now that I am almost done, I am beginning to feel the same kind of void that appeared when I finished GoT. 

Reader: John A., Business Librarian

As for 'The Splendid and the Vile,' I chose it more because I enjoy Erik Larson's approach to historical storytelling than interest in Churchill. The war-time Prime Minister has so many biographies written about (and by) him that I normally assume everything that can be said about the man likely already has been said. Larson's latest book doesn't disappoint; along the lines of his 2011 book 'In the Garden of Beasts,' he takes a larger look at the Churchill family as well as the personalities he brought into the government, depicting their public and private lives.  The book paints a vivid picture of life in Britain during the first years of war prior to America's entry into the conflict.