Get Healthy @ your library

I am on a new kick these days, and one that I hope not only sticks, but spreads to those around me. I’ve been cooking almost all my food, eating ten servings of fruits & veggies a day, and otherwise feeling great.

Part of this involves thumbing through cookbooks. Ok, that’s not quite accurate. It’s more like obsessively poring over recipes, devouring pages and really putting the instructions to the test. I like owing them, but I take them out of the library as a sort of quality preview. If I dread giving it back, then it’s a sign that perhaps it needs to be purchased, and this has been done with abandon of late.

All of this – all of it – began with a book. I read the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and it affected me greatly. I got to thinking about what it is that I’ve been ingesting, and how processed our food is, and how much gas is used to get these fruits here from across the world. Then I started reading labels and noticed the chemical content of what we eat. It led to different choices, but also, to more books: The 100-Mile Diet, for example, and the more practical Cooking with Foods that Fight Cancer. We have so many titles that could fuel this fire.

This post isn’t just about food and eating though. It’s about many other things too. Informing yourself through reading. The ability of books to change lives. Acquiring skills through books (yes, that is how I learned how too cook). Using your library as a life tool.

If we help you help yourself, then we have done our job. Eat, read, love.

Displays all around …

Just another friendly blog to make you aware of what the reference librarians are up to by giving you ideas and sparking the interests for those who want a good book to read. Even before you enter the library, there is a nice display of books in the window that gives readers a chance to take out or put on hold a title they may want to read. The display case changes about every few weeks with a different theme in mind. The one currently on display is “New Arrivals”, but there have been specific themes as well, such as “Library Staff picks”, “Jewish Book Month” or “Latin American Authors”.

If in case you’re wondering---the books in the display case are NOT real copies of the book. They are actually books the library no longer circulates. We’ve placed the covers of the featured books on top, just to show what we have.

One of my favorites from the previous display is: “The curious incident of the dog in the night-time” by Mark Haddon. If you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to pick up a copy. It is a fast-flowing book that I couldn’t put down and along with some laughs, there is a bit of a mystery to solve too. It is written in the view-point of an autistic teenage boy, and you begin to sympathize with the character right away.

Another little display we have at the Reference desk are books periodically put out according to a theme (such as art in fiction), or are in sync with an event that is happening at the time. Right now, we have a display of books from the author Norman Mailer, to honor his passing away several weeks ago. If you are a fan of him or want to check out what he wrote, come to the Reference desk and ask any of the librarians for his books---or help yourself to one of the books at the desk.

When you walk to the Mystery section, you will see a display up of Jewish Mystery books, accompanied by a bibliography and bookmarks. This display also changes often. We had featured mystery authors previous to this and will continue to do so when the Jewish Mystery display is done. Come by frequently to see the changes of all the displays and don’t miss out on taking home a few great books, even if they are not the newest ones out there!