Staff Picks

The author of this book uses such powerful imagery and moving phrases of recollection that I found myself truly touched in the heart when reading it. He talks about the importance of the landscape that he knew in his youth, and the need to save it, preserve it, and reflect on its wider meaning.

 

Publisher's description:

In Earth Keeper: Reflections on an American Land, Momaday reflects on his native ground and its influence on his people. "When I think about my life and the lives of my ancestors, I am inevitably led to the conviction that I, and they, belong to the American land. This is a declaration of belonging. And it is an offering to the earth." he writes. Earth Keeper is a story of attachment, rooted in oral tradition. Momaday recalls stories of his childhood that have been passed down through generations, stories that reveal a profound and sacred connection to the American landscape and a reverence for the natural world. In this moving work, he offers an homage and a warning. Momaday reminds us that the Earth is a sacred place of wonder and beauty; a source of strength and healing that must be protected before it's too late. As he so eloquently yet simply reminds us, we must all be keepers of the Earth.

 

Find Earth Keeper in our online catalog

This book is one of the most powerful, fulfilling Westerns I've read. It contains a great deal of action (and keeps the reader in suspense about how it will play out), but also digs deeper into the element of identity, character, and what it means to be a hero.

Publisher’s description:

John Russell, a young man nicknamed Hombre by the Apaches who raised him, has a deadly confrontation with a determined gang of stagecoach robbers.

Find Hombre in our online catalog

Pablo Neruda wrote so powerfully from the heart about the costs of war and lost love. This collection of poems evokes unforgettable imagery and truly touches the soul.

 

Publisher's description:

Residence on Earth is one of Neruda's most original and exciting collection of poems, also one of the most daring for its avant-garde quality, indirectly linked to the surreal movement. A profound reflection of life, of the relationship between nature and human beings, about loss, and about our role in the universe.

 

Recommended by a friend of mine, this book is among my favorites so far. It tells the story of an aging veteran who reads news from newspapers at public gatherings, and is transporting back to her family a 10-year old girl who was a captive of the Kiowa. An unforgettable tale.

Publisher description:

In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust. In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence. In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna's parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows. Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act "civilized." Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land. Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember--strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become--in the eyes of the law--a kidnapper himself.

 

This book is among the most moving and powerful I've ever read. Frederick Douglass was a true survivor against the most perilous of odds, and someone whose strength and faith remained (and remain) alive in the written word--in the very abilities to read and write.

 

Publisher's description: 

This dramatic autobiography of the early life of an American slave was first published in 1845, when its young author had just achieved his freedom. Douglass' eloquence gives a clear indication of the powerful principles that led him to become the first great African-American leader in the United States. The personal account of a fugitive slave's privation and sufferings and his campaigns for Negro emancipation.

 

Find Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas in our online collection. 

 

 

This book is both fun to read and important in what it tells us at the same time. We are told the story of a day in the life of Winnie the Pooh as he experiences nature and friendship to their fullest on an aimless amble through the Hundred Acre Wood, living only in the moment.

 

Publisher's description: 

In our frantic world, who better to guide readers through this transformative practice than a long-beloved bear who has perfected the art of simply being? "Just two things to do to truly be Pooh--just be present and kind," he says. And, not coincidentally, he lives in the woods. There is a growing acknowledgment of the benefits of deeply experiencing nature. The calming quality of sounds like running water and rustling leaves, the soothing properties of smells like lavender and chamomile, and the emotional comfort of beautiful natural vistas are well known. A Walk in the Wood is both inspiring and instructive. Simple stories with clearly stated goals and easy-to-follow exercises provide all the tools you'll need to take the first step, or continue on your journey, toward a quieter and calmer way of living. Discover along with Pooh that mindfully exploring and experiencing the simple joys of nature is an ideal path for working on your own habits, attitudes, and emotions, while cultivating more meaningful relationships with others.
 

Reading this novel was a powerful experience for me. It's basis is the love found in the sphere of family, and love in so many forms between people, and how powerful that emotion can be in the process of standing up to fight adversity, discrimination, and injustice.

 

Publisher's description: 

In this honest and stunning novel, Baldwin has given America a moving story of love in the face of injustice. In a love story that evokes the blues, where passion and sadness are inevitably intertwined, Baldwin creates two characters so alive and profoundly realized that they are unforgettably ingrained in the American psyche.

Find If Beale Street Could Talk in our online catalog. 

Crossing racial and personal divides, Kate Johnson discusses the Mitta Sutta discourse of Buddhism as a potential path toward social and personal justice, based on compassion for others and ourselves. She discusses that compassion as being a healing force in human relationships and for our world.

 

Publisher's description: 

A guide to developing and maintaining lasting friendships that transcend difference. At the core of every real friendship is a bond bound by trust and understanding. At the core of discrimination is othering informed by distrust and misunderstanding. Kate Johnson believes that we can reconcile these two truths and create a path toward true equality by building friendships across divides. Radical Friendship draws on Johnson's experience as a biracial woman and her work in anti-bias education to guide us through forming relationships that bridge differences in race, gender, sexual orientation, faith, physical ability, and more. Grounded in the Buddhist teachings of awareness, acceptance, and mindfulness, this book provides us with seven actionable strategies to make friends with ourselves and others. Johnson leads us on our journey to becoming a true friend by providing advice and guidance through every stage of a relationship, including meeting someone new, growing a friendship, or repairing existing tensions. Creating inclusive communities goes beyond a simple list of do's and don'ts, and Radical Friendship shows us the importance of working toward equality one relationship at a time.

Find Radical Friendship in our online catalog.

This novel proceeds like both a fairy tale and a dream, as, in reading it, we follow the plight of a young man to do whatever it takes to win the heart of his beloved. Prepare for a very fulfilling adventure as the story goes along.

 

Publisher's description:

Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria Forester--even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that stone barrier, Tristran learns, lies Faerie...and the most exhilarating adventure of the young man's life.

 

This book is what makes history writing interesting when done well. Morris tells the reader about what is known of the personalities of those individuals who had them built as residences. He also discusses the changes in their architectural styles over time, along with weapons used in defending them.

 

Publisher's description: 

This book is what makes history writing interesting when done well. Morris tells the reader about what is known of the personalities of those individuals who had them built as residences. He also discusses the changes in their architectural styles over time, along with weapons used in defending them.