The Life You Save May Be Your Own: Memoirs of Self-Discovery

Girl wearing snorkeling apparatus at the beach. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016.
quest.eb.com/search/154_2892984/1/154_2892984/cite. Accessed 8 Sep 2017.

“It's daring to be curious about the unknown, to dream big dreams, to live outside prescribed boxes, to take risks, and above all, daring to investigate the way we live until we discover the deepest treasured purpose of why we are here.” ― Luci Swindoll

What does it take your change your life? We always think the answer can be found in a book. Some folks recommend non-fiction to "help you stop worrying, stop being tired, and stop feeling overwhelmed — and start excelling in your field, embracing life's opportunities for adventure, and being happier every day," with the emphasis on teaching you new behaviors. Some suggest that if you read a book wherein the "end message is that life is filled with possibilities, if you let it be,"or a similar message, can be helpful, even if it's fictional.But sometimes, we think, you just need to read a book that shows that someone has succeeded in changing their life before, in ways you might find galvanizing or might want to emulate.

There is certainly no dearth of titles out there for those looking to prod themselves into making a change - speeding things up, slowing things down, doing things differently. Maybe you've already read inspirational books like Gift from the Sea, Love Warrior, and Rising Strong. Or tales of life-changing adventure such as Under The Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy,  Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia, and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. But maybe none of these titles resonated with you, or you just want more ideas. Never fear! We've compiled a list of other books that might help you deal with adversity, start you on a quest, or at least boost your spirits.


H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman [eAudiobook]

A Year By the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman by Joan Anderson

Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola

Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me Home by Jessica Fechtor

Girl in the Woods by Aspen Matis

Lit by Mary Karr

Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson

Claiming Ground by Laura Bell

Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship by Gail Caldwell


List

The Exhilarating Delight of Reading About Women in Search of Themselves [Oprah]

All the best, most kick-ass female memoirs you need to read [Hello Giggles]

The Memoir of Discovery (Not Recovery) [Kirkus]

What is TEDxABQ?

A guest post written by Jennifer Stubbs, librarian at the Cherry Hills Library.

What is TEDxABQ?  It is independent of the big TED; completely non-profit, volunteer-based, and locally cultivated.  The organizers of the main event on September17th announced ABQ's as one of the biggest of all the TEDxEvents - whether that is attendance, revenue, volunteer contributions, quantity of speakers, or longevity, we were not entirely clear. Like the TED talks found online, there are passionate speakers and highly attentive audiences.  The speeches at the main event were about 5 minutes long.  Each speaker spoke with emotion and from a strong personal background with the topic.  Every speaker was great, as well as better than the one before, creating a crescendo of performance and excitement.  Audience participation was a frequent element, including the performance art presentations that opened each session. 

TEDxABQ spreads awareness.  Social networking is viral, and each speaker presented a message attendees can relay to kith and kin, coworkers, and neighbors.  Awareness builds the will to change, and social pressure becomes the lever to counter special interests.

The speeches were all recorded, to be hosted on their website for viewing (not yet available, but check the TEDxABQ website for updates, and older videos).  The topics ranged from 

1. Advocating for diversity in and of our participatory democracy to ensure real viewpoints are represented in legislatures, but also in political party organizations.

2. Participatory art and community involvement bridge uncertainty and alleviate social fears, in order to save young lives from violence, suicide, or overdose.

3.  Knowing your farmer's purpose in growing: is it money or sustainability?

4.  If you can't learn to love yourself, at least stop hating yourself.

5. Practice handwriting; don't become dependent on a machine to know what you are trying to type.  Respect the value of hand-eye coordination as a foundation for architects and doctors.  Give kids a paper and crayon rather than a smartphone.

6. "Fear can paralyze or prompt, but it doesn't decide, you do."

7.  Match our military strength and tools with our democratic morals.  Scientists have already developed bloodless technology to restrict explosive manufacturing or deter people en masse.  We need to create the political will to bring these tools out of the labs.

8. Unplug vaccinations from refrigeration.  Boxes are available to permanently store Pertussis (whooping cough) live vaccinations to reach unelectrified communities, because preventative vaccination is more effective and efficient than post-hoc volunteering and triage.

9.  Hug a beehive and it hugs the world back: like bringing wolves back to Yellowstone, reintroducing bees to strip-mined areas provides rural economic stimulation and entry-level job growth while restoring ecology.

10.  Advocate for cross-generational mentoring, specifically for "Sheroes." Fight inequity by acknowledging differences, identify and fill the leadership gap, share stories, and interrupt negative messages.

11.  Build small and cultivate neighborhoods to remove the fear of apartments in order to solve the affordable housing problem.

12.   Be a friend to refugees.  See each as a complex, dynamic individual, worth respecting and receiving gifts from, social invitations, both given and graciously accepted.  These actions build and reinforce humanity more than charity.

Finally, an All Women's TEDxABQ is next, on October 28th, as part of a worldwide 24-hour window of Women TEDx Events. Intrigued? Perhaps you'd like to check out some TED-related items from the library catalog, such as:

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds by Carmine Gallo

TED Talks by Chris Anderson [eBook]

The Terrorist's Son: A Story of Choice by Zak Ebrahim with Jeff Giles [TED talk]

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [TED talk]

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown [TED talk]

The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good For You, And How To Get Good At It by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. [TED talk]

The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night At a Time by Arianna Huffington [TED talk]

SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver, and More Resilient* by Jane McGonigal [TED talk]

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor [TED talk]

Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain [TED talk] 

You can find more TED books listed on their website. If you would like to hear Kelly or Jane McGonigal speak, their TED talks will both be shown at upcoming events at the Cherry Hills Library in November!

Bookish Societies Seeking Members for Carefree and Aimless Creative Disruption of Everyday Life

Literature is full of societies and social clubs, some secret, some not so much. From sinister Spectre in Ian Fleming's James Bond novels to the Story Club in Anne of Green Gables, characters in literature, like their real-life counterparts, like to band together, whether it's to make mischief or something more benign. We've recently found a couple of books loitering in the library stacks, though, which are essentially handbooks for already established (and benign) societies which you can join if you'd like, or just leaf through the books and enjoy the ideas they espouse.

The Cloudspotter's Guide: The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds by Gavin Pretor-Pinney 

We pledge to fight 'blue-sky' thinking wherever we find it.

Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless

monotony day after day. 

~from the Manifesto of the Cloud Appreciation Society

Author Gavin Pretor-Pinney started The Cloud Appreciation Society in 2004 because he felt that "clouds deserved better than to be regarded merely as a metaphor for doom." There's a nominal fee to join this society, but the perks include receiving a badge, a certificate, a "Cloud Selector" identification wheel, and a "Cloud a Day." Or, you could just read the book, "an Official Publication" of the society, which goes into lots of detail about cloud classifications, how to spot different types of clouds, and more. It will really teach you to appreciate that "clouds are Nature's poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them."

Read more about the Cloud Appreciation Society online, especially their delightful manifesto! There is also an app, but it appears only to be available for iPhone.

The Wander Society by Keri Smith

Dear fellow wanderer, to repair is to accept and heal.To build skills of repair is to build skills of mending what has become threadbare in our lives. To mend is to practice that a tear does not mean the end of life.
~"On Repair", from The Wander Society website

The motto of the Wander Society is "Solvitur ambulando" (it can be solved by walking). Author Keri Smith found the first mention of this society in a secondhand copy of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman and was immediately intrigued. Research uncovered only that the society exists, but Smith cannot say for sure who the other members are. Her book lovingly collects all the mentions of the Wander Society, compiles a lists of "Wandering Precepts" and fellow wanderers, and discusses aspects of wandering - definitions, philosophy, its mystical nature, essentials, meditation, types - as well as "the importance of randomness." There is also a list of "assignments/research/field work" and a "how-to" section - carve a stick! Sew a pouch!

You can apply to access the Wander Society Secret Page online! The website has other materials, which are presented in a somewhat cryptic fashion, including a printable Walt Whitman poster, a membership card, a pamphlet, and instructions to create a pocket library and a portable altar.

Game Changers: Memoirs of People Who Turned Their Lives Upside-Down

You've read Wild: From Lost to Found On the Pacific Crest Trail. And Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy,
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search For Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, and maybe even Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes From Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint. People can change their lives - take the road less traveled, make a 180 degree turn, change the rules of the game - and many times, for the better. Sometimes the catalysts for change are unlikely - the quest for the perfect slice of pizza? An adventure playground in Japan? Baking? - and the lifestyle change itself surprising (choosing a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle is not uncommon, but we had not heard about choosing sheep-herding before - and yet there are two people on this list who did), and remember,"Life is a journey, not a destination."

Shepherd: A Memoir by Richard Gilbert 

Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter by Nina MacLaughlin

Chasing the Dragon: One Woman's Struggle Against the Darkness of Hong Kong's Drug Dens by Jackie Pullinger with Andrew Quicke

Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer's Search For Wonder In the Natural World by Leigh Ann Henion

All the Wrong Places: A Life Lost and Found by Phillip Connors

Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm by Mardi Jo Link

The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers - An Unconventional Memoir by Josh Kilmer-Purcell

The Good Shufu: Finding Love, Self, and Home On the Far Side of the World by Tracy Slater

I Taste Fire, Earth, Rain: Elements of a Life With a Sherpa by Caryl Sherpa

Slice Harvester: A Memoir in Pizza by Colin Atrophy Hagendorf

Savage Park: A Meditation on Play, Space, and Risk for Americans Who Are Nervous, Distracted, and Afraid to Die by Amy Fusselman

The Mystical Backpacker: How to Discover Your Destiny in the Modern World by Hannah Papp 

Wide-Open World: How Volunteering Around the Globe Changed One Family's Lives Forever by John Marshall

Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living by Doug Fine 

The Good Life Lab by Wendy Jehanara Tremayne

The Bee Cottage Story: How I Made a Muddle of Things and Decorated My Way Back to Happiness by Frances Schultz 

  
Out of the Woods: A Memoir of Wayfinding by Lynn Darling

Confections of a Closet Master Baker: One Woman's Sweet Journey From Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado

Claiming Ground by Laura Bell 

The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories From 125 Writers and Artists edited by Larry Smith  

Silence, Community, Solitude

I just got back from a three day silent retreat at a monastery. I was tempted after breaking the silence on the final day, to state my willingness to cook, clean, and work in their library in exchange for room and board. Then I remembered that the cat sitter needed to be relieved of duty and it was time to go home and resume my responsibilities. Eventually, I would also want to find out what was going on with my favorite TV show and catch up with my ungodly celebrity gossip. However, I am committed to finding a way to bring silence and depth into my daily life and the following books may tide me over until the next retreat, even though waking up at 5:30 a.m. has already slipped away.

An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order by Nancy Klein Maguire

Alone In Community: Journeys Into Monastic Life Around the World by William Classen

A History of Celibacy: From Athena to Elizabeth I, Leonardo da Vinci, Florence Nightingale, Ghandi and Cher by Elizabeth Abbott

Silence: The Power of Quiet In a World Full of Noise by Thich Nĥát Hanh

In Silence: Why We Pray by Donald Spoto

Nuns: A History of Convent Life, 1450-1700 by Silvia Evangelisti

And Then There Were Nuns: Adventures In a Cloistered Life by Jane Christmas

Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns by Cheryl L. Reed

Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO's Quest For Meaning and Authenticity by August Turak

The Monks and Me: How 40 Days At Thich Nĥát Hanh's French Monastery Guided Me Home by Mary Paterson

Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire At the Gates of Tassajara by Colleen Morton Busch

Chant: The Origins, Form, Practice, and Healing Power of Gregorian Chant by Katharine Le Mee
  

DIY is Elementary!

...the maker movement is inspiring educators to hark back to hands-on learning, tinkering, and puttering. It is recognizing the power of kids learning through their hands, naturally iterating and updating designs until they are just the way that the kids want them to be... In this feature, we suggest books that can help your elementary learners find role models and inspiration as they work toward their own maker mind-sets.
~Kristin Fontichiaro & Mollie Hall, "Maker Minds", BookLinks April 2015

Do you have a junior inventor on your hands?  Someone who likes to know how things tick, taking them apart and putting them back together? Do you know someone who likes to experiment? Is there someone whose creativity you'd like to encourage? Why not help your child or friend get inspired with some children's books that are all about people who got their hands dirty? From the true story a boy who grew up inventing pulleys to feed chickens in the coop and making marionettes to a story about a girl who loves to sew, from a girl who wants to create "the most magnificent thing" to a girl whose ingenuity turns a drab world into a magical kingdom of color, from the brothers who invented fluorescent paint to an unsung creator of hip-hop, we bet you can find something in the library catalog to spark a young mind!

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

Crafty Chloe by Kelly DiPucchio

The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors by Chris Barton

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

Lunch Walks Among Us by Jim Benton

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

Mouse and Mole, Fine Feathered Friends by Wong Herbert Yee

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty

The Scraps Book: Notes From a Colorful Life by Lois Ehlert

A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant

Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill 

New Year, New You: Books to Inspire You

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's all very well for Emerson to make the suggestion, but sometimes we mere mortals need a little reminder, a little coaching, a little inspiration to get (or keep) our little light shining!  Here are some books that could make the difference for you during the new year.


Wishes Fulfilled: Mastering the Art of Manifesting by Wayne W. Dyer

Make Miracles in Forty Days: Turning What You Have into What You Want by Melody Beattie

Finding Your Way in a Wild New World: Reclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Want by Martha Beck

Oneness with All Life: Inspirational Selections from A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life - A Practical Guide by Twyla Tharp

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon

The Paper Garden: An Artist {Begins Her Life's Work} at 72 by Molly Peacock

Following the Path: The Search for a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Joy by Joan Chittister

Flying Lessons: How to be the Pilot of Your Own Life by Pamela Hale

The Dance of Fear: Rising Above Anxiety, Fear and Shame to Be Your Best and Bravest Self by Harriet Lerner

I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down by Jennifer Hudson

QuickieChick's Cheat Sheet to Life, Love, Food, Fitness, Fashion, and Finance on a Less-Than-Fabulous Budget by Laurel House

Snap: Seizing Your Aha! Moments by Katherine Ramsland

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz

My Year With Eleanor: A Memoir by Noelle Hancock


For more inspirational titles, try a subject search using "Self-actualization" or "Inspiration".