Snow Reads

Every year, around the time when mercury rises and the sun starts peeking out, we’re bombarded with countless articles on the best books to read at the beach — because, of course, reading in the sand and sunshine is a great deal more pleasurable than sitting outside with a novel in January. Yet winter, especially a winter like this one, which has already featured bone chilling sub-zero temperatures across the United States, is truly the best season to burrow deep into a great book.
~Jason Diamond, "Snow Reads Are The New Beach Reads: 26 Books to Get You Through Winter"

To quote Frank Loesser's song: "Baby, it's cold outside."  The folks here at abcreads kept seeing the "Winters were made for warm blankets and large books" meme crisscrossing the internet, and then we saw an article talking about "Snow Reads", which got us thinking.  In this article, 26 randomly chosen people recommended books for winter reading - from Victorian detective novels to books that prompt "the reader to look inward" to "big hardcovers set in exotic locales that transport me to warmer places" to books unearthed from the bottom of the TBR pile and books people want to reread and revisit.  What book do you like to cozy up with under a blanket on a cold winter day?  Here are some of our suggestions:

Big Books

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

Wintery Tales

Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence, & Emperor Penguins by Gavin Francis

The Winter Warrior: A Novel of Medieval England by James Wilde

Iron Winter: the Northland Trilogy by Stephen Baxter

Winter Kill: A John Henry Cole Story by Bill Brooks

Age of Ice by  J. M. Sidorova   

Mystery and Adventure

The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko

In the Land of Oz by Howard Jacobson

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

Tell No One by Harlan Coben

The Man With a Load of Mischief by Martha Grimes


Young Adult and Humor

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris


As another internet meme says, "Cold?  Check out a book!  You'll still be cold, but you'll have a book."

Links

The Guardian's Winter Reads

Goodreads' Winter Reads

Summer Skin Care

As we approach the warmer summer months, it’s time to start thinking again about sunscreen.  Maybe you’re someone who dreads this extra step in your daily routine. Or maybe, like me, your family refers to you as the “sunscreen police.”  Either way, year-round sun protection is a health precaution we all must take.

Sure, lying out and cultivating that perfect tan seems worthwhile in the moment, but down the road, is that bronze hue you seek really worth the appearance of crow’s feet and fine lines? And prolonged and/or unprotected exposure to the sun also puts you at risk for skin cancer and melanoma.

A lot of this may seem old hat, but consider the following surprising statistics:

“Forty percent of Americans do not wear sunscreen.” (1)

“One in five Americans will get some form of skin cancer-men especially, since they don't use makeup and moisturizers with SPF like women do.” (2)

“Twenty-seven percent of parents with kids under twelve years old say they never or only sometimes apply sunscreen on their kids when they're outside for 2 to 4 hours. And 14 percent say they don't even apply sunscreen on their kids when they're outside for more than four hours." (2)

“The regular application of sunscreen with a sun protection factor of 15 or more during a 5-year treatment period reduced the incidence of new primary melanomas during a subsequent 10-year follow-up period, report the [Australian] study authors.” (3)

 “You should never apply self-tanner before going out into the sun, unless you use a sunscreen first. Most self-tanners work by using dihydroxyacetone (DHA) as the main ingredient. According to a 2007 study published in Germany, DHA causes the skin to release 180% more free radicals once exposed to the sun. Therefore sun protection is extremely important when you have used self-tanners containing DHA within the past 24 hours.” (4)

“According to dermatologist Jessica Wu, M.D., on her Everyday Health blog, ‘Up to 84 percent of UV rays can bounce off the sand and water, and reach you even under the umbrella.’ So, even if you’re sitting under an umbrella, be sure to reapply your sunscreen every two hours – or sooner, if you’re sweating or swimming.” (5)

“Most of us don’t think twice about walking to the mailbox or sitting by a window at work without having sunscreen on. But this kind of incidental exposure can still be damaging – and we actually get lots of it. In fact, the amount of incidental exposure we get can be considered a part-time job. According to Prevention, the average person gets 14 hours of exposure per week!” (6)

I don’t know about you, but finding out some of the above was very eye-opening for this blogger. Want to become more sun and skin savvy?  Check out some relevant titles we have in the library catalog!

The Beauty Bible: From Acne to Wrinkles and Everything in Between: Every Woman's Skin-Care and Makeup Application Guide by Paula Begoun

Dr. Denese's Secrets for Ageless Skin: Younger Skin in 8 Weeks by Adrienne Denese

Face Care: The Plan for Looking Younger Longer by Gerald Imber, M.D. and Stephen Brill Kurtin, M.D.

Naturally Healthy Skin: Tips and Techniques for a Lifetime of Radiant Skin by Stephanie Tourles
 

The New Science of Perfect Skin: Understanding Skin Care Myths and Miracles for Radiant Skin at Any Age by Daniel B. Yarosh

Secrets of Great Skin: The Definitive Guide to Anti-aging Skin Care by David J. Goldberg and Eva. M. Herriott
 

Skin Secrets: The Medical Facts versus the Beauty Fiction by Nicholas Lowe and Polly Sellar

Skin Sense: A Dermatologist's Complete Guide to Your Family's Skin Care by Garry Gewritzman
 

Skin Wise: A Guide to Healthy Skin for Women edited by Annette Callan

 

Total Skin: The Definitive Guide to Skin Health for Life  by David J. Leffell _______________________________________________ (1) http://shine.yahoo.com/travel/10-surprising-sun-care-facts-you-need-to-know-1289910.html (2)  http://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/consumer-reports-poll-27-parents-kids-under-12-apply-sunscreen-rarely-never (3) http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/736233 (4) http://www.temptalia.com/5-surprising-skincare-facts-you-didnt-know-until-now (5)http://www.skincare-news.com/a-7341-Practicing_Smart_Sun_Care_With_These_10_Lesser-Known_Facts.aspx

(6) http://www.skincare-news.com/a-7341-Practicing_Smart_Sun_Care_With_These_10_Lesser-Known_Facts.aspx

 

Winter Books

Robert Frost said "You can't get too much winter in the winter" (from "Snow"), & here at abcreads we couldn't agree more. The weather is chilly, it's getting dark early, you want to stay indoors by the fire - how about picking up one of these off-the-beaten-track winter reads for a quick browse or a little infotainment?


Winter: Five Windows on the Season by Adam Gopnik

Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon by Michael O'Brien

Cherries in Winter: My Family's Recipe for Hope in Hard Times by Suzan Colón

Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival by Bernd Heinrich

Impressionists in Winter: Effets de neige by Charles S. Moffett ... [et al.].

The Winter of Our Disconnect: How Three Totally Wired Teenagers (And a Mother who Slept with Her iPhone) Pulled the Plug on Their Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale by Susan Maushart

Scarpetta's Winter Table by Patricia Cornwell

Delia Smith's Winter Collection


New Mexicana, anyone?


Winter Poems Along the Rio Grande by Jimmy Santiago Baca

The River in Winter: New and Selected Essays by Stanley Crawford

Surviving the Winter: The Evolution of Quiltmaking in New Mexico by Dorothy R. Zopf

Ski Pioneers: Ernie Blake, His Friends, and the Making of Taos Ski Valley  as told to Rick Richards


How about a bilingual book to share with the kids?

Winter Afternoon = Tarde de invierno  by Jorge Luján


And if reading's not your bag, how about lifting your voice in song?


Sing the Cold Winter Away: Family Songs for Wintertime by Kathy Reid-Naiman [music CD]

Bonjour, l'hiver by Charlotte Diamond [music CD]


Maybe you'd like to while away the hours checking out some really chilly climes?


Frozen Planet [DVD]