New Year, New You: Self Help

Self-help books. Photography. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 8 Dec 2015.
http://quest.eb.com/search/132_1254575/1/132_1254575/cite

What would you like to change in your life? The new year is traditionally the time to stop, take inventory and set positive goals for life change. And you don't have to focus only on diets or exercise. Improving the quality of your life is broader and more comprehensive and ultimately more important than your waistline. Remember: today is the start of the rest of your life. There's no good reason to dwell on the problems of the past unless you want to make yourself feel bad! You can only change the present and then the future. It's never too late.
~Betty W. Phillips, Ph.D.
 
Happy New Year! We can still say that four days later, right? Do you have any New Year's resolutions? According to some sources, the top resolutions include: spend more time with family and friends; get fit; lose weight; quit smoking; enjoy life more; quit drinking; get out of debt; learn something new; and help others. Today we'd like to recommend some books that might help you enjoy life more. The advice varies - from staying curious, to ending procrastination, to embracing the power of vulnerability - and so does the approach - from "a spiritual book written for--and by--someone who would otherwise never read a spiritual book" to a "personal story [interwoven] with groundbreaking research in the neurosciences" to one "packed with stimulating questions to uncover what’s true for you, [and] powerful techniques to change old habits that sabotage your dreams", we hope you'll find something to kick-start the change you'd like to see in your life.

Is there a self-help book you'd like to recommend? Let us know in the comments! If you have any resolutions you'd like to share, feel free to add those to the comments too.

Willpower:The Rediscovery of Humans' Greatest Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy

Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success by John C. Maxwell [eAudiobook]

Daring Greatly: How the Courage To Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace, and More by Joe Vitale and Ihaleakala Hew Len [eAudiobook]

Choosing ME Before WE: Every Woman's Guide to Life and Love by Christine Arylo

Not Impossible: The Art and Joy of Doing What Couldn't Be Done by Mick Ebeling

Approaching the End of Life: A Practical and Spiritual Guide by Donna Schaper

10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works--A True Story by Dan Harris

You Are a Bad Ass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero  

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer 

Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better by Wendy Suzuki

A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life by Brian Grazer and Charles Fishman

 

Best Young Adult Books of 2015

For the past two years, I've talked about my top picks for 2013 and 2014, so why should this year be any different? In this post, I'm talking about the books that were released this year and that I rated as five stars on Goodreads. There weren't as many this year, because I'm being more selective about what I'll give five stars to and why. Here are my picks, in no particular order.*

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anna Blankman

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke is one of the best historical fiction books I've read. It was just as suspenseful as the first book in this duology, Prisoner of Night and Fog. I adored the characters, and I'm sad this isn't a trilogy because I wanted so much more of everything this book had to offer.

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

I adore Sarah Dessen, and I was thrilled when she decided, in Saint Anything, to explore darker subjects than what she normally writes about. Everything about this book was perfect, which really, is to be expected when it comes to Sarah Dessen. She is a master storyteller.

None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio

What I Tweeted after reading this book: Blown away by None of the Above. Words can't describe how amazing this book is. And important.

And later, I Tweeted: A few days after finishing None of the Above, I'm still thinking about it.


The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

A lot books about suicide were released this year, and The Last Time We Say Goodbye was one of the best. When I finished it, I closed the book and just sobbed. This doesn't usually happen when I read books, but it happened a couple of times this year.

Ensnared by A.G. Howard

I've never been a fan of Alice in Wonderland, but this series (Splintered, Unhinged, Ensnared, and Untamed) was amazing. After I finished Ensnared, all I wanted to do was read anything and everything about Alice in Wonderland.

Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord

What I Tweeted after finishing this book: Read The Start of You and Me last night. It's amazing. For so many reasons. First, I loved the friendships among the four girls. They were authentic and strong. Second, loved the adults in the book. It wasn't just the main character trying to figure things out on her own. YA books need more adults who are actively involved with the teen characters' lives. Last, loved the diversity. There's a multiethnic character who's not a stereotype. Yay! Thank you, @emerylord for the amazing book.

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler
Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver
Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

Here's what I Tweeted before I started the book: Bought Extraordinary Means today which means I'm dropping everything else I was going to read.

Here's what I Tweeted after I finished this book: Extraordinary Means: Just another book that has turned me into a sobbing mess this year.

The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens

What were your favorite books you read this year? Let me know in the comments!

*For books where I wrote what I Tweeted, I edited the Tweets to make them more readable.

Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year. Fine Art. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 30 Oct 2015.
http://quest.eb.com/search/107_3361674/1/107_3361674/cite

The clock is ticking down to 2016! What are you looking forward to next year? Here are a couple of fun facts about 2016 - click on the Lucky Dip to find item in our catalog about the topic.

Upcoming Events

Do you have any New Year's resolutions?
Lucky Dip

In the Chinese horoscope, it's the Year of the Monkey (beginning at Chinese New Year on February 8).
Lucky Dip 

It's a Leap Year.
Lucky Dip 

The 2016 European Football Championship (Euro 2016) will be hosted by France between June 10-July 10.
Lucky Dip 

The Summer Olympics will we held in Rio de Janeiro from August 5-21.  The Paralympics are September 7-18.
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The 58th U.S. presidential election will be held on Tuesday, November 8.
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Notable Historical Anniversaries

The Brontë siblings bicentenary events begin in April with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charlotte.
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2016 also will also mark the birth anniversaries of: at 150 years, Beatrix Potter, Wassily Kandinsky, and Anne Sullivan; at 125 years, Zora Neale Hurston, Cole Porter, and Henry Miller; at 100 years, James Herriot, Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, and Shirley Jackson.

The 400th death anniversaries of Shakespeare and Cervantes are April 22 (Cervantes) and 23 (Shakespeare).
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In 1816, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Shelley's lover Mary Godwin, and their friends gathered at Lake Geneva for a meeting of minds. Between June 15-8, they dared each other to write a ghost story. Mary Godwin (later Shelley's wife) drew from a nightmare to create Frankenstein.
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August 25 will mark the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.
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On November 26, 1966,Truman Capote, flush with the success of In Cold Blood, threw a party for 500 of his friends at the Plaza Hotel. It was called the social event of the year by many, and by some the social event of the century.
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December 7 will mark the 75th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
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25th Anniversary of the Collapse of the USSR: By mid-December 1991, the 15 states that had comprised the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had all declared independence, starting with Lithuania in 1990 and ending with Kazakhstan.
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December 26 is the first day of Kwanzaa. 2016 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of Kwanzaa.
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Happy New Year!

Recommended Reads: Science & Math

Here are some science and math reads recommended by library staff. Recommendations represent several branches of the scientific community, and many are new books. Book descriptions are written by library staff, unless otherwise noted.

Do you have any science and/or math books to recommend to us? Let us know in the comments!

Atoms Under the Floorboards: The Surprising Science Hidden in Your Home by Chris Woodford 
The perfect way to enjoy science from the sofa, Atoms Under the Floorboards introduces you to the incredible scientific explanations behind a variety of household phenomena, from gurgling drains and squeaky floorboards to rubbery custard and shiny shoes. You'll never look at your home the same way again...  ~from the library catalog


The Boy Who Played With Fusion: Extreme Science, Extreme Parenting, and How to Make a Star by Tom Clynes
By the age of nine, Taylor Wilson had mastered the science of rocket propulsion. At eleven, his grandmother's cancer diagnosis drove him to investigate new ways to produce medical isotopes. By fourteen, Wilson had built a 500-million-degree reactor and become the youngest person in history to achieve nuclear fusion. Clynes narrates Wilson's extraordinary journey-- and reveals how our education system shortchanges gifted students, and what we can do to fix it. ~from the library catalog 

Beyond: Our Future in Space by Chris Impey
A report on humanity's imminent potential for living in space covers topics ranging from China's 2020 space station and the colonization of Mars to space-elevator innovations and the mapping of Earth-like exo-planets. ~from the library catalog

Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks
Sacks wrote very honestly about his hallucinations, with insights about the brain.

Life on the Edge: The Coming Age of Quantum Biology by Johnjo McFadden
Awesome speculation about the quantum roots of life.  I'm convinced there would be no life without the strangeness of quantum theory, whether or not they've got all the details right.

Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality by Edward Frenkel
This is the personal story of a Jewish Russian mathematician, and what he went through before and after he came here, with a description of his cutting-edge work in math.

From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time by Sean Carroll
Deep speculations on the nature of time, and what radical new thinking will be required to understand it better, yet non-technical.

The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science is Still a Boys' Club by Eileen Pollack
Reviewed in Scientific American, this is a first-hand account by a woman struggling for a career in science who faced a lot of sex discrimination. 

 A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature's Deep Design by Frank Wilczek
Reviewed in Science, this is about the beauty of Nature and the physical description of it by a Nobel prize winner. 

Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World by Bill Nye
In Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World, the New York Times bestselling author of Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation and former host of "Bill Nye the Science Guy" issues a new challenge to today's generation: to make a cleaner, more efficient, and happier world. ~from the library catalog

And one DVD:

The Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries [A Great Courses DVD, featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson.]
What is our latest picture of some of the most inexplicable features of the universe? What still remains to be uncovered? What are some of the next avenues of exploration for today's chemists, physicists, biologists, and astronomers? This lecture series is a wonderful entry to scientific pursuits that lie at the very heart of the history and nature of our universe. ~from the library catalog

Links

Science Book Recommendations - Infographic [GalleyCat]

Recommended Science Books for Non-Scientists [Forbes]

The 8 Books that Neil deGrasse Tyson Thinks Every Person Should Read [IFLScience]

The 50 Best Science Books [GeekWrapped]

Coloring for Grownups

Coloring not only evokes happy memories of childhood; the act can also foster a sense of well-being and offer a relaxing respite from our digital world. Crafters have known this intuitively for years... Coloring is a great way to explore your creativity — it’s easy, inexpensive and you don’t have to know how to draw. The 10 to 20 minutes you spend coloring  an image that gives you a sense of satisfaction can have a positive ripple effect throughout your day.
~Nancy Monson, "Why the latest coloring-book craze can be good for you"

Adults have taken up coloring, as a form of meditation, relaxation, or therapy, and it has caught on like wildfire this year - perhaps because this activity, traditionally the province of children, reminds adults of a more carefree time in their lives. Psychologists say "The relaxation that it provides lowers the activity of the amygdala, a basic part of our brain involved in controlling emotion that is affected by stress" and "The repetition and predictable outcome — much like when a person knits or embroiders — is soothing, almost like meditation." It's a recommended activity for "...adults [who] have given up on creating art as a means of expression by early adolescence. There is a great deal of fear involved, with people thinking they are 'not good enough' at creating art... It's a great starting point...starting with these coloring pages can build self-esteem and confidence with art materials, and then people can be guided to use more sophisticated art materials and create their own artistic expressions that extend far beyond coloring book pages." It's also great for retirees: "...researchers found that adults 65 or older who engaged in creative activities such as making jewelry, painting or writing had better overall health, made fewer visits to the doctor, used less medication and had fewer health problems than non-crafters."

Some people are getting together to color the way they might for a book club and others are sharing their work on social media. Even Crayola has gotten into the act, selling "adult coloring kits" - they include colored pencils and markers, so you don't have to share your kid's (helpful, too, if you don't have any children).

There are more adult coloring books than you can shake a stick at - mehndi designs, mandalas, mindfulness, Outlander, Game of Thrones, paisley, ocean designs, flowers, birds, stained glass, kaleidoscope - so whatever your pleasure, you can probably find something to color.

We can't stock coloring books in the library catalog, but we do feature several books on Zentangle. The Zentangle Method is "an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. Creating Zentangle art provides a fun and lighthearted way to relax and intentionally facilitate a shift in focus and perspective."

Zentangle: The Inspiring and Mindful Drawing Method by Jane Marbaix CZT

Zentangle Basics 1 by Suzanne McNeill 

One Zentangle a Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun by Beckah Krahula, CZT 

The Art of Zentangle: 50 Inspiring Drawings, Designs & Ideas For the Meditative Artist by 

Totally Tangled: Zentangle and Beyond by Sandy Steen Bartholomew 

Creative Tangle: Creating Your Own Patterns For Zen-Inspired Art by Trish Reinhart 


Check out some upcoming library events featuring coloring for grownups, and don't forget National Coloring Book Day is August 2nd!


Family Coloring Club @ Alamosa Library
Calling all coloring book fans, young and not so young! Join us every first Tuesday of the month for some stress-relieving coloring. We'll provide coloring tools and coloring pages appropriate for all age groups.

Adult Coloring@ Cherry Hills Library
Join us the First Saturday at 1 p.m. and Third Tuesday at 6 p.m. for our new adult coloring group. Drop in and express your creativity in a relaxed environment.We provide the materials, you bring the fun. Meets in the Squaretunda.

Coloring for Grown-Ups @ Erna Fergusson Library
A exciting new program  reoccurring on the first Sunday of every month.  Bring your friends, de-stress and relax while coloring beautiful designs and patterns.  All material will be provided.  Adults only.  Take some time for yourself-leave the kids at home.

Zentangle for Adults @ Lomas Tramway Library
Do you Zentangle?  Come and enjoy this relaxing art and practice with other folks who would love to share their projects with you.  If you are new to this art, we will go over the basics and practice a couple of new tangles each month. For adults.  No registration required.

San Pedro Colors! @ San Pedro Library
Come color with us! Relieve stress and make friends. All materials provided and all ages welcome. 

Links

Free Adult Coloring Pages [Art Is Fun]

Coloring Pages for Adults: Free to Download & Print! [Coloring Pages for Adults]

Free Coloring Pages for Adults [Easy Peasy and Fun]

Free Adult Coloring Pages [Crayola]

Paisley, Hearts & Flowers, Anti-Stress Design Coloring Page [Hello Kids]

Adult Coloring on Pinterest

New & Novel: Holiday Romance

It's never too late to brighten up the festive season with a holiday romance! Happy Ever After, a section of USA Today Life, mentions that holiday season romances start turning up in bookstores by the end of October.

The bad news is, of all the holidays celebrated at the end of the year, it's hard to find romances set during any festivities besides Christmas. We did find a list of books to read for Diwali, the Indian festival of lights in November, but very little for Hanukkah or Kwanzaa (the best bet being a Young Adult book we blogged about last year, My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories), a trend noted by romance bloggers like The Violet Femmes.

Nevertheless, we've put together a list of primarily Christmas romantic fiction which we hope will entertain you whether you are looking to heat up the season with steamy scenes or honor the enduring spirit of the holiday. Do you have recommendations? Let us know in the comments!

A Bad Boy For Christmas by Jessica Lemmon 

A Texas Christmas Wish by Jolene Navarro

All Wrapped Up by Kimberly Kincaid

A Christmas Kiss by Celeste O. Norfleet, Regina Hart, Deborah Fletcher Mello

The Christmas Cradle by Charlotte Hubbard

Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas

Holiday Sparks by Shannon Stacey [eBook]

Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

Starry Night: A Christmas Novel by Debbie Macomber   

A Christmas Prayer by Kimberla Lawson Roby 

Wish Upon a Snowflake by Christine Merrill, Linda Skye, Elizabeth Rolls 

What Happens Under the Mistletoe by Sabrina Jeffries et al.

The Mistletoe Inn by Richard Paul Evans

Sweet Silver Bells by Rochelle Alers

Baby, It's Cold Outside by Jennifer Probst et al. 

A Husband for Christmas by Gail Gaymer Martin

Texas Christmas: Six Romances From the Historic Lone Star State Herald the Season of Love by Ramona Cecil et al.

Do You Believe in Santa? by Sierra Donovan

The 12 Brides of Christmas Collection: 12 Heartwarming Historical Romances for the Season of Love by Amanda Cabot et al. 

A Grand Teton Sleigh Ride: Four Generations of Wyoming Ranchers Celebrate Love at Christmas by Elizabeth Goddard & Lynette Sowell 

Hot Christmas Nights by Farrah Rochon, Terra Little, Velvet Carter

Christmas at Tiffany's by Karen Swan 

Naughty or Nice by Eric Jerome Dickey [Kwanzaa] 

For more holiday romance, try a search of "Christmas stories" and "Love stories".
 

    

Why Read?

We wrote recently about bibliomemoirs, books about reading books. What might be called a subset of the bibliomemoir are books that try to answer the question "Why read?" Some of these books are quite literary-canon-minded, discussing reasons to read classics; others tackle a broader scope, including genre fiction, memoirs, and poetry. One book asks the question of how a classic becomes a classic; another offers essays ranging from Virginia Woolf to Jay McInerney discussing their favorite classics.  Probably if you are picking up one of these books, you don't need to be convinced to read; but perhaps you'd like to be reminded of the range of books out there, to see an author's works in a new light, or just want to understand someone else's passionate defense of a book that you dislike.

So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came To Be and Why It Endures by Maureen Corrigan

Why We Read What We Read: A Delightfully Opinionated Journey Through Contemporary Bestsellers by Lisa Adams and John Heath

How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom

Why You Should Read Kafka Before You Waste Your Life by James Hawes  

Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books by Wendy Lesser

A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers On Why We Read Jane Austen edited by Susannah Carson  

Why Read Moby Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick

Why Read the Classics? by Italo Calvino