Library Loot // February 10, 2021

Good morning, Reader! Is it cold where you are today? The high today is supposed to be 22F but feel like 9F, which is definitely NOT normal for Oklahoma! I can’t honestly say I’m looking forward to running books curbside in this, but at the same time, I am glad that we are open. We closed early Monday when the weather was starting to turn bad and stayed closed yesterday, and my heart breaks for the people who don’t have a warm place to be when we’re closed. I would much rather run curbside when it’s cold than deprive someone else of a safe, warm place to be, even if we can only allow people inside for a short time.

Anyways, today I’m participating in Library Loot. I’m currently living out my natural tendency to check out more books than I can possibly read during the semester, but even though I won’t get to read all of them, I still want to share about these books! Obviously, since I have not finished them, I cannot vouch for the content entirely, but they all look solid to me.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week.

From top to bottom:

Pride & Prejudice (1995)

I checked this DVD out after seeing a post in late January celebrating its publication date. I’ve only had time to watch the first two episodes of the miniseries, and I probably won’t get through the entire thing by the time it’s due back at the library, but it’s fun to have on hand for a while.

Lillian Gilbreth: Redefining Domesticity by Julie Des Jardins

Genre: Nonfiction, Biography

Synopsis: Lillian Gilbreth is a stunning example of female ingenuity in the early twentieth century. At a time when women were standard fixtures in the home and barely accepted in many professions, Gilbreth excelled in both spheres, concurrently winning honors as -Engineer of the Year- and -Mother of the Year.- This accessible, engaging introduction to the life of Lillian Gilbreth examines her pivotal role in establishing the discipline of industrial psychology, her work as an engineer of domestic management and home economics, and her role as mother of twelve children–made famous by the book, and later movie, Cheaper by the Dozen. This book examines the life of an exceptional woman who was able to negotiate the divide between the public and domestic spheres and define it on her terms.

Although I’ve heard of Lillian Gilbreth before and seen multiple movie adaptations of Cheaper by the Dozen, I was surprised to see her referenced in my management class textbook recently! That got me thinking that I would like to know more about her, and I found this short biography about her. I hope I will get to it soon, but realistically I am not confident I will have time.

Together, Apart by Various Authors (listed on Goodreads under Erin A. Craig)

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Synopsis: A collection of original contemporary love stories set during life in lockdown by some of today’s most popular YA authors.

Erin Craig “delivers” on a story about a new girl in town and the cute pizza delivery boy, Auriane Desombre captures our hearts with teens communicating through window signs, and Bill Konigsberg takes us along on daily walks with every step bringing us closer to love. There’s flirting and romance from Rachael Lippincott, a tale of a determined girl with a mask-making business from Erin Hahn, and a music-inspired love connection from Sajni Patel. Brittney Morris turns enemies to lovers with the help of a balcony herb garden, Jennifer Yen writes an unconventional romance that starts outside a hospital, and Natasha Preston’s teens discover each other–and their love story–in a storybook oak tree.

Romantic, realistic, sweet and uplifting, Together, Apart is a collection of finding love in unexpected places during an unprecedented time . . . each with the one thing we all want: a guaranteed happy ending. 

I had to jump on the “lockdown romance” bandwagon at least once, and this looked like a safe collection to try out the genre. I’ve read a few of the stories so far, and they’re okay, but I wouldn’t say I’m head over heels for any of them.

The Librarian of Boone’s Hollow by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Genre: Historical Fiction – Great Depression Kentucky

Synopsis: During the Great Depression, Addie Cowherd dreams of being a novelist and offering readers the escape that books gave her during her tragic childhood. When her adoptive father loses his job, she is forced to leave college and take the only employment she can find–delivering books on horseback to poor coal mining families in the hills of Kentucky.

Emmett Tharp grew up in the tiny mountain hamlet where most men either work in the coal mine or run moonshine. He’s the first in the community to earn a college degree, and he has big dreams, but witnesses the Depression robbing many young men of their future.

Then someone sets out to sabotage the library program, going so far as to destroy Addie’s novel in progress. Will the saboteur chase Addie and the other librarians away, or will knowledge emerge victorious over prejudice? Is Emmett the local ally that Addie needs–and might their friendship lead to something more?

I’ve wanted to read this book since I read and loved the Librarians of Willow Hollow series last year. Really crossing my fingers that I get to read this one before it’s due back.

Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Genre: Nonfiction, Biography

Synopsis: Mother and Dad are world-renowned efficiency experts, helping factories fine-tune their assembly lines for maximum output at minimum cost. At home, the Gilbreths themselves have cranked out twelve kids, and Dad is out to prove that efficiency principles can apply to family as well as the workplace.

The heartwarming and comic stories of the jumbo-size Gilbreth clan have delighted generations of readers, and will keep you and yours laughing for years. 

I checked out this book at the same time as the biography of Lillian Gilbreth. I’m certainly interested in reading it, but it isn’t my highest priority at the moment.

Shuttle, Houston by Paul Dye

Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir

Synopsis: Relaying stories of missions (and their grueling training) in vivid detail, Paul Dye, NASA’s longest-serving Flight Director, examines some of the highest-stakes split-second decisions that the directors and astronauts were forced to make in a field where mistakes are unthinkable, where errors lead to the loss of national resources — and more importantly one’s crew. Dye’s stories from inside Mission Control explain the mysteries of flying the Shuttle — from the powerful fiery ascent to the majesty of on-orbit operations to the high-speed and critical re-entry and landing of a hundred-ton glider.

The Space Shuttles flew 135 missions — surviving initial test flights and the early days of deploying satellites as well as enabling the assembly and servicing of the International Space Station. Astronauts conducted space walks, captured satellites, and docked with the Mir Space Station, bringing space into our everyday life, from GPS to satellite TV. Putting readers in the shoes of Mission Control, the hub that made humanity’s leap into a new frontier possible, Dye gives readers his own front-row seat on the missions that changed our world.

This is the book I’m most likely to finish soon. Despite the contents of this bookstack, I don’t usually read biographies, but this one jumped out at me. Learning about the shuttle program is fun, although I’ve decided to skip over most of the technical sections. I really don’t need to know exactly how all of the systems work to appreciate the narrative.

Juniper’s Butterfly Garden by Nadia Ronquillo

Genre: Children’s picture book

Surprisingly, this book is not on Goodreads. It was published by the OKC Zoo, and for a few months if you check out this book, you get a free zoo pass for four people. That’s the whole reason I checked it out. Maybe I’ll be able to use the pass in a few months?

While writing this post, I realized that I forgot a few books when I took the picture. I have a few more books in a bag ready to take back to the library – one I’ve finished, one I’ve given up on getting to this time around, and one that I plan to read during my break.

Do you have any library books checked out at the moment? What do you like to read or do when it’s frigidly cold?

Until the next chapter,

Jana