To borrow print books for Fall 2020:
Ebooks:
Reference and Instruction Librarian Joyce Miller read and liked these books at the SUNY Adirondack Library. Here's her list on LibraryThing:
For fun, I recently bought myself a nice road bike. I enjoy the challenge of climbing hills in the Adirondacks and Saratoga County, and always the beauty of boating on Lake George.
My favorite authors, both with upstate New York roots like myself, are Russell Banks and Richard Russo.
Recent books I've enjoyed are:
The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi, soon to be a Miramax television series.
The Splendid and the Vile: a saga of Churchill, family and defiance during the blitz by Erik Larson. My first read of a personal account of Winston Churchill during the war. Larson did extensive research and details the Churchill's leadership from his country retreat and 10 Downing Street. I listened on Audible, it is 600 pages in print, a vivid account of the time and leadership.
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. A fictional account of mother and son crossing the border after their family is killed by drug cartel gang members. For a highly recommended non-fiction account see The Line Becomes a River: dispatches from the border a personal account of a Fulbright scholar studying international relations who chooses to become a border patrol agent. His account of the psychological toll on the border patrol agents as well as the heartbreak of families separated by the border was beyond enlightening--not what you hear on the news.
Caste: the origin of our discontents by Isabelle Wilkerson was a difficult read, but well researched and written--it's worth the effort. It may change your mind on some matters
A Promised Land by President Obama, I set it aside, it is very detailed regarding his rise in politics and his inner conflicts --more than I need to know and it only brings us to 2011! There is a second volume to follow. I thoroughly enjoyed Michele Obama's memoir Becoming which I listened to on Audible in her own voice.
I just finished Wintering: the power of rest and retreat in difficult times by Katherine May. A very timely book as we approach the depths of winter during COVID times. It may help you enjoy the simple pleasures of this down time--perhaps you will even be convinced to enjoy the therapeutic effects of winter swimming, Polar Bear Plunge?
Next, my book club is reading Hamnet, a novel about Shakespeare's family life, marriage, and loss of a child.