Let's Talk About... All Things Wise and Wonderful

Celebrate the spring weather with All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot. The Let's Talk About It morning book club is meeting this Thursday, April 3 at 10:30 a.m. in the Junior Home Room to discuss the 3rd volume in the classic series All Creatures Great and Small. If you don't know James Herriot and you're an animal lover, you should. Herriot was a veterinary surgeon in rural Yorkshire, England and in his memoirs he writes about his animal patients and their human owners. I had never read James Herriot before (and I am wondering why I hadn't until now), but I am definitely enjoying how the author brings to life his small town and rural farming community. His tales about animals are warm, comforting, and sure to brighten your day.

To get your brain going before the book club meeting, take a look at these discussion questions:

1. Explain why Herriot's writings are so popular.
2. Describe a relationship between an animal and a person that you know personally. Do you feel as Herriot feels about it? Why or why not?

Pick up your copy at the information desk today. We can't wait to see you on Thursday morning! Expect light refreshments and a fun discussion of a beloved author.

Shannon Wood, Adult Services Librarian

Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin by Nicole Hardy

I usually don't read memoirs (or much nonfiction), but a friend recommended this to me and I thought it looked interesting. It turned out to be a touching and evocative account of a life lived out of sync with what her community expects. Confessions of a Latter-day Virgin: a Memoir by Nicole Hardy is a memoir of a young, single Mormon woman struggling with the clash between what her church expects of her and what she wants out of life. The church wants her to practice abstinence, marry early, and give up her career for motherhood. Nicole is fiercely independent and wants to become a writer, travel the world, and not have children.

The memoir explores the loneliness and isolation of not being able to connect with the opposite sex inside or outside her church. Mormon men think she is too independent and those outside the church are confused by her faith and subsequent virginity. Hardy tells of her struggle between her own sexuality and her commitment to celibacy with poetic prose. She touches on universal doubts and troubles that I think we all share, such as the search for identity and the need to please one's parents. Check out Hardy's memoir for an inside look at the Mormon faith, or for a young woman's struggle to be true to who she is.

Shannon Wood, Adult Services Librarian