(Orignally published April 14, 2018)
As I gather together titles for this article, Marquette is
immersed in a weather pattern that just doesn’t fit my mental construct of what
Spring is supposed to be. It’s cold,
it’s windy, and nary a daffodil is to be seen.
This morning I went to the PWPL online catalog in search of new books
with the word “humor” in the record and was rewarded with the following titles
to lift my spirits.
Treating People Well by Lea Berman is a guide to personal and
professional empowerment through civility and social skills, written by two
White House Social Secretaries who offer an important fundamental message--
everyone is important and everyone deserves to be treated well.
The Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin is a debut novel that
pulses with humor and empathy and explores the
heart's capacity for forgiveness. Zadie Anson and Emma Colley have been best
friends since their early twenties, when they first began navigating serious
romantic relationships amid the intensity of medical school. Now they're
happily married wives and mothers with successful careers. Their lives are
chaotic but fulfilling, until the return of a former colleague unearths a
secret one of them has been harboring for years.
The Complete Peanuts by Charles Schultz collects all the
"Peanuts" comic strips as originally published in newspapers,
including both daily and Sunday strips into individual volumes that we have
housed in the Teen Graphic Novel collection.
The Peanuts have been lifting “kids” of all ages out of the doldrums for
my whole life.
In L’appart:
The delights and disasters of making my Paris Home,
bestselling author and world-renowned
chef David Lebovitz writes about his evolving ex-pat life in Paris, using his
perplexing experiences in apartment renovation as a launching point for stories
about French culture, food, and what it means to revamp one's life. Lebovitz maintains his distinctive sense of
humor with the help of his partner Romain, peppering this renovation story with
recipes from his Paris kitchen. In the midst of it all, he reveals the
adventure that accompanies carving out a place for yourself in a foreign
country--under baffling conditions--while never losing sight of the magic that
inspired him to move to the City of Light many years ago, and to truly make his
home there
In The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search
for Human Happiness, author/comedian Paula Poundstone asks, Is there a
secret to happiness? I don't know how or why anyone would keep it a secret. It
seems rather cruel, really ... Where could it be? Is it deceptively simple?
Does it melt at a certain temperature? Can you buy it? Must you suffer for it
before or after? In her wildly and wisely observed book, the comedy legend
takes on that most inalienable of rights--the pursuit of happiness. Offering
herself up as a human guinea pig in a series of thoroughly unscientific
experiments, Poundstone tries out a different get-happy hypothesis in each
chapter of her data-driven search. She gets in shape with taekwondo. She drives
fast behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. She communes with nature while camping
with her daughter, and commits to getting her house organized (twice!). Swing
dancing? Meditation? Volunteering? Does any of it bring her happiness? It’s
certainly fun to consider the possibilities.
Written in a spirit of exploration rather than declaration, Montaigne
in Barn Boots is a down-to-earth (how do you pronounce that last name?)
look into the ideas of a philosopher "ensconced in a castle tower
overlooking his vineyard," channeled by a Midwestern American writing
"in a room above the garage overlooking a disused pig pen." Whether
grabbing an electrified fence, fighting fires, failing to fix a truck, or
feeding chickens, author Michael Perry draws on each experience to explore
subjects as diverse as faith, race, sex, aromatherapy, and Prince. But he also
champions academics and aesthetics, in a book that ultimately emerges as a
sincere, unflinching look at the vital need to be a better person and citizen.
In Sweet Spot: An Ice Cream Binge Across
America journalist Amy Ettinger channels her ice-cream obsession,
scouring the United States for the best artisanal brands and delving into the
surprising history of ice cream and frozen treats in America. For Amy Ettinger,
ice cream is not just a delicious snack but a circumstance and a time of
year--frozen forever in memory. As the youngest child and only girl, ice cream
embodied unstructured summers, freedom from the tyranny of her classmates, and
a comforting escape from her chaotic, demanding family. Sweet Spot is a fun and
spirited exploration of a treat Americans can't get enough of--one that
transports us back to our childhoods and will have you walking to the nearest
shop for a cone.
--Ellen Moore, Web Librarian
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