September is National Library Card sign-up month, and as any librarian will tell you, a library card can give you access to a world of books and more.
In the library spirit, we asked some library staff for their recommendations this week.
Richard Miller, executive director, Osterhout Free Library
Book: "The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant"
Author: Ulysses S. Grant
I tend to read a lot of nonfiction history and biography. Recently, I've become interested in learning more about President Ulysses S. Grant, so I am reading his actual memoirs that he wrote, and they're quite lengthy. But the nice thing about them is that although he was a very smart man, he wrote in a way that's very accessible to modern readers.
It doesn't use a lot of the flowery, flourished language that we may come to expect from 150 or so years ago. And one of the interesting things about this — and sad things actually — is that he was writing his memoirs because he was essentially dying of throat cancer, and he had lost his money in a scam, unfortunately.
He was trying to raise some funds for his family, and Mark Twain was his friend and publisher who actually got him the book deal, but some of the interesting things I have found about him is that he was very forward-thinking. He has a reputation as a bloody general that persecuted the war, and he did. However, he was a very humane person. He was repulsed by cruelty to animals. He was very unusual for that time, where he was very much in favor of punishing people that hurt animals unnecessarily.
He was very much in favor of equal rights. He thought that the recently freed slaves, African Americans, should have full rights of any U.S. citizen, and he was a very humble person. He seemed to have a natural intelligence and innate ability to anticipate what other people would do.
Thinking about his accomplishments in the Civil War, he just had a great grasp of the overall picture, where many people would have ideas about strategy or logistics, he could see the entire picture and know where the enemy would be going, what he would need, how many men he would need, and how to supply them. So he's really an impressive figure that I don't think everyone had always appreciated.
Amber Wendolowski, children's librarian, Valley Community Library
Books: Various
Authors: Various
My fellow children's librarians and I made a list of our favorite children's books that we would like to share with you.
Our favorite books include "Stick and Stone" by Beth Ferry, "Click, Clack, Moo" by Doreen Cronin, "Snuggle Puppy" by Sandra Boynton, "Pumpkin Jack" by Will Hubbell, "Bog Myrtle" by Sid Sharp and "Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn" by Shannon Hale.
You can come and get these children's books at any Lackawanna County library because we'd love to share them with you.
Sarah Scinto, WVIA Morning Edition Host and Reporter
Book: "The Martian"
Author: Andy Weir
While I may have a personal library stamp, I regret to inform you all that I do not work in a library. But this week I want to recommend one of my favorite books that I’ve ever borrowed from the library. Not counting the stacks of books I checked out as a child, that honor has to go to “The Martian.”
Andy Weir’s breakout novel is the story of Mark Watney, an American astronaut who is left behind on Mars. As he improvises to survive, NASA frantically tries to bring him home.
I’ll admit I held off on reading this for a while — as a more fantasy-inclined reader, the lore of the accuracy of Weir’s calculations for “The Martian” had me worried the book would be too clinical. Nothing could be further from the truth. The science is all there, yes, and the story is incredible but I’ll always remember “The Martian” mainly as the book that made me laugh out loud more times than I could count. I read it for the first time during the early days of the pandemic, and I definitely needed that.
And, I wouldn’t have finally started it if I hadn’t seen it available at my local library.
That’s all for this episode of Bookmarks! Join us again on Oct. 3 for more reading recommendations.
