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Health & Fitness

Library Picks for November

May we suggest these great reads for your reading pleasure.

I’ll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark (2011)
Alexandra “Zan” Moreland’s identity is stolen, aggravating other tragedies in her life.  On the same day, new evidence surfaces concerning her son’s kidnapping, which took place two years earlier.  This evidence thrusts Zan into the spotlight of a police investigation.  Any proof of her innocence disintegrates under close scrutiny, and she begins to look more and more unstable.  The mystery is finally cleared up, with the help of her friend Alvirah Meehan, among others.  The plot of this novel is intricately woven in a few different points of view, and the suspense built to a point that I couldn’t put it down.  ~ Recommended by Jennifer

The Secret River by Kate Grenville (2005)
Mores, birth status, cultures and necessity. This reader supports and identifies with the protagonist, Will, who, born into the lower class in 18th century London, suffers deprivations and bad luck and out of necessity to feed his family, resorts to crime which results in his deportation to Australia. Kate Grenville paints vivid pictures of life in the slums of London and conditions in the penal colony around early Sydney where Will, with the support of his wife Sal, rebuilds his life through hard work. When Will’s family homesteads and comes into contact with the Aborigines, there is a contrast in cultures, attitudes and sympathies. There is hope that a solution can be found to the conflict.  Don't miss this exciting tale of New South Wales!   ~Recommended by Regina

The American Way of Eating: Undercover at  Walmart,  Applebees,  Farm Fields and the Dinner Table by Tracie McMillan (2012)
Most of us give little thought to our food, especially where it comes from and how it gets to us at the grocery store and then to our kitchens.  First working in the fields in California, starting at the beginning of the cycle of our fruits and vegetables, McMillan discovers that life is hard both physically and mentally for people who pick our produce.  The pickers are paid cents for pounds of produce they pick.  There are no health benefits as this work is transitional.  The produce department at grocery stores depends on hard workers and sometimes unethical management.  Working as an expeditor in a restaurant, prepping food to get it out to the customers, was a demanding job that McMillan never expected to be so complicated.  Her actual experiences are interspersed with factual data on food, food distribution, and peoples’ eating habits.  This was a fascinating look at food distribution in this country.  I will never look at grapes again without thinking of the workers bringing baskets out of the fields. And there is a restaurant that I’ve enjoyed eating in that I may never go to again.  ~ Recommended by Sue

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Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork (2009)
Marcelo Sandoval, a teen with an autism-like disorder, is distraught when his father informs him that he will be spending the summer experiencing the “real world” by working in the mail room at his law firm.  Marcelo eventually agrees to the summer job and experiences much more than he or his father bargained for, as he learns to navigate interpersonal relationships, works through serious ethical dilemmas, and makes some powerful friends and enemies along the way.  Written from Marcelo’s point of view, the writing style itself helps the reader see the world as Marcelo does.  Imagining the world through Marcelo's eyes was a useful exercise for me that made me think a little more thoughtfully about the complexities of others. ~ Recommended by Jody

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