Library Corner

 

Note: Available at the Lebanon Library
Review by Dorothy Y., LUMC Librarian 

 As the head coach of women’s basketball at the University of Tennessee from 1974 to 2012, Pat Summitt scored 1,098 victories, receiving the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2012.

Basketball became the love of her life at an early age, but she had to work in the tobacco fields with her three brothers, under her father’s watchful eye, before they could shoot baskets in the barn.  “Work had to be done, and done right,” was a principle which she maintained throughout life.

The reading list places this book in the Leadership Development category, and as Pat led her teams to win those victories on the basketball court, her stories reflect a concern for each player which transcended the goal to win the game.

Coping with the diagnosis of early-onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type provided a different kind of challenge, and Pat writes with candor of her upsetting medical consultations and her determination to focus on the positive. We would do well to remember her closing thought:  “I know something with certainty.  God doesn’t take things away to be cruel. He takes things away to make room for other things. He takes things away to lighten us.  He takes things away so we can fly.”

 

BOOKS NEW IN OUR LIBRARY  3/25/15

 THE ROUND HOUSE: Louise Erdich (2012)

 This is a mesmerizing story, but not what I call “pleasurable reading”.  Some of us have even questioned why this book was selected for the UMW Reading Program.  Louise Erdich writes frankly of a family coping with tragedy, weaving in to the story   her incredible knowledge and understanding of the Ojibwe culture.  Told through the eyes of a thirteen year old boy, one isn’t always prepared for the rough language of those he associates with and his pre-adolescent reactions to their behavior.  Why do humans steal, rape, and murder?  And who determines law and order?  These are just  two of  the  questions which will linger in  my mind and tend to overpower the  comic incidents, touching and tender moments,  and the wealth of informative  and  cultural background of the Ojibway.  

I would say that the” tangle of laws which hinder persecution of rape cases on Indian Reservations” is an understatement of our Justice system in general, so if  this novel  can raise public awareness, than it belongs on the UMW reading list.

(Note: This book is also available at Kilton Library)

 

HOW IS IT WITH YOUR SOUL?

   Priscilla Pope-Levison and Jack Levison - 2014 United Methodist Women

   Includes a Participant’s Study Guide by Faye Wilson

 This is a well-organized manual for four group study sessions:

           1. PRAY   2. LEARN   3. MENTOR   4. TRANSFORM

 I found it equally valuable reading for my personal enrichment.  These authors know the Bible; they know the history of Methodism, and they have incorporated the teachings of John Wesley   and many others in a way which inspires us to examine our own lives.

I feel confident that each of you will be able to identify with much you have already experienced, as I did, and likewise, as I did, rejoice in the discovery of innovative approaches.  Yes, Ojibwe It is Well with My Soul!

 Dorothy Yamashita, Librarian

 

 Fall 2014  New Books: 

 
ANGELS BY MY SIDE

We don’t have to wait until Christmas for the arrival of the angels.

 Betty Malz has given us Stories and Glimpses of these Heavenly Helpers in her “heavenly” book: ANGELS BY MY SIDE.

 

 

 

 

NO MORE WORDS 

Everyone at some time will experience the death of a loved one.  As people live longer, families are more apt to be faced with the challenges of living with memory loss.  Reeve Lindbergh shares her experiences of caring for her mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, during her final years, living in Vermont.   Her moving memoir is also a powerful tribute to many non-Christian caregivers. 

 

 

 

FINDING GOD IN A BAG OF GROCERIES  

If your pantry was empty, your children hungry, your electricity cut off for nonpayment, and you saw no prospect of support, what would you do? For a decade in a rural Tennessee community, you went to a shabby building behind a church and found Laura Willis.

 

 

 

 

THE END OF YOUR LIFE BOOK CLUB

During her treatment for cancer, Mary Anne Schwalbe and her son Will spent many hours sitting in waiting rooms together. To pass the time, they would talk about the books they were reading. Once, by chance, they read the same book at the same time—and an informal book club of two was born.