Come Weave With Us Program Resources

Spring means outdoor projects

Books About Garden
Construction Projects
Tired of the long nights, cold, short days? Let’s do something constructive. Let’s look forward to the spring, the seemingly distant summer, and plan for being out in the back yard. There will be the inevitable planting of gardens and flowers. Planting is a perpetual right of spring, but, you may also want to consider a more ambitious project. Create, build, craft and construct, the library has an excellent selection of materials to stimulate your imagination and creativity.  Call us at 262-843-3348 if you have any questions or would like to put any of these materials on hold!

Making Decorative Lawn Ornaments & Patio Containers
By Edie Stockstill.
This book contains season themed ideas and plans; with instructions, material lists, tools needed. Thus armed, the backyard handyperson can create a personalized style for their yards and gardens.

The Complete Outdoor Builder : From Arbors to Walkways : 150 DIY Projects
Edited by Nancy Baldrica
From the Black & Decker Complete Guide series; it is comprehensive in both scope and detail. Authored by Black & Decker you know power tools will be needed, consequently the projects tend to be more involved. The projects range from pathways to out buildings, with discussions on building codes, tools needed, materials, and techniques that will be used.

Projects for the Birder’s Garden : Over 100 Easy Things That You Can Make to Turn Your Yard and Garden into a Bird-friendly Haven
Edited by Fern Marshall Bradley
For many, the inclusion of wildlife in our gardens and yards exemplifies the interdependent web of life. This book will show how to create a backyard habitat with fast and simple to more complicated projects that will draw and sustain our feathered friends.

Making Concrete Garden Ornaments
By Sherri Warner Hunter.
Did you know that you can carve concrete, mold or layer onto an armature? This book illustrates these techniques using low-tech and easy to follow instructions. In addition to creating a work of art for the garden you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

Making Paths & Walkways : Stone, Brick, Bark, Grass, Pebbles & More
By Paige Gilchrist
A path or walkway can be utilitarian and beautiful at the same time. This book will present ideas, materials, and techniques to do just that.

Classic Garden Structures : 18 Elegant Projects to Enhance Your Garden
By Jan & Michael Gertley
Elegance, brings to mind a bygone time, capturing, like in a Ray Bradbury novel, a mood, a feeling. This book will inspire you to create and build garden items that will add elegance and maybe evoke a little nostalgia.

Outdoor Projects 1-2-3 : Patios, Decks, Walks, Walls, Fences, Sheds, Garden Beds, Arbors, Furniture
By The Home Depot.
A very comprehensive book; it covers a wide range of backyard and garden projects. What this book also offers is a skill assessment for each project giving the reader the ability to decide which projects fall within their skillset.

Building for the Lawn and Garden : A Step-by-step Guide to Making Benches, Gates, Planters, Swings, Feeders, Tables, and More
By John Kelsey and Ian Kirby.
This is a guide for the beginning woodworker. It teaches skills and techniques using garden projects as its examples. It encourages the reader to improvise and innovate take what you learn to create your own version of their plans.

Bird Boxes and Feeders for the Garden
By Dave Mackenzie.
Step by step instructions for bird houses and feeders and then goes beyond, with plans for garden aviaries, guinea pig hutches, and bat boxes. This book also teaches about materials, fasteners, adhesives, paints and brushes. This title is intended for readers with basic woodworking skills.

 

 

New to you books

Looking for something different to read?  Try one of the suggestions from the Information Services staff–guaranteed to get you out of a reading rut!

Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La! by Robin Gunn
Adult Fic Gun
Genre: Christian fiction, women’s life and relationships, funny and upbeat.
Summary: Two childhood friends, Amy and Lisa promise to be friends forever until an argument over a prom date separates them. Years later they end up in the same emergency room and become close friends again. One of their childhood promises was to see Paris. They pack their bags for Paris for an adventure of a life time. Readers discover the value of rekindling old friendships, God, and faith.

 

Paper angels by Billy Coffey
Adult Fic Cof   (Twin Lakes)
Genre: Christian fiction
Tone: Heartwarming; Inspirational
Summary: Andy Sommerville’s best friend is an angel. The angel instructs Andy to keep a wooden keepsake box and fill it with meaningless objects from twelve people with who Andy randomly cross paths. Andy’s life is turned upside down when a brutal attack leaves him burned and the boy he loved dead. At this this juncture, the angel leaves him. All that’s left is the wooden box. A new angel appears who will use the items in the wooden box to help Andy discover the defining truth of his life, new hope in a community he loves and greater trust in God who sustains him.

 

Mob Daughter by Karen Gravano
Adult 364.1092 GRA   (Twin Lakes)
Non Fiction — True Crime
Summary:   A memoir of a mafia childhood from Karen Gravano, daughter of Sammy (the bull) Gravano one of the mafia’s most feared hit men, and star of reality show Mob Wives. This is a story of a daughter’s struggle to reconcile the image of a loving father with that of a murdering Mafioso, and how in healing the rift between the two, she was able to forge a new life. Readers who like true crime, reading about the mob, and are fans of the reality show Mob Wives would enjoy this book.

 

My Mother Was Nuts: A Memoir by Penny Marshall
Adult 92 Mar (Twin Lakes)
Non Fiction — Biography
Summary: Penny takes us from the stage of the Jackie Gleason show in 1955 to her breakout roll on the Odd Couple, her exploits with Cindy Williams and John Belushi, and her travels through Europe with Art Garfunkel on the back of a motorcycle. We see Penny get married, divorced, married again, (second time to Rob Reiner). We meet a young Carrie Fisher whose close Friendship with Penny has spanned decades. This book is about Hollywood, womanhood, and the power of Spanx. Readers who enjoy biographies, and were or are fans of Penny Marshall would enjoy reading this book.

Other suggestions:

Love You More: A Detective D. D. Warren novel by Lisa Gardner
Adult Audiobook CD Fic Gar (Twin Lakes)
Genre: Suspense

Crazy School by Cornelia Read
Adult Large Print Fic Rea
Genre: Mystery; adult books for young adults

Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottline
Adult Fic Sco
Genre Suspense

Eve by Iris Johansen
Adult Fic Joh
Genre: Suspenseful; Adult books for Young Adults

Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
Adult Large Print 813.54 Tho
Non-fiction

In the fall by Jeffrey Lent
Adult Fic Len
Genre – African American Fiction; Family Sagas

Book talk at Friend’s of the Community Library Luncheon

The library staff had the privilege of giving a book talk to the Friend’s of the Community Library during their January luncheon at the Twin Lakes Library.  The theme was “New Year, New You”–a pdf document of selections from the talk is included below:

FOCL_booktalk_January 2015

Something for everyone

The following non-fiction book recommendations feature a little something for everyone!

Lincoln’s Assassins: Their Trial and Execution  by James L. Swanson and Daniel R. Weinberg
973.7 SWA

Though we all know about Abraham Lincoln being shot by John Wilkes Booth in Ford’s Theater, what many of us don’t know or have forgotten is that Booth had conspirators. This book covers the aftermath of the assassination when Booth’s conspirators were tried and some eventually executed including one woman. With photographs, letters, drawings, first-hand accounts and newspaper articles, this book makes you feel as if you were there. It is a fascinating look at this shady nook of history.

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
FIC SHAARA
LARGE PRINT FIC SHAARA

Fictional account of the hellish three days that were the Battle of Gettysburg as experienced through the main characters: the righteous Lee, the cautious Longstreet, the prickly Meade, the scholarly Chamberlain and others. Even the men from Wisconsin as members of the intrepid Iron Brigade make their appearance as they played a crucial role on that first day of fighting. Shaara melds military history and strategy with the personal for an unforgettable read that some consider the best fictional account of the Civil War.

Beyond the Trees: Stories of Wisconsin Forests  by Candice Gaukel Andrews   508.775 AND

A celebration of Wisconsin’s carpets of trees, the author visits each of the 14 state or national forests and details the history, flora, and fauna of all, capturing the uniqueness of each forest. A wonderful book full of photographs and naturalist musings.

The Logophiles Orgy: Favorite Words of Famous People by Lewis Burke Frumkes
428.1 FRU

Find out whose favorite words are ramshackle, plethora, cellar door and festoon. Great browsing book for those in search of fresh words or those just curious about the linguistic loves of famous authors and actors – a great conversation starter.

Nail Candy: 50+ Ideas for Totally Cool Nails by Donne & Ginny Geer
646.727 GEE

Paint your nails in camouflage colors, studded, to resemble an abstract painting or stained glass. This book contains step-by-step instructions for creative and funky nails.

Moonshine!: Recipes * Tall Tales * Drinking Songs * Historical Stuff * Knee-Slappers * How to Make It * How to Drink It * Pleasin’ the Law *Recoverin’ the Next Day by Matthew Rowley
641.874

What could be more DIY than making your own hard liquor from scratch. This book is a celebration of all things related to moonshine. Loaded with photographs, interesting asides and history, it is a fun read. With instructions on building your own still and descriptions of the other essential equipment, you may even be inspired to concoct some of your own spirits.

Free e-book of the month

The University of Chicago Press offers a free e-book each month.  For January 2015 the release is The Hunt for Nazi Spies: Fighting Espionage in Vichy France by Simon Kitson.  To obtain this free e-book, go to this link and look for the box that asks for your email address; they will send you a link where you can download the book:  http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/freeEbook.html

Happy Reading!

 

It’s All in the Family

The following recommended works are domestic fiction; they focus on home and family life.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name. Gogol stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. Wonderful prose and a realistic look at what it means to be an immigrant from this Pulitizer Prize winning author.

Also read A Free Life by Ha Jin and A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

The quiet 1960s midwestern life of the Land family–father Jeremiah, and children, Reuben, Davy and Swede–is upended when Davy kills two teenage boys who have come to harm the family. On the morning of his sentencing, Davy escapes from his cell and the Lands set out in search of him. Their search is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy, a love story, and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world. (Novelist)

 

For readers who liked Open House by Elizabeth Berg, Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The Dog Stars by Peter Weller or Plainsong by Kent Haruf

 

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

A.J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island–from the well-intentioned police officer who always felt kindly toward Fikry; from his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, but large in weight. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. (Publisher)

If you liked Major Pettigrew‘s Last Stand, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, or Letters from Skye you will be equally captivated by this adult novel written by a popular YA author about a life of books, redemption, and second chances.

 

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart–he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season’s first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone–but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them. (Publisher)

For fans of magic realism – think Like Water for Chocolate, The Night Circus, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Also read Swamplandia by Karen Russell and Enon by Paul Harding.

 

Where’d You Go Bernadette? By Maria Semple FIC SEM

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom. Then Bernadette disappears. To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence–creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world. (Good Reads)

Quirky and humorous. Readers might also enjoy Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, featuring motherless nine year-old Flavia DeLuce, The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger, Mr. Penumbra’ s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan or The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.

 

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott   FIC MCD

The late Billy Lynch’s family and friends gather at a small bar and grill in the Bronx to remember better times. His widow, Maeve, is there and everyone admires the way she is holding up, just as they always admired the way she cared for Billy after the alcohol had ruined him. But one cannot think of Billy without saying at some point, ‘There was that girl’. On Long Island one summer years ago, Billy fell in love with a beautiful Irish girl working for a wealthy Park Avenue family. Billy wanted to marry Eva, but then she went back to Ireland. And then Billy’s cousin Dennis had to break the terrible news: Eva had died of pneumonia. Billy never got over it. Anybody who knew him would tell you so. Billy began courting Maeve not long after, but for the rest of their lives, he, she and Dennis shared a hidden, twisted grief. (Good Reads)

Fans of Alice Hoffman, Ann Tyler’s Breathing Lessons, The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd and One True Thing by Anna Quidlen will enjoy Alice McDermott.

 

The History of Us by Leah Stewart FIC STE

A heartrending story of love, loss, family, and the life you make in the path not taken. Sometimes home is the hardest place to go. Eloise Hempel is on her way to teach her first class at Harvard when she receives the devastating news that her sister and her husband have been killed in a tragic accident. Eloise leaves her life in Cambridge and moves back into her family’s century-old house in Cincinnati, pouring her own money into the house’s upkeep and her heart into raising her sister’s three children, Theodora, Josh, and Claire. Nearly twenty years later, the now-grown children seem ready to leave home, and Eloise plans to sell the house and finally start a life that’s hers alone. But when Eloise’s mother decides that they should all compete for the chance to keep the house and Claire reveals a life-changing secret, the makeshift family begins to fall apart and ultimately must decide what in life is worth fighting for. (Publisher)

Fans of Barbara Delinsky and Annie Dillard will like this engaging and character driven story. And might also like to read We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates and Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler.

 

Multiple Choice by Claire Cook

There was a time when March Monroe thought she and her daughter Olivia would never really cut the cord. Now Olivia is off to college and March is secretly doing the same thing. It’s a high-voltage shock when they run into each other as student interns at the local radio station. From the author of Must Love Dogs, this effervescent story will strike a chord with women of all ages-whether they have kids in college or are just now choosing their majors. (Good Reads)

 

Light reading and funny, Claire Cooks novels will be enjoyed by fans of Mary Kay Andrews and Elizabeth Buchan.

Self-Sufficiency

Whether you want to raise chickens, preserve food or make some home brew, the library has a book for you!  Below are selected titles.  Ask us if you want more information and we will probably be able to ask another library for the books that you want.

Success with Chickens by J.C. Jeremy Hobson

The interest in raising chickens is growing as people are looking for ways to live a more self-reliant lifestyle. Success with Chickens is a great book to get you on your way to successful chicken-keeping.   This book contains information about chicken breeds, the costs of raising chickens, housing, and caring for your chickens. There is also a section on showing off your beautiful birds! The information presented in this book is suited for beginners as well as experienced chicken-keepers.

The Beginner’s Guide to Beekeeping by Daniel Johnson and Samantha Johnson

This book contains everything you need to know about beekeeping as a hobby.   The book is colorfully illustrated and contains interesting facts about bees. Also, within this book you will find information about bees and their behavior, equipment, routine care, pests and diseases, and honey. Looking for some recipes beyond using honey in your tea? There are several delicious recipes in the book you can try using honey as an ingredient.

 

Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less): A Living Free Guide by Angela England

You can save money and live an earth-friendly and sustainable lifestyle by growing your own food in your backyard. This book will show you how to plan your garden and cultivate crops. After the harvest, the book offers instruction on how to manage your harvest by preserving, canning, freezing, dehydrating, and smoking your food. Do you have an interest in raising animals? Readers can learn about keeping bees, chickens, sheep, goats, and rabbits. There is also a section on crafting items from your backyard farm. Learn how to make butter, yogurt, and cheese. You can learn about dyeing fiber, spinning yarn, home brewing, and crafting goat’s milk soap.

The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency by Anna Hess

The Weekend Homesteader by Anna Hess is a twelve-month guide to self-sufficiency. Each month features a different project to introduce you to homesteading. Learn about seed saving in August. Discover how to stay warm without electricity in December. The projects included in this book are fun and easy to learn in just a few hours each weekend.

 

 

 

The Modern-Day Pioneer: Simple Living in the 21st Century by Charlotte Denholtz

“Sew, cook, quilt, farm, and craft your way to sustainable living!” Looking to get away from modern day conveniences and try to live a more simple and sustainable lifestyle? In the book, The Modern-Day Pioneer: Simple Living in the 21st Century, you will learn about how to grow, harvest and preserve vegetables from your own back yard. This book will also introduce you to crafts that are fun to make but practical for use in your home such as; soap-making, candle-making, quilting and sewing. There is also a chapter on prairie remedies to contend with everyday ailments and illnesses.

The Gentle Art of Preserving by Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi

With a shift from creating less waste and living more sustainable and frugal lifestyle, The Gentle Art of Preserving by Katie and Giancarlo Caldes, provides readers with information needed to preserve foods. Readers can learn about food preservation through instructions and practical tips on drying, curing, smoking, fermenting, heat processing, and freezing food. Many delicious recipes and colorful photos are also included in this book. A list of suppliers and other resources are included to further guide you in your quest in food preserving.

Craft Beer for the Homebrewer: Recipes from America’s Top Brewmasters by Michael Agnew with Billy Broas, Denny Conn, Matthew Schaefer & Jordan Wiklund.

For the homebrew enthusiast, Craft Beer for the Home Brewer contains a collection of 38 homebrew recipes provided by craft brewmasters from around the country. Try a Wiley’s Rye Ale from Stone Cellar Brewpub in Appleton, Wisconsin. Prefer an IPA? Try Spiral Jetty, by Epic Brewing in Salt Lake City, Utah.   Vibrant illustrations and color photography are included with each recipe.

Birdhouses & More: Easy-to-Build Houses & Feeders for Birds, Bats, Butterflies and Other Backyard Creatures by A. J. Hamler

Birdhouses & More contains colorful photos with step-by-step instructions for over 25 projects to build for wildlife or your domestic pets. This book contains the plans needed to build bird feeders and houses, a scratch post for your cat, and a pet bed for your dog. The book also contains an introduction to woodworking.

Snow & Winter books for kids

 

Everybunny Loves Winter!
DVD 791.4572/MAX
Follows the adventures of two sibling bunnies as they play in the snow, make gingerbread houses, and play duck duck goose. Includes four episodes.

Hooray for Snow! By Kazuo Iwamura
E IWA
Mick, Mack, and Molly try to their parents to play in the snow with them, but their parents complain that it is too cold.

Snow Party by Harriet Ziefert
E ZIE
When the first snow of the year falls on the first day of winter, all the snow people have a snow party.

Snow Family by Daniel Kirk
E KIR
A young boy decides to build a snow family to take care of his snowboy the way his parents take care of him.

 

Let’s Read About Snow by Suzy Boyett
E 551.57/BOY

 

Other books you may enjoy:

Oh Snow! by Monica Mayper
Whose Footprints? by Molly Coxe
Buster’s First Snow by Hisako Madokoro
Winter Friends by Mary Quattlebaum

Call us at Salem, Twin Lakes or Silver Lake if you have questions about these or any other books or movies!  262-843-3348.

 

 

 

 

 

More new fiction for November

   Chain of Events by Fredrik T. Olsson (suspense/thriller)

Summary:  William Sandberg, once a well-respected military cryptologist pursuing cutting-edge research, is a ruined man. His career is in shambles, his marriage is over, and he’s succumbed to a dark depression. But William’s talents haven’t gone unnoticed. A nameless, top-secret organization abducts him and tasks him with a daunting mission: decode a message that will reveal the disastrous prophecies hidden in our DNA before it is too late. (Book is ranslated from the original Swedish.)

The Earl’s Mistress by Liz Carlyle (historical romance)

“Women rarely refuse the wicked Earl of Hepplewood, whose daring exploits are only whispered about. But when his new governess answers his proposition with a slap, then stalks out, references in hand, Hepplewood finds more than his face is burning. Isabella Aldridge has brains, bravado, and beauty–but the latter is no use to a servant. Her circumstances are desperate, and with Hepplewood’s words ringing in her ears, Isabella realizes she must barter her most marketable asset–her body. But when fate sends Isabella back into Hepplewood’s arms, the earl must make an impossible choice–draw Isabella down into his sensual darkness, or behave with honor for the first time in his life.”–from cover, page [4]

The Chocolate Book Bandit by JoAnna Carl (mystery)

Summary:  Chocolate shop owner Lee McKinney Woodyard investigates the murder of a retiring member of the library board at a board meeting where all in attendance are suspect.

   Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews (paranormal romance)

Summary:  Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career: a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile case. Nevada isn’t sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire.

Also new to the library this month:

Half in Love With Artful Death by Bill Crider (mystery)

To Everything a Season by Lauraine Snelling (inspirational)

The Last Shootist by Miles Swarthout (Western)

The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck (literary fiction)

Death of a Dog Wispearer by Laurien Berenson (mystery)

Visit us or call about any of these books at 262-843-3348!