How the Social Justice Collection Arrived at the Davies

LSC Prof. Pat Shine, center, with students presenting on social justice books.

Lyndon State College Professor Pat Shine agreed to ask her students to select the 10 most important books for us to shelve in terms of social justice -- the ones that people would want to read for both the good writing and the way the books could make a difference in their approach to this subject. Here's the list the students made:

White Butterfly

Nickled & Dimed

The New Jim Crow

The Tortilla Curtain

Out of My Mind

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

Fun Home

The Half Has Never Been Told

Without a Net

Why Does He Do That

Then, on March 8 (after "weather" postponed the original February date), four of the students and Professor Shine came to the Davies Memorial Library (donating their time!) and talked about the titles they had read and what these books meant to them. (Some of their descriptions may post in this column later.)

Here's what one Waterford resident, Linda M., wrote after the event:

The students' book summaries made me want to read each book.  Their comments provided me with more understanding of how and why we can be so mean to each other.  That sentence may seem harsh but I am troubled about slavery, Nazi-ism, and turning away immigrants fleeing for their lives.  The discussion made a huge impact on me because it revealed that if we don't consider every human as being as "human" and "good" as "us" then it is easy to be vicious and cruel.  Our view of others does influence our actions and those we select to lead us.  Thank you for providing me with a new perspective for evaluating my own behavior and for responding to or confronting the behavior of others. 

The books are available at the Davies; contact Jen at davieslibraryvt@gmail.com if you'd like to reserve one to read today.

Reading Mysteries: Short Hello from Beth

Cupcake with Louise Penny's first title (edible!) decorating it.

Beth Kanell here, Waterford book lover and also writer. One of my "wordsmith" hats involves reviewing mysteries as they are published, so I read a lot of them! This week I'm reading one set in Ghana, and just finished another set in Hollywood. Sounds like I need something British to round things out!

For a mystery authors' event I'm helping with next month, I had to answer a question about the must-reads of mysteries, for writing them. Here's what I think -- and I'm interested in knowing your "must read" mystery authors or titles, too. Send them along to Jen at the library e-mail davieslibraryvt@gmail.com.

Today's cozy mysteries are rooted in Agatha Christie's puzzle mysteries; the hard-boiled ones emerged from Raymond Chandler; and the art of the espionage mystery was refined by Helen MacInnes. Those are the musts -- but their mysteries can feel out of date! The modern classics now include the mysteries by Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard, Julia Spencer-Fleming, and Laura Lippman -- and emphatically, the Gamache series from Louise Penny. As a reader, I'm always eager for the newest Lee Child, Donna Leon, and Charles Todd mysteries, and the Vermont series from Archer Mayor. What about you?

Welcome to Waterford Book Talk!

Pull out a book and settle in for a comfortable reading session at the library -- or take a book home with you. If you think it's a good one, tell us about it! Send your book talk (a few words, a paragraph, short or long) to the library director at this e-mail: davieslibraryvt@gmail.com.