With the coming of spring, it’s a good time to go inward and contemplate the rest of the year.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach will help you do just this. Organized into daily readings for the full year, you can pick this book up at any time to read a passage. Its uplifting words of wisdom will help you shape your year to live simply and with gratitude.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is a longer read for the longer nights until the start of spring. Set at the beginning of the Second World War, this book follows the story of a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths cross in occupied France. This novel won the Pulitzer Prize and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction in 2015.
Paula Hawkins’ latest novel, Into the Water, is a great, quick read for March. It’s full of psychological suspense and will satisfy your need for a twisted, complicated mystery. If you like this novel, try her first New York Times bestseller, The Girl on the Train.
Spring is in full swing come April and for those who are gardeners, it’s the perfect time to get outside. If your garden is in need of a little sprucing up or a full overhaul, Bobbie Schwarz’s Garden Renovation: Transform Your Yard into the Garden of Your Dreams can give you helpful tips and advice. It’s full of colourful photos that are sure to inspire.
Come May, you may start to wonder what you will do with the vegetables you planted in your garden. Dishing Up the Dirt: Simple Recipes for Cooking through the Seasons by Andrea Bemis is the answer. Inspired by Bemis’s life on her rural Oregon farm, this cookbook has many flavourful recipes and includes ingredients that can be found in your garden.
June brings with it longer days and invites us to linger outdoors until the late evening hours. The summer night sky is filled with many bright stars, galaxies and planets. The Night Sky Month by Month by Will Gater and Giles Sparrow gives a detailed overview of the celestial sky. With this book and a pair of binoculars, it’s easy to interpret our star covered summer sky.
In 1914, Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford dreams of travel, a career and breaking free from British high society. As war breaks out, she is able to do just that. Somewhere in France, a great July read by Jennifer Robson, is a captivating story about a young girl who becomes a field nurse during the First World War. Her story takes us on a journey through the treacherous work experienced by so many women during this time.
Nothing says August like hot sunshine. The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle is a children’s story about one particular firefly that searches through the darkening sky, looking for its group. This is a great book to share with your little ones.
A Year of Pies: A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies will inspire you when September comes with its fresh fruit. Author Ashley English shares her love of pies and offers great step-by-step basics on how to create a pie, such as using the best ingredients and what tools to have on hand, making this book an ideal resource for beginners.
The wind seems to howl strange noises when October arrives. The children in Eve Bunting’s book, The Bones of Fred McFee, are picking pumpkins when their skeleton disappears from the sycamore tree. This book reminds us that perhaps all the stories about this time of year are not entirely, untrue.
November, with its shorter days and frosty nights, signals that winter is coming. Fireside Stories: Tales for a Winter’s Eve by Caitlin Matthews is filled with eight stories for the cold season. Based on folklore from around the world, these tales will express to children the unique meaning of the winter months.
December is a time to gather together for Christmas cheer with loved ones and friends. If you are looking to get organized this holiday season and create spectacular menus, Delia’s Happy Christmas book is a great place to begin. It has everything you need to get started and it’s beautiful to browse through.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Anna Loster works at Port Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Library.
