Great books abound as the snow (hopefully) starts to melt! Don’t forget to check the March edition of the SAIL Messenger to find out the next time the SAIL Book Club is meeting! It’s a great way to share your love of books with other members and find titles you might not have heard of!
In the meantime, check out this wide range of titles to stimulate your mind and warm your soul.
Educated: A Memoir
By Tara Westover
This critically acclaimed memoir has found its way to dozens of bestseller lists. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Available in Kindle, paperback, hardback, and audiobook at Amazon and in numerous editions through the Madison Public Library system.
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice And Redemption
By Bryan Stevenson
This captivating story, recently turned into a film starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, is a tale of fighting for what’s right against the most difficult odds. Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.
Available in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audiobook at Amazon.com and in various editions through the Madison Public Library system.
The Book of Delights
By Ross Gay
In The Book of Delights, one of today’s most original literary voices offers up a genre-defying volume of lyric essays written over one tumultuous year. The first nonfiction book from award-winning poet Ross Gay is a record of the small joys we often overlook in our busy lives. Among Gay’s funny, poetic, philosophical delights: a friend’s unabashed use of air quotes, cradling a tomato seedling aboard an airplane, the silent nod of acknowledgment between the only two black people in a room. But Gay never dismisses the complexities, even the terrors, of living in America as a black man or the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture or the loss of those he loves. More than any other subject, though, Gay celebrates the beauty of the natural world–his garden, the flowers peeking out of the sidewalk, the hypnotic movements of a praying mantis.
The Book of Delights is about our shared bonds, and the rewards that come from a life closely observed. These remarkable pieces serve as a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight.
Available in hardcover, audiobook, or Kindle through Amazon.com and in various editions through the Madison Public Library system.
When you shop on Amazon, don’t forget to use Amazon Smile for AgeBetter, so that SAIL gets a percentage of your donation! And be sure to let us know if you have a suggestion for our list! Happy reading!
Independence Through Connections. 