If you type “benefits of reading a book” into Google, you’ll get thousands of hits and scores of reasons to pick up a book. Mental stimulation, stress reduction, increased knowledge and improved vocabulary are popular incentives. This New Year, make your personal improvement resolution to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Find recommended titles at the Lititz Public Library, including a list of 52 genres that will make sticking with your resolution fun and enlightening. For example, choose a book with a color in the title:
Blue Stars by Emily Gray Tedrowe
The lives of a Midwestern literature professor and a proud Army wife are intertwined Walter Reed Army Hospital where each woman is caring for her wounded soldier.
Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World by Tsh Oxenreider (Nonfiction)
The blogger and founder of the Simple Mom online community tells the story of her family’s ongoing quest to live more simply, fully and intentionally.
This Blue by Maureen N. McLane (Nonfiction)
A collection of poems from a National Book Award finalist celebrates nature and travel.
Green-Eyed Lady by Chuck Greaves
When a prominent senatorial contender is wrongly arrested for a setup that threatens his career, he hires a lawyer to identify the responsible party.
The Big Green Tent by Ludmila Ulitskaya
In the 1950s, an orphaned poet, a gifted pianist and a budding photographer struggle to reach adulthood in Moscow’s oppressive Stalinist society.
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
In the midst of a bloody battle in the Iraq War, two solders bound together since basic training protect each other from enemies and internal struggles.
Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton
When three children go missing in the Falkland Islands, the villagers admit there must be a killer among them.
Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI and a Devil’s Deal by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill (Nonfiction)
Once childhood friends, an FBI agent schemed to bring the godfather of the Irish Mob into the Bureau’s fold.
Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick (Nonfiction)
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread.
The White Shepherd by Annie Dalton
On their morning walk, a woman’s dog unearths a blood-soaked body in a meadow’s undergrowth.
White Dog Fell from the Sky by Eleanor Morse
A portrait of 1970s Botswana is shared through the stories a medical student who flees apartheid after witnessing a murder and an American student who abandons her studies to follow her husband to Africa.
White Dresses: A Memoir of Love and Secrets, Mothers and Daughters by Mary Pflum Peterson (Nonfiction)
A journalist attempts to understand the events that led to her mother’s breakdown.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
A member of one of the lowest castes in the color-coded society of the future, who makes the surface of Mars livable for future generations, discovers he has been betrayed and seeks justice.
The Crimson Rooms by Katharine McMahon
Haunted by the death of her brother during WWI, a struggling attorney is astonished to learn that he fathered a child with a young nurse, a situation that is complicated by a case involving a wrongfully convicted veteran.
The Red Circle: My Life in the Navy Seal Sniper Corps and How I Trained America’s Deadliest Marksmen by Brandon Webb (Nonfiction)
Take a look at the inner workings of the US military through the eyes of a covert operations specialist.
Red Eggs and Good Luck by Angela Lam (Nonfiction)
The author, who grew up celebrating both her father’s Chinese heritage and her mother’s American culture, questions her courage to be herself.
December 25, 2015