The Four Winds is a superb historical fiction novel about a family escaping the Dust Bowl, which occurred in the western part of the country during the early 1920s and destroyed the entire region. As they escape from Texas to California for a “better world,” or so they think, they experience one heart wrenching incident after another that is compounded by intense prejudice, making surviving even more difficult. From the beginning, Hannah crafts a story that evokes emotion in the reader as she portrays the hardships that they endure along the way. Kristin Hannah is known for creating stories with actual historical events at the core. The Great Alone (post-Vietnam era) and The Nightingale (World War II era) are both wonderful reads as well. For lovers of historical fiction, I believe that you will thoroughly enjoy the works of bestselling author, Kristin Hannah.
Category: Beth Lynn
Book Review: Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” While reading this quote, Brené Brown had an epiphany. She defines this concept of “daring greatly” as equivalent to the concept of vulnerability. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead is a wonderful book written by Brown that discusses what it takes to achieve a better quality of life through vulnerability.
Brown had done extensive research while earning her degrees and she had been taught that if you cannot measure it, it does not exist. After her insight about vulnerability being at the root of all connection with each other, she changed her position. We humans tend to define circumstances by what they are not, rather than by what they are. This is especially true of our emotional experiences. Vulnerability is the core, the heart, the center, of meaningful human experiences. What is vulnerability exactly in this context? In theory, it sounds like such a simplistic approach to relationships. In reality, it is extremely difficult to implement. In my simple evaluation, it is taking the risk and putting yourself out there no matter what the outcome. You never know until you try. It is getting over the shame, fear of rejection, or embarrassment that you may experience by taking the risk involved in revealing yourself to others to achieve something or change a circumstance. As defined by Brown, shame is the intensely painful feeling that we are flawed and unworthy of love and belonging. It is the fear of not having connection with others; we are made for this connection. It goes back to our own feeling of worth. Shame prevents vulnerability and without vulnerability, you will not be able to achieve levels and milestones in your personal or professional endeavors. In other words, do something even when there are no guarantees.
According to Brown, what we know matters, but who we are matters more. When you shut down vulnerability, you shut down opportunity. Vulnerability is a twofold state of being. On one hand it can show the core of shame, fear, and the struggle for worthiness while also being the birthplace of joy, belonging, love, and creativity.
You can find Daring Greatly in our Recreational Reading section.
Beth Lynn’s reviews reflect her personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university.
Featured Book: Questions for Restless Minds edited by D. A. Carson
Questions for Restless Minds is a practical seventeen-volume series recently added to the library collection. Two of the volumes have a Union University connection. Former Union President David Dockery is the author of one of the volumes, What Does It Mean to Be a Thoughtful Christian? while How Do We Live in a Digital World? is authored by Ben Mitchell, former professor and Provost at Union University. Each volume is less than one hundred pages and answers some of life’s most complex questions in a straight-forward and concise approach. Russell Moore, public theologian and editor-in-chief for Christianity Today, has this to say about the series: “This generation of Christians inhabit cultures that sometimes reject not only biblical revelation about reality, but also the reality of reality itself. The Questions for Restless Minds series poses many of the toughest questions faced by young Christians to some of the world’s foremost Christian thinkers and leaders.”
Titles in the series include:
How Can We Help Victims of Trauma and Abuse?
How Do We Live in a Digital World?
How Should Christians Think about Sex?
How Should We Think about Gender and Identity?
How Should We Think About Homosexuality?
What Does It Mean to Be a Thoughtful Christian?
What Does Nature Teach Us about God?
What Is a Christian Worldview?
Library Staff Spotlight: Stephen and Beth
Thanks for joining us in this week’s Library Staff Spotlight! Today, you will meet Stephen Mount and Beth Lynn.
Stephen Mount
Library Blog: What is your job title and department? What is your location if you don’t work in the Jackson campus library?
Stephen Mount: Systems Librarian
LB: What are your job responsibilities?
SM: I handle maintaining databases, authentication issues, Interlibrary Loan, and assist in staffing the Circulation and Research Desks.
LB: How long have you worked for Union’s library?
SM: 20 years.
LB: What did you want to grow up to be when you were a child?
SM: Astronaut or baseball player.
LB: What’s a fun fact about yourself or a hidden talent that you possess?
SM: I can solve a Rubik’s cube (slowly).
LB: What would be your dream vacation?
SM: A tour of all 30 Major League Baseball ballparks.
LB: What is your favorite book quote?
SM: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” –The Great Gatsby
LB: What is on your TBR (to be read) list?
SM: I’m currently reading through the Sherlock Holmes short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I would like to complete that series.
LB: What is the last book you read?
SM: The Truth and Beauty by Andrew Klavan.
LB: What is your favorite movie?
SM: Cool Hand Luke.
LB: What do you love most about working at Union’s library?
SM: I love organization and helping to serve and support the Union community.
Beth Lynn
Library Blog: What is your job title and department? What is your location if you don’t work in the Jackson campus library?
Beth Lynn: Collection Development Coordinator, Union University Library.
LB: What are your job responsibilities?
BL: I coordinate the efforts of many in the building of our library collection. My responsibilities include working with faculty, selecting materials for the library, allocating budget funds, overseeing several budget lines, and working with accounts payable. I monitor all requests, purchases, and receipts of library materials. I also serve in our Circulation Department as needed.
LB: How long have you worked for Union’s library?
BL: I began as the Evening Supervisor in September, 1993. I then moved to Library Acquisitions in January, 1994.
LB: What did you want to grow up to be when you were a child?
BL: I always said that I wanted to be a teacher.
LB: What’s a fun fact about yourself or a hidden talent that you possess?
BL: I was a spot welder at my first job. My family and I survived Hurricane Camille in August, 1969.
LB: What would be your dream vacation?
BL: I have always wanted to visit Scotland and/or Ireland.
LB: What is your favorite book quote?
BL: “All I’m saying is, kindness don’t have no boundaries.” -Aibileen, The Help
LB: What is on your TBR (to be read) list?
BL: Rules of Civility by Towles, Amor
LB: What is the last book you read?
BL: Lincoln Highway
LB: What is your favorite movie?
BL: Forrest Gump
LB: What do you love most about working at Union’s library?
BL: The people that I work with are awesome! I enjoy discovering new resources!
Featured Book: “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles
“Well, that’s life in a nutshell, ain’t it. Lovin’ to go to one place and havin’ to go to another.” – Duchess, The Lincoln Highway.
What a wonderful tale of adventure and discovery Amor Towles weaves in his novel, The Lincoln Highway! In the beginning of the book, it seems that the main character is Emmett, an 18-year-old who has just finished serving his time at a work farm for juvenile delinquents. However, as the story develops, the characters of Billy, Duchess, and Woolly emerge as key players, each telling their story of where they have been and where they want to be.
After the death of their father, brothers Emmett and Billy plan to leave their home in Nebraska and travel along the Lincoln Highway to California in hopes of finding their mother and starting a new life. What they don’t bargain for, however, is two escapees from the work farm deciding they want to come along with them. The twists and turns that follow make for a novel that provides a range of emotions for the reader.
You can find The Lincoln Highway in the New Books section of our library.
Featured Book: Our Table by Peter Reynolds
Best-selling author Peter Reynolds weaves a beautiful story about family and the importance of communication and connection in the book, “Our Table.” While written for ages 4 to 8, we can all gain great wisdom from reading this tender tale.
The story is told through the perspective of a child named Violet, who is troubled as she watches her family, distracted by technology and the interruptions of life, growing apart and spending less time together. They used to gather around the family dinner table to share daily experiences and love. Violet longs for those times. Reynolds uses the concept of a shrinking family dinner table to illustrate Violet’s sadness and frustration. The less the family interacts around the dinner table, the smaller the table becomes. As Violet watches her family’s table become smaller as no one is using it, she devises this wonderful idea to incorporate everyone’s interests and strengths, and yes, technology, to bring them back together and rebuild that family table.
You can find “Our Table” in the Family Study Room of our library.
Featured Book: “Grit” by Angela Duckworth
In Grit, author and psychologist Angela Duckworth explores the awareness of human drive and commitment and the impact that these characteristics have on individual success rather than natural born talent.
After years of research which involved studying West Point cadets, then students in her own classroom, she observed that those who were most successful were not the seemingly gifted, or intelligent, individuals, but rather the ones who were motivated, embraced passion, and had a “never give up” attitude. In other words, the ones who kept getting back up and getting back on that horse are the ones who achieve. Perseverance is the key to triumph. This quote from the author sums up the essence of her work: “Enthusiasm is common, endurance is rare.”
Grit is available at the library on our New Books shelf (click this link to see the call number).
Reading List: New Books Fall 2021
Need a new book to read? The library’s Collections Development Coordinator, Beth, and Cataloging Associate, Susan, share some of their favorite new finds below. Click each link to locate the book in our library collection.
The Personal Librarian
New York Times bestseller and critically acclaimed historical fiction novel by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, accounts the remarkable, little-known story of Belle DaCosta Greene. After being discovered at Princeton University by Morgan’s relative, Belle was asked to become the personal research librarian and curator for the enormously powerful business and industry tycoon, J. Pierpont Morgan. What makes this story incredible is the fact that Greene is an African American passing as white in a 1900s racist, male-dominated society. Belle becomes extremely successful and powerful, not only as a research expert, but also as a connoisseur of art and literature in New York society. She was known for her impeccable taste and uncanny negotiating skills for adding critical works to Morgan’s collection. Belle is caught between embracing her heritage, and losing it all if exposed, or maintaining the façade to continue her powerful career and prestige. Recommended highly, it is a beautifully written page-turner that can be found in our main campus book stacks.
Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation
This book addresses the profound influence that parents provide on the religious identities and beliefs of their children. The authors, Christian Smith and Amy Adamczyk, provide well researched data in the areas of religious parenting, parenting styles, and intergenerational religious transmission. It also examines different cultural models of parenting and why religious parenting is so important. Handing Down the Faith is on our New Books shelf on the 2nd floor.
Project Hail Mary
A newly released science-thriller by Andy Weir who is the author of The Martian. The story revolves around Ryland Grace who is on a desperate journey into space to save Earth. He awakens from an induced coma to find himself millions of miles from earth with two dead crew mates. Alone on a tiny ship, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction level threat to our species. This book will have your inner nerd screaming with delight. And did I mention there are aliens? Andy Weir’s book is devilishly clever and funny with some big surprises. If you like tech jargon, space travel, and a plant that can save the world, this book is for you. Project Hail Mary is shelved in our Recreational Reading area on the 2nd floor.
Harlem Shuffle
Written by Colson Whitehead, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys. Harlem Shuffle depicts Harlem in the 1960s and includes mystery/suspense, historical fiction, and family drama. Whitehead builds his story with Ray Carney, a furniture salesman and part-time fence. The novel is full of well-rounded characters living harsh and desperate lives in order to rise above their dire circumstances. A gripping crime novel that tells a bigger story, Whitehead grounds his tale on solid research into Harlem’s history and the sociology of the people who lived there during that time. Harlem Shuffle is shelved in our Recreational Reading area on the 2nd floor.
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Photographic History
Released on the 100th anniversary of the horrific event, The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Photographic History by Karlos K. Hill, communicates in pictures the actions of a hostile crowd against an entire community, known as the Greenwood District, of African Americans. What began as an innocent elevator ride involving a black man and a white woman intensifies as word of mouth turns the incident into one of the most tragic happenings in the history of America. Fueled by hatred, white supremacy, and jealousy, the white mob attacked the residents of the community. Because Greenwood District had become a flourishing community of successful businesses and nice homes, some of the Tulsa residents were not going to “have it.” This attack resulted in most of the community in ruins from fires and more than 800 people injured. Approximately 300 people died during this merciless attack. Taking in the events of the 24-hour destruction spree in photographs brings to life the severity of these actions. You can find The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in our main campus book stacks.
Thanks to Beth and Susan for sharing these new books! Feel free to check out one or all of them from Union’s library today. Most of our new books are found on the New Books shelf on the second floor. You can also find new books in our Recreational Reading Collection and Family Room. Find an up-to-date list of our new books using the New Books quick link on the library’s homepage.
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