Reese Witherspoon is an avid reader and her online book club is one of our library staff favourites! We’ve chosen a few of our top picks for this list, but for the full version complete with individual links to the books in our catalogue, please visit the Library’s website here.
NEW at the Library this Week
Giver of Stars
Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Peacock Emporium
Set in Depression-era America, this story offers a breathtaking story of five extraordinary women and their remarkable journey through the mountains of Kentucky and beyond. Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt's new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice's greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who's never asked a man's permission for anything. They are joined by three other women who become known as the Horseback Librarians of Kentucky. What happens to them--and to the men they love--becomes a classic drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion.
Though they face all kinds of dangers, they're committed to their job--bringing books to people who have never had any, sharing the gift of learning that will change their lives. Based on a true story rooted in America's past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope. At times funny, at others heartbreaking, this is a richly rewarding novel of women's friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond
Nonfiction
Whiskey in a teacup
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon’s grandmother Dorothea always said that a combination of beauty and strength made southern women “whiskey in a teacup.” We may be delicate and ornamental on the outside, she said, but inside we’re strong and fiery.
Reese’s southern heritage informs her whole life, and she loves sharing the joys of southern living with practically everyone she meets. She takes the South wherever she goes with bluegrass, big holiday parties, and plenty of Dorothea’s fried chicken. It’s reflected in how she entertains, decorates her home, and makes holidays special for her kids—not to mention how she talks, dances, and does her hair (in these pages, you will learn Reese’s fail-proof, only slightly insane hot-roller technique). Reese loves sharing Dorothea’s most delicious recipes as well as her favorite southern traditions, from midnight barn parties to backyard bridal showers, magical Christmas mornings to rollicking honky-tonks.
It’s easy to bring a little bit of Reese’s world into your home, no matter where you live. After all, there’s a southern side to every place in the world, right?
Recommended by BWG Readers
Erotic Stories of Punjabi Women
Balli Kaur Jaswal
“The modern daughter of Indian immigrants in cosmopolitan London impulsively takes a creative writing job to help her family and is assigned to a class of proper Sikh widows who reveal personal memories and fantasies through their writing.”
I read this book for book club and loved it! My friend recommended the Audiobook, so I listened and love it even more. It’s for anyone who loves to laugh…and root for the underdog!
~Larissa
Special collections - self improvement
Braving the Wilderness
Brene Brown
The influential TED speaker and best-selling author of The Gifts of Imperfection draws on new research to challenge conventional beliefs about fitting in to counsel readers on the skills required to achieve actual belonging while being true to oneself.
For Teens
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman
A modern fantasy about fear, love, magic and sacrifice, this is the story of a family at the mercy of dark forces, whose only defence is the three women who live on a farm at the end of the lane.
