Our new book display focuses on the journey of New Beginnings- whether it’s moving onto bigger and better things or simply overcoming a tragedy . This display includes books and Ted Talks to help you kickstart a healthier mindset and lifestyle, promoting fresh starts, and how to get through things that force a big change. Some of the content is educational material while others are fictional stories that you might relate to. Whatever you are going through and are hoping to achieve, our “New Beginnings” book display can hopefully provide you the supplements you need.
Every Heart a Doorway
Author: Seanan McGuire
Description: When Nancy returns from the underworld and can’t assimilate back into her old life on everyday Earth, her disbelieving parents send her to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, where she meets other children who have visited (and returned from) fantasy worlds. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. No matter the cost.
Where to find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
Chasing Dreams and Beginning Again | Kate Drummond | TEDxStMaryCSSchool
Speaker: Kate Drummond @Gotta_Be_K_D
Kate is living proof that it is never too late to follow your dreams. After 12 years as an elementary school teacher, Kate left the classroom and life, as she knew it, behind. She sold all her belongings and possessions, packed up her dog and moved to Toronto to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an actress. In this inspirational talk, Kate shares her journey and the many lessons she has learned as a result of taking her biggest leap of faith. Little did she know that making this change in her life would actually change her life.And There I Was: A Tale About Chasing Dreams & Beginning Again
The Thing Around Your Neck
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Description: This collection contains 12 short tales about characters adjusting to new beginnings in various facets of their lives. For instance, “On Monday of Last Week” follows a woman who takes a new job as a nanny, “The Headstrong Historian” features a widow who remembers the early days of her relationship with her late husband, and the main character in the titular story travels to the U.S. from Nigeria after winning the visa lottery.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
Life After Life: A Novel
Author: Kate Atkinson
Description: The book begins in 1910 when Ursula Todd is born in England…but doesn’t live. She is born again (on the same night) and lives a bit longer. With each new beginning of Ursula’s story, she stays alive for longer periods of time and takes pieces from her old lives with her, eventually informing a potentially history-altering moment.
Where to find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
Stop Searching for Your Passion | Terri Trespicio | TEDxKC
Speaker: Terri Trespicio
What are you passionate about? You’re told these five words hold the key to a successful career and life purpose. What if it’s the wrong question altogether? This talk turns the ubiquitous “find your passion” message on its ear. Terri Trespicio is a branding strategist who helps visionaries, experts, entrepreneurs, and businesses communicate with power and precision across media platforms. She consults with a wide range of experts, everyone from surgeons and social media celebs to startups and brand managers.
Other Words for Home
Author: Jasmine Warga
Description: This middle-grade novel written in verse is the ideal way to spend a spring afternoon, as that’s all it will take for you to finish this book. The story begins when Jude moves to Cincinnati with her mother to escape the growing unrest in Syria. Narrated with Jude’s voice, the book deftly conveys the feelings of losing and finding a home in a clear, vulnerable way that only children can do. Although this novel is made for adolescents, it’s a worthwhile read for adults as well.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Author: Gail Honeyman
Description: Smart, warm, uplifting, the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes the only way to survive is to open her heart. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. That, combined with her unusual appearance (scarred cheek, tendency to wear the same clothes year in, year out), means that Eleanor has become a creature of habit (to say the least) and a bit of a loner. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kind of friends who rescue each other from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
Self-Love, Be Intentional | Caitlyn Roux | TEDxYouth@CapeTown
Speaker: Caitlyn Roux
“I have a question for everyone. That question is: what defines you as a person? What makes you you? A lot of us tend to define ourselves through our physical image of jobs, or bank balance and a lot of the time to what others have to say about us. I used to define myself through three things…”
The Waves
Author: Virginia Woolf
Description: The Waves is a portrait of the intertwined lives of six friends: Bernard, Neville, Louis, Jinny, Susan, and Rhoda. The novel is divided into nine sections, each of which corresponds to a time of day, and, symbolically, to a period in the lives of the characters. Each section begins with a detailed description of the course of this symbolic day.
Where to Find: Visit lib.fsu.edu and use the Catalog Search feature to look up keywords from the book title. Set your search filters to “ebooks” to narrow down your search results. Use the link provided in the catalog to access the digital content.
My Brother’s Husband
Author: Gengoroh Tagame
Description: From one of Japan’s most notable manga artists: a heartbreaking and redemptive tale of mourning and acceptance that compares and contrasts the contemporary nature of gay tolerance in the East and the West. Yaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo, married to wife Natsuki, father to young daughter Kana. Their lives are suddenly upended with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi’s estranged gay twin, Ryoji. Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji’s past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented, revelatory look at and journey into the largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture: how it’s been affected by the West, and how the next generation has the chance to change the preconceptions of and prejudices against it.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone | Yubing Zhang | TEDxStanford
Speaker: Yubing Zhang
Yubing Zhang is a first-year MBA student at Stanford University. A series of transformational moments have led Zhang to completely change her understanding of fear and courage, redefine her comfort zones and push herself to the edge. She has experienced the unlimited potential that exists when we break through our comfort zones, and is dedicated to inspiring others to do the same. Zhang has lived in six different countries and worked in four different industries. She holds a master of science degree from the University of Oxford and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Hong Kong. Zhang has served as an entrepreneur for the Bank of China, launched a vocational training program for victims of domestic abuse in Cambodia and founded a platform that supports and coaches everyday people to share their passion, ideas and extraordinary stories through talks and performances.
White Oleander: A Novel
Author: Janet Fitch
Description: The struggle to build an authentic identity lies at the heart of Astrid’s life as a foster child in Los Angeles after her poet mother, who has kept Astrid isolated from the world, is imprisoned for murder.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
The Enchanted: A Novel
Author: Rene Denfeld
Description:The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison, viewed through the eyes of a death row inmate who finds escape in his books and in re-imagining life around him. A female investigator searches for buried information from prisoners’ pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, and reveals shocking secrets of her own.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
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