2012 Staff Favorites

Janice, Youth Services

Favorite Novel:  All Things New by Lynn Austin
Favorite Movie:  Courageous
Favorite Biographies:  Running for My Life by Lopez Lomong and Through the Glass by Shannon Moroney

Running for My Life by Lopez Lomong is a gripping book about Lomong being captured as a 6-year-old boy in war-torn south Sudan.  He ran with 3 older boys for 3 days to Kenya.  There he survived a refugee camp with other boys for 10 years.  Finally he was allowed to come to the United States and was taken in by a loving couple.  He was able to go onto college and became a U.S. citizen.  He even competed as a runner in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics.  He is now partnering with World Vision on the "4 South Sudan" project to bring clean water, health care, education and nutrition for people in South Sudan.  Go to www.LopezLomong.com to learn more.  I highly recommend this book!

Judy, Reference

Favorite Movie: Moonrise Kingdom
It’s Wes Anderson’s most recent film; his films are very stylized but this one really captures the essence of growing up and falling in love for the first time. It also makes you think about the choices we make and how things don’t necessarily change for us as we go into adulthood; we are faced with similar problems that we had as children, but we make them more complicated because we are adults. I could probably watch this film over and over and not get sick of it; it’s excellent! Frances MacDormand, Edward Norton, and even the unknown youngsters in the film Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman really steal the show.

Favorite Book: Underwater Dogs by Seth Casteel
The premise for the book of canine photography is simple, but the results that Mr. Casteel achieves are extraordinary. There are canines that look cute and cuddly on the surface, but when underwater the dogs really show their primal side, teeth bared and all. Sometimes they look downright absurd other times they look like monsters! The way the water manipulates the dogs’ movements and features is really spectacular. It’s definitely a fun book to look through.

Megan, Reference

Favorite Novel: The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq
This is a fascinating novel about aging, success, parents, art, love, and the surprising ways that people evolve--and don't. In the past, I have found Houellebecq to be so focused on being shocking that he forgot to do much else, but here he has crafted something hauntingly beautiful.

Favorite Nonfiction Book: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Cain takes a nuanced look at the brain mechanics of introversion and the ways in which they play out in our hyper-extroverted culture. Forget YOLO and GIF, 2012 was the year of the amygdala!