The theme for this month's recommendation list is this: what has made you grow?  As we enter a new season full of growing things, ponder on what things you have read, heard, or watched in your life that has changed your perspective, helped you in some way, gave you a lift, or made you laugh...

Here's the list:

James -- Nelsonville Public Library
I'm excited to read the new Bill Fitzhugh book, The Exterminators (someday my reserve will come).  It's the sequel to the very funny Pest Control from 1997.  The main character is Bob Dillon and astute readers will discover lyrics from the other Bob Dylan strewn throughout the text.  If the thought of that tickles your funny bone, try his Organ Grinders.  The protagonist there is Paul Symon.

Todd -- Athens Public Library

John Steinbeck's duet, Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday (the equally good and indispensable sequel) about a marine biologist and his impoverished but socially colorful little seaside neighborhood of Monterey, California, were the first "grown up" novels I read without a teacher telling me to.  These books were so vividly real to me because they mixed a natural sense of humor with the serious joys and sadness of life among people from many different social classes and mentalities, and because (as I later learned) the characters and setting were based on places and people Steinbeck intimately knew and genuinely loved.  When I read this duet in high school, I got to imagine American life through an engaging adult perspective that seemed to warmly encompass all of humanity, with all its varied character, foibles and hidden nobility.

Amy -- Athens Public Library

Betty - The Plains Public Library

This was the guidance I needed to help a friend in need.

Jenaye -- Athens Public Library

As an English major in college, I was required to read a lot of books and then write essays.  One of the most refreshing was David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens.  For household remedies and quick relief, I use a home remedy reference all the time.  For general reference, always a dictionary and thesaurus.  And for cooking, years and years ago I got a basic Betty Crocker cookbook that reveals evidence of some serious use, but it was a good base to build upon creative cooking.

Erin -- The Plains Public Library

Mine for this month is a CD: White Ladder by David Gray.  I first heard it in England in 2000, and ended up buying it and bringing it home with me.  My father-in-law was also a huge fan, and used to email me every time he heard the song "Babylon" on the radio, and tell me how it brightened his day.  Now that he has passed away, looking back on those emails makes me miss him but laugh at how fun he was.

Mary -- Athens Public Library

*for giving me a much needed lift in the political/historical realm: anything by Frances Moore Lappe, Edward Said, Howard Zinn, Barbara Ehrenreich, Jon Stewart
*changed my perspective on gardening and food: anyone can grow food anytime of the year with Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman, M.F.K. Fisher, Ruth Reichl, Bill Buford's Heat, Julia Child,  Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads- you can bake a whole grain loaf with a great crust and texture-
*fiction or essays for hopefulness: Anne Lamott, Barbara Kingsolver, Louise Erdrich,
*films- Whale rider

Lanna -- Athens Public Library

If you like football you will like the movie, "The Fifth Quarter" on DVD.  This film is inspirational and is about the Wake Forest football team. It includes Jim Grobe, who  later became Ohio University's football coach from 1995 to 2000.

Karen -- Glouster Public Library

Robert Fulghum has been inspirational to me, especially All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten.