Batavia - Grab a bite to eat and visit Richmond Memorial Library to add a taste of knowledge to your afternoon lunch.
Every Wednesday in September, different community members will review the bestselling non-fiction books between 12:10 and 1 p.m.
Samantha Stryker Basile, librarian for community and adult services at Richmond Memorial Library, said she always starts with a list of popular or topical books. From there, they match the person with a book.
“Most of our books this time around are fairly new, but they are also universally popular and things we think our audience will be interested in,” she said. “A nice thing about Books Sandwiched In is that the audience is always very engaged and has really good questions and answers.”
The books reviewed in September are the following:
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 7 — A teenage librarian, Richmond Memorial Librarian, Felicia Cesser, will review “Crying at H-Mart: A Memoir” by Michelle Zoner.
Currently in week 56 of the New York Times bestseller list, Japanese indie pop star Japanese Breakfast Zoner gives a full account of her New Yorker viral article sharing touching thoughts on her experiences growing up Korean-American, becoming a professional musician and caring for her terminally ill mother.
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 14 - Retired professor and community volunteer Barb Shine will review “The Blackwell Doctors: How Two Pioneering Sisters Bring Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine” by Janice B. Nemura.
The book is about Elizabeth Blackwell, who from an early age believed she was destined for a mission beyond the realm of “ordinary” femininity. Although the world initially reverted to the idea that women study medicine, her intelligence and intensity eventually earned her the acceptance of the male medical establishment.
In 1849, she became the first woman in America to earn a Doctor of Medicine. She is soon joined by her younger sister, Emily, who was in fact the most intelligent physician in her iconic feat.
WEDNESDAY, September 21 - Office of Elderly Director Diana Fox will review “The Body: A Guide for Passengers” by Bill Bryson.
Bryson turns his attention inward to explore the human body, how it works and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Filled with extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, Body: A Guide for Passengers is described as a fascinating, and often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of the physical and nervous formation of humanity.
WEDNESDAY, Sept 28 - Jason Smith, Principal of Batavia City Schools will review “His Truth Advances: John Lewis and the Power of Hope” by John Meacham.
John Lewis, who walked at twenty-five in Selma, Alabama, and was beaten up on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, was a visionary and a man of faith.
Drawing on decades of extensive interviews with Lewis, John Meacham has written about how Lewis, a grandson of a slave and the son of a renter farmer from Alabama, drew inspiration from the Bible and its two teachers of nonviolence, Reverend James Lawson and Martin Luther King, Jr. He put his life on the line in the service of what Abraham Lincoln called “the best angels of our nature.”
His belief in humanity and God was integral to Lewis’ commitment to the betterment of the nation—and his steadfast belief in the power of hope.
Coffee, tea and refreshments will be served in each session and participants do not need to read the book in order to attend.
Attending Books Sandwiched In is free and all welcome, no registration required. Sessions will be recorded and made available for viewing on the YouTube Library page at youtube.com/richmondmemlibrary.
The Richmond Memorial Library is located at 19 Ross Street in Batavia.
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