@ Your Library
I’m not walking home in the dark anymore, but if you still struggle with feeling SAD, then be sure and stop by the library to borrow a full-spectrum light. The science is inconclusive, but many people report feeling better if they spend an hour or so sitting in front of full-spectrum light each day during the winter. I also find eating healthy helps, which has made the air fryer a great tool in the kitchen. Get that fried food crunch with air. Preparing meals at home can also go quicker with an instant pot. These items and many more are available to borrow from the library. Check out wonderful items to explore new hobbies (like a Cricut), basic tools to fix a shelf or hang a picture or plenty of board games for family and friend fun.
Titles published for young adults can be great reads for adults too. They are often a bit shorter with a quick pace. Twelve years ago, Kristin Cashore released Graceling, followed by Fire in 2009 and Bitterblue in 2012 and that was supposedly the end of the Graceling Realm Trilogy. Last month, Winterkeep, a new book in the Graceling Realm released. It begins five years into the reign of Bitterblue as she, her spy Hava and trusted colleague Giddon set off for Winterkeep where telepathic foxes bond with humans and people fly in wondrous airships.
Karen McManus’ best seller One of Us is Lying now has a sequel One of Us is Next which plays with the game Truth or Dare. Suspenseful, and full of danger, read at your own peril. And speaking of peril, Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams is a tale of truth, lies and power. Agnes lives in Red Creek and loves it, but learns that she is part of a cult being controlled by a man who is growing more dangerous and her brother is diabetic and needs insulin. Many are comparing this work to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or Rory Power’s Wilder Girls.
Lovely War by Julie Berry retells the legend of Aphrodite, setting it in World War II. Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross is set in an ancient world of magic, danger and the unbreakable bond of sisters. Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust, about a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch has the feel of mythology, even if it is set in a fantastical world. The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi about a long lost artifact granting the possessor the power of god, is set in the same world as The Gilded Wolves.
I don’t remember seeing Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell, a reimagining of Les Miserable until the sequel Between Burning Worlds arrived. Definitely being added to my ‘to read’ pile.
Two titles on many best of 2020 lists are Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo and Charming as a Verb by Ben Philippe and both are on my ‘TBR’ list.