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Finding a Flow State

Books to Absorb You

We've likely all looked for it: a way to simultaneously escape ourselves while being as close to our bones as we can be. The whole idea of a "flow state" is predicated on this idea - losing ourselves in a purposeful way. Thoughtful or creative work is the cleanest path to this state, but exposing ourselves to someone else's art also prompts the reader's imagination and cues readers to find what it says about who they are. 

Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube

Strong Appeal

Books I Put on Recent Recommendation Lists for Both my Mom and Sister

I like to think there are many perks to having a librarian in the family. My arts and crafts skills are impeccable, I can organize like nobody’s business, and, provided I know you well, I can produce book recommendations at the drop of a hat. That is why, for the last few years, I have gotten into the habit of creating recommended reading lists for my immediate family members for birthdays and other holidays. With Mother’s Day having recently passed, and my sister’s birthday coming up soon, I thought I’d share some of the books I recently recommended to both of them.

Paddle Your Own Canoe, Nick Offerman

Soothing Audiobooks

Set Your Mind At Ease

It’s a pretty hectic world out there right now, so here are a few audiobooks to listen to with Overdrive. You can download or stream them, and listen to a relaxing book to distract yourself and de-stress.

It Takes Two

Reality TV Tell-Alls

Every time a celebrity releases a new memoir the internet is filled with news articles about the revelations they make within the pages: affairs, addictions, abuse, anything you can thing of. These memoirs get gobbled up, and if you've been a long-time fan of that individual or the reality TV show they hail from, you're destined to learn a lot from these memoirs. They don't call them "tell-alls" for nothing. Whether you prefer the Bachelor, the Real Housewives, the Home and Garden Television Network, or some combination of the above, we've got it all. 

Senility of Vladimir P. cover

Vladimir Putin in Fiction

The DC/Baltimore area seems to be inundated with Putin-based theater over the last year.

Bad With Money, by Gaby Dunn

She's got a mouth on her!

Outrageous memoirs by women

In honor of Women’s history month, here is a list of great memoirs by women. Everyone has a story, and reading the memoirs of remarkable, interesting women is a great way to get inspired this March. Here are a few great choices to get you started, from comedic essays to financial memoir.  

Smashed Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas

Young Women, Real Lives

The experience of being a young woman is its own, whatever other challenges or interests go along with it.  Whether examining nature, negotiating the context of promiscuity or alcoholism, creating meaningful relationships with other women, or simply existing, these eight titles explore that experience with a sharp eye, some leading the reader to laughter and others to tears.

"So, Anyway..." by John Cleese

And Now, For Something Completely Different...

Biographies and Memoirs by the Famously Funny

"And now, for something completely different..." Laughing burns calories. Laughing releases endorphins. Laughter is the best medicine. I'm not a doctor. I'm just a librarian, but allow me to attempt to sell laughter as the best medicine through these autobiographical works of a few brilliant and famously funny people.

Shit No One Tells You

Laugh it Off

Surviving Parenting with Humor

Sometimes as a parent you are overwhelmed, lonely and just want to cry or scream. You are not alone. These authors look at the challenge of being a parent (mostly a mother) and laugh about it. They are honest to the point of absurdity and help the reader see the humor in the fact that your 2-year-old has a mental breakdown when you put his toast in the toaster because he really wanted just bread with jelly on it despite the fact that he continues to call it "toast." All of these authors have very different experiences and points of view, but they are all great reads.

Spending the holidays with people I want to punch in the throat: yuletide yahoos, ho-ho-humblebraggers, and other seasonal scourges

Absurd Christmas Reads

...because what's more absurd than the holidays?

I love Christmas. Last year I made a Christmas list (pun intended) called Scary Christmas to All which covered holiday ghosts, murder and, um, werewolves. I decided to do another reading list this year, but to focus on the funny and/or absurd side of the holidays instead. Family can be stressful. Escape, and come with me to the dark side.

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