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Joan Bauk

On the Basis of Sex

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On the Basis of Sex Directed by Mimi Leder
Format: DVD
Who it’s for: Adults

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the second female to become an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. There have only been four women in this position in our great country’s history. This in itself is remarkable.

What is also remarkable, as On the Basis of Sex highlights, is the fact that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of the only women in her law school class at Harvard. Before starting law school, Ginsburg earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and became a wife and mother. Ginsburg’s husband Martin, also attended Harvard Law School (in a class ahead of hers) and became ill during his final year. While Martin Ginsburg recovered from his illness, Ruth attended her husband’s classes, as well as her own, and helped him study so that he could earn his law school degree. When he graduated and took a job in New York City, Ruth Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School and earned her law degree there.

Having trouble landing a job in early 1960’s New York, in a male dominated profession, Ruth turned to academia. What is remarkable here is that Ruth did not give up. She became a professor at Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School where she was a strong supporter of women’s rights and gender equality.

On the Basis of Sex, tells this small portion of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s professional story. The movie highlights her strength of character as she fights to end not “sex” discrimination, but the more favorable term “gender” discrimination. The movie presents a strong woman role model, but also reveals how much Ruth’s husband Martin loved her and supported her career.  As a supportive married couple, the Ginsburgs were an important part of our country’s legal history.  This is an excellent movie! Find it on DVD.

 

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland

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The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland  By Jim Defede
Format:  Audiobook
Who It’s For:  Adults

Everyone remembers where they were on 9/11.  It was a catastrophic day.  Seldom though, do we think about what happened to the rest of the planes in the sky after planes crashed into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, PA.  At 9:42 am, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all civilian aircraft within the continental U.S., and civilian aircraft already in flight were told to land immediately.  All international civilian aircraft were either turned back or redirected to airports in Canada or Mexico, and were banned from landing on United States Territory for three days.

When the United States shut down its airspace, tiny Gander International Airport in Newfoundland opened its runways, taking in 38 wide-body planes on transatlantic routes.   A town of about 10,000 people, with one hotel, took in nearly 7,000 passengers from more than 100 countries.  They made sure that the people, dogs, cats, and apes that were on board the planes forced to land in Gander, had food, prescriptions, bedding, clothing, toothbrushes, shower facilities and a place to sleep for several days.

Through interviews and research, Jim Defede shares with us the true story of the incredible acts of bravery, kindness, compassion and comfort that the people of Gander shared with those stranded passengers.  A day that was filled with so much terror and grief can also be looked upon as a day that humans were at their best in a small town in Newfoundland.

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Where the Crawdads Sing

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Where the Crawdads Sing  by Delia Owens
Format:  Book, Audio, Ebook
Who it’s for:  Adults

 

This is Delia Owens’s debut novel.  It is the story of a young woman abandoned at age ten to survive alone in the coastal marsh of Barkley Cove, North Carolina.  Kya Clark is known as the “Marsh Girl” to residents of Barkley Cove.  Kya lives barefoot and wild.  She is friends with the gulls and very astute to nature and the environment in which she lives.  She has the skills to survive in the wild, but she is not prepared for the relationships of polite society.

In 1969, handsome Chase Andrews is found dead.  Local residents immediately suspect the Marsh Girl.  Rumor has it that Kya has been seen with Chase Andrews.  But could this wild girl be in a relationship with the wealthy Chase Andrews?  After all, Chase is a married man.

As the story unfolds, we learn about Kya’s childhood, her ability to survive on her own, her kindness and caring for nature, and her first encounters with friendship and love.  Could this wildly beautiful girl, who only ever attended one day of school be capable of violence?

Owens has written a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a mysterious tale of possible murder.  You will be mesmerized until the end.

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Varina

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Varina by Charles Frazier
Format:  MP3 Audiobook
Who it’s for:  Adults

This book, written by the author of Cold Mountain, is the story of Varina Howell Davis, the wife of the only president of the Confederate States of America.  At 17, Varina Howell marries Jefferson Davis who is 19 years her senior.  Years after their marriage (based on an arrangement rather than love), Davis becomes the president of the Confederacy.  The book transports you to a time in our nation’s history when the Confederacy rises and then takes a catastrophic fall.

As an older woman, Varina reflects upon her young married life, her life as the wife of a politician, and her life as a young mother who grieves the loss of several of her children who died at young ages.  She explains in detail her escape from Richmond with her surviving children, as Union soldiers pursued her for being the wife of the treasonous Confederate president.   Varina details the resulting captivity of herself and her children, and what her life was like during the imprisonment of her husband.  Through Varina’s story, the reader is able to see the harsh reality of what life would have been like at the end of the Civil War.

I listened to Varina through our library’s Overdrive app.  Although I felt like the very beginning of the book took some time to get into, I quickly found myself wanting to listen continuously, in order to see what would happen to Varina and her family next.  When the book was finished, I felt compelled to research many of the events and characters mentioned in the story and their significance in our nation’s history.  I would highly recommend the book.  You can find Varina in book, book on CD, ebook and audio book form.

Find it in the catalog.

I Can Only Imagine

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I Can Only Imagine  Directed by Jon Erwin and Andrew Erwin
Format:  DVD
Who it’s for:  Adults, Teens

This is the true story behind Bart Miller’s creation of the song I Can Only Imagine.  As a young boy, Bart Miller (played by J. Michael Finley) grew up in a home with an angry father (played by Dennis Quade) who mistreated his mother and made Bart feel like he would never amount to anything.  With the support of his friends, his own courage, and his strong faith, Bart persevered.  After finishing high school, Bart left his home and his miserable father and ended up joining the Christian band MercyMe.

Although the band is successful, they can’t seem to get the break that takes them to the big time.  Feeling frustrated, Bart returns home.  To his disbelief, Bart’s father has become a Christian.  He is also dying.  Bart takes care of his father and finds that he is able to forgive him before he dies.  Months later and back with the band, Bart reflects upon what has happened in his life, and the grace that God has shown him.  Bart Miller imagines what it would be like to be in Heaven standing before God.  I Can Only Imagine is the resulting song.

The performances of J. Michael Finley, Dennis Quade, Trace Adkins and Priscilla C. Shirer are superb.  If you don’t have time to watch the DVD, at least listen to the sound track.  J. Michael Finley, who the film’s producers found on Broadway, gives an amazing singing performance.

This is an excellent movie.  I have to say it is one of my favorites!  I give it five stars!!

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An Invisible Thread, The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny

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An Invisible Thread, The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny
By: Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski
Format: Book, Hoopla
Who it’s for: Adults

An Invisible Thread is a true story written by Laura Schroff, in which she recounts the unexpected friendship that she made with an eleven year old boy on the busy streets of New York.  As a person who usually reads historical fiction, I chose to read this book because a patron told me how great it was as she placed it in the book return.  She said it with such feeling, I had to grab the book and read it myself.

In 1986, Laura Schroff was a busy advertising executive living in Manhattan.  Maurice Mazyck was an undernourished, homeless boy living two blocks away.  This book is a personal memoir of Laura’s life with the story of Maurice’s life intertwined.  It is also the story of a relationship that has spanned over thirty years because a woman was not afraid to reach out to a young stranger.

I like this book because Laura Schroff doesn’t sugarcoat anything.  There are parts of the book where you want to cry for Laura, for Maurice, and for the bad things that life throws their way.  But Laura’s story also reveals that life can be good when you show compassion towards others and never stop believing in them.

Find it in the catalog.