A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting
by Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston, author of multiple books and the long-running Ask a Swole Woman column, wants you to think about strength training differently. Instead of feelings of guilt and shame about body image and eating habits, she advocates listening to your body’s health and fitness needs. This book is part memoir and part cultural commentary, with a good dose of science (and humor). More women than ever are lifting, and if you’re considering it, this is a practical and engaging guide.
The Academy
by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham
Having finished her Nantucket novels, Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter Shelby Cunningham have co-written a new novel. Though The Academy is a coming-of-age story, it is decidedly not for young adults, with more than the usual amount of adult content fans of Hilderbrand have come to expect. Tiffin Academy, an elite and highly-ranked boarding school, is the setting for this drama-filled, multi-perspective first in a new series by the mother-daughter duo.
Expect Great Things!: How the Katharine Gibbs School Revolutionized the American Workplace for Women
by Vanda Krefft
In an era where women were expected to focus on the domestic sphere and the four walls of home, the founding of the Katharine Gibbs School (a women-only secretarial institution) in 1911 was a quietly revolutionary act. Author and historian Vanda Krefft reveals just how important the schools five-decade run was as a liberating force for young women looking to gain professional skills, social mobility and opportunities… and do as the school’s mission and motto said: Expect great things!
The Club: Where American Women Artists Found Refuge in Belle Époque Paris
by Jennifer Dasal
American artists such as Whistler and John Singer Sargent flocked to Paris during the fin-de-siècle period, the epicenter of the Avante Garde. But Paris also became a haven for female artists, including Mary Cassatt and Cecilia Beaux, who were often excluded from many formal academies back home. Author Jennifer Dasal, who is also an art historian and host of the ArtCurious podcast, writes how female American artists found a private refuge in Belle Époque Paris between 1893-1914.
The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life
by Suleika Jaouad
Suleika Jaouad, memoirist and creator of The Isolation Journals, combines her own story with essays and prompts from a mix of writers, artists and thinkers. The prompts cover a wide range of topics, including memory, fear, love, purpose and more, to emphasize how journaling can help clarify and inspire thoughts and ideas, improve mental health and increase self-awareness.
The Wedding People
by Alice Espach
From professor and novelist Alice Espach, we uncover the story of Phoebe Stone as she travels to the grand Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island as her final destination. Alone and surrounded only by lively guests of a stranger’s wedding, Phoebe finds her plans disrupted by it all, especially by the bride who has planned for every catastrophe except what Phoebe brings to the table. Both sharply humorous and profoundly moving, The Wedding People is a transformative story of love and loss, the power of human connection and how chance encounters have the ability to change one’s life for the better.
Dublin Life Book Club Selection:
Meeting: Wed., Oct. 22
The Secret Life of Sunflowers
by Marta Molnar
Based on the true story of Johanna Bonger — sister-in-law and inheritor of the famed artist Vincent van Gogh — art history enthusiast and author Marta Molnar dives into the story that brought van Gogh to fame. Through the lens of fictional struggling Hollywood auctioneer Emsley Wilson, we read the diary entries of Johanna as she worked through the struggles as a widowed single mother with only a few unknown paintings to her name.
