Category Archives: Uncategorized

Matters of the Heart: Nonfiction Reads on Health, Wellness, and the Human Heart

Uncategorized

When February rolls around, hearts are everywhere—on cards, candy, and decorations—but American Heart Month reminds us that it’s also the perfect time to focus on your actual heart. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, but the good news is that lifestyle choices can make a big difference. This month, we’re spotlighting nonfiction books that focus on heart health, nutrition, exercise, stress management, and wellness habits that support a healthy heart.

Whether you’re looking to build better habits or just want to learn more about how your heart works, these books offer valuable insights and inspiration to help you take care of the organ that keeps everything running.

Heart Health: Understanding and Protecting Your Heart

Learn more about how your heart functions and what you can do to prevent heart disease, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular concerns.

Suggested Reading:

  • Healthy Heart, Healthy Brain: The Personalized Path to Protect Your Memory, Prevent Heart Attacks and Strokes, and Avoid Chronic Illness by Bradley Bale MD, Amy Doneen DNP, and Lisa Collier Cool
  • Heart: A History by Sandeep Jauhar
  • The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up: A Breakthrough Medical Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Steven Masley, MD
  • Undo It! by Dean Ornish, MD and Anne Ornish

Nutrition: Eating for Heart Health

The foods you eat play a huge role in heart health. These titles offer guidance on how to fuel your body with heart-smart nutrition.

Suggested Reading:

  • The Blue Zones Kitchen by Dan Buettner
  • How Not to Die by Michael Greger, MD
  • Disease-Proof: The Remarkable Truth About What Makes Us Well by David Katz

Exercise: Moving Toward a Stronger Heart

Regular physical activity strengthens your heart and improves circulation. These books explore different ways to make movement part of your daily life.

Suggested Reading:

  • Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, MD
  • Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD
  • Built to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully by Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett

Stress Management: Calming the Mind to Help the Heart

Chronic stress can take a serious toll on your heart. These books explore mindfulness, meditation, and other techniques to lower stress and boost emotional well-being.

Suggested Reading:

  • The Stress Prescription: Seven Days to More Joy and Ease by Elissa Epel, PhD
  • Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
  • Real Self-Care: Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included by Pooja Lakshmin, MD
    Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki

Wellness Habits: Everyday Choices for a Heart-Healthy Life

Sometimes small, consistent changes can make the biggest impact. These titles help you create routines that support long-term heart health.

Suggested Reading:

  • Atomic Habits by James Clear
  • The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
  • Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD

Stop by the Germantown Community Library this month and check out these titles—and plenty more—that can help you take better care of your heart. Whether you’re looking to eat healthier, move more, or just stress less, there’s something here for everyone. Your future self will thank you!

Erin L., Staff Writer

Reader’s Advisory

Staff Recommendations, Staff Writer, Uncategorized

Are you looking to read more, read “better”, or read something “different”? Do you ever feel clueless when you’re trying to find something to read? Does it seem like you keep seeing the same book, different title over and over? No surprises there, 80% of the US book market is published by just five companies! If a title does well, they will print many, many versions of it in the future. How many versions of stories about quirky, intrepid female spies evading the Gestapo while pining for an enigmatic co-worker “is he/isn’t he a covert enemy” love interest can they publish anyway?

This blog post is dedicated to introducing you to a variety of resources that can help you find something new and/or different to read.

Resources at the library

BookPage – This monthly magazine is available free at the library. It features articles on new books for all ages, book club suggestions, and usually has special features such as author interviews or in depth looks at different genres. January’s issue just arrived, and it’s a good one!

NoveList – If you’re a Wisconsin resident, you have free access to BadgerLink, Wisconsin’s Online Library, which provides licensed trustworthy resources from a variety of content providers. You can access BadgerLink from our website, or go directly to BadgerLink here: https://badgerlink.dpi.wi.gov/resources. Scroll down to NoveList. If it’s your first time, there is a short video to help users learn how to make the most of what NoveList has to offer.

New York Times Bestseller List – The current NYT bestseller lists can be found at the library’s New Book display. Each side (fiction and nonfiction) has a stand with the current week’s bestsellers. Bestsellers tend to be popular, so you might not find the book on the shelf; however, the Information Desk staff will be happy to put a copy on hold for you.

Library Reads – This monthly list of books is created from suggestions by library staff across the nation. It’s not a bestseller list, but you’ll probably see some items on the list that will also be found on best seller lists. You’ll find the Library Reads list on top of the New Fiction book shelf.

Magazines and Newspapers – Many magazines available at the library regularly feature articles on books. Time and Atlantic are both known for their coverage, but don’t forget that other magazines have them too. For example, if you’re interested in the outdoors or nature, Outside magazine and Mother Earth News are possibilities. For an all in one source, try the Library Journal, which covers hundreds of titles every month. Newspapers that the library carries also regularly feature articles on books. The Wall Street Journal has articles on new releases, and the Journal Sentinel is a good source for articles on books by authors from Wisconsin.

Book Club Lists – The library’s website lists all the books ever read by all our book clubs. Go to https://staging.germantownlibrarywi.org/book-groups/, then search under the different groups to see what they’ve read.

Resources outside the library

Online book groups – Search for “online book clubs”. Even if you’re not interested in participating, these sites are a good source of ideas for books to read. A couple of the most popular groups are:

Additional online resources for book club suggestions, discussion questions upcoming books, book trends and more:

Need more tips? – Try googling “best books” or “reading suggestions” and then select the sites that look interesting to you. A recent search I did for “reading suggestions” came up with a wide variety of lists, including books recommended by TED Talk speakers. If you enjoy listening to TED Talks, you’re likely to find something of interest on this list. Some sites will require you to create an account, but if you don’t want to do that, you’ll still find plenty other sites to access.

And just like love, sometimes you find the right one when you’re not looking: the book I enjoyed most last year was Whale Hunt: The Narrative of a Voyage by Nelson Cole Haley, Harpooner in the Ship Charles W. Morgan 1849-1853. First published in 1948, this memoir was a fascinating look into a world long gone. I was looking over the shelves of the library’s ongoing book sale, and it caught my eye. Someone read it, donated it, and it found a new home on my own shelves.

Lynn R.
Adult Reference Librarian