Library News

A page form a Braille book.
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January is Braille Literacy month! Tips & Resources from Your Cromaine Library

Happy Braille Literacy Month! The month of January is a special time to learn about and celebrate braille, which promotes equality in education and communication, and positively impacts millions of lives!

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A row of non-fiction books at the Library.
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Reading Resolutions for 2025-- and Tips to Help You Read Like a Pro!

The New Year is an exciting time for bookworms. We love taking stock of the books we've read this year, and looking forward to all of the new reading experiences we'll have in the year to come!

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The Ale Together Now crew sitting in the Community Room, with Michelle sitting in the middle of the aisle.
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Ale Together Now: Christmas Ales

Happy Holidays, Hartland! The snow is falling and the Christmas lights are twinkling, and we are ready to welcome the season with roasty, toasty, malty, and seasonal ales!

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New at Cromaine

Book cover for "Make It Easy"

Make It Easy

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A super-flexible meal prep cookbook featuring 125 healthy gluten-free, grain-free, and paleo recipes plus 15 weeks of menu plans, detailed meal prepping advice, grocery lists, and more—from the author of the Against All Grain series.

In this practical, time-saving guide to meal prepping and menu planning, beloved author Danielle Walker removes all the guess work from your daily effort to get food on the table. Make It Easy presents fifteen weeks of menus, along with prep-ahead and make-ahead tips, shopping lists organized by grocery store departments, and proven methods for getting it all done quickly and effortlessly.

Because we all prep in different ways depending on the size of our families and the busyness of our lives, Danielle has identified six “prepper personas” and developed recipes for each type. Recipes such as Greek Lemon Chicken with Artichokes or Teriyaki Meatballs can be made in large quantities and frozen for later, while Fried Pineapple and Pork Rice or Meatballs Marsala with Mashed Roots use store-bought ingredients for no-fuss, quick meals. And Steak and Eggs Breakfast Tacos or Veggie and Shrimp Bowls are designed so components can be made ahead and then repurposed for other meals the same week.

Meal plans can be followed in any order and nearly every recipe is photographed. And with additional recipes for breakfasts, snacks, sides, and back-pocket dinners (dishes using pantry ingredients you already have!), this deliciously healthy cookbook provides everything you need to meal plan right.

Book cover for "Offshore"

Offshore

How do the rich keep getting richer, while dodging the long arm of the law? From playboy billionaires avoiding taxes on private islands to Russian oligarchs sailing away from sanctions on their superyachts, the ultra-rich seem to live in a different world from the rest of us. That world is called offshore. Hidden from view, the world's ultra-rich can use offshore finance to escape tax obligations, labor and environmental safety regulations, campaign finance rules, and other laws that get in their way.

In Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism, sociologist Brooke Harrington reveals how this system works, as well as how it degrades democracy, the economy, and the public goods on which we all depend. Harrington spent eight years infiltrating this secretive world by training as a wealth manager, traveling from glossy European and North American capitals to developing countries in South America and Africa, to islands in the Indian Ocean, Caribbean, and South Pacific regions. Through interviews with dozens of wealth managers in nineteen countries, Harrington uncovered how this global network of offshore financial centers arose from the remnants of colonialism and has created a new, hidden imperial class

This engrossing deep dive reveals what offshore finance costs all of us, and how it has colonized the world--not on behalf of any one country, but to benefit a largely invisible empire of a few thousand billionaires, who help themselves to the best society has to offer while sticking us with the bill. As politicians struggle to address the deepening economic and political inequality destabilizing the world, Harrington's exposé of the offshore system is a vital resource for understanding the most pressing crises of our time.

Book cover for "Book and Dagger"

Book and Dagger

The untold story of the academics who became OSS spies, invented modern spycraft, and helped turn the tide of the war

At the start of WWII, the U.S. found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today's CIA, was quickly formed--and, in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work--and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts.

In Book and Dagger, Elyse Graham draws on personal histories, letters, and declassified OSS files to tell the story of a small but connected group of humanities scholars turned spies. Among them are Joseph Curtiss, a literature professor who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents; Sherman Kent, a smart-mouthed history professor who rose to become the head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa; and Adele Kibre, an archivist who was sent to Stockholm to secretly acquire documents for the OSS. These unforgettable characters would ultimately help lay the foundations of modern intelligence and transform American higher education when they returned after the war.

Thrillingly paced and rigorously researched, Book and Dagger is an inspiring and gripping true story about a group of academics who helped beat the Nazis--a tale that reveals the indelible power of the humanities to change the world.

Book cover for "Countdown 1960"

Countdown 1960

Instant New York Times Bestseller

The riveting new book on the momentous year, campaign, and election that shaped American history

It’s January 2, 1960: the day that Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy declared his candidacy; and with this opening scene, Chris Wallace offers readers a front-row seat to history. From the challenge of primary battles in a nation that had never elected a Catholic president, to the intense machinations of the national conventions—where JFK chose Lyndon Johnson as his running mate over the impassioned objections of his brother Bobby—this is a nonfiction political thriller filled with intrigue, cinematic action, and fresh reporting. Like with many popular histories, readers may be familiar with the story, but few will know the behind-the-scenes details, told here with gripping effect.
 
Featuring some of history’s most remarkable characters, page-turning action, and vivid details, Countdown 1960 follows a group of extraordinary politicians, civil rights leaders, Hollywood stars, labor bosses, and mobsters during a pivotal year in American history. The election of 1960 ushered in the modern era of presidential politics, with televised debates, private planes, and slick advertising. In fact, television played a massive role. More than 70 million Americans watched one or all four debates. The public turned to television to watch campaign rallies. And on the night of the election, the contest between Kennedy and Nixon was so close that Americans were glued to their televisions long after dawn to see who won. 
 
The election of 1960 holds stunning parallels to our current political climate. There were—potentially valid—claims of voter fraud and a stolen election. There was also a presidential candidate faced with the decision of whether to contest the result or honor the peaceful transfer of power.

 

Book cover for "By Any Other Name"

By Any Other Name

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the co-author of Mad Honey comes an “inspiring” (Elle) novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.

“You’ll fall in love with Emilia Bassano, the unforgettable heroine based on a real woman that Picoult brings vividly to life in her brilliantly researched new novel.”—Kristin Hannah, author of The Women

Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.

In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage—by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.

Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.

Book cover for "Upworthy - GOOD PEOPLE"

Upworthy - GOOD PEOPLE

Instant New York Times bestseller!

Embrace--and share--the transformative power of kindness through stories of more than one hundred GOOD PEOPLE, brought to you by Upworthy, the beloved social media platform where millions find inspiration, joy, and daily affirmation.

GOOD PEOPLE is a much-needed trove of life-affirming stories told straight from the heart. Handpicked from Upworthy's community of millions, each piece speaks to the breadth, depth, and beauty of the human experience. With proof that decency surrounds each and every one of us, Upworthy's first book is a perspective-changing salve that will leave even the most unlikely reader feeling better about the world.

Rippling with wit, compassion, and courage, each chapter offers a restorative opportunity to believe in people's fundamental goodness. Inside, you'll find beautifully illustrated stories, including:

 

  • The Kindest of Strangers, when a waitress's regular customer gives her the opportunity to chart a new life course.
  • Learn by Heart, when a teacher's brilliance helps her class accept a little boy with an eye patch.
  • It's the Little Things, when a former baker finds a creative, and tasty, way to rally his community through the most difficult of times.
  • The Kids Are All Right, when a lonely woman and a four-year-old girl bond over some unexpected fairytale magic.
  • When I Needed It Most, when a landlord's generosity helps his tenant navigate his grief.
  • Away From Home, when a toddler and her mother provide safe haven for a sick fellow traveler.


An essential counterbalance to today's daunting news cycle, this deeply moving book is emotional nourishment for navigating modern life, both online and off.

Book cover for "How to Talk with Anyone about Anything"

How to Talk with Anyone about Anything

Relationships everywhere are in crisis due to our inability to talk about "difference" without polarizing. Since objection to difference is the core human problem, we need a skill that helps us connect beyond difference. That''s just what New York Times bestselling authors Dr. Harville Hendrix and Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt offer in their new book: How To Talk With Anyone About Anything. They call it the Safe Conversations Dialogue process, which everyone can learn and teach, that moves all relationships from danger to safety, making connecting possible.

For centuries, most of us humans have talked to others in monologues, believing that the world is the way we see it, that what we say about it is the "truth" and we have assumed that everyone sees it "our" way. If they do not, we experience tension and conflict on many levels. On the other hand, few of us have ever listened to others while they are talking and tried to see the world from their point of view while retaining our own perspective. Instead of listening to understand and collaborate about our differences, we tend to replace their perspective with our own. This results in polarization, not only in our personal lives and work environments, but also in the political and religious arenas we inhabit. This has led to anxiety, frustration, anger, violence, and war. Clearly, the world needs a new way to talk that transcends difference and leads to collaboration, co-creation, and cooperation.

Getting the Love You Want, teach that the practice of Safe Conversations Dialogue impacts the "physics of the Space Between." Here is what they mean:

  • All of us live in and are a part of an energy field in which everything everywhere is connecting with everything everywhere. This energy field occupies the Space-Between us.
  • When there is safety in the energy field that occupies the Space-Between us, we can connect.
  • When there is anxiety in the Space Between, we defend ourselves. We cannot connect but tend to polarize.
  • Anyone, if they decide to, can restore safety in the Space Between by using a structure conversation skill called the Safe Conversations Dialogue.

 

In How to Talk with Anyone about Anything, Harville and Helen share the wisdom of the Safe Conversations process and the four structured and teachable skills that create safety and connection:

  • Dialogue: Dialogue is two or more people taking turns talking and listening. Monologue is one person talking and expecting everyone else to listen. When two or more people shift from Monologue to Dialogue, they can transform any relationship from conflict to safety, connection and collaboration.
  • Zero Negativity: Negativity disrupts safety and is non-negotiable for safe and thriving relationships. When Dialogue is practiced with Zero Negativity, criticism about what one does not have is replaced with a positive request for what one wants. This transforms conflict into safety and connecting.
  • Empathy: Empathy is the capacity to experience or imagine how another person has gone through life. When Dialogue is practiced with empathy, one can more easily accept the different perspective of another person and maintain one''s own perspective without polarizing.
  • Affirmation: Affirmation is valuing another person because they exist rather than for what they have done for you. When Dialogue includes affirmation, the other person experiences themselves as human rather than as an "object" that is valued because of what they do.

 

How to Talk with Anyone about Anything offers the keys to unlocking your ability to connect with others in a new and profoundly different way. And, as more of us hone that ability, together, we can bring about a fundamental shift in society away from our current focus on the "self" and polarization about difference towards safety and true connection that includes total personal freedom, universal equality, radical inclusion, and celebration of diversity--a society in which we all collaborate with each other without surrendering our differences, co-create with each other about new solutions and cooperate with other to put them into practice. Then we will all live in the world of our dreams.