#MIDDLEBURY
By DONNA HINE
If you haven’t yet experienced the fun of reading and following Marie Kondo’s books, you are in for a treat. The books were recommended to me by a few library friends, and they have completely changed the way I arrange drawers, shop for clothes and run my household.
“The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up; the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” (648 KON) and Kondo’s second book, “Spark Joy: an Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up” (648KON) are my new bibles for organization and arranging. They have helped me simplify my surroundings and organize so that everything is visible in drawers and is so much easier to find.
Now we have a new author on the same subject: Francine Jay has written “The Joy of Less: A Minimalist Guide to Declutter, Organize and Simplify” (648 JAY). Keeping things simple and keeping only things you love is key to eliminating clutter and enjoying your surroundings even more. A big plus is that when you choose what clothes to wear, you will find that you love everything you are looking at in your closet, so your choices are much happier!
There is yet another Kennedy book! “Kick Kennedy: The Charmed Life and Tragic Death of the Favorite Kennedy Daughter” (B KENNEDY, KICK LEA) by Barbara Leaming is the newest book about Kathleen Kennedy. She lived in a charmed world of yesterday when wealth and position were tantamount to moving in elite circles and living a very different life than most of us will ever know. Kathleen was a much-loved daughter of Joe Kennedy and much-protected sister of Jack who eventually carved her own wild and bouncy life with Billy Hartington and as such, was known as Kathleen, Marchioness of Hartington at her death.
The next book is the most charming book I have read since “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Annie Barrows. “Martha’s Vineyard: Isle of Dreams” (B BRANCH, SUSAN BRA) by Susan Branch is impossible to put down. I know. I tried to, but I kept opening it back up for more delightful color sketches and actual pictures of her sweet little house on Martha’s Vineyard. A broken heart and completely changed life led Susan to move from the West to the East Coast – and buy a house – a tiny perfect house on Martha’s Vineyard with three new kitties. Happy endings are essential and will be found in this memoir! This is the middle book of a trilogy – but the books can be read in any order.
Our only fiction pick this month is “Quiet Neighbors” by Catriona McPherson. Jude revisits a creaky old bookstore which had been the highlight of her last vacation and ends up working there among the “quiet neighbors” (better known as books). Lowell, a distinctly different personality, is the owner of this oldest bookstore in a town full of bookstores. Quirky, unique characters thrive in this Gothic atmosphere where Jude even rents the gravedigger’s cottage!
Middlebury Public Library Adult Services Librarian Donna Hine writes Library Lines. If you have a topic you’d like her to cover, contact her at the library at 203-758-2634.
