Here are some new adult nonfiction books available for check out at Ellinwood School/Community Library:
No Pain, No Gaines: The Good Stuff Doesn’t Come Easy by Chip Gaines
There are a lot of books out there that promise you the path of least resistance or teach you how to hustle harder. This isn’t one of those. In his most vulnerable book to date, Chip Gaines shows us how to build relationships that pull us into a life of meaning, joy, and connection. It happens by being intentional about choosing the company we keep. Chip explains the value of seeking out people who are electrified by living according to their purpose, who will stand beside you as you tackle new challenges, who bet on each other instead of the status quo. The key is being true to yourself, figuring out what you want to do with your life, and finding people who will lift you up along the way.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency – a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.
When Women Pray: 10 Women of the Bible Who Changed the World through Prayer by T.D. Jakes
In a time when women carry more influence than any other generation, the power of prayer has never been more important to remind us that we do not have to bear our crosses alone. We need prayer to stand guard over our hearts and minds and over the hearts and minds of our families. Women today are shattering glass ceilings and forging new paths in the world. What Happens When a Woman Prays is a clarion call for women to continue their progressive march of empowerment by dreaming like their daughters and praying like their grandmothers. Through exploring the lives of 10 prayer-filled women of the Bible, Bishop Jakes emphasizes the life-changing power that women have when they find their identity, their strength, their healing, and their voices in Christ.
For God and Country: The Christian Case for Trump by Ralph Reed
Evangelicals gave 81% of their votes to Donald Trump in 2016, a record in the history of modern polling. Critics charge that evangelical Trump supporters have revealed themselves to be political prostitutes and hypocrites who surrendered their religious integrity in order to gain access to power, modern-day Pharisees who have so thoroughly compromised their witness that they are now disqualified from speaking out on moral issues in the future. As a prominent evangelical figure for a quarter century and both a friend of President Trump and a member of his campaign Faith advisory board, Dr. Ralph Reed persuasively argues that evangelicals have a moral obligation to enthusiastically back Trump due to the stridently anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and pro-abortion agenda of the progressive left.
Walking with Peety: The Dog Who Saved My Life by Eric O’Grey, Mark Dagostino
Eric was 150 pounds overweight, depressed, and sick. After a lifetime of failed diet attempts, and the onset of type 2 diabetes due to his weight, Eric went to a new doctor, who surprisingly prescribed a shelter dog. And that’s when Eric met Peety: an overweight, middle-aged, and forgotten dog who, like Eric, had seen better days. The two adopted each other and began an incredible journey together, forming a bond of unconditional love that forever changed their lives. Over the next year, just by going on walks, playing together, and eating plant-based foods, Eric lost 150 pounds, and Peety lost 25. As a result, Eric reversed his diabetes, got off all medication, and became happy and healthy for the first time in his life-eventually reconnecting with and marrying his high school sweetheart.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people – including Martin Luther King Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.
Sheri Holmes is the director of library and media services for the Ellinwood School and Community Libraries. She can be reached by email at sholmes@usd355.org.
