When we asked people to share books related to the theme of “new beginnings” at our  Open Book Night last week we got a really wide range of fiction and nonfiction book recommendations. We heard about spiritual, nutritional, philosophical, emotional, geographic, artistic, political, physical, and meteorological new beginnings from a diverse group of avid readers. Come join the fun at the next Open Book Night on May 8, when the theme will be nature.

Now we’d like to pass along our patrons’ "new beginnings" recommendations to you. Everyone talked about their books for a few minutes and answered questions, and we also asked the readers to write a sentence or two about the books they chose to share:

We started the evening with fiction. Marie chose Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín, a character study of of a widow learning to adjust to life without her husband, who rediscovers a part of herself through music. “I could see Nora's struggle and acceptance of change via re-discovering part of her S-E-L-F.”

Janet was thinking hopefully about changes in the weather when she chose to share E.B. White’s classic essay, Here is New York .  “Mr. White tells us what makes New York ‘tick.’ He wrote this in the summer of 1948 during a heat wave. This book is HOT!”

Jairo told us a bit about Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and his Meditations. “It's a book that goes deeper into being able to look at yourself in a very challenging way. Being able to examine your life and what one observes is something that few might be able to do. What made me decide on reading Meditations is being able to express your emotions and feelings to examine yourself.”

Joon recommended Sweet Poison by David Gillespie. “This book unveils the misery of modern diseases. The answer is probably not as intuitive as ‘fat makes us fat’. The writer says that sugar is the poison. A page-turner with detailed explanations.” The NYPL does not currently own any copies of Sweet Poison, which was published in Australia, but there are a number of books on sugar free diets available. Eva Schaub’s family memoir, Year of No Sugar, offers a combination of personal experience and clear nutritional information,  which is what Joon admired in Sweet Poison.

One of our participants was a book lover who had just arrived from South Korea for a two month stay in New York. She recommended a book she read in English that will be published soon in Korea in translation, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides. She told us that she likes reading adventure stories as well as stories about people who encounter rough seas. “It's a story about the polar voyage of USS Jeannette, a young naval officer, and America's Gilded Age.”

One reader observed that it’s helpful to be reminded at times that “life is not linear” and that it is okay to try a new path when she told us about one of her favorite books, The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure by Rachel Friedman.

Joan was immersed in Ramachandra Guha’s Gandhi Before India. She wrote that this biography “provides a panoramic history of the development of Ghandi's political ideas during his time in South Africa.”

Kelly described an illuminating memoir, My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey  by Jill Bolle Taylor. "Dr. Taylor is a talented and persevering neurologist who shares her knowledge about the function of the brain from a personal perspective. After suffering a stroke, Dr. Taylor has to relearn how to read, write, talk, and interact with people. She takes us through her journey of rediscovery."

I chose The Blazing World: A Novel by Siri Hustvedt to tie in with the new beginnings theme. “There’s still time to change things,” words spoken by her therapist, spur recently widowed artist Harriet Burden into a new phase in her life. Her artwork has long been overlooked by the established art world, so she conducts an experiment to test how the art world perceives and values art, which involves showing her work under the names of three male artists. This fascinating novel of ideas offers memorable characters and an intriguing puzzle.

Would you like to share book recommendations with other readers? Please join us for an Open Book Night at the Mid-Manhattan Library. The complete 2015 schedule is listed below.  We meet on the second Friday of the month at 6pm in the Corner Room on the First Floor.  We'd love to see you there!

• February 13, 2015 - Love                                                  See the Patron Picks List from Open Book Night, February 2015
• April 10, 2015 - New Beginnings                                  See the Patron Picks List from Open Book Night, April 2015
• May 8, 2015 - Nature
• June 12, 2015 - Sports
• July  10, 2015 - Music                
• August 14, 2015 - Travel       
• September 11, 2015 - New York
• October 9, 2015 - The Occult
• November 13, 2015  - Thanksgiving
• December 11, 2015 - Food and Cooking