Catherine’s Picks
Catherine has long been a fan of literary fiction, especially when it comes to Southern authors and titles published by smaller presses. She also enjoys reading memoirs as well as non-fiction including books about gardening, nutrition, music, cooking, and beekeeping. It’s a pretty good day when she can sit on the porch swing and read to her son.
The Alzheimer's Prevention Program: Keep Your Brain Healthy for the Rest of Your Life
Gary Small, Gigi Vorgan
Hardcover/December 17, 2011
Workman Publishing Company
Catherine’s Thoughts: This is a research-based guide offering ways to optimize brain health to help prevent or stave off Alzheimer’s. Backed by science, Small describes ways to strengthen memory through nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, & social interaction.
Want to keep Alzheimer’s at bay for years—ideally, forever? Prevention is the way, and this is the guide. Now in paperback and updated throughout, The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program is essential for everyone with a family history of Alzheimer’s, and for the 80 million baby boomers who worry whenever they forget someone’s name. It’s the book that shows how to strengthen memory and avoid everyday lapses. How to incorporate the top ten brain-protecting foods into your diet. How to cross-train your brain, exercising both the right and left hemisphere. And how to reduce stress, a risk factor for developing dementia and Alzheimer’s, through meditation and 11 other relaxation strategies.
Written by the New York Times bestselling authors of The Memory Bible, this book is an easy-to-follow regimen based on the latest comprehensive research into Alzheimer’s disease, and especially the critical connection between lifestyle and susceptibility. The paperback edition is updated with a brand-new section that answers the most compelling questions asked of Dr. Small after publication of the first edition, including: the power of exercise to offset a genetic predisposition; antibodies that can clear Alzheimer’s plaques from the brain; and promising new treatments, from drugs to deep brain stimulation.
It’s the science-based, breakthrough program that will bring mental clarity to every day and help you take control of your brain’s health.
Bearmouth
Liz Hyder
Hardcover/September 8, 2020
Norton Young Readers
Catherine’s Thoughts: This young adult fantasy debut is a suspenseful, grim thriller perfect for reading during cool, spooky fall nights. It is a coming of age story featuring Newt, who since the age of four has been imprisoned in the dark trenches of a coal mine. Along with others, Newt is subject to harsh slave labor & wretched conditions. Hyder pulls the reader into this harrowing, violent world in a unique way as the story is narrated by Newt’s phonetic spelling of the ongoings. When a new character, Devlin, befriends Newt & urges a revolt against the brutal leaders of the mine, tension escalates & challenges unfold as the longtime inhabitants meet with uncertainty & the hope of freedom.
Life in Bearmouth is one of hard labor and isolation, the sunlit world far above the mine a distant memory. Newt has lived in the mine since the age of four, and accepts everything from the harsh working conditions to the brutality of the mine’s leaders—until the mysterious Devlin arrives and dares to ask the question, “Why?” As tensions rise, Newt is soon looking at Bearmouth with a fresh perspective—challenging the system and setting in motion a change of events that could destroy their entire world.
An utterly distinctive voice, propulsive and page-turning storytelling, high stakes, heart-stopping twists, and a sense of moral purpose make Bearmouth an unforgettable and unparalleled debut.