Jessup Journal

Andrew Wyeth       American art, like all things, has evolved over the centuries from classical to modern, and everything in-between. This August we would like to celebrate the artists that come from the American tradition and have created a new way of seeing the world through their art.  To start with we have a few American writers who use fiction to transport us to the artists of the past, in Tracy Chevalier's Girl With A Pearl Earring , a novel about the young woman who posed as the model for Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. This is an imagining of what the young woman's life may have been like in the 1600s Netherlands as she works for a tempestuous artist and his wife. Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstasy is a New York Times Best Seller that follows the life of artist Michelangelo Buonarroti and his interactions with the famous leaders of the day, including the de Medici family. On the nonfiction side, we have The Practical Handbook for the Emerging Artist , ...

T his June, we are celebrating the start of summer with a stack of good books! Summer is the time for entertaining reads on the beach (or in the mountains) and lazing in the hammock.  Find enjoyment in reading, and explore enchanting Italy in The House At the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner, or the marshy shores of North Carolina in Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Stand in the beauty of the untamed waters of Montana in Norman Mclean's classic memoir A River Runs Through It , an exploration of the complex and beautiful relationship between brothers and fishing. Learn all about The Year Without Summer in 1816 due to the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, resulting in excessive rain, snow and famine. Or, if you feel adventurous, read Fat Girls Hiking and find out how anyone can hike, and embrace that the outdoors are for everyone! Enjoy your summer reading! 📖              

  S pring is upon us and in full bloom! Spring is a great time to pick up a good book and lose yourself in the pages! This May at Jessup Library we are celebrating the newness of spring and jumping into good books that entertain!  Walk through The Secret Garden on the Yorkshire Moors with Mary Lennox, or learn how to be a beekeeper in '60s South Carolina with young Lily and her adopted family of African American beekeeping women, who teach her about the world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna in The Secret Life of Bees . If you prefer something a bit more noir, check out Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl about the mysterious disappearance of a wife from a seemingly perfect marriage. If you are a nonfiction reader, Tyler Anbinder's City of Dreams: the 400-year epic history of immigrant New York is an easy-to-read, interesting book about the history of the ancient city. In Princesses Behaving Badly: real stories from history--without the fairy-tale endings , you can learn abou...