The start of a new year is an excellent opportunity to consider how we want to improve ourselves next year. Perhaps your New Year resolves to eat healthier take more walks outside or experiment with meditation. 

The team at the "AbeBooks" has decided that our New Year's resolution should be to read more and so we've invited several local bibliophiles to join us this hour and share their top book choices for 2022. They'll enlighten us about the finest literary works including novels non-fiction and poetry that you should add to your reading list to nourish your spirit educate you about the world and make you think. We'll also delve into the local literary community to see what gems we can unearth right here in our backyard.  

Michiko Kakutani’s Ex Libris

Buy here: Ex Libris: 100+ Books to Read and Reread (Hardback) 

Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking

Buy here: More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen 

Candace Bushnell’s Is There Still Sex in the City?

Buy here: Is There Still Sex in the City? 

Surf & Pier Fishing

Buy here: Surf & Pier Fishing: The Gear Tips and Techniques to Get Started (Spiral bound) 

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings?

Buy here:  J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The ...                 

Floaters by Martin Espada

Buy here: Floaters: Poems

Frates and furious by Lauren Groff

Buy here: Fates and Furies 

Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome

Buy here: Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir 

All That She Carried by Tija Miles

Buy here:   All That She Carried                 

On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed

Buy here: On Juneteenth 

The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr

Buy here: The Prophets 

Harrow by Joy Williams 

Buy here: Harrow 

Reasons for Reading (At Least) 12 Books This Year 

1. Reading is beneficial to the brain

"To the intellect reading is what exercise is to the body." Joseph Addison penned this comment over 300 years ago before contemporary science and research apparatus could corroborate his assertion.  

2. Reading exposes you to novel concepts and challenges to solve issues.

Have you ever solved a case in a mystery book before reading the end or anticipated a plot twist in a novel before reading the finish? Simply by reading you were able to boost your analytical thinking. 

3. Reading improves your writing ability

Your brain acquires effective writing skills and language as you read. You will instinctively replicate the writing styles of novels that captured your attention in your work. 

4. Reading helps you enhance your communication abilities

Reading broadens your vocabulary and teaches you how to appropriately utilize new words enabling you to express yourself more effectively. Additionally the information you receive by reading provides you with plenty of topics to discuss with others.   

5. Reading broadens your horizons in terms of historical understanding.

Reading may educate you about history traditions civilizations economy and intelligence. Often these facts are presented in the framework of a tale which helps students recall history. History was not my favorite subject in middle school. When dates and events were read from a history book they did not pique my interest. 

6. Reading stimulates the imagination

As you read you place yourself in the shoes of the characters. Your brain imagines elements such as looks emotions and surroundings in addition to the words on the page. As William Styron put it "a great book should leave you with a variety of experiences and a tiny sense of exhaustion at the conclusion." While reading you live several lives." 

Print books have seen a renaissance in recent years and for a good reason—they may be healthier for your brain and health according to scientists.