Eileen

I’m a librarian who grew up without books. In fact, the only books in my childhood home included a Children’s Illustrated Bible, my dad’s set of Popular Mechanics, and my mom’s worn copy of Valley of the Dolls.

Education transformed my life. I am indebted to teachers who introduced me to authors like Blume, Tolstoy, Thoreau, Flaubert, and Rilke. They cleared a space for books to change my “wild and precious life.” (Thank you, Mary Oliver.) To this day, I experience the world through their lenses and weave them into my thoughts and actions. I plant hollyhocks in every garden because Orleanna Price did so in Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. I can raise my right eyebrow like Margaret did in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. And when on the shores of Lake Michigan, or on a winding trail through the deep woods, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town words resonate within me: “Oh earth, you’re too wonderful for anyone to realize you.”

I’m a nonfiction-in-the-morning, fiction-in-the-evening kinda girl. In between, I get to work at the greatest place in the world. The library is a convergence of the two things I love the most: people and ideas. And it is the one place in a community where everyone is truly welcome. Aren’t we the luckiest?

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Reading Lists

Eileen's Lists

Mind Matters: A Reading List

These healing reads can help you understand your own wellness journey, or that of someone you love.

"Choose Privacy Week" Resources

In a world where so much of our lives are lived online, these resources can remind us to protect ourselves.

Flirting with Minimalism

If you have ever wished you could just get rid of it all and start fresh, these books are for you.

Devotions

POETRY LOVERS OFTEN FIND JOY AND LIGHT IN THE NATURAL WORLD.

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Mommy Dearest or Dearest Mom?

The first memoir I had read ... I realized how, when an author shares their personal journey, it can help readers feel a little less alone.

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Do What You Love/Love What You Do

In short, we are humans not robots. Efficiency is nice, but there is too little flavor in it, too little color.
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