MCPL's Couch to 5k Team

MCPL's new Couch to 5k Team hit the track last week -- and we lived to tell the tale!

Couch to 5k (or C25k) is an exercise program that takes participants from inactivity to 5k running in just 9 weeks. It is completely doable; for the first several weeks, each training day alternates intervals of walking and running. As a result, new runners are far less likely to get overwhelmed.

The library's C25k team combines this easy-to-do, beginner's exercise program with a group mentality. We are a group of unique people with a common goal, and we hold each other accountable in our training -- we also manage to have fun while we do it!

From the first training session to the second, our C25k team doubled in size. This is such a wonderful opportunity not only to get active, but to get to know others in your community! To join the library's C25k team, send an email to Christina: christina@madisonlibrary.org.

For more information about the C25k running program, visit http://www.c25k.com/.

If you enjoy our April book group selections ...

Each month, our book discussion groups in Berea and Richmond choose the book they will read and discuss for the next meeting. In my opinion, both groups made intriguing choices for April.

I am almost finished with Berea's selection, Girl with a Pearl Earring, and even though I've seen the movie, I'm really enjoying the narrative. I got an email today from a book group member who said she found herself wanting books from a similar prospective -- namely, a story behind a work of art.

I went online and looked for books that are similar to Girl with a Pearl Earring – click the following links to find these titles:
http://www.westlib.org/pdf/biblio/pearlearring.pdf
http://www.wmrls.org/services/colldev/HistoricalGenre/0706readalikes.pdf (scroll down to the very bottom)
http://www.elcslpl.org/resources/readalikes/girlwithpearl.html

After I finish Berea's selection, I will start on Richmond's: Burr (as in Aaron Burr) by Gore Vidal. This novel is the first of Vidal's Narratives of Empire series, a series of historical fiction novels about the "rise and fall" of the "American Empire." For more information on the Narratives of Empire series, click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narratives_of_Empire.

For titles similar to Burr, keep reading the Narratives of Empire series (if you like Vidal's style, which admittedly, many folks do not). Check out the following links for more fiction based on US History:
http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/booklists/?id=americanhistoricals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plot_Against_America -- this is one of my personal favorite books, Philip Roth's The Plot Against America. It falls in the subcategory of Alternate History -- a genre of fiction consisting of stories in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world.

Please join us at our book group meetings! Berea's Tuesday Night Book Group meets on Tuesday, April 20, 2010, at 6:30PM at MCPL's Berea location; Richmond's Thursday Night Book Group meets on Thursday, April 21, 2010, at 6:30PM at MCPL's Richmond location.

Enjoy!
CC