NNLM Reading Club: Winter Self Care

 

On behalf of the NNLM Reading Club team, we are pleased to announce the November 2025 theme, Winter Self Care. 

We are pleased to be featuring three new books related to this topic:

Wintering by Katherine May
How to Winter by Kari Liebowitz
Defeating SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) by Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D.

We would like to thank our NNLM Reading Club Advisory Group, which is made up of NNLM Members who worked together to choose this topic, select the three books we are featuring this month, and to develop book discussion guides. Books and health information resources are available on the NNLM Reading Club website.

Reprinted from the NNLM Region 6 Newsletter.

Note from Michele Matucheski: As a lover of Winter, I read Katherine May's Wintering last year and loved it. 

NNLM's Book Club Presents Bill Sullivan's Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, & The Curious Forces that Make Us Who We Are

The Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) Book Club

From November 17, 2020. Join author Dr. Bill Sullivan, professor of pharmacology and microbiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine who will discuss his book: Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are.

If you are looking for some interesting non-pandemic reading over the holidays, this hour with the author could very well connect you with your next read!

Dr. Sullivan's main points for writing the book are as follows:

1. You are not who you think you are.
2. You are under the influence of hidden forces.
3. Exposing these hidden forces will help you live a better life.
4. And will help guide precision medicine.

The book is organized into 10 chapters:

1. Meet your Maker
2. Meet Your Tastes
3. Meet your Appetite
4. Meet your Addictions
5. Meet your Moods
6. Meet your Demons
7. Meet your Match
8. Meet your Mind
9. Meet your Beliefs
10. Meet your Future

Some of his key points are:

• Genes are the piano keys, but the environment plays the song.
• You cannot consider the genetic code out of environmental context.
• There are lots of different versions of YOU in your genetic code.  If you grew up in a different environment, you'd be a different person.

Hidden forces, ghosts, ACEs, even Ozzy Osbourne and Morrissey make appearances in this engaging and fascinating hour.  

Visit The NNLM Reading Club for more info including the following:

• Free discussion Guides
• Promotional Materials
• Health Info
• Program Ideas 

20 Health Topics and over 70 books (so far!)

Explore Health Literacy with the NNLM Reading Club

When it comes to your health, you are your own best advocate. The NNLM Reading Club has selected three books to help you become more knowledgeable and informed about Health Literacy:

• Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health by Sandro Galea
• An American Sickness by Elisabeth Rosenthal
• How to be a Patient by Sana Goldberg, RN

To learn more about each of these titles and to download book discussion guides, promotional materials and corresponding health  information resources, or to apply for a free NNLM Reading Club Book kit, visit the Book Selections and Health Resources: Health Information.

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