Suggested Reads
March is Women’s History Month. Learn more about famous (and not-so-famous) women in your next great read! Click View More at the bottom of the book carousel to see the complete list of kids, teen, or adult titles.
Selected Programs
![Cloistered by Catherine Coldstream]()
Narrative Nonfiction Book Club: Cloistered: My Years as a Nun
Narrative Nonfiction Book Club: Cloistered: My Years as a NunMonday, March 10, 2025
7:00pm – 8:00pm
This month, we discuss Cloistered: My Years as a Nun by Catherine Coldstream. Register online.
An astonishing memoir of twelve years as a contemplative nun in a silent monastery.
Cloistered takes the reader deep into the hidden world of a traditional Carmelite monastery as it approaches the third Millennium and tells the story of an intense personal journey into and out of an enclosed life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Finding an apparently perfect world at Akenside Priory, in Northumberland, Catherine trusts herself to a group of twenty silent women, believing she is trusting herself to God. As the beauty and mystery of an ancient way of life enfold her, she surrenders herself wholly to its power, quite unaware of the complexity and dangers that lie ahead.
Cut off from the wider world for decades, the community has managed to evade accountability to any authority beyond itself. When Sister Catherine realises that a mesmerising cult of the personality, with the distortions it entails, has replaced the ancient ideal of religious obedience, she is faced with a dilemma. Will she submit to this, or will she be forced to speak out?
An exploration of the limits of trust, Cloistered shows us how far youthful idealism can take us along the road of self-surrender, and of how much harm is done when institutional flaws go unacknowledged. Catherine’s honest account of her time in the monastery – and her dramatic flight from it – is both a love song to a lost community and an exploration of what is most compelling, yet most potentially destructive when closed human groups become laws unto themselves. -from the publisher
Ruth Handler: The Story Behind Her Dream Doll Creation, Barbie
Saturday, March 15, 2025
3:00pm – 4:00pm
Step back in time to 1994, the 35th anniversary of Mattel’s bestselling doll, Barbie. Storyteller Lynn Rymarz portrays Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie. Hear about the beginnings of Barbie, from inspiration to creation, and about Ruth who was, the last of ten children born to Polish Jewish parents. Lynn shares how Ruth grew up in Denver, married, and moved to California where she and her husband founded the toy company Mattel.
Learn about Ruth’s autobiography, displayed with a vintage Barbie, photos, posters, and more.
Bring your own Barbie to share! Register online.
