Dear readers, I have reached a fork in the road. One road continues my library career, the other starts my retirement journey. After 30 years working for Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries, and 13 years writing the Check It Out column, I have decided to take the road to retirement. When I started this column in 2011, I wasn’t sure how long it would last or if anyone would read it, but I was sure about one thing: books fill me with joy. They say do what makes you happy, and writing this column has done exactly that.
What does retirement look like for me? A lot less structure. No more alarm clocks, definitely more reading, some major decluttering, and whatever else I want to do. The word “weekend” won’t have the same meaning, so the pressure of getting stuff done in two days will evaporate. If I hadn’t been planning for retirement, I might feel anxious about life after work. The key word here is “planning,” and I encourage anyone who is currently working to think about and plan for retirement.
This wouldn’t be a “Check It Out” column without reading recommendations, so let me suggest some bibliotherapy on the happy theme of independence from the working life. No matter where you are on the timeline of working life to retired life, a little strategizing and preparation doesn’t hurt.
My official retirement will take place in late fall, but it’s time for me to sign off from “Check It Out” and turn it over to another librarian who will delight and inform with her wonderful reading recommendations. It has been my honor and pleasure sharing books and media with you, and, as always, keep on reading!
It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it. --Oscar Wilde
- Building Blocks for the New Retirement: An Easy, Interactive 8-Step Guide for a Retirement with Meaning, Purpose and Fun by Joan Tabb
- Independence Day: What I’ve Learned About Retirement from Some Who’ve Done It and Some Who Never Will by Steve Lopez
- Retirement Reboot: Commonsense Financial Strategies for Getting Back on Track by Mark Miller
- The Retirement Savings Time Bomb Ticks Louder: How to Avoid Unnecessary Tax Landmines, Defuse the Latest Threats to Your Retirement Savings, and Ignite Your Financial Freedom by Ed Slott
- Your Complete Guide to a Successful & Secure Retirement: The Definitive Resource for Anyone Planning Retirement by Larry E. Swedroe
New at the Library
Fiction
- America del Norte by Nicolas Medina Mora
- Buried Too Deep by Karen Rose
- By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
Nonfiction
- Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin, and the Battle Between Science and Religion by Michael Taylor
- Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest by Fawn Weaver
- The Young Forever Cookbook: More Than 100 Delicious Recipes for Living Your Longest, Healthiest Life by Mark Hyman
Children
- Curiosity Shop: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve written and illustrated by Walter Wick
- Faker by Gordon Korman
- Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires written by Jessica Stremer, illustrated by Michael Garland
This is just a small sampling of the many new titles added each week to the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District collection. Visit the district’s 15 locations, our website at www.fvrl.org , or call (360) 906-5000 to reserve titles or find additional listings.
