C-SPL Reader of the Month: Julie Stran

About Julie

I love music and playing the piano and guitar. I am a piano teacher with 48 students. I love my job! I enjoy interacting with the students and watching them progress and grow through the years. My favorite hobby is crafting. I love to create things with paper such as banners, and scrapbook pages.

(See the past Reader of the Month posts here)

Q&A

Q. What is the best book you have read within the last year (or ever)?

A. The best book I have ever read is Jewel by Bret Lott. It is about a mother’s relationship with her special needs daughter. I read this book right after my son was diagnosed with a genetic disorder that causes special needs. It really hit home for me because I could understand and relate to the feelings the mother was feeling. I read this book at the right time in my life. If I would have read it earlier, before my son was diagnosed, it may not have been my favorite.

Q. What is your ideal reading environment?

A. My ideal reading environment is on my couch with my feet up drinking a hot tea. But that never happens! Realistically, my reading environment is usually in the car (while it’s parked!) waiting for my kids to get out of school. Or in the waiting room, waiting for the kids at the orthodontist or other appointment.

Q. What book are you most excited about reading next?

A. I am excited about reading Shalini Boland’s newest book, One of Us is Lying. I really enjoyed two of her other books. She writes psychological thrillers with a twist at the end, that leaves the reader in suspense.

Q. When do you decide to stop reading a book?

A. I always read every book to the very end, because it usually gets better. Nine times out of ten, I end up liking it in the end. I never give up on a book!

Q. Do you remember when your love for reading began?

A. I loved to read for as long as I can remember. I remember going to the library when I was little and reading the “Choose your Own Adventure” books. I would choose one ending, but then go back and read what would happen if I chose a different ending.

Q. Can you tell us about your reading interests in general?

A. I read a great variety of books. I like to go the new release section at the library and pick a book at random. My favorite genres are historical fiction, mysteries, and memoirs. I tend to stay away from science fiction. Sometimes, I want to read historical fiction because it’s interesting to learn about how life could have been years ago. Other times I just want to read fun books like the “Shopaholic” series. It just depends on my mood!


Check out the Julie Stran's Favorites book list!

Apply to be the next C-SPL Reader of the Month! 

C-SPL Reader of the Month: Anderson-Bricker

Kristin and John Anderson-Bricker moved to Dubuque in 1997. A professor of history at Loras College, Kristin teaches all United States history courses, specializing in race relations, gender history and American reform movements. John is a painter and sculptor who also works as the preparator at the Dubuque Museum of Art. Along with reading, they love hiking, birding, canoeing, gardening and cooking.

(See the past Reader of the Month posts here)

Q. Can you tell us about your reading interests?

A. We share an interest in historical fiction, especially mysteries. We both read non-fiction but choose different topics. Kristin reads history, science, natural history, archaeology and cookbooks. John enjoys art, architecture, design, electronics, technology, science and gardening. We most enjoy reading at the same time in the same room with a cup of coffee or a beer (depending on the time of day). We have time for reading because we do not watch television or use social media. We find that reading relaxes us because it shifts our minds from the everyday to another world. Additionally, we like expanding our knowledge and belief system through the written word.

Q. What is the best book you have read within the last year (or ever)?

JAB – Anna Lee Huber, The Anatomist’s Wife

KAB - Theodora Goss, The Strange Case of the Alchemists Daughter

Q. What is your ideal reading environment (location, sound, snacks, etc.)?

A. We begin every day reading together with our morning coffee before getting ready for work. So, each day we share the hour between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. reading in our living room or in the garden during warmer seasons. When we can find the time we also enjoy reading after work on the sun porch or out in the garden. Because we read many of the same books, the second reader will often initiate conversations over breakfast!

Q. What book are you most excited about reading next, and what about it is most exciting?

JAB – I very much enjoy Deanna Raybourn’s series about Veronica Speedwell and her companion Stoker. Looking forward to the next installment of their adventures.

KAB – Andrea Penrose created a likable detective duo in Charlotte Sloane and Lord Wrexford. I am looking forward to the next book and discovering the direction of their developing friendship. We particularly like historical fiction where the main characters develop relationships with one another across the series. We favor nineteenth century English worlds.

Q. What book do you think more people should read, and why do you think they should read it?

KAB – Americans should read David Blight’s Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory because it explains why the Lost Cause narrative gained prominence and became acceptable in our cultural understanding of the Civil War. Because it is a racist ideology that convinces people that Confederate symbols are about heritage, this book is an important corrective that explains how the Confederacy was and is really about hate. 

JAB – Art lovers also concerned with the environment should read Fragile Ecologies: Contemporary Artists’ Interpretations and Solutions, by Barbara Matilsky. This book forces you to examine your own contributions to environmental degradation and the power of art to convey that message.

Q. When do you decide to stop reading a book? In other words, do you read every book to the last page, or is there a moment when you decide to stop?

Books need to be well written for us to read. So, we give a book about two chapters. If the writing is not exceptional, we will put the book aside. We leave many books unfinished because we want more time for the good ones.

Q. Do you remember when your love for reading began?

KAB - As a child, I became a reader of fiction due to my enthusiasm for The Chronicles of Narnia, so I would say that C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the most important fiction book in my life. As a graduate student in 1990 I read In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s by Clayborne Carson and it established the pathway of my career and began my love affair with non-fiction.

JAB – My love of reading began in my twenties after I completed college and I began to read art history for pleasure and professional development. Some of my favorite art history books include Gaudi of Barcelona by Lluis Permanyer, Melba Levick; Earthworks and Beyond by John Beardsley, Time by Andy Goldsworthy, The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson by Anne Newlands, and Hopper by Ivo Kranzfelder.

Check out the Anderson-Bricker Favorites book list!

Apply to be the next C-SPL Reader of the Month! 

Antiracism and Social Justice: A Reading List

Carnegie-Stout Public Library has a number of important non-fiction titles that discuss the history and lived experience of racism, social justice and injustice, the Black Lives Matter movement, white supremacy and related topics. Click on the book titles to find out what formats are available or to place a hold.


When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele


A memoir by the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement explains the movement's position of love, humanity, and justice, challenging perspectives that have negatively labeled the movement's activists while calling for essential political changes.




Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family by Mitchell S. Jackson

With a poet’s gifted ear, a novelist’s sense of narrative, and a journalist’s unsentimental eye, Mitchell S. Jackson candidly explores his tumultuous youth in the other America. Survival Math takes its name from the calculations Mitchell and his family made to keep safe—to stay alive—in their community, a small black neighborhood in Portland, Oregon blighted by drugs, violence, poverty, and governmental neglect.



No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America by Darnell L. Moore

The editor-at-large of CASSIUS and original Black Lives Matter organizer describes his own direct experiences with prejudice, violence and repression; his search for intimacy in the gay neighborhoods of his youth and his participation in key civil movements where he found his calling as an advocate on behalf of society's marginalized people.





Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi


A comprehensive history of anti-black racism focuses on the lives of five major players in American history, including Cotton Mather and Thomas Jefferson, and highlights the debates that took place between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and anti-racists.




"They Can't Kill Us All:" Ferguson, Baltimore and A New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery


A behind-the-scenes account of the story of the #blacklivesmatter movement shares insights into the young men and women behind it, citing the racially charged controversies that have motivated members and the economic, political and personal histories that inform its purpose.



The Black and The Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America's Law Enforcement by Matthew Horace

A CNN contributor, and former law-enforcement himself, offers a personal account of the racism, crimes and color lines that challenge America's law enforcement, sharing insights into high-profile cases, the Black Lives Matter movement and what is needed for change.

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

Groundbreaking book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when discussing racism that serve to protect their positions and maintain racial inequality.






Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad

When Layla Saad began an Instagram challenge called #meandwhitesupremacy, she never predicted it would become a cultural movement. She encouraged people to own up and share their racist behaviors, big and small. Updated and expanded from the original edition, Me and White Supremacy teaches readers how to dismantle the privilege within themselves so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.

So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

A Seattle-based writer, editor and speaker tackles the sensitive, hyper-charged racial landscape in current America, discussing the issues of privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word.

How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

From the National Book Award–winning author comes a bracingly original approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society—and in ourselves. Ibram X. Kendi’s concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America—but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other.

Antiracism: An Introduction by Alex Zamalin

An introduction to the political theory of black American antiracism, through a study of the major figures, texts, and political movements across US history, argues that antiracism is a powerful tradition that is crucial for energizing American democracy.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

The founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama recounts his experiences as a lawyer working to assist those desperately in need, reflecting on his pursuit of the ideal of compassion in American justice.







Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Told through the author's own evolving understanding of the subject over the course of his life comes a bold and personal investigation into America's racial history and its contemporary echoes.






Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City by Wes Moore, with Erica L. Green

An account of the 2015 police-brutality killing of Freddie Gray retraces key events from the perspectives of seven insiders, including a conflicted Baltimore Police Department captain, the victim’s sister and the owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

Blood at The Root: A Racial Cleansing in America by Patrick Phillips

A harrowing testament to the deep roots of racial violence in America chronicles acts of racial cleansing in early 20th-century Forsyth County, Georgia, where the murder of a young girl led to mob lynchings, acts of terror against black workers and violent protests by night riders who would enforce whites-only citizenship.