Albert Lea Public Library: Nonfiction A to Z: November 2025

Books You Might Have Missed

The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald
by John U. Bacon

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking, the bestselling author of The Great Halifax Explosion tells the definitive story of the Mighty Fitz.

Close to Home: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door
by Thor Hanson

We all live on nature's doorstep, but we often overlook it. From backyards to local parks, the natural places we see the most may well be the ones we know the least. In Close to Home, biologist Thor Hanson shows how retraining our eyes reveals hidden wonders just waiting to be discovered. In urban Los Angeles, hundreds of unknown species abound. In the Pacific Northwest, fierce yellowjackets placidly sip honeydew, unseen in the treetops. And in the soil beneath our feet, remedies for everything from breast cancer to the stench of skunks lie waiting for someone's searching shovel. Close to Home is a hands-on natural history for any local patch of Earth. It shows that we each can contribute to science and improve the health of our planet. And even more, it proves that the wonders of nature don't lie in some far-off land: they await us, close to home

The Girl Who Baptized Herself: How a Lost Scripture about a Saint Named Thecla Reveals the Power of Knowing Our Worth
by Meggan Watterson

A teenage girl named Thecla is sitting at her bedroom window listening to a man share stories nearby. Her mother and fiancé order her to stop. But Thecla, trapped in a world that expects her to marry and have children, refuses. This man, Paul, is talking about a world she wants to believe in: an inner world of freedom to define her own life. And he's talking about a kind of love she hasn't known before--a love that asks her to be true to who she is within. For Meggan Watterson, a Harvard-trained feminist theologian, Thecla's story in The Acts of Paul and Thecla has everything to do with power. Thecla's refusal to be controlled, as well as the authority she reclaims by baptizing herself, reads like a lost gospel for finding our own source of power within--a power that allows us to know who we are and to make choices based on that knowing. This hidden scripture suggests that Christianity before the fourth century was about defying the patriarchy, not deifying it. But early church fathers excluded The Acts of Paul and Thecla, along with other sacred texts such as The Gospel of Mary, from the New Testament. Watterson synthesizes scripture, memoir, and politics to illuminate a story that has been left out of the canon for far too long, one that follows a girl freeing herself from a life predicated on the expectations of others--a path that made her feel unworthy. Thecla's story offers us a path to take back the power we often give to others and live based on the truth of who we are.

About Time: Poems
by David Duchovny

From acclaimed author, actor, and singer-songwriterDavid Duchovny, a deeply personal, existential, and insightful debut poetry collection

Sourdough: Recipes for Rustic Fermented Breads, Sweets, Savories, and More
by Sarah Owens

A James Beard Award Winner for Baking & Desserts Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, Sourdough offers 101 luscious recipes using natural, made-from-scratch sourdough starter for more nutritious, tastier results--going well beyond bread into a wide range of other baked goods. In Sarah Owens's pioneering Sourdough, she demystified using sourdough starter for maximum flavor and easy digestion, showing us just how simple it can be to create a healthy starter from scratch. Moreover, she showed how to use home-grown sourdough starter in dozens of baked goods, including cookies, cakes, scones, flatbreads, tarts, and more--well beyond bread. Ten years later, sourdough is more popular than ever. To celebrate, this refreshed anniversary edition includes an updated introduction and expanded resources section. Sarah Owens spent years baking conventional baked goods, only to realize she had developed a crippling inability to digest or tolerate their ingredients. Unable to enjoy many of her favorite foods, she knew she must find a health-sustaining alternative. Sarah started experimenting with sourdough leavening, which almost immediately began to heal her gut and inspire her anew in the kitchen. Soon after, she launched an artisan small-batch bakery, and with that, a new way to savor and share nutritious sourdough breads and treats with her Brooklyn community. A botanist and gardener as well as a baker, Sarah accents her recipes with brief natural history notes on the highlighted plants and ingredients. Laced with botanical and cultural notes on grains, fruits and vegetables, herbs, and even weeds, Sourdough celebrates seasonal abundance alongside the timeless craft of artisan baking.