You Are What You Read Programs and Events You Are What You Read

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You Are What You Read

Read, Learn, Discover

Summer Reads for Adults 2012

Summer Reads for Adults logo

Join the Chicago Public Library in celebrating the sixth annual adult summer reading program, You Are What You Read: Summer Reads for Adults. Offering lively, informative, imaginative events and interesting books—with a focus on health and wellness—You Are What You Read is presented from June 1 to August 4.

You Are What You Read: Summer Reads for Adults is made possible with support from the Chicago Public Library Foundation.

Programs and Events

Join us for these free and exciting programs!

Laura Bruzas photo

Eat Well for Less
Laura Bruzas, “green kitchen economist” from Healthy Dining Chicago, provides simple, healthy lifestyle options for consumers at this workshop. Learn dozens of expert tips, insider secrets and registered dietitian-approved strategies to save time and money, including how to shop smart, save on cooking gear, conserve energy in the kitchen and stock one’s kitchen pantry to make creating nutritious and tasty meals in minutes a snap!


Richard Sandor photo

Richard Sandor: Good Derivatives: A Story of Financial and Environmental Innovation
Monday, June 18, 6:00 p.m.
Harold Washington Library Center
Reception Hall, Lower Level
400 S. State Street
(312) 747-4300
Join us as author Richard Sandor discusses and signs his new book, Good Derivatives: A Story of Financial and Environmental Innovation. Through the eyes of an inventor of new markets, Sandor tells the story of how financial innovation has been a positive force in the past four decades. If properly designed and regulated, these good derivatives can open vast possibilities to address global problems. Sandor also tells the story of the creation of the Chicago Climate Exchange and affiliated international exchanges.


Body Beautiful: Changing Ideals in Art Gallery Talks at the Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago
111 S. Michigan Avenue, Gallery 100
(312) 443-3680
This gallery talk will examine artistic representations of the human body. We will discuss differing perceptions of what constitutes a “healthy” body and shifting concepts of human beauty through observation of works of art from a variety of cultures and time periods. The gallery talks are free with paid general admission. Meet in Gallery 100 (Michigan Avenue entrance), where the tours will begin.


Living Downstream film poster

Living Downstream: Summer Reads Movie Nights
Based on the acclaimed book by ecologist and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., Living Downstream is an eloquent and cinematic documentary film.

This poetic film follows Sandra during one pivotal year as she travels across North America, working to break the silence about cancer and its environmental links. After a routine cancer screening, Sandra receives some worrying results and is thrust into a period of medical uncertainty. Thus, we begin two journeys with Sandra: her private struggles with cancer and her public quest to bring attention to the urgent human rights issue of cancer prevention.

But Sandra is not the only one who is on a journey—the chemicals against which she is fighting are also on the move. We follow these invisible toxins as they migrate to some of the most beautiful places in North America. We see how these chemicals enter our bodies and how, once inside, scientists believe they may be working to cause cancer.

Several experts in the fields of toxicology and cancer research make important cameo appearances in the film, highlighting their own findings on two pervasive chemicals: atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the world, and the industrial compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Their work further illuminates the significant connection between a healthy environment and human health.

At once Sandra’s personal journey and her scientific exploration, Living Downstream is a powerful reminder of the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the health of our air, land and water.


Janine MacLachlan photo

Janine MacLachlan: Farmers’ Markets of the Heartland
Monday, July 9, 6:00 p.m.
Harold Washington Library Center
Reception Hall
400 S. State Street
(312) 747-4300
Author Janine MacLachlan discusses her new book, Farmers’ Markets of the Heartland. In this splendidly illustrated book, food writer and self-described farm groupie MacLachlan embarks on a tour of seasonal markets and farm stands throughout the Midwest. Sampling local flavors from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, she met the growers, producers and artisans who bring fresh, nourishing food to local communities. She also meets farmers, tastes their foods and explores how their businesses thrive in the face of an industrial food supply. Farmers’ Markets of the Heartland also tantalizes with special recipes from farm-friendly chefs and dozens of luscious photographs to inspire readers to harvest the homegrown flavors in their own neighborhood. MacLachlan is a food writer and an advocate for a delicious and healthful food system. She has volunteered for Slow Food and Chicago’s Green City Market, and she blogs at RusticKitchen.com.


Something the Lord Made: Summer Reads Movie Night
Tuesday, July 10, 6:00 p.m.
Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
400 S. State Street
(312) 747-4300
Something the Lord Made tells the emotional true story of two men who defined the rules of their time to launch a medical revolution, set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow south. Working in 1940s Baltimore on an unprecedented technique for performing heart surgery on “blue babies,” Dr. Alfred Blalock and lab technician Vivien Thomas form an impressive team. As Blalock and Thomas invent a new field of medicine, saving thousands of lives in the process, social pressures threaten to undermine their collaboration and tear them apart. Featuring Alan Rickman, Mos Def, Kyra Sedgwick, Gabrielle Union, Merritt Wever, Clayton LeBouef, Charles Dutton and Mary Stuart Masterson. (2004, 110 min., DVD projection)


Chariots of Fire: Summer Reads Movie Night
Wednesday, July 25, 6:00 p.m.
Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
400 S. State Street
(312) 747-4300
Chariots of Fire tells the fact-based story of two English runners that were both driven by different means to win the Olympics. One used his faith in God, and the other his hatred of anti-Semitism. Acclaimed when released and winner of four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Original Score, the film is considered a modern classic. It tells the story of Eric Liddell and Harold Maurice Abrahams. This screening celebrates running and runners, and the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics. It features Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige and Lindsay Anderson. (1981, 124 min., DVD projection)


University of Chicago Medicine logo

Health Matters: Is Your Brain Trying to Tell You Something?
Thursday, July 26, 6:30 p.m.
Sulzer Regional Library
4455 N. Lincoln Avenue
(312) 744-7616
What is the difference between forgetfulness and a serious health problem? What symptoms need to be addressed immediately? What are some ways to help keep your memory sharp? Join James Mastrianni, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology and director of the University of Chicago Medicine’s Memory Center, for a discussion on memory disorders and learn when it’s time to seek medical attention.


Terri Gregory photo

Connecting to Those with Memory Loss
Do you love someone who is challenged by Alzheimer’s or dementia? Do you put off visiting due to difficulties with a social connection? This presentation explores the use of art as a visit activity. Art and creativity can act as a bridge for interpersonal communication. When done in small groups, it connects people in ways that verbal conversation alone cannot. Come learn simple activities that facilitate a social bond, stimulate memories and enhance emotional well-being. This program is presented by Terri Gregory, MAAT, artist, art therapist and expressive arts workshop presenter.


Island of Lost Souls: Summer Reads Movie Night
Tuesday, July 31, 6:00 p.m. Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
400 S. State Street
(312) 747-4300
Island of Lost Souls, from 1932, is a classic and chilling cinematic version of H.G. Wells’ novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, published in 1896. Charles Laughton is a mad doctor conducting ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there. This early horror classic illustrates that controversy surrounding medical ethics and research is a timeless theme. It features Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen, Bela Lugosi, George Irving and Leila Hyams. (1932, 70 min. restored version, DVD projection)