Meet Minnetrista's Staff: Our Favorite Books!
If you've visited the Oakhurst Experience, you know books are important to Minnetrista and the Ball family legacy. George and Francis Ball lived in the Oakhurst home with their daughter Betty, and together they celebrated their passions to the highest degree. Along with food preservation and board games, the family loved reading. They were avid book collectors and "super fans" of Charles Dickens. Inside the experience, you'll find hundreds of their books on the family's shelves and some of our own on the community bookshelf, made of recommendations from our staff and visitors.
In the spirit of the community bookshelf, the bibliophiles of Minnetrista’s staff are sharing their favorites with you! In addition to exploring these, you can visit the Community Bookshelf in the Oakhurst Experience to browse more favorites, take a book to read, and leave a recommendation of your own!
Lindsey Horan
VP of Community Engagement
Favorite Book: The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson
“Confession: I cheated a bit. This is not my favorite book of all time, but it is the book I most want to encourage others to read right now. Aside from containing perhaps the most emotionally gripping first chapter of any book I’ve ever read, the book offers a fascinating look at our world, in the near future, as the horrors of climate change become reality. Its collage narrative style might not be for everyone, but if you are interested in big ideas for how to save the world from climate change, this book is unputdownable.”
Nalleli Guillen
Association Director of Curation & Exhibition
Favorite Book: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
“I first read To Kill a Mockingbird in middle school and connected with its main character Scout since we were of similar age and had overly-curious, tomboy-ish personalities. As I got older however, I really started appreciating the book as a Historian-in-Training. I was fascinated by the fact that it was a fictional story about racial tensions in 1930s America but published in 1960, when the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. In 2010, I took a college class on “The 1960s” and got to really think about To Kill a Mockingbird’s 50th Anniversary publication and book’s significance not only within children’s literature , but as historical evidence itself with something to say about our national story. Every time I’ve come back to this book in the last 20 years I’ve experienced it through different eyes (but it still makes me cry, every time, without fail). A nerdy Historian explanation if there ever was one!”
Name: Mindy Price
Collections Manager
Favorite Book: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938)
“Please explain why: I really love how the story starts out kind of slow but then takes a complete turn around the middle of the book. It’s a great Gothic novel, and the mystery really grips you until the end! I also highly recommend Alfred Hitchcock’s spooky movie adaptation from 1940.”
James Edwards
Horticulture Manager
Favorite Book: Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy
“I wouldn’t say this is my favorite book. But It is one I have read and or listened to a couple time in the past year, and is on brand for me. I am a big fan of Audible. It helps me sneak and find time to continue a book when driving to work and home, mowing the lawn, or right before going to bed.
This book has really helped me to reaffirm my thought that gardens can have as many outcomes as there are esthetic preferences. And some times a garden’s primary goal is not strictly beauty, sometimes it can be biodiversity and improving ecology .”
Ashley Mann
Associate Director Experience and Education
Favorite Book: Love Does by Bob Goff
“This book is a great reminder about how to treat others and live life with love as the central focus for everything.”
Chloe Newman
Digital Communications Coordinator
Favorite Book: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
“Kafka on the Shore is the first novel I read by Murakami, and it quickly became one of my favorites. Murakami immerses you in a strange, whimsical world that is sometimes peaceful and kind and, at other times, cruel and dangerous. While one character contemplates his nefarious fate, another chats politely with cats. This book elicited so many emotions and left me constantly reflecting on and questioning its reality.”
Jessica Jenkins
Vice President of Collections and Storytelling
Favorite Book: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
“I have read “Little Women” numerous times during my life – each time discovering new details that I hadn’t before. Growing up in a family of four girls, I think that I was always drawn to the book because I could see elements of my sisters and myself in the March sisters. Just as the characters in the book had adventures, supported each other, fought, and got into mischief as they grew up, so too did the Jenkins girls.”
Jennifer Parks-Strack
Associate Director of Development
Favorite Book: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
“It’s a compelling look at the choices we could have made in our lives. It really challenged my tendency to say “what if?” about my life. I’m not one to reread books, but I will definitely be rereading this one!”
Mariah Dull
Visitor Services Supervisor
Favorite Book: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
“Please explain why: I’m a history nut and just love hearing about people’s experiences during historic events – how they were impacted and what their lives looked like while that event was going on. I ask my parents about things that happened in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s all the time – what was it like/how did it feel/how did you feel?, what did you hear on the news? – did you even hear about what was going on?, what do you remember about life at that time during that event?”
Susan Brumley
Retail Manager/Buyer of The Orchard Shop
Favorite Book: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
“Reading this classic book aloud to the two oldest of my four children when they were just 7 and 5 years of age brought out the real “magic” that this book so eloquently speaks of. I have always been a lover of nature and I find the descriptions in this book to be sensually peaceful. The Secret Garden is a beautiful story of friendship and magic while also being an excellent example of what perseverance and good character look like.”
Name: James Mitchell
Director of Human Resources
Favorite Book: Mexican Village by Josephina Niggli
“This book is full of characters and you are able to follow their lives across years as they live together in their village. Each one gets to be the “main character” at some point in the author’s telling and she skillfully weaves their stories together into a wonderful tapestry by manipulating the flow of time. In one chapter a character might have passed away but three chapters later they are alive and well (and this part of the story happened 10 years in the past). It’s a great character study and reminder that we never know the whole story of those we meet – even those who live in our community and we may see every day”
Name: Nick Fatout
Development Coordinator
Favorite Book: The Stranger by Albert Camus
“It met me at just the right point in life, and remains relevant throughout each new season.”
Now it’s your turn!
Plan your visit to Minnetrista today to browse the shelves of the Oakhurst Experience and purchase books from local authors and more at The Orchard Shop!