Reclaiming Our Brains without Losing Our Minds relates the story of a group of women in the mid-sized town of Yakima, Washington, who form a reading group in dedicated pursuit of "the best that has been thought and said" in literature. Over the course of twenty-nine years, the women hone their minds, exchange ideas, and discover a sense of closeness and community that extends beyond the page. Featuring detailed accounts of the recruitment process, strategies for meetings, and the methods of choosing the featured texts, this book is a vital tool for anyone interested in starting a reading group or rekindling a love of literature.

Heartstrings: A Tale of Danish Loyalty, Resistance, and Homecoming is about the ties that bind us to our families, our social institutions, and our country of birth. It is a story of a region and its people at a particularly challenging time in history as well as a piece of immigrant literature, written from the double perspective of those who left and those who stayed behind. The author's grandmother is the central character of the story and serves as a representative of those who made the difficult choice of remaining in Southern Jutland, Denmark, during the years of Prussian annexation from 1864 to 1920. Many emigrated to America, and, based on their letters home, Wiehl imagines her grandmother making comparisons between the lives of those who stayed and those who left, pondering choices and consequences. Her grandmother is furthermore emblematic of the women who ran their farms during WWI when husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons, good Danes all -- against their will and hearts' desires -- had been conscripted into the Prussian army. Many died, among them the author's grandfather, many were lost to emigration, and many emigrants never saw their homeland again. Even so, Heartstrings is a story of homecoming, geographically and metaphorically, and the powers of heart and will that make homecoming possible.

When Professional Women Retire: Food for Thought and Palate celebrates women's ways of knowing how to retire into "the good life." Our approach is predicated on the belief that we may transform the outward loss of professional careers and identity to inward gain. Urging a thoughtful assessment of ourselves as retired professional women, we advocate finding a passion leading to tasks that will engage our minds and demand our commitment. We propose ways of living examined lives yet realize that "minding our bellies" is vital to leading a good life. Our favorite recipes, therefore, bring attention to food as a means of individual well-being and social bonding. The Tool Book offers practical, hands-on information with specific text references and recommended readings, directories of agencies considered especially helpful in posing, answering, or directing inquiries into part-time jobs, volunteer opportunities, continuing education, physical exercise options, and travel destinations. It furthermore shows how the book may be used as a starter text for group explorations, such as seminars, workshops, chautauquas, and focus groups, inviting women to come together to discuss issues, means of mutual support, and community outreach.