This Is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live

Prompted by a move to Blacksburg, Va., for her husband’s job, journalist Warnick set out to discover how a place becomes home, synthesizing research and personal stories into a guide to better appreciating one’s community. She encourages choosing small businesses over big-box retailers, volunteering with local organizations and government, and participating in farmer’s markets and group agricultural programs. Her feel-good stories of community bonding include a Kentucky town rallying to help a beloved grocer save his store and a New York City transplant’s efforts to build an art center in the low-income, hurricane-ravaged upstate N.Y. town of Prattsville. Warnick’s own charming journey finds her sheepishly distributing muffins on “Good Neighbor Day,” learning to embrace Blacksburg’s sports culture, and attempting to become a “regular” at a local restaurant. In the most emotionally affecting chapter, Warnick considers the effects of tragedy on a community, speaking with people displaced by Hurricane Katrina and with Blacksburg residents affected by the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech. Warnick’s sociological research and anecdotal experiments provide an informative and entertaining read, along with an abundance of practical tools for those settling in after a move or just looking to shake things up in their hometown. Agent: Lisa Grubka, Fletcher & Company. (June)