Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
This is a novel about the stories we tell about ourselves, about the people we love and how what we think we know may not match the actuality. Which leads to the ultimate question: would we even want to know?
Winter might be knocking on the door, but November is one of the hottest months for new releases. On to the highlights:
--One of the most anticipated memoirs of recent times finally hits shelves November 13. Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming, part of a reported $65 million dollar deal that also includes a memoir by the former President (no word yet on a release date for his book). Given the challenge of recouping such a huge advance, expect to see this hyped just about everywhere.
Colin Cotterill has been on and off my mystery radar over the years. I'd read his first book The Coroner's Lunch a while ago and came back to Cotterill every now and then. But much as I enjoy Laotian coroner Dr. Siri Paiboun, somehow Cotterill just never stuck as a must-read author for me. That may have changed with my discovery of another of his series featuring Thai journalist Jimm Juree.
In an age when dire problems like the Flint water crisis and the California drought bring ever more attention to the indispensability of safe, clean, easily available freshwater, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Dan Egan has written an urgent and powerful wake-up call.
Ellie Kemper is funny, upbeat, and the type of person who immediately replies to emails and types out HAHAHAs instead of using LOLs. She writes in all caps and generously uses exclamation points. She is not afraid of emotion. I appreciate this! I like to type out HAHAHAs, too! (See what I did there with the capitalization and exclamation points?!?!).
Reader reviews on Goodreads for this title seem to be either in the "love it or hate it" category - not many in between. I fell on the love it side of things, but can definitely understand why some might not agree. The protagonist, Rebecca Stone, in whose head we spend the majority of time, is not exactly likable. She's not really unlikable either. She's an privileged white woman in 1980s Washington DC with a pretty narrow range of experiences and has no realization of just how limited her worldview is.
The Festival is almost here!
The four-day festival will take place October 11-14, 2018, in and around Madison Public Library’s Central Library in downtown Madison, Wisconsin.
We all have grumpy days, and sometimes we don't even know why we are grumpy! This short book shares some good calming ways to get through a grumpy spell, and the grumpy underpants page is sure to be a hilarious hit. Practice counting and breathing and snuggling up to help you feel better, and pair with Hooray for hat! for a great discussion about grumpiness.
Fall is almost here and there is a new batch of mysteries that I am "dying" to read. I have some old characters that I want to reconnect with and some new that I want to meet.
Cold Bayou by Barbara Hambly [9/1]
character: freedman Benjamin January
setting: 1839 New Orleans
The world's #1 bestselling author James Patterson will be appearing at the Wisconsin Book Festival in conversation with Steve Paulson from WPR's To The Best of Our Knowledge. Patterson will discuss the motivation behind writing Max Einstein, his life in books, his love of reading, his method of writing, and what makes a good story. Free copies of Max Einstein will be distributed to the first 500 young readers. Attendees will get exclusive pre-release access to buy Patterson's latest Detective Michael Bennett Thriller, Ambush.
Explore history with a touch of magic this October with Overdrive’s newest Big Library Read! Katherine Locke’s novel The Girl With the Red Balloon ebook will be available without holds to all Overdrive users October 1 through October 15.
There are so many compelling stories exploring Hispanic heritage in its many forms, but this is one that I've read more than once and learned a lot each time.
I used to be a big Julia Quinn fan, gobbled up her Bridgerton books as quickly as they came out. But then, hmmm, I'm not sure what happened. Somehow they weren't feeling as fresh for me perhaps? Seemed like the last few books I read by the author were just okay and so I fell away. But I was curious, with the second season of the Netflix series (which I love) now available, whether I could recapture that sparky feeling those early books provided if I dropped back in. The answer? A resounding yes.
If you thought Amy from Gone Girl, was devious, wait until you meet Jane. On the outside, Jane appears to be a mild mannered office assistant beginning a new job in Minneapolis.
Imagine your grandmother was as big as J. K. Rowling and had written the number one fantasy series of all time - with all the fandom that that entails. Now imagine the first book in that series is being made into a movie, which has pushed the fandom into an even more frenzied state. And though you've tried your hardest to distance yourself from everything to do with the books, you're now being forced to join the set of the movie being made. That's just where Iris Thorne finds herself. Her grandmother, M. E.
What are the hardest things to say? Or the things that would help us all if we said them more? Phrases like, "I don't know," "I was wrong," "Tell me more," "I love you," and "You can go." Phrases that enrich lives with active listening and help us through the pain and discomfort of human interactions.
Readers will full to-read lists might do well this month to clear out some space in preparation for this October, as those lists are sure to be refilled with all the offerings coming this fall. Most of the big titles this year have been squarely in the political realm, but the buzz this October is centered on big fiction releases from names consistently associated with prizes and book discussion favorites across genres. On to the specifics:
Sayaka Murata’s slim novel Convenience Store Woman is the Tokyo-set tale of self-described “foreign object” Keiko Furukura, a loner in her mid-30s who does not quite fit in with or understand the society around her, yet excels in her role as a konbini employee.
Murata’s themes and her oddball protagonist are similar to Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Even so, Murata’s is a wholly original story, with its own thought-provoking musings on what normal behavior and happiness can look like, despite the expectations of family and peers.
