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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
Lady Arianna Hadley has led a colorful, and hard, life because of the choices her father made. After his murder Arianna takes on a disguise and the role of French chef in an aristocratic household, so she can support herself. Her specialty is making incredible creations from the newest food fad in Regency England, chocolate. Her precarious existence is threatened when the Prince Regent takes ill after consuming one of her desserts.
Written by Iranian-American author and filmmaker Laleh Khadivi, A Good Country is an unnerving, yet somehow beautiful, slow burn of a novel. Khadivi’s prose has a loose and languid long-windedness -- where description and dialog bleed together -- that mimics with stunning naturalism the druggy bleariness of its main character’s day-to-day existence.
Nicole Georges had a messed up childhood with a mom who didn’t parent very well and a drunk step-dad who was cruel to her gerbil. Nicole loved animals and had a whole menagerie, but like her mom, she didn’t give her charges what they needed most, and they suffered. As a teenager she adopted Beija, a sharpei/corgi mix, to give to her boyfriend in an attempt to heal his unhappy past. Unsurprisingly his parents didn’t go along with the plan. So Nicole was stuck with Beija, who was prickly, growly, and disliked men and children.
There are so many ways to celebrate the beauty of autumn. For many, it involves getting out cozy sweaters and adding pumpkin to everything. For some of us, it means our reading turns a bit darker. What better way to get in the Halloween spirit than to start an October horror novel binge?
I’m a late convert to podcasts. When everyone else jumped on board three years ago and was listening to Serial, I wasn’t. I can’t even tell you why. I do like true crime stuff and I’m a bit of a news junkie. But I haven't been an audio-type person (not audio books anyway). So the podcast world was passing me by. Until recently. After a friend showed me how easy it was, I dove in. Thanks to Beth, I’ve developed a nice list of ‘casts that I regularly listen to, some (though not all) of my current favorites include:
The National Book Award was established in 1950. It is an American literary prize administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization. Every year, the Foundation selects a total of twenty Judges, including five in each of the four Award categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature. First there is a long list, then a finalist list, and then the winners for each category are announced in November.
Wendy Davies is driving along a lake road with her two younger brothers Michael and John when their car skids off a bridge and into the water. One of Wendy's brothers is missing after the accident - he's just plain vanished. \Did Michael survive the crash and wander away? Has he drowned in the lake? Wendy blames herself for the accident. Her family is in crisis. It's all confusing and impossible to come to terms with. What follows is the torturous response to the accident: the journal that Wendy keeps for her therapist.
The end of the year is closing in upon us, and so too is the publishing year. But there are still plenty of great titles coming to shelves this fall, so let’s get to the highlights:
If you’ve read the wonderful children’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian you know the PG version of Alexie’s life story growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me is the adult version, and it’s beautiful, haunting, devastating, and raw. When his mother Lillian died in 2015 he began writing this book. She was a complex woman: brilliant, an amazing quilter, cruel at times, and damaged by growing up Native in these United States. Unlike her son, she did not attain her dreams. I k
Billed as a counting book, Cyrus brings much more to this artful picture book. We count bricks by ones, fives, tens and twenties. Readers also learn how bricks and mortar are made, and are treated to the math, science, design and artistry involved in bricklaying. The rhyming text invites repeated read-alouds. And the photo-realistic illustrations are worth multiple visits as well, with a racially diverse cast of characters that range in age from children to grandparents, all sporting hardhats and coveralls and fully involved in the building.
