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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
The Wisconsin Book Festival is pretty good at predicting the best books of the year! If you got to see some of these authors during the Fall Celebration or during standalone book events in 2024, maybe you already knew you were in the presence of greatness.
In his history of Chicago in the 19th century Cronon's primary thesis is that rural and urban growth/development go hand in hand with one another. The two worlds are interdependent and rely on one another to continue to exist. And in the case of the rise of Chicago these connections are especially true.
I've been thinking a lot about gratitude and family so I'm really excited to share two new picture books especially for young readers ages 4-8 that combine these concepts to beautifully illustrate one of the oldest and most human arts of all: fixing something precious with the help of someone who loves you.
All her life Lady Imogen Loveless has been told she's "too much". And given her interest in blowing things up and lack of interest in any of the things a "real" lady does, she's convinced that she'll always live up to her name and remain single. But that fact doesn't stop her from truly liking (and lusting after) Scotland Yard inspector, Thomas Peck. For his lights, while Tommy may at times be very frustrated by Imogen, he's also totally fascinated by her. The only way in which she's "too much", as far as he's concerned, is in her station - she's an aristocrat and he a commoner.
This richly detailed thriller starts with two hikers in the woods stumbling upon a dead body in an open cottage. A single black feather goes unnoticed at the death scene. This is an omen of more black feathers to come and the nightmare-inducing murders of crows that have been haunting me ever since. Full disclosure: I find crows unnerving in the best of times. The crows in this novel represent the absolute worst of times. I'll leave it at that.
Every month there are new titles purchased for the Too Good to Miss collections at our libraries. If you're not familiar with TGTM (as we call it here in library-world), it's a special collection of popular books that are truly too good to miss. Some are new and popular titles, others are older titles that might not have had as much media attention as a bestseller or celebrity book club selection but are still great reads that deserve another look.
Kaveri Murthy has recently joined her doctor husband, Ramu, in Bangalore in 1921 India. And while Kaveri is happy with her new husband, she's chafing a bit under the watchful eye of her new mother-in-law and her expectations of what a "good" wife should be. Kaveri is smart and has dreams of continuing her education, but knows that much will depend on what her husband may allow. When Kaveri witnesses strange interactions at the club and a murder occurs directly after? Kaveri is determined to investigate.
Part guessing game, part counting book, part an environmental warning - it all adds up to another great book by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.
Richard Osman scored a massive hit with his 2020 mystery The Thursday Murder Club, spawning equally successful sequels and earning a big Hollywood adaption, due out next year. So when Osman announced that he was introducing a new series as his 2024 title, there was a sense of trepidation. Would it carry much of the same humor readers loved about the earlier books?
We've all got them. Books we think will make us smarter but that are just a bit too daunting every time you go to pick them up and read. Mine in recent times has been Yuval Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. I placed it on hold, had the hold come in, checked it out and then returned it unread. I think that probably happened a couple of times.
