MADreads Reviews

There is a long history -- from Marquis de Sade to Jean Genet to Iceberg Slim -- of the incarcerated writing great books inspired by what got them there. Nico Walker, a former war medic turned heroin-addicted bank robber now doing time in a Kentucky federal prison, has clearly mined his own biography for his debut novel, Cherry, a nasty blister of a book that shows a lot of promise but is ultimately hamstrung by its limited point-of-view.

It’s the fall of 2016 and Darren Mathews feels like a seismic change has happened. The African-American Texas Ranger isn’t just bracing for whatever changes will be coming to law enforcement following the election, but his personal life is equally posed on the brink of change. After the events of Bluebird, Bluebird, Attica Locke’s first book in the Highway 59 series, Mathews thought he had reached a precarious sense of peace. His marriage to lawyer Lisa ha

Memorial Day has come and gone and it's unofficially summer in Wisconsin. I read Waiting for Tom Hanks over the long week-end and it was the perfect book to kick off my quarantine summer reading. It's available as an eBook and audiobook from OverDrive and the wait list is short.   

As the daughter of the Earl of Leicester the author has lived a life in a culture of social elites, in many ways a culture that has mostly vanished except for that of the British royal family. A great deal of the book looks at the author’s family, how things are done and not done in their tradition. Following a family tradition of directly working with the royal family, Anne Glenconner served as a Lady in Waiting for Princess Margaret from 1971-2002 and a good portion of the book details that period.

Sharon Bolton is one of those writers who is always coming up with new ways to thrill. Her characters are always sharp and complicated and she doesn't ever seem to tell the same story twice. Thus we come to her newest, The Split, a thriller set at the remote Antarctic island of South Georgia where glaciologist Felicity Lloyd is too late to catch the last boat off the island before winter locks them in. And even worse, she's convinced her ex-husband (and stalker) has made it onto the island from that last ship and now she's trapped with him for possibly months to come.

Sadie is a teenager who is missing. She's been living in an economically devastated town in rural Colorado, raising her younger sister Mattie on her own after their addict mother takes off. Their situation is stark. Then 13-year-old Mattie goes missing and is found murdered. The story follows Sadie's chase to locate her sister's killer and a reporter's race to find Sadie.

Catarina von Hasenberg is used to being underestimated. In fact, given the powerful world within which she operates, she encourages it. Her family is one of the most powerful ones in the universe and thus have some pretty powerful enemies. A fact that became all two clear in the first two books of this Consortium Rebellion trilogy. Cat's problem right now is that she may have done too good a job convincing people that she's just a flighty socialite. So much so that not even her family thinks she can help in waging the battles they face. 

Dani Brown needs some loving and soon. The grad student star of Take a Hint, Dani Brown is in hot pursuit of her PhD, but her latest partner ‘caught feelings’ and if there’s one thing Dani is clear on, it’s that she doesn’t want anything more from her relationships than a good time in bed. So, she’s dumped her girlfriend and is on the lookout for a new buddy to help her deal with the tension of academia—but definitely not a relationship. There’s the very cute security guard at her university office, but big, brooding former rugby pro Zafir Ansari doesn’t seem interested in her.

If you want to know what the secret jellyfish handshake is, you'll have to read this book.

A full-cast stage adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice produced by L.A.

Sometimes it can take a lifetime to understand a flashpoint decision which changes your life completely.

Sometimes the biggest pivot you take in life is one you do not choose yourself.

For cartoonist and memoirist Robin Ha, there is life before age 14, in South Korea---a life of solid academic achievement, good friends, favorite comics, and a proud role as her mother’s “warrior apprentice” in the fight to gain respect as a single mother running her own business.

Then, FLASH.

There is life after age 14, in America.

I've mentioned it before but when you're looking for something to read right now (in our digital world) you can always find something in the Lucky Day Collection on Overdrive (Libby). The books in this collection are checked out for a shorter amount of time and don't allow for anyone to place them on hold. As you can see from the graphic here (today's front page of available LD books) you'll see a little of everything.

It’s the perfect wedding: not surprising, since the bride is a wedding planner and she’s created her dream ceremony that is as much a statement of her success as a businesswoman. It has to be, since Carolina Santos has worked too hard and her family has sacrificed too much for her to suffer another financial and emotional setback. But just as she’s about to walk down the aisle, the news from her groom, Andrew, comes through his brother Max, the best man: Andrew’s gone and there will be no wedding.

It’s a telling sign of how much everyday life has shifted during the Covid-19 pandemic when an author publicly discourages people from reading her book. “Maybe wait a few months” Emily St. John Mandel responded on Twitter to a suggestion that people read her 2014 novel Station Eleven.

I've now read three books by Mhairi McFarlane and she has quickly moved up my list of romantic comedy authors to the top with Kristan Higgins and Marian Keyes. McFarlane's heroines are smart and independent and funny and a bit beat up by life (that last bit is what makes them so interesting). Though they've been knocked down, they still keep getting back up. So too is the protagonist of If I Never Met You, Laurie.

It’s been a while since I’ve read really a good anthropomorphic novel (stories where animals take on human characteristics). When the ALA awards were announced and Scary Stories for Young Foxes was named a Newbery Honor, I figured it must be special. Special is only one of the many ways to describe this book. Harrowing, magical, sad, corrupt, and resilient are other words that come to mind but once you read it you’ll have your own words to describe it.  “All scary stories have two sides,” says the old storyteller to the seven fox pups eager to be frightened.

Jenny Odell’s book is not, in spite of the title, about literally doing NOTHING. Rather, it’s about how one can find time and mental space for oneself in a world where advertising, social media and work increasingly vie for our attention every hour of the day.

Maybe you just haven't met the right one, yet? MADmatches pairs local readers with the books of their dreams! 

Post the last three books you read and enjoyed on our Facebook MADmatches event page from 5:30-7:30 pm tonight, and our librarians will respond with a few titles they think you’ll enjoy. Madison librarians will be on Facebook from 5:30-7:30 pm with custom book recommendations just for you.

A library card isn’t needed to take part in MADmatches.

How would you, a college freshman with little social skills, get the attention of the hot, tattooed baker/barista with an equally hot-but-manipulative ex-girlfriend with an enviable Insta feed named MsLOLAXO?Answer: Save his life with your EDC (Every Day Carry) bag of emergency items and become each other’s emergency contact (cause you know, the baker/barista is bare bones making it in life and can’t afford healthcare).

The Regrets is a unique love story.

When the novel begins, we meet Thomas, a cool, young Brooklynite who is newly, but incompletely, dead. Due to an erring angel, Thomas is placed in limbo and instructed to await his final fate, albeit with the grave warning that he is not to incur regrets by engaging in intimate involvements with the living.