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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors

What was it like being a new adult before the internet?

Cover of Do You Mind If I Cancel?:
A review of Do You Mind If I Cancel?: (Things That Still Annoy Me) by Gary Janetti

I'll tell you what it was like: there were tons of phone calls. On a landline. Everything took forever. If you made plans with a friend to meet up and one of you went to the wrong location, there was no way to connect with them. You both went back home and that was the end of it. It's not that life was easier or harder but communication and work were different. Gary Janetti's book captures this time with perfection and hilarity.

Some of the things that I enjoy most about Gary:

Jan 17, 2020

Women on the verge...

Cover of The Summer Without Men
A review of The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt

After 30 years together, Mia’s husband Boris announces that he needs a “pause” in their marriage. This sends Mia off the deep end and she is locked up and medicated in a mental hospital for a week and a half. Once discharged, she realizes she can’t stay alone in her Brooklyn apartment, so she leaves to spend the summer in her Minnesota hometown where her mother is living in a senior community.

Jan 15, 2020

Into the heart of Dixie

Cover of A Longer Fall
A review of A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris

Gunslinger Lizbeth Rose lives in what used to be the United States, but after the assassination of FDR in the 1930s Texas and Oklahoma have become a small land of their own known as Texoma. Other parts of the US have been ceded back to Britain (the northeast), Canada (the upper midwest), and the far west the last Tsar to escape Russia. And the rest of the south (not Texas and Oklahoma) is known as Dixie and has reverted to a post-Civil War, reconstruction society in which race relations are very, very bad.

Jan 14, 2020

Peace and...

Cover of Charlotte and the Quiet Pl
A review of Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deborah Sosin

Looking for a way to help your child find their own quiet place in a busy, noisy, clambering world? Charlotte and the Quiet Place by Deborah Sosin takes a gentle look at how to find quiet and peacefulness inside your own self. Charlotte, the young protagonist in the story, lives in a noisy house, a noisy neighborhood, and a noisy school. She has trouble finding one spot that’s quiet and peaceful. Then, one day while she’s walking her dog, she finds a place in nature – that’s quieter than quiet.

Jan 10, 2020

Facing the past

Cover of Someone to Wed
A review of Someone to Wed by Mary Balogh

Mary Balogh is a hit or miss author for me. I always admire her writing, but she doesn't always grab me emotionally. Her newest is definitely a hit. A lovely, warm story that strikes all the right notes.

Dec 26, 2019

Hoot-a-riffic, wingtastic, owl-dorable, I could go on and on

Cover of Owl Diaries
A review of Owl Diaries by Rebecca Elliot

The Owl Diaries young reader series by Rebecca Elliot is officially the nicest and the cutest. Eva Wingdale lives with her owl family in Treetopolis. Eva's best friend is Lucy Beakman and her frenemy is Sue Clawson. The level of clever owl and bird word play in this series is spectacular. But what's really notable is the recognition and practice of thoughtfulness throughout all of the stories.

Dec 20, 2019

Tempered glass

Cover of Face It
A review of Face It by Debbie Harry

Debbie Harry's autobiography Face It is a beautifully packaged book. The cover and paper stock are exceptionally high quality and the pages are filled with photographs and fan art never before shared with the public. I loved all of this. I have happy memories of dancing around in my cousin's bedroom to Blondie's Autoamerican in 1981 and thought "Rapture" was the best thing I'd ever heard. Almost 40 years later and I still think that's true.

Dec 12, 2019

Love and suffrage

Cover of Bringing Down the Duke
A review of Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

I've been hearing the buzz about this debut romance for a while and though I was skeptical it could live up to the hype (as I would be with any hyped piece), my skepticism proved to be unfounded. Funny and sparkly and complicated and lovely are all adjectives that fit.

Dec 10, 2019

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