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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
The last few years have been a real heyday for Asian American literature. There have been blockbuster film adaptations of Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians and Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Celeste Ng’s unstoppable suburban drama Little Fires Everywhere, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer win for The Sympathizer, and critically lauded novels from Susan Choi (Trust Exercise) and Ling Ma (Severance), just to name a few.
In keeping with my new minted tradition (second posting like this, first one is here) I come to you with a report on how the Lakeview Mystery Book Group's recent discussions have gone.
July and August always feels a bit like a lull in the publishing calendar, as if the big book pushes of late May and June have exhausted publishers to the extent that they all pull up stakes and head out of town with bags bulging with books. But the upside of all those big May and June releases means midsummer is a great time for the so-called ‘midlist’ author to shine—those books that might not get the fanfare of a bestseller but are gems for the readers willing to seek them out. This July sees some particularly notable authors releasing titles that have strong appeal, but potentially with
Little Women was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869 making the classic 150 years old this year.
It’s nearly (official) summer and with the warmer temps comes OverDrive’s Big Library Read. This year’s selection is L. P. Fergusson’s World War II-set drama A Dangerous Act of Kindness. When Widow Millie Sanger finds downed German pilot Lukas Schiller on her property, she tends to his injuries and shelters him to ensure he isn’t discovered by the authorities. It could be a disastrous decision: England is at war with Germany, and the discovery of an enemy combatant on her farm could mean death for both of them.
A week or so ago I saw a trailer for a new tv show and as it flashed across the screen in quick shots (as trailers do) it seemed so familiar and I thought, is it? Could it be? Yes it was. Starz has a new show starting at the end of June about one of my favorite fantasy novels, The Rook. I read the book a while ago but I'm re-upping my review to tie it in in with the show to come.
This summer the Hawthorne Library will be hosting a Girls, Inc group who'll be participating in the Summer Reading Club and programming with crafts and activities at the library. To get them started on some great books for girls, Librarian Tracy Moore created a Girl Empowerment reading list with titles for all ages.
Oh, this is Humor. With a capital "H." Jim Gaffigan is clearly not getting married to a hot dog, as he already has a wife and five small children, and he's not that kind of weirdo, but he really does love the cured meats. Like, loves loves loves the cured meats. Hot dogs. Bologna. Bacon. All sausages, especially bratwurst. I did not think I could laugh more than I did while reading Dad is Fat, Gaffigan's take on parenting all those small children in New York City with a two bedroom, fifth floor walk-up, and here I am, laughing away as I think about Food: A Love Story.
There was a time when I discovered Sarah Dessen and did a deep dive into her young adult novels. And once I'd caught up on her backlist I'd read each new one when it came out. But then I stopped doing an auto-read of her books. Can't really tell you why, though I'm guessing there were just too many other things on my TBR radar (a constant challenge in my life), but there it is. What's funny is I can't tell you why I decided to try her newest and why, when I decided to do so, I was kind of nervous. Would it be as enjoyable as the earlier ones were? Had I grown out of my love for her books?
