MADreads

Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors

Who was Peggy Smith?

Cover of The Postscript Murders
A review of The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

There’s nothing particularly unusual about Peggy Smith. She’s an old lady living in an assisted living facility beside the sea, spends her days noting passersby in her notebooks and reading her beloved crime novels that fill her apartment. Even her death isn’t out of the norm--sudden and apparently peaceful in her chair overlooking the sea. But something about the death unsettles her carer, Natalka. How could a woman who was still spry enough to climb flights of stairs die of heart failure when her pills were within reach? Why are so many of the books in Peggy’s apartment dedicated to her,

Posted by Katie H on Nov 23, 2021

Here be ghosts

Cover of Ghostly Reads for Kids
Ghostly Reads for Kids

Longer nights have returned, so what better time to indulge with a gripping ghost story, or THREE!

If your family dares to read these three fantastic chapter books (suitable for most 9-10 year olds and older), you'll not only enjoy satisfying supernatural encounters, you'll also bravely face the uncomfortable truths revealed as past and present collide!

Titles are listed in order of both increasing length and thematic complexity.

Posted by Abby R on Nov 19, 2021

Kent State more than 50 years later

Cover of Kent State
A review of Kent State by Deborah Wiles

To this day there is argument about what happened at Kent State on May 4, 1970. What's certain is that tensions were high. America was at war in Vietnam, the nation was divided in their support of President Nixon, young men were living in fear of the draft, and students were protesting the bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces. Many students at Kent State thought the bombing escalated a war that the United States was supposedly withdrawing from and were peacefully protesting on Friday, May 1 on the Commons, a large grassy area in the middle of campus.

Posted by Molly W on Nov 17, 2021

Who gets to decide?

Cover of Borders
A review of Borders by Thomas King

If you heard that someone got stuck when trying to cross the border, would you think of San Ysidro, El Paso or maybe Laredo? I admit, I did. But this story takes place at the Canadian-American border. This graphic novel, illustrated by Natasha Donovan, is an adaptation of Thomas King's 1993 short story. A Blackfoot boy in Alberta tells how when he was about twelve years old, his seventeen year old sister moved to Salt Lake City. The tension between Laetitia and her mother feels very real.

Posted by Jennifer on Nov 12, 2021

Buddha and bharal

Cover of The Snow Leopard
A review of The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen’s melancholic and metaphor-laden Himalayan travelogue, a true story, is an essential, definitional work of 1970s American literature. It is also one of my favorite books of all time.

Posted by Tyler F on Nov 11, 2021

The rain brings more than water

Cover of After the Rain
A review of After the Rain by John Jennings and illustrated by David Brame

The graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor's short story "On the Road" takes the reader on a journey that connects the mind and body with an infinite past of cultural heritage. Chioma, a young Nigerian-American police officer from New York City, visits family in a small, rural Nigerian village during a terrible storm and unleashes an unidentified power. Chioma's western sensibilities try to reconcile what's happening but she struggles, even with the help of her family.

Posted by Molly W on Nov 9, 2021

Something for the long nights

Cover of The Starless Crown
A review of The Starless Crown by James Rollins

From what I hear from other readers I'm not alone in, more often then I'd like, struggling with my ability to really sink into a book. I don't know if the attention deficit comes from work, too many devices, or the general stressiness of life, but often I find that I have to work to stick to a book, even if I was sure I'd love it. But one genre lately has really been working for me and that is fantasy fiction. Something about entering a completely different world has just been easier.

Posted by Jane J on Nov 8, 2021

Escape from Hollywood

Cover of Marilyn in Manhattan: Her
A review of Marilyn in Manhattan: Her Year of Joy by Elizabeth Winter

In November 1954 Marilyn Monroe escaped from Hollywood, leaving behind the very public end of her marriage to Joe DiMaggio and the humiliations forced on her by Zanuck and Fox Studios. Leaving with her friend and photographer Milton Greene, Marilyn was determined to recreate herself in New York City as something more than a blonde bombshell.

Posted by Liz C on Nov 4, 2021

More data needed

Cover of The Mother-in-Law
A review of The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth

The Lakeview Mystery Book Group had been meeting in person over the last few months but decided to go back to meeting on Zoom now that the nights are longer and are getting colder. Last week was our return to Zoom and given how the online platform can change the shape of meetings, I was wondering if our talk would be as comfortable and free-wheeling as it had been for our in-person meetings. The answer? It certainly was a relaxed, energetic discussion. But was that the group or the book?

Posted by Jane J on Nov 2, 2021

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