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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
The best science fiction, fantasy and horror novels were picked and announced on June 25th by the Locus Science Fiction Foundation. There are lots of good possibilities for a summer read from the winners and the other nominated titles.
Author Megan Abbott has received deserved praise recently for her noirish thrillers probing the psyches of teenage girls and female friendship, including Dare Me, The Fever and You Will Know Me.
“What if on the day she was born there was a quiet storm of tiny shimmering dust that settled on tree leaves, on flower petals, on rooftops, on the ground, on the shiny work shoes, and glided through open windows to settle on hardwood floors?”
This is a sweet, authentic, and sublimely nerdy look at popular cartoonist Huda Fahmy's single life, courtship and marriage to the man of her dreams. By her mid-twenties Huda was considered hopelessly over-the-hill by many in her circle of friends and family. She felt pressured and discouraged, but not completely downhearted.
Kat Leyh’s Snapdragon came out in 2020, and it’s been almost a year since the last time I read it, but I still find myself talking about it all the time! What was initially just an interesting-sounding graphic novel that I picked up on a whim quickly became one of my absolute favorite middle grade books.
Katrina Nguyen escapes her abusive home with nothing but a few dollars and her violin. A connection within the LGBTQIA community brings her to the San Gabriel Valley in hopes of starting fresh. But the scars (literal and figurative) of her past are not easily erased and she's not sure what she'll do next when her beloved violin is stolen by the "friends" who promised to help. Enter Shizuka Satomi.
Shara Wheeler has been Chloe Green's nemesis for years. She's perfect, everyone loves her, and she is Chloe's only competition for valedictorian. So when Shara kisses Chloe in an elevator and then vanishes in the middle of prom a few days later, Chloe knows something is up.
Ever been tempted to wonder about literary might-have-beens? Say, if F. Scott Fitzgerald had lived and written during the Regency period, or Emily Bronte had imagined Cathy and Heathcliff marrying and living happily (or not) ever after? Author Claudia Gray (aka Amy Vincent) loves Jane Austen, and like a lot of other Austenites, she too wonders, what if? In this case, her what if? musings have borne fruit in The Murder of Mr. Wickham.
Antoinetter Portis' book Now is a beautiful and poignant look at childhood and all of its favorite things. Childhood is about discovering new favorite things, often that change daily and grown-ups will smile at the familiar shift from one favorite to the next like, "This is my favorite song, because it's the one I am singing." But to me this book is a light handed introduction to mindfulness and a guide to living in the moment.
It's been a while since I've read one of Sophie Hannah's mystery/suspense novels, but with this her newest sounding so intriguing, I thought I'd dip back in. In the past, I've known Ms. Hannah to write complex, tricky tales, and she holds true to that ethos here.
