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Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
It's not easy being Chloe Sanderson, especially when she's so hard on herself. It's understandable. She's been taking care of everyone since her mom left when she was in fourth grade. She's working, putting herself through business school, providing for her dad's care in an Alzheimer's facility and trying to keep it together. So much so that she's bound to snap.
Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who dreams of finishing her education and becoming a teacher. And as she narrates her story in the colloquial English of her small village, you can feel how she yearns. Her mother wanted an education for her as it would be the only way for her to get a "louding voice". That louding voice was meant to arm her so that she could control her own destiny. But the death of her mother has left Adunni at the mercy of a spendthrift father who only sees in her a way to get money to pay the rent.
It’s a classic setup: a powerful and wealthy businessman has died, and his family and retainers gather at his imposing and isolated villa for the reading of his will. Knowing the will has some very peculiar stipulations and familiar with the strained family tensions, the man’s lawyers, call in sight unseen a highly recommended private investigator to ward off potential bloodshed. But in an atmosphere primed for murder, the inevitable happens, and the unorthodox PI soon finds himself trying to solve seemingly impossible killings committed by a culprit who will strike again.
This is really an amazing book. It's easy to read as each chapter looks at a specific time period and specific food, but cumulatively there is a lot of information to absorb. The Western world does not come out looking all that good since, in their desire to benefit a few, they ran roughshod over the bodies of a lot of people all over the world. Not that the rest of the world have angelic histories, but because Western countries pride themselves on their culture and education and when looking at the details it doesn't look so swell.
The Wisconsin Book Festival’s fall celebration kicks off with Emma Straub’s discussion of her new book, All Adults Here at 4 pm tomorrow.
Soap opera actress Jasmine Lin Rodriguez has landed a starring role alongside telenovela star Ashton Suarez in a bilingual Netflix-like series called Carmen in Charge. The show is important to Jasmine and Ashton for different reasons and they both desperately want it to be a success. For Jasmine, this is her first starring role. For Ashton, this is his chance to show that he's leading man material in a different entertainment market.
Unusually for me, I was reading two non-fiction books concurrently, this one and The Taste of Empire. Like that one, this one is good, interesting and also about more than the title suggests.
In a time not too far in the future in an America that seems all to scarily possible at times, half the population has been silenced. For fans who have binged through The Handmaid's Tale (and/or read the book) Vox can be your next dystopian read.
Are you looking for something new to read? The 2020 National Book Awards longlist has a wide variety to choose from. The categories include: Nonfiction, Fiction.
Afi Tekple’s wedding is a rousing success in spite of the fact that the groom isn’t present. But that is to be expected of a young and wealthy businessman whose travels take him far from home on a routine basis, so important that even his own traditional wedding must yield to demands of business. The young Ghanaian seamstress, heroine of Peace Adzo Medie’s debut His Only Wife, is thrilled and proud to marry the son of the most powerful woman in her town and raise the fortunes of her widowed mother, her avaricious uncle and the wives he supports.
