Book reviews by library staff and guest contributors
Though the big weekend of Wisconsin Book Festival events is past, the Book Fest goes on year round. Next up is a visit from the incredible Alexander McCall Smith. He's here to talk about the latest in the Precious Ramotswe series, The House of Unexpected Sisters:
Listen Slowly by Thanhha Lai, audio edition Harper Collins Audio, 2015 read by Lulu Lam
Lady Arianna Hadley has led a colorful, and hard, life because of the choices her father made. After his murder Arianna takes on a disguise and the role of French chef in an aristocratic household, so she can support herself. Her specialty is making incredible creations from the newest food fad in Regency England, chocolate. Her precarious existence is threatened when the Prince Regent takes ill after consuming one of her desserts.
Written by Iranian-American author and filmmaker Laleh Khadivi, A Good Country is an unnerving, yet somehow beautiful, slow burn of a novel. Khadivi’s prose has a loose and languid long-windedness -- where description and dialog bleed together -- that mimics with stunning naturalism the druggy bleariness of its main character’s day-to-day existence.
Nicole Georges had a messed up childhood with a mom who didn’t parent very well and a drunk step-dad who was cruel to her gerbil. Nicole loved animals and had a whole menagerie, but like her mom, she didn’t give her charges what they needed most, and they suffered. As a teenager she adopted Beija, a sharpei/corgi mix, to give to her boyfriend in an attempt to heal his unhappy past. Unsurprisingly his parents didn’t go along with the plan. So Nicole was stuck with Beija, who was prickly, growly, and disliked men and children.
The National Book Award was established in 1950. It is an American literary prize administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization. Every year, the Foundation selects a total of twenty Judges, including five in each of the four Award categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature. First there is a long list, then a finalist list, and then the winners for each category are announced in November.
I've seen the movie Chicago - which is about the fictional Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly who get away with murder - and had been aware that it was based on real goings-on in 1920's Chicago.
Let’s face it; some kids prefer to read non-fiction. These are the kids who are fascinated with almanacs and world records books. If you’ve got one of these kids in your house, check out the new DK findout! non-fiction series for kids. Aimed at ages eight to twelve, the series titles cover high-interest topics and each installment includes quizzes, photographs, illustrations, and sidebars with expanded explanations, fast facts and interviews with experts.
Wendy Davies is driving along a lake road with her two younger brothers Michael and John when their car skids off a bridge and into the water. One of Wendy's brothers is missing after the accident - he's just plain vanished. \Did Michael survive the crash and wander away? Has he drowned in the lake? Wendy blames herself for the accident. Her family is in crisis. It's all confusing and impossible to come to terms with. What follows is the torturous response to the accident: the journal that Wendy keeps for her therapist.
The end of the year is closing in upon us, and so too is the publishing year. But there are still plenty of great titles coming to shelves this fall, so let’s get to the highlights:
If you’ve read the wonderful children’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian you know the PG version of Alexie’s life story growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me is the adult version, and it’s beautiful, haunting, devastating, and raw. When his mother Lillian died in 2015 he began writing this book. She was a complex woman: brilliant, an amazing quilter, cruel at times, and damaged by growing up Native in these United States. Unlike her son, she did not attain her dreams. I k
Billed as a counting book, Cyrus brings much more to this artful picture book. We count bricks by ones, fives, tens and twenties. Readers also learn how bricks and mortar are made, and are treated to the math, science, design and artistry involved in bricklaying. The rhyming text invites repeated read-alouds. And the photo-realistic illustrations are worth multiple visits as well, with a racially diverse cast of characters that range in age from children to grandparents, all sporting hardhats and coveralls and fully involved in the building.
Going back over time, I calculate that I've read and written about at least six different cat comics or children's graphic novel series on MADreads. This does not include a childhood spent reading Garfield. This does not include my recent (personal) purchasing and reading of the new "Grumpy Cat/Garfield" comic series. Who knew that Grumpy Cat and Garfield knew each other?!?!? It's an amazing world!! I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's a wealth of this kind of material out there and I celebrate it. All of it.
PI Nils Shapiro has seen some dirty crime scenes, but none like this. In an otherwise immaculate house in Minneapolis’s snobbiest suburb, there are heaps of vacuum bag dust—and under one of those heaps is the corpse of Maggie Somerville, freshly divorced and Edina’s first murder victim in decades. The killer obviously knew what he/she was doing—the presence of so much dust makes forensic analysis impossible and an overnight snowstorm obliterated any exterior trails. This seemly impossible case is the set up for Matt Goldman’s debut Gone to Dust.
Have you ever looked a group picture and wondered what was happening as the shot was captured? Well, Roxane Orgill’s Jazz Day does just that, and more. The photograph Harlem 1958 is now famous for picturing 57 jazz musicians in Harlem on August 12, 1958. Photographer Art Kane called for any and all jazz musicians to gather for the picture and Jazz Day places you in the midst of it all through 21 poems.
There are so many ways to celebrate the beauty of autumn. For many, it involves getting out cozy sweaters and adding pumpkin to everything. For some of us, it means our reading turns a bit darker. What better way to get in the Halloween spirit than to start an October horror novel binge?
All I can say is, wow. Somehow we make it through elementary and middle school friendships. It's not easy. It's not nice. It's not quickly forgotten. And it doesn't seem to get any easier for subsequent generations. Why is that?
Every year Booklist publishes various top 10 lists. Below is their Top 10 Sports list. This list includes basketball, baseball, horse racing, running. Did they miss any of your favorite sports books? Are there any that you would add?
Like Mary's Little Lamb, Moose the dog follows her favorite human, Zara, to school in search of love and stories. When attempts to help Moose say "Goodbye" become more madcap than her parents or teachers can handle, Zara thinks of a brilliant solution: "Hello," therapy dog Moose!
“The first thought I had after I died was: How will my dog cope with this?
The second thought: I hope we can still go with open casket.
Third thought: I have nothing to wear to my funeral.
Fourth: I’ll never meet Daniel Radcliffe now.
Fifth: Did Bobby just break up with me?”
