I know that this is the Adults Blog and that I am a grown woman who pays taxes, but we can all agree that adults can (and should) read children’s books, right? Seriously, the best book I have read so far this year was a middle grade chapter book. If you’re limiting yourself to the adult section of the library, you are really missing out, because the best part of being a grown up is getting to read whatever you want. Much like the love of reading, the love for Halloween usually starts early and there are so many great Halloween-y books for kids, teens and tweens that reflect that. Sometimes these books are genuinely scary. Sometimes they are completely adorable. Oftentimes, they are both. Continue reading “Halloween Kids’ Books for Grownups”
Posted on Friday, September 17, 2021 by Reading Addict
And now I have reached the Megalopolis. What in the world is a megalopolis you ask? A megalopolis is a very large, heavily populated urban center or complex including all of the suburbs and exurbs. It can feel as if it’s just one continuous city but it’s usually not. The northeastern seaboard is filled with them. Continue reading “Travel Through Story: Megalopolis”
Posted on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 by patron reviewer
When two African American twins growing up in a small, southern town run away at the age of 16, they lose contact with each other as their lives take completely different paths. While Desiree returns to her hometown and lives in poverty, Stella pretends to be white and lives a seemingly luxurious suburban lifestyle. Told from the perspectives of both twins and their family members, “The Vanishing Half” explores the fluidity of identity and the sacrifices people make in seeking happiness. As the characters change throughout their lives, this author uses well-crafted character development to touch on issues of race, class, family dynamics and gender-fluidity.
Three words that describe this book: Thought-Provoking, Suspenseful, Eloquent
You might want to pick this book up if: You are looking for a book that will make you evaluate your own identity.
-Jonie
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading 2021. We will continue to share these throughout the year.
Posted on Sunday, September 12, 2021 by Stellan Harris
I’m a big fan of horror in all of its forms. Movies, games, art — any form of media that can creep me out, gross me out or otherwise disturb me is right up my alley. I did, however, take a long break from reading horror novels, largely because a lot of what I was reading started to seem too similar. Many horror novelists had seen the success of authors like Stephen King and Dean Koontz and read it like a formula. Lately, in an effort to rekindle my love for the genre, I’ve sought out the most interesting and unconventional recent horror novels I can find. I’m happy to say that the novels of today are just as spooky as I remember, more so in some cases. In preparation for the start of the spooky season, I’d like to share some of my new finds with you lovely readers. Continue reading “Literary Links: Unconventional Horror”
I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in September. All of the mentioned titles are available to put on hold in our catalog and will also be made available via the library’s Overdrive website on the day of publication in eBook and downloadable audiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog.
Top Picks
“Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law” by Mary Roach (Sep 14)
What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? 300 years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology. Roach tags along with animal-attack forensics investigators, human-elephant conflict specialists, bear managers, and “danger tree” faller blasters. Intrepid as ever, she travels from leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Indian Himalaya to St. Peter’s Square in the early hours before the pope arrives for Easter Mass, when vandal gulls swoop in to destroy the elaborate floral display. She taste-tests rat bait, learns how to install a vulture effigy, and gets mugged by a macaque. Combining little-known forensic science and conservation genetics with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, langur impersonators, and trespassing squirrels, Roach reveals as much about humanity as about nature’s lawbreakers. When it comes to “problem” wildlife, she finds, humans are more often the problem — and the solution. Fascinating, witty, and humane, “Fuzz” offers hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: September 2021”
Here are a few of the most notable debut novels coming out in September. These have all received positive reviews in library journals. For a longer list, please visit our catalog.
Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a nice Jewish girl with a shameful secret: she loves Christmas. For a decade she’s hidden her career as a Christmas romance novelist from her family. Her talent has made her a bestseller even as her chronic illness has always kept the kind of love she writes about out of reach. But when her diversity-conscious publisher insists she write a Hanukkah romance, her well of inspiration suddenly runs dry. Hanukkah’s not magical. It’s not merry. It’s not Christmas. Desperate not to lose her contract, Rachel’s determined to find her muse at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration on the last night of Hanukkah, even if it means working with her summer camp archenemy — Jacob Greenberg.
Though Rachel and Jacob haven’t seen each other since they were kids, their grudge still glows brighter than a menorah. But as they spend more time together, Rachel finds herself drawn to Hanukkah — and Jacob — in a way she never expected. Maybe this holiday of lights will be the spark she needed to set her heart ablaze. Continue reading “Debut Author Spotlight: September 2021”
Posted on Wednesday, September 1, 2021 by Decimal Diver
Left: Jimi Cook, Phomotso Makeke Cook, and Cristi Cook; Right: “Hand Delivered Hope” book cover.
Jimi Cook is a Columbia, MO author who recently came out with his debut book, “Hand Delivered Hope.” The book is the story of how Jimi and his wife Cristi (both professors in orthopaedics at Mizzou) developed Be The Change Volunteers (BTCV), a nonprofit aid organization that builds schools and provides educational resources to forgotten communities around the world. Stories in the book include restoring a genocide ruined Rwandan school for a lost generation of learners, building a floating school on a huge lake in Cambodia, navigating corruption in Kenya, rebuilding relationships in India and many other engaging accounts of resilience and hope. I emailed some interview questions to him, and he was kind enough to take time to write back some answers. Continue reading “Q&A With Jimi Cook, Author of “Hand Delivered Hope””
Here are a few of the debut novels coming out in August. These have all received positive reviews in library journals. For a longer list, please visit our catalog.
When 29-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it’s not easy. She deserted them all — and her high school sweetheart — five years before with little explanation, and they’ve got questions.
Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it does mean tiptoeing around resentful brothers and an ex-fiancé. The longer she stays, however, the more she realizes they need her just as much as she needs them. When a dangerous man from her past brings her family’s pub business to the brink of financial ruin, the only way to protect them is to upend all their secrets — secrets that have damaged the family for generations and will threaten everything they know about their lives. In the aftermath, the Brennan family is forced to confront painful mistakes — and ultimately find a way forward, together.
Posted on Monday, August 23, 2021 by patron reviewer
“The Bees: A Novel” is a truly imaginative thriller that tracks the life of Flora, a sanitation worker bee of the lowest caste, in the hive system. Disney it is not. Dystopian it certainly is. If you are looking for a breezy read about flowers and insects and nature, look elsewhere. What makes the book so engrossing, though, is the author’s deft use of scientifically accurate details to create a sometimes disturbing though always fascinating tale. (Note: I frequently found myself fact checking on the Internet while reading the book. “Are queen bee larvae fed royal jelly?” Check. “Are wasps predators of bees?” Check. In every instance, the detail was accurate). Instead of making up “facts” to fit the story, the author created a story to fit the facts, which makes it that much more compelling.
Three words that describe this book: Imaginative, dystopian, compelling
You might want to pick this book up if: You are fascinated by bees or enjoy a dystopian thriller.
