Billy O’Callaghan is primarily an Irish short story writer, but in his novel “Life Sentences,” he writes three extended short stories, each one about a family member and how their lives persevered in their own times. How did each one live out their “life sentence” (their time on earth) by living up to their struggles, helping one another, relying on family, and finding their own way? They did it with heart, with courage, with truth, by learning to move forward, and ultimately by the love of family members who saw them through.

But those words hardly convey the beauty of O’Callaghan’s sentences describing each life. His sentences are beautiful, heart-breaking, life-giving, and, finally, revelatory for the reader. You will smell, hear, feel, taste and be touched by the realities of all three person’s lives. You will want to write down particular sentences O’Callaghan writes in order to remember to live by them. The final surprise is that the sentences of the book are those actually heard by O’Callaghan from his mother, his grandfather, his great-grandmother. It is as real as can be.

Three words that describe this book: beautifully written, heart-wrenching, life-affirming

You might want to pick this book up if: you want to learn more about Irish history from the Great Famine to today… learn from three generations of a fully revealed family’s struggle, love, and strength… learn how look at your own life with grace and forgiveness and hope.

-Woody

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. Submit your own book review here for a chance to have it featured on the Adults Blog. 

I wish I’d had the book “How to Keep House While Drowning” or one like it when my kids were young. Or at any time in my life. I’m glad I’ve read it now. Some of it I’d already started to realize over the years, e.g. housework can trigger a lot of emotional/trauma issues. Some of this book is devoted to hacks that might or might not work for different people (and that’s okay! There’s no one right way!) while a lot of it focuses on self-talk and the need to be kind to yourself.

One thing I really liked was the approach of dividing work not by “division of labor” but with a “division of rest.” With this approach, everyone in the house gets a chance to rest.

Three words that describe this book: helpful, compassionate, wise

You might want to pick this book up if: You’re overwhelmed.

-Ida

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. Submit your own book review here for a chance to have it featured on the Adults Blog. 

Boy sees girl. Boy likes girl. Boy stalks girl and conveniently works his way to being her ideal mate. A few snags/red flags show, and their relationship becomes toxic and fatal. I saw the Netflix series before reading the book it was based on, “You” by Caroline Kepnes, and kept saying to myself as I was reading, ‘Oh, the book’s version of this is better!’ As it should be.

Three words that describe this book: Bone-chilling. Sexy. Addicting.

You might want to pick this book up if: You enjoyed the show on Netflix.

-Emily

“This Is Your Mind on Plants” tells the story of psychoactive drugs derived from plants through two approaches: research-based journalism/history and experiential memoir. It focuses on three chemicals (opium, caffeine and mescaline) and the plants that make them as a way of exploring the larger history and meaning of our use of plants medicinally, spiritually and recreationally.

I enjoyed author Michael Pollan’s sense of humor and ability to make complex ideas approachable. I also appreciated that he maintained a healthy skepticism towards all views of consciousness-changing drugs, suspicious of both those who exploit them and those who seek to totally prohibit their use.

The discussion of caffeine was particularly interesting because so few people conceptualize it as a psychoactive, habit-forming drug now, but it was incredibly controversial whenever it was introduced to a part of the world where it had not been known before. Pollan tied the specific history of coffee to wider subjects such as colonialism and industrialization, making compelling arguments that they were inextricably tied together.

The author narrates the audiobook version and does an excellent job of it, taking a straightforward, conversational tone that underscores the social and emotional realities present in the historical and scientific data.

Three words that describe this book: informative, thought-provoking, surprising

You might want to pick this book up if: you are interested in social history from the 1700s to the present day and the ways in which views of drugs have changed over time.

-Eric

 

This reader review was previously submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share these throughout the year.

“The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz” is about a woman prisoner in an Auschwitz concentration camp who is brave and smart in the face of absolute terror. She manages to fall in love with another prisoner while in the camp, and together they make a plan for escape. The book describes true events within the camp and the characters are based on real people. It portrays the cruelty the prisoners were subjected to in great detail and shows how people had to rely on each other to make things happen. The build-up to their escape, the days of freedom, and their ultimate capture were all very well portrayed and the emotion of the story was very strong. I love the book; it was well written and the historical accuracies made it even more interesting.

Three words that describe this book: Heartbreaking, Intense, Historical

You might want to pick this book up if: I recommend everyone pick up this book.

-AshLee

This reader review was previously submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share these throughout the year.

“The Bomber Mafia” is a brief history of the American bomber squad during World War II. The author describes the changing techniques of aerial bombing from the early part of WWII to the very end of the war. This book was actually written to be an audiobook, so that is how I “read” it. The narrator is the author himself, and he used recorded interviews, music, and sound effects to help tell the story. It is an engaging audiobook, much more than any other audiobook I’ve listened to.

Three words that describe this book: History, aerial bombing, Japan.

You might want to pick this book up if: If you like to read about the Pacific theater in World War II, then this is the book for you.

-Elaine

 

This reader review was previously submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share these throughout the year.