Reader Review: The Bonesetter’s Daughter

Posted on Monday, March 18, 2024 by patron reviewer

The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan book coverAmy Tan explores the relationship between mothers and daughters in this compelling story. “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” follows Ruth Young as she struggles to care for her mother, LuLing, when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Ruth’s relationship with her partner, Art, also undergoes challenges and rethinking as Ruth cares for her mother. Ruth finds two documents that her mother wrote in Chinese when she started to lose her memory so that she would not forget important aspects of her life. Upon reading these documents, Ruth discovers new secrets about her mother’s life as well as a new understanding and appreciation for the choices that she has made. When learning more about her mother, Ruth also begins to reflect on herself and her past. Tan explores the themes of mother-daughter relationships as well as the dynamics among different generations of Chinese-Americans in her riveting novel.

Three words that describe this book: Mother-daughter relationship, history, Chinese-American immigrant life

You might want to pick this book up if: You enjoy stories about family relationships and challenges.

-Sarah

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

Reader Review: Churchill: Walking with Destiny

Posted on Friday, March 15, 2024 by patron reviewer

Churchill book coverChurchill: Walking with Destiny” is the most recent and perhaps the finest single-volume biography of Winston Churchill. Readers should not be daunted by the length of the book (982 pages) — it is detailed and thorough yet eminently readable and engrossing. Roberts covers Churchill’s remarkable life chronologically to support his central thesis that Churchill, throughout his life, was “walking with destiny” and destined to lead Great Britain in the darkest hours of World War II. Roberts makes excellent use of private diaries and correspondence to complement the public record. The book’s extensive detail serves to paint a complete, nuanced and objective portrait of Churchill. Even the footnotes enrich the reader’s understanding of the man. Roberts does not gloss over Churchill’s mistakes, yet the reader leaves with the clear impression that Churchill, though not perfect, was one of the truly great leaders in history.

Three words that describe this book: Engrossing, remarkable, readable

You might want to pick this book up if: You like history or enjoy biographies.

-Jeff

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

April First Thursday Book Discussion: Weyward

Posted on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 by MaggieM

Book cover for Weyward by Emilia HartThe award-winning debut novel, “Weyward,” by Emilia Hart will be the subject of the First Thursday Book Discussion on April 4 at the Columbia Public Library.

Filled with vivid descriptions of English landscapes, Hart’s novel follows three women living between the 1600s and the 20th century. The protagonists face challenges that are both oddly conventional to their times and timeless. Likewise, Hart illustrates the resiliency of women and the strength they can draw from the natural world. Continue reading “April First Thursday Book Discussion: Weyward”

New DVD List: March 2024

Posted on Monday, March 11, 2024 by Decimal Diver

Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.

” – MiniseriesWebsite / Reviews 
Completing the Planet Earth trilogy, this documentary series follows the world’s most amazing animals, telling stories that are dramatic, thrilling, funny and sometimes heart-breaking, but always full of hope.

Part I, D’Artagnan” – Website / Reviews 
This French language adaptation of the classic book is Part I of a two-part epic. The film follows D’Artagnan, a spirited young boy who is left for dead after trying to save a young woman from being kidnapped.

Waitress: The Musical” – Website / Reviews 
The Tony-nominated Broadway musical comes to the big screen. It features composer-lyricist Sara Bareilles as a waitress and expert pie maker stuck in a small town and a loveless marriage.

” – Website / Reviews 
A deep-dive documentary on the founder and lost creative genius of The Rolling Stones. Featuring candid interviews and never-before-seen footage, it explores how Jones was left behind in the shadows of history.

” – Website / Reviews 
In this True False documentary, a teenage girl faces the challenges of growing up in the misty mountains of Vietnam. In her traditional culture, girls marry young, but at school she learns there are alternatives.
Continue reading “New DVD List: March 2024”

Hobby Farm Dreaming

Posted on Monday, March 11, 2024 by Reading Addict

sheep in a green grassy field Has anyone else been dreaming of a hobby farm? No? Just me? I would say that it’s a fever dream, but I have no fever. I have to admit that this is not a new dream for me. I have been having this dream for a long, long time now. I have always loved animals and my kids have had just about every variety of pet. I started keeping backyard chickens in the early 2000s. But now I have a new obsession: SHEEP!

Worn book coverIt all started with me trying to declutter my life and then trying to build a sustainable capsule wardrobe. That’s when I discovered how difficult it was to find natural fibers any more. “Worn: A People’s History of Clothing” by Sofi Thanhauser took me on a journey of clothing and how it has changed over time, along with just what colonialism and globalization have done to the quality and durability of our clothing. It also shows what it has done to our societies. Any history of this sort is bound to be depressing, but it does end on a positive note — a wooly note. Continue reading “Hobby Farm Dreaming”

Literary Links: The Year Is Yours

Posted on Sunday, March 10, 2024 by The Biblio-Buckeroo

Year of No Garbage book cover
March marks the end of the first quarter of the year. How is your yearly resolution going? Did you make one? Does your new year start on January 1st? Or maybe on Lunar New Year (February 10, this year)? Or maybe on your birthday? It could start whenever you are ready to make a change — why wait? There are many examples of writers who have decided to take a year to try something different and record the results. We can live vicariously through their experiences and/or start our own adventures. Here are some books to get you started.

Possibly the queen of the “Year of…” genre is Eve Schaub. She is the author of “Year of No Sugar,” “Year of No Clutter” and, most recently, “Year of No Garbage.” In the latter, Schaub and her family attempt to live for a year without creating any garbage, and she learns a lot in the process. Her telling is, at times, funny, but it is also sobering to read about some of the ways people have spoiled the environment. Here is an excerpt from one of her blog posts:

Since I don’t buy new clothing at all anymore except for underwear (only used, consignment or vintage) I figure buying one bra from Australia is not going to kill any more polar bears than absolutely necessary. Plus, there’s the added benefit that when I am done with it years from now, it won’t contain plastic to poison the environment within some landfill for generations to come… In fact, ‘The Very Good Bra’ has a blog post with pics of their bra in a home worm farm, to demonstrate their ready compostability. You won’t find that at Victoria’s Secret. Continue reading “Literary Links: The Year Is Yours”

Let’s Not Go to Camelot; ‘Tis a Silly Place

Posted on Friday, March 8, 2024 by Michael M

Often times, if I’m reading heavily in a particular genre, or on a theme, I’m aware of it and have gone out of my way to do so. Not this time! No, I suddenly realized after finishing the first book on this list that I had been reading a lot of King Arthur and Camelot retellings recently, and what were the chances? I decided I needed to continue the trend and in doing so, take some things off my to be read pile. And maybe I also needed to make a list of other King Arthur and Camelot books and retellings, because if there’s one thing I love, it’s a list. Now, join me around the Table of Some Shape and let’s read!

Cover of "Gwen & Art Are Not in Love" by Lex CroucherGwen & Art Are Not in Love” by Lex Croucher is a young adult romance novel set hundreds of years after the time of King Arthur and his knights, but is still firmly in what we would consider medieval England. Our two POV characters are Gwendoline, a bit of a shut-in upright young woman, the daughter of the current king, sister of Gabriel the prince, and most unfortunately for her, betrothed to Arthur, our other POV. Arthur (Art to his friends), is a bit of a party animal, enjoys causing chaos for his father, and generally tries not to live up to his namesake. Besides their disparate personalities, why are these two not meant to be? Well, for starters, as the summer tournament begins, Gwen catches Art kissing a boy, and Art in turn finds Gwen’s diaries where she’s written about her feelings for the land’s only lady knight, Bridget Leclair. Slightly awkward. The two decide to keep one another’s secrets, and perhaps even help each other where they can. This book was funny, heartwarming, exciting and sweet. Continue reading “Let’s Not Go to Camelot; ‘Tis a Silly Place”

Q&A With Danielle Winton, Co-author of “Highly Promotable”

Posted on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 by Decimal Diver

Author Danielle Winton and the cover of her book, "Highly Promotable"
Danielle Winton is a Columbia, MO memory & learning expert who has co-authored a book with Tyler Small called “Make More Money at Work by Transforming Your Impact, Value & Visibility.” The book walks people through the three critical components of promotability: working well with others, doing the right work, and doing the work well. Winton is the founder of Memory Strategies, where she teaches effective methods of learning and studying to students and professionals. She was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email.

Continue reading “Q&A With Danielle Winton, Co-author of “Highly Promotable””

Nonfiction Roundup: March 2024

Posted on Monday, March 4, 2024 by Liz

Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in March. 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

Double Click by Carol Kino book cover
Double Click: Twin Photographers in the Golden Age of Magazines” by Carol Kino (Mar 5)
The McLaughlin twins were trailblazing female photographers, celebrated in their time as stars in their respective fields, but have largely been forgotten since. Here, in “Double Click,” author Carol Kino provides us with a fascinating window into the golden era of magazine photography and the first young women’s publications, bringing these two brilliant women and their remarkable accomplishments to vivid life. Frances was the only female photographer on staff in Condé Nast’s photo studio, hired just after Irving Penn, and became known for streetwise, cinema verité-style work, which appeared in the pages of Glamour and Vogue. Her sister Kathryn’s surrealistic portraits filled the era’s new “career girl” magazines, including Charm and Mademoiselle. Both twins married Harper’s Bazaar photographers and socialized with a glittering crowd that included the supermodel Lisa Fonssagrives and the photographer Richard Avedon. Kino uses their careers to illuminate the lives of young women during this time, an early twentieth-century moment marked by proto-feminist thinking, excitement about photography’s burgeoning creative potential, and the ferment of wartime New York. Toward the end of the 1940s, and moving into the early 1950s, conventionality took over, women were pushed back into the home, and the window of opportunity began to close. Kino renders this fleeting moment of possibility in gleaming multi-color, so that the reader cherishes its abundance, mourns its passing, and gains new appreciation for the talent that was fostered at its peak. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: March 2024”

Reader Review: The Annotated Treasure Island

Posted on Friday, March 1, 2024 by patron reviewer

Annotated Treasure Island book cover
It’s likely that readers will already be familiar with the basics of this classic adventure tale. “Treasure Island” has become such a part of our cultural memory at this point, that few will be meeting Jim and Long John for the first time. I first read this book, as well as Stevenson’s “Kidnapped,” when I was young, and I remember being a little bored with it, but enjoyed the action scenes. I enjoyed it much more reading it as an adult. I found that I was much more interested in Stevenson’s descriptions of sailor life, even if they are highly fanciful, than when I was younger. In many ways, it was like visiting old friends again. I read it as a beach read when I vacationed this summer, and it was an excellent choice. As a fan of history, I found “The Annotated Treasure Island” to be thoroughly enlightening. I learned from the annotations while simultaneously enjoying Stevenson’s adventure story.

Three words that describe this book: adventure, pirates, sea tales

You might want to pick this book up if: You want a quick read that is full of adventure and interesting characters. Choose the annotated edition if you are also intrigued with 19th-century history and sailor life.

-Allen

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