“The Light Through the Leaves” is about a mother finding a way to move through grief and heartbreak, and a daughter learning to build relationships after years of isolation. Both struggle to navigate relationships and mental stability. All of the characters in this book were so relatable, dynamic and unique. I’m typically a slow reader, but I was so engrossed in this story that I finished it in just a few days. I enjoyed it because the characters worked long and hard for their heartwarming ending. The story, characters, relationships, everything was so well thought out by the author. Nothing seemed too convenient, the story was believable and intriguing. It was everything I love in a book.
Three words that describe this book: Heartwarming, relatable, inspiring
You might want to pick this book up if: You appreciate a hard-earned, happy ending.
-Anonymous
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.
Join us to discuss the historical novel “Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague” by Maggie O’Farrell. The story is set in England during the Black Death of the late 16th century. A young Latin tutor (Shakespeare) falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman. Just as his career takes off, however, their young son dies of the plague. This novel was the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction. This discussion is geared for adults.
More books about Shakespeare and the plague during this time period here.
Please register to receive a Zoom link.
One Read, the community-wide reading program coordinated by the Daniel Boone Regional Library, celebrates its 20th anniversary this September with Casy Cep’s “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee.” This gripping mashup of true crime and literary biography beat out the cleverly crafted dystopian novel “The Resisters” by Gish Jen.
Before the public vote on the 2021 title, a panel of community members considered a varied list of finalist books. Their themes run the gamut of timely topics from immunization and mental health to systemic racism and capitalist consumerism.
During COVID lockdowns, many of us spent more hours connected to the internet, scrolling, shopping and watching. In “Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion,” Jia Tolentino shares candid, sharp, sometimes wry, often bleak personal essays examining and skewering our self-obsessed consumer culture and the pressures — particularly for women — of living online. Continue reading “Literary Links: One Read Final 10”
Editor’s note: This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will be sharing more throughout the year.
“The Enchanted Sonata” is a retelling of the story “The Nutcracker” with a musical twist. Music has magic, and in one world, music turned all the soldiers and the prince into nutcrackers and the children into toys. Clara, an accomplished pianist, is whisked into this world and discovers she has this magic within her as well and, after many adventures, is able to reverse the spell and turn everyone back into humans. As a pianist and an avid fan of fairy tales, I really enjoyed how the two were intertwined. Additionally, the language used within this book was vivid and absolutely gorgeous. I adore how this author takes words appropriate to the theme of the story—such as music in this case—and so matter-of-factly incorporates them into the narrative. It adds both a charm and a wholeness to the book.
Three words that describe this book: Gorgeous, delightful, lyrical
You might want to pick this book up if: You love music, fairy tales, and beautiful literary imagery.
-Anonymous
There’s something undeniably creepy about folk tales. Think of Bloody Mary, Krampus, the Big Bad Wolf and the Headless Horseman. Folktales are the kind of stories told at night around a fire, and they don’t start out written down as short stories or novels. These tales have always been transmitted among a people through oral tradition. Folklore, legends and myth are a boundless topic, and found in almost every aspect of human culture, but here we’re looking specifically at Gothic horror novels that take their inspiration from tales that once propagated exclusively through oral traditions. Continue reading “Frightened Folk: Where Folktales and Horror Intersect”
I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in June. 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 eAudiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog.
Top Picks
“Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir” by Ashley C. Ford (Jun 1)
For as long as she could remember, Ashley has put her father on a pedestal. Despite having only vague memories of seeing him face-to-face, she believes he’s the only person in the entire world who understands her. She thinks she understands him too. He’s sensitive like her, an artist, and maybe even just as afraid of the dark. She’s certain that one day they’ll be reunited again, and she’ll finally feel complete. There are just a few problems: he’s in prison, and she doesn’t know what he did to end up there. Through poverty, puberty, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley returns to her image of her father for hope and encouragement. She doesn’t know how to deal with the incessant worries that keep her up at night, or how to handle the changes in her body that draw unwanted attention from men. In her search for unconditional love, Ashley begins dating a boy her mother hates; when the relationship turns sour, he assaults her. Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley finally finds out why her father is in prison. And that’s where the story really begins. “Somebody’s Daughter” steps into the world of growing up a poor Black girl, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and her environment, she provides a poignant coming-of-age recollection that speaks to finding the threads between who you are and what you were born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: June 2021”
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection. Click on the website links to see the trailers.
“Minari”
Website / Reviews
Shown earlier this year at Ragtag Cinema, this drama follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home. Continue reading “New DVD List: Minari, Hemingway, & More”
June is a time to remember the Stonewall Riots (or Stonewall Uprising/Stonewall Rebellion). In 1969, what started as an act of protest has become a way to continue to celebrate the LGBT+ Community and promote activism within the community.
As we are distant this year, with hope in the future for less distance Pride events, here are a few websites to hear and share LGBT Voices. Through these online resources, there are avenues for expression, stories, and creation of spaces to keep and protect voices that might otherwise be lost. Continue reading “LGBT+ Voices: Online Archives on Coming Out”
Editor’s note: This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will be sharing more throughout the year.
In the book “Strands of Truth,” Harper, a young woman who has always longed for family, is ecstatic when a DNA test reveals she has a half-sister. When Harper and her half-sister meet they find out both of their mothers died tragically. The sisters wonder if their unknown father was involved in their mothers’ deaths and they begin to investigate with the help of Ridge, the son of a mentor to Harper when she was a runaway teenager. Events from the past collide with the present in this fast-paced novel.
I liked this book because it was about the importance of family, trust, and forgiveness. The author is a master at character development and interweaving faith into her books.
Three words that describe this book: Suspenseful, Fast-paced, Intriguing
You might want to pick this book up if: you enjoy Christian romantic-suspense novels and enjoy novels that have many twists and turns until the very end.
-Anonymous
Nothing helps me feel more centered than a good, long walk, whether in the woods or just up and down the streets of my neighborhood. In this, I join a large sisterhood. Throughout human history, women have found peace, fulfillment and health through the act of taking a walk.
A few years ago, readers were mesmerized by Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of her solo hike along the Pacific Coast Trail, a journey in which she sought healing from grief and addiction after losing her mother, her marriage and almost her very sense of self. As much an account of her spiritual journey as it is a story of hiking, “Wild” speaks to the healing powers of nature and of movement. Continue reading “Women Walking”
