Literary Links: Summer Reading: Life Is Better in Color

Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2025 by Skyler Froese

The glimmering blue surface of a pool, the verdant ripple of the trees and the ruby-red shine of a snow cone — summer is a reminder that life is better in color. At the Daniel Boone Regional Library, you can read vibrantly with our Summer Reading program; this year’s theme is “Color Our World.”

Summer Reading begins on May 30 and is open to all ages and reading levels. While reading this summer, you can pick up rewards as you finish books and activities. Additionally, readers can enter drawings for bigger prizes. Continue reading “Literary Links: Summer Reading: Life Is Better in Color”

Nonfiction Roundup: May 2025

Posted on Monday, May 5, 2025 by Liz

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

Mark Twain book coverMark Twain” by Ron Chernow (May 13)
Before he was Mark Twain, he was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Born in 1835, the man who would become America’s first, and most influential, literary celebrity spent his childhood dreaming of piloting steamboats on the Mississippi. But when the Civil War interrupted his career on the river, the young Twain went west to the Nevada Territory and accepted a job at a local newspaper, writing dispatches that attracted attention for their brashness and humor. It wasn’t long before the former steamboat pilot from Missouri was recognized across the country for his literary brilliance, writing under a pen name that he would immortalize. In this richly nuanced portrait of Mark Twain, acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow brings his considerable powers to bear on a man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune, and crafted his persona with meticulous care. After establishing himself as a journalist, satirist, and lecturer, he eventually settled in Hartford with his wife and three daughters, where he went on to write “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” He threw himself into the hurly-burly of American culture, and emerged as the nation’s most notable political pundit. At the same time, his madcap business ventures eventually bankrupted him; to economize, Twain and his family spent nine eventful years in exile in Europe. He suffered the death of his wife and two daughters, and the last stage of his life was marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behavior that sometimes obscured darker forces at play. Drawing on Twain’s bountiful archives, including thousands of letters and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow masterfully captures the man whose career reflected the country’s westward expansion, industrialization, and foreign wars, and who was the most important white author of his generation to grapple so fully with the legacy of slavery. Today, more than one hundred years after his death, Twain’s writing continues to be read, debated, and quoted. In this brilliant work of scholarship, a moving tribute to the writer’s talent and humanity, Chernow reveals the magnificent and often maddening life of one of the most original characters in American history.

Whack Job book coverWhack Job: A History of Axe Murder” by Rachel McCarthy James (May 13)
Much like the wheel, the boat, and the telephone, the axe is a transformative piece of technology — one that has been with us since prehistory. And just as early humans used the axe to chop down trees, hunt for food, and whittle tools, they also used it to murder. Over time, this particular use has endured: as the axe evolved over centuries to fit the needs of new agricultural, architectural, and social development, so have our lethal uses for it. “Whack Job” is the story of the axe, first as a convenient danger and then an anachronism, as told through the murders it has been employed in throughout history: from the first axe murder nearly half a million years ago, to the brutal harnessing of the axe in warfare, to its use in King Henry VIII’s favorite method of execution, to Lizzie Borden and the birth of modern pop culture. “Whack Job” sheds brilliant light on this familiar implement, this most human of weapons. This is a critical examination of violence, an exploration of how technology shapes human conflict, the cruel and sacred rituals of execution and battle, and the ways humanity fits even the most savage impulses into narratives of the past and present.

Hollywood High book coverHollywood High: A Totally Epic, Way Opinionated History of Teen Movies” by Bruce Hardy (May 20)
What influence did Francis Ford Coppola have on George Lucas’s American Graffiti? And Lucas on John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood? How does teenage sexuality in Fast Times at Ridgemont High compare to Twilight? Which teen movies pass the Bechdel test? Why is Mean Girls actually the last great teen film of the 20th century? In the same way that Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls connects the films of the 1970s to the period’s cultural upheaval, and David Hadju’s Positively 4th Street tells the story of the sixties through the emergence of folk music, Bruce Handy’s “Hollywood High” situates iconic teen movies within their times and reveals the intriguing stories, artists, and passions behind their creation. These films aren’t merely beloved stories; they reflect teens’ growing economic and cultural influence, societal panics, and shifting perceptions of youth in America. Much more than a nostalgia trip, “Hollywood High” is a lively, provocative, and affectionate cultural history, spanning nearly one hundred years. Handy, an acclaimed journalist and critic who spent two decades at Vanity Fair, examines the defining films of each generation and builds connections between them. From the Andy Hardy classics (1937–1946) to the iconic Rebel Without a Cause (1955); Beach Party series (1963–1968); American Graffiti (1973); Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982); the John Hughes touchstones Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1984–1986); Boyz N the Hood (1991); Mean Girls (2004); the Twilight saga (2008–2012); and The Hunger Games series (2012–2015); this is a captivating deep dive into the world of teen movies that captures their sweeping history and influence. We’ll hear from icons James Dean, Annette Funicello, George Lucas, Amy Heckerling, John Hughes, Molly Ringwald, John Singleton, Tina Fey, and Kristen Stewart, and discover why the most timeless teen movies resonate across generations.

More Notable Releases for May

 

A Hit and a Miss: “Ultramarine” by Mariette Navarro and “Magma” by Thóra Hjörleifsdóttir

Posted on Friday, April 25, 2025 by Karena

One day. Two novellas. One reader. Too much free time. What happens next? A hit and a miss. The hit: the exquisite and absurd “Ultramarine” by Mariette Navarro. The miss: the perhaps noble yet ultimately nauseating “Magma” by Thóra Hjörleifsdóttir. These two fiction debuts have a few things in common. Both came out in the past few years, both are translated works (“Ultramarine” from French and “Magma” from Icelandic), and both take us into the fracturing minds of women. I spent an equal amount of time with them (about an hour each). I picked up “Ultramarine” first.

Ultramarine book cover

Continue reading “A Hit and a Miss: “Ultramarine” by Mariette Navarro and “Magma” by Thóra Hjörleifsdóttir”

The Museum of Whales You Will Never See

Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 by The Biblio-Buckaroo

“The world is chockablock with untold wonders, there for the taking, ready to be uncovered at any moment, if only we keep our eyes open.” So writes A. Kendra Greene in her book, “The Museum of Whales You Will Never See: And Other Excursions to Iceland’s Most Unusual Museums.” The name of the book, alone, is enough to capture someone’s imagination. Having grown up in a big city, I always had access to a number of wonderful museums. There were museums that held art from all different periods, cultures, and countries, as well as museums with dioramas depicting animals I had never seen so closely, or the skeletons of animals from long before humans walked the Earth. Museums can bring history to life by preserving and displaying everyday objects our ancestors used, or priceless historical documents carefully written by the hand of legendary people. At the Smithsonian, I once saw a pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz.” I was star-struck. It was like I was actually looking at magic shoes. Museums are magical places.

Here is a collection of books about museums, for your perusal:

Museum of Whale You will never see book coverThe Museum Of Whales You Will Never See: And Other Excursions to Iceland’s Most Unusual Museums,” is a funny book. The author’s museum descriptions tell you as much about the people of Iceland as they do about the museums themselves. With a notably high number of museums for the size of the population, there is a wide variety from which to choose. The museums mentioned in the book include the Icelandic Phallological Museum, The Herring Era Museum, The Icelandic Sea Monster Museum and The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft, among others. Reading about some of these museums made me long to see them in person (despite their location in a country that begins with the word “Ice” — brrr). Continue reading “The Museum of Whales You Will Never See”

Quintessential Comics: Poetry Edition

Posted on Friday, April 18, 2025 by Josh

Hey, there, comic fans! We’re back with another installment of Quintessential Comics! For this edition, we’re focusing on graphic novels that feature poetry alongside illustration as a celebration of Poetry Month! I hope you all can find something in this list that will spark your interest. Let’s give voice to the poets and just jump right in!

Embodied

Let’s start by setting the bar high. “Embodied” is described as “intersectional feminist poetry-in-comics” and is the result of a collaboration between cis female, trans, and non-binary poets and artists. The collection is bound to speak to you in some way as it covers a wide range of topics from the wave of emotions felt during childbirth, to the alienation felt as a result of immigration, to the harassment one can experience in the workplace due to their gender, race or religion. What really shines through in this work is its refusal to avoid the hard conversations and its ability to unite many of us through shared and very human experiences. Continue reading “Quintessential Comics: Poetry Edition”

Cookbook Showdown: Meal Prep Edition

Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2025 by Skyler Froese

The key to being lazy is being very, very prepared. My luxurious weeknight loaf on the couch can only come if my clothes are picked out, my face washed, and my lunch box packed for the next day. Rather than suffering the endless plight of constructing a sandwich every evening, I have been prepping my meals at the start of the week. When I run low on inspiration, cookbooks offer novelty in a way my Pinterest algorithm never seems to replicate. 

Using the library, I want some solid meals for me and the occasional hungry roommate. They need to be tasty, economical and keep well. I am excluding the several dozen meal prep recipes that focus on diet and weight loss, as these are not my goals. Additionally, whole week plans for large families, like Prep and Rally, were just impractical for one little Skyler. With this in mind, I tried three meal prep cookbooks to find some inspiration. 


Time to Eat” by Nadiya Hussain

Tzatziki Quesadilla

Cover Time to Eat by Nadiya Hussain

“Time to Eat,” Nadiya Hussain’s fourth cook book, focuses on recipes and strategies for meal prepping. Hussain fills her freezer for the future, storing meals weeks in advance to relieve the demand of feeding herself and her family. Each recipe breaks for the serving sizes, freezing, and reheating instructions. The food itself is a stodgy tour of British mainstays, Bengali flavors, and Hussain’s pension for pastry. She didn’t win the Great British Baking Show for no reason!

I made her recipe for Tzatziki Quesadillas. Luckily, the ingredients were easy to find and most of them were already in my freezer and pantry. A note on ingredients: the measurements are a bit puzzling. Some ingredients needed weighing, and others had non-standard amounts like a 7.5 ounce jar of Jalapenos. I will just chalk it up to British to American growing pains. The filling was easy to make and yielded two quesadillas, a sandwich, and some left over to eat manically with crackers while sitting on the floor. They were extremely tasty, most things with cheddar and jalapenos are. Unfortunately, the filling was not… well… filling. I expected a tortilla of Greek yogurt and chicken to sate me a little longer, but there I was, frantically snacking after work. 

Take Aways: A great read for a little whimsy in your freezer. Tasty recipes, but prepare to use your food scale and maybe pack a snack. Four of five spoons. 


The Batch Lady: Cooking on a Budget” by Suzanne Mulholland

Butternut Squash risotto

Cover of The Batch Lady, Cooking on a budget

Suzanne Mulholland’s, the Batch Lady, cooks to save money, time and energy. Her recipes are simple, classic dinners like pot roasts and burgers. The change is the batch. Quite astutely, Mullholland points out the cost of energy an oven generates, so opts to cook multiple recipes, and multiple batches of recipes at one. 

I tried the recipe for butternut squash risotto while also making chicken breasts and a week’s worth of breakfasts. The risotto itself left me wanting more — I ended up supplementing it with mushrooms, proteins, and generous sauces and seasonings when I would defrost it. While the flavors were wanting, I found myself using Mulholland’s batch logic. If the oven is on, why NOT make some bagels. If I am already frying up fajitas, why NOT make a second portion for later. 

Take Aways: I like her style and I will be incorporating more batch cooking into my week. However, the recipes were a little too bland to eat two batches by myself. Three out of Five Spoons. 


Damn Delicious Meal Prep:115 Easy Recipes for Low Calorie, High Energy Living” By Chugah RheeKorean Beef BowlCover of Damn Delicious Meal Prep

Winner Winner Meal Prepped Dinner!

This is what I have been looking for. This cookbook is customizable and diverse — featuring a wide range of recipes as classic and comforting as a broccoli, cheese and rice casserole, to more veggie forward and creative options like a Chicago dog inspired salad. Rhee, a foodie with a popular blog, wanted to get into control of her eating habits. She gives the same tips as everyone and separates the recipes into meals, but this cookbook features a template for meal planning in the back of the book.

I made her Korean beef bowls and really enjoyed them! They were very easy to make and store. I really appreciated that I had most of the ingredients on hand already. Cooking it was very easy and straightforward. Even so, the meal came together as greater than the sum of its parts. My beef bowls were satisfying and delicious. While reading, I bookmarked over a dozen recipes that seemed delicious. I am excited to keep revisiting this cookbook!

Take Aways: This was a fantastic cookbook that infused a lot of exciting flavor into my meal prep. I am tempted to buy a copy for my own shelf. Five out of five spoons.

Circuitry and Flesh: Cybernetics, Genetics, & Transhumanism

Posted on Monday, April 14, 2025 by David Litherland

white lightning usb cable coming out of a person's wrist

Technology is about doing more; every bit of tech that we have developed across the eons has been something that makes what we do either easier or allows us to accomplish more. Flint knives and axes make hunting and building easier, writing speeds up the transfer of knowledge, the plow lets a farmer work faster, the computer lets us do calculations at inhuman speeds and look up sci fi novels at our local library. Every iterative stage has been about doing everything more.

But, as we develop our technologies further and faster than before, and they become more and more integral to human function, the question becomes less “How can this technology help us do more?” rather “How can this technology help us be more?” When a robotic arm can lift many times the weight of one made of flesh and muscle, when an electronic eye can see beyond the spectrum of visible light, and when a computer chip can emulate a sentient mind just as well as (or better than) the chunk of salty fat that rests in our skull, what will being “human” mean? Or, in the extreme cases, will it even be fair to call what we are human? Trans- and post-humanism is, unsurprisingly, a well discussed topic in the science fiction world. From utopian views of freedom and strength, to nihilistic perspectives of technology only enforcing hierarchies, the debate and conversation of the role technology will play in our future as humans is vivid, energetic, and broad. Let’s examine a few of my favorite standouts in the conversation! Continue reading “Circuitry and Flesh: Cybernetics, Genetics, & Transhumanism”

Literary Links: Spring Is the Season for Hope — Tips for Finding Some

Posted on Monday, April 14, 2025 by MaggieM

WHeel of the Year book coverSome people make New Year’s resolutions, but maybe spring is a better time to plant the seeds of hope for the coming year.

“Just as you sow seeds that you hope to tend into strong, healthy plants, you can also set personal intentions … A season of birth and renewal, spring is an especially potent time to state your hopes and dreams, calling them forth,” Fiona Cook and Jessica Roux profess in their book “The Wheel of the Year: An Illustrated Guide to Nature’s Rhythms.” While Cook and Roux’s book is written for a juvenile audience, anyone can enjoy the beautiful illustrations and the message about noticing and celebrating the Earth’s seasons.

In recognition of Earth Day, consider tapping into the energy of spring to find hope and inspiration for what the future could hold. Continue reading “Literary Links: Spring Is the Season for Hope — Tips for Finding Some”

May First Thursday Book Discussion: “Klara and the Sun”

Posted on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 by Karena

My dad has always been a fan of the writer Kazuo Ishiguro, and it happens that the two bear a passing resemblance: black graying hair, brows furrowed over thick glasses, a permanent look of concern around the eyes and mouth. Maybe that’s why reading Ishiguro sometimes feels, uncannily, like listening to my dad tell a story. Funnily enough, Ishiguro’s 2021 novel “Klara and the Sun” was based on a tale he made up for his daughter Naomi when she was small. And when he told a grown-up Naomi about his plans to use the premise for a children’s book, she said: “You can’t possibly give young children a story like that. They will be traumatized.”

Kazuo Ishiguro by Andrew Testa (2015)

Continue reading “May First Thursday Book Discussion: “Klara and the Sun””

Nonfiction Roundup: April 2025

Posted on Monday, April 7, 2025 by Liz

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

Boat Baby: A Memoir” by Vicky Nguyen (Apr 1)
Starting in 1975, Vietnam’s “boat people” — desperate families seeking freedom — fled the Communist government and violence in their country any way they could, usually by boat across the South China Sea. Vicky Nguyen and her family were among them. Attacked at sea by pirates before reaching a refugee camp in Malaysia, Vicky’s family survived on rations and waited months until they were sponsored to go to America. But deciding to leave and start a new life in a new country is half the story… figuring out how to be American is the other. “Boat Baby” is Vicky’s memoir of growing up in America with unconventional Vietnamese parents who didn’t always know how to bridge the cultural gaps. It’s a childhood filled with misadventures and misunderstandings, from almost stabbing the neighborhood racist with a butter knife to getting caught stealing Cosmo in the hope of learning Do You Really Think You Know Everything About Sex? Vicky’s parents approached life with the attitude, “Why not us?” In the face of prejudice, they taught her to be gritty and resilient, skills Vicky used as she combated stereotyping throughout her career, fending off the question “Aren’t you Connie Chung?” to become a leading Asian American journalist on television. She delivers a uniquely transparent account of her life, revealing how she negotiated her salary in a competitive industry, the challenges of starting a family, and the struggle to be a dutiful daughter. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: April 2025”