- February 5, 2021
This collection of short stories by young adult author Holly Black wasn’t short on anything I look for in her novels. It was gripping, magical, dark, and utterly lovely. Each character draws you in with their unique voice and story, making it hard and exciting to move on from each tale. The tone of each ...
Read more… - January 22, 2021
It’s the summer of 1945, and 18-year-old Zofia has been released from the hospital where she convalesced after liberation from the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. She is determined to reunite with her younger brother Abek, the only other family member who went “right” with her in the lines at Auschwitz-Birkenau, but she is hindered by mental ...
Read more… - January 15, 2021
I recently read Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares and fell in love with it! It’s co-authored by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.
Netflix has been pumping out new series to watch, and Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares is one of their recent releases. I hadn’t watched it yet, but I spotted the book on ...
Read more… - January 8, 2021
I watched this movie as part of our preparations for the Library’s upcoming “Armchair Traveler” Series, which starts later this month. It is available through Kanopy, the Library’s free video- streaming service.
This award-winning film — by a Zambian-born, Welsh-raised director named Rungano Nyoni — is set in present day Zambia. The movie opens as a ...
Read more… - December 18, 2020
In 2016, at age 54, Dani Shapiro’s life took quite a turn. On a whim, she sent in a DNA test kit to a genealogy website. As it turned out, her father (or the man she identified as such) was not her biological father. Almost miraculously, some friends were able to use genealogy websites to ...
Read more… - December 4, 2020
Frederick Backman has a gift. He is at once an aloof observer and conspiratorial in his commentary, while challenging the status quo as absurd and celebrating life’s mundane moments. His works are though-provoking, funny, and just a touch melancholic. Anxious People is no exception.
The story deftly takes the reader to a police interrogation room, an ...
Read more… - November 20, 2020
I loved this book! It was the second selection for a book group I recently joined called “The Coven.” I was not optimistic when I realized that ALL of the titles we would read would most likely be in the SciFi/Fantasy genre, and I struggled with this book for the first 75 pages or so. ...
Read more… - November 13, 2020
At the beginning of this novel, Jack and Mabel are preparing for their first winter on their new homestead in Alaska in 1920. Still reeling from the loss of their baby, the couple struggles to connect with one another amid the brutal wilderness. On the night of the first snowfall, Jack and Mabel set aside ...
Read more… - November 6, 2020
In 1913, Laura Lyons lived in the New York Public Library’s superintendent’s apartment with her husband and two children. While her husband managed all of the caretaking duties of the busy and awe-inspiring library, Laura raised her children and wrote an amusing column for the library’s newsletter about her family’s experience living in the famous ...
Read more… - October 30, 2020
Nat Turner by Kyle Baker was an incredibly emotional and eye-opening experience. It is the true story of Nat Turner and his slave rebellion, which took place in Southhampton County, Virginia in 1831. Told in graphic novel format, Baker uses vivid, wordless images alongside excerpts of Turner’s confession to convey the brutalities of slavery and ...
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