Hi everyone, here are our recommended reads for the week!
*More information on the three catalogs and available formats is found at the end of the list of recommended reads*
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Weekly Suggested Reading postings are published on Wednesdays.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.
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Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—and How You Can Too by Ijeoma Oluo
Bestseller Oluo (So You Want to Talk About Race) affirms that “everyone has different roles in this revolution” in these enlightening profiles of people who’ve put their anti-racist values into action. Each chapter highlights the tie between racial justice and some other topic—such as gender, disability, policing, education, and the arts—through detailed life stories of activists that center their changing understanding of the world and how they managed challenges. For example, a chapter on Richie Reseda relates how his encounters with Black feminist theory in prison led him to found Success Story, a workshop to help incarcerated men think about how internalized patriarchal ideas have shaped and harmed them. Throughout, Oluo showcases a variety of ways to promote anti-racism, many of them intended to be of use to people for whom anti-racist organizing is not necessarily a central focus of their activism. She also admirably demonstrates how she continues to grow through self-education and reflection, at one point frankly addressing earlier shortcomings in her thinking about disability. Readers will find inspiration and clarity. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
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The Ghost Orchard by Jonathan Kellerman
Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis confront a baffling, vicious double homicide that leads them to long-buried secrets worth killing for in the riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling “master of suspense” (Los Angeles Times).
LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis sees it all the time: Reinvention’s a way of life in a city fueled by fantasy. But try as you might to erase the person you once were, there are those who will never forget the past . . . and who can still find you.
A pool boy enters a secluded Bel Air property and discovers two bodies floating in the bright blue water: Gio Aggiunta, the playboy heir to an Italian shoe empire, and a gorgeous, even wealthier neighbor named Meagin March. A married neighbor.
An illicit affair stoking rage is a perfect motive. But a “double” in this neighborhood of gated estates isn’t something you see every day. The house is untouched. No forced entry, no forensic evidence. The case has “that feeling,” and when that happens, Milo turns to his friend, the brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware.
As Milo and Alex investigate both victims, they discover two troubled pasts. And as they dig deeper, Meagin March’s very identity begins to blur. Who was this glamorous but conflicted woman? Did her past catch up to her? Or did Gio’s family connections create a threat spanning two continents?
Chasing down the answers leads Alex and Milo on an exploration of L.A.’s darkest side as they contend with one of the most shocking cases of their careers and learn that that some secrets are best left buried in the past.
Reader’s Note: The Ghost Orchard is the thirty-ninth book in the Alex Delaware Series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one: When The Bough Breaks.
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A Love Song For Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
From the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is an epic love story one hundred years in the making…
Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.
Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they’re long-stemmed roses, she’s a dandelion: an adorable bloom that’s actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.
When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.
One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.
Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.
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One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Healed from a checkered past, Arden Ward is in a good place. She is successful in her career as a crisis manager, protecting high-profile clients from PR disasters. But when Arden ends up in a disaster of her own–accused of an affair with a mogul she’s never even gone near–her life goes sideways. Her boss fires her, but he gives her two weeks to work on a final case. This one involves Ned Bannister, a real-estate tycoon who has just been acquitted of a vehicular homicide. Despite the exoneration, Bannister’s wife, Cordelia, is still being ostracized by her PTA and socialite peers. Arden jumps right in, but then Ned’s lawyer is mowed down in another hit-and-run. Accused of yet another crime, Ned goes to Arden, and they begin working together while being pursued by the assistant DA and the police. Ryan (The House Guest, 2023) has built a solid repertoire of unique thrillers, and this one is no exception. Fresh twists, including the unexpected friendship between Arden and Ned, keep the plot barreling forward. – Booklist Review
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The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie
The latest addition to Petrie’s lauded Peter Ash series begins with a familiar setup: there’s Gulf War veteran Peter, with “adrenaline burning his veins like gasoline,” leading a gang of leathery gunmen, and his vengeance-minded pal Lewis, always ready to step up when “the law hadn’t done the job.” Typically, Lewis is helping Peter, but this time it’s the opposite: when somebody steals notebooks full of secrets about Lewis’ past from one of his former criminal associates, Peter steps in to help track them down and keep Lewis and his family safe. Petrie shows off his action-writing chops with a series of vivid, remarkably clear firefights and, in between, pauses to recover. In this series installment, the wiliest fighters are the heroes’ girlfriends, which makes for great fun. But there’s also some gravitas; in a devastating twist on Lewis’ fascination with vengeance, midway through the book we learn of the grief that provoked this bloodbath. – Booklist Review
Reader’s Note: The Price You Pay is the eighth book in Nick Petrie’s Peter Ash Series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one: The Drifter.
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A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen
Neither Carter Cho nor Mariana Pineda knows exactly what the Hawke accelerator is accelerating. But whatever it is, it shakes the whole universe apart every four days and resets. Initially, Carter is alone in his awareness of the looping, and he’s bored with it all. Until he manages to pull Mariana into his awareness of the loop. As history repeats all around them, Carter and Mariana occupy a little bubble of two, a bubble that explores what’s gone wrong and how to fix it, even as they tentatively reach towards a relationship that neither of them could have expected. Just as they near a solution, Carter slips out of their bubble. Mariana chooses to sacrifice everything to get him back–hopefully saving the world along the way.
VERDICT Combining the sweet redemption and understated romance of Groundhog Day with the multiple explosive resets of Edge of Tomorrow, this novel from Chen (Vampire Weekend) loops its way through a charming story about opposites attracting, the human ability to reset expectations and emotions against all the odds, and the power of one woman willing to make a big sacrifice for a small change that might just save the universe. – Library Journal Review
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Simply The Best by Elizabeth Phillips
(Publication Date: February 13 – you can place a hold via StarCat now!)
As one of Champion Management’s top sports agents, Brett Rivers is used to winning deals, but he has to admit he may finally have met his match in Rory Garrett. Rory’s brother (and Brett’s client) Clint has just become the leading suspect in the suspicious death of Ashley Hart, Clint’s ex-girlfriend. Even though Clint is mad as heck at her for telling him to break up with Ashley, Rory knows Clint had nothing to do with the murder. So when Brett tries to sideline Rory after she begins investigating the crime, she offers Brett a deal. In exchange for Brett sharing his contacts in Clint’s world, Rory will help Brett, who had also told Clint to break up with Ashley, get back in the good graces of his most important client. Sounds fair, right? Readers will want to savor every delectable word in the sublimely talented Phillips’ latest Chicago Stars novel, following When Stars Collide (2021), just as one would enjoy the luscious artisanal bonbons crafted by the book’s heroine. Infused with addictively acerbic wit and graced with a perfectly matched pair of protagonists whose sexual chemistry is hot enough to melt chocolate, this is Phillips at her dazzling best. – Booklist Review
Reader’s Note: Simply The Best is the tenth book in Phillips’s Chicago Stars Series; each book in the series follows the romance of a different set of characters. If you’d like to read the series from the beginning check out book one: It Had To Be You.
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Tales Of The Celestial Kingdom by Sue Lynn Tan
Tan returns to the spellbinding world of her Celestial Kingdom duology with this collection of nine stories set before, during, and after the novels. The first section, “Dusk,” deepens readers’ understanding of Xingyin’s parents in three stories, contextualizing their fateful decisions: Houyi’s slaughter of the 10 sunbirds and Chang’e’s drinking of the immortality elixir to save herself and her baby. The next section, “Twilight,” spans both books in the duology and recounts important moments and fierce battles from the perspective of other characters, particularly key romantic figures, Liwei and Wenzhi, who weigh their feelings for Xingyin against their duty to family. The final section, “Dawn,”” portrays Wenzhi’s mortal life after his reincarnation and his eventual reunion with Xingyin; the final story serves as a swooningly romantic epilogue to the duology. These insightful character studies and interesting side stories are perfect for readers ready to reimmerse themselves in Tan’s magical storytelling, especially those who have longed for a proper ending to Xingyin and Wenzhi’s tale. – Booklist Review
Reader’s List: The Celestial Kingdom duology consists of two novels: Daughter Of The Moon Goddess and Heart Of The Sun Warrior.
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The Women: A Novel by Kristin Hannah
Frankie McGrath is just 20 when she enlists in the army to go to Vietnam as a nurse in 1965, planning to follow in the footsteps of her older brother, Finley. Frankie’s parents are dismayed by her decision, even more so once they get the horrible news that Finley has been killed in action. Frankie deploys to Vietnam and is quickly overwhelmed by the horrors of war, but with the help of two new friends, Barb and Ethel, and a handsome doctor, Jamie, she adjusts to the rigors of nursing in a war zone. Her attraction to Jamie is stymied by complications, then she finds love with her brother’s best friend, a charming pilot named Rye. When Frankie’s service comes to an end, she is distressed when she returns to the States to find that Vietnam vets are not lauded as heroes and that many vets don’t acknowledge the service of military women. As she grapples with PTSD and finds her place in antiwar protests, Frankie is dealt a terrible blow. Hannah (The Four Winds, 2021) continues her winning streak of compelling historical novels, capturing the tumultuous atmosphere of the 1960s and ’70s in a moving, gripping tale that pays tribute to the under-appreciated skill and courage of combat nurses.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hannah’s popularity ensures enormous interest in each new novel, and the unusual historical context and focus of this one will stir up additional curiosity. – Booklist Review
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Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine
Riley has her life figured out–or as much of a life as she can have in a world where society has been ravaged by a pandemic. The pandemic in question isn’t a virus or bacteria; instead, it sends anyone who makes eye contact with another human into a rage that ends in violent death. To survive, Riley has holed herself away in her late grandmother’s cabin with enough food and water to last for several months of total isolation. When a mysterious stranger moves in down the road, Riley’s conditioned acceptance of the world is shattered. Ellis makes her feel safe, and, despite her best efforts, Riley finds herself making increasingly reckless decisions in her search for human contact. But when she starts to feel eyes constantly tracking her and to experience increasingly frequent losses of time, Riley begins to question just how alone she is. A refreshingly original take on dystopian fiction, Moraine’s latest is as haunting as it is thought-provoking. Fans of Blindness (1998), by Jose Saramago, and Station Eleven (2014), by Emily St. John Mandel, will be gripped by Riley’s deeply human struggles amid a global pandemic. – Booklist Review
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Have questions or want to request a book?
Feel free to call the library! Our telephone number is 607-936-3713.
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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Information on the three library catalogs
Digital Catalog: https://stls.overdrive.com/
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout/download content to a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
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Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/
The Hoopla Catalog features instant/on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla App is available for Android or Apple devices, PCs, smart TVs & media streaming players.
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StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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