Hi everyone, here are our five recommended reads of the week!
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Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are published on Wednesdays.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
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Has Anyone Seen Charlote Salter? A Novel by Nicci French
The 1990 disappearance of Charlotte Salter, a well-liked mother of four, remained unsolved for decades, burdening the village of Glensted with rumors of infidelity and suspicion. As salt on the wound, the Salters’ close friend, Duncan Ackerly, drowned the day after her disappearance, and Charlotte’s son, Paul, eventually committed suicide. Twenty years later, Charlotte’s remaining adult children, Niall, Ollie, and Etty, have gathered in Glensted to sell the family home. Duncan Ackerly’s sons, Greg and Morgan, have also returned to launch a podcast about the likely connections between Charlotte’s disappearance and their father’s death. With the spotlight on the police’s questionable initial response, Bristol DI Maud O’Connor is sent to Glensted to re-investigate both cases. Maud confronts resistance from her team, raging public criticism of the original investigation, and decades of cold clues with unshakable confidence in the cases’ solvability. French cleverly plays on that suspense by doling out Maud’s plan and clues in tantalizing bits. The wolf hides in sheep’s clothing here, to great effect. – Booklist Review
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I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
Amid the dystopian collapse of the near future, a musician embarks on a quixotic voyage from the shore of Lake Superior. There’s both a playfulness and a seriousness of purpose to the latest from the Minnesota novelist, a spirit of whimsy that keeps hope flickering even in times of darkest despair. Things have gone dangerously dark along the North Shore, and likely for the country as a whole. A comet is coming that augurs ill, a pandemic has wreaked havoc with the public health, an autocratic despot and raging populism have made books and booksellers all but treasonous. There are corpses floating in the lake from climate change, and there are numerous instances of people swallowing something that kills them; the dead are generally considered seekers of whatever comes next (which has to be better than this) rather than suicides. As narrator Rainy sets the scene, “The world was so old and exhausted that many now saw it as a dying great-grand on a surgical table, body decaying from use and neglect, mind fading down to a glow.” Rainy is a bass player in bar bands, a jack of a variety of trades, and devoted husband to Lark, a bibliophile who runs the local bookstore. Before the collapse of the publishing industry, a cult author had been set to publish a volume with the same title as this novel, and finding one of the few advance copies has been like a holy grail for Lark. Then a copy finds her, courtesy of a fugitive pursued by the powers that be, and whatever tranquility Lark and Rainy had achieved is shattered. Rainy takes to the lake to escape the fugitive’s pursuers and reunite with Lark. He experiences a variety of hardship, challenge, and adventure, yet somehow lives to tell the tale that is this novel. The novel’s voice remains engaging, and its spirit resilient, against some staggeringly tough times. – Kirkus Review
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Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson
Ms. Dorothy Darling knows everything that goes on in Shelley House, a small, ramshackle apartment building in England. The opera-loving septuagenarian keeps watch from her front window, so she knows when her neighbor, Joseph Chambers, has illegally rented his spare room to Kat Bennett, a 25-year-old loner with pink hair. Kat wants nothing more than to keep her distance, so when everyone is served with an eight-week eviction notice, she figures she’ll just move on. But then Joseph is attacked, and Kat stays to watch his dog, Reggie. Dorothy and Kat both have secrets keeping them at Shelley House, and soon they are caught up in Joseph’s campaign to save the building from a shady developer. Sampson (The Lost Ticket, 2022) once again presents a charming story about intergenerational friendship leading to healing. As the narrative alternates between Dorothy and Kat’s distinct voices, readers learn why the two women have their walls up, and have the pleasure of watching those walls come down. This heartwarming tale is full of subtle humor and rich characters. – Booklist Review
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Old Flames and New Fortunes by Sarah Hogle
Moonville, a quaint town in rural Ohio, is where Romina Tempest and her two sisters run a whimsical shop full of candles, flowers, and fantasy books, all infused with the sisters’ magic. Romina calls herself a flora fortunist and uses the language of plants to make spellbinding arrangements. The owner of the shop, Trevor, is Romina’s best friend, and they hope to secure a loan from his father to help expand the business. They walk into what they think is a business meeting only to find that Trevor’s father is announcing his impending marriage to the mother of Romina’s high-school sweetheart, Alex King. Furthermore, Alex is there. Right there. The boy who broke her heart over a decade ago is back in Moonville. Romina and Trevor find themselves in the middle of a fake-dating scheme to get back at Alex, but through the chaos, Romina and Alex realize that an ember of their teenage love still burns. This second-chance romance is a bit jumbled at times, but Hogle (You Deserve Each Other, 2020) succeeds in crafting a fun romance with a touch of fantasy. – Booklist Review
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The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: Their Stories Are Better Than the Bestsellers by James Patterson & Matt Eversmann
Not to spoil the secret promised in the title, but what unites all of the booksellers and librarians interviewed for this book is a love of books and reading and other people who love books and reading. Patterson and Eversmann include such luminaries as Judy Blume, who quit writing after 50 years and opened a book store in Key West, and a bookstore owner in Rehoboth, Delaware, who regularly rubs elbows with the Bidens. Several themes emerge: subjects grew up loving reading (there are a few mentions of favorite reads, like the Lord of the Rings series and even James Patterson); they love the community-hub aspect of where they work; and they relish a book-search challenge, like “”the cover is blue.”” What they don’t enjoy are challenges to books, with several entries devoted to those who are fighting for intellectual freedom, like the librarian in Texas who was fired for not taking down a pride display. With its bite-sized chapters, this collection of profiles doesn’t go into much depth, but it will appeal to readers looking for some quick, bookish inspiration.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Patterson is always in this category; add to that a topic that’s a natural for all booklovers. – 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
The 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 content on 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 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 companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, 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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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 