Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
And the next Suggested Reading posting will be published on Wednesday, August 7, 2024.
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Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
At first glance, khipus (or quipus) look like messy strings with raggedy knots, but they are the material vestiges of a sophisticated Inca system of communication. In her first novel, Cornejo Villavicencio introduces brazen, smart Catalina, who is as tangled, textured, and cryptic as the khipus that thread throughout this tale. The year is 2010 when Catalina recounts her senior year at Harvard. The Dream Act has not yet passed, and her undocumented status is only one of the stressors she confronts. Another is the deportation order she discovers in the trash for her adored and contentious grandfather, the man who, along with her opinionated, feminist abuela, raised her in Queens after her parents died in Ecuador. Catalina is irreverent and often laugh-out-loud funny, but the dark strings of her khipu are never far from that bright surface (her thesis is about feminicide in Roberto Bola’o’s 2666). She invokes cultural figures from Anzaldea to JLo, Harurki Murakami, and Henry Kissinger. And she knows her own value, which she asserts at an Inca museum exhibit as part of a mordant rundown of the Spanish conquest: “Anyway, the gold was here now, just like khipu and just like me.” Catalina demands her due from friends, lovers, professors, and familia in Cornejo Villavicencio’s bravura bildungsroman. – Starred Booklist Review
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The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage by Jonathan Turley
Freedom of speech, from the founding of the republic, has been perhaps the most sacrosanct right enumerated in the Constitution. Ironically, almost from the founding, legal restrictions were placed on speech, especially relating to the crime of sedition. Attorney and legal scholar Turley posits that much of seditious speech is sparked by rage–rage at the government because of perceived oppression and injustice. Thomas Jefferson believed that such speech should be forgiven, as it often sparked helpful political dialogue on difficult subjects (a position he himself was not always able to adhere to during his administration). Turley pulls many examples from history (the Boston Tea Party, the Whiskey Rebellion, January 6th) to illustrate the free-speech issues raised and the arguments put forth on all sides. He finishes by exploring possible paths for protecting the “indispensable right” in today’s rage-filled society, given the difficult obstacles of pervasive disinformation and the constant threat of fascistic violence. It’s a complicated issue, and Turley’s examination of it is a heavy journey but well worth the effort. – Booklist Review
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A Refiner’s Fire by Donna Leon
There are certainly more violent crimes that inspire gripping police procedurals, but in the thirty-third installment of Leon’s beloved Venetian mystery series showcasing the emotional depth and intellectual acumen of Commissario Guido Brunetti, a late-night dustup between teenage rival gangs has far-reaching impact. Maybe the altercation has less to do with what the “baby gangs” are doing than what the father of one teen did as a member of the Carabinieri police force. The national press once regarded Dario Monforte as a hero for his actions during a terrorist bombing in the Iraq war, yet Brunetti can find no official acknowledgement of his alleged act of valor. When Monforte’s son is caught up in the gang activity, Brunetti’s colleague Claudia Griffoni takes a special interest in the boy’s demeanor and background, leading to charges of scandalous impropriety. With the understated elegance and empathy imbued throughout this internationally acclaimed series, Leon once again examines the confluence of solid police work with issues of redemption and social justice.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Following Leon’s memoir, Wandering through Life (2023), her fans will be even more intrigued by the latest Brunetti investigation. – Booklist Review
Reader’s Note: As mentioned in the review, this is the thirty-third book in the Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning check out book one: Death at La Fenice.
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The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin
People-pleaser Hannah, brash Lainey, and intense Tyson had their world turned upside down when athletic Summer, the fourth in their tight-knit circle, took her own life not long before college graduation. Devastated, the remaining three vowed to support each other through any crisis, so when, a decade later, Hannah catches her fiancé cheating on her, she immediately calls Lainey and Tyson. Up-and-coming actress Lainey blows off an audition, and Tyson, a brilliant attorney, leaves a big case to be by Hannah’s side. The trio decides to go on a whirlwind trip; first up is Texas, where Hannah hopes Lainey will finally have the courage to introduce herself to her two half-sisters, who have no idea Lainey exists. After that, they head to Capri, a place Summer longed to visit, where secrets each of the three are keeping as well as Lainey’s complicated relationship to alcohol threaten their bond. Giffin is at her best when she’s delving into the hard and sometimes outwardly questionable choices that her characters make in their pursuit of happiness, and her latest harks back to her bold, layered debut, Something Borrowed (2004). This thirtysomething coming-into-one’s-own tale feels true to life, messy in all the best ways, and hopeful. A triumph. – Booklist Review
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What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena
Lapena delivers another top-notch twisty thriller. Teenagers Riley, Evan, and Diana are best friends, 17 years old and ready to take on the world. They just need to get through one more year in sleepy Fairhill, VT, where nothing. ever. happens. Content (for now) to hang out in the graveyard on Friday nights, drink vodka, and tell ghost stories, they even tolerate Diana’s controlling boyfriend, Cameron. Only Riley knows that Diana is unhappy with the clingy Cameron, who wants them to go to the same college, and that she plans to break away from him soon. Then a local farmer discovers Diana’s naked, dead body surrounded by vultures in a field one morning, changing the friends forever. Rumors and questions about Diana’s death swirl in the once-peaceful town, and no one is above suspicion.
VERDICT Lapena is a master of suspense, and she doesn’t disappoint here. Her many fans and those who enjoy domestic suspense, small-town crimes, and twisty thrillers will flock to this one. Very highly recommended. – Starred Library Journal
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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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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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 