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 28, 2024.
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Angel of Vengeance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Preston and Child return again to the wonderful world of Aloysius Pendergast and Constance Greene in this absolutely perfect thriller. Pendergast, an FBI special agent with (shall we say) a unique investigative method, and Greene, who was introduced way back when as Pendergast’s ward but has become something altogether more special to him, take one last run at the notorious serial killer Enoch Leng. But this is no ordinary good guys vs. bad guy story. Anybody can write one of those, but only Preston and Child can write a Pendergast novel. For starters, the book, like its immediate predecessors, is set in an alternate time line from the earlier novels in the series; characters who were dead in that time line are alive again in this one, which makes for a rather surreal experience for readers who know what happened to these characters in previous tales. The story itself is less about catching a serial killer as it is about the unique relationship between the two protagonists: Greene’s rage is directed at Leng, but threatens to consume her, and Pendergast is desperate to make sure that doesn’t happen. You will rarely see two characters as complex and compelling as these two, and you will rarely see a series as consistently well written as this one. – Booklist Review
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By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
Perennial best-seller Picoult, who has tackled such heady subjects as same-sex marriage, abortion, and racism, takes on another hot-button topic sure to ignite controversy and conversation: the question of Shakespearean authorship. In this dual time line tale, struggling playwright Melina Green has written a play about her ancestor Emilia Bassano, who she believes really penned many of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Frustrated with sexism in the New York theater scene in 2023, Melina pushes her Black male friend Andre, also a playwright, to claim credit for her work when a lauded but arrogant critic expresses interest in getting the play produced. This leads to a Shakespearean–or should it be Bassanian?–comedy of errors. At the same time, Picoult tells Emilia’s story. Forced to become a courtesan at 13, she eventually falls in love with a handsome nobleman, but when she gets pregnant, she’s married off to a brutal man and forced to earn a living penning poems and plays for a dissolute actor, namely, William Shakespeare. Some readers will undoubtedly quibble with Picoult’s conclusions about the Bard, but they’ll just as assuredly find themselves thoroughly engaged with the struggles of Emilia, Melina, and Andre as writers with the deck stacked against them in this timely and affecting tale.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Picoult’s many, many fans will pounce on her latest incisive, pot-stirring tale, while the Shakepearean theme will attract even more readers. – Starred Booklist Review
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The Dallergut Dream Department Store: A Novel by Miye Lee & Sandy Joosun Lee
DEBUT Lee’s debut novel, a Korean best seller, is a charming foray into the land of sleep. Here, talented creatives produce dreams for sleepers to purchase. The luckiest sleepers will find their way to Dallergut’s Dream Department Store, where the staff believe that dreams should matter, and do their best to match people with dreams that will improve their lives. Readers are guided through this world by the store’s newest hire, Penny, whose willingness to speak up and ask questions allows for natural exposition and worldbuilding. While there is very little action, the novel is comforting and sweet. Many readers will appreciate the central messages, that life is better when well-rested and that dreams matter, no matter how nonsensical, stressful, or easily forgotten they might be. In fact, as demonstrated through vignettes about people in the waking world, sometimes the most irritating dreams are the push one needs to change their life. For a novel about dreams, the level of surrealism remains low, despite fluffy anthropomorphic tigers with pajamas and mechanical eyelids to monitor customer sleepiness.
VERDICT This is an excellent choice for a gentle book club read. – Starred Library Journal Review
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Spirit Crossing by William Kent Krueger
In Krueger’s chilling latest case for half-Irish, half-Ojibwe PI Cork O’Connor (after Fox Creek), the former Minnesota sheriff gets involved in a murder investigation after his grandson discovers a shallow grave while picking blueberries. At first, police suspect the body may be that of Olivia Hamilton, the troubled teenage daughter of a state senator, who disappeared weeks earlier. A closer look, however, reveals it to be the corpse of an unidentified Indigenous woman, which causes the FBI and local police to lose interest. The case then lands with the recently established Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police, with O’Connor pitching in. As he and his new colleagues interview members of the local Ojibwe community, O’Connor comes to suspect the body is that of Crystal Two Knives, who’s been missing for six months and whose case has been receiving much less public attention than Olivia’s. When Olivia’s body is also found, he begins to wonder if the two cases are connected. Krueger maintains an eerie tone throughout, folding subtle supernatural elements into one of his most puzzling mysteries to date. This long-running series still has plenty of gas in the tank. – Publishers Weekly Review
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Under A Rock by Chris Stein
Blondie guitarist Stein, now 74 years old, begins his engaging memoir with his childhood in New York City. He details his middle-class upbringing in a left-wing family, his school days, his fascination with photography, and the phase that led to his hospitalization due to hallucinogens. He recounts his meeting singer Deborah Harry, the early days of Blondie at the NYC performance space CBGB, and the late-1970s New York punk scene. In the last half of the book, he chronicles the mainstream success of Blondie with the 1978 disco-influenced album Parallel Lines (which contained the song “Heart of Glass”), their increasingly funky pop on the 1980 single “Call Me,” and the group’s 1980 Autoamerican album (featuring “The Tide Is High”). The book ends with a description of Stein’s substance-use disorder, the end of his romantic relationship with Harry, his sobriety and family life, and the band’s ongoing tours and recordings. It also relates engaging stories about such notables as William S. Burroughs, David Bowie, H.R. Giger, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. VERDICT Written in an off-the-cuff style, this memoir offers a descriptive, highly impressionistic account of the author’s role in Blondie and his life in New York City. Will engage general readers. – 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.
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