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, November 13, 2024.
–
Good Night, Irene: A Novel by Luis Alberto Urrea
Urrea (The House of Broken Angels) transports readers to the Western Front of WWII in his stunning latest. Irene Woodward, a tough New Yorker, covers up the bruises received from her abusive fiancé with concealer and sweaters, throws her engagement ring down the drain, and joins America’s war effort as a member of the Red Cross Clubmobile. Tasked with high expectations—keep driving and keep smiling—Irene is sent to England alongside Dorothy Dunford, who, much like Irene, is looking for an escape from her life. The two become fast friends while serving coffee and doughnuts and trying to comfort the soldiers, a nebulous task defined in the chaste terms of the day (they should act like a “big sister, girl next door, mom or sweetheart”). As the U.S. efforts advance, Irene fears she has lost Dorothy, who’s become like a sister, after they are separated in an accident; eventually, she goes home to New York to rebuild a life marred with survivor’s guilt and shell shock. In a move that could feel contrived but only further elevates the work, Urrea bookends the wrenching narrative with a surprising discovery 50 years later. It’s a moving and graceful tribute to friendship and to heroic women who have shouldered the burdens of war. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review
–
Homestead by Melinda Moustakis
Fleeing memories of his abbreviated service, Korean War veteran Lawrence stakes his claim on a parcel of free land in the Alaska Territory. At an Anchorage bar, he meets Marie, a young woman ostensibly visiting her sister in Alaska, who is determined not to return to her native Texas. The promise of Lawrence’s 150 acres is all that it takes for her to agree to a date and then marriage. Virtual strangers, their first year of marriage is marked by joy and tragedy, birth and death as Lawrence struggles to tame both the wilderness and his own demons, and Marie seeks to reconcile her troubled childhood with the woman she has become. Under U.S. law, living on the land in a habitable dwelling and farming 20 acres constitutes ownership. But what rights are given to those who have spilled their blood or birthed and buried children there? And what about the Native people for whom this very land was home for generations? Inspired by Moustakis’ own family history and set during the Alaskan Territory’s bid for statehood, this stunning debut novel considers what it truly means to own land. Recommended for fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone (2018). – Starred Booklist Review
–
Merlin’s Tour of the Universe, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century: A Traveler’s Guide to Blue Moons and Black Holes, Mars, Stars, and Everything by Neil Degrasse Tyson
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry takes readers on an entertaining and edifying tour of the universe.
In Neil deGrasse Tyson’s delightful journey through the cosmos, his fictional character Merlin responds to popular questions asked by adults and children alike. Merlin, a timeless visitor from Planet Omniscia in the Andromeda Galaxy, has observed firsthand many of the major scientific events of Earth’s history. Merlin’s friends include the most important scientific figures and explorers of all time—da Vinci, Magellan, Newton, Einstein, and Hubble. While Merlin occasionally recounts playful conversations with these luminaries, all questions are answered with authentic science, infused with wit, wisdom, and an occasional rhyme. With the help of intermittent humorous cartoons, Merlin clarifies the details of familiar phenomena like gravity, light, space, and time, and travels to distant stars and galaxies to describe what makes them tick, rotate, explode, and collapse.
Merlin’s Tour of the Universe is perfect for anyone who harbors burning questions on how the cosmos works.
–
The Queen of Dirt Island A Novel by Donal Ryan
Beginning at the end and ending with a bright beginning, this latest offering from award-winning Irish novelist Ryan (Strange Flowers; The Spinning Heart) is a broad-sweeping, satisfying family saga. It is a story of stories. The generations of Aylward women of Nenagh, County Tipperary, are tenacious and fiercely loyal. They have survived famine, death, poverty, gun-runners, and men who are either dead or useless and all the while have ignored the whispers of their neighbors. As granddaughter Saoirse navigates teenage pregnancy and a bitter family rift over a potential land grab, deep family darkness and suffering are revealed. Can Saoirse mature fast enough to survive this turbulence? Her future and that of her daughter could be in real peril from the pain wrought by people on the periphery of their lives.
VERDICT This could be an incredibly sad story were it not for Ryan’s ability to infuse the irony of Irish humor into its darkest corners. Light glimmers just as the story fades to black. His expert storytelling and the strength and resilience of his characters make this so much more than just another Irish family saga. Highly recommended. – Starred Library Journal Review
–
The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar
Salazar’s best novel yet, following Angels of the Resistance (2022), brings the roaring 1920s to life in a heartfelt tale about a young woman coming into her own in Prohibition-era Seattle. Zora Hough grew up in poverty, but her childhood was always happy, at least until her father’s lumberyard accident. Now her days are spent sewing with her mother, corralling her younger siblings, and trying to get by. When tragedy strikes again, she is forced to look outside the home for a better job to support her family. Her new position as a live-in nanny gives her more free time, and she is introduced to the exciting and sultry Seattle underworld. Zora has always wanted to be a fashion designer, and the diverse clubs filled with beautiful people provide infinite inspiration. There are also seemingly infinite suitors, but Zora finds that she is only drawn to the dapper Harley Aldridge, and the feelings are mutual. Her rise to the top as Zora Lily is not without trials, and Salazar expertly entrances readers with Zora’s dramatic story, which is bookended with a modern-day reflection on her achievements. While this is a work of fiction, Salazar brings the 1920s to historically detailed life in this inspiring, feel-good tale. – Starred Booklist Review
–
Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
–
Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
–
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.
–
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.
–
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.
–
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.
–
Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 