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 20, 2024
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The Author’s Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams
Three authors walk into a bar. That’s how Cassie Pringle, a cozy mystery writer; Kat de Noir, writer of erotic romantic fantasy; and Emma Endicott, who writes historical portraits of forgotten women, end up at a writers’ retreat on an isolated Scottish island. The besties are researching and writing a book called Fifty Shades of Plaid while staying at Kinloch Castle. Then, fellow author Brett Saffron Presley is murdered on the night of the village dance celebration. On an island where everyone is interrelated, it’s natural for Detective Chief Inspector Euan Macintosh to eye the American writers with suspicion. Their stories don’t add up, and each of them has a history with the dead man. Knowing that they’re suspects, the three women decide to find the person who really killed the man they all hated. This novel by Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White is a fun send-up of the publishing industry in which mystery-writing, imbued with humor and mixed with tropes of the genre, is turned on its head. Women sexualize men, and there’s even a dramatic helicopter rescue. VERDICT Three pros unite again (after The Lost Summers of Newport) for this fun, dramatic mystery with an exotic setting and delightful characters. Readers who recognize and like satire will enjoy. – Starred Library Journal Review
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Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic by Lindsay M. Chervinsky
John Adams may have been one of the most qualified Americans to be elected president. He has, however, been largely overshadowed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Award-winning Chervinsky (The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution), a noted presidential historian and the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library, wants to highlight the Adams presidency with a new analysis of its lasting historic impact. She provides a nuanced perspective of the election of 1796, which brought Vice President Adams to the presidency and then illustrates the unique challenges faced by Adams and shows how he shaped the office for his successors. The peaceful transition of political power to a new president is one lesson learned from Washington and Adams. The book also sets the election of 1796 in its historical context with echoes to the 21st-century American political landscape. VERDICT Readers will gain a greater appreciation for the way the United States became the nation it is today. Chervinsky’s insights are for all interested in the presidency and how it developed through U.S. history. – Library Journal Review
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To Die For by David Baldacci
The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl. Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who’s awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative–her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who’s a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she’s 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he’s convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called “12/24/65,” as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She’s not necessary to the plot, but she’s a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead. Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish. – Stared Kirkus Review
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The Women Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle
Doyle reaches back to earlier novels (The Woman Who Walked into Doors and Paula Spencer) to continue the story of Paula in a tale set during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paula has been widowed for 30 years, but she still has flashbacks to her violently abusive marriage, so evocatively and disturbingly captured in the previous books. However, now sober for many years, she has an enjoyable job, spends time with similarly minded friends, and her four children are doing well. Then one day her oldest and most successful child, Nicola, turns up on her doorstep, having abandoned her own family, and Paula and Nicola reluctantly revisit the traumas they have experienced together and the effects. While Doyle creates a sparse, play-like structure focused on one family, he explores larger themes related to the pandemic, the Irish housing crisis, and the rise of the gig economy. Doyle’s hugely influential style–colloquial Irish dialogue, realistic settings, and a focus on working-class life–continues to produce deeply evocative and rewarding fiction, and Paula continues to be a compelling, flawed, and brilliant creation. – Booklist Review
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The Wood At Midwinter by Susanna Clarke
Clarke, the Hugo Award-winning author of the beloved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, and Piranesi, which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, returns with a short story set in the world of Jonathan Strange. It features Merowdis Scot, who finds herself at a crossroad between desire and magical possibility. The story is brief, but what Clarke does well–conjure mood through evocative language and story suggestion–is on rich display. Highly atmospheric, this winter tale is set in a wood and navigates the line between a Grimms’ fairy tale and a feminist manifesto. Talking animals as well as a sentient tree all play a role, as Merowdis decides what she wants and somehow makes it so. The story is illustrated with pen and ink drawings and specially designed text, giving the entire package the feeling of a manuscript found in a castle on the edge of some wild moor. Don’t miss Clarke’s note at the end.
VERDICT Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell nods towards Jane Austen, but this short story leans towards the Brontes. Clarke’s many fans will not be disappointed, other than in the story’s brevity. – Library Journal Review
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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 