Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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The Librarians by Sherry Thomas
Thomas, known for her historical romances and the “Lady Sherlock” mystery series, offers her first contemporary mystery, centered on a group of coworkers at a branch of the Austin Public Library. The day after the library hosts a game night, the staff is told that not one, but two people connected to the library have died. One is a man who was involved with one of the staff and then ghosted her; the other is a woman they’d not met before game night. Now the police begin their investigations and questioning of the staff, and each of the four–Hazel, Jonathan, Astrid, and Sophie–worry that their own secrets could lead to them being suspects. It becomes clear that they need to truly begin trusting one another and working together. Once they do, having pulled in a couple others along the way, they’ll be able to keep what secrets they must and perhaps even find the killers themselves.
VERDICT Thomas takes her time to introduce each of her characters and give them space to develop so that readers will root for each and every one. For fans of Richard Osman’s “Thursday Murder Club” series and Tess Gerritsen’s Martini Club. – Library Journal Review
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Long Division: A Novel by Kiese Laymon
In this revised and improved edition of Laymon’s visionary debut novel (after the memoir Heavy), Blackness, language, and love frame a complex metafictional and time-traveling story about the legacy of racism. Fourteen-year-old Citoyen “City” Coldson, from Jackson, Miss., is one of two Black students competing in a nationally televised grammar contest in 2013 (the other is named LaVander Peeler). When City finds out the contest is rigged, he goes on an on-camera rant and becomes Internet-famous overnight. In the aftermath, City’s parents send him to live with his grandmother, and he brings with him a book titled Long Division, which has no author credited. Laymon then plunges readers into the pages of City’s book, in which the protagonist, also named City, time travels from 1985 with a friend to 2013. There, they meet Baize Shephard, whose parents disappeared during Hurricane Katrina. The three teens then travel to 1964 to save City’s grandfather from the KKK. While the time shifts can be confusing, historical moments such as Katrina and Freedom Summer help give grounding, as does strong characterization. At times humorous (when City feels insecure around LaVander, he calls him “Lavender” or “Fade Don’t Fade”) and often tragic, this coming-of-age story makes clear the characters’ struggle for self-determination under systemic racism. It’s a challenging work, and worth the effort. – Publishers Weekly Review
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Pitcher Perfect by Tessa Bailey
Rookie NHL player and notorious playboy Robbie Corrigan has his world turned upside down when he meets Skylar Paige, a no-nonsense Division I softball pitcher who calls him out on his behavior. Robbie is dazzled by the beautiful Skylar, but she wants nothing to do with him. Then Robbie learns that Skylar has a long-held crush on a man named Madden (her brother’s best friend). Robbie concocts a scheme to spend time with Skylar by offering to pretend to be her boyfriend to make Madden jealous. Skylar and Robbie also team up to compete in Skylar’s family’s intense annual wilderness competition. As they tackle outdoorsy challenges that force them to trust each other, the lines between fake dating and real emotions are blurred. Can Robbie put his playboy ways behind him to win Skylar’s heart? Will Skylar decide that her feelings for Robbie are more important than the future she thought she wanted with Madden? VERDICT Bailey’s sequel to Dream Girl Drama is a must-read sports romance full of heat and banter. Watching Robbie, a series fan favorite, fall for Skylar is pure fun. – Library Journal Review
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Silver And Lead by Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire’s New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated October Daye series continues as Toby Daye is thrust once again into danger… and this time she has more than ever to protect.
Something is rotten in Faerie. In the aftermath of Titania’s reality-warping enchantment, things are returning to what passes for normal in the Kingdom in the Mists—until it’s discovered that the royal vaults have been looted, and several powerful magical artifacts are missing. None are things that can be safely left unsecured, and some have the potential to do almost as much damage as Titania did, and having them in the wrong hands could prove just as disastrous.
At least the theft means that Sir October “Toby” Daye, Knight errant and Hero of the Realm, finally has an excuse to get out of the house. Sure, she’s eight and a half months pregnant, but that doesn’t mean she can’t take care of herself. But with the sea witch offering to stand godmother to Toby’s child, maybe there are greater dangers ahead for Toby and her family than it appears….
Old enemies will resurface, new enemies will disguise themselves as friends, and Queen Windermere must try to keep her Hero on the case without getting herself gutted by the increasingly irritated local King of Cats. Sometimes, what’s been lost can be the most dangerous threat of all.
Reader’s Note: This is the nineteenth book in the October Day urban fantasy series. If you’d like to jump in and read the series from the beginning, check out book one: Rosemary and Rue.
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We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution by Jill Lepore
Providing historical context for national events, Lepore (history, Harvard Univ.; The Whites of Their Eyes; The Secret History of Wonder Woman) delivers a sweeping, balanced, and finely wrought narrative history of the United States. The vaulting ambition of the book is matched by the elegance and dry wit of Lepore’s writing and careful rigor of her scholarship. She expertly marshals incidents, statistics, and analysis, resulting in a chronicle at once panoramic and richly detailed–like a giant medieval tapestry. Thematically, Lepore pegs her narrative to the great truths: equality, popular sovereignty, and consent of the governed. Those truths, the author contends, formed the basis of the American experiment and have been at the crux of most of the controversies and struggles the nation has faced. Lepore is particularly clear-eyed in documenting the United State’s stumbling and often shameful record in addressing racial, gender, and economic inequality. Minibiographies–often of lesser-known figures, primarily women and people of color–are sprinkled throughout, adding texture and personality to this important work.
VERDICT This thought-provoking and fascinating book stands to become the definitive one-volume U.S. history for a new generation. – Starred 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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Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
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Information on the four library catalogs
The Digital Catalog aka Libby: 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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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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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 