Michelle Recommends: Essential Essays: Culture, Politics, and the Art of Poetry – Adrienne Rich
“Demonstrating the lasting brilliance of her voice and her prophetic vision, Essential Essays showcases Adrienne Rich’s singular ability to unite the political, personal, and poetical. The essays selected here by feminist scholar Sandra M. Gilbert range from the 1960s to 2006, emphasizing Rich’s lifelong intellectual engagement and fearless prose exploration of feminism, social justice, poetry,…
Rachel’s Reading List: (Unreleased) Contemporary Romances I Want to Read
Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams (March 10) because it’s the sequel to The Bromance Book Club If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane (March 24) because it’s a “social media fauxmance” You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle (April 7) because it’s a lovers to enemies to lovers romantic comedy The Happy Ever…
What The Library Director Is Reading
I’ve just started How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, which attempts to help readers understand and uproot racism in themselves and the world around them. Kendi is a history professor and writer who won the 2016 National Book Award for Stamped from the Beginning. –Alex Lent
Native Americans of the Great Plains Reading List
Because I can not help but fall down a rabbit hole when I stumble on one, as I have been reading Lakota America, I’ve also been putting together a Plains Indian reading list. This is by no means and exhaustive list but more of a combination of new books and classics on a very complex…
Jim Recommends: Lakota America – Pekka Hämäläinen
I normally wait to finish reading a book before I start righting about it on Read This but I have been enjoying Pekka Hämäläinen’s Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power so much I needed to stop halfway through and recommend it to you all. As Hämäläinen points out in his introduction, one of…
Michelle Recommends: The Odd Woman and the City – Vivian Gornick
About The Odd Woman and the City: “A memoir of self-discovery and the dilemma of connection in our time, The Odd Woman and the City explores the rhythms, chance encounters, and ever-changing friendships of urban life that forge the sensibility of a fiercely independent woman who has lived out her conflicts, not her fantasies, in…
Jim Reviews: The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire – William Dalrymple
Writing histories of the British East India Company (EIC) is hard. First of all what is it? Its a multi-national corporation, its a business with governmental authority over a large portion of the Indian subcontinent , it has its own military, and navy. All of it headquartered in Leadenhall street in London. Secondly it has…
Angelina Reviews: In the Dream House – Carmen Maria Machado
It’s no wonder that In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado has received multiple starred reviews, her stylistic choices throughout the book take you on a journey. The dream house that Carmen builds is a house in Bloomington, Indiana where she lives with her girlfriend. The journey leads us through a raw…
What The Library Director Is Reading
—“I’ve just started Poppy by Avi. So far, it’s wonderful.” At the very edge of Dimwood Forest stood an old charred oak where, silhouetted by the moon, a great horned owl sat waiting. The owl’s name was Mr. Ocax, and he looked like death himself. With his piercing gaze, he surveyed the lands he called…
Jen Recommends: Catch and Kill & She Said
Coinciding with the Harvey Weinstein trial, these are must-reads. Both are excellent reporting stories and rapid page turners filled with revelations that are at the same time disturbing, infuriating, and riveting. Add to that the backstory of surveillance and harassment of the reporters and alleged victims. If I had to pick one, I’d go with…
Jim Reviews: Chaucer’s People: Everyday Lives in Medieval England – Liza Picard
I, like many kids, was forced to read Canterbury Tales when I was in High School. Most of it flew right over my head and asking the teacher didn’t help much. For example what is a Franklin anyway? Liza Picard’s Chaucer’s People is the book I wish I had way back then. Picard takes the…
Patron Recommendation: City of Thieves – David Benioff
A patron thought City of Thieves was a “good read.” “During the Nazis’ brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an…
Patron Recommendation: The Art of Hearing Heartbeats – Jan-Philipp Sendker
About The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, the patron said: “This book is truly remarkable. It is hard to describe, but it was just so magical and moving.” “When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a…
Patron Recommendations
A patron recently returned the two books below and said: “These were both really good.” The Paris Orphan – Natasha Lester “New York City/Paris, 1942: When American model Jessica May arrives in Europe to cover the war as a photojournalist for Vogue, most of the soldiers are determined to make her life as difficult as…
Becca Reviews: Orphan Train – Christina Baker Kline
“So is it just human nature to believe that things happen for a reason – to find some shred of meaning even in the worst experiences?” To be honest, had it not been a book club selection I probably would have never heard about Christina Baker Kline’s novel Orphan Train. Despite this novel being extremely decorated…
Becca Reviews: The Scorpio Races – Maggie Stiefvater
“It the first day of November and so today, some will die.” Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races takes you to the small island village of Thisby. Despite Thisby’s rolling hills and picture-perfect coast, this is a place haunted by tragedy. Creatures known as water horses are vicious beings who emerge from the sea on the…
Jim Reviews: This Is How You Lose The Time War – Amal El-Mohtar
I will be the first to admit the title of This Is How You Lose The Time War was what originally drew to this book. Why yes I do want to learn how to lose a time war (although I probably could without much help). Turns out there is a fantastic book hiding under that…
Patron Recommendation: Where the Light Enters – Sara Donati
“Obstetrician Dr. Sophie Savard returns home to the achingly familiar rhythms of Manhattan in the early spring of 1884 to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. With the help of Dr. Anna Savard, her dearest friend, cousin, and fellow physician she plans to continue her work aiding the disadvantaged women society would…
Becca Reviews: All the Crooked Saints – Maggie Stiefvater
“Here is a thing everyone wants: A miracle. Here is a thing everyone fears: What it takes to get one.” Maggie Stiefvater’s standalone novel All the Crooked Saints is a story of family, darkness, miracles…and the occasional owl. Bicho Raro, Colorado is a mysterious, small desert community that is home to the Soria Family. The…
Michelle Recommends: The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett – Nathan Ward
“Before he became a household name in America as perhaps our greatest hard-boiled crime writer, before his attachment to Lillian Hellman and blacklisting during the McCarthy era, and his subsequent downward spiral, Dashiell Hammett led a life of action. Based on original research across the country, The Lost Detective is the first book to illuminate…
Rachel Reviews: Rebel Girls – Elizabeth Keenan
When it comes to being social, Athena Graves is far more comfortable creating a mix tape than she is talking to cute boys—or anyone, for that matter—and her staunchly feminist views and love of punk rock aren’t exactly mainstream at her conservative Catholic high school. Then a malicious rumor that her popular, pretty, pro-life sister…
Sarah Reviews: We Are Lost and Found – Helene Dunbar
1983: a time of technological advances, great movies, music, and art. 1983: a time of terror, death, ignorance, and homophobia. For many, like Michael Bartolomeo and his best friend James, being gay means watching those around you die from AIDS while the world condemns you for who you love. Set in New York City, Helene…
Jim Recommends Books On The Italian Renaissance You (Probably) Don’t Want To Read
Over the summer I did a deep dive into research on the Italian Renaissance focusing on business, government and warfare. Two caveats before I get started though: 1) Several of these books will be hard to find unless you use our ILL Department. They are small print runs from academic presses so they are usually…
Patron Recommendation: Eighth Sister – Robert Dugoni
“Former CIA case officer Charles Jenkins is a man at a crossroads: in his early sixties, he has a family, a new baby on the way, and a security consulting business on the brink of bankruptcy. Then his former bureau chief shows up at his house with a risky new assignment: travel undercover to Moscow…
Michelle Recommends: Salt On Your Tongue – Charlotte Runcie
“Charlotte Runcie has always felt pulled to the sea, lured by its soothing, calming qualities but also enlivened and inspired by its salty wildness. When she loses her beloved grandmother, and becomes pregnant with her first child, she feels its pull even more intensely. In Salt On Your Tongue, a mixture of memoir, social history,…
Patron Recommendation: Sea of Greed – Clive Cussler (Audio)
“After an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico destroys three oil rigs trying to revive a dying field, Kurt Austin and the NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency) Special Projects Team are tapped by the President of the United States to find out what’s gone wrong. The trail leads them to a brilliant billionaire in…
Becca’s Teaching Book Reviews: SEL
Teaching children how to be kind friends, how to see things through a growth mindset, how to cope with anger and sadness, and simply how to manage the highs and lows of life is perhaps just as important as teaching children how to add and subtract or sing the alphabet song. Within the past few…
Patron Recommendation: Winter Sisters – Robin Oliveira
“New York, 1879: An epic blizzard descends on Albany, devastating the city. When the snow finally settles, two newly orphaned girls are missing. Determined not to give up hope, Dr. Mary Sutter, a former Civil War surgeon, searches for the two sisters. When what happened to them is finally revealed, Dr. Sutter must fight the most…
Sarah Reviews: Red, White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston
Not many of us will ever experience the pressure that comes from being in the public eye. We won’t have to go through life wondering if the paparazzi is waiting around the corner to catch us buying something embarrassing, or waiting to snap a picture of something that might cause a scandal. For most, we…
Jen Reviews: Howard Stern Comes Again – Howard Stern
A lot of folks have a very set view of Howard Stern. Now 65, he’s in a new phase of his life and while he still maintains some of his outrageous (some might say offensive) traits, he is one of the most successful interviewers in broadcasting. In this book, he shares the best of the…
Patron Recommendation: Lies – T.M. Logan
“Six days ago, Joe Lynch was a happily married man, a devoted father, and a respected teacher living in a well-to-do London suburb. But that was before he spotted his wife’s car entering a hotel parking garage. Before he saw her in a heated argument with her best friend’s husband. Before Joe confronted the other…
Jim Reviews: African samurai – Thomas Lockley
Before William Adams (immortalized as John Blackthorn in James Clavel’s novel Shogun) became the first English samurai in the early 1600s there was Yasuke. Yasuke was an African slave/mercenary who ultimately become a samurai and served as a retainer of Ode Nobunaga a Japanese warlord from the Waring States period of Japanese history. Lockley’s African…
Becca H. Reviews: An Ember in the Ashes – Sabba Tahir
Growing up I loved to read books that let me immerse myself in imaginary words. From Hogwarts to Middle-Earth to Narnia, there was simply something magical about escaping reality and diving into the pages of a great book. While in college, I strayed away from reading fantasy novels and instead traded in my enjoyment reading…
Ari Reviews: The Figaro Trilogy by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, David Coward (Translator)
The Figaro Trilogy caught my eye when I was doing some browsing in the Comcat Catalog about music/operas and I came across this title. Beaumarchais’s book discusses the history and social background of the 18th century world behind the plays: The Marriage of Figaro, The Barber of Seville, and The Guilty Mother. I never knew…
Patron Recommendation: The Woman Who Spoke To Spirits – Alys Clare
“London, 1880. “I’m dreadfully afraid someone is threatening to kill my wife …” When accounts clerk Ernest Stibbins approaches the World’s End investigation bureau with wild claims that his wife Albertina has been warned by her spirit guides that someone is out to harm her, the bureau’s owner Lily Raynor and her new employee Felix…
Patron Recommendation: The Raven Tower – Ann Leckie
“For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven. He watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven’s Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained by the blood sacrifice…
Michelle Recommends: Orange World and Other Stories – Karen Russell
“Karen Russell’s comedic genius and mesmerizing talent for creating outlandish predicaments that uncannily mirror our inner in lives is on full display in these eight exuberant, arrestingly vivid, unforgettable stories. In“Bog Girl”, a revelatory story about first love, a young man falls in love with a two thousand year old girl that he’s extracted from…
Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam – Mark Bowden
When I was in college I worked in a meat packing plant. There was a little old Vietnamese lady who worked on the same line as I did doing odd jobs. One day in February she handed me an ornate red envelope. Inside the envelope was a two dollar bill. I looked at her rather…
Margaret Reviews: The Trial of Lizzie Borden – Cara Robertson
This new account of the 1893 Trial of Lizzie Borden, accused and acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother in the home the family shared in 1892, is packed with facts and photographs the author uncovered during the course of her research, much of which draws on the collections of the archives in Fall River.…
Sarah Reviews: The Music of What Happens – Bill Konigsberg
Life doesn’t always give us what we want, but it often gives us what we need without our realization that what we need might be right in front of our faces. For Max that might mean Coq au Vinny, a failing food truck, run by Jordan and his melodramatic mother, Lydia. And Max might be…
What The Library Director Is Reading
I’m reading To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis. Willis is an incredible science fiction author, best known for Blackout/All Clear, a two-part novel about Oxford historians who travel back in time to observe (and not alter) historical events. They go back to World War II London. They’re amazing and stressful, and Willis…
Jim Reviews: The Hourglass Factory – Lucy Ribchester
I quite literally found this book by accident. I had an appointment at a local Minute Clinic to see about a persistent cough I had (turns out it was bronchitis) but was a little early. I ducked into a bookstore to kill sometime and the first book I laid eyes on was Lucy Ribchester’s Hourglass…
Poetry Recommendation: Joanna Klink
Raptus “Everywhere, a forceful, scrupulous intelligence is active- a luminous diction, a range of cadences.” So has Mark Strand written of the work of Joanna Klink, who has won acclaim for elegant, sensual, and musical poems that “remain alert to the reparations of beauty and song” (Dean Young). The linked poems in Klink’s third collection, Raptus,…
Today In History Reading List
In our Today In History Reading List feature, we take the events of a particular day in history and try to give you a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction relating to those events. 1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh Freed From The Tower Of London Famous as an explorer Raleigh was also a…
Michelle Recommends: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory In Northern Ireland – Patrick Radden Keefe
“In December 1972, Jean McConville, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was…
Read & Listen: Spooked! How a Radio Broadcast and The War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America
On the night of October 30, 1938, thousands of Americans panicked when they believed that Martians had invaded Earth. What appeared to be breaking news about an alien invasion was in fact a radio drama based on H. G. Wells’s War of the Worlds, performed by Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre players. Some listeners became…
Jim Reviews: Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris
I have a love/hate relationship with biographies and memoirs. On the one hand they are the natural adjunct to reading history. My problem is (and I fully acknowledge this an unfair and possibly self-defeating) I only really care about the parts of the subjects life that occurred during the events that made them worthy of…
Jim Reviews: The British in India: A Social History of the Raj by David Gilmour
I tend to think of myself as an ambidextrous history buff. They say that history buffs either like big sweeping histories of political events and wars or they like the from the ground up histories of down trodden and, typically, unseen figures in history. I like both and I think that is in large part…
Jen Recommends: The Gown – Jennifer Robson
London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes…
What The Library Director Is Reading
I just finished The Bees by Laline Paull, which was mesmerizing. I keep seeing it described as a fantasy novel, but I think that term doesn’t quite cut it. Magical realism might be better. It’s the story of a bee from the lowest caste in a rigid hive society who finds herself involved in different…
February Lit Links
However long ago it was that I first came across word of Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree, it was right then I determined to read it immediately upon its release (Feb 26, for the curious). With less than a week to go, Shannon has an essay up on Boundless that looks at…
Michelle’s Mid-Read Recommendation: Figuring – Maria Popova
“Figuring explores the complexities of love and the human search for truth and meaning through the interconnected lives of several historical figures across four centuries—beginning with the astronomer Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary motion, and ending with the marine biologist and author Rachel Carson, who catalyzed the environmental movement. Stretching between these figures…
Jim Recommends: Cooking + Historical Fiction!
I just recently discovered (and by discovered I mean a friend told me about them) the author Crystal King who writes cooking based historical fiction. Given that food and historical fiction are two of my favorite things I can’t wait to start these books. Also the covers are gorgeous. Feast of Sorrow: A Novel of…
The 2018 NOBLE Book Awards!
Late last year the librarians of NOBLE came together to vote on their favorite books of 2018. Here are the winners by category. You can view the runners-up and the sort-list at NOBLE Book Awards 2018. Adult Fiction Finn, A. J. The woman in the window : a novel It isn’t paranoia if it’s really…
Michelle Recommends: Washington Black – Esi Edugyan
George Washington Black, or “Wash,” an eleven-year-old field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation, is terrified to be chosen by his master’s brother as his manservant. To his surprise, the eccentric Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor, and abolitionist. Soon Wash is initiated into a world where a flying machine can…
Rachel Reviews: How the Internet Happened – Brian McCullough
In How the Internet Happened, Brian McCullough chronicles the birth of the internet era for the first time, beginning in a dusty Illinois basement in the early nineties and ending with the introduction of the iPhone fifteen years later. Depicting the lives of now-famous innovators like Netscape’s Marc Andreessen and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, McCullough reveals surprising…
What The Library Director Is Reading
I’m reading How to Be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery. It’s a memoir told through experiences with 13 different animals that impacted Montgomery’s life. Montgomery is best known for The Soul of an Octopus, which is on my TBR. ~ Alex Lent
Jim Reviews: The Restless Kings: Henry II, His Sons and the Wars for the Plantagenet Crown – Nick Barratt
Ever wanted to be king? Yeah don’t it kind of sucks. At least that’s the feeling I got from The Restless Kings On the other hand if you are curious what its like being a king in the 12th century this is the book for you. This book traces the events of Henry II from…
What The Director Is Reading
I’m rereading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, which is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi books. It follows a character who isn’t able to discern gender and so the narrative doesn’t give many clues to the genders of the characters. At first this is somewhat confusing, but then it becomes clear that it doesn’t really…
Jim Reviews: Big Week: The Biggest Air Battle of World War II – James Holland
When I was in high school I was an absolute World War II aircraft nut. I could identify all the planes. I knew all their specifications. I knew the exact course of the air war in Europe and the Pacific. It got so obsessive that my teachers worried that I wasn’t reading anything else. Then…
Today In History Reading List
In our Today In History Reading List feature, we take the events of a particular day in history and try to give you a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction relating to those events. 1571 Royal Exchange Opens in London The Royal Exchange of London was based loosely on a similar institution in…
Søren Recommends: Katherine Kellgren’s Audiobooks
Today I’m honoring Katherine Kellgren, a renowned actress who voice acted more than 250 audiobooks. This month is the anniversary of her passing from a long battle with cancer that ended on 10 January, 2018. Kellgren is one of my all-time favourite audiobook performers; her voice acting brings characters to life like no other, and…
Jim Reviews: The Secret World of Christoval Alvarez – Ann Swinfen
Here is another book I read over my vacation. The Secret World of Christoval Alvarez is another series by Ann Swinfen. Unlike the Booksellers Tales this one is set in Elizabethan London. Sadly it isn’t available in the NOBLE system but we can probably get it through ILL so just ask. Christoval Alvarez has way…
Ari Reviews: Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani
I am a big fan of Adriana Trigiani’s books. When I came across this book at the library I had to read it this one to add to my list of books to read by her. The book is set in late 1940’s South Philadelphia after World War II. The main character Nicky Castone is…
Michelle Recommends: Pretty Monsters – Kelly Link
“Through the lens of Kelly Link’s vivid imagination, nothing is what it seems, and everything deserves a second look. From the multiple award- winning “The Faery Handbag,” in which a teenager’s grandmother carries an entire village (or is it a man-eating dog?) in her handbag, to the near-future of “The Surfer,” whose narrator (a soccer-playing…
Jim Reviews: Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants – Mathias Enard
You may remember my reading plans for my holiday vacation which I outlined in Jim’s Long Winters Nap Book List. As I suggested there it was an aspirational plan but one that I was somewhat successful in. Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants was one of those successes.This is a short book. Only about…
Sarah Reviews: They Both Die at the End – Adam Silvera
I finished They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera four days ago, but the ending of this novel and the entire plot that surrounds the characters has been weighing heavily on my mind since then. When one decides to read a book with such an ominous sounding title, one might expect the ending…
Søren Reviews: Summer Bird Blue – Akemi Dawn Bowman
Dear readers, My name is Søren, and I’m a new reviewer/recommender for the Read This blog! I mostly read YA books in accessible formats like audiobooks, so know that almost all the books I review will be available in audio CD or digital audio format from MA public libraries. I’m going to start off my…
Sarah Reviews: What If It’s Us – Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera
There are some people who believe that the universe sets plans in motion for a reason, and some that are cynical enough to believe that the universe is against them. Arthur is only in NYC for the summer, so looking for love would be a waste of his time, right? Ben has been cheated on…
The Month Ahead: The New Year’s Edition of New History Books On The Way
A New Year And New History Books To Enjoy In It. Here are a few of the history books coming out in the new year that we are looking forward to. Queen of the World: Elizabeth II: Sovereign and Stateswoman. by Robert Hardman On today’s world stage, there is one leader who stands apart from…
Today In History Reading List
In our Today In History Reading List feature, we take the events of a particular day in history and try to give you a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction relating to those events. 1154 Henry II of England Crowned King In Westminster Abbey Henry was the son of Matilda the daughter of…
Michelle, Currently Reading…
The first two of the following titles are on top of the pile so that I can discuss them with sixth graders at the middle school (or, barring that, as a potential summer reading option). Foxheart – Claire LeGrand Twelve-year-old Quicksilver dreams of becoming the greatest thief in the Star Lands. With her faithful dog…
Jim’s Long Winters Nap Book List
It is that time of year when I take a long vacation (i.e. for the rest of the year). This year I thought I would give you a list of books I’m planning on reading. The key part of that last sentence was “planning.” This list is entirely aspirational and many if not most will…
Jim Reviews: 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War – Charles Emmerson
Charles Emmerson’s 1913 is a book I’ve been meaning to read since it came out in 2013. What drew me to it was actually my enjoyment of The Proud Tower by Barbara W Tuchman. You might remember Tuchman for Guns of August about the opening couple of months of World War I (Guns of August…
Ari Reviews: Pride and Prometheus – John Kessel
If you are a fan of Jane Austen and Mary Shelley I highly recommend reading the book Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel. Kessel combines the novels Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein that sparked my interest in coming across this book. I was curious to see how the two books combined would play out. Kessel uses Mary Bennett…
What The Library Director Is Reading
I just listened to Good Clean Fun by Nick Offerman, which is a memoir? a how-to-book? a satire? After enjoying Ruth Reichl’s My Kitchen Year (a cookbook? a memoir? a tell-all?), I thought I’d give this a try, but it wasn’t really for me. I’m currently listening to The Cleaner, by Brett Battles, a thriller…
The Month Ahead: New History Books On The Way
A small sample of the many new history book titles arriving at the library soon How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts by Ruth Goodman Every age and social strata has its bad eggs, rule-breakers, and nose-thumbers. As acclaimed popular historian and author of How…
Jim Reviews: The Crimean War – Orlando Figes
So what do you think of when you think of the Crimean War (assuming you think anything)? Charge of the Light Light Brigade or Florence Nightingale? Those are some of the only iconic images left from the war. Orlando Figes’ Crimean War is, not surprisingly, a much deeper dive. I’ve read a couple of Figes…
Mood Boards: Teen Fiction & Graphic Novels
mood board noun an arrangement of images, materials, pieces of text, etc., intended to evoke or project a particular style or concept. The Wee Free Men The Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett “The first in a series of Discworld novels starring the young witch Tiffany Aching. A nightmarish danger threatens from the other side…
Today In History Reading List
In our Today In History Reading List feature, we take the events of a particular day in history and try to give you a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction relating to those events. 1386 Tamerlane Sacks Tblisi Tamerlane, aka Timur, was the Turkic Emir of Samarkand who conquered much of Central Asia…
Jim Reviews: The Bookseller’s Tale – Ann Swinfen
I have to say I can’t actually remember how I stumbled on this book. I may have been trolling the internet for historical fiction and found it that way. At any rate I ended up with this rather esoteric work of historical fiction that I loved. Sadly we don’t have a copy of The Bookseller’s…
What The Library Director Is Reading
I’m almost done with When by Daniel H. Pink, which is about effective timing. Certain types of work are more effective at certain times of day. Being aware of this face and of our individual “chronotypes” (per wikipedia: “a chronotype is the behavioral manifestation of underlying circadian rhythms of myriad physical processes. A person’s chronotype…
Jim Reviews: The Forgotten 500 – Gregory A. Freeman
I’ve always been rather suspicious of stories that claim to be about something that was “forgotten.” Usually “forgotten” really means “not heard of by a lot of people because they didn’t really care until the book came along.” The Forgotten 500 falls into that category but its a story that was buried pretty far down.…
What The Library Director Is Reading
I’m listening to My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl, read by the author. Ms. Reichl was the last Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet and this book is her recipe-laden memoir of the year after the magazine shut down. It’s your standard food-related memoir, but because it has very short chapters, it zips right along. It’s odd to…
Jim Reviews: City of Ink – Elsa Hart
You may remember me mentioning Elsa Hart’s City of Ink a couple of months ago when I was reading the next installment of her Li Du Mystery series The White Mirror. City of Ink is the third book in the series and one that I approached with a little trepidation. What drew me to the…
Rachel Reviews: The Witch of Willow Hall – Hester Fox
In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters—Catherine, Lydia, and Emeline—flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall. The estate seems sleepy and idyllic, but a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to both Lydia and Emeline. All three daughters will be…
The Month Ahead: New History Books On The Way
A small sample of the many new history book titles arriving at the library soon Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah’s War Against America. By Fred Burton. On April 18th, 1983, a van rigged with 2,000 pounds of heavy explosives broke through the security perimeter of the American embassy in…
Today In History Reading List
In our Today In History Reading List feature, we take the events of a particular day in history and try to give you a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction relating to those events. 1360 – Treaty of Brétigny Ratified The Treaty of Brétigny marks the end of the early phase of the…
Jim Reviews: Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain – Brian A. Catlos
Unless you are a close follower of Spanish history you may not be aware that prior to modern times there technically was no such thing as Spain. Originally the concept of Spain was just the region of Hispania, the Roman province on the Iberian peninsula. Even during the early modern period the people we think…
Michelle Reviews: The Irish Game: A True Story of Crime and Art – Matthew Hart
In the annals of art theft, no case has matched―for sheer criminal panache―the heist at Ireland’s Russborough House in 1986. The Irish police knew right away that the mastermind was a Dublin gangster named Martin Cahill. Yet the great plunder ―including a Gainsborough, a Goya, two Rubenses, and a Vermeer― remained at large for years.…
Jim Reviews: The Storm Before The Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic – Mike Duncan
If you have read any Roman history or historical fiction it probably falls into two categories. Its set in the very late Republic and involves Pompey and Caesar and Octavian and Anthony duking it out over who’s going to control Rome. The other is set much later at the imperial period and involves the coming…
Jim Reviews: Havana Nocturne – T. J. English
Like most Americans, I got my knowledge about the mob in Cuba from watching The Godfather Part 2. Havana Nocturne was actually a book I picked up out of my interest in the Cold War but I learned quite a bit more from it than that. As the name suggests this is the parallel stories…
Are You Experiencing To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before Withdrawal? We Can Help.
Whoa whoa whoa whoa. You’re looking for something that just might fill that Peter Kavinsky-sized hole you can’t seem to get over after watching To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before roughly a gazillion times? Those are some big Converses to fill, but perhaps one of the books on this list will come close. (Maybe?)…
Michelle Reviews: Jane: A Murder – Maggie Nelson
On March 20, 1969, the day after she slipped a color-coded piece of paper into an on-campus mailbox designated for ride sharing requests, University of Michigan student Jane Mixer was murdered. Picked up by the man who had replied to her request for a lift back to her hometown, a man she did not know…
Rachel Reviews: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark – Michelle McNamara
For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area. Three decades later, true crime journalist Michelle McNamara was determined to…
Today In History Reading List
In our Today In History Reading List feature, we take the events of a particular day in history and try to give you a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction relating to those events. 1187 Siege of Jerusalem Begins The Kingdom of Jerusalem was established after the First Crusade along with several other…
The Month Ahead: New History Books On The Way
A small sample of the many new history book titles arriving at the library soon Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin In this culmination of five decades of acclaimed studies in presidential history, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin offers an illuminating exploration of the early development, growth, and exercise of leadership. Are…
Jim Reviews: The Cold War’s Killing Fields – Paul Thomas Chamberlin
The whole idea behind the concept of a Cold War is that there is opposition without war. Now we all know that when they say “without war” they mean we managed to not incinerate ourselves in a global nuclear conflagration. There was plenty of hot war in the Cold War. That is where the argument…
Jim Reviews: Grant – Ron Chernow
After the success of the Hamilton musical based on Chernow’s biography Alexander Hamilton, it is not surprising that Grant would be a hit. In fact it was such a hit, the History Book Group here at the library picked it for its September book. We will be discussing it September 19 at 7pm. This like…
Patrick Recommends: Pick-Up-and-Play Roleplaying Games at the Peabody Institute of Danvers
Getting into the tabletop roleplaying game hobby can feel a little daunting. This is often due to complexity or expense, with some games requiring multiple books and supplemental material. The Peabody Institute of Danvers roleplaying game collection is a fantastic resource for new players. Not only can they try these games for free, but we…