What We've Been Reading Lately
Every now and then, library staff get together to trade recommendations and talk about what we've been reading. We'd like to share some of these suggestions with you.
Thanks to the Library Reads program, librarians sometimes have a chance to read books before they are published. We'd like to recommend several upcoming books that we had the opportunity to preview. Emily and Miriam both really enjoyed the memoir Dinner with Edward by Isabel Vincent, a reporter who developed a life-changing friendship with an elderly neighbor through sharing gourmet meals. If you're looking for a fast-paced story set in an alternate Victorian London, Patricia recommends the forthcoming Smoke by Dan Vyleta. Emily and Angela really enjoyed Three-Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell which has been described as "Mad Men for the publishing world". Diane read Miracle on Monhegan Island by Elizabeth Kelly and recommends it with reservations.
We do have books to recommend that are currently available. Tricia is reading The Killing Lessons by Saul Black, which is told from three perspectives: two serial killers, the female detective who is hunting them and is haunted by her past, and the little girl who escaped from the serial killers. Patricia enjoyed Speak Easy by Catherynne Valente, a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses set in the 1920s.
We've been reading a lot of nonfiction. Caity recommends Do Your Om Thing: Bending Yoga Tradition to Fit Your Modern Life by Rebecca Pacheco. Yoga blogger Pacheco describes yoga philosophy and puts it into perspective for the modern world. Caitlin listened to Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer, which was harrowing and rage-inducing, but very well written. On a totally different topic, she read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. She described it as "inspiring and illuminating". Miriam has much praise for Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson, a lawyer who defends death row inmates, recounts the story of one client who was framed for a crime he did not commit and is successfully released after years in prison.
Memoirs are also popular with us. Mary Ann told us about Patti Smith's new memoir, M Train, in which Ms Smith recounts her day to day life, including daily visits to a coffee shop for a cup of black coffee and brown bread with olive oil. Angela read My Father, the Pornographer by Chris Offutt. Offut, a writer for television, discovers that his prolific pulp writer father wrote hundreds of pornographic novels in the 70s and 80s and he must come to terms with this revelation.
Would you like more recommendations? Ask any of us or check out the Staff Picks list.