Staff Recommendations
Daryl M.
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The Only Woman in the Room
by Benedict, Marie,
January 7, 2019
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Hedy Lamarr was one of the most beautiful people to ever grace the silver screen - but that beauty was a double edged sword. While it opened doors and made her a movie star, it was often the only thing people saw. Lamarr’s beauty was so striking that people often assumed that there was no more to the young woman they saw, but they were wrong. Lamarr was sophisticated, intelligent and gifted with a keen and creative understanding of science. In fact, she co-created a weapon that could have saved countless lives in WWII, if only the military brass of the day had been capable of seeing the... Read Full Review
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Dracul
by Stoker, Dacre,
December 27, 2018
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“For many of us, Dracula is a formative novel. A book we pick up as children or young adults and revisit as the years pass, a constant on the bookshelf, an old friend. In fact, it might be so familiar that the question of the story itself, how it came to be, hasn’t occurred to us. Yet, like Jonathan Harker’s journey in the classic novel, the events that led to publication are ripe with mystery.” Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker state in the Author’s Note to their new novel, Dracul.What was Bram Stoker’s inspiration for writing Dracula? As the excerpt from the... Read Full Review
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The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
by Turton, Stuart,
December 17, 2018
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Who remembers Quantum Leap? It was a television show that ran from 1989-1993 and followed Dr. Sam Beckett and his experiment in time travel, which caused him to become conscious, at the beginning of each episode, in a different body, not knowing who or where he was, or when it happened. Before the end of each episode, Sam had to correct some event in the period in which he found himself by acting as the person he inhabited. Once that was done, he would shift in time again to another person, another place, another era.Now, imagine if the creator of Quantum Leap, Donald P.... Read Full Review
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European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman
by Goss, Theodora,
November 27, 2018
Call Number: M
When we last saw the members of The Athena Club (Mary Jekyll, Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau and Justine Frankenstein) at the end of The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, they were gathered in the parlor and had just received two letters: one from Mary’s former governess, Mina Murray; the other from Lucinda Van Helsing. Both are asking for assistance and The Athena Club decides that they must help. And so begins the new... Read Full Review
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The Night Crossing
by Masello, Robert, 1952-
November 19, 2018
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Dracula, Bram Stoker’s masterpiece, has been a cornerstone of literary horror since its publication in 1897. In the intervening 121 years, Stoker’s novel has inspired plays, motion pictures, television series, and other novels and short stories. But what was Stoker’s inspiration for the book? That is the intriguing question addressed in Robert Masello’s new novel The Night Crossing.In 1895, Bram Stoker was working for actor Henry Irving and managing the Lyceum Theatre in London’s West End. He enjoyed his work, but continued to pursue writing. He dreamt of writing a... Read Full Review
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Trail of Lightning
by Roanhorse, Rebecca,
November 13, 2018
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The world we know is gone, remade by climate change. The Diné, who we formerly referred to as the Navajo, saw the end of the world approaching and protected themselves. They constructed four 50-foot walls: one turquoise, one white shell, one pearlescent abalone, and one of jet to surround the Dinétah, and what was once their reservation. Now it is their world, and within those walls magic has returned, along with the Diné gods and monsters. And when there are monsters, you need a monster slayer. You need Maggie Hoskie.Maggie, a young orphan who was forced to watch as her grandmother was... Read Full Review
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There There
by Orange, Tommy
November 5, 2018
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A postal worker, a young teenage boy, a documentary filmmaker, a scholar with a Masters degree in Native American literature, and a woman struggling with alcohol addiction are individuals who have three things in common: they are all Native Americans, they all live in Oakland, California, and they are all attending the Big Oakland Powwow. These five disparate individuals are only part of the cast of twelve characters, who also share those common attributes, in Tommy Orange’s stunning debut novel,There There.The author, who was born and raised in Oakland, California, uses the city as... Read Full Review
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Vengeful
by Schwab, V. E., 1987-
October 29, 2018
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Eli Cardale and Victor Vale are ExtraOrdinaries (or EOs): people who have survived a near-death experience, and as a result of the trauma developed a special power or ability. Eli’s ability is regenerative: nearly any wound inflicted on him heals almost instantly; and he does not age and may very well be immortal. Victor can control pain, both his own and that of others. At the end of the events chronicled in V.E. Schwab’s Vicious, Eli had been arrested for Victor’s murder, and Victor had just been resurrected. What happens next is chronicled in Schwab’s latest novel, ... Read Full Review
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The Dinner List
by Serle, Rebecca
October 15, 2018
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It’s a psychological exercise. It’s also a way to find out more about another person, or simply a jumping off point for a discussion among friends. But even if you’ve never created a list, almost everyone, at some point, has been asked to name the five people, living or dead, who they would invite to dinner if they could invite anyone. In her latest novel, Rebecca Serle follows Sabrina Nielsen, a young woman who shows up for her 30th birthday dinner and finds the people on her list seated at the table. It makes for an interesting evening and a marvelous read.Sabrina made the list years ago,... Read Full Review
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The Black God's Drums
by Clark, P. Djeli.
October 7, 2018
Call Number: SF
Creeper has lived on the streets of New Orleans since her mother died when Creeper was eight years-old. At thirteen, she does OK for herself, although life is always hard and there is never enough to eat. And then she hears a group of Confederates plotting about kidnapping a Haitian scientist and stealing his mysterious weapon called the Black God’s Drums. This information could be valuable--valuable enough to get Creeper what she really desires: a position on the airship Midnight Robber and a chance to leave New Orleans and start a new life. But this will only happen if Creeper can... Read Full Review
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A Study in Honor
by O'Dell, Claire,
September 24, 2018
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Sherlock Holmes is the world’s best known, and possibly most popular, detective. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published the first Sherlock Holmes story, “A Study in Scarlet,” in 1887. Over the next forty years, Doyle went on to write fifty-five additional short stories and four novels about Holmes and his faithful companion, Dr. John Watson.Holmes and Watson have become icons for both Great Britain and the mystery genre, and their adventures did not end when Doyle stopped writing. The characters have provided a type of playground for other writers shortly after the publication of the first Holmes... Read Full Review
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A Gentleman's Murder
by Huang, Christopher.
August 27, 2018
Call Number: M
In Great Britain, the years immediately following WWI were a period of great change. New technologies were finding their way into people’s everyday lives. Women began to voice their dissatisfaction with being essentially second class citizens and unable to vote. And the men who survived serving in WWI returned to their homes scarred from the experience, both physically and psychologically. It is during this tumultuous time that debut author Christopher Huang sets his compelling new mystery: A Gentleman’s Murder.The year is 1924, six years after Armistice Day and the end of WWI. Eric... Read Full Review