Staff Recommendations
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A farewell to Gabo and Mercedes : a son's memoir of Gabriel García Márquez and Mercedes Barcha
by García, Rodrigo, 1959-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionOctober 6, 2021
Call Number: 863 G216Gar
Gabriel Marquez Garcia was one of the giants among modern writers and his books place him in the pantheon of writers throughout the ages. In 1982 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Not only is he significant in the world of Spanish language writers, he is beloved and respected internationally, and his books have been widely translated. In many of his books he is known for his seamless incorporation of magical realism, which was part of his grandmother's origins in Colombia, and became a literary technique for truthfulness, especially in One Hundred Years of... Read Full Review
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Burning the Books: A History of the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge
by Ovenden, Richard
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionSeptember 29, 2021
Call Number: 323.445 O96
Professor Richard Ovenden is a scholar, and at Oxford University he is the British Librarian in charge of the Bodleian Libraries. His appreciation of libraries and archives and those who create, maintain and protect them is evident in this book. When certain individuals or groups of people vociferously disagree with what someone else has written and do not want anyone else to be able to read those ideas, that is when purposeful destruction of books and libraries takes place. For dictatorial individuals censorship is insufficient, only attempts at complete obliteration will do.... Read Full Review
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Hurricane season
by Melchor, Fernanda, 1982-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionSeptember 23, 2021
In a fictitious town in Mexico, the body of a woman known as the Witch is found in a filthy irrigation ditch. She was the daughter of another Witch, and both women were thought to possess extraordinary powers, for good and evil, which the town's people feared. Everyone wants to know who killed the Witch and why? Who would dare to kill someone who had powers that could reach beyond the grave? The inhabitants had always presumed the two women had amassed gold and treasures that were hidden in their wretched estate, and that was the motive for the killing. This is a town physically... Read Full Review
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L.A. Mexicano : recipes, people & places
by Esparza, Bill,
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionSeptember 14, 2021
Call Number: 641.5972 E773
Cookbooks that combine recipes, history and personal anecdotes are a treasure. When the author is passionate about their subject we readers benefit. Bill Esparza is that person, who is passionate about food, history and writes about his ancestry, his family and their relationships with food, culture, the Spanish language, Mexican heritage, immigration and U.S. citizenship. That personal history is a jumping off point for Esparza's history of Mexican food in Los Angeles. Breaking bread and sharing food is at the heart of this book, and the featured cooks and chefs have very... Read Full Review
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You will not have my hate
by Leiris, Antoine,
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionSeptember 7, 2021
Call Number: 322.42094436 L531
On Friday, November 13, 2015, a series of terrorist attacks, some suicide bombers, took place in Paris, France: at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris; at crowded cafes and restaurants in Paris; and another attack was leveled at the BataclanTheatre in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Because of terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices and a Jewish supermarket that took place in January, 2015, France was already on high alert. The attacks in November, 2015 were the deadliest since World War II.
On what became a hate-ridden night, Antoine... Read Full Review
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In Five Years: A Novel
by Serle, Rebecca
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryAugust 31, 2021
“Where do you see yourself in five years?” This is a question that almost everyone has been asked at some point in their life. It may give us pause. We may think we know. But the answer we give is always a guess because no one really knows what the future holds. Rebecca Serle’s novel plays with that question as she explores just how wrong we can be with our answer, and the fact that it may not necessarily be a bad thing.
Dannie Kohan is a young woman who knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. Her life is progressing exactly as she has planned. She... Read Full Review
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Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way
by Gaines, Caseen
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryAugust 24, 2021
Call Number: 812.09 G1422
From its off-Broadway premiere, Hamilton was a hit. When it moved to Broadway in August, 2015, it became a world-wide sensation. It was nominated for a record-breaking 16, and won 11, Tony Awards. It was also awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The show chronicles the life of Alexander Hamilton and his role in the creation and development of the newly formed United States of America. The show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, cast actors of color in the roles of the historical figures portrayed and used hip-hop, R&B, and a few more typical musical “show tunes” to... Read Full Review
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When Harry met Minnie : a true story of love and friendship
by Teichner, Martha
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionAugust 16, 2021
Call Number: 636.7 T262
Martha Teichner is a tough-minded, thoughtful journalist who has seen a great deal of the world while reporting on some of its hotspots (Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudia Arabia). Covering the Gulf War in 1990-1991 she was among a small, select group of women journalists who were embedded with U.S. field troops.This book, her first, riffs on the title and content of the movie, When Harry Met Sally. The movie was an unlikely love story between two people, and it was fiction. Harry and Minnie are two bull terriers, who also are an unlikely match, and theirs is a... Read Full Review
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The anatomy of desire : a novel
by Dorn, L. R.
Reviewed by: Robert Anderson, Librarian, Literature & Fiction DepartmentAugust 9, 2021
At a secluded mountain lake, a young couple rent a canoe. A few hours later, the overturned canoe is discovered, and the body of a woman is found in the lake, drowned and showing evidence of head injuries. Her companion is soon arrested and charged with first-degree murder. If this sounds familiar, you have probably either read Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 novel An American Tragedy or seen the famous 1951 film adaptation A Place in the Sun, with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters, and Elizabeth Taylor. Dreiser based his story on a real-life case that occurred in New York’s... Read Full Review
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Razorblade Tears
by Cosby, S. A.
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryAugust 2, 2021
Two young men, who are deeply in love, married, and fathers to a young girl. Two fathers, who cannot accept their sons as they are nor the life they are creating. Two senseless murders that remove any possibility of reconciliation or the chance to say what should have been said. Two unlikely partners, intent on discovering who killed their sons, and why both of them will stop at nothing to secure vengeance.
In Razorblade Tears, S.A. Crosby follows Ike and Buddy Lee, both ex-convicts and proudly “conventional” men, as they seek the identity of their sons’... Read Full Review
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A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Chambers, Becky
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJuly 26, 2021
Centuries ago, on the moon of Panga, the robot workers, who filled the factories and other industrial pursuits of the human civilization, gained consciousness. Rather than be integrated into Pangan culture, as they were offered, the robots chose to leave, en-masse, into the surrounding wilderness. They were never heard from again.
Sibling Dex, a monk at the Meadow Den Monastery, chooses to pursue providing tea-service to the people of the surrounding villages. They make the necessary arrangements and begin learning, self-taught, how to provide tea-service. In a... Read Full Review
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The Album of Dr. Moreau
by Gregory, Daryl
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJuly 19, 2021
Call Number: M
The Island of Dr. Moreau was H.G. Wells’ third novel and was first published in 1896. It recounts the experiences of a shipwreck victim who finds himself on an island populated by animals that have been modified by the titular Dr. Moreau, using scientific means, to become human/animal hybrids who resemble humans with residual animal traits and nearly have human intelligence and sentience. The novel was quite a sensation at the time of its... Read Full Review