Staff Recommendations
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How We Go Home: Voices From Indigenous North America
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionNovember 23, 2021
Call Number: 970.1 H8475
Sara Sinclair compiled interviews and stories from twelve different Indigenous people whose ancestral tribes and families are from North America (The United States and Canada). These interviews came about because of Sinclair's work with a non-profit oral history project, Voice of Witness. Each person's point of view is unique, but there are common themes to be found in all of them: coerced residential and boarding schools; foster care; and the resulting trauma due to mistreatment, forced assimilation, loss of emotional family... Read Full Review
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Out of Character
by Albert, Annabeth
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryNovember 17, 2021
In last year’s Conventionally Yours, Annabeth Albert took readers on a virtual roadtrip, while the country was in lockdown, so that they could join tabletop gamers Alden, Conrad, and Jasper as they made their way from New England to Las Vegas for Massive Odyssey Con West, the annual national gathering and competition for Odyssey players. When Jasper is forced to return home due to a family emergency, Alden and Conrad continue on their... Read Full Review
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Out of body
by Ford, Jeffrey, 1955-
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryNovember 9, 2021
A small-town librarian, a senseless killing and a centuries-old horror have been preying on a community for over a hundred years. These are the building blocks used by Jeffrey Ford as a foundation for his chilling horror novella Out of Body.
On his way to work as the librarian at his community’s small library, Owen stops off at the Busy Bee, a local deli, for his breakfast. As he is making his purchase, a man rushes into the store with a gun. He threatens the cashier as he demands the cash from the register and then swings around and strikes Owen in the... Read Full Review
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Mankiller : a chief and her people
by Mankiller, Wilma, 1945-2010.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionNovember 3, 2021
Call Number: 970.2 M278
Wilma Pearl Mankiller was principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, and the first woman to hold that position. In the Cherokee language, the surname “Mankiller,” Asgaya-dihi, references a traditional Cherokee rank, such as captain or major. Chief Mankiller was the least violent individual on this planet, but she was a commander, comparable to a Four-Star General, for whom the word "no" did not exist, especially when confronted with a problem. She was relentless in seeking solutions and enlisted others to help. Part of working within a group was an implicit aspect of the... Read Full Review
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An elderly lady must not be crossed
by Tursten, Helene, 1954-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionOctober 20, 2021
She's back. Maud returns, much to this reviewer's surprise and delight. Her first, and supposedly last, appearance was in An elderly lady is up to no good, where she was taking justice into her own hands, and under scrutiny by clever Detective Inspector Irene Huss. In this group of short stories Maud fills in some blank spots about her early life, which explains how she started on this path of crime, aka justice. She was witness to unfair occurrences that took place, reacted, and... Read Full Review
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The southern book club's guide to slaying vampires
by Hendrix, Grady
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryOctober 18, 2021
At the end of the Author’s Note for The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix tells you everything you need to know before diving in to his new novel: “I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom. As you’ll see, it’s not a fair fight.”
Patricia Campbell is living the “American Dream”. She is married to an ambitious psychiatrist, has two children, a girl and a boy, and lives in a somewhat exclusive neighborhood near Charleston, South Carolina. She keeps house, runs the necessary errands, ferries her kids to their various meetings and... Read Full Review
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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