Staff Recommendations
Pages
-
The Lost Shtetl
by Gross, Max
Reviewed by: Janice Batzdorff, LibrarianJuly 6, 2021
For as long as anyone can remember, a caravan of gypsy traders provides the Jews of Kreskol with their only connection to the outside world. Situated in a remote part of a forest in Poland, the town was inexplicably overlooked by the Nazis, and has retained the traditions of eastern European shtetls or villages from before the Holocaust. Clothes are hand sewn, Yiddish is spoken, the sabbath is observed, the Rabbi is consulted for important life decisions. Think Anatevka of Fiddler on the Roof, without the singing.
This idyllic way of life is upended by the disappearance of a... Read Full Review
-
The autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
by Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJune 28, 2021
Call Number: 813 S819S 2020
Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein were originals, as individual people and as a couple. They did not strive to be different or unique, they just were. As a couple they even debunk what might be perceived as their traditional roles in a relationship with Gertrude Stein, the writer, poet and creator with Alice B. Toklas as a factotum who supported the great artist and took care of the household and cooking. It is not quite the whole story. They were stereotyped, and for the uninformed not to be taken seriously. At one time, Gertrude Stein was gratuitously known for one line from a long poem... Read Full Review
-
On Juneteenth
by Gordon-Reed, Annette
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJune 21, 2021
Call Number: 326.09764 G6655
In size and length, this relatively small book encompasses a major historical event, Juneteenth. Annette Gordon-Reed (historian, lawyer, law professor, multi-award-winning writer and native-born Texan) has written a collection of essays based on personal remembrances and history. No reader should be misled to think that this book will provide a quick overview of what is now a federal holiday. If anything, this distillation of history should send many of us to do further research and reading.
January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation... Read Full Review
-
Mother May I
by Jackson, Joshilyn
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 14, 2021
It happens in an instant. While Bree Cabbat watches her eldest daughter rehearse a school production of Grease, her infant son, Robert, sleeps in the seat next to her in the balcony of the school’s theatre. One moment he is there, the next he is gone. In his place is a note which demands that Bree head directly home, that she is not to contact the police, and to wait for a call. She is being watched and any deviation will result in Robert’s death.
Bree complies and is contacted. Robert is safe, for now, but for him to be returned, she must do exactly as... Read Full Review
-
Sometimes you have to lie : the life and times of Louise Fitzhugh, renegade author of Harriet the spy
by Brody, Leslie, 1952-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJune 8, 2021
Call Number: 813 F555Br
When the children's novel Harriet the Spy was published it received positive and negative criticism, and there was some alarm, even by librarians, about the main character, a cantakorous child, who is a spy. Harriet is an eleven-year-old who keeps a notebook, really a diary, with her observations about classmates, neighbors and family. When another child steals the notebook, classmates read Harriet's notes and start bullying her. In today's world the fictional Harriet would be considered an outlier... Read Full Review
-
A Master of Djinn
by Clark, P. Djèli
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 2, 2021
In Cairo in the 1870’s, an inventor and investigator of mysticism named al-Jahiz made a literal breakthrough unlike any other. He pierced the boundaries between our world and other worlds, allowing magic to bleed into ours. In the process, al-Jahiz was lost to another dimension before the rupture between worlds was sealed. For the intervening four decades the world has had to learn how to live with, or attempt to ignore, the magical beings that now populate our world.
The Egyptian government, as the locus of the magical in the world, set up the Ministry of Alchemy... Read Full Review
-
The Dictionary of Lost Words
by Williams, Pip
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMay 25, 2021
According to their website, the Oxford English Dictionary “is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.” Serially published in portions, or fascicles, the first fascicle, covering “A to Ant,” was published in 1884, 27 years after the project had begun. The first complete edition was finished in 1928. It took 71 years to complete the initial edition. To... Read Full Review
-
Every Day is a Gift: A Memoir
by Duckworth, Tammy
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 19, 2021
Call Number: 92 D836
It is one woman’s story of growth and achievement, comprised of innumerable personal and professional extremes, of opposing and contradictory experiences that took her to places, jobs and professions that she never ever could have imagined. Her life is like a complex Venn diagram or a mandala, with multiple overlapping layers. On the book jacket, beneath her name, she lists soldier, senator, mother. The life of a soldier propelled her on the road to becoming a senator and a mother.
She is biracial, multiethnic and multilingual. In 1989, from the University of... Read Full Review
-
Let's make ramen! : a comic book cookbook
by Amano, Hugh
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 11, 2021
Call Number: 641.5952 A484
Walk into any supermarket, peruse the soup aisle, and you will find the ubiquitous paper cups of ramen lining numerous shelves. The variety is terrifc. These instant cups have helped many of us get through a hectic day at work or home because they are convenient, inexpensive, have a relatively long shelf-life, and are easy to make in a microwave or with boiling water poured over the contents to provide a quick meal. Ramen has become a generic name for a large variety of instant noodle soups. What is ramen? Is it the name of a type of noodle, or the name of a soup? What is the difference... Read Full Review
-
Boundaries
by Lin, Maya, 1959-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 4, 2021
Call Number: 730.914 L735-1
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the most frequently visited public memorials under the maintenance and jurisdiction of the United States National Park Service. The memorial is a remembrance of those who gave their lives, and provides solace to those who are still alive--family, friends and veterans. What came to be known as the Vietnam War, and the involvement of the United States, was one of the most tumultuous, contentious and divisive periods in the modern history of our country. The history of the creation of the... Read Full Review
-
Crazy Brave: A Memoir
by Harjo, Joy
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionApril 28, 2021
Call Number: 811 H2816H-1
Joy Harjo is the current Poet Laureate of the United States, whose tenure began on June 19, 2019, and is the first Native American to hold this position. Last year she was elected to a third term by Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress. Harjo began her first year with a poetry reading and concert. Never one to regard unexpected events as anything other than a part of the cycle of life, the pandemic fired up Harjo's exceptional resilience, versatility and... Read Full Review
-
Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder
by Willberg, T. A.
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryApril 20, 2021
Imagine the following: A chilling murder, a secret detective agency with offices located in a myriad of tunnels located beneath London, and a young apprentice determined to find the killer in order to clear one of her closest friends of the murder. In her debut novel, which is the beginning of a new series, T.A. Willberg puts a decidedly fantastic spin on the mystery novel.
Marion Lane has had a few challenging years. When her mother died, she was forced to move in with her grandmother, who wants nothing more than for Marion to find a well-off young man, and... Read Full Review