Staff Recommendations
Pages
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Record of a Spaceborn Few.
by Chambers, Becky.
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryApril 1, 2019
Call Number: SF
Becky Chambers has become a name to watch in Science Fiction. She published her first novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in 2014 after completing it via a successful Kickstarter campaign, which was later picked up by Harper Voyager and released to a much wider readership and received several notable awards. Chambers’ sophomore effort, A Closed... Read Full Review
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Lands of lost borders : a journey on the Silk Road
by Harris, Kate, 1982-
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabMarch 26, 2019
Call Number: 958 H314
As a child Kate Harris would trace Marco Polo’s path along the Silk Road in books, and dream of exploring Mars. She loved the idea of being outside, in the wilderness, seeing things no one had ever seen. So she decided to become an astronaut to take a shot at exploring Mars. As an adult she realized two important things. The first one was that the science degree she was studying (as part of her quest to become an astronaut) involved less exploration and more time indoors, peering into microscopes. It wasn’t for her. The second thing she realized was that Marco Polo was not the explorer she... Read Full Review
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Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
by O'Meara, Mallory
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 18, 2019
Call Number: 812.092 P3135Om
"Milicent Patrick's final resting place is in every single Creature from the Black Lagoon T-shirt, every Metaluna Mutant toy, every VHS tape of Fantasia, every DVD of The Shape of Water. It's on the desk of every female animator and in the pen of every woman doodling a monster in the margins of her notebook. It's always been there. It's just been hidden, purposely obfuscated."
From: The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O'Meara
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a name we all know. Released in 1954, it is considered... Read Full Review
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An absolutely remarkable thing : a novel
by Green, Hank,
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 11, 2019
We’ve all done it. We’ve all seen something extraordinary, glanced at it briefly, and then continued on toward our current destination, wherever that may be. We may be in a hurry, we may not. We may be alone, with someone else, or part of a group. But, regardless of our circumstances, often when we are confronted with something unexpected, even if it is remarkable, we take a glance and then keep moving. In Hank Green’s debut novel, the story opens with a young woman coming across something amazing, and she ALMOST walks by after giving it only a cursory glance. But she chides herself for... Read Full Review
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Finding Baba Yaga : a short novel in verse
by Yolen, Jane,
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 4, 2019
Call Number: YA
Jane Yolen has been working as an author for over 50 years. She has published over 300 titles, ranging from children’s books to speculative fiction (both fantasy and science fiction), and to nonfiction. She is also a poet, an instructor of writing and a reviewer of children’s literature.
Jane Yolen’s books and stories have won numerous awards, including the Caldecott Medal, the Nebula, the Christopher Medal, the World Fantasy Award, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Jewish Book Award, to name just a few. In 2009, Yolen was the recipient of the World Fantasy Association’s Lifetime... Read Full Review
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Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”
by Hurston, Zora Neale
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionFebruary 26, 2019
Call Number: 326.09 H966
Zora Neale Hurston is well known for her novels, especially for Their eyes were watching God. Her educational background and training were in cultural anthropology, ethnography and folklore. A prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction, this book would not be published in her lifetime because there were quesions about her methodology, and possible plagiarism. In the foreword, Alice Walker points out that black scholars and intellectuals also had issues with... Read Full Review
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Sweet Home Cafe cookbook : a celebration of African American cooking
by Lukas, Albert, 1968-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionFebruary 20, 2019
Call Number: 641.5973 L9535
September 24, 2016 was the dedication and opening day for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which included the Sweet Home Cafe.
This cookbook has the cafe's recipes, which represent the extensive diaspora of African Americans and encompass culinary traditions from Africa, the Caribbean, Native Americans, Europeans, Latinos, plus influences from recent African immigrants. There is a historical introduction and overview of African American cooking, cooks, eateries, The Green Book, and information about permanent exhibits at the museum... Read Full Review
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The last Neanderthal : a novel
by Cameron, Claire, 1973-
Reviewed by: Julia G, Librarian, Frances Howard Goldwyn - Hollywood Regional Branch LibraryFebruary 11, 2019
The year is 40,000 BC, give or take a few millennia, and only a handful of Neanderthal families are left on earth. Girl, who has just come of age, is determined to find a mate and start a family at the annual fish run. But with the Neanderthals’ numbers so diminished, everything from hunting bison to breaking a taboo is potentially deadly, and Girl soon finds herself the sole caretaker of her strange adopted brother, Runt, who looks and behaves like no human she’s ever seen.
Skip forward to modern day France. Rosamund Gale, a paleoarchaeologist, has discovered a... Read Full Review
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Holy Lands: A Novel
by Sthers, Amanda, 1978- author, translator.
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryFebruary 4, 2019
Harry Rosenmerck, a successful Jewish Cardiologist, just walked away. He walked away from his family, his career, his life, and everything he knew and loved to start a pig farm in Israel. This sounds like the set-up for a potentially insensitive joke, but it isn’t. Harry is deadly serious, as he explains to Rabbi Moshe Cattan. But Rabbi Cattan isn’t the only person demanding explanations. Monique Rosenmerck, Harry’s recently divorced ex-wife, wants to know why he left and why he won’t install a telephone so they can talk. His son David, a successful playwright, also wants to know why Harry... Read Full Review
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On a Sunbeam
by Walden, Tillie
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabJanuary 28, 2019
Call Number: 740.9999 W162-2
On a Sunbeam is a tender and surreal graphic novel about growing up, first love, lost love, friendship, finding your family, and about enormous, flying, space fish. On a Sunbeam manages to be both a science fiction romp about a crew of misfits, and a boarding school drama about first love. Both parts of the story involve flying space fish, and the space fish are gorgeous. Everything about the book is gorgeous: the color palette, the line art, the Gothic architecture, and the riotous starscapes.
Mia, the main character, is a young woman in... Read Full Review
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An elderly lady is up to no good : stories
by Tursten, Helene, 1954-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJanuary 23, 2019
An appropriate subtitle for this book might be: don’t mess with Maud, all she wants is peace and quiet. Mystery writer Helene Tursten, best known for the Detective Inspector Huss series, was asked to write a short story for Christmas, and so she did: “An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime”.
88-year-old Maud is a combination of Charles Bronson’s character in the movie,... Read Full Review
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The white darkness
by Grann, David,
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJanuary 16, 2019
Call Number: 998.5 G759
Antarctica, which contains the South Pole, is a large land mass (5,400,000 square miles) located in the Southern Hemisphere. It is, " ... on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents," and has a limited amount of animal and vegetative life. It is a place that has evoked rich hypothetical and mythological ideas about its origins. For those who want to journey on foot between certain geographical spots, there are seemingly limitless areas of white glacial plains, peaks and creavasses.
Henry... Read Full Review