Submitted by Jeff Fisher
Welcome to the first installment of Blog Reads, an online book club for FCPL staff. Blog Reads is an initiative of the Readers' Resource Committee. Blog Reads is an asynchronous book club that allows readers to drop in as they have time. The goal of Blog Reads is, in part, to help staff with readers' advisory by providing information on titles recently read.
Have you recently read, or listened to, a book that you enjoyed? Please write a brief review in the comments section below. Please make sure that you include the book's author, title, and what appealed about the book to you.
Has anyone read the wonderful mystery book, Who Is Maud Dixon by Alexandra Andrews? I read this for Book Sleuths last July and loved it! The entire plot is so unusual! And the ending is totally unexpected. Florence, an unsuccessful, out-of-work writer in NYC is hired to be an assistant to Maud Dixon, a very eccentric and reclusive author with a bestselling book. One big condition in the employment NDA is that Florence must never, for the rest of her life, disclose that she worked for Maud or what Maud's real name is. Things start off well, with Florence typing manuscripts for her employer, whose real name is Helen, and the two women becoming almost “friends”, or so you think……. Then comes the spur-of-the-moment trip to Morocco. And the fun for the reader really begins! Nothing is what it seems and you will have your expectations turned 180 degrees time after time.
ReplyDeleteI recently read Lone Women by Victor LaValle. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a nonfiction reader, but I've been trying to get more into fiction, especially genres that I've never read or are not very familiar with. Horror is one of those genres.
ReplyDeleteIf I could describe this book in one word, it would be wow. Just WOW.
Let me start by stating that I didn't not realize this was a horror/suspense novel when I picked it up. This book was amazing. It had short chapters which allowed you to read quickly and kept you in suspense the entire novel. It had such a great beginning, middle, and that end, wow! And the characters! So amazing. This book may have ignited a love of horror novels within me. This novel is one of those "If you could read any book again for the first time, what would it be?" books.
This is definitely a 5 star for me and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!
SOLD! Placing hold now!
DeleteI recently gave An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green (as well as its sequel A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor) a read and totally loved it! I'd been a fan of Hank Green's various YouTube endeavors for years now, and when I found out he was trying his hand at writing a sci-fi novel I knew I was going to be in for a treat.
ReplyDeleteApril, a young woman living in New York City, chances upon a weird statue in the middle of a well-traveled street during an evening just like every other. Seeing as April runs an amateur YouTube channel for fun in her spare time, she convinces her best friend to come take a video with her featuring this art piece. The next day, she discovers that identical statues have popped up overnight in every major city around the world - and no one knows how they got there, or what they mean. Also: they're pretty much indestructible and cannot be moved. Also-also: April's video had gone viral, and the world now considers her one of the people who 'discovered' the statues. April's life changes forever as the story unravels into a surreal, bizarre and existential race to discover the truth about these statues and what they might mean for humanity's future... Though the 'truth' may not matter as long as these unknowable things can be spun to fit into lucrative personal and political narratives.
The thing I loved more than all that is how the book so clearly understands how social media works (yes, Twitter and YouTube are major parts of this story!), how social media can be weaponized for both good and evil, education and confusion. It's a book that feels extremely relevant to our modern day; a cautionary tale that only someone who has experienced online celebrity status could write with this amount of care and nuance. Fresh, funny, heartbreaking, terrifying, and ultimately: relatable. I loved it, if you couldn't tell!
I didn't initially think that the first book left room for much of a sequel, but the second book is just as good as the first; though it is more targeted and specific in its themes. I won't give away any specifics, but I was relieved that it has a hopeful end after all the existentialism these books put you through, haha!
I recently read "The Deal" by Elle Kennedy, which is the first in her Off-Campus romance series. It's definitely a "new adult" romance as it takes place at a fictional Ivy League college and the characters are all 20. The hero is the star hockey player and the heroine is an introverted vocal performance major, and because of romance reasons they make a deal to start fake dating, but of course that turns into real love.
ReplyDeleteThe book is well written and almost completely based on character development instead of plot-based, or as my sister says "a book where nothing happens." The author also deals with the aftermath of the heroine's prior sexual assault very respectfully. If a reader requests a book without SA or upsetting material, definitely do not recommend this one.
I rated it 4.5 stars and would definitely recommend it to a sports romance enthusiast, a romance reader in their early 20s, or to a reader that wanted to move away from teen books.
I didn't realize I had to put my name! Brooke W. read "The Deal"
DeleteI recently finished "The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi" by Shannon Chakraborty and highly enjoyed it! It follows the title character, a middle-aged retired pirate who is forced back into the game for one last heist.
ReplyDeleteAs with the author's previous series, this book is set in an ancient, magical version of the Middle East. I mainly listened to this through my Libro.fm subscription, but I feel like the characters had just as much voice in print as they did in audio version. Amina and the rest of the crew of the Marawati are equal parts brash and loveable. There was just enough magical intrigue to keep the story fresh without (pardon the pun) going overboard. While the ending definitely leaves itself open for a sequel, it wasn't enough of a cliffhanger to leave me frustrated. I can't wait to read the next installment!
I recently read "The Measure" by Nikki Erlick, and couldn't put it down. "The Measure" is Erlick’s debut novel, one in which all adults (age 22 and up) wake up one day to find a small wooden box outside their home. Inside the box is a string that reveals their life expectancy. Scientists soon discover that the strings are accurate. Those with long strings will live long lives and those with short strings do not have long left to live. Scientists are further able to determine exactly how long one will live based on the length of one’s string.
ReplyDeleteSome people decide not to open their boxes while others destroy or throw away their box, but many open their box to learn their fate. A candidate for President uses the strings to further his own agenda and later the military decides that those with short strings cannot go into combat or hold high ranks. In spite of all that, "The Measure" is still a compelling story of hope. I highly recommend "The Measure" if you're looking for something a little different. It may make you angry at times but it kept me reading.
I finally finished the audiobook version of Project Hail Mary. It was absolutely amazing. The narrator Ray Porter really makes the experience. This is definitely one time that I would recommend the audiobook over reading the novel yourself. His choice in voices propels the story along so well and kept me from wanting to get out of my car on my drives. Telling much of the plot would give away too much and spoil some of the story. The main character is Ryland Grace. He is a scientist aboard the Hail Mary spaceship on a mission to save humanity. The story shifts from the present, being on the Hail Mary spaceship, to the past, giving you pieces of the story allowing you and our main character to figure out how he came to be aboard this ship. Why doesn’t our main character remember the reason he is on the ship? Coma induced amnesia. It was a book that took me by surprise and that I enjoyed every minute of. I cannot recommend it enough.
ReplyDeleteI recently did a combination of the book and audiobook for "Project Hail Mary." The narrator did a fantastic job! It was a story that I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I did. The audiobook definitely kept my attention and there was a surprising amount of humor in the book that kept it from being too scientific at times.
DeleteI recently read Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah in anticipation of his new book The Chain-Gang All-Stars, which comes out in May. Friday Black is a collection of short stories that I would describe as sharp, like they are designed to cut you. Many of the stories are satires and explore black identity, and some stories are surreal and border on horror. Two stories, "The Finkelstein Five" and "Zimmer Land," deal directly with the horror, heartbreak, and absurdity of racially-charged killings. These stories pull no punches. Then, in the titular story "Friday Black," shopping on Black Friday is treated like a zombie apocalypses, and the absurdity of it will make anyone who has worked a Black Friday in retail laugh.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite story in the collection was "Through the Flash" which is about a community stuck in a time loop caused by a nuclear bomb. The characters have lived the loop so long it has broken many of them. Children have aged mentally, but not physically. Some community members have been super strong and fast. Some, who have violent tendencies, have made it a game to murder everyone before the next loop starts. The story is my favorite because it places people in an extraordinary scenario and ask how they would react to living the same day over, then how they would react again and again and again and again. At what point do people break? At what point do they take advantage of the loop? At what point do they become the darkest version of themselves because there is no escape? It is a fascinating read.
Adjei-Brenyah does a great job of blending magical realism, humor, and satire. You might find yourself saying, "This is ridiculous!" while also being horrified and uncomfortable...and that's the point.