Staff Picks

A book recommendation to cure everything from "Sleepwalking" to "High Blood Pressure" to "Killjoy, Being A." A fun book to open at random or read straight through, it will have you laughing as well as taking notes for your next trip to the library.

 

Publisher Description:

A novel is a story transmitted from the novelist to the reader. It offers distraction, entertainment, and an opportunity to unwind or focus. But it can also be something more powerful--a way to learn about how to live. Read at the right moment in your life, a novel can--quite literally--change it. The Novel Cure is a reminder of that power. To create this apothecary, the authors have trawled two thousand years of literature for novels that effectively promote happiness, health, and sanity, written by brilliant minds who knew what it meant to be human and wrote their life lessons into their fiction. Structured like a reference book, readers simply look up their ailment, be it agoraphobia, boredom, or a midlife crisis, and are given a novel to read as the antidote.

 

One of the most fun things to do is spend time with your parent, and the little girl in this story does that by riding with her father on his motorcycle. The two cruise around town, meeting their neighbors, seeing the sights, and enjoying each other's company. This own voices book speaks to the Mexican American experience of living in a small town and connecting with your father in your own unique ways.

 

Publisher Description:

A celebration of the love between a father and daughter, and of a vibrant immigrant neighborhood, by an award-winning author and illustrator duo. When Daisy Ramona zooms around her neighborhood with her papi on his motorcycle, she sees the people and places she's always known. She also sees a community that is rapidly changing around her. But as the sun sets purple-blue-gold behind Daisy Ramona and her papi, she knows that the love she feels will always be there. With vivid illustrations and text bursting with heart, My Papi Has a Motorcycle is a young girl's love letter to her hardworking dad and to memories of home that we hold close in the midst of change.

 

Birthday follows best friends Eric and Morgan as they celebrate their shared birthday over the course of six years. They begin to realize their individual identities and grow apart in high school, separately exploring love interests, finding new hobbies, and generally shirking the expectations of those around them. The secrets they keep from each other, however, threaten to disrupt the status quo in their lifelong friendship. This book surprised me in so many ways. Though the major themes are heavy (and heart-wrenching at times), I cannot overstate how important books like this one are, for both young adult and "adult adult" audiences. Grab your Kleenex!

 

Publisher Description:

Two best friends. A shared birthday. Six years... ERIC: There was the day we were born. There was the minute Morgan and I decided we were best friends for life. The years where we stuck by each other's side--as Morgan's mom died, as he moved across town, as I joined the football team, as my parents started fighting. But sometimes I worry that Morgan and I won't be best friends forever. That there'll be a day, a minute, a second, where it all falls apart and there's no turning back the clock. MORGAN: I know that every birthday should feel like a new beginning, but I'm trapped in this mixed-up body, in this wrong life, in Nowheresville, Tennessee, on repeat. With a dad who cares about his football team more than me, a mom I miss more than anything, and a best friend who can never know my biggest secret. Maybe one day I'll be ready to become the person I am inside. To become her. To tell the world. To tell Eric. But when? Six years of birthdays reveal Eric and Morgan's destiny as they come together, drift apart, fall in love, and discover who they're meant to be--and if they're meant to be together. 

 

This cute book teaches kids about the different sounds animals make, and that it's not always easy to get everyone to do the same thing, but it's still nice to do activities together.

 

Publisher Description:

Everybody Says Meow! Or do they? Fans of Sandra Boynton and of Jules Feiffer's classic , Bark, George will meow, bark, and ribbit when they hear this hilarious picture book about a waggish group of adorable animals that just cannot follow one simple instruction.

"Welcome to that magical time when everybody says, 'Meow!' Ready?"

Well, not quite. There's also a "Woof." And a "Ribbit."

A few words and a minimal background can make for plenty of mischief--especially when your characters are adorable, delightfully silly, and probably NOT LISTENING!

Fun, cumulative, and playful, Everybody Says Meow is perfect for preschoolers and toddlers just learning how to read.

Find Everybody Says Meow in our online catalog.

Featuring a strong, smart female character and a society on the brink of rebellion, this book is a captivating read. As a bonus, this series gets better as it goes on!

 

Publisher Description:

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love They were never meant to be together. As a general's daughter, seventeen-year-old Kestrel enjoys an extravagant and privileged life. Arin has nothing but the clothes on his back. Then Kestrel makes an impulsive decision that binds Arin to her. Though they try to fight it, they can't help but fall in love. In order to be together, they must betray their people...but to be loyal to their country, they must betray each other.

Set in a new world, The Winner's Curse is a story of rebellion, duels, ballroom dances, wicked rumors, dirty secrets, and games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

Find The Winner's Curse in our online catalog.

My choir director assigned this book for us to read and discuss (online, right now). I am so glad she did. This is an amazing book; I had no idea of the intricacies of breathing. While I certainly know how to breathe to sing, this book will add to my knowledge, and, hopefully, allow me to sing better. The author posits that we have lost the ability to breathe properly and it's to our detriment. He includes info on years of medical texts (ancient and modern) and recent cutting edge studies in not only pulmonology but psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology. Non-singers will appreciate the engaging way the author discusses the research, including reading about how he experimented on himself with various breathing techniques. I highly recommend this book.

 

Publisher Description:

No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you're not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.

 

Five stars for this well-researched and colloquially written book all about the life and (hidden) legacy of Milicent Patrick, designer for the Gill-man in Creature from the Black Lagoon. This book also dives into being female in the film biz during the 1950s and the gender inequality that persists to this day. I appreciate the author's funny footnotes and collection of Milicent Patrick photographs throughout the book. Highly recommend to classic sci-fi and horror fans!

 

Publisher Description:

The Lady from the Black Lagoon uncovers the life and work of Milicent Patrick--one of Disney's first female animators and the only woman in history to create one of Hollywood's classic movie monsters As a teenager, Mallory O'Meara was thrilled to discover that one of her favorite movies, Creature from the Black Lagoon, featured a monster designed by a woman, Milicent Patrick. But for someone who should have been hailed as a pioneer in the genre, there was little information available. For, as O'Meara soon discovered, Patrick's contribution had been claimed by a jealous male colleague, her career had been cut short and she soon after had disappeared from film history. No one even knew if she was still alive. As a young woman working in the horror film industry, O'Meara set out to right the wrong, and in the process discovered the full, fascinating story of an ambitious, artistic woman ahead of her time. Patrick's contribution to special effects proved to be just the latest chapter in a remarkable, unconventional life, from her youth growing up in the shadow of Hearst Castle, to her career as one of Disney's first female animators. And at last, O'Meara discovered what really had happened to Patrick after The Creature's success, and where she went. A true-life detective story and a celebration of a forgotten feminist trailblazer, Mallory O'Meara's The Lady from the Black Lagoon establishes Patrick in her rightful place in film history while calling out a Hollywood culture where little has changed since.

 

Wow, neither the summary of this book nor the cover do it justice. An oddball read that threw me for a loop at first--this book is short and will leave you in love with and yearning to know more about the main character, Keiko Furukura. Keiko is a quirky, misunderstood woman in her mid-thirties who has worked at the same convenience store for 18 years. The story follows her present-day, daily struggles with fitting in, having successful conversations with people, and doing well (just) enough that her family stays out of her business. I'm left thinking that Keiko may be aromantic/asexual--and that representation in literature is refreshing. Recommend to fans of Otessa Moshfegh, Jhumpa Lahiri, and maybe The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

 

Publisher Description: 

Sayaka Murata brilliantly captures the atmosphere of the familiar convenience store that is so much a part of life in Japan. With some laugh-out-loud moments prompted by the disconnect between Keiko's thoughts and those of the people around her, she provides a sharp look at Japanese society and the pressure to conform, as well as penetrating insights into the female mind.