Staff Choices

In Hamnet, author Maggie O'Farrell reimagines Shakespeare's wife, Agnes, as a healer with preternatural gifts. The reader is immersed in 16th century Stratford, where a sullen, hapless teenage Shakespeare (never identified by name in the novel) falls madly in love with the older, mysterious,and wild Agnes. She can foresee his greatness, even as he struggles under the thumb of his abusive, crooked father, who runs a glove business. Agnes becomes pregnant with their first daughter, necessitating a marriage. She instinctively knows that she is destined to have two children, so when she gives birth again to twins, Judith and Hamnet, Agnes is unnerved and worried for her children.

The inner lives of the children, especially the twins, is so exquisitely written. This is really a domestic novel about family relationships, how all these characters interact with one another through the daily grind of cooking, laundry, farming, etc. The adults nurse their grievances and anger, while the children silently observe.

The subtitle of this book, "a novel of the plague", forewarns the reader that the Bubonic Plague will scourge this family. In one stunning chapter, the author traces how a chance encounter, between a ship boy and a pet monkey he comes across at a far flung port, will spread the plague throughout Europe, eventually arriving at the door of the Shakespeare home. As COVID-19 is again flaring up worldwide, it is eerie and chilling reading about this horrible disease over four centuries ago.

Some may find the pacing of Hamnet too slow. It did take me about a quarter of the book in to really get into the rhythm of the writing. But once that happened, I was hooked. This will definitely be in my top ten for the year. 

If you enjoy learning about history and foreign places through your fiction reading, then A Long Petal of the Sea by Chilean author Isabel Allende, will have you riveted. This is a family saga that spans seven decades and is set against the world stage. The action begins in Barcelona in the late 1930s, as Spain is torn apart by General Franco and his fascist forces as they attempt to overthrow the government. The middle class Dalmas family, who are on the side of the Spanish Republic, will be forever changed by this civil war. Son Victor, a former medical school student who has been treating the injured soldiers, must flee Spain along with Roser, the pregnant fiancee of his brother who stays behind to fight. Allende does a masterful job of detailing the plight of the refugees, as they risk violence, disease, and starvation to seek safety.

Eventually, Victor and Roser will arrive in Chile, deemed "a long petal of the sea" by native poet Pablo Neruda. They will forge new lives in this strange country on the other side of the world, and live safely until political upheaval and violence will arrive many years later in Chile...this time in the figure of General Pinochet and his military coup.

Allende is a very gifted storyteller, and she is able to weave many historical facts about people and events, without ever making the novel boring or pedantic.

A non-scary Stephen King book (no clowns in thie one!)  An interesting reimagining of JFK's assassination.

Laura - ISG

In a very personal and candid memoir, Rebekah Taussig shares what it is like to navigate the world using a wheelchair. She writes about people being over-solicitous to help, about being ignored, and to still not have access to places she may want or have to visit. She reminds us that the Americans with Disabilities Act was only signed into law in 1990.

A term called "ableism" is discussed throughout the book. In Rebekah's words:  “Ableism is the process of favoring, fetishizing, and building the world around a mostly imagined, idealized body while discriminating against those bodies perceived to move, see, hear, process, operate, look, or need differently from that vision.” 

Sitting Pretty is an eye-opening book to read.

"Don't you ever wish your problems would take care of themselves?"

Be careful what you wish for!  In Lisa Unger’s newest psychological suspense novel, Confessions on the 7:45 this wish takes on a deadly turn.

Selena Murphy realizes her husband Graham is cheating yet again, this time with the nanny Geneva. One evening on the 7:45 train home from work she unburdens her problems to a stranger who reciprocates. This stranger is Martha. A day later, Geneva disappears and Selena’s life gradually implodes.

Told from multiple narratives, primarily those of Selena, Anne, and Pearl, this story is cleverly woven into a very compelling tale...one I wasn't entirely able to predict, which is how I like my suspense stories.

I actually listened to the story on eAudiobook. The narrator was captivating as she was able to pull me into the story and immerse me into the drama unfolding. I highly recommend this book for all psychological suspense fans.

This writing duo Christina Lauren hit it out of the park again.  I love all of their books and this one does not disappoint.  In a Holidaze is sure to be the perfect holiday read for 2020.  Everything from the cozy winter setting to the family dynamics made this a must read.  Maelyn was a flawed relatable character who was in love with her childhood family friend, Andrew, and stuck in a Groundhog Day scenario. The supporting character were quirky and added a ton of depth to the story.  I especially loved Uncle Bennie!  Chaos, laughter and little romance is the perfect mix for this crazy 2020 holiday season.

Fiona Davis is one of my favorite go-to authors of historical fiction.  She does not disappoint with her newest book, The Lions of Fifth Avenue.  As someone who works in a library and loves to visit libraries whenever I travel, I loved the setting of the New York Public Library.  The dual perspectives of Laura and Sadie, as well as the dual timelines made the reading experience feel fast-paced and weaved a bigger picture into a historical event. Davis did an amazing job of keeping the story moving with an interesting mystery, while also touching on more serious topics such as women's rights and sexism in the workplace. I will definitely be recommending this one and consider it for a future book discussion at our library.

Set in India, Jivan is a young woman trying to work her way out of poverty and the rigid, limited role she has in society. After a terrible attack on a passenger train in her city, she makes a very unfortunate decision to post a critical comment of her government on social media. This action sets in motion a chain reaction of unfortunate events. Will two people who could be character witnesses come through on her behalf? We meet her physical education instructor, PT Sir, who thought Jivan had potential when she was his student and Lovely, a young hijra who Jivan tried to help learn English. As we get to know these characters, we see the struggles they have and the compromises they make.

The way the author narrates the story left me surprised and shocked at the turn it takes. It becomes a tale as old as time told in a unique way . . . naivety, betrayal, graft, poverty, selfishness, looking the other way, power, and justice denied. This is author Megha Majumdar's debut novel and brings an awareness of serious issues. A Burning has left me still thinking about this compelling novel long after I read it.

I’ve just met Duchess Goldblat and we’ve already cried together. And yes laughed together too. This is a memoir by the anonymous author of the @duchessgoldblat twitter account. I felt as if I was sitting at a table having drinks with anonymous as she carefully unfolds her path to the successful creation of Duchess. Finding herself bereft of her marriage, home, family and job, she reaches out into the twitterverse with her heart open wide, giving love and support to those like her in desperate need of both. Her clever humor resonates with thousands and she finds herself piecing her life back together. She answers her followers, many of them celebrities, with integrity and honesty, and forms true lifelong friendships. I was deeply moved by the simple humanity of this memoir, especially at this moment in time when we are in need of kind voices. Words do matter. One of my favorite books of 2020.

No doubt there were high expectations for Yaa Gyasi's followup novel after her critically acclaimed debut, Homegoing. Transcendent Kingdom should prove that her literary stardom is in no danger of fading. But fans of her first novel, a sweeping historical saga, may be surprised by the quiet, domestic family drama portrayed here. This novel follows the story of Gifty, (a prophetically fitting name for her brilliant mind), a Stanford medical researcher studying addiction in lab mice. We also get to know Gifty as a young child of Ghanaian immigrants, growing up in practically the only Black family in Huntsville, Alabama. Her father, disenchanted with life in America, has returned to Ghana, essentially deserting Gifty, her hardworking mother, and her beloved older brother, Nana. It is Nana's own set of gifts, on athletic fields and courts, that will eventually lead to his destruction...an opioid addiction after being prescribed OxyContin at the age of 15 for a basketball injury. After his eventual death from a heroin overdose (not a spoiler), Gifty's seemingly indefatigable mother succumbs to a depression that will change her forever. 

Raised as an Evangelical Christian, Gifty must make sense of a God who allows such tragedy to happen. She abandons the religion of her childhood, searching instead for answers in the mystery of the human brain. This theme of faith versus science is just one of the Topics with a capital T that Gyasi  so masterfully explores in this novel...such as Family, Mental Illness, Addiction, Spirituality, Racism. This is indeed a heavy book, but as Gifty grapples with the trauma both she and her mother must endure, there is incredible beauty in the truths that she uncovers. Not to mention the exquisite writing that graces every page. Highly recommended.