by Kiley Reid Come and Get It by Kiley Reid is a sharp and thought-provoking novel that dives into the complexities of power dynamics, race, gender, and privilege in contemporary America. Following her successful debut, Such a Fun Age, Reid once again explores social tensions with biting wit and keen observations. This time, she takes […]
by Rachel Khong Rachel Khong’s sophomore novel, Real Americans, is an intriguing story of the lives of three generations of an Asian-American family dealing with identity, choice, and the American obsession with money and wealth. The author offers a bold and thoughtful look at race and socioeconomic class, asking the fundamental question: Can we change […]
by Meg Shaffer At the library, I am fortunate to spend a lot of time in our children’s section, getting to experience the excitement of our youngest readers sharing the books they love. A steady theme, particularly with those getting into their first novels, is a love of magic, of stories that are easy to […]
by Rebecca K Reilly Greta and Valdin are 20-something siblings who share a New Zealand flat. They are each other’s support system as they figure out life in their late 20s while exploring their Māori heritage, queerness, and love lives. Their family is a quirky concoction of Māori, Russian, and Catalonian and is so unexpectedly […]
by Kate Molleson Ask anyone to name a classical composer, and the answer is usually the same: Mozart, Beethoven, Bach. Their music is wonderful, but what about composers who aren’t household names – who work outside the mainstream, who write challenging and difficult music? In Sound Within Sound, Kate Molleson beautifully tells the stories of […]
by Alix E. Harrow I love birds. If you see someone chatting to the chickadees, hummingbirds and finches outside of the library, chances are it’s me. One of my favourite birds? The common starling. So naturally, as I skimmed the spines on the library shelf, a book called Starling House jumped out at me. As […]
by David Grann David Grann’s The Wager is exhilarating as both scholarship and narrative. From the outset, we hear the perspectives and aspirations of each of the major players in turn, as each prepares to board the ship. These threads conjoin as the fleet departs from England, only to fully unravel later in the dangerous […]
by Nina Simon Nina Simon’s debut novel, Mother Daughter Murder Night, has murder, suspects, twists, and family drama. Three strong women, Lana Rubicon, grandmother, Beth, her daughter, and mother to teenaged Jack are forced to spend time together; something they haven’t done since Beth abruptly left home as a teenager years before. Lana, undergoing cancer […]
by Naomi Hirahara Set in the heated days of early 1944 Aki Ito, her two parents and sister Rose are living in Manzanar Internment Camp in California through the forced relocation of all people of Japanese ancestry living in the United States. Deeply unhappy with life in the camp the Itos jump at the opportunity […]
by Jessica Johns I know one of the cardinal rules of book selection is never to judge a book by its cover. You would think that as a librarian, I would be the first to enforce that rule. Sometimes, though, rules are meant to be broken, and sometimes it works out in exactly one’s favour. […]