All Posts – Page 12 – Staff Picks

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Blue Nights

So…having previously read The Year of Magical Thinking, I picked up this book. First of all, it takes only about an hour to read this very small book. Secondly, I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m a reader, so I read almost all the time. But why I would choose to read a book about a mother writing about the loss of her only daughter, well…let’s just say it was ill advised. In any event, I also have to say I guess I don’t like Didion’s style; she repeats phrases over and over, and it’s really annoying. And I feel really sorry for her as well — she is definitely not at peace with much of anything — aging, being alone, etc. I almost think she’s clinically depressed and would like to call her doctors in NYC to make sure they add an anti-depressant to her daily medications.

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night

This is the follow-up to Discovery of Witches. There’s a third one in the works, too. This book was chock-full of literary and scientific characters that are intimately involved with the two main characters, Diana and Matthew. There are also references to the Salem witches (Diana is a distant relative of the Bishops from Salem, MA). There is lots of moving around as Diana and Matthew time travel to find an ancient manuscript. It is sometimes confusing to keep it all straight, but it’s worth it to keep reading. I’m looking forward to Book 3 in this series.

Big Girl Small by Rachel Dewoskin

Big Girl Small

I saw this on a book list and ordered it and couldn’t remember what it was about. Then I started it and found out it was about a girl who is a Junior in high school, who just happens to be a Little Person. She just started a new school because she is a very talented singer. However, she gets involved with a boy and then becomes involved in a scandal at school. I enjoyed it and I thought it was a pretty good representation of kids in high school and the peer pressure that they encounter.

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Pope Joan

I had only heard occasional comments about there having been a woman that was Pope. This book does a great job of telling the story. It’s absolutely a page turner, and Joan was an amazing character — strong, smart, witty, independent — everything we should encourage our girls today to aspire to be. A very well-told story that I couldn’t put down, a great book.

Monday Mornings by Sanjay Gupta, MD

Monday Mornings

I will read almost anything written by doctors or nurses about their experiences, so I grabbed this book, knowing how much I enjoy Sanjay Gupta’s reports on CNN. This book, however, was not his finest work. It’s almost laughable the way he sets up conversations, and he throws around silly cliches. When he gets down to the nitty gritty of a medical procedure or a surgery it’s very cool, but otherwise very rudimentary. Sanjay should stick to his medical practice and continue to do the great stories on CNN.

Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman

Say Her Name

This book was written by Goldman about his life with his wife Aura. They met, fell in love, and were married despite a large age difference and over the objections of Aura’s mother. Unfortunately, Aura died in a freak accident, leaving Goldman to deal with the aftermath of her death. Goldman does a great job describing Aura and her gifts as a writer; with her death we may have lost a promising artist. A beautifully written book about a man’s love for his wife.

Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy by E. L. James

Fifty Shades of Grey

I read the first one because I wanted to say that I read it like the rest of the world had done: and I read the other two just to see if they would be any better than the first one. And so, were they any good? Answer : no. If the author had made the main character a 35-year-old woman who had lived a life and now wanted to “explore” a little, I could have understood that. Instead, she makes the main character a 22-year-old college graduate. The author then wants the reader to believe that this young woman would give a sadomasochistic stalker the time of day! I like to think that young women today would tell this guy to take a flying leap! But that’s just me; anybody else feel the same?

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray is a story that I think should be required reading for all high school students when they study world history, though I think a movie might do a better job of increasing awareness overall. As I listened to this audiobook, I kept thinking, “This needs to be the next Schindler’s List. Why is it that everyone talks about the horrors of the Holocaust and nobody ever talks about the Soviet Holodomor?” I mean, I didn’t even know the term Holodomor (which roughly translates to “death by hunger”) until this book inspired me to do a little research.

I remember briefly covering Stalin and being taught about his “purges”… but I think we pretty much glossed over it on the way to an in-depth study of the Holocaust. I mean, I definitely didn’t recall that the total death count was right up there with the Holocaust. It is estimated that somewhere between 3 and 6 million people died during the Holodomor, with many estimates putting the death toll at around 7 million people. SEVEN MILLION! People talk about the Holocaust all the time. They lament the fact that the Nazis killed 6 million Jews and another 5 million people (including Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, disabled people, and Gypsies) under Hitler’s rule. There are numerous Holocaust museums and memorials in addition to a Holocaust Remembrance Day. But, no one really talks much about what Stalin did. My Facebook feed doesn’t “blow up” once a year to remind me of what Stalin did. And that is a crying shame. Some people may debate the death toll and ask, “Was it genocide?” But, regardless of the exact number and the terminology you use, there is no debating the fact that millions of people died under Stalin’s regime.

I appreciate the author interview at the end of the audiobook, in which Ruta Sepetys explained her personal connection to the story, and I love that the official website for the book includes resources like a book discussion guide and a video of Ruta Sepetys discussing the novel. I’m glad that this book has started to shed some more light on the Holodomor , and I can only pray that this light shines brightly, and widely, from here on.

Missing You by Harlan Coben

Missing You

This new novel by Harlan Coben is definitely suspenseful, filled with lots of puzzles. It follows various story lines that eventually all fit together. The main story line deals with Kat….a NYPD detective whose best friend signs her up for an online dating service where she finds an old boyfriend who she never got over. This one simple act, combined with the death of her father’s convicted killer, sets Kat off to question events in her past that have always remained a mystery and to seek answers she might not want to live with. Meanwhile, a young boy comes to her insisting that his mom has gone missing, even though everyone else thinks she is just away with her new boyfriend. How could all of this possibly tie together? There are many layers in this story, and the clues are expertly interwoven throughout to keep you guessing. If you like mystery and suspense, then I recommend this one!

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Salem's Lot

Regardless of the fact that this book was published in 1975, this is one of the best Vampire stories I’ve ever read. Stephen King is a master at fleshing (pardon the pun!) out a character like nobody else. And his portrayal of small town American life is spot on as well. I’m also a fan of the way he portrays kids as being strong, opinionated, and brave human beings and often they are the ones in his stories to be reckoned with. A word of warning : with the summer months upon us, you may not want to read this book at night, with your windows open – or you could, if you dare!

Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff

Frozen in Time

I found this book on a Summer Book List, and while it is not the kind of book I would normally gravitate toward, I am so glad I did. This tells the true story of pilots on missions over Greenland during WWII who crashed, and the rescue efforts to save them. The story also takes place in the present, as the author recounts efforts of a group to recover the men and the planes still left behind in Greenland. Amazing to read about the fortitude of the men that survived those awful crashes and spent months on such an unforgiving landscape and in light of devastating medical issues. Also so wonderful to know that there are people who care so much about bringing the bodies left behind back home to surviving family members for closure. I absolutely could not put this book down and recommend it highly.

Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline

Keep Quiet

How far would you go to protect your child’s future? This compelling novel, which I read in 3 days, tells a story of what one father did to protect his son’s future. A father, Jake Buckman, who had never been close to his teenage son Ryan, makes a decision that will change the lives of his whole family and several others, and then covers it up with lies upon lies. As a parent, I can understand why this father made that decision, but I don’t think I could have gone that far. The story has twists and an unexpected ending. I would recommend this if you like suspense, family dynamics and relationships, and a quick read.

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris

To Rise again at a Decent Hour

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is one of those books that is so fun to read that you don’t realize just how weighty it is until you’re turning the last few pages and find that a little bit of yourself, a tiny little cell or two, has been changed.

Main character Paul is an annoying, neurotic dentist. Only it turns out he’s not. He’s a dentist, anyway, but maybe not so neurotic. He’s been through a lot in his 30-odd years, but he’s not complaining. Instead, he’s seeking his place in the world, a sense of belonging, a family, a purpose. He has a weakness for women with large, religious families. First Sam, of the devoutly Catholic Santacroce family, and more recently Connie, his office manager and member of the large Jewish Plotz clan. Paul’s longing for love, family, and purpose manifests in an obsessive fascination with his girlfriends’ religions, and he finds himself stepping over boundary lines in his quest to get just a bit closer, to understand the privilege of a religious heritage just a little better.

We first join Paul when his post-breakup pining and analyzing and mooning for Connie’s family is interrupted by his discovery that someone is impersonating him online. Eventually his online doppelganger begins to post comments that could be construed as anti-Semitic, and Paul is aggrieved and itchy with the discomfort of knowing the Plotz’s may be attributing these comments to him. But when fake-Paul offers real-Paul an almost irresistible chance to belong, to claim a heritage of his own, what will real-Paul do?

Much of the action here takes place in Paul’s head, or in his Manhattan office, or in his apartment. Paul’s journey is existential, and by its end, “neurotic” Paul has revealed himself as an engaging, thoughtful, vulnerable, full fledged human being. Who just happens to be a dentist.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars

Cadence has spent every summer of her life on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her entire extended family. Hired help does all the work while the family enjoys a life of luxury and leisure. She missed last summer, which she spent in Europe with her father, but she is back and trying to piece together what happened two summers before. All she knows is that she sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and now suffers memory loss and crippling headaches. No one in the family is supposed to talk to her about it because it upsets her and then she ends up forgetting anyway — the doctors have decided it’s best if they let her recover those memories on her own. I almost couldn’t get over the shock of what had happened when her memories finally sorted themselves out, and I was in awe of how well everything that seemed so strange finally fell into place. This is a great summer read for people who like mysteries and don’t mind shedding a few tears.

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska

It seemed a bit too clichéd to write a review for TFiOS—otherwise known as The Fault in Our Stars—as the film adaptation will be released in less than a month. So instead, I will review Looking for Alaska, another masterpiece from the brilliant mind of John Green. It was his debut novel, but it delivers as many brutal truths as those that followed in its wake. In this particular tale, Miles, our protagonist, leaves his Floridian home behind to attend a boarding school in Alabama… in search of “a Great Perhaps.” Miles, you see, collects “last words.” (Foreshadowing, perhaps?) Note Exhibit A: “Francois Rabelais. He was a poet. And his last words were, “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.” That’s why I’m going. So I don’t have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.” Introducing a concept such as a Great Perhaps so early in the book is part of Green’s genius. It hooked me. I bet it has hooked you. I bet you are already reserving your copy so that you can find out more about this Great Perhaps. What I tell people when they ask about John Green is this: He is the master of the one-liner. Even if that one-liner takes a paragraph to develop… even if that one-liner is, in fact, actually a paragraph in length. Note Exhibit B: “I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.” Miles is, of course, talking about Alaska here, but Green’s words are simultaneously so personal yet so universal that you feel you are that hurricane… or that you are the drizzle in love with the hurricane. Or that, all weather aside, you know exactly what this guy is talking about because you have experienced it in your own life. Looking for Alaska is fearless in the way it addresses the sensitive issues young adults struggle with on a daily basis. There is no sugarcoating here, or crunchy candy shell. There is only The Truth… or the version(s) of The Truth as seen through the eyes and minds of Green’s thoughtful and honest characters. I’ll admit it; the feeling I had when I finished this book stayed with me for days. And this particular quote from Looking for Alaska will stay with me for a lifetime: “When I look at my room, I see a girl who loves books.”