Staff Recommendations
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The chiffon trenches : a memoir
by Talley, André Leon
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJuly 7, 2020
Call Number: 746.52 T148-2
Fashion journalist André Leon Talley’s autobiography could not be more prescient, and not just for fashion followers. Written before the pandemic and recent protest movements, the four and a half page introduction validates the concerns and issues which are playing out on the streets of the world:
“For so long I was the only person of color in the upper echelons of fashion journalism,but I was too busy pushing forward, making it to the next day, to really think about the responsibility that came with this role. Memories linger in the mind … Now I realize it... Read Full Review
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When we were magic
by Gailey, Sarah
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 29, 2020
Call Number: YA
After graduation, prom night is often the penultimate event in the life of a high school senior. Students may save, plan and dream about the night for months or even years prior to going. So what happens when the prom doesn’t go the way you planned? What if something truly unexpected, like death, mars the evening? What do you do and who do you call? This is the set up for Sarah Gailey’s latest, and first Young Adult novel, When We Were Magic. This novel definitely has a crossover appeal for adults.
Alexi’s prom night, overall, has not gone as she planned... Read Full Review
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The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea
by Tokuda-Hall, Maggie
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 22, 2020
A young noblewoman is betrothed by her parents into an unwanted, arranged marriage. A young pirate struggles to survive and protect his brother from the dangers inherent in the life they have been forced to live. A mermaid is captured and threatened with death because her blood, when drunk, allows humans the solace of forgetting things they don’t want to remember. A witch lives in seclusion because the Nipran Empire has declared her kind a threat that must be eliminated. The Sea, which the Nipran Empire uses and is attempting to subjugate to its will, will bring these different... Read Full Review
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Conventionally Yours
by Albert, Annabeth
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 15, 2020
A common theme in novels, motion pictures and television is the fine line between love and hate. One only has to look at William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (or it’s modern reincarnation 1999’s Ten Things I Hate About You) for an example of supposed loathing turning to love. And there are many, many other examples of this theme. Annabeth Albert takes this idea and sends it on a cross-country road trip in her latest novel, Conventionally Yours.
Conrad and Alden are two of the regular gamers who play at Professor Tuttle’s shop near... Read Full Review
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Under the Rainbow
by Laskey, Celia
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 8, 2020
In a recent survey, the small town of Big Burr, Kansas has earned the title of “most homophobic town in the U.S.” The non-profit that conducted the survey, Acceptance Across America (AAA), determines that the appropriate response to their findings is to send a task force to Big Burr. They will move to Big Burr, set up an office and live in the town for two years. AAA hopes that the task force can, and will, become a part of the community. They are also hopeful that eventually they will be able to change the locals’ attitudes regarding LGBTQ people. Debut author Celia Laskey... Read Full Review
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Upright Women Wanted
by Gailey, Sarah
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 1, 2020
Esther just watched her best friend die. Beatriz was found to be in possession of “inappropriate” materials, and for that she was hanged in the town square. Esther’s father spoke from the podium about the dangers of “deviance” all the while keeping his eyes locked on Esther.
Beatriz’s death was a warning to Esther, and so she ran. She stowed away in the Librarians’ supply wagon. Luckily for Esther that they were in town supplying the other residents with materials that support “correct education” and Approved Materials to read, watch and listen to.... Read Full Review
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Disturbance: surviving Charlie Hebdo
by Lançon, Philippe
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 26, 2020
Call Number: 363.3259074436 L251
On January 7, 2015, two gunmen forced their way into the Paris offices of the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, and killed 12 people and injured 11 others. The newspaper was known for its criticism of individuals, organizations, governments and countries. The staff were egalitarian about whom and what they stridently satirized in images and writing, and because of this drew the attention and anger from many religious, political and ethnic groups. Their office had been attacked before, and was relocated to an unmarked building, with armed guards. With guns firing, the two... Read Full Review
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Five days gone : the mystery of my mother's disappearance as a child
by Cumming, Laura
Reviewed by: Robert Anderson, Librarian, Literature & Fiction DepartmentMay 18, 2020
Call Number: 362.70942 C971
It was a crisp autumn day in 1929 when Veda Elston took three-year-old Betty to the beach to play with her new pail and shovel in the seaside Lincolnshire village of Chapel St. Leonards on England’s east coast, just a short walk from their home. After turning her attention from the little girl for a few seconds, Veda looked up from her knitting to find that Betty had disappeared from view. Knowing that there hadn’t been time for her to wade into the water, Veda began a search of the area, soon enlisting neighbors and summoning her husband, George, back from his work as a traveling salesman... Read Full Review
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Oona Out of Order
by Montimore, Margarita
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMay 11, 2020
Imagine it is New Year’s Eve, 1982. Oona is 18 years old and will be 19 at midnight as the year changes to 1983. She has her whole life ahead of her, including the type of life altering “big decisions” that face everyone at that age. But, when Oona opens her eyes after the clock strikes 12:00 midnight, she’s not 19 (at least on the outside) but 51. The year is not 1983 but 2015, and she’s in a completely different location. And so begins Oona’s less than linear life in Margarita Montimore’s Oona Out of Order.
In her debut novel, Margarita Montimore explores not only how... Read Full Review
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Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays
by Didion, Joan.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 5, 2020
Call Number: 973.92 D556 2008
During this century, Joan Didion has become somewhat better known for personal tragedies, which she wrote about in The Year of Magical Thinking. When it was published, I could not finish reading it, and still have not. Long ago, in the last century, the first book of hers that I read was Slouching Towards Bethlehem, a collection of essays. It may have been assigned in a high school English class, or I found it in... Read Full Review
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The beneficiary : fortune, misfortune, and the story of my father
by Scott, Janny
Reviewed by: Robert Anderson, Librarian, Literature & Fiction DepartmentApril 28, 2020
Call Number: 709.2 S428Sc
We hear a lot these days about “the 1%” -- those Americans who are wealthier than 99% of the nation’s population. Janny Scott, a New York Times reporter, who has also written a biography of Barack Obama’s mother, knows about this group from the inside, because she grew up in a family that was definitely part of the 1%--the Montgomery/Scott clan of Villanova, Pennsylvania, in the posh Philadelphia suburbs known as the Main Line.
In 1909, Janny’s great-grandfather, Col. R. L. Montgomery, an investment banker, purchased about 800 acres of land along... Read Full Review
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Heart of Junk
by Geddes, Luke
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryApril 20, 2020
Hmm, what could the following all have in common: an aging antique mall in Wichita, Kansas, where well established and novice sellers are struggling to keep the doors open in the age of online shopping; a child beauty pageant queen who has mysteriously vanished; and the hosts of a phenomenally popular television show about buying and selling antiques. While seemingly unrelated, all of these individuals and events will collide in surprising and hilarious ways in Luke Geddes’ debut novel Heart of Junk.
Geddes, author of the short story collection ... Read Full Review