Staff Recommendations
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Watermelon & red birds : a cookbook for Juneteenth and black celebrations
by Taylor, Nicole A.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJune 14, 2022
Call Number: 641.5973 T2445-1
This is the first cookbook devoted entirely to celebrating the significance of Juneteenth. “The title combines a native-born African fruit–watermelon–with the African American and Native American adage that red birds flying in sight are ancestors returning to spread beautiful luck.” Writer and scholar Nicole A. Taylor states, “This is my declaration of independence from the traditional boundaries of so-called Southern food and soul food. It’s my fulfillment of the dreams of those domestics, inventors, bakers, and bartenders who form the base of my family tree. It is my statement... Read Full Review
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One-Shot Harry
by Phillips, Gary
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 6, 2022
Call Number: M
The year is 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. is about to hold his Freedom Rally at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles; William H. Parker is Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department; John F. Kennedy is President of the United States; Pat Brown is the Governor of California; Gas is $0.29 a gallon and ground beef is less than $0.50 a pound. It is in this world, which is as different as it is similar to ours, that Gary Phillips sets his new novel One-Shot Harry.
Harry Ingram is a freelance news photographer in Los Angeles. He also works side-jobs serving legal papers. Harry... Read Full Review
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The Quarter Storm
by Henry, Veronica G.
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 1, 2022
Vodou priestess Mambo Reina Dumond learned the practices and customs of Vodou as a child from her father, while her family was living in Haiti. She is inhabited by the spirit of Erzulie, which makes her a gifted practitioner of water magic. Reina operates a small business behind her home in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans for both tourists and locals alike.
Shortly after an unusual session with a first time client, Reina is informed that a crime has been committed in the apartment above one of the more high-profile Vodou shops in the French Quarter. The... Read Full Review
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1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir
by Ai, Weiwei
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 24, 2022
Call Number: 709.51 A288-9
Ai Weiwei is one of China’s most famous, and infamous, internationally known artists. His artistic style ranges from representational to pushing boundaries all over the place. Not only in his visual work has he stretched and pushed, but in his thoughts, ideas and comments about his native country and its lack of expressive freedom; its authoritarian disregard for humanity and oppression of different types of people within its own borders, as well as supporting various types of repression throughout the world. This drive to express, and lack of concern for his own safety, landed... Read Full Review
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The Cat Who Saved Books: A Novel
by Natsukawa, Sōsuke, 1978-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 18, 2022
Writer Sosuke Natsukawa has taken what might appear to be rather mundane characters and created a unique novel that has many twists and turns.
A high school student (Rintaro Natsuki), who is lacking purpose or direction in life, and whose grandfather peacefully dies in his sleep leaving his independently owned bookstore to his grandson.
A cat (Tiger the Tabby) who suddenly appears out of nowhere and begins talking to this aimless young man, prodding him to help save books that, “ … have been imprisoned.”
A classmate (Sayo... Read Full Review
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Four Treasures of the Sky
by Zhang, Jenny
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 11, 2022
This debut novel is a stunner, historical fiction at its best (captivating, illuminating and provoking) in its depiction and portrayal of the horrors of racism, discrimination, abuse and greed. The inspiration for the novel was happenstance, as recalled by Jenny Zhang, “In 2014, my father returned from a work trip through the northwestern region of the United States with an interesting anecdote: He was driving through Pierce, Idaho, when he saw a marker referencing a “Chinese Hanging.” The marker described the story of how five Chinese men were hanged by vigilantes for the... Read Full Review
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The Fervor: A Novel
by Katsu, Alma
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMay 2, 2022
Meiko is the Japanese wife of Jamie Briggs, a white US Air Force pilot fighting in World War II. Meiko, and her daughter Aiko, are “residents” of the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. A few days ago, an unscheduled truck came to the camp. The residents are told to stay away from the truck and guards are posted around it. It leaves shortly after whatever was inside is unloaded under the cover of darkness. Shortly after the truck leaves, residents of the camp begin to become ill.
Fran Gurstwold is a journalist for a small newspaper in Lincoln, Nebraska. While... Read Full Review
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The best of Ogden Nash
by Nash, Ogden, 1902-1971.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionApril 26, 2022
Call Number: 811 N252-30
In a previous review about a poetry book, I wrote:
"Poetry is the most intense and concentrated form of writing, using words, metre, rhyme and format to express thoughts, feelings and ideas that can be fact or fiction. It gets at the marrow of truth and truth-telling using words to create an image, not a picture, of an idea. Poetry slams on the brakes and makes you reconsider what was written. It may very well make you look up words in a dictionary because you do not understand the meaning of the most ordinary words as used in a poem."
I would... Read Full Review
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Fresh water for flowers
by Perrin, Valérie, 1961-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionApril 19, 2022
Writer Valérie Perrin portrays her main character, Violette Toussaint, as someone who has found her true calling in life. She is the caretaker of a cemetery in a small town in France, where she makes the arrangements for funerals and religious services for the deceased and their family. Among the many ironies, in this tender novel, is the life of Violette Toussaint. Until finding this job, her previous experiences in life have been harsh, tenuous, and definitely heart-and-spirit breaking. She was abandoned at birth and sent to live with foster families who... Read Full Review
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Mickey7
by Ashton, Edward
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryApril 4, 2022
Call Number: SF
Mickey Barnes NEEDS to get off Midgard, the colony planet on which he has lived his entire life. Because staying on Midgard is not an option, he takes the only avenue open to him: he volunteers to be the “expendable” on Midgard’s first outgoing colony ship, the Drakkar. An “expendable” is the member of the crew designated as expendable for dangerous, difficult, and/or terminal activities. The body of the expendable is scanned and their memories are copied, allowing for the expendable to be duplicated, with all but their most recent memories intact, when needed.
... Read Full Review
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Secret Identity
by Segura, Alex
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 29, 2022
Call Number: M
In 1975, the comic book industry is struggling. It has survived, mostly, Frederic Wertham’s criticisms and claims regarding a causal relationship between reading comics and becoming a juvenile delinquent in Seduction of the Innocent. But there have been casualties. Readership is down. Publishers are closing. Writers and artists are left scrambling for available positions. And yet, amazing things are happening in the industry. Marvel has created, and is developing, characters that will define the industry in future decades. Artists like Jack Kirby, who will work at both... Read Full Review
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The chancellor : the remarkable odyssey of Angela Merkel
by Marton, Kati
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMarch 23, 2022
Call Number: 92 M5633Ma
There are three major "firsts" in Angela Merkel’s lifetime of public service. She was the first female Chancellor of Germany. She was the first leader of Germany with a doctorate in quantum chemistry who had done extensive research in the field of quantum theoretical chemistry. She was the first Chancellor, raised in East Germany, to be elected to govern a post-World War II unified Germany. As Chancellor she transformed Germany’s economy and its status as a world leader. Never forgetting her own past that was lived under a despotic government where she could only dream... Read Full Review