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  • Book cover of The Djinn waits a hundred years

    The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

    by Khan, Shubnum

    March 18, 2024

    Fifteen-year-old Sana has just moved to Durban, a city on the eastern coast of South Africa, with her father. Her mother, a victim of cancer, died a few years earlier and her father believes the move to the once grand, now dilapidated, estate that is an odd type of apartment building will help both of them. The existing tenants, an eccentric group of older women, along with the landlord, a man known as Doctor, agree on very little, with one exception: the house is haunted.

    Sana is familiar with ghosts. She was born half of a pair of conjoined twins and has been... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of Women of Good Fortune

    Women of Good Fortune

    by Wan, Sophie

    March 11, 2024

    Sophie Wan opens her debut novel with this bit of information:

    “Sheng nu – ‘leftover women’ – unmarried women over the age of twenty-seven. Later adopted by the internet community to refer to often well-educated women who had passed the appropriate age for marriage.”

    Wan then goes on to introduce readers to the protagonists of her novel: Rina, a young woman educated in the west who is keenly aware of her ticking biological clock as she pursues her career; Jane, a brand conscious fashionista forced by her parents into an arranged marriage; and Lulu... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of Breaking through : my life in science

    Breaking through : my life in science

    by Karikó, Katalin

    Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction

    March 4, 2024

    Call Number: 574.19092 K183

    Katalin Karikó shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023, with Drew Weissman “for their discoveries concerning base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19." Her journey to this achievement could not have been predicted by her, or by anyone else. Her life and work are remarkable in many ways that she recounts in this warm, insightful memoir, sometimes told with wry, humorous asides. The inspiration for the book is “a long-belated thank-you [to] all my teachers from my earliest days in Hungary right through to the world-... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of Tanya Holland's California soul : recipes from a culinary journey West

    Tanya Holland's California soul : recipes from a culinary journey West

    by Holland, Tanya

    Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction

    February 27, 2024

    Call Number: 641.59794 H737-1

    In her cookbook/memoir/history Tanya Holland organizes recipes in four chapters arranged by the seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter), preceded with a lovely foreward by Alice Walker. In the introduction the successful American chef, restaurateur, podcaster, writer and cookbook author states, “I claim it all,” Black, African American, from the African diaspora, descended from enslaved people “brought to this country by Europeans. Americans have been and still are all on the journey together. And as an African American woman, the contributions that my ancestors made to what... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of The fox wife

    The Fox Wife

    by Choo, Yangsze

    February 20, 2024

    A detective is approached about discovering the identity of a young woman who is found dead and frozen outside a restaurant. A grieving mother undertakes a search to locate the man she holds responsible for her daughter’s death. As each travels across Manchuria in the early 20th century, it becomes clear that while their stories may seem unrelated, the clues they are each following lead them closer and closer together.

    In her latest novel, after 2019’s excellent ... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of Walk through fire

    Walk through fire

    by Johnson, Sheila, 1949-

    Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction

    February 13, 2024

    Call Number: 658.31242 J69

    Sheila Johnson has had an exceptionally rewarding personal and professional life, overcoming many obstacles that would have discouraged and leveled many other people. All her life, from the time she was very young, Sheila Johnson has worked steadily and relentlessly.  Among her many accomplishments are: co-founder of BET (Black Entertainment Television); the first African American woman billionaire; the only Black woman to be the co-owner of three professional sports teams; and the founder of Salamander Hotels and Resorts. The pathways to those signal achievements are... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of The Book of Doors

    The Book of Doors

    by Brown, Gareth

    February 5, 2024

    Cassie Andrews is living a quiet life in New York City. She spends her days and evenings working in a bookshop, and when she goes home each night, more often than not, she curls up with a good book. A set of unusual circumstances in the bookstore result in Cassie coming into possession of a strange, unassuming little book that, according to the title page, is The Book of Doors. Inside, the book is inscribed with the title, some mysterious symbols and drawings, and the inscription that “any door is every door.” Cassie ponders the book and wonders what it means. When she... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of How not to be a politician : a memoir

    How not to be a politician : a memoir

    by Stewart, Rory

    Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction

    January 31, 2024

    Call Number: 320.942 S851

    Both the title and book jacket of Rory Stewart's political memoir are ironic. The title because it is emblematic of Rory Stewart’s sincere attempts to make a difference, domestically and internationally, by entering British politics, in which he was frequently confounded by the motivational tactics of other politicians. It was very easy for that to happen because elected officials, to whom he was obligated, frequently changed political positions in mid-sentence. If the intricacies of American congressional politics are confusing, well British parliamentary ways and means are even... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of But will you love me tomorrow? : an oral history of the '60s girl groups

    But will you love me tomorrow? : an oral history of the '60s girl groups

    by

    Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction

    January 22, 2024

    Call Number: 789.1 B9835

    You know the melodies, the tunes, the lyrics, the remixes because you have heard them, and you do hear them everywhere: the radio, piped-in in stores, online, e-media, movies … Sometimes it’s just the music, sometimes it's the music and the lyrics. There is a certain brightness, rhythm, saucy innuendo in the lyrics or titles, and often some irreverence in the vocal interpretation by those female singers, all in harmony, singing those unforgettable songs. The book's title is the title of a song, "But will you love me tomorrow?" which was controversial in its day, 1961, because it... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of Kill show : an oral history of the dead girl and the reality TV series that changed true crime forev

    Kill Show

    by Sweren-Becker, Daniel

    January 16, 2024

    What is it about true-crime that fascinates us? Why, over a century later, are we still fascinated with the brutal murders of five women in the Whitechapel district of London? What draws people to the life and death of notorious bank robbers Bonnie & Clyde almost a century later? Why was interest in Jeffrey Dahmer high enough to make Netflix’s series about the murders he committed from the 1970s-90s a hit show? Who will be the focus of our next national obsession and what is the next real crime that will become a form of entertainment? Daniel Sweren-Becker explores our... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of The fragile threads of power

    The Fragile Threads of Power

    by Schwab, Victoria

    January 8, 2024

    It’s been seven years since the events at the end of V.E. Schwab’s A Conjuring of Light. In Red London, Lila and Kell have been sailing the seas as privateers on her ship, the Grey Barron (They also secretly perform tasks for Red London’s crown.). Rhy Maresh, Kell’s brother, has ascended the Arnesian throne. He has married Nadiya Loreni, and the two now have a daughter named Tieren. Alucard Emery, a former noble and a former privateer, is now the king’s consort, rounding out... Read Full Review

  • Book cover of Oh, la la! : homegrown stories, helpful tips, and garden wisdom

    Oh, la la! : homegrown stories, helpful tips, and garden wisdom

    by Morris, Ciscoe

    Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & Fiction

    January 2, 2024

    Call Number: 716 M875

    Although it might not be apparent from his off-beat, congenial stories and stretched-to-the-limit puns, Ciscoe Morris is an expert gardener, whose inordinate enthusiasm and expertise has created a loyal following. He is well known in the northwest with his weekly radio program on KSQM 91.5, and according to his website gives over 50 garden presentations a year. He and his wife also love to travel and lead worldwide garden tours, as well as embark on their own adventurous junkets, such as a 360-mile hiking trek in France. Their 1,000-mile biking trip in France became the source of... Read Full Review

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