Blog Entries

Blog Type
Tags

Belonging by Nora Krug

In this graphic memoir, framed like a scrapbook, German ex-pat Nora Krug tries to answer a question that lives in the heart of many Germans: "What role did my family play in the Holocaust?"

Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson

One evening, Sarah, a midwife in late 19th century New York, is called to a boardinghouse to deliver the owner’s baby. A guest walks in during the delivery, and for an instant, Sarah thinks she recognizes her and calls out a name, startling the young woman. The guest leaves, and Sarah spends the next several hours delivering the baby. When she returns later to check on mother and child, she is surprised to learn that the young female guest has been murdered.

Notes From a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi

By the time he was twenty-seven, Kwame Onwuachi had competed on TopChef, cooked at the White House, and opened and closed one of the most talked-about restaurants in America. In this inspiring memoir, he shares the remarkable story of his culinary coming-of-age. Growing up in the Bronx and Nigeria (where he was sent by his mother to "learn respect"), food was Onwuachi's great love.

The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub

In 1984, two masters of horror collaborated to bring us this novel. In it, young Jack Sawyer goes on a magical quest to save his dying mother by obtaining the powerful Talisman. An evil sorcerer also desires the Talisman and attempts to thwart him at every turn. Jack’s path crosses America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and traverses not only our mundane world (He visits a fictional boarding school here in Springfield!), but also crosses into a parallel fantasy realm called the Territories.

The Lido by Libby Page

Kate is a twenty-six-year-old reporter working for the local neighborhood newspaper in Brixton, London. After writing mostly about lost pets and trying (unsuccessfully) to keep her anxiety and panic attacks at bay, she is assigned to write about the closing of the lido, or local swimming pool. At the lido, she meets Rosemary, an eighty-seven-year-old widow who swims at the pool every day, and has for most of her life. Kate asks Rosemary for an interview, to which the older woman agrees only if Kate goes for a swim in the pool.