journalism

 

Last night, the Genre Reading Group met to discuss journalism and journalists. Journalism has been a very challenged and challenging profession as time goes by and there are now myriad definitions of what qualifies.  From the hallowed halls of the big papers to the crowdsourced digital pages of the internet to the airwaves with your favorite broadcaster/podcaster, it seems anyone may report on anything.

The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Kim Barker

When Kim Barker first arrived in Kabul as a journalist in 2002, she barely owned a passport, spoke only English and had little idea how to do the “Taliban Shuffle” between Afghanistan and Pakistan. No matter—her stories about Islamic militants and shaky reconstruction were soon overshadowed by the bigger news in Iraq. But as she delved deeper into Pakistan and Afghanistan, her love for the hapless countries grew, along with her fear for their future stability. In this darkly comic and unsparing memoir, Barker uses her wry, incisive voice to expose the absurdities and tragedies of the “forgotten war,” finding humor and humanity amid the rubble and heartbreak. Now a major motion picture titled Whiskey Tango Foxtrot starring Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, and Billy Bob Thornton.

The Powers That Be by David Halberstam

Recounts the growth in power and influence of the great media institutions and the changes that they have brought about on the American scene, focusing on the people who make up Time Incorporated, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and CBS.

Other David Halberstam titles

Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War by Tony Horwitz

For all who remain intrigued by the legacy of the Civil War -- reenactors, battlefield visitors, Confederate descendants and other Southerners, history fans, students of current racial conflicts, and more -- this ten-state adventure is part travelogue, part social commentary and always good-humored. 

Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide by Tony Horwitz

With Spying on the South, the best-selling author of Confederates in the Attic returns to the South and the Civil War era for an epic adventure on the trail of America's greatest landscape architect. In the 1850s, the young Frederick Law Olmsted was adrift, a restless farmer and dreamer in search of a mission. He found it during an extraordinary journey, as an undercover correspondent in the South for the up-and-coming New York Times.

A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America by Tony Horwitz

What happened in North America between Columbus's sail in 1492 and the Pilgrims' arrival in 1620?
On a visit to Plymouth Rock, Tony Horwitz realizes he doesn't have a clue, nor do most Americans. So he sets off across the continent to rediscover the wild era when Europeans first roamed the New World in quest of gold, glory, converts, and eternal youth. Horwitz tells the story of these brave and often crazed explorers while retracing their steps on his own epic trek--an odyssey that takes him inside an Indian sweat lodge in subarctic Canada, down the Mississippi in a canoe, on a road trip fueled by buffalo meat, and into sixty pounds of armor as a conquistador reenactor in Florida.

Other Tony Horwitz titles

We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter by Celeste Headlee

Today most of us communicate from behind electronic screens, and studies show that Americans feel less connected and more divided than ever before. The blame for some of this disconnect can be attributed to our political landscape, but the erosion of our conversational skills as a society lies with us as individuals. And the only way forward, says Headlee, is to start talking to each other. In We Need to Talk, she outlines the strategies that have made her a better conversationalist—and offers simple tools that can improve anyone’s communication.

Invisible People: Stories of Lives at the Margins by Alex Tizon

Every human being has an epic story. The late Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Alex Tizon told the epic stories of marginalized people—from lonely immigrants struggling to forge a new American identity to a high school custodian who penned a New Yorker short story. Edited by Tizon’s friend and former colleague Sam Howe Verhovek, Invisible People collects the best of Tizon’s rich, empathetic accounts—including “My Family’s Slave,” the Atlantic magazine cover story about the woman who raised him and his siblings under conditions that amounted to indentured servitude.

Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won’t Do by Gabriel Thompson

Combining personal narrative with investigative reporting, Thompson shines a bright light on the underside of the American economy, exposing harsh working conditions, union busting, and lax government enforcement -- while telling the stories of workers, undocumented immigrants, and desperate US citizens alike, forced to live with chronic pain in the pursuit of 8 an hour.

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill

A journalist's twenty-year fascination with the Manson murders leads to shocking new revelations about the FBI's involvement in this riveting reassessment of an infamous case in American history.

GENERAL DISCUSSION:

One member opines that journalism as a profession is dead and recommends: https://journalismisdead.org/about/ 

If humor is your preference, seek out journalists Paul Harvey, Andy Rooney, Lewis Grizzard, and Erma Bombeck.

Articles by local Birmingham journalist Ian Hoppe

Celeste Headlee TEDTalk

binge reads

 

If you’re tired of binging tv shows and movies, try a book or two!  These delectable reads run the gamut from pulse-pounding thrillers to addictive romantic comedies to page-turning contemporary fiction. 

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown

Two wildly different women - one a grifter, the other an heiress - are brought together by the scam of a lifetime in a pause-resister from the New York Times best-selling author of Watch Me Disappear.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.

The Holdout by Graham Moore

One juror changed the verdict. What if she was wrong? From the Academy Award–winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and bestselling author of The Last Days of Night. . . .

The Last Flight by Julie Clark

Two women. Two flights. One last chance to disappear. For fans of Lisa Jewell and Liv Constantine, The Last Flight is the story of two women—both alone, both scared—and one agonizing decision that will change the trajectory of both of their lives.

Followers by Megan Angelo

An electrifying story of two ambitious friends and the dark choices they make to become internet famous.

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Kevin Wilson’s best book yet - a moving and uproarious novel about a woman who finds meaning in her life when she begins caring for two children with remarkable and disturbing abilities.

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Something hasn’t been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why in this chilling new novel from the best-selling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young Black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel

For the first 18 years of her life, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. She was allergic to everything, used a wheelchair and practically lived at the hospital. Neighbors did all they could, holding fundraisers and offering shoulders to cry on, but no matter how many doctors, tests, or surgeries, no one could figure out what was wrong with Rose Gold.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Talia Hibbert, one of contemporary romance’s brightest new stars, delivers a witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who’s tired of being “boring” and recruits her mysterious, sexy neighbor to help her experience new things - perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory, and Helen Hoang!

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher

Thursday’s husband, Seth, has two other wives. She’s never met them, and she doesn’t know anything about them. She agreed to this unusual arrangement because she’s so crazy about him. But one day, she finds something. Something that tells a very different—and horrifying—story about the man she married. What follows is one of the most twisted, shocking thrillers you’ll ever read.

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City.

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward

Can four lost adults find the peace they’ve been seeking by reconciling their childhood aches and coming back together? In the vein of The Nest and The Vacationers, The Jetsetters is a delicious and intelligent novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves, the pleasures and perils of family, and how we navigate the seas of adulthood.

The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben

A man with a mysterious past must find a missing teenage girl in this shocking thriller from the number one New York Times best-selling author of Run Away.

Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby

Like Ocean’s Eleven meets Drive, with a Southern noir twist, S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of a man pushed to his limits by poverty, race, and his own former life of crime. 

lovecraft country

 

Lovecraft Country, an HBO® Series from J.J. Abrams (Executive Producer of Westworld), Misha Green (Creator of Underground) and Jordan Peele (Director of Get Out) based on the novel by Matt Ruff, premiered last weekend and has already captured the attention of viewers.  If you are ready for more weird fiction now, I’ve got you covered!  

If you’re interested in the source material, explore all the JCLC holdings for H.P. Lovecraft here.

Lovecraft Country: A Novel by Matt Ruff

The critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy.

The Houseguest and Other Stories by Amparo Davila

The first collection in English of an endlessly surprising, master storyteller

Like those of Kafka, Poe, Leonora Carrington, or Shirley Jackson, Amparo Dávila’s stories are terrifying, mesmerizing, and expertly crafted―you’ll finish each one gasping for air. With acute psychological insight, Dávila follows her characters to the limits of desire, paranoia, insomnia, and fear. She is a writer obsessed with obsession, who makes nightmares come to life through the everyday: loneliness sinks in easily like a razor-sharp knife, some sort of evil lurks in every shadow, delusion takes the form of strange and very real creatures. After reading The Houseguest―Dávila’s debut collection in English―you’ll wonder how this secret was kept for so long.

Winter Tide (The Innsmouth Legacy Book 1) by Ruthanna Emrys

"Winter Tide is a weird, lyrical mystery — truly strange and compellingly grim. It's an innovative gem that turns Lovecraft on his head with cleverness and heart" —Cherie Priest

After attacking Devil’s Reef in 1928, the U.S. government rounded up the people of Innsmouth and took them to the desert, far from their ocean, their Deep One ancestors, and their sleeping god Cthulhu. Only Aphra and Caleb Marsh survived the camps, and they emerged without a past or a future. The government that stole Aphra's life now needs her help. FBI agent Ron Spector believes that Communist spies have stolen dangerous magical secrets from Miskatonic University, secrets that could turn the Cold War hot in an instant and hasten the end of the human race. Aphra must return to the ruins of her home, gather scraps of her stolen history, and assemble a new family to face the darkness of human nature.

Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson

A newborn’s absent face appears on the back of someone else’s head, a filmmaker goes to gruesome lengths to achieve the silence he’s after for his final scene, and a therapist begins, impossibly, to appear in a troubled patient's room late at night. In these stories of doubt, delusion, and paranoia, no belief, no claim to objectivity, is immune to the distortions of human perception. Here, self-deception is a means of justifying our most inhuman impulses―whether we know it or not.

Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink

From the creator of the wildly popular Welcome to Night Vale podcast comes a story about loving, about searching – and about the courage you need when you find the unexpected.

For fans of Stephen King, Serial, Twin Peaks and of course the eponymous number one iTunes podcast itself.

In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant

Nature abhors a straight line. The natural world is a place of curves and softened edges, of gentle mists and welcoming spirals. Nature remembers deviation; nature does not forgive. For Harlowe Upton-Jones, life has never been a straight line. Shipped off to live with her paternal grandparents after a mysterious cult killed her mother and father, she has grown up chasing the question behind the curve, becoming part of a tight-knit teen detective agency. But “teen” is a limited time offer, and when her friends start looking for adult professions, it's up to Harlowe to find them one last case so that they can go out in a blaze of glory. Welcome to Spindrift House. 

Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror by Junji Ito

Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a pattern: UZUMAKI, the spiral—the hypnotic secret shape of the world. The bizarre masterpiece horror manga is now available all in a single volume. Fall into a whirlpool of terror!

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

A beautiful, unsettling novel about rebellion and taboo, violence and eroticism, and the twisting metamorphosis of a soul…Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home.

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She's got six.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

A tale of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones.

Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there. Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.

Monstress: Volume One by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

The richly imagined world of MONSTRESS is an alternate matriarchal 1900s Asia, with an art deco-infused steampunk aesthetic that's brimming with arcane dangers. Within it, a teenage girl struggles to overcome the trauma of war, a task that's made all the more difficult by her mysterious psychic link to an eldritch monster of tremendous power―a connection that will transform them both, and place them in the crosshairs of both human and otherworldly powers.

Kraken by China Mieville

With this outrageous new novel, China Miéville has written one of the strangest, funniest, and flat-out scariest books you will read this—or any other—year. The London that comes to life in Kraken is a weird metropolis awash in secret currents of myth and magic, where criminals, police, cultists, and wizards are locked in a war to bring about—or prevent—the End of All Things.

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

At once an unforgettable mystery and a meditation on race, nationality, and family legacies, White is for Witching is a boldly original, terrifying, and elegant novel by a prodigious talent.

Maplecroft (The Borden Dispatches Book 1) by Cherie Priest

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one....
 
The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny. But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents.

Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness. This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.

The Hole by Hye-young Pyun

A bestseller in Korea, The Hole is a superbly crafted and deeply unnerving novel about the horrors of isolation and neglect in all of its banal and brutal forms. As Oghi desperately searches for a way to escape, he discovers the difficult truth about his wife and the toll their life together took on her.

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

“You can be beautiful, even more beautiful than before.” This is the seductive promise of Dr. Nzinga’s clinic, where anyone can get their lips thinned, their skin bleached, and their nose narrowed. A complete demelanization will liberate you from the confines of being born in a black body—if you can afford it. In this near-future Southern city plagued by fenced-in ghettos and police violence, more and more residents are turning to this experimental medical procedure.
Like any father, our narrator just wants the best for his son, Nigel, a biracial boy whose black birthmark is getting bigger by the day. The darker Nigel becomes, the more frightened his father feels. But how far will he go to protect his son? And will he destroy his family in the process?

Amatka by Karin Tidbeck

Vanja, an information assistant, is sent from her home city of Essre to the austere, wintry colony of Amatka with an assignment to collect intelligence for the government. Immediately she feels that something strange is going on: people act oddly in Amatka, and citizens are monitored for signs of subversion.

Intending to stay just a short while, Vanja falls in love with her housemate, Nina, and prolongs her visit. But when she stumbles on evidence of a growing threat to the colony, and a cover-up by its administration, she embarks on an investigation that puts her at tremendous risk.

A Peculiar Peril (The Misadventures of Jonathan Lambshead Book 1) by Jeff VanderMeer

A Peculiar Peril is a head-spinning epic about three friends on a quest to protect the world from a threat as unknowable as it is terrifying, from the Nebula Award–winning and New York Times bestselling author of Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer.

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark (This book will be published October 13, 2020. Keep an eye out!)

Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns with Ring Shout, a dark fantasy historical novella that gives a supernatural twist to the Ku Klux Klan's reign of terror

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

A mad scientist's concoction of H. P. Lovecraft, teen detectives, and a love of Americana, Edgar Cantero's Meddling Kids is a story filled with rich horror, thrilling twists, outright hilarity, and surprising poignancy.

 

 

 

 

quarantine reads

 

Coffee Klatch is O’Neal Library’s weekly conversation series.  The meetings take place on Zoom and broad topic is selected for each session.  Join your friends and neighbors or meet someone new!  Register online for the Aug 12 meeting: “favorite subjects in school” https://emmetoneal.libnet.info/event/4481829

 

This week, our Coffee Klatchers shared their favorite reads since quarantine conditions started in March.  If you’re looking for some diverting reads, you may just find them here! 

Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge

With her trademark wit and wisdom, Rutledge explores Advent as a time of rich paradoxes, a season celebrating at once Christ’s incarnation and his second coming, and she masterfully unfolds the ethical and future-oriented significance of Advent for the church.

Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman

Widely considered to be one of the foremost experts on Anarchist theory, Emma Goldman's classic essay on the political/social/philosophical doctrine known as Anarchism is collected here, along with other excellent essays covering a wide range of radical topics like the enslavement of women, the destruction wrought by nationalism, the Puritan ethos, and much more.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel—a scathing satire on a downtrodden society’s blind march towards totalitarianism.

1984 by George Orwell

Written more than 70 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever.

The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia and How It Died by Philip Jenkins

In this groundbreaking book, renowned religion scholar Philip Jenkins offers a lost history, revealing that for centuries Christianity's center existed to the east of the Roman Empire.

A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts by Theresa Ann Fowler

The riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her illustrious family as they rule Gilded-Age New York.

Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste by Bianca Bosker

With boundless curiosity, humor, and a healthy dose of skepticism, Bosker takes the reader inside underground tasting groups, exclusive New York City restaurants, California mass-market wine factories, and even a neuroscientist’s fMRI machine as she attempts to answer the most nagging question of all: what’s the big deal about wine?

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (Winner: 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

In this bravura follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning #1 New York Times bestseller The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Winner: Booker Prize)

Girl, Woman, Other is a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women that paints a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and looks back to the legacy of Britain’s colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.

A Chosen Exile: The History of Racial Passing in American Life by Allyson Hobbs

Although black Americans who adopted white identities reaped benefits of expanded opportunity and mobility, Hobbs helps us to recognize and understand the grief, loneliness, and isolation that accompanied―and often outweighed―these rewards.

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich, the New York Times bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of LaRose and The Round House, paints a startling portrait of a young woman fighting for her life and her unborn child against oppressive forces that manifest in the wake of a cataclysmic event.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Already being hailed as "a Grapes of Wrath for our times" and "a new American classic," Jeanine Cummins's American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope.

Sudden Death by Alvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha Wimmer

A daring, kaleidoscopic novel about the clash of empires and ideas, told through a tennis match in the sixteenth century between the radical Italian artist Caravaggio and the Spanish poet Francisco de Quevedo, played with a ball made from the hair of the beheaded Anne Boleyn.

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

In Valeria Luiselli’s fiercely imaginative follow-up to the American Book Award-winning Tell Me How It Ends, an artist couple set out with their two children on a road trip from New York to Arizona in the heat of summer. As the family travels west, the bonds between them begin to fray: a fracture is growing between the parents, one the children can almost feel beneath their feet.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

n this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (find Fresh Air interview)

The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

“Compelling . . . at once a true-crime thriller, courtroom drama, and miniature biography of Harper Lee. If To Kill a Mockingbird was one of your favorite books growing up, you should add Furious Hours to your reading list today.” —Southern Living

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

An unforgettable memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University.

A Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery's massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. One of the brothers, in this life of prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, translated by William Weaver

The year is 1327. Benedictines in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate. When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective.

Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross

With razor-sharp wit and perfect "Steel Magnolia" poise, Miss Julia speaks her mind indeed-about a robbery, a kidnapping, and the other disgraceful events precipitated by her husband's death. Fast-paced and charming, with a sure sense of comic drama, a cast of crazy characters, and a strong Southern cadence, Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind will delight readers from first page to last.

A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen

Six years after a global pandemic wiped out most of the planet’s population, the survivors are rebuilding the country, split between self-governing cities, hippie communes and wasteland gangs. But when reports of another outbreak throw the fragile society into panic, the friends are forced to finally face everything that came before—and everything they still stand to lose.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is told with the same comic accuracy and beating heart as Fredrik Backman’s bestselling debut novel, A Man Called Ove. It is a story about life and death and one of the most important human rights: the right to be different.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor. Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

 

skip the line

It’s time for your monthly cheat sheet for navigating the long wait on Overdrive/Libby’s most popular titles in ebook and eaudio.  If you are on the waitlist for any of the titles in red below, try one of the mentioned alternatives to tide you over until your turn comes up!

For recommendations on Libby, I’ve selected authors/titles with little to no waitlist.  Titles on Hoopla are always available, no lines or waiting!

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

This hot new title is being compared to the work of Agatha Christie and other locked room mysteries. Try one of these authors while you wait:

Agatha Christie (on Libby) (on Hoopla)

Lisa Gardner (on Libby)

Gillian Flynn (on Libby)

Fiona Barton (on Libby)

Karin Slaughter (on Libby) (on Hoopla)

Or, try one of these books:

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (eaudio on Hoopla)

The Last Flight by Julie Clark (ebook on Hoopla)

The Safest Lies by Megan Miranda (eaudio on Hoopla)

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (ebook/eaudio on Libby) (ebook/eaudio on Hoopla)

Or, check out this great story collection in print: The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked Room Mysteries: The Most Complete Collection of Impossible-Crime Stories Ever Assembled, edited and with an introduction by Otto Penzler.

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

This New York Times best-selling book explores the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality. Overdrive/Libby has curated a selection of books on race, racial equality, diversity, and inclusion, including White Fragility, but all the titles are currently showing long waiting lists.  Try one of these alternative titles while you wait:

So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (eaudio on Hoopla)

The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole (ebook on Libby)

In the Shadow of Statues: a White Southerner Confronts History by Mitch Landrieu (ebook/eaudio on Libby)

The Myth of Equality: Uncovering the Roots of Injustice and Privilege by Ken Wytsma (ebook/eaudio on Hoopla)

White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White by Daniel Hill (ebook/eaudio on Hoopla)

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

The Washington Post describes this summer delicacy as “Big fun, and then some. It’s empowering and surprising—a reminder to put down the phone and enjoy each moment for what it is.” Weiner in known for her summery, fun novels so try another of her titles while you wait!

Jennifer Weiner (eaudio on Hoopla)

Or, try one of these other beach-read favorites:

Elin Hilderbrand (on Libby) (eaudio on Hoopla)

Nancy Thayer (on Libby) (eaudio on Hoopla)

Mary Kay Andrews (on Libby) (on Hoopla)

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Bennett is a relatively new author on the scene and is being compared to Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Jacqueline Woodson.  Her first novel, The Mothers, is also experiencing a wait on Libby, but not as lengthy as the new book.

Toni Morrison (on Libby) (on Hoopla)

James Baldwin (on Libby) (on Hoopla)

Jacqueline Woodson (on Libby) (on Hoopla)

Jesmyn Ward (on Libby)

Or, try one of these books:

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (on Libby)

The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai (on Hoopla)

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom (on Libby)

Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West (on Hoopla)

Run by Ann Patchett (on Libby) (on Hoopla)

American Dirt By Jeanine Cummins

Already being hailed as "a Grapes of Wrath for our times" and "a new American classic," Jeanine Cummins's American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope. 

Alternative titles:

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (on Libby)

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames (on Libby) (on Hoopla)

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez (ebook on Libby) (Alvarez on Hoopla)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (on Libby)

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips (on Libby)

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (eaudio on Libby)

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (eaudio on Libby) (eaudio on Hoopla)

A couple, far from home and in desperate straits, does whatever is necessary to make it out alive in the thrilling film, Babel, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.

How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi

From the National Book Award–winning author comes a “groundbreaking” (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society—and in ourselves.
Alternative titles:

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (eaudio on Hoopla)

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi (on Libby) (eaudio on Hoopla)

The Person You Mean To Be by Dolly Chugh (eaudio on Hoopla)

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele (eaudio on Hoopla)

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (on Libby)

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX • A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time.

Alternative titles:

Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores by Dominique DuBois Gilliard (on Hoopla)

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (ebook on Libby)

Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler (ebook on Hoopla)

American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer (on Libby)

Are Prisons Obsolete? By Angela Davis (ebook on Hoopla)

The Myth of Equality: Uncovering the Roots of Injustice and Privilege by Ken Wytsma (on Hoopla)

The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice: Black Lives, Healing, and U.S. Social Transformation by Fania Davis (ebook on Hoopla)

Or, place a hold on this important account due to be published September 8^th, “A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom” by Brittany K. Barnett.

“An urgent call to free those buried alive by America’s legal system, and an inspiring true story about unwavering belief in humanity—from a gifted young lawyer and important new voice in the movement to transform the system.”