reader's choice Dec 2023

 

Register for these fun programs coming up in January 2024!

Tue Jan 2 through Tue Jan 9, all day - Put together your 2024 vision board!  Supplies available on the 2nd floor. No registration necessary, just drop in!

Thu Jan 4 @ 6:30pm – Decluttering with Katie Rogers
(register here https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/8508324)

Sat Jan 6 @ 3pm – Great Short Stories Film Series presents Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (register here https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/9330648)

Mon Jan 8 @ 6:30pm – Great Short Stories Book Club discusses “Mr. Blandings Builds His Castle” by Eric Hodgins
(register here https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/8360680)

Sat Jan 27 @ 6:30pm – Burns Night
(register here https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/8011691)

Tue Jan 30 @ 6:30pm – Books & Beyond Discussion Group chats about immigration/emigration (register here https://www.oneallibrary.org/event/8810331 and reading suggestions available here https://oneallibrary.org/adults---reading-recommendations)

Last night, Books & Beyond had a Reader’s Choice meeting where there was no assigned topic, just sharing what we’ve been enjoying lately!

Ghost Story by Peter Straub

In the sleepy town of Milburn, New York, four old men gather to tell each other stories—some true, some made-up, all of them frightening. A simple pastime to divert themselves from their quiet lives. But one story is coming back to haunt them and their small town. A tale of something they did long ago. A wicked mistake. A horrifying accident. And they are about to learn that no one can bury the past forever...

Howl for the Gargoyle by Kathryn Moon (ebook on Hoopla)

Hannah never wanted to be a werewolf. After over thirty years as a human, she finds her new life on the other side of the species line too full of sudden changes. Especially when those changes risk her band's chance at a world tour. Desperate for a way to slake the cravings and soothe the restless anger that arrives every month like clockwork, Hannah takes the advice of a friend and books a night with the Monster Smash Agency. Hannah and Rafe's partnership ought to be practical, but their chemistry carves a new path. This werewolf is unlike any client Rafe has worked with yet, and he's determined to make her howl his name.

The Handi Book of love, Lust, and Disability by Jess Tarpey, Andrew Gurza, and Katy Venables (Unavailable in the JCLC system or WorldCat, available for purchase as an ebook on Amazon)

The Handi Book of Love, Lust and Disability unearths new conversations on sex, relationships and disability. It's beautifully designed and full of raw, powerful and inspiring stories, poetry and artwork from 50 phenomenal contributors from the disabled community.

Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and Desire in the Age of Consent by Katherine Angel (audiobook on Hoopla)

In today’s crucial moment of renewed attention to violence and power, Angel urges that we remake our thinking about sex, pleasure, and autonomy without any illusions about perfect self-knowledge. Only then will we fulfil Michel Foucault’s teasing promise, in 1976, that “tomorrow sex will be good again.”

Diary of a Genius: Salvador Dali’s Autobiography (available from WorldCat)

This stands as one of the seminal texts of Surrealism, revealing the most astonishing and intimate workings of the mind of Salvador Dalí, the eccentric polymath genius who became the living embodiment of the 20th century's most intensely subversive, disturbing and influential art movement.

Fifty Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship by Salvador Dali (ebook on Hoopla and available from WorldCat) 

For many, Salvador Dali represents the Surrealist painter par excellence, one whose work explored his own dream life, hallucinations, and fetishes in the process of objectifying the irrational elements of the unconscious. In this rare and important volume, the painter expresses (in his inimitably eccentric fashion) his ideas of what painting should be, expounds on what is good and bad painting, offers opinions on the merits of Vermeer, Picasso, Cézanne, and other artists, and expresses his thoughts on the history of painting.

The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear by Ralph Keyes (available from WorldCat)

Ralph Keyes, an author who has taught writing for more than thirty years, assures us that anxiety is felt by writers at every level, especially when they dare to do their best. He describes the sequence of "courage points" through which all writers must pass, from the challenge of identifying a worthwhile project to the mixture of pride and panic they feel when examining a newly published book or article.

The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham: A Biography by Selina Hastings

He was a brilliant teller of tales, one of the most widely read authors of the twentieth century, and at one time the most famous writer in the world, yet W. Somerset Maugham’s own true story has never been fully told. At last, the fascinating truth is revealed in a landmark biography by the award-winning writer Selina Hastings. Granted unprecedented access to Maugham’s personal correspondence and to newly uncovered interviews with his only child, Hastings portrays the secret loves, betrayals, integrity, and passion that inspired Maugham to create such classics as The Razor’s Edge and Of Human Bondage.

Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee

Delving into heretofore untapped sources, Lee does away with the image of the snobbish bluestocking and gives us a new Edith Wharton-tough, startlingly modern, as brilliant and complex as her fiction. Born into a wealthy family, Wharton left America as an adult and eventually chose to create a life in France. Her renowned novels and stories have become classics of American literature, but as Lee shows, Wharton's own life, filled with success and scandal, was as intriguing as those of her heroines. Bridging two centuries and two very different sensibilities, Wharton here comes to life in the skillful hands of one of the great literary biographers of our time.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time. The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success ― not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is. If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone. But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek. Set in the world of New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree's Bookshops & Bonedust takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and secondhand books.

The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of WWI by Douglas Brunt

The hidden history of one of the world’s greatest inventors, a man who disrupted the status quo and then disappeared into thin air on the eve of World War I—this book answers the hundred-year-old mystery of what really became of Rudolf Diesel.

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang

Our narrator produces a sound from the piano no one else at the Conservatory can. She employs a technique she learned from her parents—also talented musicians—who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future for a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City, Holistik, known for its remarkable products and procedures—from remoras that suck out cheap Botox to eyelash extensions made of spider silk—and her new job affords her entry into a world of privilege and gives her a long-awaited sense of belonging. But beneath these creams and tinctures lies something sinister. A piercing, darkly funny debut, Natural Beauty explores questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity—and leaves readers with a shocking and unsettling truth.

Wild Dances: My Queer and Curious Journey to Eurovision by William Lee Adams

A memoir of glitz, glamour, geopolitics, and the power of pop music, following a misunderstood queer biracial kid from small-town Georgia who became the world's foremost Eurovision Song Contest blogger.

The Last Courtesan of Olympus by Amanda Meuwissen (Unavailable in the JCLC system or WorldCat, available for purchase as an ebook or paperback on Amazon)

Aikos is the best at what he does, the most skilled and coveted acolyte of Aphrodite, and he knows it, but when his beauty and allure attracts the attention of the gods themselves, his ascension to courtesan takes a turn he never expected. Straight to Olympus.

Nobel Minds 2023 (available on Youtube)

The 2023 laureates in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine and economic sciences talk to Zeinab Badawi and students in the audience at the Royal Palace in Stockholm about their discoveries and achievements, and how these might find a practical application.

Nobel lectures 2023 on Medicine/Physiology (available on Youtube)

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

Lucy Worsley's 12 Days of Tudor Christmas

Lucy Worsley recreates how Christmas was celebrated during the age of Henry VIII, eating, drinking, singing, dancing and partying as people did 500 years ago. On each of the traditional twelve days of Christmas, Lucy reveals a different aspect of the festivities, uncovering fresh insights into the Tudor mind and casting a captivating new light on Christmas itself.

Tudor Monastery Farm at Christmas (available on Youtube)

This film turns the clock back 500 years to find how the farms of Tudor England celebrated the twelve days of Christmas, with a frenzy of music, food and alcohol.

The Truth About Christmas Carols (available on Youtube)

BBC TV documentary broadcast on 25 December 2008, in which Howard Goodall investigates the often uncomfortable relationship between carols and the Church’s celebration of Christmas, using musical illustrations provided by various musicians including the choir of Truro Cathedral, directed by Christopher Gray.

FX's A Christmas Carol (currently streaming on Hulu)

FX’s A Christmas Carol is an original take on Charles Dickens’ iconic ghost story by Steven Knight (Taboo, Peaky Blinders). The FX Original movie is a spine-tingling immersion into Ebenezer Scrooge’s dark night of the soul.

 

NYT top 10 books of 2023

 

Here they are, the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2023!

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize and the 2023 Nero Book Award for Fiction
Winner of the 2023 An Post Irish Book Award for Novel of the Year
Finalist for the 2023 Kirkus Prize for Fiction

A Top 10 Best Book of 2023 by The New York Times and The Washington Post. One of The New Yorker's Essential Reads of 2023. Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, TIME, NPR, New York Public Library, BBC, and more.

Murray makes his triumphant return with a tragicomic tale about an Irish family grappling with crises. The Barneses — Dickie, Imelda, Cass and PJ — are a wealthy Irish clan whose fortunes begin to plummet after the 2008 financial crash. But in addition to this shared hardship, all four are dealing with demons of their own: the re-emergence of a long-kept secret, blackmail, the death of a past love, a vexing frenemy, a worrisome internet pen pal and more. The novel threads together the stories of the increasingly isolated Barneses, but the overall tapestry Murray weaves is not one of desolation but of hope. This is a book that showcases one family’s incredible love and resilience even as their world crumbles around them. 

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE

A dystopian satire in which death-row inmates duel on TV for a chance at freedom, Adjei-Brenyah’s debut novel — following his 2018 story collection, “Friday Black” — pulls the reader into the eager audience, making us complicit with the bloodthirsty fans sitting ringside. “As much as this book made me laugh at these parts of the world I recognized as being mocked, it also made me wish I recognized less of it,” Giri Nathan wrote in his review. “The United States of ‘Chain-Gang All-Stars’ is like ours, if sharpened to absurd points.” Amid a wrenching love story between two top competitors who are forced to choose between each other and freedom, the fight scenes are so well written they demonstrate how easy it might be to accept a world this sick. 

Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal

INCLUDED ON THE NEW YORKER'S BEST BOOKS OF 2023

De Kerangal’s brief, lyrical novel, first published in France in 2012 and newly translated by Jessica Moore, follows a young Russian conscript named Aliocha on a trans-Siberian train packed with other soldiers. The mood is grim. Aliocha, unnerved by his surroundings after a brawl, decides to desert — and in so doing, creates an uneasy alliance with a civilian passenger, a Frenchwoman. Their desolate environment — de Kerangal describes the Siberian landscape as “a world turned inside out like a glove, raw, wild, empty” — only heightens the stakes. “The insecurity of existence across this vastness and on board the train emphasizes the significance of human connection,” our reviewer, Ken Kalfus, wrote. “In a time of war, this connection may bring liberation and salvation.” 

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

One of NPR's Best Books of the Year • Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly

Based on a celebrated 19th-century criminal trial in which the defendant was accused of impersonating a nobleman, Smith’s novel offers a vast, acute panoply of London and the English countryside, and successfully locates the social controversies of an era in a handful of characters. Chief among them are a widowed Scottish housekeeper who avidly follows the trial and a formerly enslaved Jamaican servant who testifies on behalf of the claimant. Smith is a talented critic as well as a novelist, and — by way of the housekeeper’s employer, a once popular writer and friendly rival of Dickens — she finds ample opportunity to send up the literary culture of the time while reflecting on whose stories are told and whose are overlooked. “As always, it is a pleasure to be in Zadie Smith’s mind, which, as time goes on, is becoming contiguous with London itself,” Karan Mahajan wrote in his review. “Dickens may be dead, but Smith, thankfully, is alive.”

North Woods by Daniel Mason

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND THE WASHINGTON POST’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, NPR, Chicago Public Library, The Star Tribune, The Economist, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal

Mason’s ambitious, kaleidoscopic novel ushers readers over the threshold of a house in the wilds of western Massachusetts and leaves us there for 300 years and almost 400 pages. One after another, in sections interspersed with letters, poems, song lyrics, diary entries, medical case notes, real estate listings, vintage botanical illustrations and assorted ephemera not normally bound into the pages of a novel, we get to know the inhabitants of the place from colonial times to present day. There’s an apple farmer, an abolitionist and a wealthy manufacturer. A pair of beetles. A landscape painter. A ghost. Their lives (and deaths) briefly intersect, but mostly layer over each other in dazzling decoupage. All the while, the natural world looks on — a long-suffering, occasionally destructive presence. Mason is the consummate genial host, inviting you to stay as long as you like and to make of the place what you will. 

The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen

Named a Top 10 Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic

A Washington Post Notable Book

An inch-by-inch, pin-you-to-the-sofa reconstruction of the author’s long friendship with Michael Laudor, who made headlines first as a Yale Law School graduate destigmatizing schizophrenia; then for stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death with a kitchen knife, after which he was sent to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital. Drawing from clips, court and police records, legal and medical studies, interviews, diaries and Laudor’s feverish writings (including a book proposal of his own), Rosen examines the porous line between brilliance and insanity, the complicated policy questions posed by deinstitutionalization and the ethical obligations of a community. “The Best Minds” is a thoughtfully constructed, deeply sourced indictment of a society that prioritizes profit, quick fixes and happy endings over the long slog of care. 

Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State by Kerry Howley

Howley’s account of the national security state and the people entangled in it includes fabulists, truth tellers, combatants, whistle-blowers. At the center is Reality Winner (“her real name, let’s move past it now”), the National Security Agency contractor who was convicted under the Espionage Act for leaking classified information to The Intercept and sentenced to 63 months in prison. Howley’s exploration of privacy and digital surveillance eventually lands her in the badlands of conspiracy theorists and QAnon. It’s an arc that feels both startling and inevitable; of course a journey through the deep state would send her down the rabbit hole. The result is a book that is riveting and darkly funny and, in all senses of the word, unclassifiable. 

Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World by John Vaillant

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION • ONE OF TIME'S 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF THE YEAR

In 2016, raging wildfires consumed Fort McMurray in the Canadian province of Alberta. In the all-too-timely “Fire Weather,” Vaillant details how the blaze started, how it grew, the damage it wrought — and the perfect storm of factors that led to the catastrophe. We are introduced to firefighters, oil workers, meteorologists and insurance assessors. But the real protagonist here is the fire itself: an unruly and terrifying force with insatiable appetites. This book is both a real-life thriller and a moment-by-moment account of what happened — and why, as the climate changes and humans don’t, it will continue to happen again and again.

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo

Named a best book of 2023 by The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, and Oprah Daily

In 1848, Ellen and William Craft, an enslaved couple in Georgia, made a daring escape north disguised as a sickly young white planter and his male slave — Ellen as the wealthy scion in a stovepipe hat, dark green glasses and a sling over her right arm to conceal her illiteracy. Improbably, despite close calls and determined slave catchers, the Crafts succeeded in their flight, going on to tour the abolitionist speaker circuit in England and to write a popular account of their journey. Their story, which a leading American abolitionist called “one of the most thrilling in the nation’s annals,” is remarkable enough. But Woo’s immersive rendering, which conjures the Crafts’ escape in novelistic detail, is equally a feat — of research, storytelling, sympathy and insight. 

Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country by Patricia Evangelista

New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, Time, The Economist, Chicago Public Library

This powerful book mostly covers the years between 2016 and 2022, when Rodrigo Duterte was president of the Philippines and pursued a murderous campaign of extrajudicial killings — EJKs for short. Such killings became so frequent that journalists like Evangelista, then a reporter for the independent news site Rappler, kept folders on their computers that were organized not by date but by hour of death. Offering the intimate disclosures of memoir and the larger context of Philippine history, Evangelista also pays close attention to language, and not only because she is a writer. Language can be used to communicate, to deny, to threaten, to cajole. It can propagate lies, but it also allows one to speak the truth.