I’m pleased to report that last month, the Books & Beyond discussion group celebrated its 14th anniversary here at O’Neal! Thanks for keeping the conversation alive!
The next BAB meeting is Tuesday, August 30th. Since August
is Women in Translation month, that is our topic! This will include books WRITTEN by women that
are translated into English and books translated into English BY women. If you’re looking for inspiration, there is a
display at the 2nd floor service desk and the BAB column (7th row down) on the
library’s Shelf Care webpage has a great selection too.
BAB met last night for one of our biannual Salon
Discussions, where there is no assigned topic and we share anything we’ve been
enjoying lately!
Enthralled by Katie MacAlister (not available in the JCLC
system, find in WorldCat)
Keeley Moore was happy when he found his Beloved, the one
woman fated to be the love of his immortal life. And then she left him at the
altar without so much as a single word of explanation. One hundred and thirty
years later, he’s still trying NOT to think about her. Jenna Boyle
has no idea who this tortured, tormented, and sexy-as-sin man is who claims she
betrayed him a century ago, but she’s not overly worried about their past. It’s
the present that concerns her, mostly in getting Keeley free from the monsters
who have turned him from a peaceful vampire into a Thrall, the dreaded ancestor
of all Dark Ones…one who is about to go into a murderous, unstoppable killing
spree. One Thrall and his Beloved, a bestie with a male harem, and a group of
intrepid tourists tackling an international organization bent on the
destruction of the mortal world…it’s just another day in the world of Katie
MacAlister’s Dark Ones.
The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson
Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After
catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that
means boring) summer. But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny
Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved
case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were
killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in
a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp
and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.
Cinderella is Dead by
Kalynn Bayron
It's 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the
fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball,
where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl's display of finery.
If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from
again. This fresh take on a classic story will make readers question the tales
they've been told, and root for girls to break down the constructs of the world
around them.
Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon
You’d think being abducted by aliens would be the worst
thing that could happen to me. And you’d be wrong. Because now the aliens are
having ship trouble, and they’ve left their cargo of human women—including
me—on an ice planet. Fall in love with the out-of-this-world romance between
Georgie Carruthers, a human woman, and Vektal, an alien from another planet.
Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Lexicon by Michael
Adams (not available in the JCLC system, find in WorldCat)
In its seven years on television, Buffy the Vampire
Slayer earned critical acclaim and a massive cult following among teen
viewers. One of the most distinguishing features of the show is the innovative
way its writers play with language--fabricating new words, morphing existing
ones, and throwing usage on its head. The result has been a strikingly resonant
lexicon that reflects the power of both youth culture and television in the
evolution of American slang. Using the show to illustrate how new slang is
formed, transformed, and transmitted, Slayer Slang is one of those
rare books that combines a serious explanation of a pop culture phenomenon with
an engrossing read for Buffy fans, language mavens, and pop culture critics.
One for All by Lillie Lainoff
Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand.
Everyone thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick
girl.” But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father―a
former Musketeer and her greatest champion. Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously
murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie
des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training
ground for new Musketeers: women who are socialites on the surface, but strap
daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect
France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a sword fight.
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
From the enchantments of Kate DiCamillo’s children’s books
(author of The Beatryce Prophecy) to youthful memories of Paris; the
cherished life gifts given by her three fathers to the unexpected influence of
Charles Schultz’s Snoopy; the expansive vision of Eudora Welty to the
importance of knitting, Patchett connects life and art as she illuminates what
matters most. Infused with the author’s grace, wit, and warmth, the pieces in These
Precious Days resonate deep in the soul, leaving an indelible mark—and
demonstrate why Ann Patchett is one of the most celebrated writers of our time.
Ken Russell’s Gothic (not available in the JCLC system, find streaming)
Lord Byron promises his guests a night of horror only a mad
poet can deliver and after partaking in hallucinogens, the guests tell ghost
stories while exploring the dark corridors of his home - and of their minds.
Impromptu (available via Hoopla at select libraries)
French novelist George Sand flirts with composer Frederic
Chopin and the poet Alfred de Musset.
The Vanishing by Tim Krabbe
When Saskia Ehlvest, a young Dutch girl, disappears from a
rest stop along a highway in rural France, her lover, Rex Hofmann, cannot
accept her disappearance and embarks on an obsessive search for her that spans
years.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an
investigation of the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library,
award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling
author Susan Orlean delivers a “delightful…reflection on the past, present, and
future of libraries in America” (New York magazine) that manages to tell
the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done
before.
The Latinist by Mark Prins
A contemporary reimagining of the Daphne and Apollo
myth, The Latinist is a page-turning exploration of power, ambition,
and the intertwining of love and obsession.
The Passenger by Lisa Lutz
Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the
base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair
brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town.
It’s not the first time. It’s almost impossible to live off the grid
in the twenty-first century, but Amelia-now-Debra has the courage, the
ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra
especially is chased by a very dark secret. From heart-stopping escapes and
devious deceptions, we are left to wonder…can she possibly outrun her past?
The River by Peter Heller
Wynn and Jack have been best friends since college
orientation, bonded by their shared love of mountains, books, and fishing. Wynn
is a gentle giant while Jack is more rugged. When they decide to canoe the
Maskwa River in northern Canada, they anticipate long days of leisurely
paddling and nights of stargazing and reading paperback Westerns. But a
wildfire making its way across the forest adds unexpected urgency to the
journey.From this charged beginning, master storyteller Peter Heller unspools a
headlong, heart-pounding story of desperate wilderness survival.
The Guide by Peter Heller
Safe from viruses that have plagued America for years,
Kingfisher Lodge offers a respite for wealthy clients. Now it also promises a
second chance for Jack, a return to normalcy after a young life filled with
loss. When he is assigned to guide a well-known singer, his only job is to rig
her line, carry her gear, and steer her to the best trout he can find. But then
a human scream pierces the night, and Jack soon realizes that this idyllic
fishing lodge may be merely a cover for a far more sinister operation. A novel
as gripping as it is lyrical, as frightening as it is moving, The Guide is
another masterpiece from Peter Heller.
The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation by
Rosemary Sullivan
Using new technology, recently discovered documents and
sophisticated investigative techniques, an international team—led by an
obsessed retired FBI agent—has finally solved the mystery that has haunted
generations since World War II: Who betrayed Anne Frank and her family? And
why?
Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History by Richard
Thompson Ford
In Dress Codes, law professor and cultural critic
Richard Thompson Ford presents a “deeply informative and entertaining” (The New
York Times Book Review) history of the laws of fashion from the middle ages to
the present day, a walk down history’s red carpet to uncover and examine the
canons, mores, and customs of clothing—rules that we often take for granted.
After reading Dress Codes, you’ll never think of fashion as superficial
again—and getting dressed will never be the same.
Gone: A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung by Min Kym
In this lucid and transfixing memoir, Kym reckons with the
space left by her violin’s absence. She sees with new eyes her past as a child
prodigy, with its isolation and crushing expectations; her combustible
relationships with teachers and with a domineering boyfriend; and her
navigation of two very different worlds, her traditional Korean family and her
music. And in the stark yet clarifying light of her loss, she rediscovers her
voice and herself.
Seven Steeples by Sara Baume
It is the winter following the summer they met. A couple,
Bell and Sigh, move into a remote house in the Irish countryside with their
dogs. Both solitary with misanthropic tendencies, they leave the conventional
lives stretched out before them to build another—one embedded in ritual, and
away from the friends and family from whom they’ve drifted. Seven
Steeples is a beautiful and profound meditation on the nature of love and
the resilience of nature. Through Bell and Sigh, and the life they create for
themselves, Sara Baume explores what it means to escape the traditional paths
laid out before us—and what it means to evolve in devotion to another person,
and to the landscape.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson
Truly Devious
The Vanishing Stair
The Hand on the Wall
Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for
the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert
Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful
place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said,
“where learning is a game.” Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were
kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder,
signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the
great unsolved crimes of American history. True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first
year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this
cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her
demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the
actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly
Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past
has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.
Into Every Generation a Slayer is Born: How Buffy Staked OurHearts by Evan Ross Katz
Over the course of its seven-year run, Buffy the
Vampire Slayer cultivated a loyal fandom and featured a strong, complex
female lead, at a time when such a character was a rarity. Evan Ross Katz
explores the show’s cultural relevance through a book that is part oral history,
part celebration, and part memoir of a personal fandom that has universal
resonance still, decades later.
The Vanishing (Dutch film)
Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation.
They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years
and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.
The Vanishing (American film)
A vacationing Seattle couple stops at a highway rest area
where the woman disappears without a trace in this gut-wrenching remake.
Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series
Gabriel Allon is a master art restorer and sometime officer
of Israeli intelligence.
The Revenant by Michael Punke (film adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio)
The year is 1823, and the trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur
Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is among the company’s finest
men, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker. But when a scouting
mission puts him face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and
not expected to survive. Two company men are dispatched to stay behind and tend
to Glass before he dies. When the men abandon him instead, Glass is driven to
survive by one desire: revenge.
Anne Frank The Whole Story miniseries (2001) Available on Youtube
The life of Anne Frank and her family from 1939 to 1945:
pre-war fears, invasion of Netherlands by German troops, hiding in Amsterdam,
deportation to the camps, return of Anne's father.
My Best Friend Anne Frank (Netflix)
Based on the real-life friendship between Anne Frank and
Hannah Goslar, from Nazi-occupied Amsterdam to their harrowing reunion in a
concentration camp.
Witch, Please podcast
A fortnightly podcast about the Harry Potter world hosted by
Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman. “Those who have never read a Potter book
can certainly listen to the Witch, Please podcast. Frankly, by just walking the
earth with your eyes and ears open you have likely ingested enough Potter
information to enjoy this funny and thought-provoking podcast.” - Vancouver Sun,
2020
Victoria studied Social Anthropology at St Andrews
University, Scotland and William & Mary College, Virginia, after spending
time in Himalayan India, teaching in a Tibetan refugee camp and realizing how
amazing it was to learn about different cultures. A lifelong interest in color led to her first
book, Color: A Natural History of the Palette, before branching out into other
interests with Jewels: A Secret History and her most recent (June, 2022), Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World.
Game of Thrones: The Costumes by Michele Clapton (not available in the JCLC system, find in WorldCat)
The official guide to the complete costumes of HBO’s
landmark television series Game of Thrones. Discover how BAFTA and Emmy
Award-winning costume designer Michele Clapton dressed the heroes and villains
of Westeros and beyond, including Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister, Jon
Snow, and Arya Stark.
(image: A reading of Molière, Jean François de Troy, about 1728)
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