Library Team Reads

Broke my dry spell with Silas House’s “Lark Ascending.” Near-future (could be very near-future) dystopian novel of survival and loss. Super-quick read (actually read it straight through!) that made me feel good (or at least hopeful) by the end.

Inter-generational trauma, violence, abuse, drugs in the Native American community, BUT with a sliver of hope. Loved the writing style and structure of telling one person’s story though time and with different narrators. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book in one sitting, but I was up until 1 AM. I just couldn’t put it down.

Told mainly from the perspective of two colonist women (one an outcast’s wife and one the governor’s wife), this book is tough to read. It would have SUCKED to be one of the original colonists. Of course, the colonists chose to come to the “new” world; Africans did not and Native Americans were here and then nearly wiped out. But the characters are nicely developed. The book is pretty short, and I would have liked to have read more about their lives. It did make me do a deep Wikipedia dive into Plymouth and early English colonists.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book yet. It’s super dark—which I normally don’t mind—and a severe indictment of Christianity’s role in anti-gay violence and many gays’ self-hatred—again which I usually don’t mind—but it has a trauma-porn feel. If my life experiences paralleled the main character’s more, maybe I would feel differently... I’m not sure.

This story is told from the point of view of a book recused from being burned by the Nazis. It has a map hand-drawn in the back and chronicles the lives of the book’s owners looking for the “treasure.” The “book as narrator” thing sounded kind of gimmicky, so I was very skeptical at first, but the archivist/librarian/history-geek in me loved this book.

Since devouring "A Wrinkle in Time" decades ago in elementary school, I have read TONS of sci-fi/supernatural/fantasy/quest books. The world that L'Engle creates really does hold up. Listening to the audiobook was amazing because it included an introduction by Ava DuVernay, a foreword by L'Engle herself, and an afterword by L'Engle's granddaughter.

Fun but kind of ridiculous. Nice to read fluffy sexual/thriller that’s gay-themed though.

Lyrically-written prose beautifully paints the complicated nature of identity and colonialism through twenty years in the life of an Italy-living, Madagascar-vacationing, African American academic. The characters created by Andrea Lee leave me begging for more stories of their daily, but important, lives.

Experiencing the Trojan War and aftermath from the womens’ perspectives truly adds a new dimension. Haynes’ storytelling is flawless, and the characters are really brought to life. We feel their pain and anxiety and loss. It makes me want to reread the Greek playwrights AND tackle Dr. Mary Wilson’s translation of “The Odyssey.” Varied voices of storytellers (and especially translators) breathe new life into our old myths and tales.

Very nice read for anyone who thinks “Call Me by Your Name” is too American/white/privileged and/or too gay OR for those who want an actual Italian story of poor kids trying to figure out love and obsession and life. (Btw, I liked “Call Me by Your Name.”)

Through beautiful writing and near-perfect storytelling, “The Liar’s Dictionary” tells two parallel stories a century apart surrounding the inclusion then deletion of mountweazels in a never-published dictionary. My archival-sense was also tingling at the idea of being able to know the intimate history of someone from the past when only tiny fragments of their existence remain.

A beautifully-written first novel, Robert Jones, Jr.'s "The Prophets" lyrically tells the complicated, intertwining stories of lives on a Mississippi plantation centered around two enslaved men and their attempt to find peace and freedom in each other.

P. Djèlí Clark provides a thrilling adventure in 1920s Georgia where the KKK is made up of literal monsters feeding on hate who must be stopped by magic rooted in African traditions brought over by enslaved peoples and passed down through the generations.

Silas House’s “Southernmost” is a compelling story of redemption and moving past a bigoted upbringing. Nice portrayals of rural Tennessee and Key West.

Fun, even if super predictable and maybe too on-the-nose, tale of acceptance and making your own family. I really liked that the characters were memorable and fully-developed who just happen to be LGBTQ. It wasn’t a major plot point—just part of their characters.

The best book I’ve read in a long time, “The Binding” exists in a beautifully-created but severe world with flawed characters who you can’t help but root for. I couldn’t put it down and literally read it over the last twenty-four hours.

I have never lived the lives of Evans’ narrators. But the beauty of fiction is that I can learn of others’ experiences through the beautifully-written word. Her fiction is important to read especially right now at our current moment in history.

Chaotic story told beautifully, this debut novel is a quick but powerful read. I have little in common with the characters yet am able to feel their anxiety and pain and find some parallels to my own experiences.

Kind of a Mitch Albom (“Tuesdays with Morrie,” “The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” “For One More Day,” etc.) for millennials, Matt Haig reminds us why life’s worth living and the exponential power of the tiniest of decisions.

Absolutely beautifully-written first novel by Genevieve Hudson. Queer, evangelicalism, football, and magical realism—all set in the American South.

A beautifully-written and devastating story by Ghanaian-American (and Alabama-raised) author Yaa Gyasi. The toughest book I've read in a long time--maybe ever.

Hopeful story of love in communist Poland. Author’s first book and beautifully-written.

Classic and funny 1946 sci-fi book where a nuclear disaster sterilizes all men—except one. Felt surprisingly modern.

Really beautiful telling of two friends and how young, unrequited love can change one forever.

Paleoanthropology AND quantum physics.... GREAT science thriller! Most fun book I’ve read in a while.

Fun art-themed, crime thriller.

Archaeological thriller. Fun read with some history thrown in.

Originally published in 1888, "The Aspen Papers" is a good novella that makes the archivist in me both excited and horrified.

“Find Me,” Andre Aciman’s sequel to “Call Me by Your Name,” was good. It’s been YEARS since I read “Call Me by Your Name,” but I had the movie in my head. Tied up all of the characters quite nicely. Worth reading.

Alan Hollinghurst’s “The Sparsholt Affair” was pretty good—epic multi-generational story of loosening sexual mores in pre-War through modern England. Writing is beautiful, some of the best descriptive fiction I’ve ever read.