Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The May LibraryReads List!

The latest batch of librarian favorites are here! We've included descriptions* below and you can head to the LibraryReads website to see brief reviews submitted by librarians (including one of our own Chandler librarians!). We'd love to hear what you think about the titles, let us know on Facebook, Twitter, or in the comments below!
 

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Published: May 13, 2014

Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Published: May 6, 2014

An ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

The Bees by Laline Paull
Published: May 6, 2014

The Handmaid's Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an ancient culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means death. Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive, where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. When Flora breaks the most sacred law of all-daring to challenge the Queen's preeminence -- enemies abound. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by a greater power: a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart, and her society -- and lead her to perform unthinkable deeds.

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl
Published: May 6, 2014

Billie Breslin has traveled far from her California home to take a job at Delicious, the most iconic food magazine in New York and, thus, the world. When the publication is summarily shut down, the colorful staff, who have become an extended family for Billie, must pick up their lives and move on. Not Billie, though. She is offered a new job: staying behind in the magazine's deserted downtown mansion offices to uphold the "Delicious Guarantee"-a public relations hotline for complaints and recipe inquiries-until further notice. What she doesn't know is that this boring, lonely job will be the portal to a life-changing discovery.

The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow
Published: May 6, 2014

It is 1910 and Maria, a talented young girl from the East end of London, is employed to work as a seamstress for the royal family. As an attractive girl, she soon catches the eye of the Prince of Wales and she in turn is captivated by his glamour and intensity. But careless talk causes trouble and soon Maria’s life takes a far darker turn. Disbelieved and dismissed she is thrown into a mental asylum, shut away from the real world with only her needlework for company. Can a beautiful quilt, discovered many years later, reveal the truth behind what happened to Maria?

Bird Box by Josh Malerman
Published: May 13, 2014

Most people ignored the outrageous reports on the news. But they became too frequent, they became too real. And soon, they began happening down the street. Then the Internet died. The television and radio went silent. The phones stopped ringing. And we couldn't look outside anymore. Malorie raises the children the only way she can; indoors. The house is quiet. The doors are locked, the curtains are closed, mattresses are nailed over the windows. They are out there. She might let them in. The children sleep in the bedroom across the hall. Soon she will have to wake them. Soon she will have to blindfold them. Today they must leave the house. Today they will risk everything.

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
Published: May 13, 2014

On scholarship at a prestigious East Coast college, ordinary Mabel Dagmar is surprised to befriend her roommate, the beautiful, blue-blooded Genevra Winslow. Ev invites Mabel to spend the summer at Bittersweet, her cottage on the Vermont estate where her family has been holding court for more than a century; it's the kind of place where swimming boldly is required and the children twirl sparklers across the lawn during cocktail hour. Mabel falls in love with the midnight skinny-dips, the wet dog smell lingering in the air, the moneyed laughter carrying across the still lake, and before she knows it, she has everything she's ever wanted: wealth, friendship, a boyfriend, and, most of all, the sense, for the first time in her life, that she belongs. But as Mabel becomes an insider, she makes a terrible discovery, which leads to shocking violence and the revelation of the true source of the Winslows' fortune.

Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage by Molly Wizenberg
Published: May 6, 2014

When Molly Wizenberg married Brandon Pettit, she vowed always to support him, to work with him to make their hopes and dreams real. She evinced enthusiasm about Brandon's enthusiasms: building a violin, building a boat, and opening an ice cream store--none of which came to pass. So when Brandon started making plans to open a pizza restaurant, Molly felt sure that the restaurant would join the list of Brandon's abandoned projects. When she finally realized that Delancey really was going to happen, that Brandon was going to change all of her assumptions about what their married life would be like, it was too late. She faced the first crisis in their young marriage. While Delancey is a funny and frank look at behind-the-scenes restaurant life, it is also a bravely honest and moving portrait of a tender young marriage and two partners who had to find out how to let each other go in order to come together

Sixth Grave on the Edge by Darynda Jones
Published: May 20, 2014

Few things in life can come between a grim reaper and her coffee, but the sexy, sultry son of Satan is one of them. Now that Reyes Farrow has asked for her hand, Charley Davidson feels it's time to learn more about his past, but Reyes is reluctant to open up. When the official FBI file of his childhood abduction lands in her lap, Charley decides to go behind her mysterious beau’s back and conduct her own investigation. Because what could go wrong?

The Blessings by Elisa Juska
Published: May 6, 2014

When John Blessing dies and leaves behind two small children, the loss reverberates across his extended family for years to come. His young widow, Lauren, finds solace in her large clan of in-laws, while his brother's wife Kate pursues motherhood even at the expense of her marriage. John's teenage nephew Stephen finds himself involved in an act of petty theft that takes a surprising turn, and nephew Alex, a gifted student, travels to Spain and considers the world beyond his family's Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood. Through departures and arrivals, weddings and reunions, The Blessings reveals the interior worlds of the members of a close-knit Irish-Catholic family and the rituals that unite them.

Which one will you read first? If you need help placing a hold with your Chandler Public Library card, give us a call at 480-782-2800. 

If you'd like more book recommendations, browse our Book Lists page or check out the previous LibraryReads lists

*Book descriptions from the publisher.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Staff Picks: Business & Economics

Every month, staff at our Downtown branch read books in a specific fiction genre or nonfiction subject, to familiarize themselves with titles they might not have discovered otherwise. Last month's subject was Business & Economics. Here's what everyone read and how they rated it:


The Little Book of Economics:  how economics works in the real world
By Greg Ip (5 stars)

The Why Axis:  hidden motives and the undiscovered economics of everyday life
Uri Gneezy (3 stars)

The Economist Magazine  (5 stars)

Young Money:  inside the hidden world of Wall Street’s post-crash recruits
By Kevin Roose (3 ½ stars)

Empty Mansions:  the mysterious life of Hugette Clark and the spending of a great American fortune
By Bill Dedman (4 stars)

Naked Economics:  undressing the dismal science
By Charles J. Wheelan (3 stars)

Punching Out:  one year in a closing auto plant
By Paul Clemens (3 stars)

Detroit:  an American autopsy
By Charlie LeDuff (2 stars)

Windfall:  the booming business of global warming
By Funk McKenzie (5 stars)

Monday, April 21, 2014

Book Review: Cinnamon and Gunpowder

The year is 1819, and Owen Wedgwood is a French-trained chef in the service of Lord Ramsey, an executive in the wealthy Pendleton trading company. The last meal Wedgwood serves to Ramsey is interrupted by an unexpected event - Mad Hannah Mabbot, the pirate queen, strides into Ramsey's dining room and shoots him in the chest. But as soon as she tastes the food on the table she devises an even more unexpected plan for the terrified chef: Wedgwood must come aboard her ship as her captive and cook a sumptuous meal for her every Sunday, even without butter, eggs, or a proper oven, and it will mean his life if he refuses.

Cinnamon and Gunpowder launches from this swashbuckling opening into a lush historical novel that is more than just an adventure. As Wedgwood learns more about Mabbot's history with Ramsey, he comes to doubt the nobility of his deceased employer, find sympathy for the pirate, and detest Pendleton almost as much Mabbot does. The novel illuminates the gritty and dangerous nature of life on the high seas, and shows the dark side of trading companies like Pendleton, bringing riches to England paid for in opium addiction and slavery. And Wedgwood's descriptions of his hard-won meals are nothing short of mouthwatering. With fascinating characters and gorgeous writing in an action-packed plot, Cinnamon and Gunpowder is an exciting and memorable read. - Michelle (Sunset)

Monday, April 14, 2014

Book Review: The Giver

Jonas's society has eliminated pain, fear, hunger, war, hatred and the "burden" of choice. His career as "Receiver of Memories" is chosen for him at age 12, and he soon learns that in order to live in a society free from the bad, good was eliminated in the process. Emotions are stifled; love is forbidden, and even the ability to perceive color has been genetically wiped from the people. The "Receiver of Memories" keeps the memories of all of these emotions and details about the past. Once Jonas is given these memories, he is awakened to the realization that life void of love and even pain is not a meaningful life at all. Jonas makes efforts to change the society for the better, meeting trouble along the way.

I love The Giver. I would teach it in a classroom because not only is it a great lead-in to other books such as 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and more, but it brings up so many ideas about humanity. This simple book is very powerful, and is a great introduction to dystopian literature. It also raises the question of what defines humanity and causes the reader to reflect on the social structures we create. - Becca (Sunset)

Monday, April 7, 2014

Book Review: The Deepest Secret

I think the best word to describe The Deepest Secret by Carla Buckley is intense. The book takes place over a span of a couple of weeks and focuses on the lives of the families on a cul-de-sac. The main characters are a family whose son, Tyler, has XP, a disease that makes him very sensitive to ultra-violet light.

We learn about Tyler’s neighbors in his observations when he goes out at night (the only time he can go outside without being exposed to UV light) and peeks through their windows and takes pictures. We learn things we might not necessarily know because they are happening behind closed doors. Then one of the neighbor’s daughters is killed in a hit and run accident and not only does it turn life in the cul-de-sac upside down, but also shakes up Tyler’s home life as well.

Because the story focuses on that short time frame, the author is very detailed. At times I was an invisible observer in the character’s lives. This was not a light story, but one that had me thinking about the characters, their lives, and their choices even after I put the book down. - Rosanna (Downtown)