May’s Celebrity Book Club Picks

It’s a new month which means that Jenna Bush Hager and Reese Witherspoon have picked new books for their book clubs! As a bonus, Oprah Winfrey has also announced a new selection! While Reese and Jenna generally announce a new title each month, Oprah’s selections are more sporadic. Reminder that if you join Simply Held, these titles will automatically be put on hold for you.

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Jenna Bush Hager has selected Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah for her May pick.

Curious what Chain-Gang All-Stars is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

Two top women gladiators fight for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own in this explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black.

She felt their eyes, all those executioners…

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. It’s the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE’s corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar’s path have devastating consequences.

Moving from the Links in the field to the protestors to the CAPE employees and beyond, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system’s unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a “new and necessary American voice” (Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review).

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Reese Witherspoon has selected Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul as her May pick.

Curious what Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

A multigenerational saga that traverses the glamour of old Hollywood and the seductive draw of modern-day showbiz

When Kitty Karr Tate, a White icon of the silver screen, dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the St. John sisters, three young, wealthy Black women, it prompts questions. Lots of questions.

A celebrity in her own right, Elise St. John would rather focus on sorting out Kitty’s affairs than deal with the press. But what she discovers in one of Kitty’s journals rocks her world harder than any other brewing scandal could—and between a cheating fiancé and the fallout from a controversial social media post, there are plenty.

The truth behind Kitty’s ascent to stardom from her beginnings in the segregated South threatens to expose a web of unexpected family ties, debts owed, and debatable crimes that could, with one pull, unravel the all-American fabric of the St. John sisters and those closest to them.

As Elise digs deeper into Kitty’s past, she must also turn the lens upon herself, confronting the gifts and burdens of her own choices and the power that the secrets of the dead hold over the living. Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is a sprawling page-turner set against the backdrop of the Hollywood machine, an insightful and nuanced look at the inheritances of family, race, and gender—and the choices some women make to break free of them.

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Oprah Winfrey has selected The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.

Curious what The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller Cutting for Stone, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years.

Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi—will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.

A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.

Join Simply Held to have Oprah, Jenna, and Reese’s adult selections automatically put on hold for you!

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier

“Because while you can reinvent yourself, you can’t outrun yourself. As a woman once reminded her a long time ago, the common denominator in all the terrible things that have happened to you is you.”
― Jennifer Hillier, Things We Do in the Dark

A woman covered in blood is found holding a straight razor on the bathroom floor next to a bathtub where her deceased husband sits in a pool of his own blood. That is how Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier begins. This psychological thriller examines who we can really trust and the secrets we hide from the world.

Paris Peralta has a past that she desperately wants to keep hidden. Her plan had worked perfectly, until she is arrested for the murder of her celebrity husband. It doesn’t look good for her – she is covered in blood, holding a straight razor while Jimmy is lying dead in the bathtub next to her. Even though Paris is devastated, Jimmy’s death isn’t her main concern. Jimmy was a comedian/celebrity in the midst of a comeback tour at the time of his death. Due to his popularity and the salaciousness of the crime, Paris is plagued with unwanted media attention, something that she has avoided for years. She knows it is only a matter of time before someone from her past recognizes her and decides to wreak havoc on the new life that Paris has worked so hard to achieve.

Drew Malcolm, a journalist, has become famous due to the success of his podcast, ‘Things We Do in the Dark’. His newest season means he will interview Ice Queen Ruby Reyes who is set to be released from prison. Twenty-five years earlier, Ruby was convicted of a similar murder to what Paris is accused of having committed.

Ruby Reyes is one of Paris’s problems. You see, Ruby knows who Paris really is. Now that she is to be released from prison, Ruby blackmails Paris for an outrageous sum of money. If Paris doesn’t pay up, Ruby will tell the world all of her secrets. Paris is torn. She can’t let Ruby reveal her past to the world. After all, she’s already been arrested for murder. She doesn’t want to be arrested for another.

This book is also available in the following formats:

Come on, baby, light that fire

Turn on the propane.  Ignite the charcoal briquettes.  Marinade the chicken.  And season those steaks.

On your marks,  get set,  GRILL !

We’re off and running for another fabulous summer filled with good friends, good times, and good food.

One could say that the history of grilling began back in cave man times.  Cooking gradually moved indoors, but the desire to toss a slab of meat on the grill or a shrimp on the barbie still calls to us today.

Want to grill it up right?  Check out the following titles for tips and recipes that will make your eyes eager and your taste buds tingle:

The great American grilling book

How to grill everything: simple recipes for great flame-cooked food, by Mark Bittman

Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill cookbook: explosive flavors from the Southwestern kitchen, by Bobby Flay

Ultimate grilling cookbook: 250 sizzling recipes

Life of fire: mastering the arts of pit-cooked barbecue, the grill, and the smokehouse, by Pat Martin

How to grill vegetables: the new bible for barbecuing vegetables over live fire, by Steven Raichlen

The best barbecue on earth: grilling across 6 continents and 25 countries, with 170 recipes, by Rick Browne

Thank you for smoking: fun and fearless recipes cooked with a whiff of wood fire on your grill or smoker, by Paula Disbrowe

Project fire: cutting-edge techniques and sizzling recipes from the caveman porterhouse to salt slab brownie s’mores, by Steven Raichlen

Rodney Scott’s world of BBQ: every day is a good day, by Rodney Scott

Smoke & spice: cooking with smoke, the real way to barbecue, by Cheryl Alters Jamison

 

Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

“Family is not whose blood runs in your veins, it’s who you’d spill it for.”
― Benjamin Stevenson, Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson tells the story of the Cunningham family seen through the eyes of one of the members, Ernest Cunningham – call him Ern or Ernie. Ern is a mystery writer; well to be more specific, he writes ‘how to’ guides for crime and mystery novels. His family has decided to have a family reunion at a remote Australian ski resort. Ern is extremely reluctant to attend, given his family’s history, but he has been told that it’s not optional.

Ern is our narrator. After outlining ten rules to follow, he frequently interjects into the story to tell us necessary back story or to alert the reader to something he just discovered. The most important fact he wants readers to know and remember: everyone in his family has killed someone. With them gathering all together for a family reunion, Ern is obviously concerned not least of all because this will be the first time that he has seen his family in a long time. Ern admits early on that yes, he has killed someone, but he’s not going to tell readers, at least not yet. That’s for us to figure out as the story progresses. After all, everyone in his family has killed someone. Each family member has their own reasons for why they killed someone, but they aren’t for Ern to just blurt out to non-family members.

This book was something I had never read before. It’s not your typical murder mystery. The narrator, Ernest, frequently broke the third wall to have a personal conversation with readers throughout the book. Even while he was doing that, Ernest also weaved an intricate web connecting all the members of his family together. He also acknowledged that we were listening to an audiobook, which I had never had happen to me in an audiobook before. If you decide to listen to this audiobook, this is one where you need to pay close attention! Lots of clues/hints are dropped throughout the novel that will help you solve the many mysteries. I hope the author writes something as original and clever again!

This title is also available in the following formats:

Simply Held May Authors: Lisa Jewell and Walter Mosley

Want the hottest new release from your favorite author? Want to stay current with a celebrity book club? Love nonfiction and fiction? You should join Simply Held. Choose any author, celebrity pick, nonfiction and/or fiction pick and the Davenport Public Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! If you still have questions, please check out our list of FAQs.

New month means new highlighted authors from Simply Held. May’s authors are Lisa Jewell for fiction and Walter Mosley for mystery.

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Photograph (c) Andrew Whitton
Photograph (c) Andrew Whitton

Our May fiction author is Lisa Jewell. After initially wanting to work in fashion, Jewell quit that line of study and started taking creative writing classes instead. Her first novel, Ralph’s Party, was published in 1999.

Jewell is a New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels. She has sold over 10 million copies of her books internationally. Her work has been published in over twenty-five languages. She writes mystery, romance, general fiction, and historical fiction. She currently lives in north London with her family.

Jewell’s newest book is None of This is True, which will be published on August 8, 2023.

Curious what this book is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her “superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose” (BuzzFeed), Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

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Our May mystery author is Walter Mosley. Mosley writes literary fiction, mystery, science fiction, political monographs, nonfiction, and young adult. His longest running series in the Easy Rawling mysteries which began in 1990 with Devil in a Blue Dress. Mosley’s nonfiction writings have appeared in The Nation, The New York Times Magazine, and many other publications. He has also had his short fiction published widely. Mosley has written more than sixty books which have been translated into twenty-five languages. He has won many awards, including an Edgar Award for Best Novel for Down the River and Unto the Sea. He has written and staged several plays, as well as has several of his books adapted for film and television. Mosley was also a writer and executive producer for the FX drama ‘Snowfall’. He has won many awards, including an Edgar Award for Best Novel for Down the River and Unto the Sea. Mosley is in the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. He currently splits his time between Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

Mosley’s newest book is Every Man a King, the second book in the King Oliver series. This book was released in February 2023.

Curious what this book is about? Below is a description provided by the publisher.

In this highly anticipated sequel from Edgar Award-winning “master of craft and narrative,” Walter Mosley, Joe King Oliver is entangled in a dangerous case when he’s asked to investigate whether a white nationalist is being unjustly set up. (National Book Foundation)

When friend of the family and multi-billionaire Roger Ferris comes to Joe with an assignment, he’s got no choice but to accept, even if the case is a tough one to stomach. White nationalist Alfred Xavier Quiller has been accused of murder and the sale of sensitive information to the Russians. Ferris has reason to believe Quiller’s been set up and he needs King to see if the charges hold.

This linear assignment becomes a winding quest to uncover the extent of Quiller’s dealings, to understand Ferris’ skin in the game, and to get to the bottom of who is working for whom. Even with the help of bodyguard and mercenary Oliya Ruez—no regular girl Friday—the machine King’s up against proves relentless and unsparing. As King gets closer to exposing the truth, he and his loved ones barrel towards grave danger.

Mosley once again proves himself a “master of craft and narrative” (National Book Foundation) in this carefully plotted mystery that is at once a classic caper, a family saga and an examination of fealty, pride and how deep debt can go.

This title is also available in the following format:

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

From The Great Believers fame, Rebecca Makkai is back with another gorgeous and gripping novel, I Have Some Questions for You

The story follows Bodie Kane, a film professor and successful true-crime podcast host, as she returns to Granby, her New England boarding school, to guest lecture a course on investigative podcasting. Her return comes after twenty years away from the school, twenty years after her roommate, Thalia Keith, was found dead in the school swimming pool during their senior year. 

Thalia’s death was very quickly blamed on the school’s athletic trainer, Omar. Despite the fact that all the evidence didn’t add up, Omar’s DNA was found on the swimsuit Thalia was wearing. That discovery quickly determined Omar guilty. The case closed, Thalia’s friends and family were left to grieve, and people moved on–that is until Bodie returns to Granby and her memories start to unravel in a way that questions everything that was put to bed during the murder investigation back in 1995. 

Though this novel is a murder mystery, it isn’t as formulaic as a traditional “whodunit” mystery. While our main character wants to find out what actually happened to Thalia, she also wants to bring to light the adult men in Thalia’s life that failed to protect her and heavily contributed to her death. Makkai sweepingly critiques our culture’s obsession with the murder and abuse of women, while indulging in the phenomenon of internet armchair detectives.

Makkai is an incredibly thoughtful storyteller, and I Have Some Questions for You definitely speaks to her ability to gather research and graciously pour it into a complex yet approachable novel. 

This title is also available in the following formats:

 

Online Reading Challenge – May

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge travels to Ireland, nicknamed the Emerald Isle for its wide expanses of lush, green fields! Our Main title is Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman. Here’s a quick summary from the author.

A hilarious and heartfelt debut novel following three generations of a boisterous family whose simmering tensions boil over when a home aide enters the picture, becoming the  calamitous force that will either undo or remake them—perfect for fans of Where’d YouGo, Bernadette and Evvie Drake Starts Over.

When Kevin Gogarty’s irrepressible eighty-three-year-old mother, Millie, is caught shoplifting yet again, he has no choice but to hire a caretaker to keep an eye on her. Kevin, recently unemployed, is already at his wits’ end tending to a full house while his wife travels to exotic locales for work, leaving him solo with his rebellious teenage daughter, Aideen, whose troubles escalate when she befriends the campus rebel at her new boarding school.

Into the Gogarty fray steps Sylvia, Millie’s upbeat home aide, who appears at first to be their saving grace—until she catapults the Gogarty clan into their greatest crisis yet.

With charm, humor, and pathos to spare, Good Eggs is a delightful study in self-determination; the notion that it’s never too late to start living; and the unique redemption that family, despite its maddening flaws, can offer.

This title is also available in the following formats:

As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!

Online Reading Challenge – April Wrap-Up

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

My name is Stephanie and I have taken over the Online Reading Challenge from Ann after her retirement! She wrote wonderfully for the blog for years and is already missed so much by everyone at the Davenport Public Library. I’m hoping to be able to live up to the high standards and quality blog posts she has written through the years and create content that you all will love! If you have any suggestions regarding the blog or the Online Reading Challenge, please email me at sspraggon@davenportlibrary.com. Now, let’s wrap up April!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in India that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. This nonfiction title follows the residents of Annawadi, a slum outside Mumbai. It focuses on specific families and their nearly impossible quest for upward mobility. This story is a heartbreaking look at modern India’s vast inequalities in fulfillment of basic human needs, as well as the opportunity inequalities that run rampant. Boo narrates this book in third-person which lets readers glimpse India and Annawadi as a whole, while also looking deeper into the lives of the people and events present. Boo does an excellent job revealing the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of absolute poverty.

Annawadi is a makeshift settlement that exists in the shadows of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport. It’s seen as one of many eyesores across the country as India starts to prosper. Annawadi residents are pushed further and further to the wayside while global change rises up around them, despite the residents’ best efforts to move up in the world.

Abdul is a Muslim teenager who believes he has found a profitable business in selling the recyclable garbage that richer people toss on the ground around Annawadi. Asha is a woman who grew up in rural poverty and who ended up in Annawadi with her family, determined to use her formidable wit to scrape her way to the middle class through political corruption. Asha’s daughter is considered Annawadi’s ‘most-everything girl’. She is hoping to be the slum’s first female college graduate. Even the poorest people in Annawadi believe that they are on track to living good lives.

Plans screech to a halt when Abdul and his family are falsely accused in a horribly shocking tragedy happens in the slum. Terror attacks rock the country and the world. A global recession finds its way to Mumbai and known sources of income start to dry up. All these issues bring many suppressed tensions to the surface and Annawadi erupts. Hope clashes with truth, leaving dreams crushed in the mud as people push for better lives for themselves and their families. How far the people of Annawadi are willing to go to get what they deserve is at the heart of this novel. Fighting against outside forces and issues within themselves, Abdul, Asha, and their families work hard for the good lives they want and deserve.

I really enjoyed this book. Nonfiction is usually difficult for me to get through, but a friend owned the audiobook version and kindly offered it to me. Sunil Malhotra is the award-winning narrator who tackles this tough subject matter and large number of characters with grace. Initially I was confused as the book starts at a key moment, flashes back to set up the drama, and then continues forward, but quickly was able to get back into the narration. As the story progressed, I found myself wishing that I could refer back to the print book as I was confused, but all in all, the author and narrator together crafted a nonfiction book that read like fiction to me. Boo tackles these difficult topics with grace, sincerity, intelligence, and humor. While this certainly isn’t a happily ever after book, she manages to connect each human being to each other and, most importantly, brings her readers into this hidden world rife with devastating and tumultuous change. These people will be hard to forget.

In May we’re headed to Ireland!

Behind the Beautiful Forevers is also available in the following formats:

Feel The Wind In Your Hair!

Did you know that May 1st is Learn To Ride A Bike Day?  Perhaps you remember having training wheels when you first learned?  Or maybe you got the hang of it right away and started on two wheels?

I remember my initial experience with bike riding.  My childhood friend, Jill, was going to receive a Schwinn Sting-Ray bicycle for her 9th birthday.  She had been awaiting its arrival for weeks.  Boy, was it cool!  It was the color purple.  And it had a banana seat, which had enough room for two people to sit on it.   Sometimes I sat behind her as she wheeled around the Allendale parking lot.

One day she allowed me to try my hand.  Now, in fact, I did not know how to ride a bicycle at age 8.  This I told her, but she said that was okay; she would teach me.  I got on that banana seat, placed both hands on the handle bars, placed one foot on a pedal, and picked up my other foot as I pushed down on the first pedal.  I was bike riding!  Bang!  I ran into the Allendale’s brick wall.  I had forgotten about braking.  Or turning.  I fell off, but the bike was unharmed!  And, luckily, so was our friendship.

By age 12 I had mastered the art of two wheels.  On sunny days you could find me exploring every dead end and cul-de-sac in Moline.  This knowledge still serves me well as a car driver.  I know the fastest routes throughout the city.

Do you want to remember the joy you felt when you first learned how to ride?  Here are some titles to help you remember the feel the wind in your hair and the utter sense of freedom:

My bike / illustrated by Byron Barton.

The bike lesson / by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Franklin rides a bike / written by Paulette Bourgeois ; illustrated by Brenda Clark.

Biking / by Cynthia Klingel and Robert B. Noyed.

The science of a bicycle : the science of forces / by Ian Graham.

Biking Iowa : 50 great road trips and trail rides / Bob Morgan

The cyclist who went out in the cold : adventures riding the Iron Curtain / Tim Moore.

A voyage across an ancient ocean : a bicycle journey through the northern dominion of oil / David Goodrich.

So in honor of this national holiday, I say to you, dust off your bicycle, pump up those tires, and go bike riding today!

 

Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait of Eugene Bullard written by Ronald Wimberly; art by Brahm Revel

When I need a brain break, I read a nonfiction graphic novel.  It’s refreshing to read something factual while also looking at illustrations. My latest graphic novel choice was Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait of Eugene Bullard written by Ronald Wimberly with art by Brahm Revel. This is a gorgeously written story following the life of Eugene Ballard from rural Georgia to the streets of Paris.

Eugene Bullard was the only African-American pilot in World War I and is considered the first African-American military pilot to fly in combat. Funny part? He never flew for the United States. He flew for France. He was decorated fifteen times by the French government for his service.

Before he flew planes,  Bullard lived in Columbus, Georgia with his father and many siblings. Jim Crow South was dangerous. Determined to live somewhere where he would be treated as a human being, Bullard ran away from home. He traveled all over the United States and eventually made his way across the ocean as a stowaway. He ended up in Aberdeen, Scotland. Bullard then made his way to London where he worked in vaudeville as a slapstick performer with Belle Davis. He also started boxing at that time. A boxing match led him to Paris in 1913 where he decided to stay until he enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in 1914. He found in many battles, but was seriously wounded in the Battle of Verdun. Bullard was sent to Lyon to recuperate where his flying story began. He bet a friend $2000 that he could enlist in the French flying service despite his color and become a pilot! He flew many operations with his rhesus monkey named Jimmy tucked in his coat.

This graphic novel was a riveting read. Its candid and sensitive portrayal of Bullard’s life is treated with empathy, especially since Bullard himself is the one recollecting the story to a gentleman with whom he is stuck in the elevator. After he flew, Bullard became involved in espionage activities, fought in another war, and eventually made it back to the United States, but that’s a story for a different time. Bullard made history as the world’s first African American fighter pilot, but after the war he eventually ended up as an elevator operator in the building where NBC’s Today Show was produced. He came on the show as a guest in 1959, showing all 15 of his war medals. Now Let Me Fly works to educate the world about Eugene Bullard’s personal life amongst the great historical events he participated in.