Category: Staff Picks

Simply Held May Authors: Lisa Jewell and Walter Mosley

- Stephanie Leave a comment

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.

___________________________

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?

___________________________

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

- Claire Leave a comment

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 – April Wrap-Up

- Stephanie 1 Comment

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:

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

- Stephanie Leave a comment

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.

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

- Stephanie Leave a comment

When I don’t know what to read, I check award lists. My latest read, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, was the 2020 ALA Alex Award Winner and the 2020 Stonewall – Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award Honor Book. Maia is a gender queer author and illustrator who uses e/em/eir pronouns, an important decision e talks about in eir book. E also worked in libraries for ten years before becoming a freelance writer!

Gender Queer is not the first book e had ever written. In 2014, Maia wrote a comic of reading statistics that eir friends and colleagues loved, but felt that that would be the only autobiographical comic e would ever write. All e wanted people to know about them was those reading statistics and nothing else. Partly because e was still figuring out eir own self-identity.

This is e’s journey to self-identity, something e is clearly still working on at the end of the book. Maia discusses in sometimes graphic detail eir journey with graphic identity and sexuality, a journey that’s incredibly cathartic. E talks about everything from adolescent crushes to puberty to traditional gender rules. Maia wrote this book to help others who are struggling with gender identity to feel less alone, something that e struggled with growing up. This graphic memoir is heartfelt and painful to read at times, but a necessary read to understand what gender queer people work through on a daily basis.

This title is also available in the following format:

A Memoir Deluxe Edition was published in 2022 and you can find it through the library in the following formats:

Books about Libraries and Librarians

- Stephanie Leave a comment

In honor of National Library Week, which is celebrated from April 23 to April 29, we have gathered some fiction and nonfiction books about libraries and librarians (that we haven’t written about yet on the blog!). The descriptions provided below were provided by the publishers. Be sure to let us know in the comments what your favorite library/librarian books are!

Fiction

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

Ava thought her job as a librarian at the Library of Congress would mean a quiet, routine existence. But an unexpected offer from the US military has brought her to Lisbon with a new mission: posing as a librarian while working undercover as a spy gathering intelligence.

Meanwhile, in occupied France, Elaine has begun an apprenticeship at a printing press run by members of the Resistance. It’s a job usually reserved for men, but in the war, those rules have been forgotten. Yet she knows that the Nazis are searching for the press and its printer in order to silence them.

As the battle in Europe rages, Ava and Elaine find themselves connecting through coded messages and discovering hope in the face of war.

_____________________________

The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes

For fans of The Rose Code and The Paris Library, The Librarian of Burned Books is a captivating WWII-era novel about the intertwined fates of three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the very darkest moments of war.

Inspired by the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime—the WWII organization founded by booksellers, publishers, librarians, and authors to use books as “weapons in the war of ideas”—The Librarian of Burned Books is an unforgettable historical novel, a haunting love story, and a testament to the beauty, power, and goodness of the written word.

_____________________________

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick

Librarian Martha Storm has always found it easier to connect with books than people—though not for lack of trying. She keeps careful lists of how to help others in her superhero-themed notebook. And yet, sometimes it feels like she’s invisible.

All of that changes when a book of fairy tales arrives on her doorstep. Inside, Martha finds a dedication written to her by her best friend—her grandmother Zelda—who died under mysterious circumstances years earlier. When Martha discovers a clue within the book that her grandmother may still be alive, she becomes determined to discover the truth. As she delves deeper into Zelda’s past, she unwittingly reveals a family secret that will change her life forever.

Filled with Phaedra Patrick’s signature charm and vivid characters, The Library of Lost and Found is a heartwarming and poignant tale of how one woman must take control of her destiny to write her own happy ending.

_____________________________

The Library of Legends by Janie Chang

China, 1937. When Japanese bombs begin falling on the city of Nanking, nineteen-year-old Hu Lian and her classmates at Minghua University are ordered to flee. Lian and a convoy of students, faculty and staff must walk 1,000 miles to the safety of China’s western provinces, a journey marred by the constant threat of aerial attack. And it is not just the refugees who are at risk; Lian and her classmates have been entrusted with a priceless treasure: a 500-year-old collection of myths and folklore known as the Library of Legends.

Her family’s past has made Lian wary of forming attachments, but the students’ common duty to safeguard the Library of Legends forms unexpected bonds. Lian finds friendship and a cautious romance with the handsome and wealthy Liu Shaoming. But after one classmate is murdered and another arrested, Lian realizes she must escape from the convoy before a family secret puts her in danger. Accompanied by Shao and the enigmatic maidservant Sparrow, Lian makes her way to Shanghai, hoping to reunite with her mother.

During the journey, Lian learns of the connection between her two companions and a tale from the Library of Legends, The Willow Star and the Prince. This revelation comes with profound consequences, for as the ancient books travel across China, they awaken immortals and guardian spirits who embark on an exodus of their own, one that will change the country’s fate forever.

_____________________________

The Last Chance Library by Freya Sampson

Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the thirty-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June is forced to emerge from behind the shelves to save the heart of her community and the place that holds the dearest memories of her mother.

Joining a band of eccentric yet dedicated locals in a campaign to keep the library, June opens herself up to other people for the first time since her mother died. It just so happens that her old school friend Alex Chen is back in town and willing to lend a helping hand. The kindhearted lawyer’s feelings for her are obvious to everyone but June, who won’t believe that anyone could ever care for her in that way.

To save the place and the books that mean so much to her, June must finally make some changes to her life. For once, she’s determined not to go down without a fight. And maybe, in fighting for her cherished library, June can save herself, too.

_____________________________

Nonfiction

The World’s Strongest Librarian by Joshua Hanagarne

A funny and uplifting story of how a Mormon kid with Tourette’s found salvation in books and weight lifting

Josh Hanagarne couldn’t be invisible if he tried. Although he wouldn’t officially be diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome until his freshman year of high school, Josh was six years old when he first began exhibiting symptoms. When he was twenty and had reached his towering height of 6’7”, his tics escalated to nightmarish levels. Determined to conquer his affliction, Josh tried countless remedies, with dismal results. At last, an eccentric, autistic strongman taught Josh how to “throttle” his tics into submission using increasingly elaborate feats of strength. What started as a hobby became an entire way of life—and an effective way of managing his disorder.

Today, Josh is a librarian at Salt Lake City’s public library and founder of a popular blog about books and weight lifting—and the proud father of five-year-old Max. Funny and offbeat, The World’s Strongest Librarian traces this unlikely hero as he attempts to overcome his disability, find love, and create a life worth living.

_____________________________

Overdue: Reckoning with the Public Library by Amanda Oliver

Who are libraries for, how have they evolved, and why do they fill so many roles in our society today?

Based on firsthand experiences from six years of professional work as a librarian in high-poverty neighborhoods of Washington, DC, as well as interviews and research, Overdue begins with Oliver’s first day at an “unusual” branch: Northwest One.

Using her experience at this branch allows Oliver to highlight the national problems that have existed in libraries since they were founded: racism, segregation, and class inequalities. These age-old problems have evolved into police violence, the opioid epidemic, rampant houselessness, and lack of mental health care nationwide—all of which come to a head in public library spaces.

Can public librarians continue to play the many roles they are tasked with? Can American society sustain one of its most noble institutions?

_____________________________

The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts saved Yiddish literature for Generations to Come written by Sue Macy; illustrated by Stacy Innerst

Over the last forty years, Aaron Lansky has jumped into dumpsters, rummaged around musty basements, and crawled through cramped attics. He did all of this in pursuit of a particular kind of treasure, and he’s found plenty. Lansky’s treasure was any book written Yiddish, the language of generations of European Jews. When he started looking for Yiddish books, experts estimated there might be about 70,000 still in existence. Since then, the MacArthur Genius Grant recipient has collected close to 1.5 million books, and he’s finding more every day.

Told in a folkloric voice reminiscent of Patricia Polacco, this story celebrates the power of an individual to preserve history and culture, while exploring timely themes of identity and immigration.

_____________________________

Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford; illustrated by Eric Velasquez

Where is our historian to give us our side? Arturo asked.

Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance stood an Afro–Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg. This law clerk’s life’s passion was to collect books, letters, music, and art from Africa and the African diaspora and bring to light the achievements of people of African descent through the ages. When Schomburg’s collection became so big it began to overflow his house (and his wife threatened to mutiny), he turned to the New York Public Library, where he created and curated a collection that was the cornerstone of a new Negro Division. A century later, his groundbreaking collection, known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has become a beacon to scholars all over the world.

_____________________________

Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré words by Anika Aldamuy Denise; illustrations by Paola Escobar

An inspiring picture book biography of storyteller, puppeteer, and New York City’s first Puerto Rican librarian, who championed bilingual literature.

When she came to America in 1921, Pura Belpré carried the cuentos folklóricos of her Puerto Rican homeland. Finding a new home at the New York Public Library as a bilingual assistant, she turned her popular retellings into libros and spread story seeds across the land. Today, these seeds have grown into a lush landscape as generations of children and storytellers continue to share her tales and celebrate Pura’s legacy.

Brought to colorful life by Paola Escobar’s elegant and exuberant illustrations and Anika Aldamuy Denise’s lyrical text, this gorgeous book is perfect for the pioneers in your life.

_____________________________

No Kidding by Vero Cazot and Madeline Martin

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Whether or not you want to have children is a decisive topic. No Kidding by writer Vero Cazot, with art & colors by Madeline Martin, tackles this serious subject with humor and gravitas. Martin and Cazot examine what it means to be childless and how difficult it can be to find supportive people when you are childless, whether it be your choice or not. In addition to a section at the end of the book dedicated to people fighting for a woman’s right to choose, the author also intersperses random history nuggets throughout their book.

No Kidding is a modern feminist graphic novel that tackles a woman’s right to choose by highlighting the lives of two women. Jane is a 35 year old woman who doesn’t want to be a mother. She has been with her partner for eight years and thought that he felt the same way. All of a sudden, he is having doubts, leading the two to do some major soul-searching. Lucy was just accepted to the school of her dreams. Her current plans do not involve having a child, but she became pregnant. She knows that she wants to terminate the pregnancy, but finding help, getting an appointment, and even finding supportive people to talk to proves to be incredibly hard.

Jane isn’t afraid to speak her opinions to everyone around her. As she speaks her truth, she fights against pushback at every single turn. Jane refuses to bow down to the societal and political pressures to have children and demands that her opinions be heard on all levels. When she meets Lucy, the two bond over their mutual decisions to be childfree.  No Kidding is the story of women who don’t want to do what society expects them to do. I appreciated that the author respected all viewpoints presented within the book, but also that she pushed hard to present how being childfree needs to be more accepted in society. Cazot presents her point of view with humor and sarcasm. She also loads her story full of examples of women making choices for their own bodies, whether it be having children or being childfree.

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Have you ever picked a title to read based purely on the cover? My latest read, The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, was one I picked for that reason. Lucky for me, it ended up being right up my alley: ghostwriters, handsome editors, a family-run funeral home, literal ghosts, and a love story.

Florence Day no longer believes in love. This wouldn’t be a problem except that she is the ghostwriter for a very prolific romance author. Her job demands that Florence believe in love. She has her terrible ex-boyfriend to blame. He crushed her heart and left her standing in the rain after their breakup.

When Florence meets with her new editor, she’s distracted to find that he’s incredibly handsome. However, he won’t give her an extension for her book deadline and even mentions getting legal involved if she misses her current deadline! Florence is distraught, but all her work worries cease to matter when she receives a devastating phone call from home. She has to return home for the first time in a decade. Florence’s father has died.

Her tiny hometown has never understood her. Although she misses her eccentric family, their funeral parlor, and the sweet sounds of a warm Southern night, Florence was desperate to escape as soon as she could. Now that she’s back, it seems as if nothing has changed. Her feelings are thrown for a loop when she discovers a ghost standing on the porch of the funeral parlor, confused about why he’s there. Florence must help him pass on, but is unsure how. The ghost’s unfinished business, combined with her own grief, will have Florence confused about what she believed about herself. Does she really think romance is dead and that love stories are lost to her forever?

This title is also available in the following formats:

American Cult edited by Robyn Chapman

- Stephanie Leave a comment

What could you give an impromptu speech on with no time to research? This is a question that was debated much among my friends. My answer: cults. Well, anything true crime related, but specifically cults. Imagine my delight when I found American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in American from the Colonial Era to Today edited by Robyn Chapman sitting on the new graphic novel shelves at the library! I couldn’t wait to give it a read.

American Cult is edited by Robyn Chapman and is compiled by numerous artists who each dedicate a section of the book to a different cult. All in all, 18 different American cults are dissected in this anthonology. The introduction discusses how readers have to take a human approach to the people who were sucked into these movements/cults – We need to treat them with ‘50% empathy and 50% justice’. Some of the chapters are pretty straightforward, while others take a wrap-around approach and really force readers to think about the difference between cults and religion. Each chapter is short – working to avoid the sensational information that was portrayed in the tabloids, but at the same time, the chapters don’t go very deep into the histories. Think of this book as sections of short histories designed to get your appetite wet and to give you enough information to do research on your own! Some of the cults presented may be somewhat controversial regarding whether or not you personally think they are a cult, but it’s a good read.

The content of this book starts in the late 17th-century with mystics that followed Johannes Kelpius in the woods outside of Philadelphia all the way to NXIVM and its leader Keith Raniere in present day. This book definitely focuses more on the more current American cults, but I was surprised to find mention of a couple cults that I had known nothing about. For example, did you know that Louisa May Alcott’s father dragged their whole family into a supposedly utopian sect called the Fruitlands? Also did you know that the Cheesecake Factory chain was founded by a member of Sufism Reoriented, a cult still running in California? There were so many random facts that I learned while I was reading this book that caught me off guard, so much so that I actually took notes! I was definitely left with more questions than answers at the end of this book, but luckily I’m in the right place to answer my questions!

Simply Held April Authors: Louise Erdrich and Jasmine Guillory

- Stephanie Leave a comment

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. April’s authors are Louise Erdrich for fiction and Jasmine Guillory for romance.

___________________________

Our April fiction author is Louise Erdrich. Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. She is the daughter of a Chippewa Indian mother and a German-American father. Her works examine Native-American themes with both sides of her heritage represented through major characters in her writings. Erdrich focuses her subjects usually to the Ojibwa Indians in the northern Midwest, but shifted away from Native American themes to explore German, Polish, and Scandinavian citizens in the early 2000s. Don’t worry! She shifted back to her Native American storylines after that title. Erdrich has written novels, poetry, children’s books, and a memoir about early motherhood. Erdrich currently lives in Minnesota with her daughters (and the ghost that lives in her creaky old house). She is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore. She writes primarily literary fiction, children’s fiction, and science fiction.

Erdrich’s newest book is The Sentence, which was published in 2021.

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

In this New York Times bestselling novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich creates a wickedly funny ghost story, a tale of passion, of a complex marriage, and of a woman’s relentless errors.

Louise Erdrich’s latest novel, The Sentence, asks what we owe to the living, the dead, to the reader and to the book. A small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store’s most annoying customer. Flora dies on All Souls’ Day, but she simply won’t leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading “with murderous attention,” must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

The Sentence begins on All Souls’ Day 2019 and ends on All Souls’ Day 2020. Its mystery and proliferating ghost stories during this one year propel a narrative as rich, emotional, and profound as anything Louise Erdrich has written.

This title is also available in the following formats:

___________________________

Photo credit: Andrea Scher
Photo credit: Andrea Scher

Our April romance author is Jasmine Guillory. Guillory is a New York Times  bestselling author known for her Wedding Date series, one of which was a Reese’s Book Club selection (The Proposal). In addition to the Wedding Date series, she has two stand-alone novels and has contributed to the Meant to Be series which she is writing with authors Julie Murphy and Zoraida Cordova.  In addition to her novels, her work has appeared in number journals and magazines,  such as The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Bon Appetit, and Time. Guillory is also a frequent book contributor on The Today Show.  She is a Bay Area native who currently lives in Oakland, California amongst the towering stacks of books in her living room. Guillory writes romance!

Guillory’s newest book is Drunk on Love, which was published in 2022.

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

An intoxicating and sparkling new romance by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory.

Margot Noble needs some relief from the stress of running the family winery with her brother. Enter Luke: sexy, charming, and best of all in the too-small world of Napa, a stranger. The chemistry between them is undeniable, and Margot is delighted that she lucked into the perfect one-night stand she’ll never have to see again. That is, until the winery’s newest hire, Luke, walks in the next morning. Margot is determined to keep things purely professional, but when their every interaction reminds her of the attraction still bubbling between them, it proves to be much more challenging than she expects.

Luke Williams had it all, but when he quits his high-salary tech job in Silicon Valley in a blaze of burnout and moves back to Napa to help a friend, he realizes he doesn’t want to tell the world—or his mom—why he’s now working at a winery. His mom loves bragging about her successful son—how can he admit that the job she’s so proud of broke him? Luke has no idea what is next for him, but one thing is certain: he wants more from the incredibly smart and sexy woman he hooked up with—even after he learns she’s his new boss. But even if they can find a way to be together that wouldn’t be an ethical nightmare, would such a successful woman really want a tech-world dropout?

Set against a lush backdrop of Napa Valley wine country, nothing goes to your head as fast as a taste of love—even if it means changing all your plans.

This title is also available in the following formats: