That’s What Frenemies Are For by Sophie Littlefield and Lauren Gershell

Making friends as an adult is difficult. Sophie Littlefield and Lauren Gershell talk about the delicate balance between friends and enemies, as well as the different lengths that people are willing to do to in order to make friends in their newest book, That’s What Frenemies Are For. Hidden motives abound for all in this novel that grabs you by your private school, Manhattan socialite education and refuses to let go.

That’s What Frenemies Are For by Sophie Littlefield and Lauren Gershell talks about how easily influence and cache in different groups can change as readers follow the life of a Manhattan socialite who finds the next biggest craze in the form of a peppy spin instructor and an underperforming fitness studio. Her decision to rehabilitate the studio and the instructor in order to impress her friends and get back her social cache proves to turn into more than she can handle.

Julia Summers has it all: two children who love her, an adoring husband with a successful job, an apartment in the city, and a house in the Hamptons. Having finally made it to the top of her friend group, Julia influences almost everything the group does. Nothing happens without her approval or without her knowing about it. As a result, Julia is stunned when she finds others in her friend group suddenly vying for her position of power and cutting her out of decisions. When everyone starts to head to the Hamptons for the summer, Julia’s family is stuck in the city when catastrophe hits their Hamptons’ house.

Stuck in the city for the summer, Julia is desperate to reinvent herself before her friends come back. Looking for the newest fad, Julia finds Flame. Flame is the biggest new elite fitness craze that has the possibility to be even better if they just changed a few things. While going to Flame, Julia takes classes from Tatum, a giggly, energetic instructor who Julia decides to transform in the guise of improving Flame’s profit margin and helping to get the word out about the business.

Julia takes on the task to overhaul Flame and Tatum, but in a sneaky way that she hopes isn’t completely obvious to everyone around her. Things slowly start to spiral out of Julia’s control when she discovers that Tatum isn’t as docile as she initially thought. Julia’s comeback doesn’t go as expected and Tatum starts to take over everything herself.

With Julia’s relationships with her friends in turmoil, Julia turns to her family for comfort. Much to her surprise, her husband’s business goes belly up in a most unexpected way. Left with almost no support system and friends who have completely turned their backs on her, Julia has to rethink everything that she had previously held so dear. What does she really want out of life? What is most important to her? Is her perfect life worth it?

The Marriage Clock by Zara Raheem

The Marriage Clock by Zara Raheem is a perfect light and get-your-mind-distracted read to help you get ready for summer and for wedding season(or to just take a break from life). Even though summer is over, I still found this book to be a delightfully fresh debut from a new author.

The Marriage Clock is Raheem’s discussion of traditional vs. modern marriage customs in Indian families told as one woman’s struggle to keep everyone in her life happy. 26-year-old Leila Abid has always imagined getting married. Her parents want her to get married too and the fact that Leila isn’t married yet is something that they find very concerning. You see, as an East Indian/East Euro-Asian woman, Leila’s parents believe that marriage is half of their religious duty. Arranged marriages happen all the time, but growing up in America, Leila has slightly more give in terms of how early she was married.

At her 26th birthday party, Leila’s parents sit her down and tell her that she has three months to find a husband before they will arrange a marriage for her. Shocked and not happy with this news, Leila agrees as long as her mother backs off from the set-ups. Leila goes on blind dates, online dates, speed dates, ambush dates, and other dates in those three months, but sadly no great love comes to sweep her off her feet.

Leila has great expectations for love. She has always imagined a Bollywood romance with seven pages of what she’s expecting from her future husband. One of her biggest requests: she wants real love before she’s married. This deviates from the norm as with most traditional Indian arranged marriages, love does not happen until after marriage. Leila knows she doesn’t want that.

As her three month deadline looms closer, Leila finds herself wondering what her parents have in store for her. The longer she searches for a husband, the more Leila realizes that an arranged marriage is not for her. But if she doesn’t go through with one, how will her parents ever forgive her? Leila must find a solution that will keep her parents happy and will let her find a man to fall in love with.

Meet Cute by Helena Hunting

Some days (or weeks or months), all I want to read are romance novels. I’m deep in the midst of several romance reads right now. These books serve as a major deviation from my usual reads of twisty crime thrillers and are a necessary light read for me when I just need a break.

I noticed the cutesy cover of Helena Hunting’s latest romance novel peeking out from the new shelves a few weeks ago and was intrigued enough to start it.  I devoured this book in less than 3 days. Such a fun light read with charming characters! Meet Cute by Helena Hunting tells the story of a couple’s long road to a happily-ever-after with a pinch of Hollywood magic when a famous hunky heartthrob bumps into his ultimate fangirl again after years apart.

Kailyn Flowers knows exactly what she wants and exactly what she needs to do to get it. Described by friends and family as very controlled, rational, and calm under any circumstances, Kailyn has one glaring exception that leaves her breathless: Daxton Hughes. Daxton is the former teen actor that she had a complete and total crush on when she was younger. In law school, Kailyn believes herself to be in control until she literally runs into Daxton and the two are left sprawled on the ground. Kailyn reverts back to her fangirl self and may have mortified herself by professing (loudly) her undying love for Daxton. After that situation ended, Kailyn thought she’d never see him again, but oddly enough their meet cute leads to a friendship and a sort of friendly rivalry that helps them both survive law school. Their friendship takes a huge hit at the end of school however when Daxton betrays Kailyn in a way for which she will never forgive him.

Flash forward years and Kailyn has an established job at a reputable law firm that gives her joy. One day, a new client comes into the office and she is floored. Daxton Hughes has walked back into her life and he desperately needs her help. Dax is now guardian to his thirteen-year-old sister and is very overwhelmed. Kailyn finds herself drawn into his messy life. Once meeting Dax’s younger sister, Kailyn knows she would do anything to make sure this struggling girl and her older brother find a positive way to manage their new normal.

Dax and Kailyn meet frequently to discuss work matters. While these meetings are initially chilly, they quickly turn friendly. Once Dax’s sister starts meddling, these friendly and benign meetings turn into flirty charming dinner dates that leave the both of them yearning for more. Kailyn is hesitant to go further because despite the chemistry palpable in the air, how can she let Daxton back into her life when he has hurt her in the past? Their complicated past and even more complicated present may be enough to keep the two apart.


This book is also available in the following format:

New Community Experience Pass Now Available

You may already be familiar with the Community Experience Passes that are available at the Davenport Library. These passes give you free access to great local attractions such as the Putnum Museum, the Figge Art Museum and the German American Heritage Center. They are quite popular and we strive to add more experiences to our collection whenever possible. Today we are pleased to announce the addition of our newest Community Experience Pass – the Skip the Line I-74 Bridge Pass!

As you know, crossing the Mighty Mississippi River via the I-74 Bridge can be, shall we say, a bit frustrating these days. Traffic back-up, long lines, major detours – it all adds up to a great deal of waiting and perhaps a bit of colorful language. Yet for many, this is a vital pathway that must be tackled frequently, even daily. That’s where the Skip the Line I-74 Bridge Pass comes in! By-pass all the struggle of getting across the river and arrive at your destination happy and relaxed! It’s a Quad-Citians dream come true!

And they couldn’t be easier to use! Simply present your pass at the Grant Street exit if you are Illinois-bound or, if you’re heading to Iowa, at the 7th Avenue exit. A disgruntled construction worker will approach your car. Show him or her your pass and then use the code “there are no oranges in the canoe”. The seemingly unhappy worker will smile sunnily and reply “the albatross flies at midnight” and wave you toward the secret passage. That’s it! Easy peasy! Of course, if the construction worker seems confused and does not smile, you’ve run into someone that isn’t in on the secret. It’d be best if you abandoned your car and flee.

Community Experiences Passes are restricted to Davenport Library card holders only. They check out for one week and have unlimited use during that time. Passes can also be reserved, but not for a specific day or week. Overdue charges are steep – $30 per day! So enjoy your worry-free travel week, then return the pass promptly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April Fool! (sadly)

Online Reading Challenge – Wrapping Up 2018

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go in December? “Present Time” proved to be a little tricky, didn’t it? The topic was pretty general and the time of year was busy, not an ideal formula. I hope you found and enjoyed something good to round out our Challenge year.

I did well – I read The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. If you are a fan of quick-moving, amusing yet thoughtful books, or if you’re a fan of “The Big Bang Theory”, you’re going to like this book.

Don Tillman lives his life by precise, strict rules and schedules. Any deviation can lead to anxiety and panic and he has trouble reading social cues and emotions. He has found a niche where he’s comfortable – a professor of genetics at a prestigious university – and a group of friends (well, two friends) who accept him as he is.

Although Don is perfectly happy, he decides that he would like a wife and thus begins the Wife Project. Don creates an impossibly detailed questionnaire with the intention of weeding out undesirable candidates. Of course, no one can meet Don’s impossible standards. As a joke, one of Don’s friends (it’s questionable how good a friend this person is!) sends Rosie his way without telling either that a) Don is looking for the impossibly perfect wife and b) Rosie is not looking for a date. A great deal of amusing chaos ensues, which ultimately forces Don to look at his life and his choices.

I found that Don strongly reminded me of Sheldon on the television series “The Big Band Theory”. A somewhat lovable genius but good heavens, he can be annoying. The book is also surprisingly thoughtful. It is framed as a comedy about one man’s peculiar personality, but while doing so, it also examines how we observe others and how we think about ourselves. Are we always honest with ourselves, or do we hide behind excuses and stories? A fun book with lots to say.

That wraps up the 2018 Online Reading Challenge. I hope you enjoyed our reading year! And I hope you’ll join us next year for the 2019 edition for another year of exploring a variety of subjects through books. Be sure to visit again on January 2 for all of the details and a list of Challenge topics. It’s going to be another great year!

Until then, have a great holiday! See you in 2019!

How Not To Get Shot: And Other Advice From White People by D.L. Hughley

D.L. Hughley, co-author of How Not To Get Shot: And Other Advice From White People, one of the original Kings of Comedy, is a wildly successful comedian, radio host, actor, and political commentator. In the early 1990s, he was the first host of BET’s Comic View and later went on to produce and star in the sitcom, The Hughleys as well as appear as a television correspondent on the Jay Leno Show, among many other accomplishments.

In today’s scorching social and political climate, when we struggle to openly discuss racism and police brutality, Hughley takes a different approach: satire.  Historically, satire has been used to scrutinize societal views. A basic web definition describes satire as “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.” Hughley indeed draws on irony to discuss how largely white audiences explain the topic of police brutality while also offering prescriptions for how People of Color (POC) should  carry themselves when encountering police officers while having little to no relevant first-hand experience.

In How Not To Get Shot: And Other Advice From White People,  the authors devote entire chapters to some of the following “prescriptions” offered by white people for not getting shot: 1. Comply with police orders; 2.) Don’t Talk Back; 3.) Don’t Match The Description; 4.) How To Do Your Hair; 5.) End White-on-White Crime; 6.)  How to Be Nice and Quiet and 7.) How To Not Be A Reverse Racist. (Nevermind, though, that “compliance” does not guarantee protection from police violence, a point Hughley drives home throughout the book). Hughley’s clever use of satire and sardonic wit enables readers to infer the ridiculousness of offering overly-simplistic and misinformed “solutions” to complex problems.

Now, you’ve heard of “mansplaining,” right?  See, “mansplaining” describes the phenomenon of men attempting to dominate debates centering around cultural norms and realities that negatively impact the lives of a majority of women but while having no first-hand experience themselves. We can hopefully understand what is inherently flawed in a system in which those who are least impacted attempt to silence those who are most impacted, yes?

And it behooves me now to offer the disclaimer that the act of identifying and validating a societal ill is by no means a condemnation of, in this case, all men. So there. Glad we got that settled.

But by the same token, the term “whitesplaining” –hardly an accusation against all white people (come on, now)–describes the phenomenon of white people attempting to dominate discussions about racial profiling and police violence having had little to no relevant experience in that department. At it’s core, this book pokes fun at whitesplaining, and I happen to think it does a marvelous job. Imagine if I attempted to explain to Deaf individuals how they should conduct themselves in interactions with hearing people? Or if I presumed to know how LGBTQ individuals should carry themselves around their hetero counterparts in order to fend off discrimination? Really, even apolitical examples work to illustrate that it just doesn’t logically hold up that a non-expert would exude any respectable amount of authenticity in matters he or she is not experienced. And, no, oversimplifying these matters as some partisan ploy in identity politics is hardly a legitimate reason to fight against fair representation – that only occurs when we are willing to listen to and validate experiences that are different from our own.

Really, the message is simple: how about, at the very least, we humor our fellow humans enough not to try and shut them up or worse–call them crazy–when they speak up on topics with which we ourselves have little experience? How about we give our fellow humans the benefit of the doubt without gaslighting them, especially when we are dealing with issues reaching critical mass. I don’t know about you, but I want to live in a society that listens to and validates the experiences of its members.

Enter comedy. Only a skilled comedian is able to shine a light on brutal truths about humanity and elicit, of all things, laughter when tears are the more appropriate response. Why? Because a comedian, like a scientist, scrutinizes and magnifies painful truths about society and humanity s/he shares with a wider audience. During that time spent together, the comic and the audience laugh together at what is wrong with the world and for that brief moment in time creates an environment of hope and possibility. Comedians unify audiences through the use of humor and I am astounded at how successfully they can, at their best, create transformative atmospheres and opportunities to facilitate genuine, life-changing understanding. To me, comedy can help break down barriers that prevent us from listening to our fellow human beings with an open mind and, if we’re lucky, having a genuine understanding with one another.

Check out this interview from NPR with D.L. Hughley as he discusses his book!

 

 

 

 

 

Get It Together! An Interior Designer’s Guide to Creating Your Best Life by Orlando Soria

Love, love this book and it’s tongue-in-cheek writing. Orlando Soria is super hilarious in his common sense, life-style decorating, and overall life advice in this interior designer’s guide to creating your best life. I absolutely enjoyed his very frank and non-superficial attitude and talk about decorating your stupid space with your stupid stuff! Love this! I am currently redoing and fixing up an old home, so after reading tons and looking through 50+ interior decorating and do it yourself guides, this breath of fresh air on not taking oneself seriously is a great and funny read with some good tips to boot. So if you’re in for a laugh and want to take yourself less seriously check out Orlando Soria’s Get It Together! An Interior Designer’s Guide to Creating Your Best Life. And if you are interested in further reading, check out his hilarious blog Hommemaker.

Calypso by David Sedaris

Image result for calypso by david sedaris amazon Now, while I don’t normally listen to books on CD or audio, I truly enjoyed listening to Calypso by David Sedaris, read by the author himself. And I must say that it was a lovely, riveting, and a hilarious ride….ride I say….. in that I only listened to the book on CD while I was riding around town or making my entire family listen to it when we took a short road trip over the Labor Day holiday weekend….and believe it or not, they actually listened, although they did let me know at times that the language was not appropriate for teenage ears….but whatever is all I have to say about that! As the video games I have seen them play are way worse than anything that could have ever been written in this novel. Sedaris’ prose is almost autobiographical writing mixed with what seems to be comedy bits that could have been written by his comedic actor sister Amy Sedaris.  Calypso will keep the reader and/or listener engaged, entertained and especially amused in the comical sense and laughing in a very familial relatable scenes with parents, adolescence, and aging. Check out Calypso David Sedaris’ latest book and you won’t be disappointed….instead it will leave you crying with laughter…at times.

Relish by Lucy Knisley

Guest post by Teague

My daughter loves to read graphic novels and I am always on the hunt for new authors.  After stumbling across the amazingly hilarious Harry Potter book recap comics by Lucy Knisley, I knew I had found another gem.  While Knisley’s Harry Potter comics might be enjoyed by all ages, her books are geared toward adults.  I just finished reading Relish: My Life In the Kitchen, Knisley’s autobiographical account of her life as the daughter of a chef and gourmand.  Knisley entertains and educates as she tells tales of a life surrounded by food.  In between chapters, Knisley shares some of her favorite recipes or offers practical information about understanding certain cuisine.  My favorite is a Cheese Cheat Sheet.  As someone who adores cheese, but can only place it into two distinct categories (delicious and not delicious), this section was quite informative.

Many have a hard time seeing graphic novels as “real” literature or may feel that this genre isn’t for them.  I think that anyone who loves stories and loves to read will find a graphic novel to suit their interests.  The images in a graphic novel serve to reinforce the story, not replace it, and many of the stories told by these authors are simply magnificent.

If you are looking for other graphic novels to try, I suggest Maus by Art Spiegelman or the March books by John Lewis.  These are both very different from Relish and are examples of how unique each graphic novel is.  If you are interested in juvenile graphic novels for your child (or yourself!) to enjoy, I highly recommend Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet series, Cece Bell’s El Deafo, and anything by Raina Telegemeir-particularly Smile, Sisters, and her graphic take on an old favorite of mine, The Baby-sitters Club.  There are so many different types of graphic novels available that it was difficult to choose only a handful to mention.  I encourage you to read several different graphic novels to determine what you like.  Happy exploring!

Girls Trip

Guest post by Laura

After several thought-provoking independent films, I wanted some entertainment that was sheer fun. Girls Trip was just the flick. Regina Hall, Queen Latifa, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tiffany Haddish play lifelong friends who attend the Essence Festival in New Orleans. Truths are revealed, a blowout ensues, bonds are reestablished, and much drinking and mayhem ensue throughout. The movie might have been set in Las Vegas, as one popular male-friend-escapade movie was placed, but New Orleans was a fine choice for the backdrop of architectural eye-candy and no-holds-barred atmosphere of the French Quarter at night.

In the vein of Bridesmaids, the ladies at times abandon all decorum and end up in some hilarious and one super-disgusting situation. The women are all good actors but I adored Tiffany Haddish’s performance. Her character was quite dysfunctional but was so loveable, funny, and brutally honest, that I could see why the others would continue to be friends with her anyway despite her foibles.

There were some lessons about being true to one’s self and about the importance of female friendships but those were just backstory for me. The ladies just having a great time in each other’s company was what I enjoyed most.