Staff Picks: March 2021
From now on, our Staff Picks will be posted on the first business day of the month. This month is an exception, as we worked out how best to get Staff Picks consistently delivered to you all. So here’s what the library staff loved in March.
ELIZABETH: “Every Heart a Doorway” (Wayward Children #1) - Seanan McGuire
GENRE: Fantasy Fiction
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: While I usually look for long (+25 hours) audiobooks, this time I purposely looked for a quick and easy fantasy book and I'm so happy I found this on Libby! At a little under five hours long, this book has pulled me hook, line, and sinker into the story of the Wayward Children and I'm anxious to start book two. While this is an older book (released 2016), there are still volumes being written by the author (latest release was 2021) so I'm happy I have something to look forward to.
THE SYNOPSIS:
Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests
Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.
Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.
But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.
No matter the cost.
AVAILABILITY: Library and Libby app
CLICK BELOW TO RESERVE “Every Heart a Doorway” (Wayward Children #1) -Seanan McGuire:
FROM THE LIBRARY: https://ffpl.insigniails.com/Library/ItemDetail?l=0058&i=6858&ti=0
ON THE LIBBY APP (eBook): https://libbyapp.com/search/elm/search/query-every%20heart%20a%20doorway/page-1/2217167
ON THE LIBBY APP (audiobook): https://libbyapp.com/search/elm/search/query-every%20heart%20a%20doorway/page-1/2636845
LISA G.: “wow, no thank you.” - Samantha Irby
GENRE: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Humour
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: Samantha Irby takes another honest and glaring look at life in a new batch of essays in "Wow, No Thank You." A great read when you are having a day on the couch, or in need of a bit of hilarity. Don't be fooled by her adorable covers and fun titles, this book is not for the faint of heart.
THE SYNOPSIS: A new essay collection from Samantha Irby about aging, marriage, settling down with step-children in white, small-town America.
Irby is turning forty, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin. She has left her job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic, has published successful books and is courted by Hollywood, left Chicago, and moved into a house with a garden that requires repairs and know-how with her wife and two step-children in a small white, Republican town in Michigan where she now hosts book clubs. This is the bourgeois life of dreams. She goes on bad dates with new friends, spends weeks in Los Angeles taking meetings with "skinny, luminous peoples" while being a "cheese fry-eating slightly damp Midwest person," "with neck pain and no cartilage in [her] knees," and hides Entenmann's cookies under her bed and unopened bills under her pillow.
AVAILABILITY: Libby app
CLICK BELOW TO RESERVE “Wow, no thank you.” - Samantha Kirby:
eBook: https://libbyapp.com/search/elm/search/query-Wow%2C%20No%20Thank%20You./page-1/5039051
Audiobook: https://libbyapp.com/search/elm/search/query-Wow%2C%20No%20Thank%20You./page-1/4876337
ABBEY: “The Humans” - Matt Haig
GENRE: Fiction, Science Fiction, Humour
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: It’s written from the perspective of an alien in a way that makes it feel like it’s illegal for me to be reading it. The character development is amazing! It was one of few books that made me cry at the end.
THE SYNOPSIS: Our hero, Professor Andrew Martin, is dead before the book even begins. As it turns out, though, he wasn’t a very nice man--as the alien imposter who now occupies his body discovers. Sent to Earth to destroy evidence that Andrew had solved a major mathematical problem, the alien soon finds himself learning more about the professor, his family, and “the humans” than he ever expected. When he begins to fall for his own wife and son--who have no idea he’s not the real Andrew--the alien must choose between completing his mission and returning home or finding a new home right here on Earth.
AVAILABILITY: Library and Libby app
CLICK BELOW TO RESERVE “The Humans” - Matt Haig:
FROM THE LIBRARY: https://ffpl.insigniails.com/Library/ItemDetail?l=0058&i=19653&ti=0
ON THE LIBBY APP (eBook): https://libbyapp.com/search/elm/search/query-the%20humans/page-1/1260747
EDEN: “Under the Dome” - Stephen King
GENRE: Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Science Fiction
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: I picked “Under the Dome” because I thought it was an interesting concept of being trapped but still having a sense of freedom at the same time.
THE SYNOPSIS: On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as “the dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if—it will go away.
Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens—town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician’s assistant at the hospital, a selectwoman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing—even murder—to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn’t just short. It’s running out.
AVAILABILITY: Library and Libby app
CLICK BELOW TO BORROW “Under the Dome” - Stephen King:
FROM THE LIBRARY: https://ffpl.insigniails.com/Library/ItemDetail?l=0058&i=20708&ti=0
ON THE LIBBY APP (eBook): https://libbyapp.com/search/elm/search/query-Under%20the%20Dome/page-1/312232
RACHEL: “The Deep & Dark Blue” - Niki Smith
GENRE: Junior fiction, Graphic novel, Fantasy
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: I devoured this book all in one sitting; the colourful art, unique concept and diverse cast had me hooked almost immediately. The world that Niki Smith takes you to is ripe with magic and strife that leaves you wanting to know more about it even after the final page. Five stars from me!
THE SYNOPSIS: After a terrible political coup usurps their noble house, Hawke and Grayson flee to stay alive and assume new identities, Hanna and Grayce. Desperation and chance lead them to the Communion of Blue, an order of magical women who spin the threads of reality to their will. As the twins learn more about the Communion, and themselves, they begin to hatch a plan to avenge their family and retake their royal home. While Hawke wants to return to his old life, Grayce struggles to keep the threads of her new life from unraveling, and realizes she wants to stay in the one place that will allow her to finally live as a girl.
AVAILABILITY: Library
CLICK BELOW TO RESERVE “The Deep & Dark Blue” - Niki Smith FROM THE LIBRARY: https://ffpl.insigniails.com/Library/ItemDetail?l=0058&i=2830&ti=0
LISA S.: “Every Last Fear” - Alex Finlay
GENRE: Thriller, Suspense, Mystery
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: I love a good thriller, and this one fits the bill. It was exciting, the pacing was great, and while I figured out ‘whodunnit’ ahead of time, the reveal was still satisfying.
THE SYNOPSIS: “They found the bodies on a Tuesday.”
After a late night of partying, NYU student Matt Pine returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family—his mom, his dad, his little brother and sister—have been found dead from an apparent gas leak while vacationing in Mexico. The local police claim it was an accident, but the FBI and State Department seem far less certain—and they won’t tell Matt why.
The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn’t the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother, Danny—currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend Charlotte—was the subject of a viral true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted. Though the country has rallied behind Danny, Matt holds a secret about his brother that he’s never told anyone: the night Charlotte was killed Matt saw something that makes him believe his brother is guilty of the crime.
When Matt returns to his small hometown to bury his parents and siblings, he’s faced with a hostile community that was villainized by the documentary, a frenzied media, and memories he’d hoped to leave behind forever. Now, as the deaths in Mexico appear increasingly suspicious and connected to Danny’s case, Matt must unearth the truth behind the crime that sent his brother to prison—putting his own life in peril—and forcing him to confront his every last fear.
AVAILABILITY: Library
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE “Every Last Fear” - Alex Finlay FROM THE LIBRARY: https://ffpl.insigniails.com/Library/ItemDetail?l=0058&i=88720&ti=0
That’s a wrap for March Staff picks. Anything pique your interest? Let us know in the comments below.
Lisa S.
