Try The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue. The protagonist, Razi, is a spirited, independent women. Not so unusual in today’s world, but in the 1920’s she was quite a maverick. Driven in her focus to attend medical school at Northwestern, Razi also finds it her mission to educate women on their reproductive rights in secret “boyless” meetings. The […]
After Visiting Friends: A Son’s Story by Michael Hainey Genre: Memoir Michael Hainey has always been haunted by his father’s death. A seasoned journalist like his father before him, he knows intuitively that the facts just don’t add up with the story he was told as a kid. An obituary he discovers as a teenager reveals that his father died […]
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes Realistic Fiction After the restaurant where she works as a waitress closes down, Louisa Clark is left with few job prospects. Desperate for work, Louisa takes a job as a kind of caregiver/companion for Will Trainer, a wealthy quadriplegic has lost the will to live. His bitterness and anger about his condition is often […]
Our Book Clubbers group here at the Library just finished reading The Weird Sisters for our discussion this month, and it was a real crowd pleaser! It can be tricky picking a title for a group to read together. We all have different tastes, different life experiences, and different ideas about what makes a book “good.” This month, we all […]
I was struck this morning by a fascinating report on NPR about how the success of the Hunger Games book trilogy and movies have breathed new life into an old sport – Archery. Girls as young as seven are discovering that bows aren’t just something you wear in your hair. Suppliers are even having a difficult time keeping traditional recurve […]
Years after surviving a brutal attack while riding her bicycle in college, Laurel Estabrook retreats into a world that includes only a few trusted friends, her swimming routine, and the familiarity of her work at a homeless shelter. When a former patron of the shelter named Bobbie Crocker dies leaving behind a box of negatives, Laurel is charged with the […]
Before I get into the meat of my first post here at our Reading Corner, let me introduce myself! I’m Jen Jazwinski, also known as Ms. Jen by some of our younger patrons, and I’m the Young Adult Librarian here at the Algonquin Area Public Library. My focus is on working with teens and young adults and you’ll see me […]
Just finished reading the first book in the Maisie Dobbs mystery series by Jacqueline Winspear. Fans of well-written historical fiction and mysteries featuring intelligent women are sure to enjoy following the exploits of M. Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator.A significant portion of this first book in the series is devoted to Maisie’s backstory. After her mother dies, young Maisie is sent […]
Cultures collide when two mythical creatures from different traditions meet in turn of the century New York City. Chava, a golem whose master dies aboard ship to America, arrives at Ellis Island uncertain of her purpose and path. A sympathetic rabbi recognizes her for what she is and helps her adapt and fit in to the Jewish community. Chava longs […]
“It had only to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles for no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. ” — Cheryl Strayed I recently finished listening to Wild: From Lost […]
