Spinecrackers (11/06/2020): Vox

October 3, 2020

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than one hundred words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can’t happen here. Not in America. Not to her. This is just the beginning. Soon women are not permitted to hold jobs. Girls are not taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words each day, but now women have only one hundred to make themselves heard. For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice. […]

Book Clubbers (11/05/2020): The Gown

October 2, 2020

From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century—Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown—and the fascinating women who made it.
“Millions will welcome this joyous event as a flash of color on the long road we have to travel.”
—Sir Winston Churchill on the news of Princess Elizabeth’s forthcoming wedding
London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honor: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown.
Toronto, 2016: More than half a century later, Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a set of embroidered flowers, a legacy from her late grandmother. How did her beloved Nan, a woman who never spoke of her old life in Britain, come to possess the priceless embroideries that so closely resemble the motifs on the stunning gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding almost seventy years before? And what was her Nan’s connection to the celebrated textile artist and holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin?
With The Gown, Jennifer Robson takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous wedding gowns in history was created. Balancing behind-the-scenes details with a sweeping portrait of a society left reeling by the calamitous costs of victory, she introduces readers to three unforgettable heroines, their points of view alternating and intersecting throughout its pages, whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love. […]

What’s On the Shelf? Biographies!

September 30, 2020

If your reading habits lean toward fiction with compelling protagonists, get ready to discover a new genre. Biographies! Biographies can satisfy your craving for larger-than-life characters who celebrate amazing triumphs, or suffer spectacular downfalls. They can deliver page-turning reads that are both entertaining and educational. At AAPLD, Biographies have a special section all their own. You’ll find it on the […]

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

September 24, 2020

September 15 marks the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, highlighting the culture and contributions of Hispanic and Latino people. The mid-month date is significant because it’s the independence day of five Latin American countries, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Several other nations, including Mexico, mark their independence this month. The celebration runs through October 12, […]

Oh, the Horror! (10/27/2020): The Haunting of Hill House

September 23, 2020

The Haunting Four seekers have come to the ugly, abandoned old mansion: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of the psychic phenomenon called haunting; Theodara, his lovely and lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, the lonely, homeless girl well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the adventurous future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable noises and self-closing doors, but Hill House is gathering its powers and will soon choose one of them to make its own. […]

Happily Ever After (10/19/2020): Insatiable

September 21, 2020

Meena Harper, forced to write about vampires even though she doesn’t believe in them, falls in love with Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side. It’s a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire hunters, would prefer to see him dead for. The problem is: Lucien’s already dead! And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare. […]

Back to Book Club, pt. 6 Libraries Transform Book Pick

September 18 is Read An Ebook Day!

September 18, 2020

Short on time to read? Stuck at home, and avoiding public places? Don’t want to lug around heavy hardcovers? Need an easy-on-the-eyes night reading background? Give ebooks a try! Today is Read An Ebook Day, and it’s a great opportunity to check out these tiny wonders for the first time, or get reacquainted with the joy of digital reading. User-friendly, […]

Nite Readers (10/15/2020): In the Midst of Winter

September 17, 2020

New York Times and worldwide bestselling author Isabel Allende returns with a sweeping novel that journeys from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil that offers “a timely message about immigration and the meaning of home” (People).

During the biggest Brooklyn snowstorm in living memory, Richard Bowmaster, a lonely university professor in his sixties, hits the car of Evelyn Ortega, a young undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, and what at first seems an inconvenience takes a more serious turn when Evelyn comes to his house, seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant, Lucia Maraz, a fellow academic from Chile, for her advice.

As these three lives intertwine, each will discover truths about how they have been shaped by the tragedies they witnessed, and Richard and Lucia will find unexpected, long overdue love. Allende returns here to themes that have propelled some of her finest work: political injustice, the art of survival, and the essential nature of—and our need for—love. […]

Enjoying the Classics (10/21/2020): Martin Chuzzlewit

September 16, 2020

Wealthy and old, Martin Chuzzlewit, Sr., is surrounded by greedy relatives hoping to obtain a portion of his estate upon his death. His two descendants, Martin, Jr., and Jonas, have been born and bred in the same heritage of selfishness, the Chuzzlewit tradition.

Set partly in America, of which Dickens offers a searing satire, this novel follows and contrasts the opposing fates of Martin and Jonas. While one achieves worldly success and, eventually, moral redemption, the other sinks deeper into the darkness—and pays the ultimate price.

This powerful black comedy is a tale of hypocrisy, greed, and blackmail, and it introduces the most famous of Dickens’ grotesques: Mrs. Gamp. […]

Back to Book Club, part 5 – Libraries Transform Book Pick

September 15, 2020

The American Library Association’s ongoing Libraries Transform program connects readers across the United States through the shared experience of reading and discussing the same book. Digital copies of the book are made available for immediate check-out through Overdrive and Libby for patrons of participating libraries, including AAPLD. The fall Libraries Transform Book Pick is Book of the Little Axe, by […]

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Year: 2020