Showing posts with label Fast-paced. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fast-paced. Show all posts

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it's the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America's most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth's unusual approach to cooking ("combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride") proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn't just teaching women to cook. She's daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

390 pages (April 2022)
 
 
 
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 
 

Inside the Book (Penguin Random House):
 
Bonnie Garmus on her "subversive" novel (CBS Sunday Morning):
 
This title is available for download as an eBook and as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen; The Last Animal; by Ramona Ausubel; Mr. & Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel; Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict; The Exceptions by Kate Zernike; Dearie by Bob Spitz; The Invisible life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha; Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple; The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen; Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout; When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill; The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams; and The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

The Mother Code by Carole Stivers

What it means to be human-–and a mother-–is put to the test in Carole Stivers' debut novel set in a world that is more chilling and precarious than ever.

It's 2049, and the survival of the human race is at risk. Earth's inhabitants must turn to their last resort: a plan to place genetically engineered children inside the cocoons of large-scale robots—to be incubated, birthed, and raised by machines. But there is yet one hope of preserving the human order—an intelligence programmed into these machines that renders each unique in its own right—the Mother Code.

Kai is born in America's desert southwest, his only companion his robot Mother, Rho-Z. Equipped with the knowledge and motivations of a human mother, Rho-Z raises Kai and teaches him how to survive. But as children like Kai come of age, their Mothers transform too—in ways that were never predicted. When government survivors decide that the Mothers must be destroyed, Kai must make a choice. Will he break the bond he shares with Rho-Z? Or will he fight to save the only parent he has ever known?
 
In a future that could be our own, The Mother Code explores what truly makes us human—and the tenuous nature of the boundaries between us and the machines we create.

336 pages (May 2020)

 
 
 
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 
 

Vlog with Carole Stivers (from Jean BookNerd):


This title is available for download as an eBook and as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez; Immunity Index by Sue Burke; Year One by Nora Roberts; Nexus by Ramez Naam; The Robots of Gotham by Todd McAulty; Lock In by John Scalzi; It Takes Death to Reach a Star by Stu Jones; One Second After by William R. Forstchen; White Horse by Alex Adams; Reset by Sarina Dahlan; The Companions by Katie M. Flynn; Seed by Rob Ziegler; and Goldilocks by Laura Lam.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Urgent, propulsive, and sharp as a knife, The Other Black Girl is an electric debut about the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of New York City book publishing.

Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she's thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They've only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.

Then the notes begin to appear on Nella's desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.

It's hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there's a lot more at stake than just her career.

A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.

357 pages (June 2021)

 
 
 
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 
Review from npr
 

Book Trailer:


This title is available for download as an eBook and as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: Sophia of Silicon Valley by Anna Yen; When No One Is Watching: a thriller by Alyssa Cole; Black Buck by Maleo Askaripour; The Sellout by Paul Beatty; Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang; Surburban Dicks by Fabian Nicieza; The Whisper Network by Chandler Baker; Luster by Raven Leilani; A Burning by Megha Majumdar; Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid; Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam; The Plot by Jean Haniff; and Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi.

Friday, January 7, 2022

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

An extraordinary story set in the first century about a woman who finds her voice and her destiny, from the celebrated number one New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings.

In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything.

Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Ana's pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome's occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history.

Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus's life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman's bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her. It is a triumph of storytelling both timely and timeless, from a masterful writer at the height of her powers.

418 pages (April 2020)

 
Lit Guide from LitLovers.
 
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 
 

Review from Upside-Down Books:


This title is available for download as an eBook and as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes:
Quarantine by Jim Crace; Naamah by Sarah Blake; Matrix by Lauren Groff; Sarah by Marek Halter; The Liar's Gospel by Naomi Alderman; Mary, Called Magdalene by Margaret George; A.D. 30 by Ted Dekker; A Light on the Hill by Cossette Connilyn; Thief of Corinth by Tessa Afshar; The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett; The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah; The Dutch House by Ann Patchett; and The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.

Friday, May 24, 2019

Star of the North by D. B. John

A propulsive and ambitious thriller about a woman trying to rescue her twin sister from captivity in North Korea, and the North Korean citizens with whom she forms an unlikely alliance.

Star of the North opens in 1988, when a Korean American teenager is kidnapped from a South Korean beach by North Korean operatives. Twenty-two years later, her brilliant twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her, and ends up on the radar of the CIA. When evidence that her sister may still be alive in North Korea comes to light, Jenna will do anything possible to rescue her - including undertaking a daring mission into the heart of the regime. Her story is masterfully braided together with two other narrative threads. In one, a North Korean peasant woman finds a forbidden international aid balloon and uses the valuables inside to launch a dangerously lucrative black-market business. In the other, a high-ranking North Korean official discovers, to his horror, that he may be descended from a traitor, a fact that could mean his death if it is revealed.

As the novel progresses, these narrative strands converge and connect in surprising ways, ultimately building to an explosive and unforgettable climax.

402 pages. (May 2018)


 
 
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 

 
 
Chevy Stevens (author of Still Missing) reviews Star of the North:

This title is available for download as an eBook and as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church; How Quickly She Disappears by Raymond Fleischmann; The Accusation by Bandi; Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews; The Swimmer by Joakim Zander; The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer; The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva; The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim; A Kim Jong-Il Production by Paul Fischer; D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michel Faber; and Nightfall Berlin by Jack Grimwood.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

A riveting, powerful novel about a pilot living in a world filled with loss—and what he is willing to risk to rediscover, against all odds, connection, love, and grace. Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope.

In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life—something like his old life—exists beyond the airport. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return—not enough fuel to get him home—following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face—in the people he meets, and in himself—is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for.

Narrated by a man who is part warrior and part dreamer, a hunter with a great shot and a heart that refuses to harden, The Dog Stars is both savagely funny and achingly sad, a breathtaking story about what it means to be human.

319 pages (August 2012)

 
Lit Guide from LitLovers.
 
 
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 
Review from npr
 

Book Trailer (Knopfdoubleday):


This title is available for download as an eBook and as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell; Peace Like a River by Leif Enger; The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters; The Pesthouse by Jim Crace; The Well by Catherine Chanter; Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel; Smoketown by Tenea D. Johnson; The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson; Supervolcano by Harry Turtledove; A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher; The End of October by Lawrence Wright; A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra; and Far North by Marcel Theroux.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

In this striking literary debut, Carol Rifka Brunt unfolds a moving story of love, grief, and renewal as two lonely people become the unlikeliest of friends and find that sometimes you don’t know you’ve lost someone until you’ve found them.

1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.

At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most.

An emotionally charged coming-of-age novel, Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a tender story of love lost and found, an unforgettable portrait of the way compassion can make us whole again.

360 pages (June 2012)

 
Lit Guide from LitLovers.
 
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 
 

Meet the Author: Carol Rifka Brunt (Darien Library):


This title is available for download as an eBook and as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving; The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay; Cruel Beautiful World by Caroline Leavitt; Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett; Faithful by Alice Hoffman; The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez; Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens; Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell; The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt; That Kind of Mother by Rumaan Alam; The Hollow Ground by Natalie S. Harnett; The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey; and The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her new adopted family, even though she is forever set apart from them by her white skin. 
 
As Lavinia is slowly accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles an opium addiction, she finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When Lavinia marries the master’s troubled son and takes on the role of mistress, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare and lives are put at risk.
 
The Kitchen House is a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail..

368 pages (February 2010) 

 
Lit Guide from LitLovers.
 
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 
 

Book Trailer from 818raintc:


This title is available for download as an eBook and as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: Jubilee by Margaret Walker; The Wedding Gift by Marlen Suyapa Bodden; Property by Valerie Martin; The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd; Oonagh by Mary Tilberg; The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd; The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates; The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier; The Known World by Edward P. Jones; Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford; Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly; Copper Sun by Sharon M. Draper; and Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

All Other Nights by Dara Horn

How is tonight different from all other nights? For Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union army during the Civil War, it is a question his commanders have already answered for him -- on Passover, 1862, he is ordered to murder his own uncle in New Orleans, who is plotting to assassinate President Lincoln. After this harrowing mission, Jacob is recruited to pursue another enemy agent, the daughter of a Virginia family friend. But this time, his assignment isn’t to murder the spy, but to marry her. Their marriage, with its riveting and horrifying consequences, reveals the deep divisions that still haunt American life today.

Based on real personalities like Judah Benjamin, the Confederacy’s Jewish Secretary of State and spymaster, and on historical facts and events ranging from an African-American spy network to the dramatic self-destruction of the city of Richmond, All Other Nights is a gripping and suspenseful story of men and women driven to the extreme limits of loyalty and betrayal. It is also a brilliant parable of the rift in America that lingers a century and a half later: between those who value family and tradition first, and those dedicated, at any cost, to social and racial justice for all.

In this eagerly-awaited third novel, award-winning author Dara Horn brings us page-turning storytelling at its best. Layered with meaning, All Other Nights presents the most American of subjects with originality and insight -- and the possibility of reconciliation that might yet await us.                

363 pages (April 2009)

 
 
 
To find a discussion guide for this book in the NoveList Plus database, go to the Library's website, click on Novelist under "We Recommend" → "Book Services". Click on "Book Discussion Guides" in the right sidebar on NoveList's home page. Then, either enter the title in the Search box or search for the title alphabetically. (You will need your Salt Lake County Library card number to access this resource outside a county library.)
 
 
Review from The JC
 

Dara Horn on how she underestimated her audience (StroumJewishStudies):


This title is available for download as an eAudioBook. Learn more about downloadables from the library here.

Title Read-alikes: Secessia by Kent Wascom; Rebel by Bernard Cornwell; On Secret Service by John Jakes; My Name Is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira; Sisters of Shiloh by Kathy Hepinstall; Neverhome by Laird Hunt; The March by E. L. Doctorow; I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe; The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran; The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer; Wherever You Go by Joan Leegant; If All the Seas Were Ink by Ilana Kurshan; and The Book of Separation: a memoir by Tova Mirvis.