Showing posts with label Likeable Characters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Likeable Characters. 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.

Friday, January 14, 2022

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Quirk and charm give way to a serious exploration of the dangers of complacency in this delightful, thought-provoking Orwellian fantasy…. By turns zany and heartfelt, this tale of found family is hopeful to its core. Readers will revel in Klune’s wit and ingenuity.

Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world.

Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.

The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.

398 pages (March 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.)
 
 
 

Erica's Book Talk| The House in the Cerulean Sea (from Fountaindale Public 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: Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki; Sourdough by Robin Sloan; The Guncle by Steven Rowley; Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire; Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson; The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers; A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman; The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern; The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams;  The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow; The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab; The Midnight Library by Matt Haig; and The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin.

Monday, November 21, 2016

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

A “cheerfully engaging” (Kirkus) novel for anyone who’s ever asked herself, “How did I get here?”

Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child.
So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over—she’s getting divorced, , she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over…

Liane Moriarty is the author of two other novels, Three Wishes and The Last Anniversary, both of which have been published around the world and translated into seven languages. She is also the author of the Nicola Berry series for children. Moriarty lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and two small, noisy children.

337 pages (June 2011)

 
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.)
 
 
 
Author Website

Liane Moriarty: My Life in Books (Booktopia TV):


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

Title Read-alikes: Landline by Rainbow Rowell; Time of My Life by Alison Winn Scotch; How to Walk Away by Katherine Center; Where Love Lies by Julie Cohen; Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore; First Comes Love by Emily Giffin; The One That Got Away by Leigh Himes; In Five Years by Rebecca Serle; Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng; The Guest List by Lucy Foley; Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple; Me Before You by Jojo Moyes; and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.