What we're reading: Catching up with Christmas gifts

A post from Sydney  (silly dog included in the photo above to catch your attention!)

When you were a kid, did you have that aunt who gave you books for every holiday?  Yeah, I'm that aunt.  It may be even worse for my kids: I am a serious book pusher, giving them for every holiday, every opportunity.  I don’t even wait for my kids to submit requests-- I already know what I think they would like, and they next thing they know, I’ve given them a copy, or grabbed it from the library, and then I am bugging them about what they think of it. 

I can understand how this might be a bit annoying….  But this year, both kids loved their Christmas books, so much so that they turned the tables on me and insisted I read them as well.  I really couldn’t say no, after all the reading I’ve foisted on them over the years, right?  

I just finished Legendborn, by Tracy Deonn.  This was the gift for my daughter who is a lover of all things fantasy and YA.  As soon as I finished that, I started The Crooked Hinge, by John Dickson Carr, which was the gift for my Sherlock Holmes-loving son.  My son is all about logic and deduction, so I thought this classic “locked room” mystery would be right up his alley.  He thought it was great and is eagerly waiting for me to finish it so we can discuss.  In the meantime, my daughter and I are gushing about Legendborn, because we just loved this book.

YA and fantasy fans—you need to get yourself a copy of Legendborn!  On a very basic level, I can describe it as a modern YA novel, where a young girl navigates college, boys, all while suffering through the grief of just having lost her mother in a tragic car accident.  But it is so much more than that.  Throw in the legend of King Arthur and some serious magic.  Now add in the twist that, Bree, the main character, is African American, and the action is set in the South, with all that you can imagine that entails. The author doesn’t shy away from showing the racism Bree faces today, or that her ancestors suffered through.  We loved Bree, Bree’s voice, the relationships between the characters, and the creativity behind this book.  It was enthralling, exciting, and we are very much looking forward to the next book in the series. 

What We're Reading: And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again

 

What We’re Reading: a series where we, your librarians, share what we're reading this week. A post from Harry.

A new addition to the Conshy Library's collection, And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again is an anthology featuring writers from all over the world responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. With contributions from over 50 global authors, this book collects deeply personal reactions to the pandemic yet remind us that the pandemic is a shared experience, that even in our isolation we are not alone.

This collection ranges from personal essay to poetry, from Mauritius to Canada, juxtaposing genre and location. It offers a global view of the unfolding tragedy, reminding us that we are all in this together as we hunker down and do our best to keep others safe. 

One of the more provocative pieces is by the Sudanese writer Khalid Albaih who asks that the reader reflect on what privilege hides behind the phrases "new normal" and "old normal".  He reminds us that there are people in places around the world that live everyday under lockdown because of geopolitical conflicts out of their control. A more poignant story talks about a child who falls in love with Jane Goodall and her chimpanzee friends during quarantine. A poem talks about a pile of books that the narrator cannot force himself to read. 

Most of the selections were written during the early months of lockdown, between March and May of this year. Reading them now, it is interesting to reflect on how our understanding of the virus has changed, as well as our ability to cope with "the new normal". Uncertainty is one of the underlying themes that connect all the works, and while much is still uncertain, vaccines are being administered for the first time across the United States. The light at the end of the tunnel that so many of these writers are hoping for is finally arriving.

While some might want to put more space between them and the pandemic before reading, I found it therapeutic to read this anthology. I'd highly recommend this for high school age and above. Anyone will find something that they connect with in this collection, and connection has never been more important. 

Shake up your reading for 2021

A post from Sydney.

It's the end of the year!  I have a special place in my heart for this time of the year.  Obviously, I love the holidays.  But I also enjoy taking a moment to look back on the year that was, and make plans for the year to come.  This year in particular, I know we all are ready to wave goodbye to the mess that was 2020, and we look forward with cautious optimism to the beginning of a fresh 2021.  One goal I have decided on is to find new ways to shake up my reading for 2021.

I am facing the fact that I probably won't complete my Goodreads Reading Challenge for this year.  You would think that all that quarantine time would have let me read more, but it just didn't.  The disruption in my schedule, the strangeness of working from home, worry, and all sorts of other things wreaked havoc on my reading.  I thought it was just me, but apparently reading anxiety was fairly common this year.  How can we bring back our reading mojo?

Setting yourself a reading challenge might help.  For several years, I have set myself a numerical goal with the Goodreads Reading Challenge.  It's kind of fun to check in periodically throughout the year and see how you are doing.  You race against yourself from prior years, and it's not stressful.  But this year, it was also not really that inspiring. 

There are tons of other reading challenges that give you suggestions of genres to try.  These challenges help you break out your comfort zone by giving you a push to try something different.  They often have Goodreads groups or message boards where people suggest titles to each other, in case you need ideas.  I had no idea that "food memoirs" were a thing until it came up in the BookRiot Read Harder Challenge a few years ago. I read Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton to fulfill that challenge.  (It was unexpectedly fascinating--and the author grew up in my hometown. Bonus!)  

Here are just a few of the reading challenges out there.  You can find a lot more with a Google search!

• PopSugar Reading Challenge
• Back to the Classics Book Challenge
• British Crime Classics Reading Challenge
• Uncorked Reading Challenge
• Reading with Muffy Challenge
• The Calendar of Crime Challenge
• Pretty Mess Reading Challenge

Happy reading, and happy 2021 to all!

What We're Reading: Italian Short Stories

 

What We’re Reading: a series where we, your librarians, share what we're reading this week. A post from Harry.

This week I've been perusing The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories edited by the author Jhumpa Lahiri. These 40 stories traverse the Italian "raconti" tradition from the past 100 years or so ranging from the surrealists of the 1920s to contemporary works that reference 9/11.

In addition to the delightful collection of stories, the book includes an insightful and interesting forward by Lahiri about the process of translation and how she "discovered" some of the lesser known authors and their works.

Some of my favorites from the collection include "The Siren", "Melancholy", and "The Lady". One of the great things about reading an anthology is the range of writing styles— if I didn't enjoy a story after a few pages, I didn't feel bad about skipping to the next one. I enjoyed some authors so much that I've already requested some of their other works here at the library!

I would definitely recommend this collection to anyone that was looking to shake up their reading habits. You will certainly come across at least a few authors whose stories you enjoy from this excellent anthology of 40 short stories.  

What We're Reading: New Book Alert!

What We’re Reading: a series where we, your librarians, share what we're reading this week. A post from Harry.

This week I've been reading through Becoming Philadelphia: How an Old American City Made Itself New Again by Inga Saffron, the long time architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The book collects 20 years of her work writing columns about Philly's urban landscape and how it affected and still affects the city's residents.

Since the book is a collection of her journalistic work, it reads fast, each column no more than a few pages. It's an easy book to devour, and there is no problem in bouncing around from topic to topic at the reader's whim. 

What I enjoy most about this book is how it gives a historical recounting of the last 20 years of the city through the lens of architecture and urban design. Through Saffron's observations, Philly's modern timeline is measured by the construction of new buildings and the demolition of the old. 

I would recommend this book for those interested in local history, urbanism, and those who want to learn more about the intersection of urban development and gentrification. While the book would benefit from some historical context for those less familiar with the ins and outs of Philly politics, it is a great primer for better understanding our city as it stands today.     

What We're Reading

What We’re Reading: a series where we, your librarians, share what we're reading this week. Today we start with Harry, the newest staff member to join the Conshy Library. 

 

This week I’m reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. I’ve been a big fan of his writing ever since I read his short story Light is Like Water. I’ve read many of his works of fiction as well as some of his journalistic writings, the latter of which I would highly recommend for some thrilling nonfiction prose! And now I’ve finally dived into the novel that won him the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The novel takes place in the fictional town of Macondo, a small South American town far removed from the amenities of modernity. It follows several generations of the Buendía family and their foibles. Rebellion, alchemy, and endless rain are just a few of the oddities that they endure in Macondo. 

García Márquez writes with radical empathy and this is what makes his stories truly remarkable. Every character's description and development unfold so vividly I feel like I could come across Úrsula or Colonel Aureliano Buendía as I stroll down Fayette. I find that by the end of his novels, the characters feel like tiny universes, full of life and motivations that we, the readers, can easily identify with.

I would recommend this book to someone who is looking to read something outside the Euro-American canon, who enjoys magic realism, or wants to check off a book from most “Best Books of All Time” lists.

471 pages, suggested for ages 16+