“An Indian Affairs agent said,'The question will suggest itself, which of these people are the savages?'” ― David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon Mollie Burkhart (second from right) lost all three of her sisters under suspicious circumstances. Rita Smith (left) died in an explosion, Anna Brown (second from left) was shot in the head…
In June I had the privilege of attending the American Library Association Annual Conference. Over 16,000 librarians all in one place! I loved it. One of the fantastic speakers I heard was Gene Luen Yang, award-winning graphic novelist, MacArthur Fellow, and the Library of Congress’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Yang has created the…
“The Marsh King’s Daughter’’ is a gripping story about a girl who slowly realizes that the father she worships is a monster. Growing up, Helena is a shadow to her Native American father, who trains her how to live off the land of their marsh home. She learns how to track, hunt and fish, while…
I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it can’t be helped. Sometimes you see a book, and its cover says, “I am the perfect summer romance! Read me when you need something long on breezy charm, short on doom and gloom, with a healthy dose of swoony-ness.” Too…
Susan Ryeland is a London book editor who has just received the latest manuscript from one of her most irascible authors, Alan Conway. Much as she dislikes him, he’s the best seller at her publishing house, so there’s no question that she will give the book her full attention. But the manuscript’s ending appears to…
When one of the regular customers of the Bright Ideas Bookstore hangs himself as she is closing the store one night, Lydia is shocked to find a picture of her ten-year-old self sticking out of his pocket. Joey had been one of their regulars, part of a scruffy and mostly harmless group fondly nicknamed the…
My first audiobook I have been an avid reader since I was a child (a librarian who likes to read, quelle surprise!), but audiobooks are a fairly recent discovery for me. Despite friends going on and on about their many virtues, I resisted giving them a try for the longest time. Why would I want…
Novels can help readers better understand what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes. When I read “Ginny Moon’’, I gained great empathy for the main character and all the people in her life trying to help her succeed. Ginny Moon is a 14-year-old autistic girl who never feels she belongs. She desperately…
In this episode of our podcast, we get some recommendations from Nate, one our podcast hosts but also one of our library's Bookies, a new service to get book, movie and music recommendations from our librarians. You can find Nate and all our other Bookies at our website at cooklib.org/bookies. Mentioned in this episode: Books…
This is a beautiful story of an Irish Catholic family over two generations; of love, secrets, and reconciliation; of what it means to be a family, and what it takes to remain one. Its plot is deceptively simple: Nora Rafferty’s son Patrick has died in a drunk-driving accident. In her grief, Nora calls her long-estranged…
