|
I've Got a Crush on You, Fall
Oh, sweet fall is finally here! The air is super crisp, I can finally wear jeans again, and I’m embracing all the fall activities like apple picking, eating copious amounts of squash and narrowing down Halloween costumes.
In the book world, this is Banned Books week. For your reading pleasure, here is a list of books that were once banned in the US. Here is a list of the top 10 challenged books of 2017. Lastly, here is a list books that are currently banned by governments all over the globe. To be honest, it’s still slightly shocking, and Banned Books week is a great time to think about where we are, where others are, how it all came to be, and where we and everyone else can go from here.
On a much lighter, movie note, I’m gearing up for some fall blockbusters that are hitting theaters next Friday, October 5th. The day will be a serious doozy, and I may just end up spending hours upon hours at the theater. Did someone say triple feature?
I’ve watched the trailer for A Star Is Born nearly every day for the past three weeks (if not more). Needless to say, I am enthralled. Maybe it’s when Gaga hits those high notes or maybe it’s Cooper’s rough-around-the-edges accent and sexy scruff, but I have all the feels. It’s a remake of a remake of a remake of a movie of the same name. Get that? There was the original 1937 movie, a 1954 remake starring Judy Garland, and a 1976 remake featuring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. Will I spend this weekend watching all of them? Probably yes. This remake, however, we’re blessed with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper as the stars. And woooweee! Cooper is not only one of the movie’s main stars, it is also his first directorial debut. There will be a full soundtrack released on October 5th, and you can get a sneak peek of what’s to come by checking out Gaga’s recently released song “Shallow.” Obviously, Gaga sounds phenomenal, and so does Cooper. It’s not based on a book, but a story is a story is a story, and I can’t wait for this one. Even if it’s bad, it will be bad good...and who doesn’t love a love ballad?
The Hate U Give is based on a 2017 YA book of the same name by Angie Thomas. It is one of the 10 most challenged books in 2017 (see list above) for its obscenity, prevalent drug use, profanity and offensive language. It tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who decides to take a vocal stand after witnessing the murder of her childhood friend by the police. The book debuted at number one on the New York Times young adult bestseller list and maintained that title for 50 weeks. The movie version looks pretty stellar as well, with early reviews calling it “impressive,” “surprisingly bold” and “thoughtful.” I’ll definitely be checking it out on my triple-upped movie weekend. Peep the trailer here.
Also on the roster is the much anticipated graphic novel adaptation of VENOM, which is finally hitting theaters. Sexpot and badass-lifer Tom Hardy will be playing the villain and will reprise the role for at least another two movies within the Marvel franchise. The trailer looks awesome, and this is a perfect movie to see with a big group of friends.
In the last newsletter, I highlighted a couple of new podcasts that I’m currently loving. It’s worth going into deeper detail now because they are E-X-C-E-L-L-E-N-T! I’ve been listening all week --- on my way to work, on my way home, here, there and everywhere else in between. And, chances are, if you love reading a story in a book, you’ll love listening to one.
“Dr. Death,” a gripping true story about a “serial killer” doctor in Texas, is wrapping up. While the podcast was intended to be only six episodes, there will be additional episodes on related information, according to host Laura Beil. I’m warning you, the podcast is graphic at times, but the true crime story really packs a punch and leaves you wondering what you really know about the healthcare system in America. I’m all caught up on the available episodes and it has, 100%, left me weary of trusting doctors, for better or for worse.
The third season of the beloved “Serial” podcast premiered at the end of last week and has already released three episodes. Listeners are loving it, and while the second season seemed to lose a couple of devoted subscribers following the popular first season, it seems the third season is reeling them all back in. The new season is focused on the American court system, and the incredible and unique cases in Cleveland, OH. You may recall the first season covered the murder of Hae Min Lee and her accused attacker, Adnan Syed. When it was first released, it seemed like absolutely everyone was jumping onboard. Host Sarah Koenig’s voice was compelling, and the development of the story unfolded like an engrossing mystery/thriller novel. The second season told “the story of Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured and held by the Taliban for nearly five years,” as noted on SerialPodcast.org, but the story didn’t have quite the same appeal as the first, in my opinion. Admittedly, I was one of the many who devoured the first season and gave up on the second a couple of episodes in. That said, I will definitely be giving the third season a shot in the next few days given all the positive reception.
The last podcast I’m currently indulging in is “Uncover: Escaping NXIVM.” Another investigating podcast, “Escaping NXIVM,” tells the story of Canadian actress Sarah Edmondson, who joined and subsequently left NVIXM (pronounced nex-e-um), a recently identified cult and sex cult that has been operating under the guise of a self-proclaimed marketing company that offers self-development classes. You may have heard about NXIVM in recent news stories as the higher ups within the cult have been arrested and indicted on charges ranging from sex slavery, sex trafficking, racketeering and more. Members were branded with the alleged initials of its leader, Keith Raniere, who proclaimed to be one of the smartest people in the world and received the 1989 Guinness World Record for “Highest IQ.” The podcast is intense, there’s no doubt about that, and provides a lot of information on how the cult developed, operated and recently became dismantled. Host Josh Bloch gives a lot of detail about a lot of different things; it’s juicy, at times sad and quite remarkable. I have a particular fascination with cults, loving almost every word of Emma Cline’s THE GIRLS, which came out in 2016, and am getting super hyped for Quentin Tarantino’s summer 2019 movie, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, which spotlights the Charles Manson murders of 1969. If you’re into that sort of thing, give this podcast a shot. More news continues to be unfolded about its members and the operation of the organization, which makes the story all that much more topical.
Here are a few titles to check out in between all of your listening:
Kathy is a writer. Kathy is getting married. It’s the summer of 2017, and the whole world is falling apart. CRUDO by Olivia Laing unfolds in real time from the full-throttle perspective of a commitment-phobic artist who may or may not be Kathy Acker. From a Tuscan hotel for the superrich to a Brexit-paralyzed United Kingdom, Kathy spends the first summer of her 40s adjusting to the idea of a lifelong commitment. But it’s not only Kathy who’s changing. Fascism is on the rise, truth is dead, the planet is heating up, and Trump is tweeting the world ever-closer to nuclear war. How do you make art, let alone a life, when one rogue tweet could end it all?
At one point or another, we’ve all been asked to name five people, living or dead, with whom we’d like to have dinner. Why do we choose the people we do? And what if that dinner was to actually happen? These are the questions Rebecca Serle contends with in her novel, THE DINNER LIST. When Sabrina arrives at her 30th birthday dinner, she finds at the table not just her best friend, but also three significant people from her past…and Audrey Hepburn. As the appetizers are served, wine poured and dinner table conversation begins, it becomes clear that there’s a reason these six people have been gathered together.
Vladimir Nabokov’s LOLITA is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time. And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the book was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner. Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, THE REAL LOLITA: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman tells Sally Horner’s full story for the very first time. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing LOLITA.
5 Things To Obsess About This Very Moment, in no particular order:
1. Netflix's "Making a Murderer" will return for a second season on October 19th
2. The trailer for the HBO adaptation of Elena Ferrante's MY BRILLIANT FRIEND
3. "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" took home all the Emmys --- Watch it!
4. Shirley Jackson's THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE is now a TV series
5. The "Downton Abbey" movie will come out in 2019
Happy reading,
Nicole Sherman
THE 7½ DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE by Stuart Turton (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by James Cameron Stewart
At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed. Again. She’s been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden’s only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend. But nothing and no one are quite what they seem. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
THE ANCIENT NINE by Ian K. Smith (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Brad Sanders
Spenser Collins, an unlikely Harvard prospect, and Dalton Winthrop, a white-shoe legacy at Harvard, find enough common ground to become friends, cementing their bond when Spenser is "punched" to join the Delphic Club, one of the most exclusive of Harvard's all-male final clubs. Dalton’s great-uncle is one of their oldest living members, and Dalton grew up on stories of the club's rituals. But why is his uncle so cryptic about the Ancient Nine, a shadowy group of alums that protects the Delphic's darkest and oldest secrets --- including what happened to a student who sneaked into the club's stately brick mansion in 1927 and was never seen again. The more Spenser and Dalton investigate, the more questions they unearth, until they realize their own lives are in danger. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
BLACKOUT: An Ari Thor Thriller by Ragnar Jonasson (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Will Damron and Sarah Mollo-Christensen
On the shores of a tranquil fjord in Northern Iceland, a man is brutally beaten to death on a bright summer's night. A young reporter leaves Reykajvik to investigate on her own, unaware that an innocent person's life hangs in the balance. Ari Thor Arason and his colleagues on the tiny police force in Siglufjordur struggle with an increasingly perplexing case, while their own serious personal problems push them to the limit. What secrets does the dead man harbour, and what is the young reporter hiding? As silent, unspoken horrors from the past threaten them all, and the darkness deepens, it's a race against time to find the killer before someone else dies. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE CLASS: A Life-Changing Teacher, His World-Changing Kids, and the Most Inventive Classroom in America by Heather Won Tesoriero (Science/Education)
Audiobook available, read by Heather Won Tesoriero
Andy Bramante left his successful career as a corporate scientist to teach public high school --- and now helms one of the most remarkable classrooms in America. Bramante’s unconventional class at Connecticut’s prestigious yet diverse Greenwich High School has no curriculum, tests, textbooks or lectures, and is equal parts elite research lab, student counseling office and teenage hangout spot. United by a passion to learn, Mr. B.’s band of whiz kids set out every year to conquer the brutally competitive science fair circuit. They have won the top prize at the Google Science Fair, made discoveries that eluded scientists three times their age, and been invited to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.
CRUDO by Olivia Laing (Fiction)
Kathy is a writer. Kathy is getting married. It’s the summer of 2017, and the whole world is falling apart. CRUDO unfolds in real time from the full-throttle perspective of a commitment-phobic artist who may or may not be Kathy Acker. From a Tuscan hotel for the superrich to a Brexit-paralyzed United Kingdom, Kathy spends the first summer of her 40s adjusting to the idea of a lifelong commitment. But it’s not only Kathy who’s changing. Fascism is on the rise, truth is dead, the planet is heating up, and Trump is tweeting the world ever-closer to nuclear war. How do you make art, let alone a life, when one rogue tweet could end it all? Reviewed by Lorraine W. Shanley.
THE DINNER LIST by Rebecca Serle (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by Rebecca Serle
At one point or another, we’ve all been asked to name five people, living or dead, with whom we’d like to have dinner. Why do we choose the people we do? And what if that dinner was to actually happen? These are the questions Rebecca Serle contends with in her novel, THE DINNER LIST. When Sabrina arrives at her 30th birthday dinner, she finds at the table not just her best friend, but also three significant people from her past…and Audrey Hepburn. As the appetizers are served, wine poured and dinner table conversation begins, it becomes clear that there’s a reason these six people have been gathered together. Reviewed by Rebecca Munro.
FOE by Iain Reid (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Jacques Roy
Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other. One day, a stranger from the city arrives with alarming news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm...very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements already have been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won't have a chance to miss him, because she won't be left alone --- not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE FORBIDDEN DOOR: A Jane Hawk Novel by Dean Koontz (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Elisabeth Rodgers
Jane Hawk may be all that stands between a free nation and its enslavement by a powerful secret society’s terrifying mind-control technology. Equipped with superior tactical and survival skills, Jane has struck major blows against the insidious cabal. But if their best operatives can’t outrun her, they mean to bring her running to them, using her five-year-old son as bait. As she moves resolutely forward, new threats begin to emerge: a growing number of brain-altered victims driven hopelessly, violently insane. With the madness spreading like a virus, the war between Jane and her enemies will become a fight for all their lives --- against the lethal terror unleashed from behind the forbidden door. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
THE FORBIDDEN PLACE by Susanne Jansson (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Stephanie Willis
In the remote Swedish wetlands lies Mossmarken, the village on the edge of the mire where, once upon a time, people came to leave offerings to the gods. Biologist Nathalie came in order to study the peat bogs. But she has a secret: Mossmarken was once her home, a place where terrible things happened. She has returned at last, determined to confront her childhood trauma and find out the truth. Soon after her arrival, she finds an unconscious man out on the marsh, his pockets filled with gold --- just like the ancient human sacrifices. A grave is dug in the mire, which vanishes a day after. Then the bodies start to surface. Is the mire calling out for sacrifices? Or is it an all-too-human evil? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
THE GUILTY DEAD: A Monkeewrench Novel by P. J. Tracy (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Sarah Borges
Gregory Norwood is Minnesota’s most beloved philanthropist, and the story of his son’s overdose was splashed across the front page of all the papers. When a photojournalist sets out to get a candid shot of the highly successful businessman on the one-year anniversary of his son’s death, he’s shocked to find Norwood dead with a smoking gun in his hand. Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are called in to handle the delicate case. With no suspects and an increasing tangle of digital evidence, Magozzi calls on Grace MacBride, Monkeewrench Software’s founder and chief computer genius. She and her motley crew of partners begin to unravel connections between Norwood’s death and an even larger plot. Reviewed by Roz Shea.
HUSK by Dave Zeltserman (Horror)
Charlie is a Husker on the prowl in the New Hampshire wilderness when he falls in love with one of them: a girl named Jill. Loving Jill means leaving the Husk clan, with its gruesome cannibalistic rituals, and that will be far more difficult --- and dangerous --- than Charlie could have foreseen. It’s only in New York City that the secret to ending his terrible cravings may reveal itself --- if it doesn’t kill him and everything he has grown to love first. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
I KNOW YOU KNOW by Gilly Macmillan (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by David Thorpe
Twenty years ago, 11-year-olds Charlie Paige and Scott Ashby were murdered in the city of Bristol. A man was convicted of the brutal crime, but questions still linger decades later. Filmmaker Cody Swift has been haunted by the deaths of his childhood best friends. Hoping to uncover new evidence, and to encourage those who may be keeping long-buried secrets to speak up, Cody starts a podcast to record his findings. When a long-dead body is found in the same location the boys were left decades before, the disturbing discovery launches another murder investigation. Now Detective John Fletcher, the investigator on the original case, must reopen his dusty files and decide if the two murders are linked. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
IN HER BONES by Kate Moretti (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Madeleine Maby
Fifteen years ago, Lilith Wade was arrested for the brutal murder of six women. After a death row conviction, media frenzy and the release of an unauthorized biography, her 30-year-old daughter Edie Beckett is just trying to survive out of the spotlight. She’s a recovering alcoholic with a dead-end city job and an unhealthy codependent relationship with her brother. Edie also has a disturbing secret: a growing obsession with the families of Lilith’s victims. She’s desperate to see how they’ve managed --- or failed --- to move on. While her escalating fixation is a problem, she’s careful to keep her distance. That is, until she crosses a line and a man is found murdered. Reviewed by Dunja Bonacci Skenderović.
THE INFINITE BLACKTOP by Sara Gran (Noir Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by Madeleine Maby
As a young girl growing up in Brooklyn, Claire DeWitt (now a private investigator) and her two best friends, Tracy and Kelly, solved many cases together --- until the day Tracy vanished without a trace. Later, in her 20s, Claire is trying to get her PI license by taking on a cold case that has stumped the LAPD. Today, Claire is on her way to Las Vegas from San Francisco when she’s almost killed by a homicidal driver. In a haze of drugs and injuries, she struggles off the scene, determined to find her would-be killer’s identity --- but the list of people who would be happy to see her dead is not a short one. As these three narratives converge, some mysteries are solved and others continue to haunt. Reviewed by Megan Elliott.
JUROR #3 by James Patterson and Nancy Allen (Legal Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Megan Tusing
The murder of a woman from one of Rosedale, Mississippi’s oldest families has the town’s upper crust howling for blood, and the prosecutor is counting on defense counsel Ruby Bozarth's inexperience to help him deliver a swift conviction. As news breaks of a second murder, Ruby's ex-fiance, Lee Greene, shows up on her doorstep --- a Southern gentleman in need of a savior. As lurid, intertwining investigations unfold, no one in Rosedale can be trusted, especially the 12 men and women impaneled on the jury. They may be hiding the most incendiary secret of all. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
KATERINA by James Frey (Fiction)
Audiobook available, read by James Frey
KATERINA is a sweeping love story alternating between 1992 Paris and Los Angeles in 2018. At its center are a young writer and a young model on the verge of fame --- both reckless, impulsive, addicted and deeply in love. Twenty-five years later, the writer is rich, famous and numb, and he wants to drive his car into a tree, when he receives an anonymous message that draws him back to the life, and possibly the love, he abandoned years prior. Reviewed by Leah DeCesare (www.leahdecesare.com).
LIES by T. M. Logan (Psychological Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Leighton Pugh
Six days ago, Joe Lynch was a happily married man, a devoted father, and a respected teacher living in a well-to-do London suburb. But that was before he spotted his wife’s car entering a hotel parking garage. Before he saw her in a heated argument with her best friend’s husband. Before Joe confronted the other man in an altercation where he left him for dead. Now, Joe’s life is unraveling. His wife has lied to him. Her deception has put their entire family in jeopardy. The man she met at the hotel has vanished. And as the police investigate his disappearance, suspicion falls on Joe. All he knows is that her actions have brought someone dangerous into their lives --- someone obsessed with her and determined to tear Joe’s world apart. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
PARADOX by Catherine Coulter (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by MacLeod Andrews
Chief Ty Christie of Willicott, Maryland, witnesses a murder at dawn from the deck of her cottage on Lake Massey. When dragging the lake, not only do the divers find the murder victim, they also discover dozens of bones. Even more shocking is the identification of a unique belt buckle found among the bones. Working together with Chief Christie, Savich and Sherlock soon discover a frightening connection between the bones and the escaped psychopath. Reviewed by Judy Gigstad.
THE PARTING GIFT by Evan Fallenberg (Fiction)
An unnamed narrator writes a letter to an old college friend, Adam, with whom he has been staying since his abrupt return to the States from Israel. Now that the narrator is moving on to a new location, he finally reveals the events that led him to Adam’s door, set in motion by a chance encounter with Uzi, a spice merchant whose wares had developed a cult following. From his first meeting with Uzi, the narrator is overwhelmed by an animal attraction that will lead him to derail his life, withdraw from friends and extend his stay in a small town north of Tel Aviv. As he becomes increasingly entangled in Uzi’s life --- and, by extension, the lives of Uzi’s ex-wife and children --- his passion turns sinister, ultimately threatening all around him. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
THE REAL LOLITA: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman (True Crime)
Audiobook available, read by Cassandra Campbell
Vladimir Nabokov’s LOLITA is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time. And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the book was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of 11-year-old Sally Horner. Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, THE REAL LOLITA tells Sally Horner’s full story for the very first time. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing LOLITA. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
ROBERT B. PARKER'S COLORBLIND: A Jesse Stone Novel by Reed Farrel Coleman (Mystery)
Audiobook available, read by James Naughton
Jesse Stone is back on the job after a stint in rehab, and the road to recovery is immediately made bumpy by a series of disturbing and apparently racially motivated crimes, beginning with the murder of an African American woman. Then, Jesse's own deputy Alisha --- the first black woman hired by the Paradise police force --- becomes the target of a sophisticated frame-up. At the same time, a mysterious young man named Cole Slayton rolls into town with a chip on his shoulder and a problem with authority --- namely, Jesse. Yet something about the angry twenty-something appeals to Jesse, and he takes Cole under his wing. But there's more to him than meets the eye, and his secrets might change Jesse's life forever. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
SUNRISE HIGHWAY by Peter Blauner (Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Ari Fliakos
In the summer of Star Wars and Son of Sam, a Long Island schoolgirl is found gruesomely murdered. A local prosecutor turns a troubled teenager known as JT from a suspect to a star witness in the case, putting away a high school football star who claimed to be innocent. Forty years later, JT has risen to chief of police, but there's a trail of a dozen dead women that reaches from Brooklyn across Long Island, along the Sunrise Highway, and it's possible that his actions actually enabled a killer. That's when Lourdes Robles, a relentless young Latina detective for the NYPD, steps in to track the serial killer. She discovers a deep and sinister web of connections between the victims and some of the most powerful political figures in the region, including JT himself. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
WHITE RIVER BURNING: A Dave Gurney Novel by John Verdon (Mystery/Thriller)
Audiobook available, read by Christopher Lane
Tensions have been running high in White River as it approaches the anniversary of a fatal shooting of a black motorist by a local police officer. In the midst of the turmoil, a White River police officer is shot dead by an unknown sniper, and local authorities approach Dave Gurney to conduct an independent investigation of the shooting. More killings occur in what appears to be an escalating sequence of retaliations. But when Gurney questions the true nature of all this bloodshed, his involvement is suddenly terminated. Despite intense opposition from the police, as well as from dangerous fanatics lurking in the shadows, he begins to uncover an astonishing structure of deception. Reviewed by Ray Palen.
CHECK, PLEASE!: #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu (Graphic Novel)
Eric Bittle may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It is nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking (anything that hinders the player with posession of the puck, ranging from a stick check all the way to a physical sweep). And then, there is Jack --- his very attractive but moody captain. Reviewed by Marco M., Teen Board Member and Michael Lee Harris.
MOXIE by Jennifer Mathieu (Contemporary Fiction)
Audiobook available, narrated by Suzy Jackson
Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with an administration at her high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes, hallway harassment, and gross comments from guys during class. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules. Viv's mom was a tough-as-nails, punk rock Riot Grrrl in the '90s, and now Viv takes a page from her mother's past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She's just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. Reviewed by Ansley K., Teen Board Member.
STRANGE GRACE by Tessa Gratton (Fantasy)
Audiobook available, narrated by Amy McFadden
Long ago, a village made a bargain with the devil: to ensure their prosperity, when the Slaughter Moon rises, the village must sacrifice a young man into the depths of the Devil’s Forest. Only this year, the Slaughter Moon has risen early. Bound by duty, secrets and the love they share for one another, Mairwen, a spirited witch; Rhun, the expected saint; and Arthur, a restless outcast, will each have a role to play as the devil demands a body to fill the bargain. But the devil these friends find is not the one they expect, and the lies they uncover will turn their town --- and their hearts --- inside out. Reviewed by Maya Gittelman.
THE UNWANTED: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown (Nonfiction Graphic Novel)
Starting in 2011, refugees flood out of war-torn Syria in Exodus-like proportions. The surprising flood of victims overwhelms neighboring countries, and chaos follows. Resentment in host nations heightens as disruption and the cost of aid grows. By 2017, many want to turn their backs on the victims. The refugees are the unwanted. Don Brown depicts moments of both heartbreaking horror and hope in the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. Shining a light on the stories of the survivors, THE UNWANTED is a testament to the courage and resilience of the refugees and a call to action for all those who read. Reviewed by Marco M., Teen Board Member.
|
