Booktalk from PA Virtual Coffee February 2022
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Andy Carpenter Mysteries by David Rosenfelt
Book 23: Dog Eat Dog When lawyer Andy Carpenter and his wife take the dogs for walk, their routine task is shattered by a stranger kicking a dog. Before they can react, another man leaps in to save the dog. When the upstander is identified as a wanted murderer, Andy can't resist defending him. (awesome audio version narrated by Grover Gardner) Mystery Presented by Marie St. Germain |
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The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green
The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this collection of essays, Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale - from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. The reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together. Essays Presented by Lu Kiley |
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The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power. In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her. In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels. And they're not the only ones. Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She's got six. Science Fiction Presented by Marie St. Germain |
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The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
Dense, but readable, well-researched nonfiction that explodes the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces. Rothstein describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods. History Presented by Emily Heath |
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Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
From the indie rock star of Japanese Breakfast fame, and author of the viral 2018 New Yorker essay that shares the title of this book, an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. Memoir Presented by Erika Hoddinott |
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Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years. Contemporary Fiction Presented by Erika Hoddinott |
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firebird: a memoir by Mark Doty
Firebird presents us with a heroic little boy who has quite enough worries without discovering that his dawning sexuality is the Wrong One. A self-confessed "chubby smart bookish sissy with glasses and a Southern accent," Doty's story is a lyrical, heartbreaking comedy of one family's dissolution, a wry evocation of childhood's pleasures and terrors, a comic tour of American suburban life, and a testament to the transformative power of art. Memoir Presented by Lu Kiley |
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Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans by Michaeleen Doucleff
Doucleff sets out with her three-year-old daughter in tow to learn and practice parenting strategies from families in three of the world’s most venerable communities: Maya families in Mexico, Inuit families above the Arctic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania. She sees that these cultures don’t have the same problems with children that Western parents do. Most strikingly, parents build a relationship with young children that is vastly different from the one many Western parents develop—it’s built on cooperation instead of control, trust instead of fear, and personalized needs instead of standardized development milestones. Not only does Doucleff live with families and observe their methods firsthand, she also applies them with her own daughter, with striking results. She learns to discipline without yelling. She talks to psychologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, and sociologists and explains how these strategies can impact children’s mental health and development. Filled with practical takeaways that parents can implement immediately. Parenting Presented by Erika Hoddinott |
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The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar
This story of two girls living 800 years apart -- a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker--bring the real consequences of the ongoing Syrian conflict to heartbreaking life. Coming of Age story Presented by Marie St. Germain |
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Misfits: A Personal Manifesto by Michaela Coel
Coel immerses readers in her vision of championing “misfits” everywhere through powerful allegory and deeply personal anecdotes―from her coming of age in London public housing to her discovery of theater and her love for storytelling. And she tells of her reckoning with trauma and metamorphosis into a champion for herself, inclusivity, and radical honesty. Memoir/Manifesto Presented by Lu Kiley |
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Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser
The Little House books, for all the hardships they describe, are paeans to the pioneer spirit, portraying it as triumphant against all odds. But Wilder’s real life was harder and grittier than that, a story of relentless struggle, rootlessness, and poverty. This well-researched book won the Pulitzer Prize. Biography Presented by Emily Heath |
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Sourdough: or, Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market: A Novel by Robin Sloan
Lois Clary is a software engineer who codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run an eatery from which she orders dinner every evening. When the brothers must close up shop, they leave their sourdough starter with Lois. She must keep it alive, they tell her―feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it. Well, she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, a whole new world of baking, commerce and socializing opens up. Contemporary fiction Presented by Emily Heath |
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Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Alix Chamberlain, a woman making a great living, is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted by a security guard while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night. The guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right. But Emira is wary of Alix's desire to help. Then the video goes viral and the women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other. Exploring race, the complexity of transactional relationships, love and what it means to make someone "family." Contemporary fiction Recommended by Marie St. Germain |
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Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
Set in the early days of the AIDS crisis, fourteen year old June must deal with the death of her beloved uncle Finn, an artist and "confirmed bachelor." When she sees a man driven away from the funeral by her family, she investigates and learns that Toby has been given the duty of passing on to her certain heirlooms and memories of her uncle. Grief and love, secrets and joy intertwine as Toby and June, her mother and sister try to live life after the loss of Finn. Historical Fiction/Coming of Age Recommended by Marie St. Germain |
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