Our Favorite Books Read in 2023: Taylor, Christy, Ashley

 Since it’s the start of a new year, the Bristol Public Library and Avoca Branch Library staffs were asked to name their favorite books read in 2023. There were no other restrictions: the books could be old or new, adult or juvenile or YA, picture books, non-fiction books, long books, short books, audio books, ebooks, whatever.  We’ll be running the responses over the next week or so.

 

Taylor:  My favorite I read last year was Notes from a Sickbed by Tessa Brunton. It's a YA graphic novel about living with an undiagnosed chronic illness that really resonated with me.

 

Christy: All Hallows by Christopher Golden (neighborhood drama/light horror)

 

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller (gothic romance with a ghost side plot)

 

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murders by Jesse Q. Sutanto (heart warming, cozy mystery)

 

The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb (noir/thriller)

 

Heartwood Hotel by Kallie George (very cute children's book about hotel for woodland creatures)

 

Forever Home by Jenna Ayoub (sweet graphic novel about a young girl who makes friends with the ghosts in her house. surprisingly funny!)

 

Ashley:  My favorite book of 2023 was Weyward by Emilia Hart.

I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it.  I'm typically not keen on multiple timelines in a story,  multiple POVs often lose me, and there were a few content warnings that had me uncertain.  In other words, from what I’d heard there were a lot of things working against it when it comes to my preferences! But I ended up just absolutely adoring it and going through it rather quickly! 

  

I will admit that I almost gave up on it once; I found it decent enough by the end of the first section, but the next day  I couldn't decide if I wanted to bother with picking it up and finishing it. I'm remarkably glad I decided to, as that second section was when the book absolutely picked up for me. 

 

I immediately recommended it to two friends, one of whom later messaged me to thank me for nudging her toward it because she had enjoyed it as well~ (I'm not certain the other friend has gotten around to it yet, haha)

 

Overall, I found the characters fantastic and I adored the subtle magic weaved into the worldbuilding. Each of the storylines were unique and interesting, and each wrapped up in a way I found out remarkably satisfying. 

Nevermore: The Last Lecture, The Last Bookshop in London, Ladies of Liberty, Wrong Place Wrong Time

 Reported by Ashley

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (with Jeffrey Zaslow) looks at the ‘last lecture’ that many professors give, but with a twist- when Randy Pausch was asked to give one of these lectures, he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He didn’t have to imagine how he might feel if he were to reflect on his life and what would matter most, as he was already living it. He gave a lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” that focused more on living than on looking ahead at dying, and spoke to overcoming obstacles, seizing the moment, and enabling others to chase their own dreams. Our reader talked about how you could really feel Randy’s passion and how while you read it you just knew that that’s the way he’d lived his own life. Referring to the book as very intelligent, very quick witted, and overall just a very enjoyable read, our reader absolutely recommended the book. (BM)

 

The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II by Madeline Martin received a glowing review during our recent meeting. Grace Bennett’s long dreamed of moving to London, but she didn’t expect to find it full of bunkers and blackouts; that’s what she’s met with when she arrives in August of 1939, settling in to work at a dusty bookshop rather than finding the dazzling life she’d dreamed of. Through the background of the Blitz, Grace leans into the power of storytelling, watching as books touch the lives of those around her. The book was met with absolute approval and came recommended with the highest of praise. With a different perspective on World War II than many readers have come to expect, the character driven novel left the reader with a solid feeling of hope and a reminder to look for the stories unfolding in our world even in darker times. (KN)

Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation by Cokie Roberts was a book that captured our reader’s attention. While the book talks about many of the women who played a part in the shaping of our nation, the story of Dolley Madison stuck out to our reader. Dolley is well known for her role in preserving history as the White House was burnt down in the War of 1812, but at the time there were comments about the fact that she didn’t get matching china sets to refurbish the place (never mind her part in having helped to build the place up from the boring swamp it had been roughly twenty years prior). The book was well received by the group and the reader found that it held her interest throughout. The book was a good reminder that while, historically, women haven’t had much power, they’ve always found ways to influence the world around them regardless. (WJ)

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister was quite the thriller. A mother witnesses a devastating act: the murder of a stranger by her teenage son. Traumatized by the event, she wakes up to find herself literally reliving the past, and reliving the past, and reliving the past. With each foray into what was, she tries to figure out what she must do to stop the future that only she knows about, and tries to figure out what clues she missed along the way with her seemingly cheerful son. Our reader enjoyed the book, although she did warn that it was a little disconcerting to read a book that told things backwards, so to speak. Our reader seemed to enjoy trying to keep track of what the mom knew versus what the son knew and where they were in the timeline, and found that the book tied everything together well. It was met with a heartfelt recommendation to others. (VC)

  

Other books mentioned:

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus   (CD)

Gentleman Bandit: The True Story of Black Bart, the Old West’s Most Infamous Stagecoach Robber by John Boessenecker   (VC)

Death’s Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson   (MH)

Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch   (MH)

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver   (MS)

Power of One by Bryce Courtenay   (SF)

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver   (SF)

Charlie Russell: The Cowboy Years by Jane Lambert   (SF)

The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara   (AH)

A Disappearance in Fiji by Nilima Rao   (NH)

Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig   (BM)

The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand   (BM)

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee   (BM)

Standing on a Spinning Ball by Mike Guy   (BM)

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano   (PC)

This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga by Peter Cozzens   (PC)

In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson   (KN)

The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro   (DC)

Mysterious Virginia by Sherman Carmichael   (new)

The Paris Agent by Kelly Rimmer   (new)

The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey   (new)

#SayHerName: Black Women’s Stories of Police Violence and Public Silence edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw

Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton

Sierra Club’s Black Lives Matter Quilt Discussion event program book (pamphlet associated with a recent program & display at the Bristol Public Library)

The Appalachian Voice newspaper

Favorite Series: Ashley's Picks (Thomas Harris, Allie Brosh, and more!)

 

The theme for National Library Week this year is “There’s More to the Story.” With that in mind, we asked staff to tell us the names of some of their favorite series. Today we hear from Ashley who works in the Reference Department.

~Hannibal series by Thomas Harris, but it's hard to say which one is first. Some authors start a series, then they write prequels. 

 

In written order the books are: 
Red Dragon

The Silence of the Lambs

Hannibal

Hannibal Rising

Typically I go with what was written first, but Hannibal Rising is just so good and doesn't get enough love! I think part of my affection for it is that it was released after I'd already fallen in love with the others, so it was fun to get to experience it as it when it was released. It starts with Hannibal's childhood and tells what went before the other books. 

 

~Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay is another series that's one of my "go-to" reads since I like to re-read books so much. Yes, it's another serial killer series!

 

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Dearly Devoted Dexter

Dexter by Design 

Dexter is Delicious

Double Dexter

Dexter's Final Cut

Dexter is Dead

 

I feel like Darkly Dreaming Dexter might be one of my favorite books, ever. The author uses such gorgeous language and turns of phrase, that at times you almost forget the subject matter he's using it about! 

 

~His Majesty's Dragon/Temeraire series by Naomi Novik is soooooo good. It's the Napoleonic War, but with dragons! Everything is better with dragons. I particularly loved that this one did a fantastic job characterizing the dragons and the humans; often a book will pull off one while leaving the other underdeveloped, but it's clear from the very beginning that Naomi Novik adores all of the characters she's created. 

 

His Majesty's Dragon

Throne of Jade

Black Powder War

Empire of Ivory 

Victory of Eagles

Tongues of Serpents

Crucible of Gold

Blood of Tyrants

League of Dragons 

 

~Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is a time travel/romance/historical fiction series about a modern woman who ends up back in the 1700s in Scotland. I'll admit, I ended up quitting around halfway through The Fiery Cross, but I really enjoyed those first four! Maybe one day I'll get around to finishing them up? 

 

Outlander

Dragonfly in Amber

Voyager

The Drums of Autumn

The Fiery Cross

A Breath of Snow and Ashes

An Echo in the Bone

Written in My Own Heart's Blood

Go Tell the Bees that I am Gone

 

~The Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan- I hesitated to include this, because I love/hate them. I loved the concept and the characters, but did spend a lot of time grumbling at the author's choices about what to include. I very much wanted to hear about a lot of things she skipped over and spent a lot of my time sighing at the repetitive nature of what she did choose to focus on. But! I would absolutely recommend them to people and the world needs more dragons, so... 

 

A Natural History of Dragons

The Tropic of Serpents

Voyage of the Basilisk

In the Labyrinth of Drakes

Within the Sanctuary of Wings

 

~The Chronicles of Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones is a series of seven books that are often in the children's section but are great stories for everyone! When I first read these in middle school, I was absolutely enchanted by the amount of worldbuilding she put into these! I'm also a fan of a series that can be read out of order and still make sense. 

 

Charmed Life

The Magicians of Caprona

Witch Week

The Lives of Christopher Chant

Conrad's Fate

The Pinhoe Egg

Mixed Magics

 

 

~Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe is a series of graphic novels re-telling the story of Persephone and Hades in modern terms. It started out as a webcomic, which I always struggle to keep up with but found myself excitedly checking for updates often. When the graphic novels started coming out, I was thrilled to see how well it translated from one medium to the other. There are three volumes so far, with a fourth set to come out soon. 

 

~Hyperbole and a Half and Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh were two I hesitated over, as I couldn't quite decide if they qualified as a series or not, given that there are only two? But Jeanne pointed out that since Solutions and Other Problems carries on where the other leaves off, it would be considered a series! These two are books that I struggle to get through because I have to put them down so often to get through a laughing fit, although the second one really goes in depth on some pretty tough topics and I found I was putting it down just as often to wipe away some tears, as well. These two just might be my most recommended books...  

Southernmost by Silas House

Reviewed by Ashley

Set shortly after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, when some counties were still refusing to issue marriage licenses for same sex couples, Southernmost introduces us to Asher Sharp, an evangelical pastor.

The book opens with a flood, and we are quickly introduced to Asher as his priorities are laid out. First, save his mother-in-law, who has always been more like a mother to him than his own. Up next, he goes looking for his dog, likely separated from home by the river that rose so suddenly. When his son goes looking for their dog and disappears, Asher’s anxiety reaches a peak, and we know what his ultimate love in life is: his son. He finds his son, helping and being helped by two men who have recently moved into their small town in middle Tennessee, whose house he watched wash away just hours earlier. The men assist Asher when another house sweeps by, two members of his congregation hanging out of a window and calling for help.

Asher takes in the devastation around him and knows that his view of the world is expanding beyond the narrow views he has preached for years.

When he watches his wife turn away the two men who helped his son because she doesn’t agree with their lifestyle, he knows his faith has changed. When he listens to his congregation turn away the two men who risked their own lives to pull some of them from that raging river, solely because the men love each other, he knows his faith has changed. When he faces the guilt he has lived with for years over how he and his mother treated his brother for that same sort of love, he knows his faith has changed.

The divorce is ugly, the custody battle is bitter, and the aftermath leaves him reaching for a new life altogether. He abandons everything he knows, the world he grew up in, and uses the upheaval to take his son and see what else is out there. Following the postcards his brother has sent him over the years- never with a written message, but leading him to writings that have helped him expand his views on the world, they land in Key West.

What follows is a story about a man struggling to understand how to adjust to a world that has moved on without him, learning what it means to grow faster than those you love but slower than society has grown. With a dash of found family and a considerable amount of character growth, Southernmost explores what it means to watch our beliefs change. It examines the things we hold dear and believe in, the things we would do absolutely anything for, and the mistakes we make in trying to stand firm in our faiths. Southernmost asks us to examine our actions and live with the consequences, no matter the outcome.

While I would have loved it if the book had spent more time in Key West or delving into the found family aspect of the story, I absolutely understood that these things weren’t the focus of the book. I did feel the ending was almost rushed, compared to the rest of the book, but honestly, I’m glad that the ending seemed to move as quickly as the flood that opened the book, reflecting the speed at which our lives can change not just from natural disasters, but also through our own decisions and actions.

I checked this book out on a whim, thinking I’d try a few chapters and move on, but instead found myself devouring it in mere hours. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever questioned their beliefs or felt like they’ve outgrown the things they once held true, to anyone who has ever looked at their decisions and been tempted to run away from their problems rather than face them.

The Adventurous Eaters Club: Mastering the Art of Family Mealtime by Misha and Vicki Collins

 

A conversation between Ashley and Kristin

Kristin: I picked up this really cool looking cookbook and I think I might do a review on it. It’s by these parents cooking with their kids and it’s really funny.

Ashley: OMG! I requested that book because it looked good. Misha Collins is the guy from Supernatural and he and his wife created it because their kids were starting to want just chicken nuggets and food like that.

Kristin: I flipped through it and I might copy a couple of recipes, but I’m really enjoying the parts like “Culinary Frontiers—recipes only a kid could dream up”. This particular one, “Breakfast Popsicles”, has the ending: “We can’t recommend making these at home—unless you want a breakfast that’ll haunt you till the day you die.” Those popsicles have scrambled eggs in them.

Ashley: Those recipes by the kids are really funny. I really liked “The Pirate’s Eye aka The Bird in the Nest”. Eggs, bread, a frying pan, and you have breakfast.

Kristin: The “Egg and Cheese Cupcakes” sound good, and kids can help with them. Every single recipe has something that the kids can do safely. I guess the kids are much more likely to eat the food when they have helped make it, not to mention picking it from the garden or from the grocery.

Ashley: The “Shiitake Crispies” recipe was one that I would like to try. And “Mix ‘N’ Match ‘Fried’ Chicken” sounds really good with the spices coating each piece of chicken.

Kristin: The illustrations are great too. After the kids are shown eating their “Make-a-Huge-Mess-Sandwich” (spaghetti with sauce on bread) then their dad is throwing a huge pot of water to rinse them off! Some of the photoshoots look like they got out of hand—I can only wonder how much it cost to fill a claw foot bathtub with greens for the kids to sit in and toss around!

Kristin and Ashley: Yay!—We wrote a review because we love cookbooks! We recommend this to anyone with kids or anyone who is embracing their inner child.

Artemis Fowl and Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer

 

 

Reviewed by Ashley

 

I’m a big fan of rereading favorite novels- it’s easy to choose one based on my mood, to settle in for a nice visit to a place I’m already familiar with, to know I won’t scoff in disappointment and feel I’ve wasted some of the spare time that seems more and more scarce. I’m also often inclined to grab middle grade and young adult novels that I’ve enjoyed before, for even quicker trips to those comforting places. Having recently become disenchanted with my ultimate comfort series, and having an up-and-coming reader who I enjoy giving books to, I decided to revisit another series I enjoyed when I was younger. As such, I just finished up the first two novels in the Artemis Fowl series, written by Eoin Colfer in the early 2000s. 

Artemis Fowl introduces us to the cast of characters we follow throughout the series. The titular character is a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind, using all of the sources available to him to keep his family prosperous after the disappearance of his father. Aided by his bodyguard, Butler, he manages to become the first human to get his hands on The Book of the People, giving him insight to the fairy world and all the rules that govern the People. Enter Holly (the first female LEPrecon officer), her boss Commander Root, and their tech mastermind (Foaly the paranoid centaur). What follows is a vicious game of who can outwit who, all of the involved parties being convinced they have the upper hand and trying to outplay the others to get what they want.  

In Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, we revisit Artemis, Butler, Holly, Root, and Foaly. They’ve all moved on with their lives in the year following the first book, taking what they’ve learned and growing from it. When a vicious goblin uprising in the fairy world reveals itself to obviously having a human on standby for assistance, the LEPrecon trio are certain they know exactly who to blame. Artemis and Butler have their own problems, though, and are trying desperately to save someone they thought lost. The two groups collide and manage to come to an agreement to work together to solve both their problems.  

I hadn’t read either of these books in probably ten years, but I was surprised to find that they held up to the fond feelings I carried for them. They were a bit more violent than I remember, and I did have to reassure myself on a couple of occasions that I knew the outcome wouldn’t be as bleak as it threatened to be for the characters. Also included was a fair bit of typical-of-the-time sexism, with a lot of heavy handed ‘look at how they underestimate the female character’ scenes. Thankfully, Holly’s a force to be reckoned with and is quick to prove that it is indeed underestimating to think she’s capable of anything less than the male leads. 

I did hit a storyline in the second book that I didn’t remember at all, and as I read through and found myself skimming quickly by those scenes which didn’t hold my attention, I realized I’d likely done the same thing on the first read-through all those years ago. Even with that bit, though, I still greatly enjoyed the novels and I have every intention of picking up the third one to finish the series, something I never got around to when I was younger. I’ll also finally be giving the movie that Disney+ put out in 2020 a chance- something I’ve been putting off until I could reread the source material.

Nevermore: Power of the Dog, Bewilderment, The Weaver's Revenge

 

Reported by Ashley

The Power of the Dog, written by Thomas Savage in 1967, was praised heavily for the riveting prose it presented. Our reader read a passage aloud to demonstrate the author’s wonderful character descriptions and turns of phrase. Recently available as a film on Netflix (starring Benedict Cumberbatch, much to the club’s approval), our reader was pleased she came to the book before it released for her to watch, even commenting on how the book kept her from Netflix with her desire to read more. The story centers around two very different brothers on their ranch in Montana during the 1920s, examining family dynamics as things change up with the arrival of a widow and her son. Our reader explained how masculinity was presented in the book and the often-brutal ways it made itself known, particularly against those who did not necessarily fit that masculine mold. Described as gripping and powerful, our reader greatly enjoyed the novel. (NH)

 

­Also up for discussion was Bewilderment, new from Richard Powers just this year. Set in the near future, the novel follows scientist Theo Byrne and his son Robin. Robin has a list of disorders that are all pointing toward psychoactive medications that Theo would rather they avoid. Instead, Theo turns toward an experimental neurotherapy procedure that will utilize Robin’s mother’s brainwaves, despite the fact that she passed away a couple of years earlier. Our reader enjoyed how each chapter in the book took a different planet as a topic, using the boy and his father’s nightly discussions about these planets to remind readers that Theo was an astrobiologist trying to prove that life exists outside of our own planet. This book absolutely stayed with our reader, and she is certain that it will for some time. In trying to find words to describe it, she laughingly admitted that it left her, well, ‘bewildered’. Between odd character choices and writing that described as haunting, it seemed a fitting word for the book. In the end, she did make sure that we knew that she highly recommended the book. (DC)

 

The Weaver’s Revenge, the eleventh novel in the Chloe Ellefson by Kathleen Ernst, was also brought to the table. Our reader said that you didn’t need to read the others in the series to pick this one up, as it does a good job in giving the background while moving along with the current mystery. Set in the remote Northwoods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the story follows Chloe as she takes a job helping to set up a Finnish American historical site and pursues her own interest in rag rug weaving. Unfortunately, a murder in the community threatens to derail all of that. The book includes some very useful supplemental material with pictures of the historical objects mentioned within. Our reader found the book to be very good and recommended it to the group, praising the historical accuracy and sharing interesting facts she’d learned while reading it. (AH)

 

Other books discussed:

The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray (KN)

The Madness of Crowds, by Louise Penny (ML)

All Souls: A Family Story from Southie, by Michael Patrick MacDonald (AH)

Magical Mermaids and Dolphins Oracle Cards, by Doreen Virtue (MF)

Archetype Cards, by Caroline Myss (MF)

When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon, by Joshua D. Mezrich (CD)

E.R. Nurses: True Stories from America’s Greatest Unsung Heroes, by James Patterson & Matt Eversmann (CD)

Pickles Tails, Volume One: The Hijinks of Muffin & Roscoe, by Brian Crane (CD)

Chance Developments, by Alexander McCall Smith (WJ)

The Summons, by John Grisham (WJ)

The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance, by Edmund de Waal (narrated by Michael Maloney) (MH)

Serafina and the Black Cloak, by Robert Beatty (MH)

American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, by Colin Woodard (SC)