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All Friends Are Necessary: June Staff Picks

posted: , by Elizabeth
tags: Library Collections | Recommended Reads | Adults | Seniors | Art & Culture | Readers Writers

The days are just starting to warm up, and we’re stocking up on great library picks!
We hope you have a chance to answer June’s call to slow down and pick up a book or listen to an album. Here’s a few Staff Picks for June: music we’ve listened to and loved, books we’ve enjoyed, about-to-be-published titles that we’re looking forward to reading this summer.
 


Cindy’s Picks 

The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett is a middle grade title about a young girl named Kemi, who is enamored with statistics and facts and wants to be a scientist when she grows up.  For some reason, I didn’t read the description of the book before downloading it, and I was under the assumption that it was a science fiction title, until. . .  it wasn’t. I cannot think of many occasions I have come across an unreliable narrator in middle grade fiction, but this was one of those and it was very well done. Themes related to the Black Lives Matter movement and grief are explored in this beautifully-written surprise of a novel.  

 Lightfall: The Dark Times (Book 3 of Tim Probert’s beautiful and compelling graphic novel fantasy series) has JUST come out, and I couldn’t be more excited to read it. The lights have gone out in the land of Irpa! Young heroine Bea and her Galdurian friend Cad must help the Pig Wizard to save their world from doom. It’s an epic journey that began two books ago with The Girl and the Galdurian.  This series is comparable to Kazuo Kibuishi‘s very popular and wondrous Amulet series, both in story AND incredible art. 


Emily’s Picks

Anne Ursu’s Not Quite A Ghost is a recent favorite, a ghost story inspired by The Yellow Wall-paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Violet’s family just moved into a new home, and her attic bedroom has ugly floral yellow wallpaper that seems to move when she’s not looking—it even creeps out her cat. Is her new house haunted? Plus, why are her best friends being so weird? And why is she suddenly finding herself so exhausted, hardly able to make it through her days in sixth grade? I haven’t read many books set in the COVID pandemic that ring quite as true as this one, and I highly recommend it.  

Other scary stories I’m looking forward to reading this summer and fall are Chuck Tingle’s Hollywood horror story, Bury Your Gays; Colby Wilkens’s ghostly romance set in a Scottish Castle, If I Stopped Haunting You (out in October); and Alyssa Cole’s newest trapped-on-an-island thriller, One Of Us Knows. 


Raminta’s Pick 

Inuktitut is the language of the central and eastern Canadian Inuit. Elisapie Isaac blends her Inuit culture with popular music, creating a beautiful and ethereal sound. Songs like Heart of Glass, Wish You Were Here, and I Want to Break Free from one of my favorite movie soundtracks (Queen for The Highlander movie), become almost haunting when translated into Inuktitut. I honestly can’t recommend this album enough. The Inuit language is so beautifully layered over horns, guitar, and more showcasing not only Isaac’s love for classic rock, but for her Inuit language. I truly loved listening to this album straight through. I hope you get a chance to listen too. 


Brendon’s Pick 

My June Staff Pick is October: the story of the Russian Revolution by China Miéville. 

 I don’t have much to blurb about it because I’m still actively reading it (I got the audiobook through ILL), but I’m really enjoying how seamlessly it balances its time among all these competing interests, the rich and the poor, the grifters and the true believers, the workers and the aristocrats. It feels like a very timely read in 2024. I’m a new fan of Mieville—my book club read The City & The City a couple months ago—but I’m fast becoming a devotee. From hardboiled, fantastical detective stories to elegant, occasionally gritty nonfiction, I find myself asking, what can’t this writer do? 


Una’s Picks 

“Why did I tell you so many stories? Because I wanted the world to make sense to you. I wanted to make sense of the world, for you. I wanted the world to make sense.” 
―Celeste Ng,
Our Missing Hearts 

 


Linda’s Pick 

“Instantly I was thinking about those Post-it notes stuck all over my house. How had I allowed myself to become so busy? How long had it been since I’d spent a day in the sun, eating sandwiches from a cooler and watching water ripple across the surface of a lake? Why do I so often behave as though there will be unlimited days to sit quietly with my own beloveds, listening to birdsong and wind in the pines?” Margaret Renkl, The Comfort of Crows


Becca’s Pick 

Graphic novel author Chris Sebela knows how to craft a great premise. Crowded, a three-part series about an app like Uber—but for assassination—was incredibly funny and well-plotted. When I came across Godfell, I was immediately intrigued. The basic plot is this: While a long war ravages a planet, a godlike creature falls from the sky and dies. Zanzi, a talented career soldier, defects from the army to make her way home. She soon discovers the shortest route is through the god’s body, among the many groups who have taken up residence inside. Who can claim the god to be theirs? What is the purpose of existence when basic needs are met? Is it really God? The story is quite violent, but the shocking ending is worth it.  


Vicky’s Picks 

Last fall, my nephew asked me what I thought of The Three-Body Problem. I’d never heard of the landmark science-fiction saga by Chinese author Liu Cixin, but my nephew has good taste, so I checked out the audiobook on cloudLibrary and was transfixed. As I told my nephew, I couldn’t say much about the physics, but the storytelling was amazing. Liu has a deliberate, matter-of-fact style, and Luke Daniels’ narration matched it to a T. The story of a physicist who is so wounded by first the Cultural Revolution and then humanity’s general disregard for the Earth that she invites an alien invasion is wound with the decades-later experiences of a nanomaterials researcher who begins to suffer from hallucinations that involve him in both an immersive VR game and a murder investigation. Even as characters and readers remain embedded in the Chinese setting, the scope expands far beyond our solar system, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.  

I was hooked, but by the time I finished, the news of the Netflix adaptation had spread, so I needed to wait for the audiobooks of the sequels: The Dark Forest and Death’s End. At 22.5 hours and 29 hours respectively, they are no small commitment, but wow, are they worth the investment in time. P.J. Ochlan takes over the narrating duties, and his delivery is just as well matched to the texts as Daniels’. The books continue to expand the setting: both physically into ever farther reaches of space, and temporally (such that The Three-Body Problem begins to feel intimate by comparison). In both volumes, Liu centers characters readers first meet in the early 21st century who then enter extended hibernation for decades, then centuries, then millennia, ensuring psychological and cultural continuity. 

I still haven’t seen the Netflix series—frankly, I’m a little leery—but I can’t stop talking about the books. (Just ask my coworkers.) If you like science fiction and want a totally immersive experience, add yourself to the holds queues. You won’t regret it. 


 Elizabeth’s Picks

I’m already notorious for sharing approximately 10-20 picks instead of one or two, so I’ll just double down by sharing a pile of picks and some great booklists our staff have created! There’s a lot of books to be excited about this summer. 


Thanks for reading! You can find all of these books in our booklist All Friends Are Necessary: June Staff Picks.

For more reading ideas in June, try books from our booklists, search our new books, or try our Your Next Great Read reading service for a personalized booklist of reading ideas from our staff.

 


Celebrating Juneteenth 2024

posted: , by Raminta Moore
tags: Adults | Teens | Seniors | Art & Culture
An image featuring nine book covers of titles found in PPL's Juneteenth booklist

“African Americans have always used these moments of memory to think about where the community has come from and what we’re pursuing and striving towards, as well as taking the time to pass down history and culture.

Juneteenth is a time to reflect. What does it mean to really celebrate our freedom? What does it mean to be free in moments where freedom is conditional, and freedom is always a challenge? Juneteenth is a moment to think about freedom being conditional freedom and it is something that we must continuously strive and fight for.”

-Angela Tate, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Curator of African American Women’s History

At center, a depiction of a parade in celebration of the passing of the 15th Amendment. Framing it are notable anti-slavery forces such as John Brown and Frederick Douglas.

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At center, a depiction of a parade in celebration of the passing of the 15th Amendment. Framing it are notable anti-slavery forces such as John Brown and Frederick Douglas. (from the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture)

Juneteenth is also known as Freedom Day, Emancipation Day and Jubilee Day.

On June 19, 1865, Major Gen. Gordon Granger led Union soldiers into Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and slavery was abolished – two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

President Lincoln’s edict had little impact on the people of Texas, since there were few Union troops around at the time to enforce it. But, with the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee in April 1865 and the arrival of Gen. Gordon Granger’s regiment in Galveston, troops were finally strong enough to enforce the executive order. Newly freed people rejoiced, originating the annual “Juneteenth” celebration.

But as Mary Elliott (Curator at the National Museum of African American History and Culture) notes, “June 19th freed enslaved people in the rebelling states, it did not free enslaved people throughout the nation. Keep in mind, there were still border states which were still part of the Union. They had not seceded from the Union, and they still maintained slavery. Maryland, for example, was one of them. It took the creation of the Emancipation Proclamation, the end of the Civil War, and the passage of the 13th Amendment to finally end slavery throughout the nation.”

“I like to think of Juneteenth as a celebration of freedom, of family, and of joy that emerged from this cauldron of the war…

Juneteenth is for everyone who believes in freedom, and who believes in creating a new world.”

-Kelly E. Navies, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Museum Specialist of Oral History

Although Juneteenth has been informally celebrated each year since 1865, it wasn’t until June 3, 1979, that Texas became the first state to proclaim Juneteenth an official state holiday.

Juneteenth Resources


Roof Gardens and Backyard Birds: May Staff Picks

posted: , by Elizabeth
tags: Library Collections | Recommended Reads | Adults | Seniors | Art & Culture | Readers Writers

 

Roof gardens, backyard birds, spring days.

Recipes passed down between generations, poems that live in our hearts.

Imagination and action changing the world.

In our May Staff Picks, we share what we’re reading this spring. Find books from Morgan Talty, Rhiannon Giddens, Andrea Wang, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Deborah Jackson Taffa, Rebecca K Reilly, Agnes Lee, and more great writers.


Julia’s Pick 

In the new picture book Grandma’s Roof Garden by Tang Wei (translated by Kelly Zhang), an elderly woman tends a vibrant garden atop her apartment building in a city in southwest China. “Granny sometimes does things that may seem funny or strange,” Wei tells us, such as collecting damaged produce from the market. But those wilted greens nourish her rooftop vegetable beds, providing abundant baskets of produce for her neighbors and a delectable meal for her family.  

In Wei’s colored-pencil illustrations, Granny’s “gorgeous, chubby veggie children” practically burst off the page. I love books where the pictures include details never mentioned in the text; in this one, readers can trace the antics of a black cat and a mouse who follow Granny through the pages. 


Cindy’s Picks 

We Could Fly is a lovely picture book written by Rhiannon Giddens and illustrated by the amazing Briana Mukodiri Uchendu. Giddens was deeply inspired as a child by the famous collection of Black American folktales The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton. This is her luminous ode to that collection. The illustrations are captivating and lead you from one page to the next in a mesmerizing way.  

 The School for Invisible Boys is a middle grade book by Shaun David Hutchinson. There is more than meets the eye at St. Lawrence’s Catholic School for Boys, and if Hector is going to save Orson—and himself—from a terrifying creature preying on students’ loneliness and fear, he’ll need to look deeper. With the help of a mysterious new classmate, Sam, can Hector unravel the mysteries haunting his school and discover that sometimes it takes disappearing to really be seen? This magical realism novel has LGBTQ and bullying themes.  

Summer at Squee is a middle grade book by Newbery-Honor-Winning author Andrea Wang. Phoenny Fang is planning to have the best summer ever.  She is returning to the “Summertime Chinese Culture, Wellness and Enrichment Experience” Camp (“Squee” to campers in the know) and this year she is a senior camper, which means that she and her squad of friends will be among the coolest kids.  But on the day she arrives, she discovers that not only has her squad been split up, a whole crop of new campers has arrived. She is determined to make the best of it, but quickly realizes that there are things she doesn’t understand that she must learn about. 


Emily’s Pick 

I found a new favorite audiobook & fictional family in Rebecca K Reilly’s Greta & Valdin, a new-to-the-U.S. book that was first published in New Zealand and thankfully has made its way here. Greta and Valdin Vladislavljevic are queer Māori and Russian siblings and roommates in Auckland. They’re both dealing with a whole slew of relationship messes, their ridiculous but loving family, and trying to get through their day-to-day lives. I listened to the audiobook and can’t recommend it enough—I loved hearing the two main narrators give voice to Greta and Valdin, with all of their emotions and wry humor, and their talents at bringing the characters to life.  

In the novel, Valdin is trying really hard to get over his ex-boyfriend Xabi. While it helps that Xabi moved all the way to Buenos Aires, it doesn’t help that he is Valdin’s uncle’s husband’s brother, so Valdin still has to hear about him. Valdin’s also made a major change in his career (from studying physics to TV), and tells the listener about learning to manage his OCD. Meanwhile Greta is navigating a crush that turns into heartbreak, getting lost in the woods, and working on her graduate degree in Russian literature. She also gets to experience a quite hilarious (to the listener!) family dinner when she brings a new girlfriend along and things quickly get chaotic. Definitely one to read—and if you can, listen to! 


Gabrielle’s Picks 

I recently read—and loved—two very different books that struck me as similar in their quietly moving depictions of grief and joy. One, Ædnan: An Epic, is a novel in verse by Linnea Axelsson, a Sami Swedish writer. She gives voice to various Sami characters as they navigate the heartbreak of being forced to leave behind their traditional ways, language, lands, and identity. The second, 49 Days, is a graphic novel by Agnes Lee which unrolls over the course of the 49 days that, in Buddhist thought, is the time between death and rebirth. The book explores the grieving process as it is experienced on both sides of the divide: by the deceased as well as by the loved ones who are still living.

Both books are beautifully written in language that felt to me both spare and lush. Neither one took long to read and yet, while I was in each book, time slowed down and the rest of the world fell into a hush (which, to me, is one of the great gifts of reading). 


Vicky’s Pick 

I recently listened to Deborah Jackson Taffa’s memoir Whiskey Tender on cloudLibrary. A member of both the Quechan Nation and Laguna Pueblo, Taffa describes growing up first on the Quechan reservation in eastern California and then in Navajo country when her welder father took a job in Farmington, N.M. She recounts her childhood and youth with crystalline precision: Her experiences are not some monolithic “Native Experience” but particular to her culture, setting, and family. But they are informed by the systemic injustices perpetuated by settler colonialism: the Spanish invaders who problematized her mother’s family’s sense of identity for generations, the 1887 Dawes Act that restricted her father’s family’s landownership, the 1956 Indian Relocation Act that ultimately uprooted her family from the reservation. She grew up proud to know her family’s surname was a president’s—only to learn years later that Andrew Jackson was the architect of the Trail of Tears.

Taffa twines national, family, and personal histories into a singular narrative of growing into a complicated, treasured identity. Charley Flyte, who is Oglala Lakota and Mohawk, voices this moving, immersive account. (Those who prefer print will find copies available in MaineCat.) 


Fionna’s Picks 

Last month I listened to Fern Brady’s memoir Strong Female Character. Brady was diagnosed as autistic as an adult, after being misdiagnosed with OCD as a teen/young adult. Her questions about autism as a teen were dismissed and she was even told she couldn’t be autistic because “she’d had loads of boyfriends and made good eye-contact.” Strong Female Character goes over the years without the diagnosis as Brady struggles to find context, validation, and support for the overwhelming sense that she experiences the world differently than most. What results is a memoir that is brutally honest and absolutely hilarious as it shines a light on one woman’s experience with autism. I haven’t stopped talking about or recommending this to people since I started listening. 

 I just finished listening to Kennedy Ryan’s This Could Be Us, her follow up to last year’s Before I Let Go, that works well as a stand-alone.  This second-act romance was perfect listening for our ascent into springtime with the sunny and (Maine) warm days we’ve had in the last week. The narrators were fantastic and over the days I was listening I found myself feeling lighter and hopeful even when my earbuds weren’t in. Ryan wove serious topics through the story while maintaining the joy and ease of reading I look for when I pick up a romance. Try it this spring or save for a perfect beach read! 


Elizabeth’s Picks 

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum (translated by Shanna Tan) is a treasure—a gentle, thoughtful novel about a woman who opens a bookstore in a neighborhood in Seoul and how it changes her and the community who gathers there. There’s much coffee-drinking and chats between characters as they mull over life. It’s a relaxing read, but you’ll want to know what happens next to the characters, too.  

I love Jean Valentine’s spare, searching poetry (“Where will you be going? Who will the others be?”). I’m glad for Light Me Down, the last volume of her work, with poems new and old. 

Two guest picks: a friend who loves basketball and the writing of Hanif Abdurraqib is thrilled that these worlds collide in There’s Always This Year. And my mom, an avid birder in Illinois, recommends The Backyard Bird Chronicles, written and (wonderfully!) illustrated by Amy Tan.

It’s not out until June, but you might want to place a hold on Morgan Talty’s new novel Fire Exit now! More new books by favorite authors: The Dead Cat Tail Assassins. Beautyland. Bite By Bite, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. I’ve been waiting for another book from Rachel Khong—a stellar humorist and poignant observer of human foibles—since her first novel Goodbye, Vitamin. She’s back this spring with Real Americans. 

I’m also looking forward to new books by debut authors. “Each evening’s menu told me what kind of stories we would hear at the dinner table.” Elaine U. Cho’s new sci-fi adventure Ocean’s Godori comes with a misfit crew and space chases, while Karla Tatiana Vasquez gathers stories from grandmothers, moms, aunts, and friends in The SalviSoul Cookbook: Salvadoran Recipes & the Women Who Preserve Them 

I’ll leave you with Imagination: A Manifesto. Ruha Benjamin shares a vital tool for the work of transformation and collective liberation. “We can transform the hostile environments that try to trap us—whether they are literal cages, barbed wire-encircled playgrounds, or bullet-friendly classrooms. We can imagine otherwise.”   


Thanks for reading! You can find all of these books in our booklist Roof Gardens and Backyard Birds: May Staff Picks.

For more reading ideas in May, try books from our booklists, search our new books, or try our Your Next Great Read reading service for a personalized booklist of reading ideas from our staff.

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