Five Book Friday!

And for any of you night-owls out there, be sure to check out the brilliant full moon!

For those of our readers across the Atlantic (hello there!) tonight’s sky will feature the second blood moon of 2018, in the longest totality of the 21st century, according to NASA.  The moon will be obscured completely for an hour and 43 minutes, during which time the earth’s shadow will fall across it, causing the moon to appear red.    Sadly, however, by the time night falls in North America, the eclipse will already have ended. We’ll apparently have to wait until January 21, 2019, when the next full lunar eclipse will be viewable here.

So while some predict this means the end of days, we have every intention of being open at 9am tomorrow, so by all means, be sure to come by, and check out the wonderful selection of new books, dvds, cds, and more on our shelves this week!  Here are just a few to whet your appetite.

The Wrong Heaven In Amy Bonnaffons utterly wild collection of short stories, anything is possible: bodies can transform, inanimate objects come to life, angels appear and disappear. Bonnaffons draws us into a delightfully strange universe, in which her conflicted characters seek to solve their sexual and spiritual dilemmas in all the wrong places. The title story’s heroine reckons with grief while arguing with loquacious Jesus and Mary lawn ornaments that come to life when she plugs them in. In “Horse,” we enter a world in which women transform themselves into animals through a series of medical injections. In “Alternate,” a young woman convinces herself that all she needs to revive a stagnant relationship is the perfect poster of the Dalai Lama.  These stories delve into the mysteries that surround our everyday lives, relationships, and locations, making for a set of stories that manage somehow to be profound, funny, thought-provoking, and wonderfully engrossing.  This book has been getting starred and glowing reviews from outlets across the country, including from Library Journal, who said (in its starred review) “At once goofy, poignant, and edged with the fantastic, the stories in Bonnaffons’s debut collection initially surprise, then turn into one long, delicious rush.”

The Map of Salt and Stars: Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar’s debut novel has drawn comparisons to The Kite Runner in the way it captures a nation (in this case, Syria), and the deep bonds of two people who forge a life there.  In the summer of 2011, just after Nour loses her father to cancer, her mother moves Nour and her sisters from New York City back to Syria to be closer to their family. In order to keep her father’s spirit as she adjusts to her new home, Nour tells herself their favorite story—the tale of Rawiya, a twelfth-century girl who disguised herself as a boy in order to apprentice herself to a famous mapmaker.  But the Syria Nour’s parents knew is changing, and it isn’t long before the war reaches their quiet Homs neighborhood. When a stray shell destroys Nour’s house and almost takes her life, she and her family are forced to choose: stay and risk more violence or flee across seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of safety—along the very route Rawiya and her mapmaker took eight hundred years before in their quest to chart the world. As Nour’s family decides to take the risk, their journey becomes more and more dangerous, until they face a choice that could mean the family will be separated forever.  This is an ambitious novel that spans time and space, and brings the devastation of the war in Syria home in a way news reports simply cannot.  Booklist recognized the beautiful balancing act that Joukhadar manages here, describing in its starred review how “Nour’s family constantly endures hardship. . . but her young, honest voice adds a softer, coming-of-age perspective to this story of loss, hope, and survival. . . This imaginative yet very real look into war-torn Syria is a must.”

 

Ocean Light:  Fans of Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series will delight in returning to the world of this series, this time to explore the changeling group of BlackSea, which is full of ocean-dwelling changelings.  Security specialist Bowen Knight has come back from the dead. But there’s a ticking time bomb in his head: a chip implanted to block telepathic interference that could fail at any moment–taking his brain along with it. With no time to waste, he should be back on land helping the Human Alliance. Instead, he’s at the bottom of the ocean, consumed with an enigmatic changeling.  Kaia Luna, a BlackSea changeling may have traded in science for being a chef, but she won’t hide the facts of Bo’s condition from him or herself. She’s suffered too much loss in her life to fall prey to the dangerous charm of a human who is a dead man walking. But when Kaia is taken by those who mean her deadly harm, all bets are off. Bo will do anything to get her back, even if it means giving up his mind to the enemy.  This is probably not a book for series’ newcomers, as there are a number of long-running plots threads (including a few answers for those who have been kept in eager anticipation!), but for those in the know, Kirkus Reviews promises “Another intricately plotted, vividly sensual love story from a romance favorite.”

Yes, You Are Trans Enough: My Transition from Self-Loathing to Self-LoveThis is the story of Transgender blogger Mia Violet, told in her witty, deeply insightful and wonderfully energetic style, which reflects on her life and how at 26 she came to finally realize she was ‘trans enough’ to be transgender, after years of knowing she was different but without the language to understand why.  From bullying, heartache and a botched coming out attempt, through to counselling, Gender Identity Clinics and acceptance, Mia confronts the ins and outs of transitioning, using her charged personal narrative to explore the most pressing questions in the transgender debate and confront what the media has gotten wrong.  This is a book for those looking for advice, as well as those looking to become a better ally by learning about the real experiences of transfolx.  Author and activist Christine Burns wrote a stunning blurb for this book, calling it “Honest, raw, moving: This intimate blow by blow account of a young trans woman’s odyssey to personal acceptance and authenticity really ought to be compulsory reading for anyone who ever thought in ignorance that a change of gender was a whimsical adventure.”

 

The Widower’s Notebook: A Memoir: On a summer day in New York Jonathan Santlofer discovers his wife, Joy, gasping for breath on their living room couch. After a frenzied 911 call, an ambulance race across Manhattan, and hours pacing in a hospital waiting room, a doctor finally delivers the fateful news. Consumed by grief, Jonathan desperately tries to pursue life as he always had–writing, social engagements, and working on his art–but finds it nearly impossible to admit his deep feelings of loss to anyone, not even his to beloved daughter, Doria, or to himself.  This is the story of Santlofer’s two-year journey of grief, acceptance, and healing, as well as his recollections of his loving marriage and memories of his beloved wife.   Though not easy to read, this is a powerfully necessary work that offers insight for those who are grieving themselves, or helping others to grieve, reminding us all that the journey is not a simple one, but that it can be done–and done with grace, honesty, and even a little humor, too.  Author Lee Child contributed a wonderful blurb for this book, praising it as a”Wrenching, heartbreaking, intense and emotional – but valuable, too: we’re all approaching the age where this will happen to us – or to others because of us – and understanding that it can be dealt with is consoling.  I don’t know how Santlofer found the fortitude to write this, but I’m deeply grateful he did. I think the world is a better place with this book in it.”

 

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!