Reviews

Staff Review

The Maid's Version

By Daniel Woodrell
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Brian B.
Jan 31, 2015

Woodrell does an admirable job painting realistic, detailed, and vibrant characters.  Alma Dunahew works as a maid in West Table, Missouri for a wealthy family.  After her sister, along with 42 members of the town, are killed in an explosion at the local dance hall, Alma spends her life campaigning for and championing the truth.

Staff Review

When Lunch Fights Back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses

By Rebecca L. Johnson
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Diane H.
Jan 29, 2015

Teeth, claws, horns. These are animal defenses we’re familiar with. What about slime? Toxic explosions? Blood shooting from an eye? Learn about these and other totally cool and utterly gross ways that animals protect themselves in Rebecca Johnson’s When Lunch Fights Back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses.

This is a short, intriguing book for older children and anyone interested in fun (and rather disgusting) facts about animals.

Staff Review

A Hundred Pieces of Me

By Lucy Dillon
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Colleen O.
Jan 28, 2015

A Hundred Pieces of Me is a bittersweet and inspiring story of loss, love, forgiveness, and finding what is important in life. Gina Bellamy has been through many struggles, and newly single, finds herself on her own. A divorcee and cancer survivor, Gina just wants to rebuild her life after her marriage falls apart. Starting from scratch in a tiny apartment, she decides to keep only one hundred things; one hundred pieces of herself.

Staff Review

The Voyager

By Jenny Lewis
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Heather B.
Jan 27, 2015

Despite its appearance on more than one best of 2014 list, you could be forgiven for thinking Jenny Lewis' new album, The Voyager, came straight out of the 1970s; just take one listen to "She's Not Me" and you'll be breaking out your bell-bottoms and platform shoes and searching for the nearest disco.

Staff Review

Amped

By Daniel H. Wilson
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Jan 25, 2015

Remember that time your Dad told you the implant in your brain didn’t just control your seizures, but that it had “something extra”? Me neither. But it’s a day Owen Gray will never forget.

Staff Review

Please Look After Mom

By Kyung-Sook Shin
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Megan C.
Jan 18, 2015

This best-selling novel by South Korean author Kyung-Sook Shin takes a piercing look at how we treat those closest to us, and what it means to be a wife and mother. Told from four perspectives, the story examines the aftermath of the disappearance of “mom”. Some of the narrators speak in the unusual voice of second person, which serves to make the narrative more personal.

Staff Review

Mine is the Night

By Liz Curtis Higgs

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Jan 17, 2015

In 1746 Scotland, Elizabeth Kerr and her mother-in-law, Marjory Kerr, are labeled traitors to the crown.  They’ve lost everything—their husbands and sons, their estate, titles, and fortunes.  All that is left to them is to beg mercy and refuge from Marjory’s distant cousin, a woman who has lived her entire life with only the barest of resources.  They must do what they can to survive and avoid being noticed by those who would turn them in to the authorities.  Elizabeth chances employment as a dressmaker for the staff of Lord Jack Buchanan, a retired admiral of

Staff Review

Darkness Visible

By William Styron
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Becky C.
Jan 14, 2015

William Styron was already an accomplished, award-winning author by the mid-1980s when he suffered a devastating episode of clinical depression.