Readers' Advisory

I find this to be a very difficult question. It’s especially hard because I know what I’d want in a perfect world but alas, we live in a deeply flawed world where homophobia, transphobia, and racism are all too prevalent. And while it’s terrible that these hateful thoughts and ideations have to affect how we conduct our work, the harsh truth is that they do.  As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I absolutely prefer to read books with protagonists of the community as well, specifically sapphic protagonists. There are so many queer books out there anymore (far more than when I was a teenager and coming out) and I can connect with those protagonists and storylines far more than some heterosexual ones. So in a perfect, idealistic world I think it sounds great to have a curated little section of LGBTQ+ books that I would be specifically interested in rather than have to sort through the entire collection. Catalog tags and subject headings do make this lots easier online, but in branch i...

As someone who is a Real Adult (just turned thirty), I personally think it’s crazy to feel like young adult or even middle grade books are off limits! There was a time in my early 20s that I did feel a bit embarrassed to still be looking in the teen section of my library, but I got over that pretty quickly, especially when I realized it’s so much more common than I thought. I read a ton, and it’s probably about 50/50 young adult and adult titles. What’s important to me, as to most readers, are the appeals. I want something character-driven with a diverse cast and a decently fast pace. I’m just as likely to find those desires in each age group. There’s lots of discourse online about the merits or faults of adults reading young adult fiction. There are still the people out there who condescend about adults reading YA literature, like this article by Ruth Graham for Slate. And certainly some people in real life have expressed negative and condescending opinions about adults reading books...

  Author: Brooke Lauren Davis Genre: Young Adult Thriller Publication Date: October 4, 2022 Number of Pages: 352 Pages Geographical Setting: The fictional town of Whistler, Indiana Time Period: Present Day Series: None Plot summary: After Dark with Roxie Clark follows teenage horror and ghost-story enthusiast Roxie Clark. Roxie lives in the small town of Whistler, Indiana with her sister Skylar and her grandmother Gertie. She also runs a ghost tour based primarily off of ghost stories and legends about the Clark family, specifically the women who seem to face tragic and early ends.  At the start of the novel, it’s been about a year since Skylar’s boyfriend, Colin, was found brutally murdered in a cornfield. Once Yale-bound, Skylar has seemingly given up on her life goals after his death. Roxie is desperate to get her sister back, but the plan goes awry when new details of Colin’s death and the secrets surrounding it come to light. Skylar throws herself full force into a murde...

Author: Xochitl Gonzalez Title: Olga Dies Dreaming Genre: Literary Fiction Publication Date: January 4, 2022 Number of Pages: 373 pages Time Period: Mostly set in 2017 with letters and flashbacks from the early 2000s Series: None Plot Summary: Olga Dies Dreaming follows the fraught lives of Puerto Rican siblings Olga and Prieto Acevedo living in Brooklyn, NY. Olga works as a wedding planner for the wealthy elites of Brooklyn and Prieto is a U.S Congressman. Their mother, Blanca, is part of the Young Lords revolutionary group in Puerto Rico. She never cared to mother the siblings and fell out of their lives years ago, communicating only with her children in scattered and manipulative letters throughout the years. When Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the island of Puerto Rico, the lives of Olga and Prieto implode as their mother comes back into their lives, carrying family and national secrets with her. Subject Headings:  Hispanic Americans - Fiction Mother and Child - Fiction Family...

1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum? Highly Narrative 2. What is the subject of the book? Michelle Zauner’s life as a Korean American, her relationship with her mother, and her mother’s death 3. What type of book is it? Memoir in narrative form 4. Articulate appeal What is the pacing of the book? The pace is fairly leisurely. Describe the characters of the book. As a memoir, it focuses mostly on the author Michelle Zauner, lead singer of the band Japanese Breakfast. Michelle is Korean American and grew up in Eugene, Oregon before moving to the East Coast. She had a strained relationship with her mother, which provided a lot of the narrative and emotional basis of the book.  How does the story feel? Emotional, deep, cathartic. What is the intent of the author? To share her life story and experiences, to come to terms with the death of her mother What is the focus of the story? Growing up as Korean in America, Michelle’s relationship with her mother, her life as a...

  Author: Nicola Griffith Title: Spear Genre: Fantasy - Historical and Legend Publication Date: April 19, 2022 Number of Pages: 184 pages Geographical Setting : British Isles Time Period: Arthurian Times, likely 5th-6th century Series: None Plot Summary: The book follows a girl in the Arthurian times who grew up in the wild with only her mother and not even the knowledge of her own name. When she leaves her mother's hidden sanctuary, drawn by the call of heroism and knighthood, she learns her name: Peretur. The reader follows the adventurers of Peretur, as she finds a home amongst travelers at first before stumbling upon the body of a fallen knight and taking his arms and armor. Peretur disguises herself as a boy and learns she has an inherent knack for horseback riding and the spear. She goes on to Caer Leon to meet up with King Arturus (Arthur) and the legendary Knights of the Round, also eventually meeting the king's sorcerer, Nimue of the Lake. To prove herself worthy of kn...