Booking Forward February 2020

Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time by Philip Clark

What do we know about Dave Brubeck? We’ve all heard his classic jazz anthem Take Five, and might have heard the name Dave Brubeck… but what else is known about this jazz giant? Well, in Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time, we’ll get to find out as the author Philip Clark had an all access pass to Brubeck, spending an entire tour of the United Kingdom with him and his band during the early 2000s. I’m really looking forward to the brain pickings of this iconic musical genius.

For fans of: 

- Birth of the Cool: how jazz great Miles David found his sound by Kathleen Cornell Berman

- Good Things Happen Slowly: a life in and out of jazz by Fred Hersch

A Divided Loyalty by Charles Todd

The latest in Todd’s popular Inspector Ian Rutledge series. Avebury is a village set inside a great prehistoric stone circle not far from Stonehenge. Can Rutledge solve a cold case when the victim is unidentified and the clues are few and far between? And if he does, is he brave enough to face the wrath of his superiors for going against their wishes?

For fans of: 

- Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers

- The New Hercule Poirot mysteries by Sophie Hannah

The Illness Lesson by Clare Beams

In 19^th century New England, Samuel Hood and his daughter Caroline take up the unlikely task of educating young women in subjects that were at the time considered too difficult for them. As classes begin, a mysterious flock of red birds descends on the town and the girls become ill with a maddening variety of symptoms. When her father brings in a physician to treat the girls using suspect methods, Caroline finds she must do what’s right no matter the cost.

For fans of: 

- The Witch Elm by Tana French

- The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis 

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley

Fans of Pulley’s The Watchmaker of Filigree Street rejoice! Thaniel and Mori are back, Katsu is alive, and the three are in for another adventure. This time in a steampunk-tinged Japan filled with secrets, political intrigue…and ghosts. After four years away, I can’t wait to revisit characters who feel like old friends.

For fans of: 

- A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The Resisters by Gish Jen

In a near-future America, the country is half underwater, and citizens are either the “Netted” who live on dry land or the “Surplus” living in swamps and on the water. But this isn’t “Waterworld.” Gwen, a young Surplus girl, has a gift for baseball and is tapped for the Olympic team, playing alongside the Netted elite. While many dystopian books center the downfall of society on one cataclysmic event, what is truly terrifying (and perhaps all too real) here is that the breakdown of society comes through countless seemingly inconsequential actions. Chilling.

For fans of: 

- On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee

- Vox by Christina Dalcher

Sisters by Choice by Susan Mallery

This fourth book in the Blackberry Island Series is a heartfelt story of three women with their own dreams, ambitions, and problems. It's a story of love, family, and the friendships that see us through. A great read to warm you up on a cold February night!

For fans of: 

- The Summerhouse Novels by Jude Deveraux

- The Wednesday Novels by Meg Waite Clayton

  

Until the End of Time by Brian Greene

In the past, I’ve really appreciated how Brian Greene has simplified complex astro-physics so that the common person can be intrigued and inspired by this mysterious science, especially in The Elegant Universe, which also became a PBS documentary.  What has me excited about his new book Until the End of Time is that Greene is delving inward into human consciousness and what its place is in this vast universe.  I highly suspect this one will be made into a PBS special as well, with Greene as the narrator.  I can’t wait!

For fans of:

- Gravity's century: from Einstein's eclipse to images of black holes by Ron Cowen

- The quantum moment: how Planck, Bohr, Einstein, and Heisenberg taught us to love uncertainty by Robert P. Crease

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

Carolina Santos is a wedding planner hoping to land an opportunity that will take her business to the next level. Unfortunately, this opportunity comes with one big hitch: she’ll have to work with the brother of her ex-fiancé. Max Hartley is a marketing expert set on getting a new big client. But can he handle working with Carolina when she hates him for talking his brother out of marrying her?

I can’t pass up a good enemies-to-lovers story, and this one sounds like a lot of fun!

For fans of: 

- Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

- The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

Review: The Girls with No Names

The Girls with No Names by Serena Burdick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just because you are rich doesn’t mean you have freedoms—you actually have limits, a slave to society and propriety. Meet sisters Effie and Luella Tildon, who lived a very comfortable life but had to conform to a strict set of rules that were placed upon women in the 1900s. Any kind of rebellion could send them to a work house, an asylum, known as the House of Mercy.

One day when their father took them out for lunch to spend time with them, both Luella and Effie witnessed the real truth behind his motive. After finding out their father’s shocking secret, Luella, the older and braver sister, decided that she would do as she pleased. However, with that rebellion comes consequences. One day she was no longer there. Effie comes to believe that she was sent to the House of Mercy and plans to get herself committed in order to save her sister. Once there, she falls victim to the cruelty and befriends another girl by the name of Mable. The two learn that they must rely on and trust each other to survive. The Girls with No Names is a gripping story till the end.



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Review: You Will Be Safe Here

You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in South Africa in two timelines, You Will Be Safe Here explores the idea that telling someone "you will be safe here" is sometimes a perverted way of justifying mistreatment and confinement. In 1901, Sarah and her son Fred are swept from their farm in rural South Africa in the midst of the Second Boer War, in which the British employed a scorch-and-burn method of removing families, mostly women and children, left behind while their soldier husbands were away fighting, from their homes. The British soldiers burned the dwellings, barns, and crops, and funneled the people into concentration camps "for their safety." In reality, the British Empire was fighting with two Boer states, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, over the Empire's influence in South Africa, and they wanted to destroy anything that would give sustenance or support to the Boer soldiers. In 2010, Irma and Jan drop off Irma's teenage son Willem at the New Dawn Safari Training Camp, which is supposed to turn boys into men. Willem has been expelled from school for an incident that was not really his fault, but because he's sensitive and different, his stepfather insists that he needs straightening up, in more ways than one. New Dawn is a cruel and horrible place, with many parallels to the concentration camp that Sarah and her son were forced to endure. The reader eventually learns the connections between these two timelines and places. Although a sobering story about a history that most of us have no knowledge of, there are moments of devotion, caring, and connection that lift the heart. Highly recommended.

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Review: Sleepless, Vol. 1

Sleepless, Vol. 1 by Sarah Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Volume one of Sleepless collects the first six chapters in the series and gets this enchanting fantasy romance off to a wonderful start. This graphic novel tells the tale of Poppy- the illegitimate daughter of the recently deceased King, and Cyrenic – the sleepless knight sworn to guard her from all harm with a vow to never sleep, until his final “sleep unto death.”

With a new king now seated at the throne, courtly intrigue ensues as Poppy’s family and trusted friends leave for other lands, leaving her exposed to the new royalty as well as strange and unknown scoundrels attempting to assassinate her. But, at least she has Cyrenic at her side for moral support, relationship advice, and ninja-like bodyguard skills… and with the help of all the political maneuvering the two must perform to survive the treachery of the royal court, a true romantic tension begins to blossom.

Sleepless uses artwork that reminds you of the middle ages, having a style that hints at ancient illuminated texts while at the same time using much more modernized facial expressions and character gestures - and in some instances looking like stained-glass portraits come to life. The effect is pure fantasy!

Simply a joy to read, Sleepless would make a great first book for teen/adult readers looking to get into the world of graphic novels.


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