Snow + Cold = Reading!!!!

Wow!  The past few months have be unbelievable.  My office at the library became an ice castle - the icicles and snow outside my window made me feel that I was Elsa from the Disney film Frozen.  I am actually a bit sad that the my ice castle has melted.

Here's a look:

The only good thing about all of the snow, is that most of us were stuck inside.  That meant plenty of time for reading.  What could be better than coming in from the snow to curl up with a great book? I read so many books that it is hard to pick  the ones I want to share with you!  But here are 2 of my favorites that were published in February as well as a favorite now available in trade paperback.



A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

Once again Anne Tyler weaves a beautiful story of family. We come to know 3 generations of the Whitshank family as the novel travels back and forth and overlaps through time -much as the thread on a spool. We come to know the characters though their own memories and the observations of others. There are Junior and Linnie, their 2 children Red and Merrick, and Red's 4 children and grandchildren. It is an inter-generational story told in Tyler's unique and beautiful way. 







My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh

A book that will take you back to the good old 1980s, before cell phones and video games, where life seemed much simpler and safer. This suburban idyll in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is turned upside down when 15 year-old Lindy Simpson is raped. The novel is told from the point of view of a 14 year-old boy who has become obsessed with Lindy. He readily admits that he is one of the suspects and maybe quite the unreliable narrator. We soon discover the dark secrets that lay just beneath the surface of the neighborhood. This debut will keep you guessing until the very end. Who is the perpetrator and who is the hero? I couldn't put it down!



Now available in paperback:


China Dolls by Lisa See

Lisa See is one of my favorite authors and her newest title doesn't disappoint. It is set in San Francisco beginning in 1938 and follows the lives of 3 young women. Grace is Chinese American and was born and raised in the Midwest. She leaves an abusive home to travel to California seeking stardom. Grace was raised in an all-white community and did nor have any experience with her own Chinese culture. She meets Helen, a young woman raised in a traditional family in Chinatown, and they both get jobs as dancers in a nightclub. At the auditions they meet Ruby, a Japanese American who is "passing" as Chinese. The book follows the girls lives, told in first person alternating chapters up through World War II. The perspective of 3 varied narrators adds to the story. I would highly recommend this!

See you in a few weeks!  Spring is on the way!