Staff Recommendations
Pages
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Radicalized
by Doctorow, Cory
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMay 20, 2019
Call Number: SF
Speculative Fiction has a long history of using the tropes of the genre to comment on our world. Ursula K. Le Guin used The Left Hand of Darkness to examine cultural gender constructs. Using the original Star Trek television series, show creator Gene Roddenberry commented on issues like race relations and the Vietnam War. And in her novel Tooth and Claw, author Jo Walton illustrated the absurdity of Victorian rules of behavior by way of dragons. Sometimes the cultural criticism is playful and fun. Other times, it is subtle and sly, barely noticeable until the author wants... Read Full Review
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The plotters
by Kim, On-su, 1972-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 15, 2019
Street orphan Reseng is rescued by nuns, then adopted by Old Raccoon, the owner of a sensational private library. Being in possession of a library, or being a librarian for that matter, is not a measure of respectability, which is the case with Old Raccoon, whose friends are a strange and nefarious group of people. It is in the Library of Dogs where assassinations are planned. There are syndicates of professionals who organize assassins for hire, and the syndicates are in competition with each other--they are the plotters. From the time he was a child Reseng was ... Read Full Review
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The Night Tiger
by Choo, Yangsze
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMay 6, 2019
Ji Lin is a young woman who is working as an apprentice dressmaker by day and secretly working as a “dance instructor” at a dance-hall in the evenings to repay a family debt. Ren is eleven, but tells everyone that he is thirteen. He has lost his entire family, including his twin brother, and is working as a houseboy for an aging English doctor. As the doctor nears death, he makes a final request of Ren that he cannot refuse, even though he has no idea how he will fulfill his promise.
And then there is the severed finger, mummified and preserved in a glass vial. Ren needs to locate it... Read Full Review
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Voyage of the Sable Venus: And Other Poems
by Lewis, Robin Coste
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMay 1, 2019
Call Number: 811 L675
Poetry is the most intense and concentrated form of writing, using words, metre, rhyme and format to express thoughts, feelings and stories that can be fact or fiction. Robin Coste Lewis, Los Angeles Poet Laureate, has used all of these characteristics of poetry to examine the artistic representation of black female enslavement through the millenniums. Her poetic technique catalogs art work that often extolled and rhapsodized the sexuality of black females. This is a complex work, which compels and shocks by the very nature of the historical artwork that is referenced. Her... Read Full Review
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Our only world : ten essays
by Berry, Wendell, 1934-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionApril 22, 2019
Call Number: 309.73 B534-1
National Poetry Month is almost over, and today is Earth Day, so there is no better time to consider some of the thoughts and ideas of Wendell Berry. He is a gifted and prodigious writer of poetry, novels, short stories, and non-fiction. The Los Angeles Public Library's catalog lists numerous works by him (hard copy, audio-visual and e-media), with more of his work to be found in a variety of journals and magazines. His poems are approachable and suggestive; as a cultural critic his work is... Read Full Review
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The spy and the traitor : the greatest espionage story of the Cold War
by Macintyre, Ben, 1963-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionApril 16, 2019
Call Number: 351.74 M152-1
There have been masterfully written entertaining spy novels from Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, John Le Carré, and others. Many works are based on the authors' first-hand experiences working for intelligence agencies, not just their exuberant and fanciful imaginations. However, Ben Macintyre’s well-researched account of the Russian double agent, Oleg Gordievsky, and his American counterpart, Aldrich Ames, provides meticulous details about real spies. Gordievsky is the only known Soviet double agent smuggled out of Russia to Great Britain, and is still alive and in protective custody... Read Full Review
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He's got rhythm : the life and career of Gene Kelly
by Brideson, Cynthia,
Reviewed by: David B., Librarian, InfoNowApril 9, 2019
Call Number: 793.324 K29Br
The legacy of Gene Kelly, the legendary dancer, singer, actor, director and choreographer, is celebrated in this extensive biography by two young film buffs. Kelly emerges as the “Sinatra” (or “Brando”) of dance, an artist whose exacting standards coupled with an athletic, masculine energy produced some of the greatest masterpieces in the history of the film musical, including Singin’ in the Rain,... Read Full Review
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Record of a Spaceborn Few.
by Chambers, Becky.
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryApril 1, 2019
Call Number: SF
Becky Chambers has become a name to watch in Science Fiction. She published her first novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in 2014 after completing it via a successful Kickstarter campaign, which was later picked up by Harper Voyager and released to a much wider readership and received several notable awards. Chambers’ sophomore effort, A Closed... Read Full Review
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Lands of lost borders : a journey on the Silk Road
by Harris, Kate, 1982-
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabMarch 26, 2019
Call Number: 958 H314
As a child Kate Harris would trace Marco Polo’s path along the Silk Road in books, and dream of exploring Mars. She loved the idea of being outside, in the wilderness, seeing things no one had ever seen. So she decided to become an astronaut to take a shot at exploring Mars. As an adult she realized two important things. The first one was that the science degree she was studying (as part of her quest to become an astronaut) involved less exploration and more time indoors, peering into microscopes. It wasn’t for her. The second thing she realized was that Marco Polo was not the explorer she... Read Full Review
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Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
by O'Meara, Mallory
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 18, 2019
Call Number: 812.092 P3135Om
"Milicent Patrick's final resting place is in every single Creature from the Black Lagoon T-shirt, every Metaluna Mutant toy, every VHS tape of Fantasia, every DVD of The Shape of Water. It's on the desk of every female animator and in the pen of every woman doodling a monster in the margins of her notebook. It's always been there. It's just been hidden, purposely obfuscated."
From: The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O'Meara
The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a name we all know. Released in 1954, it is considered... Read Full Review
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An absolutely remarkable thing : a novel
by Green, Hank,
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 11, 2019
We’ve all done it. We’ve all seen something extraordinary, glanced at it briefly, and then continued on toward our current destination, wherever that may be. We may be in a hurry, we may not. We may be alone, with someone else, or part of a group. But, regardless of our circumstances, often when we are confronted with something unexpected, even if it is remarkable, we take a glance and then keep moving. In Hank Green’s debut novel, the story opens with a young woman coming across something amazing, and she ALMOST walks by after giving it only a cursory glance. But she chides herself for... Read Full Review
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Finding Baba Yaga : a short novel in verse
by Yolen, Jane,
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 4, 2019
Call Number: YA
Jane Yolen has been working as an author for over 50 years. She has published over 300 titles, ranging from children’s books to speculative fiction (both fantasy and science fiction), and to nonfiction. She is also a poet, an instructor of writing and a reviewer of children’s literature.
Jane Yolen’s books and stories have won numerous awards, including the Caldecott Medal, the Nebula, the Christopher Medal, the World Fantasy Award, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Jewish Book Award, to name just a few. In 2009, Yolen was the recipient of the World Fantasy Association’s Lifetime... Read Full Review