Staff Recommendations
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Infomocracy
by Older, Malka, 1977-
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryApril 3, 2017
Imagine a world where the entire globe has agreed to a system of governance. World populations are broken down into groups of approximately 100,000 people, referred to as “centenals,” that are overseen by a specific type of government chosen by the residents. Some are democratic, some are not. If you live in a centenal, you agree to abide by the system of government in place. If you do not agree, you move to a centenal governed in the way you prefer. Or, you convince enough of your neighbors to change the type of government through an election held once a decade. The number of these “micro... Read Full Review
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Scrappy little nobody
by Kendrick, Anna,
Reviewed by: Nicholas Beyelia, Librarian, History and Genealogy DepartmentMarch 25, 2017
Call Number: 812.092 K333
Scrappy Little Nobody is the writing debut of actress Anna Kendrick. Using a series of autobiographical stories Kendrick weaves an engaging and hilarious narrative of lessons learned and wisdom into a funny, honest book about a misfit navigating through life.
Kendrick has been a working actress since she was a child and is best known for the 2012 film, Pitch Perfect. She scored a Tony nomination before she entered her teens, and earned her first Oscar nomination by the age of 25. In spite of these accomplishments, the book makes it obvious that Kendrick has always... Read Full Review
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Crooked kingdom : a sequel to six of crows.
by Bardugo, Leigh.
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 15, 2017
Call Number: YA
In Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo took readers through the planning and execution of a nearly impossible heist. By the end of the novel readers know how much of the plan succeeds, and the double-cross that leaves the crew of street thieves worse off than before. It is the double-cross and loose threads that form the basis of the con that is at the center of Crooked Kingdom, the sequel to Six of Crows. Kaz Brekker and his crew, Inej, Jesper, Matthias, Nina and Wylan, have managed the impossible. They made it into and out of the Ice Court, the most secure... Read Full Review
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The collapsing empire.
by Scalzi, John, 1969-
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 6, 2017
Call Number: SF
Global warming. Climate change. For more than four decades scientists have investigated and warned that human technology and civilization would have dramatic effects on the ecology of our planet. While the science and results are indisputable, some still resist accepting the facts presented and argue for the status quo. In The Collapsing Empire, John Scalzi explores how a discovery about a different type of natural phenomenon could very well be the undoing of the human race once we move out into the stars, and how people respond when the scientists reveal the news.
When the... Read Full Review
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IQ
by Ide, Joe.
Reviewed by: Llyr Heller, Librarian, Teen'ScapeFebruary 27, 2017
In Joe Ide’s wonderful debut novel, readers meet Isaiah Quintabe, a young man whose tragic past has led him not to finish high school and to take odd jobs in order to survive. Living in East Long Beach he sees the police department overwhelmed and not able to solve the mass of crimes that overrun his hometown. In a series of fateful twists, which are shown in emotional flashbacks, he finds himself solving neighborhood crimes, big and small, and being paid for his work in a variety of ways. From money to food, whatever his clients can afford, will suit Isaiah. Although, he meets men and... Read Full Review
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All our wrong todays : a novel
by Mastai, Elan,
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryFebruary 21, 2017
Tom Barren lives in a science fiction dream of the future: flying cars, teleportation, moon colonies, and, as soon as his father completes his experiments, time travel. All of these things exist in 2016, not some far-flung 23rd or 24th century. On July 11, 1965, Lionel Goettreider activated an engine that provided the world with a clean, free energy source that made every sci-fi pulp writer’s visions of the future a reality. While this sounds like a utopian fantasy over sixty years in the making made real, for Tom it is every bit as unlivable as our world often is for us. Tom is aimless,... Read Full Review
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The undoing project : a friendship that changed our minds
by Lewis, Michael (Michael M.),
Reviewed by: David B., Librarian, InfoNowFebruary 13, 2017
Call Number: 612.82 L675
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis Journalist Michael Lewis (Moneyball) examines the friendship of two Israeli cognitive psychologists, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and the late Amos Tversky. Kahneman, a Holocaust survivor who lived in hiding as a child, and his younger colleague, Tversky, a war hero, left Israel early in their careers for academic positions in North America. Their work is responsible for the development of the field of behavioral economics.
The hallmark of the academic legacy of Kahneman and Tversky is that... Read Full Review
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The Fifth Season
by Jemisin, N. K,
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabFebruary 6, 2017
Science Fiction and Fantasy novels are full of stories of powerful, but oppressed minorities. As magic users or mutants they haunt the genre. And authors have told powerful and wonderful stories featuring these characters. A. E. Van Vogt's novel Slan, is about a super-powered group of humans, called slans, who are feared and hunted by normal humans. There are also the very accomplished protagonists of Anne McCaffrey’s Talent Universe;... Read Full Review
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The great British bake off : perfect cakes and bakes to make at home
by Collister, Linda,
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJanuary 24, 2017
Call Number: 641.71 C713-3
What better time to get ready for Valentine's Day treats than to try some recipes from the ever popular television program: The Great British Bake Off, found on local PBS stations and YouTube. The show is hosted by Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, a pair of cut-ups, with the hard core judging done by two redoubtable bakers, Mary Berry, aka Mary Queen of Cakes, and Paul Hollywood--their real names by gum. Mary Berry has a solid background in food preparation and judging, having graduated from Bath College of Domestic... Read Full Review
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Frantumaglia : a writer's journey
by Ferrante, Elena,
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJanuary 15, 2017
Call Number: 853 F373F
Elena Ferrante is the internationally acclaimed Italian author of The Neapolitan Quartet and other novels. She writes under a pseudonym and has maintained her privacy for over twenty years. In this autobiographical work, Frantumaglia (in Neapolitan dialect meaning bits and pieces) she allows her readers to get very close to who she is as a person and as a writer. The work is divided into three sections: Papers: 1991 - 2003; Tesserae: 2003 - 2007; Letters: 2011 - 2016.
What shines through is her attentiveness: to her work and her vision; concerns... Read Full Review
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Time siege
by Chu, Wesley,
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJanuary 10, 2017
Call Number: SF
In Time Salvager, Wesley Chu introduced readers to a brutal, dystopian world where Earth is primarily a toxic wasteland, and most of humanity has fled to live on the moons of the gas giants. Mega-corporations exert influence on everything and everyone, with the exception of ChronoCom, the non-profit entity that manages time travel and enforces the time laws. Time travel is used to plunder the past for resources to keep the present functioning. It is into this world that chronman James Griffin-Mars brings Elise Kim. Elise is a 21st century scientist, and now a temporal anomaly, who... Read Full Review
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The winner's kiss.
by Rutkoski, Marie.
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJanuary 3, 2017
Call Number: YA
In The Winner’s Curse, the first book in The Winners Trilogy, author Marie Rutkoski introduces readers to Kestrel, daughter and only child of General Trajan of the Valorian army, and Arin, the Herrani slave Kestral impulsively purchased at auction. Theirs is a rocky relationship from the start, but one that challenges them to examine truths they each hold firmly. Between them, a dance begins, deliberate and accidental, controlled and controlling, with undercurrents of undeniable passion. Each alternates in leading the dance, sometimes in spite of their positions as slave and... Read Full Review