Staff Recommendations
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Futuristic violence and fancy suits
by Wong, David, 1975 January 10-
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabOctober 13, 2015
Futuristic violence and fancy suits is a fast-paced action adventure story set in a future boomtown, which is a place with few laws and even less taste. A poor barista named Zoey Ashe has unexpectedly inherited a fortune from a father she never knew. Rather than turning her into Cinderella at the ball, this inheritance puts her smack dab in the path of the dangerous people who killed her father. They are after something mysterious and won’t stop until they find it. In fact, they’ve already put a price on Zoey’s head. Now millions of people are watching online as various bounty... Read Full Review
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The end of all things
by Scalzi, John, 1969-
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryOctober 5, 2015
Call Number: SF
At the end of The Last Colony and Zoe’s Tale, the third and fourth books respectively, of John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War” series, the Colonial Union (CU), the human political/military force that had been farming the Earth for more... Read Full Review
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Shakespeare saved my life : ten years in solitary with the Bard
by Bates, Laura.
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabSeptember 28, 2015
Call Number: 822.331 B329
BID #5161545
Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard is a book that warms my cold librarian’s heart. Laura Bates is an English Professor who volunteers to teach English to prisoners in maximum security, and in solitary confinement. She teaches them Shakespeare. After all, she’s already teaching her college freshmen Shakespeare. Of course, college freshmen are allowed to use pencils, so there are some differences between the two groups of students.
What is amazing about Dr. Bates’ book is how the students from Wabash... Read Full Review
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Our souls at night
by Haruf, Kent.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionSeptember 21, 2015
Addie Moore and Louis Waters are senior citizens, and neighbors on adjacent streets in the small town of Holt, Colorado, set against the flat and fruitful farm plains of central Colorado. Both have lost their spouses, and one evening Addie visits Louis to ask an unexpected question, "I wonder if you would consider coming to my house sometimes to sleep with me. ... And talk." Louis is surprised more than shocked, but Addie is very clear, "I am talking about getting through the night." As she talks and explains, Louis worries about what people will say, but Addie has thought... Read Full Review
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The scribe : a novel
by Guinn, Matthew.
Reviewed by: Robert Anderson, Librarian, Literature & Fiction DepartmentSeptember 14, 2015
Call Number: M
Matthew Guinn received an Edgar Award nomination for Best First Novel for The Resurrectionist( 2013). His second novel is a dark story of murder and race relations with black magic overtones, set in Atlanta in 1881.The central character, Thomas Canby, is a former member of the Atlanta police force, now living in bitter exile as sheriff of a tiny town in the hills of northern Georgia after being unjustly accused of taking a bribe four years... Read Full Review
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Robert Moses : the master builder of New York City
by Christin, Pierre.
Reviewed by: Vi Thục Hà, Senior Librarian, International Languages DepartmentSeptember 9, 2015
Call Number: 92 M9116Ch
As a public librarian, and as with my brethren who are in other types of public service, there is a balance we navigate between envisioning and understanding the big picture: the real reason for our work, and the actual effect it has upon the public. Sometimes, our work succeeds and invigorates us beyond our wildest dreams (such as when I teach a teen how to create a spreadsheet). Other times we question the often mundane task at hand (as when I analyze circulation statistics of our well-loved library materials).
In the graphic biography, Robert... Read Full Review
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Six of Crows
by Bardugo, Leigh
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryAugust 31, 2015
Call Number: YA
The heist--an attempt to acquire something incredibly important or valuable from somewhere equally, incredibly impenetrable. The catch is to survive the heist and reap the benefits of the nefarious and illegal act. This type of action requires a team of people with specific skills and knowledge to provide a way to penetrate a strong defense system. And each of these people has their own motivations for taking on the challenge. Heist stories can be compelling and fascinating as the reader learns what the plan is and how each character will contribute to its undertaking. These stories can be... Read Full Review
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Spare parts : four Mexican American teenagers, one ugly robot, and the battle for the American dream
by Davis, Joshua, 1974-
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabAugust 25, 2015
Call Number: 621.80973 D262
Who builds robots? Hypothetically, anyone with drive and talent could pick up a robot building book from the library (see books listed below), borrow a soldering iron from a friend, and use spare parts to put together something that could fight any of the robots on that television show BattleBots, or compete with robots in the robot building competitions taking place throughout the country. But when four economically disadvantaged Mexican American high school students entered the... Read Full Review
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The fold
by Clines, Peter, 1969-
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryAugust 17, 2015
Call Number: SF
Teleportation is a staple of speculative fiction whether in short stories, novels, films or television. It also crosses the boundaries between fantasy and science fiction. In fantasy, it is generally accomplished by magic (which, as any good reader of speculative fiction knows from Arthur C. Clarke’s three laws of prediction, is indistinguishable from any sufficiently advanced technology) although, there may be some limitations. In the Harry Potter series, teleportation is referred to as apparation or disapparation, and you have to secure a license before you can perform the spell to ensure... Read Full Review
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Although of course you end up becoming yourself : a road trip with David Foster Wallace
by Lipsky, David, 1965-
Reviewed by: David B., Librarian, InfoNowAugust 11, 2015
Call Number: 813 W188Li
In 1996, David Lipsky, a New York-based Rolling Stone writer, traveled to the Midwest--Bloomington, Illinois and Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota--to hang out with novelist David Foster Wallace at the tail end of his Infinite Jest book tour. The proposed feature never made it into print that year (it would have been Rolling Stone’s first author profile in ten years), but Lipsky held on to his tapes of their rendezvous. He decided to publish the interviews in book form after Wallace’s tragic suicide in 2008. The book, which came out in 2010, is the basis for the new... Read Full Review
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Strong Female Protagonist: Book One
by Mulligan, Brennan Lee,
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabAugust 3, 2015
Call Number: 740.9999 M959 v.1
When Alison Green developed superpowers as a kid she did what anyone in her position would do, donned a costume and fought crime! But now that Alison is growing up and gaining a bit of maturity, the black and white world of superheroes and supervillains is getting more and more complicated, and even more difficult to navigate. The exact lines between hero and villain, friend and enemy keep changing, and Alison is forced to wonder if her typical wild street brawls are really doing the good she hoped they would. When Alison takes off her mask and goes to college she manages to turn her old... Read Full Review
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Go set a watchman : a novel
by Lee, Harper,
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJuly 27, 2015
Go Set A Watchman, the second, and only other novel published by Harper Lee, Pulitzer Prize winning author of To Kill A Mockingbird, and the new novel is already shrouded in controversy: Did Lee REALLY want the book published? Was she competent to make the decision? WHY was the book being published now? Was this a sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird? A prequel? Or was it something entirely different? The literary furor increased just prior to the publication date as reviewers began to make claims about the book's worthiness, and that well known, established... Read Full Review