Staff Recommendations
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Agent Josephine : American beauty, French hero, British spy
by Lewis, Damien
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionDecember 5, 2022
Call Number: 793.324 B167Le
On November 30, 2021, forty-six years after her death, there was a momentous, somber yet joyous, celebration as Joephine Baker was inducted into the Panthéon in Paris, France. She was the sixth woman and fourth person of color to be honored in this way. Best known as an internationally acclaimed entertainer, Baker was also a “world class spy” at a time when that job was most needed--during World War II. She is buried in Monaco, but soil from the United States, France and Monaco were in the coffin that was draped with the French flag. It was a spectacular ceremony that can be... Read Full Review
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We had a little real estate problem : the unheralded story of Native Americans in comedy
by Nesteroff, Kliph
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionNovember 29, 2022
Call Number: 817.09 N468-1
Kliph Nesteroff, known as a comedy historian, covers aspects of the entertainment industry that are not well known, specifically the contributions made by Native Americans to comedy and humor. All of which debunks the stereotypes of Native Americans, who were, and still are, often depicted as sinister, poker-faced, sometimes grim and sullen, and definitely humorless. A part of this historical overview about Native Americans in entertainment precedes the movie industry, going back to the late 1800s, “ … when Native Americans were forced to tour in wild west shows as an alternative... Read Full Review
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Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond
Reviewed by: Michael C. Baradi, Librarian, Mid-Valley Regional Branch LibraryNovember 23, 2022
Call Number: 811.08 W639
In her introduction to Wide Awake, editor Suzanne Lummis informs us how she and her publisher came up with the title for this poetry anthology. They wanted a title that “stands against the notion that the metropolis is densely packed with dreamers who came to participate in The Dream Factory but will be disappointed (de-deluded), and wind up drifting down the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” Lummis is pointing at the reputation of Los Angeles as a city that breathes for dreamers who are drawn to the glitter, fame, and the notion of success in Hollywood that only... Read Full Review
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The Picture Bride
by Yi, Kŭm-i
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryNovember 16, 2022
The year is 1917 and a seventeen-year-old girl named Willow, who lives with her widowed mother and two younger brothers in a small, rural village in southeastern Korea, is asked by a traveling matchmaker if she wants to get married. The older woman shows Willow a photo of a young man and tells her he lives in Powa, a place the Americans call Hawai’i. She goes on to say that in Powa, you can “sweep up money with a dustpan”, that “clothes and shoes grow on trees, you only have to put them on”, and that “every season is late springtime.” More important to Willow than any of this, is... Read Full Review
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Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan
by Michalski, Liz
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryNovember 8, 2022
We all know the story of Peter Pan, the boy who refuses to grow up. J.M. Barrie wrote and published a play and two books about Peter and his adventures in the early 20th century, recounting how Peter visited the Darling children: Wendy, John, and Michael, and spirited them away to Neverland by teaching them how to fly. But what if there is more to the story than we were told? What if Peter Pan is real? What if the ideas for the story didn’t originate with Barrie, but he merely wrote down what Wendy told him after returning from her adventure? And what if Barrie’s version,... Read Full Review
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Only a Monster
by Len, Vanessa
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryOctober 31, 2022
Call Number: YA
Joan believes herself to be a typical teenager. She spends her summers in London visiting her maternal grandmother, while her father visits his family in Malaysia. During this visit, she has been volunteering at Holland House, a historic home and museum in Kensington. Holland House is where she met Nick, the quiet and shy volunteer whom she really likes. It’s going to be a marvelous summer.
And then, over the course of a single day, Joan’s world is turned upside down. An unexpected occurrence mysteriously robs Joan of an entire afternoon and her grandmother is... Read Full Review
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Acts of Violet
by Montimore, Margarita
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryOctober 24, 2022
In early 2020, Margarita Montimore published her debut novel, Oona Out of Order. It followed a woman who awakes every January 1st at a different point in her life. She lives in that year, and in that body, until December 31st, only to awaken the following morning beginning a different year at a different age. The novel is inventive, thoughtful, and a page turner! Now Montimore is back with her new novel, Acts of Violet, and it may be better than her debut.
During the 1990s, Violet Volk becomes one of the best known, and controversial, stage... Read Full Review
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The Monster of Elendhaven
by Giesbrecht, Jennifer
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryOctober 17, 2022
A young man washes up in a harbor with no knowledge of who he is or where he came from. He doesn’t even have a name. He is tall, with dark hair and pale skin. He also possesses a strong sense of survival, driving him to do whatever is necessary to make his way on the dark and dangerous streets of Elendhaven.
Florian Leickenbloom is the antithesis of this mysterious young man. He knows his name and that he is the last surviving member of one of Elendhaven’s founding families. He is small and slight of stature with blonde hair. Florian lost his entire family, along with a majority of... Read Full Review
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Hawk Mountain
by Habib, Conner
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryOctober 12, 2022
In the late afternoon, Todd sits on the beach watching 6-year-old Anthony, his son, play in the surf. A man approaches Todd, and, after a minute, he recognizes him. It is Jack, who bullied Todd relentlessly during their senior year in high school. In spite of their shared history, Jack seems pleased at seeing Todd. He claims that their meeting is a coincidence and goes on to tell Todd that he has just left his wife, is determined to create a new life for himself, and asks if he can spend the night at Todd’s home.
Jack’s stay with Todd and Anthony extends beyond... Read Full Review
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Bad Mexicans : race, empire, and revolution in the borderlands
by Hernández, Kelly Lytle
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionOctober 5, 2022
Call Number: 972.2 H557
The term “bad Mexicans” (malos Mexicanos) was not coined by Anglos from the United States, instead it originated with President Porfirio Díaz, the authoritarian President of Mexico who ruled for almost three decades beginning in 1876. It was a derogatory name for any person or group who opposed him. At the expense of his own citizens and to the advantage of American investors, he encouraged and facilitated the investments to take place, which resulted in those American investors having control over major Mexican industries. Because of this situation, there developed a... Read Full Review
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Mi cocina : recipes and rapture from my kitchen in México
by Martínez, Rick (Chef)
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionSeptember 26, 2022
Call Number: 641.5972 M38545
What a glorious cookbook and memoir. A little larger in size than the average book, which is perfect for the overall layout and presentation of photographs, maps and recipes. Every page is graced with marvelous color photographs, with text pages printed on lighter shades of colorful paper. Chapters are organized by regions with the accompanying recipes that are emblematic of the food and cooking traditions of each. The introductions to the chapters include information, not only about the food, but brief historical overviews of the areas and their unique contributions to... Read Full Review
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A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community
by Molina, Natalia
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionSeptember 19, 2022
Call Number: 647.9509794 M722
When is a restaurant more than a place to eat? How and why does this happen? Why is this significant? In the “Introduction: Placemaking in a New Homeland,” Natalia Molina, researcher and scholar, says it is because people recognize, “ … their home is about a feeling rooted to a particular place: a neighborhood, a park, a newsstand, a restaurant. The subjects of this story, most of them working-class immigrants who did not arrive in the United States speaking English, endeavored to make places of their own. They went to work, worshipped in church, attended school... Read Full Review