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April 2021 edited by Elizabeth
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Click on any title or book cover to go through to our catalogue.
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Lucky
by Marissa Stapley
What it is: For fans of The Flight Attendant, a compelling and thrilling road-trip novel about a talented grifter named Lucky whose past comes back to haunt her.
Karma Brown says: "A story of survival, redemption, and forgiveness, Lucky explores the power of second chances. A riveting caper full of heart, I loved this book!"
Book Buzz: TV rights have already been sold to Lost producer Carlton Cuse.
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| What's Mine and Yours by Naima CosterWhat it is: a multi-generational family drama set in the Piedmont area of North Carolina between 1992 and 2018.
Read it for: a racially diverse cast of well-developed characters whose lives intersect over 30 years; a sweeping tale of two families grappling with race and racism.
For fans of: Mary Beth Keane's Ask Again, Yes, Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half, and Therese Fowler's A Good Neighborhood. |
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| Raft of Stars by Andrew J. GraffWhat it is: an atmospheric and suspenseful coming-of-age story with shades of the film Stand By Me.
What happens: Thinking that they've killed a man, ten-year-old Fish and his best friend Bread flee into the deep Wisconsin forest and are tracked by four adults desperate to save them and each seeking answers of their own.
Reviewers say: debut author Andrew Graff "depicts the harsh Northwoods setting and his misfit characters’ inner lives with equal skill" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo MbueThe situation: Since the 1980s, the fictional African village of Kosawa has been poisoned by an American oil company's leaking pipelines. After many requests for help are ignored, a small act of rebellion leads to decades of revolution.
What happens: Nothing much changes in Kosawa, as both the nation's despotic regime and the oil company ignore the villagers' pleas. Then Thula, who grew up in Kosawa in the '80s, returns from the U.S. determined to fight back.
Read it for: the links between environmental degradation and human rights. |
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| Are We There Yet? by Kathleen WestWhat it is: a funny, often-relatable tale of motherhood and adolescent angst narrated by a handful of mothers, children, and grandparents.
The crux of the matter: Alice's life is not going well at home or at work, and the combination of 7th-grade drama and poor decision-making on social media throws her friendships with other mothers into a tailspin.
For fans of: the comedic takes on suburban angst in Laurie Gelman's Class Mom. |
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A court of silver flames
by Sarah J. Maas
Nesta and Cassian must face their haunting pasts in order to stop a dangerous alliance of treacherous human queens in the fourth novel of the fantasy series following A Court of Wings and Ruin.
Here's the thing: With this fourth book, Maas moves the series from Teen fiction to Adult fiction. Readers can expect a read that is steamy, action-packed and immersive (at 757 pages).
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Dial A for Aunties
by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Accidentally causing the death of a blind date, Meddy is persuaded by her meddlesome Chinese-Indonesian mother and aunts to dispose of the body, which upends a billionaire’s wedding and Meddy’s reunion with a former flame.
Critical praise: “Wrap a romcom with a crime novel, sprinkle in Weekend At Bernie’s, and you get this deliciously fun, big-hearted book…. If you love romcoms (this is PERFECT for adaptation) do not miss this 2021 gem of a release.”—BookRiot
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Celebrating Poetry in Novels |
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| Giovanni's Room by James BaldwinWhat it is: This haunting 1956 novel by poet, essayist, and activist James Baldwin follows an American man in Paris who, struggling with his sexuality and separated from his girlfriend, becomes involved in an intense but doomed relationship with a young Italian bartender.
Read it for: poetic language and a better understanding of the fallout of society's historical repression of LGBTQIA identities.
Read this next: Sarah Winman's Tin Man or Edmund White's The Married Man. |
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| Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoWhat it is: a much-lauded portrayal of the broadness of the Black British experience through the stories of 11 women and one nonbinary person whose lives intertwine in sometimes surprising ways.
Read it for: vivid, unique characters; a finely tuned exploration of intersectionality; a mixture of prose and poetry; a history lesson.
Book buzz: This co-winner of the 2019 Man Booker Prize landed on too many "best of" book lists to count and also won Fiction Book of the Year at the 2020 British Book Awards. It's currently being adapted for television. This is a great read for Book Clubs. |
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| The Long Take: A Noir Narrative by Robin RobertsonWhat it is: an award-winning novel, written mostly in free verse and set in 1946 Los Angeles; a post-war portrait of that city; a Canadian veteran's disillusionment with himself and, even more so, the societal values he fought to protect.
For readers interested in: noir films; mid-century urban planning; novels of place (especially of LA and NYC); stark language; the history of nativism in the U.S.; the post-war years in general. |
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| Conversations with Friends by Sally RooneyStarring: college students Frances, a poet, and Bobbi, her best friend and former lover, who fall in (and in love) with an older heterosexual couple, photographer Melissa and actor Nick.
It's complicated: Frances' secret (but "ironic") affair with Nick affects her relationship with Bobbi; the harm she's doing to herself by refusing to be vulnerable is only slowly revealed.
For more novels featuring poets: Chanelle Benz' The Gone Dead; Danzy Senna's New People. |
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Home body
by Rupi Kaur
Rupi Kaur constantly embraces growth, and in home body, she walks readers through a reflective and intimate journey visiting the past, the present, and the potential of the self. Home Body is a collection of raw, honest conversations with oneself - reminding readers to fill up on love, acceptance, community, family, and embrace change. Illustrated by the author, themes of nature and nurture, light and dark, rest here.
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Contact us for more great books! infoservices@bradford.library.on.ca |
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