Children’s Fiction Ballad, by the French artist/author Blexbolex, mixes high art with children's literature. It is a fantastical adventure that reflects the trials and tribulations a young person must face when making the transition from the simplicity of childhood to the complex and often contradictory world inhabited by adults. Each page of Ballad consists of a brightly colored silk screen painting with one or two words providing a description of the scene. Simply drawn figures combine with lush, often hallucinatory backgrounds to an enchanting, hypnotic effect. The story starts off mildly: a walk home from school along a road through a forest. It's not long before a witch, a dragon, a friendly elf, a reluctant hero and a beautiful princess show up. Magical chaos ensues. The whole world is turned upside-down (literally) by a witch's hex. The princess is kidnapped and its up to a misunderstood stranger to save her. Spurred on by love, he embarks on an allegorical journey through a confusing and dangerous landscape populated by dragons, demons, and even volcanos. Somehow he ends up in Egypt amongst the pyramids before it's all said and done. Ballad is minimalism at its best. It expresses complex themes using simple language and childlike imagery and leaves itself open to interpretation by the reader. While ostensibly a kid's book, Ballad will be better appreciated by adults equipped with the life experience and understanding that will enable them to peel back the layers of this fascinating work or art. --Nathan Nunnelly
Call Number: E BLE (Easy Book Bins in Youth Services)
Adult Fiction The Accident, the second novel by Chris Pavone is described by readers as fast paced, brilliant, smart, breathless, and stunning. The story is framed inside the New York publishing business, which Pavone spent more than 20 years in. This novel won't disappoint if you are looking for a smart thriller set in today’s world. The book covers 24 hours in the lives of literary agent Isabel Reed, CIA station chief Hayden Gray, and book editor Jeffrey Fielder. Isabel receives an anonymous manuscript, which is an explosive biography of an international media mogul. If published and if true, this book would rock the world, beginning with Capitol Hill and spanning the globe. Who wrote it? Why was it delivered to Isabel? Is it true? Who else knows about it? And what would they do to keep it from being published? Isabel fears the worst when she finds her assistant dead the morning after she reads the book. Through the morning, afternoon, and night of one day, you will find out who lives, who dies, and why. And to complicate the issue, the manuscript has been copied and is in the hands of several unsuspecting and very ambitious staffers. The story bounces from New York, to LA, to Copenhagen. This book is a great summer escape. --Nancy Sanford
Call Number: F PAV (In New Arrivals Section)
Adult Fiction When my book club chose Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for our summer selection, I was a little disappointed. The novel seemed much too long and serious and daunting to read during the time of year that I usually dedicate to guilty pleasure books. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Adichie’s novel follows the stories of Ifemelu and Obinze, two Nigerians who meet in their teens and are then separated as their commitments and aspirations take them to different parts of the world. As they move on with their separate lives and enter relationships with other people, we continue to see their influence on each other and how their decisions are shaped by the memory and impact of their young love. By relocating her characters from Nigeria to America and England, Adichie explores the concept of race and the context in which different cultures and societies define it. Americanah is enjoyable yet thought-provoking, and it is a novel that I would recommend for both the beach or a book club. -Jaimee Hannah
Call Number: F ADI (In Adult Fiction Section)
Adult Fiction
Before it was revealed that J.K. Rowling wrote The Cuckoo’s Calling, the detective book hadn’t sold many copies, but it was getting glowing reviews from readers who had stumbled across the debut novel of Robert Galbraith. The Cuckoo’s Calling is a standard detective novel but one that is well-written and well-paced. When you start reading, it’s hard to get Harry out of your mind, but it doesn’t take long to leave your expectations and comparisons behind and just enjoy the mystery on its own terms.
One of the best aspects of Harry Potter is Rowling’s knack for whimsical character descriptions, and that knack serves her well as the large, rough, one-legged, and down-on-his-luck detective Cormoran Strike investigates the supposed suicide of world-famous model Lula Landry.
My favorite element of the novel is how Rowling explores the effects of fame on two people who encountered it in very different ways: Lula Landry, whose fame was made possible only because she was adopted into a wealthy family, and Strike, who has a rock star father but none of the benefits of that notoriety.
The novel’s follow-up--The Silkworm--was released this summer, and Rowling plans to continue the Cormoran Strike series indefinitely.
-Jennifer Butler Keeton
Adult Fiction Blood Meridian is not an easy read. It contains long passages that are often tough to get through. The end result, however, is profoundly beautiful. McCarthy has such a grasp on the English language that every word has a place. This is the type of book that you will think about for weeks after it you have finished it. This book will beat you down, but when it is over, you will be grateful for it. -Colby Dow
Call Number: F MCC (In Adult Fiction Section)
Blood Meridian is arguably the preeminent western novel. Harsh and beautiful at the same time, it paints a picture of the darker sides of the west and humanity itself. The story centers on the Kid, a boy born during a meteor shower. It primarily follows his exploits with the Glanton Gang, a group of former soldiers and mercenaries hired to collect Native American scalps. The gang experiences a series of extremely violent encounters interspersed with vast descriptions of the landscape. Each member of the gang is unrelentingly brutal, and the descriptions of their actions are not for the faint of heart, or stomach. Just as harsh as the characters is the landscape that they are in. McCarthy’s descriptions show the harshness of the environment that is a sharp counter to the often glorified west.
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