Nothing helps me feel more centered than a good, long walk, whether in the woods or just up and down the streets of my neighborhood. In this, I join a large sisterhood. Throughout human history, women have found peace, fulfillment and health through the act of taking a walk.
A few years ago, readers were mesmerized by Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of her solo hike along the Pacific Coast Trail, a journey in which she sought healing from grief and addiction after losing her mother, her marriage and almost her very sense of self. As much an account of her spiritual journey as it is a story of hiking, “Wild” speaks to the healing powers of nature and of movement. Continue reading “Women Walking”
Here are just a few of the books by debut adult fiction authors that are being published this month. The books listed below have received one (or more!) starred reviews by library journals. For a complete list of debut fiction, please visit our catalog.
“The Other Black Girl” by Zakiya Dalila Harris
26-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.
Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.
It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.
Continue reading “Debut Author Spotlight: June 2021”
It’s time to saddle up and head from the West Coast into the Rocky Mountains and the High Plains. In the words of Wallace Stegner, “Under the rough and ridiculous circumstances of life in the Rocky Mountains there was something exciting and vital, full of rude poetry: the heartbeat of the West as it fought its way upward toward civilization.” So I begin my journey of this poetic land. Continue reading “Travel Through Story: The Rocky Mountains”
I picked up A.R. Moxon’s “The Revisionaries” because it had a glowing blurb from the brilliant Sergio de la Pava on its cover, and one great way to get me to read a book over 600 pages long is to earn an endorsement from someone else that has written a long and genius novel (in de la Pava’s case, two of them). Another way is to put half a cat on the cover of your book (“Where’s the other half of the cat?!” I’ll inevitably wonder. “Is it ok?” I’ll ask anyone in proximity.) as Moxon’s publisher did with the hardback edition. Yet another way is to make it spectacularly zany and satirical but also high stakes and sometimes frightening and loaded with sentences bursting with the enthusiasm of a gifted writer precisely conveying the complex reality they’ve created. (There are awesome sentences.) Continue reading “The Gentleman Recommends: A.R. Moxon”
Join us virtually to discuss the fascinating work of nonfiction, “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail” by Ben Montgomery, winner of the 2014 National Outdoor Book Award for history/biography.
Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than $200. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, 67-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail. This virtual discussion is on June 3 from 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Check here for more books about adventurous women and solo traveling.
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Marc McKee is a Columbia, MO author whose latest book is, “Meta Meta Make-Belief.” It’s a poetry collection full of riffs, tangents, & experiments inspired in spirit by the long tradition in literary and performing arts of calling attention to and celebrating the artificiality and constructedness of art. McKee has authored several other poetry collections, and is currently the managing editor at the Missouri Review. I emailed some interview questions to him, and he was kind enough to take time to write back some answers. Continue reading “Q&A With Marc McKee, Author of “Meta Meta Make-Belief””
Here are just a few of the debut novels coming out in May. For a complete list, please visit our catalog.
“A Song for the Road” by Kathleen Basi (local author)
It’s one year after the death of her husband and twin teenagers. Miriam Tedesco has lost faith in humanity and herself. When a bouquet of flowers that her husband usually sends her on their anniversary shows up at her work place, she completely unravels. With the help of her best friend, she realizes that it’s time to move past these deaths. Step one is not even cleaning out her family’s possessions, but just to take inventory starting with her daughter’s room. But when she opens up her daughter’s computer, she stumbles across a program written by her daughter to embark on an automated cross country road trip, for her and her husband to take when they would have begun their empty-nesting in a few more months.
Seeing and hearing the video clips of her kids embedded in the program, Miriam is determined to take this trip for her children. Armed with her husband’s guitar, her daughter’s cello, and her son’s unfinished piano sonata, she embarks on a musical pilgrimage to grieve the family she fears she never loved enough. Along the way she meets a young, pregnant hitchhiker Dicey whose boisterous and spunky attitude reminds Miriam of her own daughter and forces her to look harder at what she had rather than what she’s lost.
Tornadoes, impromptu concerts, and an unlikely friendship … whether she’s prepared for it or not, Miriam’s world is coming back to life. But as she struggles to keep her focus on the reason she initially set out on this journey, she has to confront the possibility that the best way to honor her family may be to accept the truths she never wanted to face.
Continue reading “Debut Author Spotlight: May 2021”
Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in May. All of the mentioned titles are available to put on hold in our catalog and will also be made available via the library’s Overdrive website on the day of publication in eBook and eAudiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: May 2021”
Join us online to discuss “Circe” by Madeline Miller. The novel follows Circe, the banished witch daughter of Helios, as she hones her powers and interacts with famous mythological beings before a conflict with one of the most vengeful Olympians forces her to choose between the worlds of the gods and mortals. This discussion is geared for adults.
Please register to receive a Zoom link.
For a list of similar books, click here.
Books and beverages are a classic combination. The experience of curling up with a good book is always enhanced by having some kind of tea, coffee, or whatever else nearby. Matching the vibe of the drink to the vibe of the book really elevates the experience. As a self-proclaimed expert on books and Starbucks, consider me your literary, caffeinated sommelier. Continue reading “Starbucks & Book Pairings”
