Task number 19 of this year’s Read Harder Challenge has participants reading a book of nonviolent true crime. Titles under this heading include stories of forgeries and thefts carried out by individuals, as well as accounts of large-scale malfeasance committed by multi-national corporations.
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is a memoir by literary forger Lee Israel. Melissa McCarthy starred in the movie version. Israel was a highly-esteemed author, earning top dollar for her work. But as she entered middle age, one big publication flop marked the beginning of the end of her literary career. Desperate for an income, she turned to forging letters, purportedly by famous authors of the past. The book is a quick read and focuses a lot on the process of creating the forgeries, which involved a ton of research, it turns out. While the author takes full responsibility for her own behavior, her account also sheds a light on some the unsavory parts of both publishing and autograph collecting, as well as our culture of celebrity. Continue reading “Read Harder 2019: A Book of Nonviolent True Crime”
It’s always a good thing when people attempt to understand each other. The 2019 Read Harder Challenge is here to nudge us along in this pursuit with task number 13, a book by or about someone that identifies as neurodiverse.
Temple Grandin is an animal scientist and perhaps the country’s most well-known author with autism. She’s spent decades educating the public on both issues. Her book, “Animals Make Us Human” is the product of 30 years of research into how to help animals live their best lives. She covers pets, zoo animals and livestock, with an eye to meeting their needs in a compassionate way, rather than prioritizing human entertainment. The book contains some disturbing facts about factory farms and other settings, but also offers ways to improve. Continue reading “Read Harder 2019: A Book by or About Someone That Identifies as Neurodiverse”
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.
— Season 1 opening narration
We’re two weeks out from the close of Summer Reading, and the procrastinators among us may have just one or two tasks to complete before they can take that victory lap. In honor of both the 60th anniversary of the premiere and Jordan Peele‘s new reboot, here are a few ideas to take your Summer Reading into the fifth dimension, because who doesn’t appreciate a timely theme? Continue reading “Summer Reading in The Twilight Zone”
Another month, another crop of exciting new books by debut authors! As always, for a longer list of books by debut authors, please visit our catalog.
“The Vexations” by Caitlin Horrocks
Erik Satie begins life with every possible advantage. But after the dual blows of his mother’s early death and his father’s breakdown upend his childhood, Erik and his younger siblings — Louise and Conrad — are scattered. Later, as an ambitious young composer, Erik flings himself into the Parisian art scene, aiming for greatness but achieving only notoriety.
As the years, then decades, pass, he alienates those in his circle as often as he inspires them, lashing out at friends and lovers like Claude Debussy and Suzanne Valadon. Only Louise and Conrad are steadfast allies. Together they strive to maintain their faith in their brother’s talent and hold fast the badly frayed threads of family. But in a journey that will take her from Normandy to Paris to Argentina, Louise is rocked by a severe loss that ultimately forces her into a reckoning with how Erik — obsessed with his art and hungry for fame — will never be the brother she’s wished for. Continue reading “Debut Author Spotlight: July 2019”
“The Incendiaries” by R.O. Kwon has already scored a bunch of plaudits, and, you might presume, that it, like many of my recommendations, isn’t in need of my recommendation. You’d be correct, but there is a devoted sect who wait for my monthly recommendation, refusing to read all else, waiting in front of the DBRL blog home page, their finger’s friction eroding their F5 key, until finally those sweet words light up the page and their eyes: “The Gentleman Recommends.” It is for these devoted followers that I recommend reading “The Incendiaries.” Continue reading “The Gentleman Recommends: R.O. Kwon”
Love is a many-splendored thing. And first love, in particular, is splendidly awkward, uniquely devastating and often poorly timed. Whether it hits at age 16 or 60, and whether it ends in heartbreak or happily ever after, we only get one first love to live. Luckily, there are many, many first love stories to read! And I don’t think it matters whether you’re happily married, happily single or entrenched in the frog-kissing process — there’s nothing like escaping into a good first love story. Continue reading “Literary Links: First Love”
Summer time is a great time to travel, even if it’s only in your mind. The Read Harder Challenge Task #8 is “an #ownvoices book set in Oceania” and can help you to explore a part of the world that many of us will never get to visit in real life. I have tried to find a few books that were not already on DBRL’s list for this task. Continue reading “Read Harder 2019: An #Ownvoices Book Set in Oceania”
We love to anthropomorphize. If we see something that looks even vaguely human, we rush to assign our own traits to it. It starts when we are kids reading about cats named Pete, rabbits on a pilgrimage and codependent trees while holding stuffed animals on whom we’ve bestowed names, personalities and 
affection. While these tendencies fade away, we never seem to outgrow them completely. We name inanimate objects like our cars and we speak to our pets as if they know English as well as we do. I like to believe this stems from an innate sense of empathy, a desire to relate and connect with everything around us. We try to see from a different perspective. Consequently, there is a long list of books that satisfy Task #6 by taking on the point of view of non-human characters.
People bond closely to their pets, so naturally there are many books narrated by them. “The Art of Racing in the Rain” and “A Dog’s Purpose” are told from the perspective of dogs who love the humans that own them. I will give no further detail because I avoid Sad Dog Books at all costs. In a similar vein, “Laika,” a graphic novel, tells the story of the first dog in space. Abandoned as a puppy, Laika learns to trust the scientists preparing her to be launched out of Earth’s orbit. If you’re more of a cat person, “The Traveling Cat Chronicles” takes you on a road trip through Japan through the eyes of a cat. My childhood favorite, “Black Beauty,” follows a horse through his life as he encounters owners ranging from gentle and kind to cruel and abusive. Continue reading “Read Harder 2019: A Book in Which an Animal or Inanimate Object is a Point-of-View Character”
A refugee takes great risks to get control of her toaster. A superhero makes a misguided attempt to address racism and police corruption. A husband’s frustrations with health insurance coverage for his sick wife lead him down an internet rabbit hole to radicalization. A wealthy finance-bro retreats to his underground bunker when civilization gets unstable. These are the plots of the four novellas comprising Cory Doctorow’s “Radicalized.” They are all extremely timely — they practically scream, “TOPICAL!” The subtitle is in fact, “Four Tales of Our Present Moment.” Subtle messaging isn’t the goal here, but the stories are told with the nuance that complex issues deserve, and the characters are given a depth that makes you care about them.
The first story, “Unauthorized Bread,” is the strongest of the collection. It deftly explores themes of a refugee crisis, stark income disparities, exploitation of vulnerable populations and how much proprietary technology dictates our lives. When the main character learns how to hack the software in her toaster so it will make any kind of bread she wants, she soon ends up liberating appliances throughout her apartment building. As the risks of these actions become apparent, she is faced with difficult decisions. Continue reading “Know Your Dystopias: Radicalized”
Here is a quick look at the most noteworthy nonfiction titles being released this July. Visit our catalog for a more extensive list.
Top Picks
“Crisis in the Red Zone: The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History, and the Outbreaks to Come” by Richard Preston
This time, Ebola started with a two-year-old child who likely had contact with a wild creature and whose whole family quickly fell ill and died. The ensuing global drama activated health professionals in North America, Europe, and Africa in a desperate race against time to contain the viral wildfire. By the end — as the virus mutated into its deadliest form, and spread farther and faster than ever before — 30,000 people would be infected, and the dead would be spread across eight countries on three continents. In this taut and suspenseful medical drama, Richard Preston deeply chronicles the outbreak, in which we saw for the first time the specter of Ebola jumping continents, crossing the Atlantic, and infecting people in America. Preston writes of doctors and nurses in the field putting their own lives on the line, of government bureaucrats and NGO administrators moving, often fitfully, to try to contain the outbreak, and of pharmaceutical companies racing to develop drugs to combat the virus. The more we discover about the virosphere, the more we realize its deadly potential. “Crisis in the Red Zone” is an exquisitely timely book, a stark warning of viral outbreaks to come. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: July 2019”
