Book Review: The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

The Luminous Dead

by Caitlin Starling (Starling)

 

The Luminous Dead was the book I read in 2020 that hooked me the hardest. It opens with the main character, Gyre, already descending into a cave system alone. Well, almost alone. She’s wearing a powered caving suit and there’s an topside operator, Em, monitoring her.

 

For Gyre, this is about a life-changing payment for completing the job. She’s skilled but she didn’t meet background requirements so she faked her resume. Things start smoothly enough, but Em is not very talkative. Gyre starts finding bodies of previous cavers and seeing inconsistencies between suit sensors and her own eyes. Is the growing risk worth the payout?

 

This is a fantastic read if you like adventure stories with a mystery to unravel. This book keeps the cast of characters small but well-developed. Thoroughly immersive.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Descent by Jeff Long, or Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer.]

[ publisher’s official The Luminous Dead web site ] | [ official Caitlin Starling web site ]

Recommended by Garren H.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce

Trickster’s Choice

by Tamora Pierce (YA Pierce)

 

Aly comes from an unusual family, her mother is the first female knight in centuries and her father was a common born thief who became a royal spy master. So she is uniquely suited to be kidnapped by a god, sold into slavery, partnered with crows who can become human to save a family who is destined to rule an island kingdom.

 

Trickster’s Choice is a fast paced, involved read. I absolutely adore Tamora Pierce, who writes about strong girls becoming stronger women.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine, or The Naming by Alison Croggon.]

[ official Tricksters page on the official Tamora Pierce web site ]

 

Recommended by Rio B.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

by Charlie Mackesy (741.5 Mac)

 

This short, quiet book, almost a graphic novel, came out in 2019. Each page is an ink drawing or a watercolor of the titular characters with some sort of a philosophical observation they make to each other about kindness, or friendship, or life.

 

‘”Do you have any other advice?” asked the boy.

“Don’t measure how valuable you are by the way you are treated,” said the horse.’

 

Think of Pooh and Piglet walking through the forest and the statements they make to each other about friendship, or the Peanuts characters leaning against the wall as they chat about the world.

 

The author initially uploaded some of the pages to his Instagram account where they caught the eye of an editor who nearly bullied Mackesy into collecting his drawings into this book. These pages are of the type you will photocopy and put on your refrigerator. I highly recommend this sweet, affirming, sometimes poignant little book. A very quick read at only 128 pages.

 

[ official The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse and Charlie Makesy web site ]

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: I Hope You're Listening by Tom Ryan

I Hope You’re Listening
by Tom Ryan (YA Ryan)

 

I Hope You’re Listening is a young adult mystery novel about a seventeen year old, Dee, who is secretly the host of a nationally famous missing persons podcast. This has become her way of coping with an event ten years when her friend was kidnapped in front of her and never found. She’s avoided doing an episode on that disappearance because she wants to keep herself out of the spotlight, but now another young girl has gone missing in the same location and her fans are asking her to feature the case.

 

Meanwhile, an online tabloid reporter is digging into the identity of the podcast host. And a new family has just moved in next door and their daughter is giving Dee some seriously traitorous blushes, and—what’s this? — she’s a fan of the podcast?

 

This book does a great job of giving a small town mystery feel that’s also extremely contemporary. I loved the winter setting and vibrant, realistic characters.

[ official I Hope You’re Listening and Tom Ryan web site ]

Recommended by Garren H.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Music Book Review: The Karl Muck Scandal: Classical Music and Xenophobia in World War I America by Melissa Burrage

The Karl Muck Scandal: Classical Music and Xenophobia in World War I America
by Melissa Burrage (Music 780.92 Muck)

 

Immigrants often face difficulties as newcomers in new lands and times of war often raise negative suspicions of these newcomers to new heights. In The Karl Muck Scandal, you’ll learn about the story of Karl Muck, who was once the esteemed German-born conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. During World War I, when anti-German sentiments were crossing the United States, his patriotism was called into question and he was forced into internment by the government. For those of you who read the 2016 One Book One Nebraska selection, The Meaning of Names by Karen Gettert Shoemaker, you’ll find some of the themes of this book familiar.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Meaning of Names by Karen Gettert Shoemaker, or America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States by Erica Lee.]

[ Wikipedia entry on Karl Muck ] | [ official Dr. Melissa Burrage Twitter feed ]

 

Recommended by Scott S.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Polley Music Library

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Check out this, and all the other great music resources, at the Polley Music Library, located on the 2nd floor of the Bennett Martin Public Library at 14th & "N" St. in downtown Lincoln. You'll find biographies of musicians, books about music history, instructional books, sheet music, CDs, music-related magazines, and much more. Also check out Polley Music Library Picks, the Polley Music Library's e-mail newsletter, and follow them on Facebook!

Book Review: Tofu Quilt by Ching Yeung Russell

Tofu Quilt
by Ching Yeung Russell (j Russell)

 

Ching Yeung Russell, an award winning author, in this novel-in-verse, shares a patchwork of experiences from her childhood in Hong Kong. She’s a spunky girl who challenges the status quo of “only boys need to be educated.” Supporting characters include a bright and fierce mama fighting for her daughter’s right to learn, a papa whose talents as a tailor supports the family, a beloved grandma who encourages the girl’s talents and a wise uncle who shares with her the delicious dessert that inspires her writing career.

 

Tofu Quilt is a sweet book that provides an authentic Chinese child’s voice, and reveals the richness of life in spite of poverty in the midst of a loving family. Although the novel-in-verse format lends itself to a quick read, the story will stay with you a long time.

 

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try House Without Walls also by C.Y. Russell, Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate, Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Choksi or The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw.]

 

[ official Tofu Quilt web page on the official Ching Yeung Russell web site ]

 

Recommended by Carrie K.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

A Deadly Education
by Naomi Novik (Novik)

 

I am a big fan of Naomi Novik’s writing, having read her fantastic Temeraire series as well as the stand-alone books, Uprooted and Spinning Silver. Novik’s newest story comes across as a punchier version of Harry Potter with a heroine named Galadriel (yes, named for the character in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings) who is attending a School of Magic (the Scholomance) which has attendees from all over the world. What makes this school different from ordinary schools is the fact that there are no teachers or adults, just the students themselves, who learn their magic skills and hone their crafts with the goal of making it out of the building alive. Unfortunately, there are creatures within the school who are always attempting to attack or eat you before you graduate! I enjoyed the story once it started picking up action towards the end, but A Deadly Education is clearly not Novik at her best. The book gets off to a very slow start and the use of specialized language throughout slows the pace.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, or The Mystery Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart.]

[ official A Deadly Education page on the official Naomi Novik web site ]

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!