Book Review: The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose

The Mystery Guest
by Nita Prose (Prose)

This is a feel-good book in which Molly, a maid at a high-end hotel, sees the world differently than most people around her. It’s a mystery in which Molly is suspected of killing a guest. The reader is treated to both the suspense of discovering “whodunnit” and the refreshing opportunity to see things from a different perspective.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Maid by Nita Prose or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.)

 

( official Nita Prose web site )

 

See Scott C.’s review of The Maid by Nita Prose in the October 2022 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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!

New BookTalk Booklist on BookGuide: The Booker Prize Longlist for 2023

Jodi R., from the Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries, had prepared a booktalk for the Bethany BookTalks series at the end of 2023, which she ultimately was unable to present. However, her prepared handout, about the novels on the Booker Prize Longlist, is still being made available for fans of international literature.

Check out the list of titles Jodi compiled, at the following link: 

 

The Booker Prize Longlist - 2023

Book Review: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

The Covenant of Water
by Abraham Verghese (Verghese)

This is about three generations of a family in India from about 1900-1970s. “The condition” is the unknown reason why so many people in their family tree have drowned. Characters realize how much their ancestors have sacrificed to improve the lives of their children and future generations. Faith works alongside the hope that scientific knowledge and medical treatments will save lives.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Pachinko by Min Jin Lee or The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng.)

 

( official Abraham Verghese web site )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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: Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
by Lisa See (See)

Tan Yunxian was a real woman and doctor in 15th century China. This is historical fiction of a woman during the Ming Dynasty. In an environment in which women had little or no control over their lives, and at a time in which a male doctor couldn’t actually see or touch a female patient, Yunxian tried to use herbal medicine to bring relief to women.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Snow Flower and the Secret Fan also by Lisa See.)

 

( official Lisa See web site )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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 Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

The Beekeeper of Aleppo
by Christy Lefteri (Lefteri)

Nuri and Afra Ibrahim are escaping Aleppo during the current civil war in Syria. The war already took the life of their young son, and their goal to make it to England is fraught with challenges, including more tragedies for themselves and being witness to others being victimized. Absolutely heartbreaking.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Waiting by Keurn Suk Gendry-Kim and Janet Hong, Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi, A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasamor, or Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo.)

 

( official Christy Lefteri Twitter feed )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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!

New Booktalk Booklist on BookGuide: Books With an Animal Theme, with Jodi R.

On Marcy 17th, 2023, Jodi R., one of the staff at the Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraires, presented a new talk at the Bethany Branch BookTalks, on the theme of books dealing with animals and the animal-human relationship. The 23 books on her list range from older classics, to recent bestsellers. And the animals discussed range from your typical dogs and cats, to horses, foxes, giraffes, elephants, wolves, polar bears and even octopi.

Check out Jodi's selections in this new booktalk booklist on BookGuide at the following link:

Books With an Animal Theme

Book Review: Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart

Everything We Didn’t Say
by Nicole Baart (Baart)

Juniper Baker returns to the small town where she was raised, trying to solve a murder from the summer after she graduated. Modern-day threats and dangers to her and her family members are almost surely connected to her brother being the main suspect from that long-ago murder.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Little Broken Things by Nicole Baart or The Other Daughter by Karin Slaughter.)

 

( official Everything We Didn’t Say page on the official Nicole Baart web site )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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: Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns

Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder
by Valerie Burns (Burns)

The first in the new Baker Street Mystery series, this is a culinary-themed cozy mystery. Maddy Montgomery inherited her aunt’s bakery, large house, and 250-pound English Mastiff, all in a small town in Michigan. There is a clause for her to keep all three, though, and that’s to keep the bakery running and live in the house for at least a year. Before her second day in town has come to a close, there is a murder in the bakery, and Maddy has to work with her new neighbors and friends to clear her own name. A marketing genius but baker newbie, Maddy entertains the reader while also bringing business to the bakery with her series of trending hashtags.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.)

 

( official Baker Street Mysteries series page on the official V.M. Burns web site )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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 Christmas Book Flood by Emily Kilgore, with illustrations by Kitty Moss

The Christmas Book Flood

by Emily Kilgore, with illustrations by Kitty Moss (jP Kilgore)

 

Readers of all ages will love this picture book that describes the Book Flood in Iceland every Christmas Eve. Known as Jolabokaflod (which translates roughly to Christmas Book Flood), the annual tradition combines the magic and anticipation of Christmas with the joys of reading. People look for just the right book and accessory (warm socks, hot cocoa, a bookmark) for each family member to open on Christmas Eve, then everyone stays up reading all night. Kitty Moss’s beautiful artwork will leave you feeling that cold snow you see pictured on the pages, and aching for the warmth of that fireplace providing warm coziness.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens or How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.)

 

( official Kitty Moss – illustrator web site ) | ( official Emily Kilgore web site )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Gere and South Branch Libraries

 

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 Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

The Sun Down Motel
by Simone St. James (St. James)

This is a perfect choice for when the temperatures are starting to drop & there’s a wind blowing outside your windows, so you can’t tell which chills are weather-related are which are from the ghosts in the book. Both timelines, 1982 and 2017, take place in the small town of Fell, in upstate New York. Thirty-five years after Viv Delaney disappeared there, her niece, Carly Kirk travels to the eerie motel where her aunt worked to find answers about what happened one scary night.

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try A Guide to the Ghosts of Lincoln by Alan Boye.)

 

( publisher’s official The Sun Down Motel web page ) | ( official Simone St. James web site )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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: West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

West With Giraffes
by Lynda Rutledge (Rutledge)

Based on a true story of the first two giraffes in America, the novel describes the Dust Bowl, the Great Hurricane of 1938, and Belle Benchley (known as “Zoo Lady”) who was the Director of the San Diego Zoo 1927-1953. The friendship between two kind people and the giraffes is poignant, as they travel from the East Coast to the West Coast on the Lee Highway.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan or Water for Elephants by sara Gruen.)

 

( official West With Giraffes page on the official Lynda Rutledge web site )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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!

New Booktalk Booklist: What I've Read This Winter (2021/2022) with Jodi R.

In February 2022, as part of our South Branch BooksTalks on Zoom, and in March at the Bethany BooksTalks in person, Jodi R., from the Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries, presented a talk on "Books I've Read This Winter: 2021/2022" -- featuring a selection of her favorite reads from the past several wintery months.

Check out Jodi's list of recommended reads, in this booktalk booklist on the Lincoln City Libraries' BookGuide reader resources pages at the following link:

Books I've Read This Winter: 2021/2022

Book Review: The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

The Good Sister
by Sally Hepworth (Hepworth)

I love mysteries and I love neurodiversity being addressed respectfully. This book offers both, while also offering a family drama. Fraternal twins Rose and Fern, who looked out for each other as children, follow the same pattern in their current late-20s.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell or The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn.)

 

( official The Good Sister page on the official Sally Hepworth web site )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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 Sentence by Louise Erdrich

The Sentence
by Louise Erdrich (Erdrich)

I run to get my hands on every new Louise Erdrich novel, and The Sentence was especially wonderful and relevant during the pandemic. A woman named Tookie works at an independent bookstore in Minneapolis, where she is haunted by the ghost of Flora, the store’s most annoying customer. Taking place from November of 2019, when Flora died on All Saint’s Day, to November 2020, the novel addresses life during COVID and the Minneapolis protests following George Foreman’s murder by a police officer.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman.)

 

( pubisher’s official The Sentence web page ) | ( Louise Erdich page on Wikipedia )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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: You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar + online book discussion of this book tonight 1/12/2022!!

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy StoriesAbout Racism

by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar (305.8 AfrYr)

 

Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar are two sisters who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. Amber has moved to New York City, where she is a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show. Lacey is still living in Omaha. The book documents racist things said to Lacey. There is a back-and-forth humor between the co-author sisters that makes it impossible to not laugh, although the reality of current racism experienced by the authors is horrifying.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo or Mixed: My Life in Black and White by Angela Nissel.)

 

( publisher’s official You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey web page ) | ( official Amber Ruffin Twitter feed ) | ( official Lacey Lamar Twitter feed )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

***** Join a virtual book discussion of You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism, co-sponsored by Nebraska Appleseed, tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 on Zoom!

To join the discussion, go to https://lincolnne.zoom.us/j/8465964290. *****

 

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: Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Great Circle

by Maggie Shipstead (Shipstead)

 

Strong female characters from two different time periods were at the center of this book from the 2021 Booker Shortlist. Marian Graves & her twin brother were born in 1914, then raised by an uncle in Missoula, Montana. Marian’s story, of pursuing her dream of being a pilot, paints a picture of our country’s development during the 20th century. A century later Hadley Baxter, also raised by an uncle after being orphaned, researches Marian’s life before portraying her in a film. This book is an epic story and a shining example of historical fiction.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson, The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott, Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalieror People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.)

 

( official Great Circle page on the official Maggie Shipstead web site )

 

See Jodi R.’s 2021 Booker Award Longlist booklist here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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 Maidens by Alex Michaelides

The Maidens

by Alex Michaelides (Michaelides)

 

Marianna is a group therapist in London. When her niece, Zoe, calls about her friend missing, Marianna travels to visit her niece in the formal academic world of Cambridge. Reemerging into the world of Cambridge she’d known with her late husband, Marianna understands the layout of the land, references to Greek mythology, and the clues related to classic literature. The Maidens is a modern day gothic mystery/thriller.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Silent Patient, also by Alex Michaelides, or The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave.)

 

( pulisher’s official The Maidens web page ) | ( Alex Michaelides on: Instagram | Twitter )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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 Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

The Lincoln Highway

by Amor Towles (Towles)

 

It was a treat to read about places in Nebraska I recognize: the 4th of July Festivities in Seward; a roadtrip to Omaha; etc. The author of former One Book — One Lincoln title A Gentleman in Moscow was at his best with his storytelling in this new novel. Set in the 1950’s, this story of a young man taking care of his little brother after they’ve been orphaned opens up several storylines, tying them neatly together with no loose ends by the last page. The idea of an epic journey is mentioned often, and that’s just what this book is. Beautiful storytelling and character development.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try This Tender Land and Ordinary Grace, both by William Kent Krueger or A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility, both by Amor Towles.)

 

( official The Lincoln Highway page on the official Amor Towles web site )

 

See Scott C.’s review of the audiobook version of Amor Towle’s A Gentleman in Moscow, in the June 2017 Staff Recommendations on the libraries' BookGuide resource pages!

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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!