Staff Choices

In an effort to read more non-fiction, I’ve found myself drawn to true crime audiobooks due to their similarity to the podcasts I would listened to once upon a time. My most current read, I Know Who You Are: How an Amateur DNA Sleuth Unmasked the Golden State Killer and Changed Crime Fighting Forever by Barbara Rae-Venter was a truly fascinating listen. If you’ve already read, I'll be gone in the dark : one woman's obsessive search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, this is a great follow up that can also be read on its own. 

While the Golden State Killer case is discussed, this book covers much more than its namesake case. Along with the criminal cases solved through investigative genealogy, Venter-Rae has also done life changing work for adopted individuals looking for their birth relatives. Without getting to far into the weeds, she also gives you a starter course in genetic genealogy that may leave you wanting to look into your own family history. *Insert shameless plug for AHML Genealogy programming and resources.* 

If you’ve ever been interested in genealogy, the Golden State Killer or true crime in general, pick this one up, you’ll get all three here.  

This book as well as the first one," 6:20 Man " kept me reading and interested every chance I had down time. I looked forward to the next twist and turn to the mystery of the real time crimes. I blasted through these books in hours. I have been reading Baldacci books for a long time. A great story teller. Devine is up there with the characters from the Camel Club series. The facts in both books are well researched.

A cat person myself, the novel piqued my interest for titular reasons, but also authorial ones. Before this, I knew Hiro Arikawa only for Library Wars (for which I'd read the manga but not the original novels...yet!), a futuristic semi-dystopia about libraries fighting against censorship and romance(s) blooming between bibliophiles. I'd enjoyed that series but had no idea what to expect with this book, which is a complete tone and genre switch.

Nana, a hardy stray cat in modern-day Tokyo, is gradually won over by his eventual human, Satoru, who leaves food regularly by Nana's favorite spot on Satoru's silver van. When Nana is suddenly injured, Satoru cares for him and Nana, in true feline fashion, eventually adopts him as his person. Time passes and these two bachelors live happy domestic lives together until one day Satoru decides to take Nana on a road trip in their trusty silver van. They make four stops, each corresponding to a different part of Satoru's life, and the truth behind Satoru's intentions is slowly revealed further at each location.

Told in a combination of Nana's first-person narration and the third-person perspectives of the various characters who appear in the book, the story is heartwarming and small in scope, focusing on the importance and impact one's relationships have on one's life. The humans--or aspects of them--are often reflected in their pets; this reminds readers that animal companions are just as much family members as humans are. With nods to other famous cat-centered works such as Natsume Sōseki's I Am A Cat, this book is a good choice for cat lovers, light novels, and fans of domestic, realistic fiction. Each chapter is connected but fairly self-contained, so it's a book versatile enough to binge or read little by little.

Fans of The Travelling Cat Chronicles may also enjoy The Boy and the Dog by Hase Seishū and If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura, as well as Arikawa's novel The Goodbye Cat, and A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

In early 17th century New England, reminiscent of Jamestown, Va., a young servant girl escapes the fort where others are starving, freezing and suffering from smallpox. Her journey in near solitude finds her on a daily quest for simple survival. She knows if she stays it will kill her, so choosing an unknown path to Canada is her only hope. Catching salmon, eating grubs, roasting any small animal she can find, picking berries and roots give a respite in her constant quest to live another day. Details of her bitter cold, her hunger, and several dangerous threats explore the experience of how a human body can survive in untamed nature.
Vaster Wilds is a novel of solitude and loneliness as well. The quiet is deafening, yet her pioneer existence keeps you tearing through the pages rooting for her to survive. Previously in her writing, Lauren Groff has shown us the strength of women in this world and their boundless endurance in the face of obstacles. Her characters are a testament to struggle and durability. Vaster Wilds will take you on a remarkable journey, and have you soul searching and wondering about what it takes to survive in this world.

I will be honest, this has been my year of judging books by their covers, and I picked Shark Heart by Emily Habeck because the cover is absolutely gorgeous. Luckily for me, the story is equally beautiful, heartbreaking and so very lovely. Habeck was able to create a love story that is anything but traditional. I’d classify this as sci-fi/magical realism, but it’s honestly a little hard to categorize.  

The writing style of this book is also not very traditional. You’ll find that some of the chapters are a page long, while others are written as a scene from a play. I found the scripted chapters to be a clever way of revealing past interactions that had significance to the present. 

Set in a world where genetic mutations slowly turn people into animals, Wren and Lewis navigate the realities of a life altering diagnosis. Only one year into their marriage, Lewis is diagnosed with a very rare mutation, one in which he will slowly turn into a great white shark.  He will retain his consciousness but will no longer be able to communicate with the human world. 

The book is split into three parts: 

1. The story of Wren and Lewis before and during the transformation 

2. The story of Wren's mother, her childhood and the story behind their seemingly strained relationship. 

3. The story of Lewis after he is released into the sea  

There are so many themes, metaphors and nuances of this book that I think it would be a great book club pick. This won't be everyone’s cup of tea, but I urge you to give it a try. You may just fall in love as I did. 

Shark Heart was a Goodreads nominee for Best Fiction and Best Debut Novel in 2023.

Three short stories of women and men. Each subsequent story tells a darker tale of misguided behavior, poor choices, peril and even elements of horror. Each is a rather dark examination of how actions can change the course of one's life. Did the women elicit conduct directed toward them intentionally or unintentionally? What is the responsibility of the men?

Author Claire Keegan's prose is concise, descriptive, provocative and disturbing. So Late in the Day can be read in an hour as it is only 118 pages long yet might remain in your thoughts long afterward. This is a departure from her last two books but I like reading an author's work when it takes a different direction than expected.

Miss Marple, Jessica Fletcher and now a grittier version in Maggie E, long retired from the CIA. An old case suddenly bursts into her Maine retirement life in a small Maine town.

Aided by 4 other CIA retirees, she is thrust back to Thailand, Italy and dangers galore. Calling themselves The Martini Club, the five neighbors thought they were settled into shared meals of dishes from their exotic former posts, good alcohol and fitting into small town life. When danger intrudes, their tradecraft and smarts kicks in.

This is not Tess Gerritsen’s first series. Her Rizzoli and Isles crime series entertained us on the page and on TV.

Can’t wait to see what Gerritsen will serve up in The Martini Club Book 2.

At seventeen years old, Anna Horn wants nothing more than to fly under the radar. Graduate high school, clean casino hotel rooms (her part-time job), and maybe eventually be brave enough to start a cultural preservation society for the Takoda Tribe on the rez. She'd also ideally like to reconnect with her younger sister, Grace. However, change is coming to the rez, and Anna--like it or not--is drawn into the heart of things when Grace goes missing. Stuck in a tangled knot of jurisdictional arguments and complicated race relations, Anna is the only person who can find answers...if the disembodied rolling head of her nightmares doesn't get to her first.

Sisters of the Lost Nation is local author Nick Medina's debut novel, which blends Indigenous folklore with real, ongoing social issues in this mystery/suspense/thriller. Although the Takoda Tribe is fictitious, Medina is a member of the Louisiana Tunica-Biloxi Tribe; much of the rez setting is inspired by his heritage. Medina's writing raises awareness of the "silent crisis" of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, while uplifting Native communities through the richness and revitalization of their cultural heritage. Just as Anna learns how her people's stories can empower her, so, too, can we be reminded how the past can inform and influence the future.

Readers interested in stories about Indigenous heritage, identities, and/or life on the rez may enjoy A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power, Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah, Reclaiming Two-Spirits by Gregory D. Smithers, and Rez Metal. Other Indigenous authors of interest may include Stephen Graham Jones and Rebecca Roanhorse. Those interested in history may like Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, and An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, while those interested in Indigenous folktales may enjoy American Indian Myths and Legends edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz. Finally, readers may want to peruse curated booklists for Native American Heritage Month: Fiction and Nonfiction, as well as Sisters of the Lost Nation Readalikes.

If you’re looking to round out your reading year with something cozy, look no further. Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer was such an unexpected joy to read. A true cozy fantasy with the grumpy/ sunshine trope, Maehrer did a wonderful job creating characters with histories and personalities you care about. It helps that the world building is kept simple, with more time spent developing the characters, relationships and evolving mystery. 

Evie Sage is an optimist. An unemployed optimist who desperately needs a job to keep her family afloat. With a father sick with a mysterious illness spreading through the kingdom and a younger sister still in school, she needs to find a job fast. It doesn’t help that her village finds her odd and her last employer was a terrible human being. Enter, the Villain. Handsome, secretive and entirely evil (or is he?), after a harrowing meet cute in the woods, he offers Evie a job as his personal assistant.  

When the Villain’s evil plans start to go south, Evie takes it upon herself to weed out the rat in the organization. Having finally found a place she feels useful and accepted, Evie will do what it takes to make sure her employer stays in business. The more they work together the more she realizes the Villain is more than his evil persona, and that maybe the heroes are the true villains of this story. 

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver follows Iris as she embarks on her new life in New York, carrying the grief of losing her mom and the trauma of a bad relationship back in London. Iris brings with her the gelato recipe from her mom that has been a source of comfort throughout her life. When she stumbles upon a familiar door that she recognizes from her mom’s photo album she meets Gio Belloti, and they embark on a star-crossed journey of love, loss, secrets, and family togetherness.

The story follows two timelines - one of Iris in the present day, her struggles, love interest, finding out more about her mom who passed a few years ago, and a secret she feels she needs to keep from Gio. The other is of Iris’ mom life in New York… and how Iris came to be.

I loved that this book had more depth than a typical rom-com and dealt with some heavier themes. Although I found the main conflict not such a conflict at all in my mind, I chose to willingly accept it as such and just enjoy the story. This is a wholesome read, focused on family, love, loss, and finding yourself.

The audiobook version of this was delightful with the British accent. I recommend this one as a cozy winter read!