Literary Links: Reading Recommendations

Here's our tail-end-of-summer wrap-up of reading recommendations!

Mockingbird and More: The Literary Class of 1960 [The Booklist Reader]

"So, Harper Lee’s having kind of a big week, right? But she only wrote two books. And, they’re probably not on the shelf right now. Why not remind readers of the other works with remarkable staying power that were published or produced that year?"

8 Raw Westerns to Read This Summer [Lit Reactor]

"There has been some talk of a Western revival of sorts, and a number of interesting titles have found their way to presses this year. With the oncoming heat of summer, it’s the perfect time to catch up on some gunslinging between the hours of waiting in beach traffic and nights spent sleepless thanks to the humidity. You can’t hunt down your enemies for a battle at high noon, but you can live vicariously through fictional characters in front of an air conditioner."

Joss Whedon to Write a New Comic Book Series [GalleyCat]

"The director behind the first two Avengers movies will write the story for a new comic book called Twist. The story, set in the Victorian era, stars a young maid who transforms into a hero. At this point in time, no release date has been set for this six-part mini-series."

'Game of Thrones' Author George R. R. Martin Would Like to Recommend Some Books [Wall Street Journal]

"In a post Tuesday on his “Not a Blog,” Martin shared his thoughts about some of the books he has read during his recent travels. It’s not all science fiction and fantasy, either. The list also includes two of the current biggest titles in popular fiction and nonfiction. Here’s a glance at Martin’s recent reads and what he thinks about them."

Must-read inspy romances: 'Wonder of You', 'Love Arrives in Pieces', 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' [USA Today]

Alexi Wants to Help You Find Your Next Read [The Digital Reader]

"This iPhone app is currently in beta, but when it launches this autumn Alexi will let readers follow well-known literary authors and get their recommendations on books worth reading, and read the ebooks inside the app."

Bonus: Literary travel!

The Ultimate Holiday Reads by Destination [Fly Abu Dhabi]

"From classics like Don Quixote and A Room with a View, to contemporary page-turners such as The Wasp Factory and The Miniaturist, there’s a book for every destination. So, whether you’re looking for a book to keep you entertained on the flight, something to dip into between excursions or an easy beach read, take a look at our Ultimate Holiday Reads infographic for inspiration!"

26 Literary Landmarks in America To Visit Before You Die [Buzzfeed]

"From museums and historic homes to out-of-the-way bookstores and bars, your literary-themed summer roadtrip just got easier to plan."

New & Novel: Parenting

The kids are home for the summer, and maybe, to misquote the song, the living isn't so easy with them underfoot. Do you want your kids to learn about money management? Are you worried you're yelling too much? If you are looking for a book with parenting tips, never fear - the library catalog has got your back! Whether you want to explore nature with your child this summer, or feed your toddler superfoods, or help your teenager succeed, we've got some reading recommendations.  Here are some of the latest offerings in the library catalog:

Teenagers 101: What a Top Teacher Wishes You Knew About Helping Your Kid Succeed by Rebecca Deurlein, Ed.D

Will My Kid Grow Out of It?: A Child Psychologist's Guide to Understanding Worrisome Behavior by Bonny J. Forrest, JD, PhD 

Yell Less, L[heart]ve More: How the Orange Rhino Mom Stopped Yelling at Her Kids-And How You Can Too! - A 30-Day Guide That Includes: 100 Alternatives to Yelling, Simple, Daily, Steps to Follow, Honest Stories to Inspire by Sheila McCraith

Forever Mom: What to Expect When You're Adopting by Mary Ostyn

First Bites: Superfoods for Babies and Toddlers by Dana Angelo White 

The Spiritual Child: The New Science on Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving by Lisa Miller with Teresa Barker 

The Opposite of Spoiled: How to Talk to Kids About Money and Values in a Material World by Ron Lieber

How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature by Scott D. Sampson

The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed by Jessica Lahey

When Kids Call the Shots: How to Seize Control From Your Darling Bully - And Enjoy Being a Parent Again by Sean Grover    

For more books about parenting, you can search the catalog under the subject "parenting". 

 

Saints Preserve Us

A friend once shared with me that the point of believing in a higher power is not to be spared hardships, but to be divinely helped through them. Saints bracelets have been in style for the past couple of years. At the end of a particularly trying day, I looked at the images wrapped around my wrist. There wasn't a saint of  Absolutely No Hardships Or Suffering Ever. No one was ever sainted happily ever after. The saints I was wearing had been beheaded, died of tuberculosis, given up riches and privilege to find holiness in poverty, were overwrought mystics, or seen their first born publicly executed.

The idea of saints may seem quaint in 2015, but there are three contemporary writers who reignited my childhood interest in saints and made them relevant in the face of disappointments, doubts, and spiritual aridity.

Heather King, author of Shirt of Flame: A Year With St. Thérèse of Lisieux, understands what it means to struggle with unrequited love, alcoholism, and the turbulence of midlife. King's previous books: Parched and Redeemed: Stumbling Toward God, Sanity, and the Peace That Passes All Understanding covers her journey of recovery, conversion, and spiritual growth. King devoted a year of her life to reflecting on St Therese's autobiography. The writings of St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), a cloistered French Carmelite nun taken in a personal context illuminate the bittersweet triumphs and humbling moments people face on a daily basis. 

Dawn Eden, author of My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds With the Help of the Saints, and The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On , has eloquently shared her journey from agnostic Judaism to devout Catholicism through her blog and books. Eden shares the lives of various saints and their experiences with loss, trauma, and spiritual seeking to show how we can cope with past abuse and experience profound healing. Her chapters about saints Josephine Bakhita and Dorothy Day are especially relevant in the 21st century, as they respectively deal with human trafficking and social justice issues. My Peace I Give You acknowledges recent Catholic church abuse scandals, but helps individuals seeking solace and perspective focus on the saints as approachable role models to emulate. Eden maintains an uplifting message about personal healing. Readers will gain a sense of validation and inner peace, while eliminating undeserved shame and guilt many survivors internalize into adulthood.


Kathryn Harrison, best known for her searing memoirs The Kiss, and The Mother Knot, as well as her complex non-fiction and captivating fiction, examines the lives of St. Therese of Lisieux and Joan of Arc. Her most recent book Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured revisits the questions generations have asked about this saint. Harrison's portrayal of Joan of Arc delivers a version of a young woman with extraordinary faith and courage in the face of battle, a degrading inquisition, and being burned at the stake. Harrison masterfully interprets art, folklore, and her predecessors' analysis into viewing Joan of Arc as a unique heroine.

Harrison's book Saint Therese of Lisieux from the Penguin Lives series, helps readers who find themselves initially exasperated with Saint Therese's seemingly sugary expressiveness to find the real fire that galvanized her to enter a Carmelite convent at the age of 15 and devote her life to poverty, chastity, and obedience. In her protective family life, she was a pampered, hypersensitive neurotic, prone to scrupulosity, who through a spiritual transformation, found a new perspective and purpose for her life.

For further encouragement and reading, check out these title from ABC Library.

Making Saints: How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn't and Why by Kenneth L. Woodward

American Saint : The Life of Elizabeth Seton by Joan Barthel

Voices of the Saints : A Year of Readings by Bert Ghezzi

The Saints' Guide to Happiness by Robert Ellsberg

My Cousin the Saint: A Search for Faith, Family, and Miracles by Justin Catanoso

If Nuns Ruled the World: Ten Sisters On a Mission by Jo Piazza

A Man for Others: Maximilian Kolbe, Saint of Auschwitz, In the Words of Those Who Knew Him by Patricia Treece

  
Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul by Cathleen Medwick

Dark Night of the Soul: Dark Night of the Soul: Saint John of the Cross, translated by Mirabai Starr    

 

Comics for Girls

Sometimes you read articles like "What Taking My Daughter to a Comic Book Store Taught Me", and it really gets to you. Granted, this might not be everyone's take on every comic store, but it's a sad fact that this can happen - you can take a girl to a comic book store, and she might ask for "the real comics", comics where all female characters are not scantily clad superheroes. If you know a girl who's interested in comics and would like to read about other girls they might more readily identify with, we have some comic suggestions for you!

We have tried to use some of Geek Dad's guidelines for finding titles, especially: titles must be female-led and titles should be more than a toy ad. All titles are from the children's section unless otherwise noted.

To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel

Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More by Kelly Sue Deconnick
[School Library Journal rated this appropriate for grade 9 and above]

Lumberjanes: Beware The Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson & Grace Ellis

Cleopatra In Space: Book One, Target Practice by Mike Maihack

El Deafo by Cece Bell 

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch  

Phoebe and Her Unicorn: A Heavenly Nostrils Chronicle by Dana Simpson 

Sisters by Raina Telgemeier 

Chiggers by Hope Larson

Oddly Normal: Volume 1 written & illustrated by Otis Frampton

Bandette: In Presto! by Paul Tobin with art by Colleen Coover [YA]

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki [YA]

Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks [YA] 

Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
[School Library Journal rated this appropriate for grade 9 and above]


Links


12 Comics for a 7-Year-Old Girl: A Response [Geek Dad]

10 Great Comics for Adolescent Girls: Graphic Novels and Collections [Paste]

You Go, Girls! 7 Kick-Butt Comics for 7-Year-Old Girls [Brightly]

William Shakespeare's Star Wars

It's practically impossible not to know that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be in theaters in December 2015. Or are we just nerds? We confess to having downloaded the Star Wars app to our phone (there has been much selfie-taking - all the guys think it's funny to be Princess Leia, and hardly anybody wants to be trapped in carbonite; and the weather in Albuquerque mostly resembles Endor in the early morning and Utapau during the day, but the monsoon season is also bringing up comparisons to Kamino). Also, we were pretty excited about the behind-the-scenes reel from the San Diego Comic-Con and the pictures of Luke, Leia, and Han (um, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford) reunited.

So, you still have a few months to geek out and immerse yourself in the Star Wars universe. You could watch all the movies. You could refresh yourself with the visual dictionaries. You could amuse yourself with the clever cartoons of Jeffrey Brown. How about Star Wars Lego? Or, if you have literary inclinations, why not try William Shakespeare's Star Wars?

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher

A retelling of Star Wars in the style of Shakespeare, in which a wise Jedi knight, an evil Sith lord, a beautiful captive princess, and a young hero coming of age reflect the valor and villainy of the Bard's greatest plays. 
 
William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher ; inspired by the work of George Lucas and William Shakespeare

A follow-up to the best-selling William Shakespeare's Star Wars:Verily, A New Hope returns readers to a galaxy far, far away, where a brooding young hero, a power-mad emperor and their jesting droids match wits, struggle for power and soliloquize in elegant iambic pentameter. 

William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return by Ian Doescher 

Han Solo entombed in carbonite, the princess taken captive, the Rebel Alliance besieged, and Jabba the Hutt engorged. Now Luke Skywalker and his Rebel band must seek fresh allies in their quest to thwart construction of a new Imperial Death Star.  

William Shakespeare's The Phantom Menace: Star Wars Part the First by Ian Doescher

Join us, good gentles, for a merry reimagining of Star Wars: Episode 1 as only Shakespeare could have written it. The entire saga starts here, with a thrilling tale featuring a disguised queen, a young hero, and two fearless knights facing a hidden, vengeful enemy. ’Tis a true Shakespearean drama, filled with sword fights, soliloquies, and doomed romance . . . all in glorious iambic pentameter and coupled with twenty gorgeous Elizabethan illustrations. Hold on to your midi-chlorians: The play’s the thing, wherein you’ll catch the rise of Anakin! 

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: The Clone Army Attacketh by Ian Doescher  

In time so long ago begins our play, In clash-strewn galaxy far, far away. To Shmi or not to Shmi? Torn between duty to the Jedi, attraction to Paďm, and concern for his beloved mother, yeoman Jedi Anakin Skywalker struggles to be master of his fate. The path he chooses will determine not just his own destiny, but that of the entire Republic. And thereby hangs a tale. Alack the day! A noble lady in danger. A knight and squire in battle. And a forbidden love thats written in the stars. Once again, the quill of William Shakespeare meets the galaxy of George Lucas in an insightful reimagining that sets the Star Wars saga on the Elizabethan stage. The characters are familiar, but the masterful meter, insightful soliloquies, and period illustrations will convince you that the Bard himself penned this epic adventure.  

*all book descriptions are taken from the library catalog 

A Year of Reading

Who says reading challenges have to be limited to summer?

In my last post, I talked about how I'm burnt out on reading young adult books, and I touched on a reading challenge my sister suggested we do. When my sister texted me to tell me about "a GREAT idea" she had for reading, I was nervous, mostly because we have very different reading tastes, and we're different types of readers. My sister's idea was to pick a specific theme for every month, and we can only read books that fall into that theme. Her plan is to do this for a year.

I was hesitant at first, because that's not how I read. I tend to be a mood reader, and limiting myself the way my sister suggested is really hard for me. Any time I try to limit myself to something, I tend to want to read everything except what I'm limited to.

But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try it, primarily because I'm still burnt out on young adult books (and middle grade, and anything that's not aimed at an adult audience), but also because I thought it would be a fun way to extend my summer reading challenge and challenge myself with my reading.

Our challenge starts tomorrow, but I officially started it earlier this week. For the next year, our themes are:

August: Non-fiction
September: Classics/literary fiction
October: Horror/scary stories
November: History (both fiction and non-fiction)
December: Winter-themed books
January: Self-improvement
February: Young adult fiction (I couldn't help adding it in, just in case I want to start reading it again.)
March: Novels where technology plays a role, or non-fiction about technology
April: Poetry, short stories, and plays
May: Memoir/biographies
June: Summer-themed books
July: Childhood favorites

Then, a couple weeks ago, my sister sent me a text about "another GREAT idea" she had. She suggested that each month, we recommend books to each other from the theme, and we have to read at least one chapter of whatever is recommended to us. I'm not sure how this going to play out yet, since my sister can't seem to decide how many books we're allowed to recommend to each other, but I think it'll be fun.

Want to participate in your own reading challenge? Make one up, or try one of these!

2015 Reading Challenges
Novel Challenges
The Perch Book Club Summer Reading Challenge

And if you don't like those options, you can always do a Google search to find a reading challenge that works for you. Happy reading!

Forensic Mysteries

Who's fascinated by forensics?  We armchair detectives are! And so is mystery author Val McDermid, who just published Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime. Her familiarity with forensics is gleaned from research over the years for her fictional crime scenes, and allows her to "uncover the history of this science, real-world murders and the people who must solve them". For those of us interested in forensics, the use of scientific knowledge and/or methods (including DNA analysis, blood spatter, and entomology) to solve crimes, this book - employing true crime and scientific accounts - is gruesome (no pictures, though) but witty and intelligent, and tinged with a dose of both McDermid's sense of wonder and skepticism.

In honor of McDermid's book, we've compiled a list of some of the most well-known forensic mystery series from the library catalog:

Jefferson Bass
Bill Brockton, forensic anthropologist in the Body Farm series

Benjamin Black
Quirke, coroner in 1950s Ireland

Patricia Cornwell
Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner in Richmond, Virginia

Colin Cotterill
Siri Paiboun, national coroner in 1970s Laos

Ariana Franklin
Adelia, coroner in 12th century England

Tess Gerritsen
Maura Isles, medical examiner in Boston, Massachusetts (her partner is Jane Rizzoli)

Elly Griffiths
Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist

Iris Johansen
Eve Duncan, forensic sculptor

Sheila Lowe
Claudia Rose, forensic handwriting expert

James Patterson
Claire Washburn, medical examiner and founding member of The Women’s Murder Club, in San Francisco, California

Kathy Reichs
Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist in North Carolina and Quebec

Links

Forensic Mysteries [Stop You're Killing Me]

Popular Forensic Mystery Books [Goodreads]