jnmegan

[jnmegan]

Notes From the GPL BiblioFile November 2020

As I closed the cover of my latest thriller, I thought to myself: “Hmm, didn’t I already read this book?” I recalled its basic plot: A damaged young woman with a shadowy traumatic past is called back to her hometown to resolve a mystery that dredges up unresolved inner conflicts. She meets an attractive stranger who she feels reluctantly drawn toward, but her built-up defenses combat against her desire to trust and thereby risk opening her heart to potential harm. The twisting conclusion exposes the narrator as unreliable and the compelling stranger is not what he seemed.

I looked back at the log of titles that I have read this year and this one was not listed, but I did notice that there were about 10 others that could have been described in exactly the same way. Some, of course, were better written than others, but I was dismayed to realize what a rut I am obviously in when I select my novels. I can’t really blame the publishing world for pumping out the same thing over and over- they copycat the trends that are hot, and rush to market those that will sell quickly (and hopefully will be made into a streaming series). If I want to expand my repertoire I will just have to dig a little deeper and seek out some new experiences.

I am hereby vowing to venture this coming month into genres and formats that I tend to ignore (or even actively avoid). I challenge you to do the same. You could cautiously dip in a toe by selecting a close relation to what you already are hooked into; or if you bravely want to, jump headlong into something completely new. Having a library card means you can do either without much investment. It just requires a sacrifice of time in exchange for potentially discovering a whole new passion! Either way, the worst thing that could happen is that you delve into something unpleasant and decide to return it to the drop box early.

Didi you know that your GPL card number enables you to access NoveList Plus? This service is so packed with great content it should definitely be one of your bookmarked sites. They have comprehensive lists for all genres/age groups including “For fans of…” and “If You Like…” categories. They even compare other forms of media that are related or similar. You could get lost for days.

Some other good sources of the best a genre has to offer can be found in story collections, essays or anthologies. Here are a couple notable examples of series that will allow you to pick and choose shorter selections to whet your appetite:

                         The “Best American” Series: There are a number of these collections, encompassing everything from Mysteries to Travelogues to Comics to Spiritual Writing.

The Norton Anthologies offer curated samples from a variety of time periods, cultures and themes. In addition to full text, these often also include abridged versions or excerpts aimed at providing highlights or particularly representative sections of longer works.

Here are links to some other good websites that regularly update suggestions of the latest releases in genres you may not be familiar with. These are sites curated by experts and these are books that have been already been vetted for quality by leading critics and reviewers:

https://www.bookbrowse.com/category/index.cfm/tc/tags

http://electric-lit-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/lit-genres-infographic-full.png

https://rusaupdate.org/awards/the-reading-list/

NPR’s Book Concierge

 In honor of my monthly theme, here are two reviews of recent reads selected from genres that I do not typically gravitate toward, but which I was glad to add to my repertoire:

  My Favorite Thing is Monsters is a graphic novel by Emil Ferris that takes place in 1960’s Chicago and was nothing like what I expected based on the cover. Part mystery and part emotional exploration, the story centers around a quirky young girl who is searching for her identity amid chaos- both in her personal life and swarming around her in the city of that period. The illustrations are disturbing but gorgeous, and I found myself aching for Karen as she bravely faces her adolescent confusion. There is also a second volume that is due to come out early next year and I am looking forward to picking it up as soon as it comes out.

 I also luckily stumbled upon Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly. This collection of musings and memories made me laugh out loud and only took a little over an hour to read (but I went right back and read it all over again). I enjoyed it so much that it has persuaded me to give longer memoirs more of a chance in the future.

Right now, I am in the middle of The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton and Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker.

I am also thrilled to be currently listening to The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. Tom Hanks is the audiobook narrator and listening to him is like being immersed in a soothing warm bath that I never want to step out of.

As always, I love receiving feedback and recommendations from all of you [(jnmegan@gpl.org](file:///C:/Users/Joelle))! Any Romance or Western fans out there?  I am looking for some advice of where to begin since I admit my experience with these genres is woefully lacking. I don’t want to miss out great books of any kind!

Until next time: Be well and be well-read!

Joelle

[jnmegan]

October 2020 - Oh the Horror!

Halloween is going to look quite a bit different this year. Certainly, wearing a mask has a different context now that they a regular part of our collective countenance!

I always look forward to October as a chance to indulge in my darker side—taking a turn toward reading choices that careen into the horrific. What is your own tolerance for terror? Do you gleefully embrace the grisly and gory, or shudder at the mere idea of reading or viewing anything even remotely sinister? There is such a vast array of offerings within the Horror Genre that even those who are timid or have delicate sensibilities can find something that satisfies without too much discomfort.

For this month’s blog, I put together some reading suggestions based on what I am calling “The Scare Continuum.”

This evaluation is obviously highly subjective, but I am going to attempt to list some recent books (with links to reviews, so you can steel yourself appropriately) in order from least to most hair-raising. The books at the beginning have a huge dose of humor along with their chills, and the last ones are a bit more “visceral.” Some of these titles also have movie/tv adaptations available as well. I typically recommend reading the book before watching interpretations, since the screen-based renditions can vary greatly in resemblance to the original and quality.

So: Where do you fall along the line?

Mildly Macabre -1                                                                                                                                                                      

1.       The Gates   John Connolly                                                  

 2.       Meddling Kids   Edgar Cantero                  

3.       House of Leaves   Mark Z. Danielewski    

 4.       The Outsider   Stephen King                      

 5.       Imaginary Friend   Stephen Chbosky        

6.       Baby Teeth   Zoje Stage                              

7.       Heart-Shaped Box   Joe Hill                          

Perfectly Petrifying-7

For those who like to keep things at a more analytical remove, here are a few titles from the Non-Fiction Section:

Sleeping with the Lights On: The Unsettling Story of Horror Darryl Jones

Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction Lisa Kröger and Melanie Anderson

Some of you might also like to check out some prestigious award-winners. These are judged to be the best new releases from 2019, and are typically great picks to start with—especially if you are a neophyte to the genre:

Bram Stoker Award Winners                                                                    

  Shirley Jackson Awards

I was recently fortunate enough to get my hands on the super-popular Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I thought it was fantastic and worthy of all its rave reviews. It has a richly sensual atmosphere, saturated with a creeping sense of dread and a classic but completely original plot. I highly recommend it to anyone who falls in the middle of the “Scare Continuum.”

Right now, I am currently listening to a funny, tongue-in-cheek horror pick by Grady Hendrix: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. I am also reading Lethal White, the fourth in Robert Galbraith’s (pseudonym of J.K. Rowling) Cormoran Strike series; and Becoming Duchess Goldblatt, an anonymous memoir about a fictional Twitter personality that has taken on a life of her own.

As always, I would love to hear from you (jnmegan@gpl.org)! If you read any of the above titles, did they give you delicious thrills or regretful nightmares? Have any other ideas of tales I should peek at on page or screen to quench my thirst for the gruesome?

Until next time: Be well and be well-read!

Joelle

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, who am I, anyway? I am a resident of West Groton, with a husband, 4 teenaged children and a Samoyed puppy-all of whom are systematically destroying our house during the COVID crisis. I am currently working part time at the Groton Public Library and in a former life I was employed as a Director or PR/Marketing at a high-tech consulting firm. My BA is in Psychology, but most of my time was spent in college earning a Concentration on the Novel. That is all to say that I make no claims at being an expert of any kind and my thoughts, opinions and mistakes are solely my own. I am just a person whose passion for books has continued to grow from the moment I was first able to grip and gnaw on them, and I have been devouring them ever since.

[jnmegan]

September 2020 List of Read-A-Likes

Notes from the GPL BiblioFile: Read-A-Likes List for 9/20

Anthology/Short Stories

               George Saunders

                               What We Talk About When We Talk About Love – Raymond Carver

                               The Largesse of the Sea Maiden – Denis Johnson

               Carmen Maria Machado

                               The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror – Mallory Ortberg

                               Awayland – Ramona Ausubel

Classics

               Jane Austen

                               Death Comes to Pemberley - P.D. James

                               The Jane Austen Society - Natalie Jenner

               John Steinbeck  

                               Angle of Repose – Wallace Stegner

                               The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon            

               Vladimir Nabokov

                               Being Lolita: A Memoir – Alisson Wood

                               My Dark Vanessa – Kate Elizabeth Russell

               Alice Walker

                               Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

                               The Nickel Boys – Colson Whitehead

Essays

               David Sedaris

                               Wow, No Thank You – Samantha Irby

                               Running with Scissors – Augusten Burroughs

               Zadie Smith

                               Bad Feminist – Roxanne Gay

                               Trick Mirror – Jia Tolentino

 Fantasy

               George R. R. Martin –

                               The Blade Itself – Joe Abercrombie

                               Fool’s Assassin – Robin Hobb

               Diana Galbadon-

                               The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

                               The Midnight Library – Matt Haig

Graphic Novel

               Neil Gaiman

                               Y: The Last Man – Brian K. Vaughan

                               Nimona – Noelle Stevenson

               Marjane Satrapi

                               Habibi – Craig Thompson

                               My Favorite Thing is Monsters – Emil Ferris

Historical Fiction

               Colson Whitehead

                               Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi

                               Pachinko – Min Jin Lee

               Madeline Miller

                               The Water Dancer – Ta-Nehisi Coates

                               Once Upon a River – Diane Setterfield

Horror

               Stephen King

                               Imaginary Friend – Stephen Chbosky

                               Full Throttle – Joe Hill

               Anne Rice

                               A Discovery of Witches – Deborah Harkness

                               The Twisted Ones – T. Kingfisher

 Literary Fiction

               Gabriel Garcia-Marquez

                               The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami

                               Migrations – Charlotte McConaghy

               Margaret Atwood

                               Vox – Christina Dalcher

                               Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

               Fredrik Backman

                               The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion

                               The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett

               Ann Patchett

                               Such a Fun Age – Kiley Reid

                               This Tender Land – William Kent Krueger

Mystery

               Arthur Conan Doyle

                               IQ – Joe Ide

                               Moriarty – Anthony Horowitz

               James Patterson

                               The Whisper Man -   Alex North

                               Bluebird , Bluebird – Attica Locke

               Agatha Christie

                        The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton

                        The Monogram Murders – Sophie Hannah

               Louise Penny

                        Case Histories – Kate Atkinson

                        In the Woods – Tana French

               Lee Child

                        Runner – Patrick Lee

                        TripTych – Karin Slaughter

Romance

               Nicholas Sparks

                               A Perfect Day – Richard Paul Evans

                               Waiting in the Wings – Melissa Brayden

               JoJo Moyes

                               Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell

                               Sex and Vanity – Kevin Kwan

Science Fiction

               Orson Scott Card

                               Ready Player One/Ready Player Two – Ernest Cline

                               Interference – Brad Parks

               Octavia E. Butler

                               The Space Between Worlds – Micaiah Johnson

                               The Warehouse – Rob Hart

Thriller/Suspense

               Dan Brown

                               The Rome Prophecy – Sam Christer

                               The Order – Daniel Silva

               Lisa Unger

                               The Wife Between Us – Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

                               The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides

Western

               Louis L’Amour

                               Between Hell and Texas – Ralph Cotton

                               Crossing Purgatory - Gary Schanbacher

               Hayley Stone

                               The Sisters Brothers – Patrick deWitt

                               The Six Gun Tarot – R.S. Belcher

[jnmegan]

September 2020-

Welcome back, Fall! This is a fantastic time of year for readers: the cooler days encourage many of us to cozy up to a good book and thus many publishers time their releases to come out now.  This year provides an even greater selection, since many anticipated books from the Spring were held up due to COVID. This is especially good news for fans of contemporary authors, who may have new titles available over the next few months.

But what can you do if you have exhausted all the works of your go-to authors or need to discover new ones to satisfy your yearnings while you wait? What if your preferred writers have passed on or are no longer producing new output for the foreseeable future? Such websites as GoodReads and NoveList Plus can be great resources, as well as genre or author-specific pages. Fantastic Fiction is another good site, providing guidance in an easily searchable format. There is also a huge number of new authors waiting to be discovered this season if you are willing to take a chance (See below for a review of one that I was delighted to stumble upon).

For this month’s blog, I put together a short list of some “Read-Alikes” for adult fiction that I compiled based on data our consortium collects about circulation trends seen over the past few years. My list is broken down by genre, names some popular authors from that group and then offers some suggestions of specific books you might enjoy if these writers have appealed to you in the past. For those of you who are curious, here is a link to the full list of what items our community has borrowed most often, both fiction and non-fiction (Please note that the data is somewhat weighted by titles that were part of our Groton Reads Program and Book Club selections).

As usual, I also want to link to my reviews of two books that I have enjoyed recently that you may want to try:

The first is White Ivy by Susie Yang. It is a well-written, interesting debut that is both a taut thriller and an intriguing twist on an immigration tale. I found it to be truly unique and a really absorbing study in character. It comes out on November 3, so put it on your “holds” list to be first in what will likely become a long line.

The second book is a non-fiction collection of deeply personal, heart-rending stories: Craigslist Confessional: A Collection of Secrets from Anonymous Strangers by Helena Dea Bala. It includes 40 short “conversations” that the author captured for an inspired personal project. Sending out a call for anyone who wanted to candidly share their memories, Dea Bala transcribes the tales without censorship while protecting their originators from potential recrimination.

Right now, I am currently listening to a self-help book, Atomic Habits by James Clear and reading The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry (for our own GPL Mystery Book Club!). I also just started Little Eyes, a novel translated from Spanish by Samanta Schweblin. All three have been pretty good reads, thus far.

I hope that you find these entries helpful and interesting, and I want to encourage you to drop me a line (jnmegan@gpl.org) with any suggestions you might have or feedback on what you would like to see in upcoming blogs. Do you have any authors in mind that I should add to my evolving “Read-Alikes” list? I am hoping to keep this thing growing, and your input would really help me-and our fellow readers-out!

Until next time: Be well and be well-read!

Joelle

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, who am I, anyway? I am a resident of West Groton, with a husband, 4 teenaged children and a Samoyed puppy-all of whom are systematically destroying our house during the COVID crisis. I am currently working part time at the Groton Public Library and in a former life I was employed as a Director or PR/Marketing at a high-tech consulting firm. My BA is in Psychology, but most of my time was spent in college earning a Concentration on the Novel. That is all to say that I make no claims at being an expert of any kind and my thoughts, opinions and mistakes are solely my own. I am just a person whose passion for books has continued to grow from the moment I was first able to grip and gnaw on them, and I have been devouring them ever since.

[jnmegan]

August 2020- Try a Bookish Podcast

For this month’s BiblioFile blog, I want to share with you some wonderful sources that I turn to for book discussions, reviews, and recommendations: Podcasts. What I like about these short wellsprings of information is how much insight I can glean in such a concentrated time- all while I am out walking, shelving books at the library, cleaning my house, or driving around on endless errands. There are so many different podcasts available, for all types of book lovers with interests broad and niche. You can download them easily to any of your devices and most of them are pretty short. You can keep receiving new ones as they are released and search archived episodes based on their descriptions and links. I don’t want to miss out on any potential new favorites, so I open up my GoodReads account while listening. That way, I can add titles to my “Want to Read” list that pique my interest as they are mentioned. I have discovered so many great books this way, and I am a big fan of short synopses and cross-references with other titles I have enjoyed.

Each the following podcasts are free and of consistently high quality:

               Book Riot: The Podcast   General topics about reading, new releases, and publishing news

               All the Books   Brand new fiction releases and adaptation news

               Hey YA!   All things old and new for Young Adult readers

               Get Booked    Book recommendations based on listener emails

               Read or Dead   Hot new titles in Mystery, Suspense and Thrillers

The Guardian: Books Podcast    New nonfiction and fiction reviews including a more international view

               Reading Glasses   Movie and Book experts discuss how to get more out of reading

               Professional Book Nerds  Presented by Overdrive, with a focus on audio and e-books

               Booklist’s: Shelf Care  Recommendations from BookList, the leading library trade publication

               What Should I Read Next with Anne Bogel  Host acts as a book “matchmaker” with one guest

               Overdue   Classics/highly acclaimed books that remain on many people’s “bucket list”

               The Librarian is In    Two NY Public Library librarians review new titles and discuss authors

               The Children’s Book Podcast  Describes how the best children’s books are created

 This month, I also wanted to link to my reviews of two books that have been blowing the critics away lately:

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

A New York Times Bestseller, The Washington Post called it “A brilliantly crafted novel,” a sentiment with which I agree wholeheartedly. It is not for the faint-of-heart, however. The “Me-Too” topics addressed are important, but not always easy to digest.

Those looking for a more breezy and fun selection might enjoy:

Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore

This a funny new book by brilliant satirist Moore, well known for his irreverent twists on classic tales. This time his target is “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and it contains his usual silliness and trademark wit.

I am currently reading a pre-published copy of a collection of short stories by Shruti Swamy called A House is a Body, a truly terrifying horror story called The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher and Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming. I just completed The Butterfly Lampshade by Aimee Bender and Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson. These were works of fiction that I really enjoyed, and I have linked my reviews to them so you can see if they would appeal to you as well.

Before I go, I want to remind each of you that I would love to hear from you (jnmegan@gpl.org): What are you reading these days? Who are some of your all-time favorite authors and genres? What should I explore next? Did I miss any other good bookish podcasts that I should check out? Any feedback or ideas are warmly welcome and as always, I look forward to your input.

Until next time: Be well and be well-read!

Joelle

So, who am I, anyway? I am a resident of West Groton, with a husband, 4 teenaged children and a Samoyed puppy-all of whom are systematically destroying our house during the COVID crisis. I am currently working part time at the Groton Public Library and in a former life I was employed as a Director or PR/Marketing at a high-tech consulting firm. My BA is in Psychology, but most of my time was spent in college earning a Concentration on the Novel. That is all to say that I make no claims at being an expert of any kind and my thoughts, opinions and mistakes are solely my own. I am just a person whose passion for books has continued to grow from the moment I was first able to grip and gnaw on them, and I have been devouring them ever since.

[jnmegan]

July 2020-What Type of Reader Are You?

What type of reader are you? Do you find yourself filling summer’s languorous days with more time carved out for reading or do the colder, cozier months bring out the bookworm in you? When you make the difficult decision about what to dig into next, do you veer toward self-education and intellectual stimulation- or do you seek an escapist retreat that won’t be too taxing while everything else rattles around in your brain? Do you rely on your favorite authors and anxiously await their newest releases arriving from the “Holds List,” or do you dive headlong into something completely new? Do you drive around extra miles in your car in order to get through the next climactic scene in an audiobook, or do you find yourself half-way through a title only to realize that you have already read (or heard) this one? Maybe the book on your nightstand has grown thick with dust with a bookmark that seems cemented in place. Whatever kind of reader you may be, there is an almost endless number of choices awaiting your attention. But how do you choose your next adventure from such an embarrassment of riches? How do you even begin when leisurely browsing is not option due to Pandemic concerns?

Perhaps you are like me and despair over the sheer length of your “aching-to-read” pile as compared with the waking hours of the day. My goal for this blog is to share my reading experiences with you and provide recommendations for potential picks. It is my hope that you will contribute your own opinions and suggestions (jegan@gpl.org) for this blog. I would love your input and feedback to help me decide what to try next and I long to stretch my own boundaries. I think it is always better to follow the advice of friends—it not only pares down the possibilities, it creates a greater likelihood that the time will be successfully and pleasurably spent!

For this first blog, I want to link to reviews of two fiction titles that I recently enjoyed. The first is by an established author whose work I find consistently entertaining and is a real page-turner. The other is a work that has received a lot of buzz lately and contains a bit of timely social commentary for deeper contemplation. In future installments I will try to explore a variety of reading-related topics and suggest selections old and new from within different genres/formats to accommodate wide-ranging tastes.

My first selection is: Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3381150147

My second pick: Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3345056406

I am currently reading a pre-published copy (Sept. release) of a thriller by Wendy Walker called Don’t Look for Me and the Pulitzer Prize Winner The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.  I just completed The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. Both are books I had been intending to tackle for quite a while, and their stellar reputations are well-deserved, in my opinion.

Before I go, I want to remind you be involved! Explore our website and online catalogs, sign up for GPL’s wonderful Book Clubs, and participate in our Fall Programs for all ages. You can even get individualized book recommendations for adult titles by filling out this form (Please just give us 3-5 days to get back to you).

The library is a rich resource for our community, and we are so proud of all that we able to provide for our patrons!

Until next time: Be well and be well-read!

Joelle

So, who am I, anyway? I am a resident of West Groton, with a husband, 4 teenaged children and a Samoyed puppy-all of whom are systematically destroying our house during the COVID crisis. I am currently working part time at the Groton Public Library and in a former life I was employed as a Director or PR/Marketing at a high-tech consulting firm. My BA is in Psychology, but most of my time was spent in college earning a Concentration on the Novel. That is all to say that I make no claims at being an expert of any kind and my thoughts, opinions and mistakes are solely my own. I am just a person whose passion for books has continued to grow from the moment I was first able to grip and gnaw on them, and I have been devouring them ever since.