Hello and welcome to today's session Fall Picks from OverDrive Librarians
Let's get right into it. We have a lot of fun stuff for you today
So to get us started let's go over a little bit of housekeeping and then we'll dive right into our librarians picks for fall nicely organized by genre with some fun lighting round picks at the very end
We'll end this session with resources and next steps
So to cover the housekeeping items for this session. The first is that you will earn a certificate of attendance for this webinar. We will post the link to that in chat and you will receive it in the follow up materials
We will love to hear from you today so chat is open
Tell us what you're most excited about as you hear these titles and if you have any questions you can utilize the q and a button in your zoom toolbar
We will also have closed captions enabled today
Those can be adjusted using the show or hide captions button in your zoom toolbar
And lastly you will get an email around this time tomorrow with a link to this recording and all of the resources that you need to shop and browse these titles
I am delighted to introduce our speakers for today's session. My name is Emma Dwyer and I am a product trainer here on OverDrive's training team and I'll be facilitating but let's get to our wonderful librarians. So first we have Maria Fesz she earned her MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh and also holds music performance degrees from Mount Union College and Youngstown State University
Before joining OverDrive in 2018 Maria worked in both public libraries and community college libraries
She enjoys a wide variety of books but some of her favorite genres are romance, fantasy, sci-fi, and nature non fiction
Her star time Maria place cello, loses to her brother in tennis, watches baseball, and hangs out with her dog, Olive
Meghan Volchko's love of libraries started early hiding in the book drop while her grandmother worked the circulation desk at her local public library
Meghan graduate with an MLIS, excuse me, from Kent State University then worked in academic libraries until coming to OverDrive in 2014 where she has at the pleasure of working with libraries in over half of the fifty states
All the way from florida to Alaska
Her favorite books have happily ever after our narrative nonfiction that teach or something new
Or are thrillers that keep her up past her bed time to find out what happened
Meghan suffers severe wanderlust, is an enabled bibliophile, and would rather be on or near water at all times
Preferably with her husband and daughter
While her cat stays home
You may see in today's session. Shelia Mawdsley has a BA from Marietta College in english and music and an MLS from Kent State University
Before coming to OverDrive in 2021 she worked in public libraries for 17 years doing reference technology training, adult programming, and digital collections
She enjoys reading fantasy as well as writing it with her co author and husband James. She can also often be found reading steamy romances, classics,
History, and international literature. Ask her about #WITMonth if you don't have anywhere to be in a hurry
And with that let's dive right in, books ahoy! I'm gonna hand things over to Shelia to start with horror
Hi and welcome everybody! I am so excited to talk about my first pick in horror. It is Jo Nesbo, translated by Neil Smith
Nesbo is of course is known as one of the most successful Nordic Noir authors in the world and he now brings his knack for complex plotting and his ability to always have another shoe to drop to his first horror novel, a genre that very much rewards his talents. The book takes place primarily in 1980s as teenager Richard Elauved
moves to a small, isolated town to live with an aunt and uncle after the mysterious death of his parents. One day, the lonely Richard is walking through the woods with one of the few quasi friends, when his life starts to become something out of a horror movie. No one believes what he’s seen—including the police—which is bad enough, but inexplicable events continue to happen, until the town is forced to take drastic steps for everyone’s protection.
And that’s just the first part of the story. The twists continue to come, even after you’re sure there can’t possibly be any more. With all the layers, this would probably reward repeat readings
…if you can handle the scares a second time!
And my next horror is a YA horror from Kristen Simmons, Find Him Where You Left Him Dead and it's coming September 26
Who knew there was a Japanese horror world sitting alongside the Ohio River in Cincinnati?
Well, there is in this YA horror duology launch. It all begins with Madeline seeing what appears to be her friend Ian, except
Ian died four years earlier.
The other three people who were there the night Ian died all begin seeing things as well until they find themselves together and headed back to the cave where Ian vanished, they thought, for good.
They arrive, and soon they are sucked into a parallel world where they have to play a game based on a Japanese matching card game. If they try to cheat the game, they’ll be punished. And if they don’t win by dawn, the consequences will be dire. But there is more to this game than killer beasts and a tailor who wants their skin for clothes. What’s behind this world? Is Ian still there?
Can they save the friend they thought they lost four years before?
Well, you get some pretty good answers to some of these questions, but the ending comes with a twist that will leave you very excited for the sequel.
I think you lost me at the whole skin for clothes thing Shelia
That is pretty creepyp. I know, I was like, "Whattt?"
Probably maybe slightly less creepy I don't know but we're still in horror so
Adam Sass, author of The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers, dives into YA Horror with Your Lonely Nights are Over. And I also love this cover. From the day they met, Dearie and Cole have been two against the world. But whenever something bad happens at their High School, they get blamed. Why? They’re beautiful, flirtatious, always ready to call out their fellow students about something, and confuse some people with their friendship that includes overt physical affection and occasional hookups. But they’ve never faced a bigger threat than surviving their senior year. Mr. Sandman (ugh, already creepy name), a famous, never-caught serial killer emerges from a long hiatus—and his hunting ground is their school's Queer Club. When members of the club and others wind up murdered all over town, Cole and Dearie are framed for the killings. They will need to do whatever it takes to unmask the real killer before they and the rest of Queer Club are taken down. Along the way, they must confront dark truths hidden beneath the
Can they do it on their own, or will the only way to catch this killer be to stick together in queer solidarity with the members of the club? If you like some camp with your horror, this is for you! This comes out September 12.
And this is An Ordinary Violence by Adriana Chartrand. This comes out October 31, and I was like yes! Halloween release date. An Ordinary Violence is an eerie and at times darkly funny horror novel about a young Indigenous woman reckoning with trauma, loss, and reclamation in an unsettling
Real, kind of real world, kind of not real world. Dawn hasn't spoken to her brother, Cody, since he was sent to prison for a violent crime seven years ago. Now Dawn's living in a shiny new Toronto condo, and yet she's still haunted by uncanny occurrences, including cryptic messages from her dead mother,
that have followed her most of her life. When Dawn’s current life implodes, she is forced to return to her childhood hometown that holds so much pain for her and the rest of her family. Additionally, Cody is unexpectedly released from prison with a mysterious new friend by his side. This friend seems to be the charismatic leader of a dangerous supernatural network. Trying to uncover their plans, Dawn follows increasingly sinister leads until the lines between
this world and the next as well as the lines between right and wrong begin to blur and dissolve. If you were a fan of Cadwell Turnbull’s No Gods, No Monsters, where spirit realms entwine with the living—and where it almost ends up being humans who carry out the truly monstrous actions...I would definitely check this one out!
I'm really starting to see like a trend with bunnies on covers. It's giving me serious Hell Bent, Leigh Bardugo vibes from just the cover art. But it sounds completely different as a book Maria
Okay
Just a few things before I get into this book
One, it's going to mess up your relationship with contact lenses
Two, it's a novella, which is a good thing, because you will be tense the entire time you read it. And three, it's making me watch my back around my 4-year-old
This award-winning novel by Japanese author Kaori Fujino, translated by Kendall Heitzman, was originally published in Japan in 2013 and is available to English-speakers for the first time this September.
Our story is narrated by a woman, looking back on her time as a very young girl.
Her mother has passed away under mysterious circumstances, prompting her father to move his mistress into their new apartment.
As the mistress becomes more and more obsessed with lifestyle and home design bloggers on the internet, the girl becomes more and more distressed by her presence. This book will have you clenching your jaw and thinking way too much about eyeballs.
In Angela Cervantes’s new middle-grade novel, The Cursed Moon, she has created a ghost story about a kid who likes writing ghost stories.
As a kid who did NOT like ghost stories, but loved writing, I understood Rafael’s desire to write his way out of situations that make him feel alone or uncomfortable.
Having experienced homelessness and forced to move frequently with his mother and younger sister, Rafa always looked to storytelling as a way to make friends and meet new people, and the stories always just seem to come easy to him.
When his mother is arrested, and Rafa and his sister move in with his grandparents, he finds stability for the first time in his life, but still finds solace in his ghost stories.
With his mother’s upcoming release from prison bringing its own set of anxieties, Rafa is warned by a neighbor not to tell one of his ghost stories on the night of the Blood Moon.
Of course, he does, and his creation, The Caretaker, becomes more than just words on a page as strange things start to happen in town, like cats and kids disappearing, and are those jaguar claw marks on the garage?
This story is more than just a creepy tale to keep kids up at night, it also deals with some very real issues for kids today. This is a great read for those that love scary stories, but also those that are dealing with fitting in and whose lives are touched by addiction.
That sounds so lovely but also so sad Meghan. It's a really great read. Oh good. Let's move on now to fantasy our next genre and my first pick for fantasy is The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab coming September 26
This is Schwab returning to her Shades of Magic universe. In this new series exploring the power struggles of four parallel Regency Era Londons. The book picks up seven years after the end of A Conjuring of Light when the life of the king of Red London is threatened by revolutionary assassins.
Many familiar characters and magic systems are at play in the struggle for King’s throne, but Schwab also introduces new characters and magic. Including Tes, a tinkerer who possesses the rare ability to see threads of magic and use them to repair what is broken.
The revolutionaries, in fact, hope she can repair a box that will allow them to pass between the various Londons, a power usually reserved for the Antari. Meanwhile, in White London a new queen is on the throne with the help of one of the most powerful of the Antari,
and he's the focus of the queen’s new cult. However, the walls that separate the worlds might be crumbling.
What will that mean for the denizens of the different Londons?
Hard to say, as this is just Book 1 of a new trilogy! Readers of the previous series will definitely be rewarded, but new readers can jump right in here.
I love that because I have not read her earlier series and I
Appreciate that maybe I don't have to think that to do that because that was really interesting. Yeah I think it's gonna be, I think it's good stuff
And so now here is my next, it's Dark Heir by C. S. Pacat coming November 14th. This is book two in a YA series by her. The first book was Dark Rise about a teenage orphanage Will who's on the run in 19th century London and trying to find information about his mother's murder. There he meets Violet, a biracial Anglo-Indian girl with supernatural strength.
The remnants of an ancient magic bring them together, along with the seemingly average English girl, Katherine, in a battle to stop the return of the Dark King.
The first steps in this challenge were taken in Book 1, but tragedy and twists at the end of the book leave so much still to be accomplished, and honestly, I don’t how this is all going to play out. Because
thrown into the mix is the Dark King’s former chief servant, James, who has already been reborn into the world. He has stronger magic than anyone else alive, and oh, the romantic tension between him and Will is completely off the charts. Dark Heir picks up where the first book leaves off, and now with Will and his friends forced into the heart of the ancient world to battle the dark. The world building and characters are incredibly compelling, and this series is great for older teens and adults who like their fantasy dark with some romance thrown in. I feel like this is a strong recommend for fans of Victoria Aveyard as well as, well, VE Schwab.
That one sounds awesome Shelia and I do love me some YA fantasy. Okay but speaking of not YA fantasy. Magic and baking? Sign me up! In middle-grade novel, Just a Pinch of Magic by Alecia Dow, we get all of these things and more! The author was even a pastry chef, along with being a children’s librarian, so she knows what she’s talking about, and the food descriptions will leave you ready to create some of your own magic in the kitchen (or, if you’re me and terrible at baking, to head to your local bakery instead!)
Kal and her father have been a team of two for as long as she can remember. He supports her in everything, including her own issues with mental health, and she thinks the world of him. When their lives are upended by the return of her long-lost grandfather, can their dreams of opening a bookstore in their beloved town work? Also, why is the magic of the town all messed up, just as her grandfather comes back?
Wini’s family runs a local bakery, which is in danger of closing due to the ever-rising prices of the ingredients their family needs to make their goods.
Wini, who wants the shop to succeed more than anyone, decides to take matters into her own hands and casts a spell,
a mostly-illegal one at that, to gather that most special secret ingredient:
love.
When the spell backfires,
everyone’s magic is at risk.
These two girls find each other when they both most need a friend, and quickly team up to not only solve the problems with the magic in their town, but maybe also help their dads find love with each other in the process.
All right so mine is a little bit - my picks a little bit further from being true fantasy and more fun kind of speculative type of fiction picture book that I just really think is very sweet. And I love the art of Steven Guarnaccia. This is The Museum of Nothing this comes out on October 17. There is so much more to nothing than you think! Join Oona and Otto on a tour of the funny, fascinating Museum of Nothing in this imaginative read-aloud from noted designer Guarnaccia. This museum proudly displays every kind of nothing. There’s the Hall of Holes (donut, button, black). And from what I can remember Otto gets sucked into the black hole in the museum. The Zero Wing, and the Nobody Room—where the Invisible Man is the star attraction. This captivatingly book is perfect for curious kids ages 5-9 who love looking for witty details when their looking at their picture books.
There are great bits of humor for adults too, like the titles of some of the books with “nothing” in them are really funny. And there's a portrait of “zero” mostel and his face is just the number zero. There are explanations in the back matter of the book for these different characters and themes presented in all of the room of the museum that children might not be familiar with, which is really cool. Along with the term for “nothing” in other languages. It’s a really fun way to remind kids that anything – even NOTHING – can be fun and creative.
Okay I'm just I'm going to let you all take a second to appreciate the art on this cover because it
Is
My favorite. This is Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares. This reimagining,
It's a reimagining of Zorro
featuring a heroic warrior sorceress—weaves Mesoamerican mythology and Mexican history
two decades after the Spanish conquest into an awesome historical debut fantasy novel. So I heard the description of this book and I was like...okay well I was obsessed with the first two books of Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Between Earth and Sky” series, so I was like, "I should probably get on this" after I read the description. In sixteenth-century New Spain, witchcraft is punishable by death, indigenous temples have been destroyed, and tales of mythical creatures that once roamed the land have become just that – myths.
Hidden behind a mask, Pantera uses her magic and legendary swordplay skills to fight the tyranny of Spanish rule.
When she’s not behind the mask of Pantera, Leonora de las Casas Tlazohtzin never leaves the palace and is promised to the heir of the Spanish throne. The respectable Lady Leonora faints at the sight of blood and would rather be caught dead than meddle in court affairs and intrigue. No one suspects that Leonora and Pantera are the same person. And with magic running through her veins? She is nearly invincible.
Of course, key word: Nearly. It was predicted by a seer that she is destined to die young in battle. So when an ancient prophecy of destruction threatens to come true, Leonora—and therefore Pantera—is forced to decide: Will she surrender the mask
Or will she fight to the end even though she's supposed to die young. Pantera knows she is destined for more than an early grave, and once she discovers the truth of her origins, not even death will stop her. This is magic, intrigue, treachery, and a little bit of romance. What’s not to love here?! This title comes out on November 7.
That one's definitely going on my TBR Maria, thank you. And to keep with the ruin in the title, by now, you all have to know Jennifer L. Armentrout, so I don’t need to introduce her at all, but her newest Romantasy novel will have your patrons hopping on that holds list the second you add this to your collection! A Fall of Ruin and Wrath introduces us to a world rebuilt into a civilization encompassed by the nine cities that remained after destruction by the gods of everything else.
Within this new order, there are mortals and Hyborn guardians, those who “protect” the cities and peoples within by living off of human pleasure.
Our heroine, Calista, is a mortal who was born with a gift.
She can see the future and intentions of a person, and while this has gotten her into plenty of trouble in her youth, inclunding one fateful night when she and her best friend, Grady, were saved by a mysterious Hyborn stranger, she now finds herself in the private care of another one of the Hyborn, the Baron of Archwood.
In exchange for her providing the Baron with secrets, she is kept fed and safe.
She is content with her lot in life until one fateful night when her gift sends her out in the middle of the night, only to discover the still alive, broken shell of a Hyborn that she needs to save.
Could it be the same man who rescued her all those years ago?
Any of your Arementrout fans will love this brand-new book in a brand-new world!
Okay and now to move onto romance! Like Fall of Ruin and Wrath, Calamity is from Tor’s new imprint Bramble, which is publishing books that are Romance meets Science Fiction/Fantasy. And Fay, in her novel debut, does both the sci fi and romance expertly.
The worldbuilding is so good. The novel set in an interplanetary world of genetic modifications and powerful families who vie for control of the sprawling society. One of the Families’ most effective weapons for control is banishment, and the novel focuses on Temperance Reed, who has become a planet scout and spaceship captain after her sadistic older brother ordered her banishment.
She and her crew are contracted by another of the Families to scout a planet that might have a rare and hugely valuable fuel source, but that definitely has a community of banished cultist. To ensure her compliance and security on the trip, the Family contracting her insists one of their own go with her. Sparks fly between the banished captain and the handsome scion, but secrets and Temper’s past threaten their burgeoning relationship,
the mission, and their very lives.
You should give this to readers who loved the TV shows Firefly and Killjoys.
Which I do, so
Yes, I also loved Firefly so this is definitely going on my list as well. Same. Shelia and I will often talk about what's what's some like steamy sci fi romance so when she told me about this one I was like yep! Immediately TBR
It's fantastic
My next for romance is something completely different. This is Next-Door Nemesis by Alexa Martin coming November 14th. I will admit, I was first attracted by the pink flamingo on the cover, but it turns out that's
not the only good thing about this enemies-to-lovers romance.
Collins
Carter couldn’t wait to leave Ohio after high school graduation and live her dream as a TV writer in LA. But then her smarmy boyfriend steals her script idea, and her subsequent implosion is caught on video and goes viral. There’s nothing left for her to do but return to the Columbus suburbs and her parents’ house.
Her parents are actually great, but since she left town a decade ago, her high school best friend-turned-nemesis, Nate, has moved into the neighborhood.
The two start bickering immediately, and Nate tries to weaponize the Homeowners’ Association to get her to leave town.
When the HOA Presidency comes open, the gloves come off as Collins and Nate campaign for the position. But the sparks between them are about more than just landscaping regulations.
This is dfinitely more fun and sexy than a book about an HOA election has any right to be.
And also,
flamingos.
You probably never thought Shelia that you would say weaponized home owner associated ever in regards to a romance novel.
Totally fits
One thing you must know about me is that I’m a sucker for fake dating, but coming into this story, I had no idea that it would also dip its toe into one of my other loves, Disney. As an unapologetic Disney adult, I was completely sold when the characters found themselves on their way to Orlando for a race at Walt Disney World... but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.
Olive is a nurse who is terrified of flying. However, one of her promises to her brother was that they would run a race at Walt Disney World together. After he suffers an accident, she vows to do the race in his honor, but she still has to fly there...
While she is trying to calm herself down on her flight, another passenger has a life-threatening emergency and she saves his life.
The flight is grounded early, and lucky for Olive, the plane’s copilot, Stella, offers to drive her down to Orlando so she can run for her brother.
After they have the happiest day on earth, the media circus of the life-saving nurse and the female copilot begins, with the press thinking that they are already together.
Stella suggests that they try fake dating in order to increase her chances of being named a full pilot, the first one for her airline, of which she is more than qualified.
Olive can’t think of a reason not help this woman who helped her,
who also happens to be just her type.
As they continue to pretend to date each other, they both find themselves developing very real feelings. This is truly a magical romance novel that I cannot recommend enough!
I really like this premise
It's very cute
Oh goodie
Okay sorry I'm just so excited to cream about this title on I know Shelia is too. I'm sixty percent of the way into this right now and I really wish I were reading it at this exact moment
It really really is. This is A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles coming out September 19. This is the second novel in Charles’s Doomsday series (the first one was The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen), and we are brought back to nineteenth century Kent thirteen years after the events of the first book
Major Rufus d'Aumesty has unexpectedly become the Earl of Oxney, whose seat is on the edge of the infamous Romney Marsh in Kent.
Not used to running in aristocratic society, he’s overwhelmed on all sides, his position contested both by his greedy uncle and by Luke Doomsday. Luke, who was introduced as an intelligent but unhappy child of the notorious Doomsday family of smugglers has now grown up to be a talented secretary. Rufus is badly in need of a secretary, however, and hires Luke regardless of his claims on the Earldom. Rufus and Luke should be natural enemies, but their opposite personalities and strengths complement each other, and before long, the two become unexpected allies and eventually lovers. But Luke came to Stone Manor with an ulterior motive, one he's desperate to keep hidden even from the man he can't resist. As the lies accumulate and family secrets threaten to destroy everything they hold dear, the Earl and his secretary find themselves forced to decide whose side they're really on...and what they're willing to do for love.
I love KJ Charles’s books because not only are there some really great steamy scenes and believable feelings between the characters, there’s also plenty of drama, scheming, and violence in the mix to make for an always fascinating read. I thought Rufus specifically was such an endearing character in this novel. His earnestness to do right by people mixed with his temper and lack of finesse when dealing with pretty much anyone is a really sweet combination and pairs well with Luke’s smooth outward demeanor. And, especially reading the first book, Luke’s journey from the unloved, overlooked kid to a competent and loving adult dealing with a lot of past trauma is also very rewarding. Again, I know I’m not the only one presenting on this webinar who loved this book! But I would definitely check out KJ Charles if you haven't already and this series has just been a delight from start to finish so far
I absolutely loved to the first one and I have it cued up on my Kindle for
Next week when I'm on vacation. Awesome! I'll report back
Can y’all believe I have another fake dating book? No?
Well, it won’t be my last! Okay, obviously this checks my fake dating box, but add in fake dating at a family wedding, where the stakes are really, really high, and I’m 100% on board. In Dragged to the Wedding by Andrew Grey, we get all of this and more from this fun, heartfelt novel that teaches all of us to be ourselves. James is a cop in Chicago.
He is gay.
His family back home in Montana knows one of these things about him.
When he is invited to his sister’s wedding, he knows he needs a plus one to help with all of the incessant questions that come from his mother about when he’s going to get married himself.
When he asks a friend for help finding him a girl to fake-date for the week, he comes up with a different solution,
bring Daniel, aka Lala Traviata, the hottest drag queen in Chicago, instead.
When “Danielle” is introduced to the family in Montana, she charms everyone in the family, including James. Can he be strong enough to admit the feelings that he has growing for Daniel and also tell his family the truth about who he really is?
Or will he continue to hide
from all of those who love him, which might also include Daniel...
This book was a pure shot of delight. You will want to get read by Lala, and with that I’m declaring the library officially open!
All right this is such a cute contemporary rom-com featuring two awesome women! I'm so excited to talk about it. This is Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner this also comes out on September 19th. Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women's National Team for ten years, even though she's only 26. She is captain of her AWSA team in New Orleans and is ignoring a potential injury because she doesn’t know what it means for her if she’s not playing soccer.
Bold new upstart, 22-year-old Phoebe Matthews, is everything Grace isn't—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere during the last decade. Grace and Phoebe become close when they are both the only ones from the team in New Orleans before the season starts, but when it becomes clear that Phoebe thinks Grace should tell the trainer about her injury, Grace thinks it’s only because Phoebe wants to take her spot. It couldn’t be because Phoebe is concerned for her and cares about her, right? Phoebe is trying to stay focused on her first season as a professional soccer player instead of seducing her longtime idol. But when Grace ends up kind of making the first move, they can't keep their hands off of each other.
Phoebe is open, comfortable sharing her feelings, and loves to make Grace feel good. Grace isn’t sure WHAT to think. She is a private person and has a hard time dealing with a lot of the social aspects of her job, sharing her space, and generally being vulnerable. There are misunderstandings along the way in this book that are believable – one based around Grace’s injury like I mentioned, one around Pheobe’s undiagnosed ADHD, and one hilarious one about how they each separately see their budding relationship. Their successes and their struggles help each other realize what’s been holding them back – not only from each other, but also from their happiness
professionally and personally. Cleat Cute is a really perfect blend of funny and steamy, and would be a great New Adult romance.
I love love loved this one and especially with the World Cup
starting now. Yes! You mean, patrons can't read it yet!?
They'll still be excited in a few months.
Me again! I love talking about romance. This is a ya romance that comes out on November 14 called Artifacts of an Ex by Jennifer Chen.
When Chloe Chang gets dumped via the US Postal Service (rude) after moving across the country from NYC to LA, her first instinct is to throw her box of memories in the garbage. Instead, she gets an awesome idea; Chloe starts buying other teenagers' break-up boxes to create an art exhibit called Heartifacts.
Opening night is going great,
until she spots Daniel Kwak illicitly filming his best friend's reaction to his ex's box in the display. When she tries to stop him, an intense discussion ends up launching a creative partnership and friendship...
and a major crush. There's just one problem: Daniel is set on not being another rebound. Five times he's been the guy who makes the girls he's dating realize they want to get back with their ex.
Chloe insists she's over her ex, but when he shows up unexpectedly with his new girlfriend, it turns out
Daniel was right.
Chloe continues to throw herself into making Heartifacts successful, but flashy influencers threaten her original vision of the exhibit. To create the exhibit she's always wanted, Chloe needs to go back to basics. She needs to learn to work with artists in a more collaborative way, and discover what love can be. Only then will she convince Daniel she's truly ready for everything they could be together. I love the themes of collaboration and finding your own way before diving into another relationship and I feel like that's especially important in a young adult romance novel. So this one's really cute and I really love the original idea of Heartifacts now I like want someone to do that for real.
All right so now it's time for some literary fiction. And my first two picks, if only they were going to be released by next month instead of this fall would be great for WIT month which is women in translation coming this August. But I'm not going to talk about it more because I need to tell you about my next two books which are amazing
First up is Her Side of the Story by Alba de Céspedes, translated by Jill Foulston and it's coming November 14
The author was a mid-Century Cuban-Italian feminist writer, and her work is getting rediscovered in the English-language world thanks to some great new translations. Last year, her novel Forbidden Notebook made a splash in a new translation by Ann Goldstein, whose Elena Ferrante’s regular translator. This year, we get another treasure, Her Side of the Story. The first part of the book focuses on young Alessandra growing up in Rome in the 1930s with a mother who is a free-spirited pianist and her extremely traditional father.
Her childhood is shaped by the shadow of her brother who drowned as an infant before her birth, the other women and other girls of her neighborhood, as well as the Englishman her mother falls in love with.
The second part is Alessandra trying to find her own way in the world, working and studying in the lead up to WWII. She meets and falls in love with a radical professor, hoping she might have a marriage different than her mother’s
but the world might not be changing as much as she hoped.
I mentioned Ferrante earlier, and I think this book is perfect for fans of her Neapolitan Novels, and Ferrante, in fact, has written the afterward for this book talking about its influence on her and her writing.
And next is This is Amiko, Do You Copy? by Natsuko Imamura, translation by Hitomi Yoshio and it's coming on October 31
One of my favorite mini-trends in international lit are the amazing books by Japanese women
featuring female protagonists who don’t necessarily relate to the world and society in a traditional way. The best example is Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, it's one of my absolute favorite books, and it also includes titles like last year’s Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi and Imamura’s previous book, The Woman in the Purple Skirt. This short novel
And all of the Japanese novels that I just mentioned, all go back to that short novel trend we've been discussing earlier in the chat. And this is about Amiko
a neurodivergent schoolgirl, who has no friends, just an obsession with one of the boys who learns calligraphy from her mother. When tragedy hits the family, Amiko’s mother falls into a deep depression, her brother becomes a delinquent,
and her always busy father buries himself further in his work.
That leave Amiko alone to navigate the trickiest years of adolescence, unable to relate to the other children at school while also hearing voices. This is Amiko, Do You Copy? is an emotional and thoughtful book about the nature of society,
loneliness, and coming of age.
That sounds amazing
It's so good
Sorry everybody my video was a little delayed there. I am talking about a book that is
Technically not new but its new to us digitally in November in English and I think it's going to be a hit with a lot of people. Stockholm by Noa Yedlin is a wonderfully plotted dark comedy about aging and friendship and is the inspiration for the popular Israeli TV series of the same name. Avishay is up for the Nobel Prize for Economics. But there's just one problem -
He's dead.
His four closest friends agree that the well-earned prize must stay within his grasp, and so conspire to conceal Avishay's corpse until the committee's announcement. The potential of a glorious legacy for their late friend – and by extension, for all of them – is only eight days away.
What could go wrong?
Their plan starts out simple: turn up the AC, take shifts watching the apartment, forge texts and emails on the deceased's behalf. But as the days pass, they are confronted with surprise visitors, hidden motives,
deep-seated resentments and the devices of nature herself. How far will this quartet go to help their friend die a winner?
Um yes it is basically Weekend at Bernie's but with with literary form
Each member of the foursome has their own motive for the scheme, which helps move the plot along while contributing to some truly hilarious and insightful situations. Packed into one drama-filled week, and bristling with a bunch of insight and witty dark humor and observations, Stockholm offers a refreshingly honest consideration of the age when we begin to measure the worth of the sum of our lives.
And if you like kind of humerous literary fiction like Kevin Wilson's Nothing to See Here I think that you'll really love this book
yeah I'm with everybody on the Weekend at Bernie's
Real alike type thing. It sounds wonderful
Alright
Questions of who we are and where we come from and what we see when we look at the night sky are central to Nuvuyo Rosa Tshuma’s new literary novel, Digging Stars.
Athandwa, known as “Rosa” to her American classmates who cannot (and seemingly will not) learn to pronounce her actual name, grew up being awed by her father who left Zimbabwe for America in pursuit of his dreams of science and space exploration when she was an infant.
When he passed away under suspect circumstances while trying to visit her when she was a child, she vows to follow in his footsteps,
straight into the stars.
This is also when The Terrors start,
uncontrollable bouts of anxiety and panic, that she desperately tries to overcome in pursuit of the perfection that she needs to continue her father’s work.
When she is accepted into The Program in an unnamed Midwestern city, just as her father did many years ago, she feels closer to him than ever.
There, her roommate, her estranged stepbrother, and others around her introduce her to what America actually is, especially for its BIPOC citizens.
Through them, she finds that America isn’t as full of the dreams that she was promised while being reared on a diet of American pop culture, nor was her father the man that she has spent her entire life building him up to be.
Full of beautiful descriptions of the night sky, interspersed with the devastating realities of colonialism and the loss of innocence that occurs as we grow up, Tshuma’s novel is one that should not be missed.
This book spoke to me in many ways that I did not expect.
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott is not a novel that is easily put into one category, nor does it have just one thing to say to us.
The novel starts with Alice, a young Haudenosaunee woman on the Six Nations reservation in Ontario, getting ready to meet a boy, when the Pocahontas cartoon that her niece was watching begins speaking to her through the television and warns her away from him.
Was this a dream or an actual warning?
She’s not sure, but she cancels her date.
We next see Alice as an adult, with a 6-week-old baby,
living in Toronto, she is married a white man who is not allowed to live on the reservation.
She is not only missing her family and a way of life that was harder in some ways, but full of love and familiar faces, but also suffering from postpartum depression, struggling with breastfeeding, and feeling like everyone is better with her daughter than she is.
As she struggles to find her place as a Native woman in the city, including an incident where one of her neighbors accuses Alice of trying to break into her own home where she’s lived for a year, and dealing with a well-meaning white husband who studies her own Mohawk language and culture academically, she finds herself slipping away as the voices from her past seem to return.
This is a powerful story, as it addresses motherhood, mental health, and identity.
It really opened my eyes.
Okay and now for some history! First up is Sailing the Graveyard Sea: The Deathly Voyage of the Somers, the U.S. Navy's Only Mutiny, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation by Richard Snow and it's coming out November 21
In 1842 the US Navy experienced it’s first and only mutiny. But there’s so much more to this story than simply mutiny. The captain of the Somers,
Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, was not only an experienced sailor, but a bestselling author who married into the famous Perry family, who produced some of America’s most prominent naval commanders. The ringleader of the mutiny was a young midshipman, Philip Spencer, whose father, John Spencer, was oh, the Secretary of War. As if that were not enough, contrary to naval law at the time, Mackenzie and his officers decided that Spencer and two of his conspirators were too dangerous to keep on board until they reached an American port, and so without a proper court martial, they were executed on board the Somers.
The aftermath divided the government, navy, and public, some seeing Mackenzie as a brave commander who prevented his ship from being overrun by mutineers,
while others considered him no less than a cold-blooded murderer. Snow’s book takes you through the ship’s fateful voyage and the inquiry and court martial that followed, trying to untangle what really happened, and if hanging a restless 18-year-old midshipman was necessary to save the ship.
For naval history buffs, this is an
absolute must.
I feel like this is a story I should have known.
I know, I was just going to say that. I'm even a naval history person and I didn't know this story. The book is fantastic!
Love in a Time of Hate:
Art and Passion in the Shadow of War by Florian Illies, translation by Simon Pare coming September 19th.
This unique and fascinating history and it opens in 1929
with Simone de Beauvoir standing up Sartre for their first date.
The story is told in less than a page,
and then the book moves on to the next set of lovers who found themselves in Europe between the world wars, including: Marlene Dietrich leaving her husband at home while see enjoys Berlin’s lesbian bars. The many Manns—Nobel Prize winner Thomas, and his several children and all their lovers.
Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald struggling with alcohol, mental illness, and their love for each other. And Christopher Isherwood lingering in Berlin as he finishes the work that gave rise to the musical Cabaret. It’s all these stories and more, told in vignettes as the book bounces from Paris to the French Riviera to Berlin, and even Hollywood.
A few of the stories are happy, many are not, and some are utterly astonishing, like Bertolt Brecht getting married one afternoon and then picking his mistress up at the train station half an hour later.
The book has just
dozens of lovers and tells their storoies up until 1939, where the book so ominously ends.
The whole thing doesn’t seem like it should work, and yet the brief structure and intermingling of stories rather than following each relationship to its close just
Feels right and honestly,
it's a hard book to explain, but might be my favorite in the webinar.
And I have one more, because I just love history so much! Here it is the
Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard coming October 24th. Beard is unquestionably one of the great Roman historians writing today, and this book takes a unique look at how the Roman Empire was ruled. Rather than writing a chronological list of emperors with dates and names no reader would remember, she looks at the job of emperor in its various elements. There is a chapter about the dining habits of emperors and how they did or didn’t change from Augustus to Elagabalus. She examines how emperors managed the excessive amount of paperwork generated by empire, as well as where and why they traveled, what they did for fun, and how they were depicted in art.
And Beard is great at
reminding the reader that how we think about individual emperors is based on who followed them, and therefore, wrote their legacy. Because it makes a huge difference if the next emperor
owed his job to the man who came before him,
or if he assassinated him to get the position. It’s a fascinating way to think of how the job of emperor was done, instead of
just focusing on individual personalities.
That's so cool, it's like a day in the life.
Yes! It really is, it's fantastic.
That is awesome. It's super readable.
Very cool
Okay so format I decided to go with ya because I love ya non fiction. When I was in college, I was lucky enough to take a music elective called “Vernacular Music and the Vietnam Conflict”. It was one of those classes that makes you look at the world
differently during and afterwards. When I saw that there was an upcoming book titled Rise Up and Sing! Power, Protest, and Activism in Music, I knew I had to take a look. In Rise Up and Sing!, Andrea Warner – notable music writer who authored Buffy Saint Marie’s recent biography -- explored how music and musical artists, past and present, have contributed to the fight for social justice both on stage and off.
This book is sectioned out across eight areas of activism—the climate emergency, Indigenous rights, civil rights, disability rights, 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, gender equality, the peace/anti-war movement, and human rights. While it features musicians teens will know and love: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Lady Gaga, Lil Nas X, etc., this book also features many historical figures such as Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, Tracy Chapman, and more. Yes I realize
Tracy Chapman being labeled as a historical figure makes a lot of people feel old, it makes me feel very old too. It's really cool because each chapter includes a playlist with recommended songs about each area of activism, from classic tracks to contemporary hits. This title will be released on October 17.
Maria can I have you make a Spotify list of all of that and share that with everybody? I would totally do that.
Alright. From her own discovery of drag when she was a kid watching “To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar” Elyssaa Maxx Goodman proves herself a historian with a personal passion in the upcoming Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City. Over the last few years, thanks to RuPaul’s Drag Race and other pop culture hits, drag has become more popular and mainstreamthan ever, but I confess, I knew little about its roots, especially in New York City, the tastemaker in drag over the last century plus.
Goodman takes us back to the turn of the twentieth century to look at drag kings, aka male impersonators, making their way in the world and becoming an integral part of the women’s suffrage movement.
She takes us behind the curtains of stages in the Harlem Renaissance, where writers such as Langston Hughes would enjoy drag performances. We see drag’s roll in the Stonewall Uprising of the late 1960s, along with the advocacy of drag during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 90s for the queer community around them.
From the uniting power that was drag after 9/11 to today’s mega television hits, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Pose, drag is more than NYC now and forever, but its roots are strong in the city.
Drag has always been about art and advocacy, and through this meticulously researched book, you will learn to appreciate all that it has to offer.
Shantay, you stay.
You may recognize Tiya Miles’ name from her National Book Award winning book, All That She Carried.
She has taken that amazing skill for research and prose and continues on with her newest book, Wild Girls.
In Wild Girls, Miles opens with her own story of growing up outdoors in Ohio (O-H)
with a wider series of essays outlining how some of the most important women in history had a deeper connection with the outdoors and nature, and outlines how women’s place in the outdoors has often been overlooked for man’s. How Harriet Tubman’s forced labor outdoors led to her understanding the landscape in a way that would allow her to free many of her fellow enslaved people. Lousia May Allcot was allowed to play outdoors in a way that many other girls of her station and time were not allowed, and it helped foster the creativity that made her works stand the test of time.
I learned of new women of history, many of whom I should have already known, including Zitkala-Sha,
Indigenous writer and activist,
champion of farmworkers rights, Delores Huerta, and the trailblazing girls of the Indigenous Woman’s Basketball team, who stunned the globe with their performance in the 1904 World’s Fair by beating teams of all-white players.
Miles shows that time in nature can raise strong women, and that spending time communing with the sky and the earth,
we can resist the yokes that society tries to put upon us.
Go outside!
Okay so we still had so many titles we were excited about this fall that we just decided to come up with a "squee"
lightning round. So just really quick we're gonna go through some other titles that were very excited about. Beth O'Leary in my eyes can do no wrong so I am very excited for her next book The Wake-Up Call.
Pirates and witches and Katee Robert? Oh my!
Julia, great timing I am so excited about the next Murderbot book and I love Kevin Free's narration of the audio book so I will be listening to this as soon as humanly possible
How can you expect everyone to read your new (hopefully) bestselling books about relationships when your own just ended in a dramatic fashion?
By getting yourself a fake boyfriend, of course!
Obviously
Ah! Rome and Persia: The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry by Adrian Goldsworthy. I literally flipped a coin whether to include this book or Beard’s, they’re both so good. Just know this fall is a great time to be a fan of Roman history.
Bookshops and Bonedust
prequel to Legends and Lattes and we get to know more about Viv, everyone’s favorite orc! Yes and if you haven't read Legends and Lattes yet
What are you doing with your life?
And I think this is it! We're ending with the queen of the short book Annie Ernaux, The Young Man, it's out
On September 12th. Noble Prize winner Ernaux is back
with book that’s part memoir, part autofiction, and all bared soul, and this time about her affair with a man 30 years her junior.
Thank you so much Shelia, Meghan, and Maria! That is our book picks webinar. What a wonderful round up of titles for fall. There is no shortage of content for you to browse after today's session. So if you would like to see these titles on OverDrive.com or
drop them in Marketplace, we have lists for that. We will put those in chat but you will also receive them in your follow up resources in the email from Zoom tomorrow.
With that we are grateful you chose to spend an hour with us today. We hope you enjoyed this likely book-centric session. A quick reminder to keep an eye out again for that email from Zoom that has all of the resources that you'll need including a link to this recording.
At this time we are going to end the audio portion
Of our presentation, but we'll stay and shot for another minute or so to answer any questions and her all of those titles that you're most excited about.
Thanks again and happy reading.