Staff Recommendations
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Cooking with the two fat ladies
by Paterson, Jennifer.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionAugust 22, 2022
Call Number: 641.5942 P296
This is the second series of books that I rediscovered during the early months of COVID lock-down,The Two Fat Ladies. My mind is blank about how I gravitated to this one, maybe because of a book at home, or looking longingly at a collection of VHS tapes, and no longer having a recorder. Thank heavens for the internet where I found snippets and full episodes of the old TV programs with these two remarkable women. Apparently you can also find their programs on the TV Food Network. However, the Los Angeles Public Library owns the complete series on... Read Full Review
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The Children on the Hill
by McMahon, Jennifer
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryAugust 15, 2022
Monster. The word brings to mind ugly, misshapen creatures wreaking havoc wherever they go. Perhaps the most famous monster is Frankenstein’s monster from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It’s been over 200 years since the teenaged Shelley created one of the most enduring tales of all time. And over the last two centuries, many have pondered who is the true monster in Shelley’s story? Is it Victor Frankenstein’s creation, the person he created from the parts of others, spurned by everyone, including his own creator, forced to live an existence alone and in constant fear? Or... Read Full Review
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The unexpected Mrs. Pollifax.
by Gilman, Dorothy, 1923-2012.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionAugust 9, 2022
Call Number: M
In 2020, during those early weeks of COVID lock-down, when we were not allowed into our Los Angeles Public Libraries, and the present and the future were beyond comprehension, it was good to have some personally owned books at home. There were two series that I turned to. One was the Mrs. Pollifax series. At the time, I owned only a hardcopy of Mrs. Pollifax Unveiled, which is the last book in the series, and that caused me to quickly... Read Full Review
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Siren Queen
by Vo, Nghi
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryAugust 1, 2022
On a whim, a young Chinese-American girl pays with an inch of her hair so that she and he sister can see Romeo and Juliet at the new nickelodeon in their neighborhood. From that moment on, she has a single desire: to be a motion picture star. Not simply an actress, but a star. Quite a goal for a young Asian-American girl in 1930s Los Angeles. Luli Wei is not her real name. It actually belongs to her sister, stolen in a moment of panic while meeting with the head of Wolfe Studios. But no one in the movie business uses their real names. To provide your employer with your... Read Full Review
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Remarkably Bright Creatures
by Van Pelt, Shelby
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJuly 25, 2022
After her husband’s death, Tova Sullivan took a job cleaning the Sowell Bay Aquarium. She works evenings after the aquarium has closed to the public, mopping the floors, clearing the trash cans, and cleaning the glass walls of the exhibition tanks until they shine. As she works her way around the circular building, she chats with the various occupants of the aquarium. She knows them all very well and while she believes it is pointless to carry on one sided conversations with them, it makes her feel less lonely while she is working.
Marcellus is the giant Pacific... Read Full Review
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The memory theater
by Tidbeck, Karin, 1977-
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabJuly 18, 2022
In The Memory Theater a girl and a boy, Dora and Thistle, escape from a palace during a perpetual, eternal summer evening party, where nobles murder and devour children as a regular part of the evening entertainment, somewhere between dessert and rounds of croquet on the lawn. Unfortunately for Dora and Thistle, one of the nobles, the monstrous and fabulously dressed Lady Augusta, follows them as they flee across worlds.
The line between fairy tales and the horror genre is incredibly porous. But few stories that I have read straddle that line as... Read Full Review
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The Book Woman's Daughter
by Richardson, Kim Michele
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJuly 11, 2022
In 2019, Kim Michele Richardson told the story of Cussy Mary Carter and her work as a Pack Horse Librarian in The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. Now, in 2022, Richardson returns to tell the next chapter in Cussy Mary’s story, which actually belongs to her daughter, in The Book Woman’s Daughter.
It has been almost 17 years since the events recounted in The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.... Read Full Review
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Run towards the danger : confrontations with a body of memory
by Polley, Sarah
Reviewed by: David B., Librarian, InfoNowJuly 5, 2022
Call Number: 812.092 P773
The six essays in this book by the acclaimed Canadian actress (The Sweet Hereafter) and filmmaker (Stories We Tell), Sarah Polley, provide a recounting of her emotional and physical scars in steady, meticulous prose. The first essay, “Alice Collapsing,” chronicles her childhood bout with severe stage fright during a... Read Full Review
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Never Been Kissed
by Janovsky, Timothy
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 27, 2022
As Wren Roland celebrates his 22nd birthday with his best friends and roommates, Mateo and Avery, he begins to lament the fact that he has never been kissed. He’s been close, but has yet to experience what his degree in film studies has convinced him will be a life-altering and incredibly romantic experience. As the evening progresses, and the drinks flow, Wren finds himself more than a bit drunk in front of his computer. He clicks on the email folder labeled “tentacle porn” (It seems like the perfect hiding place! Who would ever look in there?) where he has four email drafts to... Read Full Review
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One last stop
by McQuiston, Casey
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 21, 2022
A young woman on her way to her first day of classes at Brooklyn College spills coffee on herself just prior to boarding the subway. Another young woman on the train comes to her rescue with a scarf and a kind word. The next time the student boards the train, her rescuer is there. They declare each other “coffee-girl” and “subway girl” and begin chatting. Is it a “meet cute” of the type employed in almost every/any romance novel? Absolutely! But, in the hands of Casey McQuiston, author of 2019’s fantastic Red, White, and Royal Blue, it is the beginning of so much more!... Read Full Review
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Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations
by Taylor, Nicole A.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionJune 14, 2022
Call Number: 641.5973 T2445-1
This is the first cookbook devoted entirely to celebrating the significance of Juneteenth. “The title combines a native-born African fruit–watermelon–with the African American and Native American adage that red birds flying in sight are ancestors returning to spread beautiful luck.” Writer and scholar Nicole A. Taylor states, “This is my declaration of independence from the traditional boundaries of so-called Southern food and soul food. It’s my fulfillment of the dreams of those domestics, inventors, bakers, and bartenders who form the base of my family tree. It is my statement... Read Full Review
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One-Shot Harry
by Phillips, Gary
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJune 6, 2022
Call Number: M
The year is 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. is about to hold his Freedom Rally at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles; William H. Parker is Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department; John F. Kennedy is President of the United States; Pat Brown is the Governor of California; Gas is $0.29 a gallon and ground beef is less than $0.50 a pound. It is in this world, which is as different as it is similar to ours, that Gary Phillips sets his new novel One-Shot Harry.
Harry Ingram is a freelance news photographer in Los Angeles. He also works side-jobs serving legal papers. Harry... Read Full Review