New Item Tuesday

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Staff Review: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

The title of this book, Small Great Things, comes from a quote that is attributed to Martin Luther King.  Given the current tenor of intolerance in our country, Jodi Picoult's story of an African American nurse who is accused of murdering a white supremacist couple's infant, struck a definite cord with me.  The story is told from three viewpoints, the nurse, the defense attorney and the father of the deceased baby.

Ruth Jefferson, a labor and delivery nurse for 20 years, is at the top of her game.  She loves her job and feels her co-workers respect and like her. During a routine check up of newly delivered baby, Ruth is confronted by the baby's father and told not to touch his wife or baby again.  He asks for Ruth's supervisor and Ruth very quickly learns that she is prohibited from caring for the baby in any way.  A note is put in the file that no African American staff is allowed to come in contact with this family-Ruth is the only black nurse in the department.

Of course an emergency with the baby comes up and Ruth is the only one around for several minutes.  The baby ultimately dies and Ruth's life is turned upside down when she is blamed by the parents and the hospital administration and placed under arrest.

It is at this point in the novel that I could feel myself starting to get uncomfortable.  At first I was outraged at how Ruth and her teenage son are treated so unfairly.  Much of the racism is overt and disturbing.  But as the book progresses its the subtle forms of racism that really started to bother me.  I could identify with Ruth's defense attorney who did not see herself as racist in any way.  Kennedy considers herself "color blind" but discovers some hard truths about herself and the legal system as the case progresses and she gets to know Ruth more intimately.

This book pushed me to reflect more deeply about my own prejudices and how even when you have the best intentions you may have a bias that you aren't fully aware of.  That feeling of discomfort that crept in as I was reading stuck with me for days after I finished the book.

Personally I really appreciate a book that makes me revisit how I view the world and my own values.  We are never too old, or hopefully too jaded, to take stock of the human condition and look for ways to be a better person.

~Michelle, Circulation

Cover Trend: Circles

Ann's recent review of My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead gave me a case of déjà vu. I could swear that I had seen that cover somewhere before. A quick conversation with my colleagues, and we had a list of books whose cover designs left us spinning!

Can you think of any other books with similar cover designs that we missed? Share them in the comments!

~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead

My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead may be the best book I read in 2016. I read it (twice!), just after the unsavory election season ended, deciding I'd forego the news for a while and lose myself in a really good book. The result was amazing. Not only did I love the book, but I found myself going about my business in a much better mood.

My Life in Middlemarch is an English major's dream, a hybrid work of nonfiction: one part memoir and four parts literary biography. Mead's subjects are the great Victorian writer George Eliot (born Mary Anne Evans) and her masterpiece, Middlemarch, which multiple critics have suggested may be "the greatest novel in the English language." 

Middlemarch is Mead's favorite book for sure, one she re-reads every few years. She finds that the novel speaks to her in new and compelling ways every time, as she navigates her way through life's milestones: moving away from home for the first time, finding a life's work, beginning and ending relationships, acquiring a family.

I've been in love with Middlemarch myself for a long time, so it's hard for me to judge how Mead's book will strike someone who hasn't read it. Eliot's highly unconventional life is certainly fascinating in its own right. As a young woman in the 1840s, Eliot rejected the conservative church-faith of her beloved father and established herself as an independent, free-thinking writer (and to say this was scandalous is an understatement). She next fell in love with a married man who was unable to divorce his estranged wife and she lived with him openly for 24 years. A highly disapproving London society eventually softened its censure somewhat as Eliot became one of the most beloved novelists of her time, right up there with Dickens.

So, if you love English authors, especially the Victorian kind, and you enjoy literary biographies, My Life in Middlemarch may well appeal to you. For maximum enjoyment though, read Middlemarch first. Yes, it's a doorstop, but you'll be glad you picked it up -- and we have it in audio too!

 ~Ann, Adult Services

New Item Tuesday

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Staff Review: The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

The Girl Next Door, by Jack Ketchum, is not a read for the faint of heart.  If, dear reader, you are disturbed by graphic depictions of torture, mutilation, violence, or psychological trauma you might want to opt for some feel-good pulp novel from Nicholas Sparks or his ilk.  If, however, you'd like to delve into the darkness that dwells within us all, check out this tale.

This masterpiece of the macabre is the literary equivalent of a snuff film with a 1950s suburbia backdrop.  Young David becomes infatuated with the titular girl next door, Meg, who has come to live with her aunt and cousins.  Her Aunt Ruth, a latent psychopath and mother of three, takes an instant dislike to the youthful, exuberant Meg.  This dislike quickly blossoms into hate and results in Aunt Ruth ordering her sons to tie Meg up in the basement.  Not content with simple mental abuse, Aunt Ruth turns to the physical and shanghais her sons and their friend David into helping.  David refuses to actually lay hands upon Meg, but he still finds himself fascinated by the brutality he watches her endure.  David wants to help Meg somehow, but he's afraid to take a stand against Ruth and her sons.  If they would inflict such pain on an innocent girl, what horrors might they have in store for David?

Did I mention this book was based on a true story?  Keep that in mind, buckle up, and dive into this torrid tale.

 ~Ryan, Circulation Department