Kai Thomas’ fascinating debut novel, In the Upper Country, offers a fresh take on the Underground Railroad in Canada. The author, who is Afro-Canadian, became intrigued about historical accounts he read about the relationships of runaway slaves and Indigenous peoples in Canada. This inspired him to write his first novel, which opens in 1859. It…
Yesterday I examined fiction that received the most love in 2022 from book reviewers. Today I will look at nonfiction. I compiled 30 notable lists with more than 600 books, including our own favorites from the Cook Memorial Public Library District staffers. Thirty-seven books, from memoirs to nature to social commentary, rose to the top.…
As a long-time reader, I know one thing to be true: We often do not agree on liking the same books. Readers’ tastes vary widely. This was evident once again in my annual search for the top-reviewed books of the year. For fiction, I tallied 30 lists by professional book readers, including the Cook Memorial…
Imagine learning that you inherited a house from your great-grandmother. However, this isn’t just any home. It has a mind of its own and walks on giant chicken legs. That is the premise of GennaRose Nethercott’s weird, wacky debut novel, Thistlefoot. It pays homage to Baba Yaga, a supernatural being who appears in many Russian…
Jamie Ford movingly explores the fascinating premise that trauma can be passed down from generation to generation in his fourth novel, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy. Afong Moy was the first Chinese woman known to set foot on American soil in 1836. She was forced to entertain on the stage as “The Chinese Lady.”…
Shelf Life 