When I began Go West, Young Man, I was initially most excited to learn more about the Oregon Trail. However, as I continued to read about B.J. Hollars’ road trip to retrace the Oregon Trail with his six-year-old son, Henry, I found myself enjoying their journey just as much as the history of the Oregon Trail. Maybe even more! Though they had a strong connection prior to their journey, B.J. and Henry’s relationship flourishes, and it’s a joy to watch them make memories together.
Welcome to #NewTitleTuesday at the Johnson County Library where we take a closer look at a new book that's hitting the shelves. In THE LAST CONFESSIONS OF SYLVIA P., author Lee Kravitz constructs a dazzling literary mystery revolving around the perspectives of three characters, all with a connection to author and poet Sylvia Plath, who died tragically by suicide in 1963. Interweaving fiction and reality from different times of Plath's life, Kravitz's novel is going to be in heavy demand from book groups.
Light Years From Homeby Mike Chen is a family drama with science fiction flavor. If you’re looking for hard sci-fi with intricately plotted space escapades, this is not the book for you. What this book is instead is a very real, intimate tale of a family with a lot of issues - only one of which is aliens.
Johnson County Library is pleased to announce that Annie Newcomer has won our poetry writing contest on the theme of The Unknown with her piece "The Broken Plate: a Still Life."
Did you know that 50 years ago, during the Nixon administration, the U.S. almost passed a bill creating a universal basic income? Test cases and studies had been done, all evidence supported the idea as feasible and universally beneficial, and it had widespread public and political support. Experts at the time were also predicting vastly reduced workweeks as machines replaced the need for human labor, so it made sense to provide income since there wouldn't be enough work to go around. Then the narrative changed.
Johnson County Library is pleased to announce that Marcia Hurlow has won our poetry writing contest on the theme of The Unknown with her piece "Lost on Callisto."
Sometimes a sci-fi novel comes along with such a knockout premise that even readers of other genres cross over to take a peek and see what the fuss is about. Take Andy Weir's 2011 breakout smash THE MARTIAN: what if one astronaut was stranded on a planet all alone after a botched Mars expedition, and the rest of Earth raced to save him? After ten years, a flopjillion copies checked out, and a Matt Damon movie later, we still get patrons at the library asking for readalikes who never normally ask for sci-fi.
LOVE & SAFFRON: A NOVEL OF FRIENDSHIP, FOOD, AND LOVE by Kim Fay might well be this year's word-of-mouth breakout novel - the sort of novel that never makes a big splash on the bestseller lists, but lurks just beneath the surface by building a slow, steady, and loyal following, recommended from patron to patron, and book club participant to book club participant. It has that kind of vibe. Plus, it's an epistolary novel, which, when done well, are special little slices of literary heaven for readers.
Welcome to the latest edition of #NewTitleTuesday, where we take a closer look at a new book that's hitting the shelves of bookstores (and libraries) across the nation. Since my bailiwick is fiction, I naturally stick to the fiction side of things in this space - thrillers, historical fiction, fantasy, romance, that sort of thing. But today a book caught my eye about a topic that a lot of our patrons are going to love, as it's a title that covers a lot of bases no matter what genre you like.
