Staff Picks: Small Town Stories

I grew up in a midwestern suburb but spent each summer visiting my grandparent's rural home in Southern New Jersey.  Small towns are great for biking on country roads past picturesque farms and woodlands, exploring nature, buying farm-fresh corn at roadside vegetable stands, and spending long lazy days swimming or just enjoying the sunshine. When you aren't the one stacking hay and shucking corn, the relaxed pace of small town living offers extra time for my favorite pastime of all - reading. I still enjoy reading stories about the lives of people living in small towns. 

Stories set in small towns are on display this month at Sharon Forks Library but they don't all focus on the idyllic side. Check out Delilah S. Dawson's Bloom, a dark fantasy about a woman whose life takes a very strange turn when she makes a new friend at a local farmer's market, Jane Harper's Exiles, a mystery set in South Australia's wine country, Olga Tokarczuk's award-winning Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, or the Ray Bradbuy classic, Dandelion Wine. 

What are your favorite books set in small towns? 

Staff Picks: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

 

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Racial injustice undermines every aspect of life for African Americans living in Gracetown, Florida in 1950 and spirits, visible only to children often linger long after passings in the form of “haints”.  

When his mother passes away from cancer and his civil right activist father flees the state amid accusations and threats, twelve-year-old Robbie Stevens is left in the care of his older sister, Gloria. Defending his sister from the son of a powerful landowner earns Robbie a six-month sentence at the Gracetown School for Boys where his ability to see haints reveals a disturbing history. 

The Reformatoy is a spellbinding historical fiction novel based on the true story of the infamous Dozier School for Boys which operated from 1900 to 2011 in Marianna, Florida. Despite the dark subject matter, I really enjoyed this multi-layered and suspenseful story. 

Alicia Cavitt

Information Specialist

Staff Picks: You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrique - Adult Fiction

You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue

In 1519 two worlds collided when Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés entered the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. Álvaro Enrique’s novel You Dreamed of Empires describes the encounter from both sides, interjecting humor, hindsight, and modern perspectives.   

Arriving at Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards are amazed to find towering step pyramids, painted stone pathways, ornate palaces, pools, and gardens. The Aztec city is the largest and most impressive city on Earth, and the Europeans are offered fine robes, unusual local delicacies, and a sweet drink that is as treasured as gold. 

While Cortés and his entourage make themselves at home in luxury palace suites, Montezuma spends his time napping, dosing with hallucinogenic mushrooms, ordering executions, and frustrating his inner circle. Tactically, the Europeans' only advantages are their obedient antlerless deer and firepower.

You Dreamed of Empires humanizes the story's central players, including Montezuma’s sister/wife Atotoxlit and Gerónimo de Aguilar, the Franciscan friar who serves as a translator for the Europeans. The novel also richly imagines the lives of prisoners, confidantes, advisors, servants, and priests. 

Enrigue’s vision of the epic culture clash, skillfully translated into English by Natasha Wimmer, is both illuminating and wildly entertaining. Álvaro Enrigue is a award-winning Mexican writer who has authored novels, short stories, and essays. Enrigue lives in New York and teaches Latin American literature. 

Alicia Cavitt

Information Specialist 

Aztec Step Pyramid
Image credit: Forsyth County Public Library created in Canva.com

Learn How to Write Historical Fiction

Love writing and/or reading historical fiction? Come and learn all about it from the best! Join authors Rona Simmons and Dr. Piper Huguley for their program, How to Write Historical Fiction on Monday, March 25 at 7:00 p.m. at the Cumming Library. They will discuss the process of researching and writing historical fiction novels.

2014 Staff Favorites - 5th in a Series

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

My list of favorite books in 2014 is short, thanks to discovering a new favorite author and one of the most moving and memorable stories I've ever read. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr was my favorite book of 2014.       

Set during the Nazi occupation of France, this spellbinding novel illustrates the triumphs and tragedies of a continent at war and a city under siege. The walled city of Saint Malo, rich in history before the war, is the only remaining German stronghold at its end and becomes a target for the Allied forces.

It’s an evocative setting but the highlight of this story truly is the characters. They come from all backgrounds and on all sides of the war.  They all struggle with circumstances beyond their control:  a gifted locksmith, a battle-scarred World War II veteran, some very creative saboteurs as well as a “giant” of a boy who intimidates his way through the ranks of the Hitler Youth.  Each touches the heart but it’s the war’s impact on the lives of two young people – Marie Clare LeBlanc and Werner Pfennig -- that frames the novel.

Overcoming the loss of her mother, her sight, and her home, Marie-Clare plays an unlikely role during the Nazi occupation. With vacant eyes and her white cane she navigates the streets of Saint Malo, guarding dangerous secrets and valuable treasure.  

Werner’s journey begins in an orphanage in German coal country and takes an unexpected turn when he repairs a discarded radio. Despite warnings from his wise-beyond-her-years younger sister, it’s the radio’s circuitry--rather than the intercepted transmissions it receives--that captivates the boy's imagination. Technical skills earn Werner a coveted military school education and an awe-inspiring visit to modern Berlin. But there’s a sinister underside to Werner’s new life that he is unable to ignore.

All the Light We Cannot See is epic, poetic, and in many ways eye-opening. History, science, magic and suspense blend perfectly in this mesmerizing story that offers hope even amid the most dire of circumstances.

Alicia Cavitt
Information Specialist