Bookshelf
August Books
FICTION
Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew. Both hopeful and elegiac, Tom Lake explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety.
The Night Ship, by Jess Kidd
Based on a true story, this epic historical novel illuminates the lives of two characters: a girl shipwrecked on an island off Western Australia and, 300 years later, a boy finding a home with his grandfather on the very same island. 1629: A newly orphaned young girl named Mayken is bound for the Dutch East Indies on the Batavia, one of the greatest ships of the Dutch Golden Age. Curious and mischievous, Mayken spends the long journey going on misadventures above and below the deck, searching for a mythical monster. But the true monsters might be closer than she thinks. 1989: A lonely boy named Gil is sent to live off the coast of Western Australia among the seasonal fishing community where his late mother once resided. There, on the tiny reef-shrouded island, he discovers the story of an infamous shipwreck. With her trademark storytelling, Kidd weaves a true work of magic about friendship, sacrifice, brutality and forgiveness.
My Name Is Iris, by Brando Skyhorse
Iris Prince is starting over. After years of drifting apart, she and her husband are going through a surprisingly drama-free divorce. She’s moved to a new house in a new neighborhood, and has plans for gardening, coffee clubs and spending more time with her 9-year-old daughter, Melanie. It feels like her life is finally exactly what she wants it to be. Then, one beautiful morning, she looks outside her kitchen window — and sees that a wall has appeared in her front yard overnight. Where did it come from? What does it mean? And why does it seem to keep growing? Meanwhile, a Silicon Valley startup has launched a high-tech wrist wearable called “the Band.” Pitched as a convenient, eco-friendly tool to help track local utilities and replace driver’s licenses and IDs, the Band is available only to those who can prove parental citizenship. Suddenly, Iris, a proud second-generation Mexican American, is now of “unverifiable origin,” unable to prove who she is, or where she, and her undocumented loved ones, belong. Amid a climate of fear and hate-fueled violence, Iris must confront how far she’ll go to protect what matters to her most.
NONFICTION
The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed Art Forever, by Prudence Peiffer
In this exquisite biography, an art historian and critic captures a singular moment of community and creativity in mid-20th century New York City, bringing to life a group of struggling artists and the place they all called home, an obscure little street at the lower tip of Manhattan, Coenties Slip. For just over a decade, from 1956 to 1967, a collection of dilapidated former sail-making warehouses clustered at the lower edge of Manhattan became the quiet epicenter of the art world. Coenties Slip, a dead-end street near the water, was home to a circle of wildly talented and varied artists that included Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Delphine Seyrig, Lenore Tawney and Jack Youngerman. As friends and inspirations to one another, they created a unique community for unbridled creative expression and experimentation, and the works they made at the Slip would go on to change the course of American art. Despite Coenties Slip’s obscurity, the entire history of Manhattan was inscribed into its cobblestones — one of the first streets and central markets of the new colony, built by enslaved people, with revolutionary meetings at the tavern just down Pearl Street. It was named by Herman Melville in Moby Dick, and the site of the boom and bust of the city’s maritime industry. The Slip’s history is entwined with that of the artists and their art — eclectic and varied — exploring how we are shaped by our environment, and how it in turn shapes our work.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
When Rubin Plays, by Gracey Zhang
Beautiful music is in the ear of the beholder, and in this stunning picture book from the author/illustrator of Lala’s Words, that ear is a chorus of cats! Both a celebration of music and of new musicians, this one is sure to become a storytime favorite. (Ages 3-7.)
You Can’t Be a Pterodactyl!, by James Breakwell
Veterinarian, garbage truck driver or nurse – kids want to grow up to be all kinds of things. But Tommy? Tommy wants to be a pterodactyl. This super-silly picture book shows that determination can go a long, long way. (Ages 3-7.)
A Shell Is Cozy, by Diana Hutts Aston
A shell is a cozy, bony shelter that keeps the delicate parts of the animal tucked safely inside, but it’s also an anatomical wonder and a beautiful treasure for the patient beachcomber. This lyrical nonfiction title is chock-full of information, yet is lovely enough to be a coffee table book. Check out the entire series, which includes A Butterfly Is Patient, An Egg Is Quiet, A Rock Is Lively, A Nest Is Noisy and A Seed Is Sleepy. (Ages 3-10.)
All That’s Left to Say, by Emery Lord
Her prom night and her dress are ruined, and maybe her whole life, but Hannah absolutely believes that it was all worth it if she can find out the truth about what happened to Sophie. A beautiful exploration of grief, a friends-to-lovers romance and an emotional thriller, All That’s Left to Say will devastate you in the best kind of way. (Ages 14 and up.) PS
Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally.