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Piranesi

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Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Format: Book, eBook
Who it’s for: Adults

Perfect for fans of Madeline Miller (Circe, Song of Achilles), Piranesi is the story of the titular character who lives in a labyrinth-like House with countless rooms, statues, and even an ocean trapped inside. Through Piranesi’s journal entries, we learn about the Tide, the 13 skeletons he cares for, and the Other, the only other living human Piranesi encounters. 

It’s best to go into this book knowing little about it, so I won’t give too much away, but as we learn of Piranesi’s discoveries in the House and his interactions with the Other, something starts to feel a bit off. Where (and what) is the House? Who is Piranesi? Who is the Other? 

It takes a bit of effort to get through this book – it’s not long (under 250 pages, far shorter than Clarke’s 700+ page Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell), but it’s chock full of symbolism and metaphor. Take the time to read slowly to appreciate the references and uncover the mysteries of the House and the Other with Piranesi.

Find Piranesi in the catalog.

The Eyre Affair

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The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Format: Book, eBook
Who it’s for: Adults

The Eyre Affair introduces Thursday Next, a literary detective living in a parallel universe with a time traveling father and an uncle experimenting with literal bookworms. Thursday works for SpecOps 27, the division that investigates manuscript forgeries and other literary crimes. The Eyre Affair sees Thursday battling with literary villain Acheron Hades. Hades has stolen the Prose Portal, allowing him to enter manuscripts and kidnap characters for ransom. He starts with Martin Chuzzelwit, but his ultimate goal is to remove Jane Eyre from the pages of Jane Eyre. If he succeeds, Jane will be removed from all copies of the novel. It’s up to Thursday to stop him and save Jane Eyre. 

The first book in the Thursday Next series (there are seven in total), The Eyre Affair immerses the reader in Thursday’s alternate universe. The Crimean War never ended, Russia still has a tsar, and cloning animals is widespread (Thursday’s pet is a dodo v1.2 named Pickwick). This sets the stage for the rest of the series – we learn in the second book about the BookWorld, occupied by literary characters with its own police force (Jurisfiction). 

For readers with an interest in classic literature (Fforde constantly drops in references to classic novels and poems) and inventive, sometimes absurd alternate realities, The Eyre Affair is a fun and exciting introduction to a great series.

Find The Eyre Affair in the catalog.

The Song of Achilles

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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Format: eBook, Book, Audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults, Teens

The Song of Achilles is a retelling of the story of Achilles from the point of view of Patroclus, his best friend and eventual lover. Miller takes the stories we know from The Iliad and fills in the blanks, starting with Achilles’ childhood and the beginnings of his relationship with Patroclus. Achilles is a complicated figure. More than the arrogant, brash man who fought in the Trojan War, he is depicted as often unsure of himself, kind, and capable of love. 

We follow Achilles and Patroclus from childhood to their adolescence, during which they travel to train under the centaur, Chiron, to young adulthood. Through it all, Achilles’ mother, Thetis, appears often to express her displeasure with her son’s relationship with Patroclus. We see Achilles and Patrolcus grow closer over the years, ultimately falling in love before the story turns to the more familiar Trojan War years. Although you may know what happens next, Miller’s writing makes the entire series of events gut-wrenching.

The Song of Achilles is for anyone with even a passing interest in Greek mythology, or anyone who likes a well-written romance with a dash of war and vengeful gods. Also recommended is Miller’s second novel, Circe, a retelling of the life of Circe, a daughter of Helios.

Skyward

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Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Who it’s for: Teens, Adults
Format: Book, eBook

Epic space battles, a nearly-sentient AI-powered ship, a strange yellow and blue slug that mimics voices and sounds, and a teenager who wants to claim the stars – that’s Skyward in a nutshell. Brandon Sanderson is an excellent world-builder and it shows in the first of a four part series.

Spensa is trapped on a planet called Detritus with what remains of humanity. They are frequently attacked from above by unknown forces they call the Krell. Spensa dreams of being a space pilot to defend her home. But when she was young, her father was branded a coward, and now the entire family bears the label. Fighting her way into flight school, Spensa works to prove that she’s not a coward (and that her father wasn’t either), and that she can help in the fight against the Krell. 

Outside of school, M-Bot, the abandoned AI-driven ship with a personality, and Doomslug. Spensa, with the help of her friend Rig, repairs M-Bot and takes him for a spin. M-Bot has been programmed not to fight, and when he believes Spensa would fly him in battle, he shuts down.

Fast forward to the most epic of epic battles – can Spensa save Detritus from destruction, or will what happened to her father happen to her too?

Starsight, book two of four, is also out now, so there’s more to come when you reach the cliffhanger at the end!

Find Skyward in the catalog.

 

Niko Draws a Feeling

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Niko Draws a Feeling by Bob Raczka, illustrated by Simone Shin
Who it’s for: Kids
Format: eBook

Niko carries his paper and colored pencils everywhere he goes, in case he is inspired to make a picture. He loves to draw, but Niko doesn’t draw the things he sees. Instead, he draws the way they make him feel. His parents, teacher, and friends don’t seem to understand his pictures. When Niko draws the way the sun feels warm on his face, they can’t understand why they don’t see the sun.

Niko draws a picture of himself and how he feels, but he doesn’t share it with anyone. Until one day, a new family with a girl Niko’s age moves in next door. Has Niko finally found someone who understands?

Niko Draws a Feeling shows children that art can be representative. It doesn’t always reflect actual things we can see. Sometimes it reflects how the artist feels. And as viewers of art, we all experience it differently as well. The illustrations in the book encourage children to think about what they see when they look at Niko’s pictures.

This title is part of OverDrive’s Always Available collection. The eBook is available with no wait on OverDrive/Libby for everyone with a library card!

Say Nothing: A True Story Of Murder And Memory In Northern Ireland

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Say Nothing: A True Story Of Murder And Memory In Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
Who it’s for: Adults
Format: eBook, digital audiobook

Say Nothing begins with the abduction of widow and mother of 10, Jean McConville, in Belfast in 1972. From there, Radden Keefe traces several of the key players of the Troubles, the decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland between nationalists (often Catholic) who wanted to see Northern Ireland united with Ireland, and loyalists (often Protestant) who supported continued British rule in Northern Ireland.

McConville was one of the “disappeared,” sixteen people who were determined to have been taken, killed, and buried in unmarked graves by the Provisional IRA (the IRA admitted to being involved in nine of the sixteen cases). But Radden Keefe’s account is not just of McConville and her children. We also meet Gerry Adams, Brendan Hughes, and, most intriguing, the Price sisters, Delours and Marian, all members of the IRA (though Adams has denied his own membership in the organization). Radden Keefe describes hunger strikes, bombings, prison stays, and the gradual shift by some members of the IRA from violence to politics. This shift is an underlying theme of the story; some IRA members viewed the shift and the compromises made as removing the moral justification for the violent acts they had committed. This led to some of them speaking at length with interviewers for a Boston College oral history project. That project’s history, and its legal battles and their outcomes are entwined in the story of the more recent events in Radden Keefe’s account. 

Throughout the book, Radden Keefe returns to Jean McConville, and to her children and their lives after their mother’s abduction. Many of the others discussed in the book were leaders of or soldiers in the IRA, so McConville’s children provide a different view of the Troubles and the events discussed in the book.

Say Nothing often reads like fiction, but it’s not. Every so often, the realization hits that these people are real, many of them still living and dealing with the trauma of their experiences. Radden Keefe has thoroughly researched this story, taking four years to conduct research and interviews, leading to a fascinating true account of events that occurred not that long ago.

You can find Say Nothing in eBook and digital audiobook format on OverDrive/Libby, or in digital audiobook format on RBdigital.