#aclsreads

UnCovered review by Filomena Scotto DiVetta, ACLS Galloway Branch

I listened to “The Lager Queen of Minnesota” by J. Ryan Stradal on the Libby app that the library provides. It was fun listening to it on my way to and from work. I was so intrigued by the story that I also listened to it around my house!

This book is about two sisters, Edith and Helen, who are raised on a farm in Minnesota. As the years go by they grow apart - each one with their own differences and struggles. Helen is more rigid than her sister Edith, who is always taking care of people in her life. Helen inherits the farm with a plan to make her dream come true of owning a successful brewery. This puts a strain between the sisters who go years without talking. Diana, Edith’s granddaughter, ends up living with her grandmother and develops the same interest for running a brewery as her great-aunt Helen.

This book will make you laugh and cry. You will enjoy getting to read or listen to the characters as they go through life. The author does an amazing job of making the characters unique and different from each other.

Review by Debbie Brahmi, ACLS Pleasantville Branch

THE PERFECT MARRIAGE is fast-paced psychological thriller that will keep you wondering "whodunit" up until the very end. Fans of Freida McFadden will love this book. It's a quick, easy read with a delicious twist at the end, and there's a sequel on the way!

Sarah Morgan, a highly successful Washington, DC, defense attorney, is married to Adam, a not-so successful writer, who convinces his wife to buy a "lake house" so that he can get away from the city and concentrate on his next book. As Adam continues to struggle with his writing, he begins to resent Sarah's continued success (she becomes a partner in her law firm!) and (no surprise here) he meets and falls in love with another woman as Sarah becomes increasingly unavailable to him due to her insane workload. Adam's affair with his mistress remains a secret for over a year (!) until her mutilated body is found in the master bedroom at the lake house. All the evidence points to Adam, and he is immediately arrested and charged with first-degree murder, so he calls the best defense lawyer in town, who happens to be his wife. Adam declares his undying love for Sarah, and she agrees to represent him, because despite the fact that he has been cheating on her, she still loves him and is now ready to have the child that he has always wanted, but the trial will test the boundaries of this already fragile marriage. 

Uncovered Review by Collette Jones, ACLS Egg Harbor City Branch

The cover art for José Olivarez's poetry collection PROMISES OF GOLD features a striking image of a wrestling mask, which symbolizes various themes explored in the book. Olivarez's work often delves into the complexities of Mexican-American identity, love, and family. The wrestling mask can be seen as a metaphor for the different roles and identities people navigate in their lives. This collection of poems, written in English and combined with a Spanish translation from David Ruano, delves into various forms of love—self-love, familial love, romantic love, and the love for one's culture and heritage.

Olivarez's poetry is marked by its raw honesty and emotional depth. He navigates the contradictions of the American Dream with a keen eye, revealing how love and identity are often complicated by larger societal forces. In poems like "Ode to Tortillas," Olivarez humorously yet poignantly addresses the duality of being a Mexican writer, caught between the expectations of writing about migration and the reality of living it. This duality is a recurring theme, as Olivarez reflects on his own experiences and those of his community.

One of the standout aspects of PROMISES OF GOLD is its bilingual nature. The inclusion of Spanish translations not only broadens the accessibility of the poems but also emphasizes the cultural bridge that Olivarez builds through his work. This is particularly evident in poems like "On the Signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement," where the repetition of generational struggles is captured in both languages, underscoring the shared pain and resilience of the Mexican-American community.

Olivarez's exploration of cultural identity is deeply personal yet universally relatable. He writes about the distant relationships between Mexican fathers and their sons, the devout faith of Mexican mothers, and the impact of economic hardship on families. These themes resonate with readers from diverse backgrounds, offering a window into the Mexican-American experience while also highlighting the commonalities of human emotion and connection.

UnCovered Review by Frank Tomasello, ACLS Mays Landing Branch

It is indeed ironic that it took a British born and educated biographer to produce one of the most insightful books I have read concerning the beginning of the U.S. Civil War in the more than two decades I have been studying this war; LINCOLN VS. DAVIS by Nigel Hamilton. Most are familiar with the way the war was waged in the first year and a half, but few that I have seen delve into the “whys.” More specifically, how was the underdog Confederacy able to achieve so many victories against a better equipped and better financed Union army which fielded armies two to three times the size of those of the Confederacy? Author Hamilton went digging for the answer, which he found in the letters and diaries of various contemporaries, including Lincoln’s own cabinet members.

The situation that Lincoln faced upon assuming the Presidency was dire and perhaps the most challenging any U.S. President has ever faced. As becomes clear in this book, Lincoln was simply not up to the task. Worse yet, Lincoln knew he was in over his head (at least at the beginning of the war) and that affected his handling of it. He had virtually no military experience and scant political experience and attempted to govern by consensus. Unfortunately, those from whom he sought consensus had conflicting interests of their own.

In this dual biography, the same treatment is given the governance of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. In some ways, Davis was the polar opposite of Lincoln. Davis was a born soldier. He had been a hero in the Mexican War of the 1840s, and parlayed that into seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and to the position of Secretary of War in the administration of President Franklin Pierce. Unfortunately, Davis was more the soldier and less the politician.

UnCovered Review by Samantha Leroy, Mays Landing Branch

Richly atmospheric, darkly romantic, and wholly original, Kelly Andrew’s THE WHISPERING DARK is the type of story you force yourself to pace through even though you really want to devour it- because if you devour it, it’ll be over too soon.

Tired of her parents’ overprotectiveness and being pigeon-holed as fragile because she is deaf, Delaney Meyers-Petrov leaves home and is accepted into the prestigious Godbole School, an experimental university program that specializes in traversing through parallel worlds. Colton Price, a remarkably talented TA and member of the secret fraternity the Priory, has been ordered to stay away from Delaney, lest he interfere with her place in the Priory’s scheme for immortality. However, the more he is told to leave Delaney alone, the less he can. The two become intertwined by secrets, passions, and ghosts. Kelly Andrew is remarkably talented at writing romances that hurt you, just a little bit. The yearning between Colton and Delaney is palpable and intoxicating, their chemistry spellbinding. Romance aside, Andrew sets her scenes in beautiful detail, careful to craft a specific atmosphere of the world. Moreover, it serves as an interesting allegory for men’s ambitions coming at the price of women.

UnCovered Review by Tiffanie Haynes, ACLS Mays Landing Branch Manager

UnCovered Review by Collette Jones, Branch Manager, ACLS Egg Harbor City Branch

Helen Phillips' HUM is a gripping near-future dystopia that explores the complexities of technology, family, and the human condition. Set in a world overrun by intelligent robots called "hums," the novel delves into the consequences of unchecked technological advancement and its impact on society. The story follows May, a mother struggling to maintain a semblance of normality in a rapidly changing world. As AI encroaches on human jobs, May finds herself unemployed and desperate to provide for her family, which leads her to participate in a radical experiment that could alter her life forever. Phillips' writing is both lyrical and evocative, painting a vivid picture of a society teetering on the brink of collapse. The novel's themes of identity, surveillance, and the blurring lines between human and machine are explored with depth and nuance.

While HUM is a thought-provoking exploration of the dangers of technology, it also offers a glimmer of hope. The novel's characters are complex and relatable, making their struggles and triumphs all the more poignant. If you enjoy dystopian fiction that challenges your thinking and offers a compelling commentary on the human condition, HUM is highly recommended.

unCovered review by Elizabeth Sausto, ACLS Galloway Branch

Rebecca Yarros’ FOURTH WING was unlike any novel I had ever read before. Taking place in the kingdom of Navarre at the brutal Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail, a frail and bookish young woman, has always wanted to be a scribe like her late father. But Violet’s mother, a tough and callous general, is forcing her to train to become a dragon rider. Knowing that death awaits if she doesn’t keep her wits about her, Violet must not only be wary of ferocious dragons but of other cadets who will take their hatred for her mother out on her- like Xaden Riorson, whose father was executed for taking part in a rebellion years earlier. 

FOURTH WING was a very interesting read. Besides the violence, there were several explicit sequences that involved intense sexual situations. However, these scenes were not simply for shock value. If anything, they strengthened the plot. Whenever the story moved in a truly mature direction, I found that I hungered for the excitement and drama. 

I also liked how diverse the characters were. They were of different skin colors and sexual orientations. One of the supporting characters was deaf and several of her acquaintances knew sign language in order to communicate properly with her. These different character designs also bolstered the plot. Honestly, I hardly ever encountered such a varied cast in the plethora of books I had already read.