Staff Picks: February 2022
Here’s what our staff read (and loved) in February. See anything that piques your interest? What was your favourite read in February?
BRANDY’S PICK: Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
GENRE: Humour, Autobiography
WHY SHE PICKED IT: I love reading anything written by Jenny Lawson. As someone who deals with mental health issues like Lawson, I can relate to how she feels most of the time. The stories that she shares are hilarious and some are so crazy they almost seem unbelievable. This book will make you laugh so hard and that is exactly what we need in these strange, tough times.
THE SYNOPSIS: In Furiously Happy, a humor memoir tinged with just enough tragedy and pathos to make it worthwhile, Jenny Lawson examines her own experience with severe depression and a host of other conditions, and explains how it has led her to live life to the fullest:
"I've often thought that people with severe depression have developed such a well for experiencing extreme emotion that they might be able to experience extreme joy in a way that ‘normal people' also might never understand. And that's what Furiously Happy is all about."
Jenny’s readings are standing room only, with fans lining up to have Jenny sign their bottles of Xanax or Prozac as often as they are to have her sign their books. Furiously Happy appeals to Jenny's core fan base but also transcends it. There are so many people out there struggling with depression and mental illness, either themselves or someone in their family—and in Furiously Happy they will find a member of their tribe offering up an uplifting message (via a taxidermied roadkill raccoon). Let's Pretend This Never Happened ostensibly was about embracing your own weirdness, but deep down it was about family. Furiously Happy is about depression and mental illness, but deep down it's about joy—and who doesn't want a bit more of that?
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LISA G’s PICK: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
GENRE: Memoir
WHY SHE PICKED IT: His first autobiography about when he was coming up in the gritty kitchens of NYC as a nobody cook and learning the ropes. Even as someone who can barely turn on an oven, I enjoyed the fast-paced momentum of the book. I felt swept up in the pace of the life of a chef until I put down the book and was able to resume my life as a librarian again.
THE SYNOPSIS: After twenty-five years of 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine', chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain decided to tell all. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown; from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny.
CLICK BELOW TO BORROW “Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain:
LISA S’s PICK: The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf
GENRE: Thriller
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: I read this one cover to cover, I couldn’t put it down. It was fast-paced, and while I figured out the big twist ahead of time, it didn’t ruin the book for me. Part of the plot reminded me of “Room” by Emma Donoghue, but the rest stood on it’s own: a story that hooked me from page one and didn’t let go.
THE SYNOPSIS: She thought she was alone…
True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn’t mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she’s retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.
As the storm worsens, Wylie finds herself trapped inside the house, haunted by the secrets contained within its walls—haunted by secrets of her own. Then she discovers a small child in the snow just outside. After bringing the child inside for warmth and safety, she begins to search for answers. But soon it becomes clear that the farmhouse isn’t as isolated as she thought, and someone is willing to do anything to find them.
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TORI’S PICK: Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins
GENRE: Thriller
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: I picked this book because it was a fast, fun read. I'm normally not a huge fan of thrillers/mysteries, but this was one of those 'can not put down' books. The story just catches you and keeps going from start to finish. This was a bright and sunny story with an eerie vibe. If adventures, questionable friendships, secrets and murder are your thing, this is the book for you!
THE SYNOPSIS: When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.
Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.
But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.
When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.
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