Staff Picks: June 2021
As per usual, I’m almost a month behind in our Staff Picks. So you are going to get a double whammy with two staff picks posts within the next week.
ELIZABETH: Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh
GENRE: Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: I’m a huge fan of the dystopian genre so chose this book because it has been likened to Orwell’s “1984” and Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Testaments”. At eight hours long on Libby, it was a very good listen and if you like end-of-the-world stories, this might be a story you enjoy.
THE SYNOPSIS: Calla knows how the lottery works. Everyone does. On the day of your first bleed, you report to the station to learn what kind of woman you will be. A white ticket grants you marriage and children. A blue ticket grants you a career and freedom. You are relieved of the terrible burden of choice. And once you've taken your ticket, there is no going back. But what if the life you're given is the wrong one?
When Calla, a blue ticket woman, begins to question her fate, she must go on the run. But her survival will be dependent on the very qualities the lottery has taught her to question in herself and on the other women the system has pitted against her. Pregnant and desperate, Calla must contend with whether or not the lottery knows her better than she knows herself and what that might mean for her child.
AVAILABILITY: The Libby app (audiobook)
CLICK TO RESERVE “Blue Ticket” by Sophie Mackintosh ON THE LIBBY APP
GABBIE: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
GENRE: Coming-of-Age, Classic Literature
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: I chose this book because it is a book that I recently read. It was a beautiful story about a boy named Pip and the expectations he faces as he grows up. I was surprised by how easily I was sucked into the story and the few but great plot twists kept me entranced. The characters are great, and you will find yourself attached to them quickly. Great Expectations was a great read and I would, without a doubt, read it again.
THE SYNOPSIS: An orphan destined for a life of misery and poverty, Pip does not have much in the way of expectations. Only when he begins to visit a rich old woman, Miss Havisham, does he begin to hope for better. When Pip discovers that he has inherited a large sum of money on the condition that he move to London to live the life of a gentleman, Pip takes his chance to leave behind the world he knows and embark upon a new adventure.
AVAILABILITY: Library and the Libby app (eBook and audiobook)
CLICK BELOW TO RESERVE “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens:
FROM THE LIBRARY
FROM THE LIBBY APP (eBook)
FROM THE LIBBY APP (audiobook)
RACHEL: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
GENRE: Science Fiction, Dystopian Fiction
WHY THEY CHOSE IT: I’ve always been a fan of Margaret Atwood ever since I came across one of her poems in high school, but this is the first time I’ve actually read one of her novels. Due to it’s disjointed narrative, Oryx and Crake is a little difficult to grasp at first, but Snowman’s clear—even if not exactly likeable—voice pulls you in and keeps you searching for answers in this strange, unfamiliar world that Atwood has created.
THE SYNOPSIS: Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.
AVAILABILITY: The Library and the Libby app (audiobook and eBook)
CLICK BELOW TO RESERVE “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood:
FROM THE LIBRARY
FROM THE LIBBY APP (eBook)
FROM THE LIBBY APP (audiobook)
LISA G.: Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga
GENRE: Biography
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: A timely book to read about seven residential school victims in Thunder Bay, ON who lost their lives over the course of 11 years to various circumstances while hundreds of kilometres away from homes and families.
THE SYNOPSIS: In 1966, twelve-year-old Chanie Wenjack froze to death on the railway tracks after running away from residential school. An inquest was called and four recommendations were made to prevent another tragedy. None of those recommendations were applied.
More than a quarter of a century later, from 2000 to 2011, seven Indigenous high school students died in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The seven were hundreds of miles away from their families, forced to leave home and live in a foreign and unwelcoming city. Five were found dead in the rivers surrounding Lake Superior, below a sacred Indigenous site. Jordan Wabasse, a gentle boy and star hockey player, disappeared into the minus twenty degrees Celsius night. The body of celebrated artist Norval Morrisseau’s grandson, Kyle, was pulled from a river, as was Curran Strang’s. Robyn Harper died in her boarding-house hallway and Paul Panacheese inexplicably collapsed on his kitchen floor. Reggie Bushie’s death finally prompted an inquest, seven years after the discovery of Jethro Anderson, the first boy whose body was found in the water.
AVAILABILITY: Library and the Libby app (eBook and audiobook)
CLICK BELOW TO RESERVE “Seven Fallen Feathers” by Tanya Talaga:
FROM THE LIBRARY
FROM THE LIBBY APP (eBook)
FROM THE LIBBY APP (audiobook)
LISA S.: The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean
GENRE: Thriller, Mystery
WHY SHE CHOSE IT: It caught my attention on Instagram, and most of my reader friends raved about it. This one caught me from the beginning (I read all 256 pages in one sitting) and it kept my attention through the very last page. Reminiscent of Room by Emma Donoghue, this one’s a great psychological thriller for reading on a rainy summer afternoon.
THE SYNOPSIS: On an isolated farm in the United Kingdom, a woman is trapped by the monster who kidnapped her seven years ago. When she discovers she is pregnant, she resolves to protect her child no matter the cost, and starts to meticulously plan her escape. But when another woman is brought into the fold on the farm, her plans go awry. Can she save herself, her child, and this innocent woman at the same time? Or is she doomed to spend the remainder of her life captive on this farm?
AVAILABILITY: Library
CLICK TO RESERVE “The Last Thing to Burn” by Will Dean FROM THE LIBRARY
See anything you’d like to read? Let us know in the comments below.
