Sculpting Stories: The Grim History of Fairy Tales with The Scholarly Banana.

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Fairy tales are a staple of childhood-damsels in distress, magic, and happy endings, right? Wrong. Grimm’s tales were the things of nightmares and author and artist Karly West is here to tell the REAL stories. If you are a fan of dark history, dark humor, and the macabre in general, pay attention, this post is for you!

The Scholarly Banana (check out those glasses) is your tour guide on a journey into the real, gruesome, and down right bonkers origin of both well known and lesser known Grimm’s fairy tales. Fitcher’s Bird was one of the latter for me. It involves a kidnapping/murderous wizard, village girls whose curiosity leads to their downfall, and a girl dipped in honey and covered in feathers who saves the day. Seriously. The Juniper Tree stars an insanely evil stepmother who turns her murdered stepson into a lawn ornament AND a human stew. Seriously. Dark. Stuff. And yet, the claymation figures are adorable! Everything about these tales are delightfully macabre and charming and the storytelling with commentary is snarky and droll.

In conclusion, “THINK FAIRY TALES MEETS CLIFFS NOTES MEETS ADULT SWIM CLAYMATION…MEETS A BANANA!” ~Karly West

Want to learn MORE? You know you do! Karly West will be joining us in person to talk more about the dark history of fairytales while we make our own grim characters. Join us on Saturday, March 26, 10:00am-12:00pm for Sculpting Stories: The Grim History of Fairy Tales with Karly West. This program is part of our new Intergenerational series for teens and their favorite adult! Registration is required, polymer clay will be provided, and participants will be entered into a raffle to win copies of Karly’s books.

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

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There are tons of new releases that come to our shelves every week. With all the books being unique in their own ways, it is hard to choose between the ones that are suitable for your taste. Here are some books we picked out for you!

The Match by Harlan Coben – From the creator of the #1 hit Netflix series Stay Close comes a gripping new thriller in which Wilde follows a tip that may finally reveal the truth behind his abandonment—only to end up in the sights of a ruthless killer.

The Summer Getaway by Susan Mallery – One woman takes the vacation of a lifetime in this poignant and heartwarming story about the threads that hold a family together from #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery.

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James – A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel.

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson – If you’re on the list, someone wants you dead. From the New York Times bestselling author of Eight Perfect Murders comes the heart-pounding story of nine strangers who receive a cryptic list with their names on it—and then begin to die in highly unusual circumstances.

Citizen K-9 by David Rosenfelt – In Citizen K-9, bestselling author David Rosenfelt masterfully blends mystery with dogs and humor to create an investigative team that readers will be rooting for book after book.

Give Unto Others by Donna Leon – As a favor Brunetti investigates the accountant son-in-law of his mother’s friend after he alarmed the family by suggesting they might be in danger because of his line of work in the latest novel of the series following Transient Desires.

Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi – When an old acquaintance desperately needs her help, Jamie Gray is transported to an alternate dimension where she must save large creatures called Kaiju from others who have found their way to the world—and who threaten humankind back on Earth with their carelessness.

Under the Golden Sun by Jenny Ashcroft – During World War I, Rose Hamilton escorts a young orphaned boy to Australia, where his cattle station home isn’t anything like either of them were told to expect, and is unable to part with this boy she has come to love—or his wounded fighter pilot uncle.

~Semanur

A Book That Rocks

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The Unsinkable Greta James
by Jennifer E. Smith

36-year-old Greta James is a successful indie rock star whose world is turned upside-down when her mother unexpectedly dies. Grief causes Greta to meltdown on stage in a disastrous performance that goes viral and prompts Greta to impulsively to break up with her current boyfriend. All Greta wants to do is hide from the world but unfortunately, her brother has talked her into going on an Alaskan cruise with their father Conrad.

Greta gets on the ship, knowing the trip will be a disaster and worried that her career might be over. The cruise, meant to be a celebration for her parent’s 40th year anniversary, will be the first time Greta and Conrad are together without her mother there as a buffer. Greta isn’t sure she can have a meaningful conversation with her dad who has always disapproved of her career choice, but now that they are trapped together for a week on the ocean, she might just have to try.

This novel about grief, family, and growing up is moving story with sympathetic characters, a bit of romance, and atmospheric depictions of Alaska. You won’t regret getting on board with The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith. Just be sure to pack a tissue or two.

-Carol

Cozy up with a good book

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Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love
by Kim Fay

Two women separated by many miles and many years become close friends thanks to the United States Postal Service. 27-year-old Joan Bergstrom from Los Angeles is a huge fan of 59-year-old Imogen Fortier’s column in Northwest Home & Life magazine. Joan sends a recipe and a packet of saffron to Imogen. With that, their regular correspondence and friendship begins. The novel contains letters sent to each other between 1962 and 1965. Their 32-year-age difference does not matter to either of them. They become each other’s confidant and cheerleader.

This is a quick gentle read on friendship that doesn’t hesitate to touch on joy, sadness, love, and death.

~Emma

Infinite Goodness: Pi Day

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Lemon, peach, apple, 3.14159, oh my! Pi Day, which falls on Monday, March 14, is fast approaching! Pi day is an annual holiday devoted to celebrating the infinite mathematical constant π, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter that starts off as 3.14. This Pi Day, indulge with a slice (or two, or three!) of your favorite pie and some of the books below.

How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics by Eugenia Cheng: What is math? How exactly does it work? And what do three siblings trying to share a cake have to do with it? Using insights from the kitchen, professor Eugenia Cheng provides an accessible introduction to the logic and beauty of mathematics.

Pie Academy: Mastering the Perfect Crust and 255 Amazing Fillings by Ken Haedrich: Here’s the only pie cookbook you’ll ever need. Novice and experienced bakers will discover the secrets to baking a pie from scratch with step-by-step photos and recipes, advice about tools and ingredients, tips for gorgeous fluted and lattice pie tops, and more.

The Book on Pie: Everything You Need to Know to Bake Perfect Pies by Erin Jeanne McDowell: Start with the basics, including ways to mix pie dough for extra flaky crusts, storage and freezing, and tips for decorating, before diving into dozens of recipes for all different kinds of pies: fruit, custard, cream, chiffon, cold set, savory, and mini.

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker: Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near misses, and mathematical mishaps involving the Internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, an Olympic team, and even the Roman Empire, stand-up comedian Matt Parker uncovers the ways math trips us up and how essential math is in everyday life.

One Poison Pie by Lynn Cahoon: What’s a kitchen witch to do when her almost-financé leaves her suddenly single and unemployed? For Mia Malone, the answer’s simple: move to her grandmother’s quirky Idaho hometown, where magic is an open secret and witches and warlocks are (mostly) welcome. But when her first catering job takes a distasteful turn, Mia must find out which of the town’s eccentric residents has an appetite for murder before her fresh start comes to a sticky end.

The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman: When her efforts to pursue a professional culinary life away from her family’s northern Michigan orchard end in disappointment, Sam spends a summer working for the family pie shop and begins to understand the women in her life, her family’s history, and her passion for food as she prepares beloved ancestral recipes.

The Curse of the Cherry Pie by Amy Patricia Meade: When Tish Tarragon’s friend pulls out of the prestigious Virginia Commonwealth Bake-Off, an anxious Tish reluctantly takes her place. As the bake-off gets underway, Tish learns that her signature bake, a frangipane cherry pie, has played a deadly role in the previous two competitions. Is the curse of the cherry pie about to strike again?

Pieometry: Modern Tart Art and Pie Design for the Eye and the Palate by Lauren Ko: Whether you want to impress at the holidays or just spruce up a family meal, Pieometry is your guide to transforming a traditional dessert into a modern masterpiece. The pie-making genius behind the popular Instagram account @lokokitchen reveals how to build 50 sweet and savory pies from crust to top. Look for butternut bacon macaroni and cheese pie, lavender blackberry cream pie, honey ricotta tart, grilled cinnamon pineapple pie, and more.

Pie all the Time: Elevated Sweet and Savory Recipes for Every Occasion by Taylor Harbin: Whether you’re craving comfort food, an exciting new flavor, a quick treat, or a celebratory indulgence, the answer is always pie. Taylor Harbin, the creator behind the blog “All Purpose Flour Child,” offers familiar classics, inventive flavors, and easy methods for flawless pies every time.

Sweet as Pie by Alicia Hunter Pace: The path to true love isn’t quite as easy as pie, but it sure is sweet in the end. Jake Champagne is looking forward to a new team, new town, and clean slate in Laurel Springs. After a disastrous year, the hockey hotshot is leaving his past behind – even betting his best friend that he can stay away from women. But he’s happy to reconnect with a piece of home when he visits childhood friend and now successful baker Evie. Between slices of Mississippi mud pie and chicken potpie, Jake starts to remember what a fool he was to let Evie get away.

True Crime Book Review: Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen

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It was 1911 and wealthy spinster sisters (in their 30s!), Dora and Claire Williamson had arrived on holiday in the United States from Britain. The sisters were free-spirited heiresses with delicate constitutions. They fretted over their health and frequently sought cures for their ailments. In fact, they had been in correspondence with Dr. Linda Burfield Hazzard and were excited to undergo her revolutionary fasting treatment. The sisters were disappointed that her sanatorium in the forest in Olalla, Washington was not ready for patients, but the doctor insisted they not delay their treatment. So the anxious and excited sisters rented an apartment in Seattle near Dr. Hazzard’s office and began following the prescribed regimen. The sisters were finally able to move to the new facility, but by then it was too late. Linda Hazzard had control over the Williamson’s finances as well as their minds and bodies. They were separated from each other, subjected to painful and unnecessary procedures, and they were starving. In a moment of weakness, her faith in the treatment waivered, and she reached out to their former nanny and beloved friend in Australia. Of course she dropped everything and immediately booked passage to Washington, unsure if she would arrive in time.

Deadly doctors are not a new phenomenon. Linda Hazzard was not the first medical professional to exploit her patients for her own personal gain and Dora and Claire Williamson were not her first victims. Dora and Claire were independent, intelligent women in their 30s, who if they lived today, would no doubt enjoy all of our juice bars and fad diets.

If you liked the podcast Dr. Death or The Opportunist, you will probably enjoy Starvation Heights. If you want to discuss the case with us, feel free to join us in person next week for Riverinos! We will be in the Community Room at 7pm.

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

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In this week’s special picks there are new exciting detective, mystery, suspense, and many more genres for you to choose from! Enjoy!

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler – Describes the multiple scandals, family triumphs and disasters that took their toll on the ten children of celebrated Shakespearean actor, Junius Booth as the North and the South reached a boiling point and the Civil War broke out.

The Darkest Place by Phillip Margolin – After a pro bono case upends her life, defense attorney Robin Lockwood retreats home to Elk Grove where she defends a surrogate accused of kidnapping the baby she carried for another couple – a case that may result in unexpected, deadly consequences.

Hideout by Louisa Luna – Alice Vega and Max Caplan re-open the cold case of a cult-hero football player who disappeared from a game in 1984 after they uncover a possible connection to white supremacists, in the third novel of the series following The Janes.

High Stakes by Daniella Steel – Five women work together at a boutique literary and talent agency while the challenges of their individual lives causes chaos both inside and outside the office in a new novel by one of the world’s best-selling authors.

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen – A maverick therapist who lost her license due to controversial methods, Avery agrees to help golden couple Marissa and Mathew Bishop overcome Marisa’s cheating, setting all three of them on a collision course because the biggest – and most dangerous – secrets have not yet been revealed.

The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer – Mortician “Zig” Zigarowski, while working on the body of a successful military man, discovers something he was never meant to see, and, to get the answers he needs, sets out to find military artist Nola Brown – a search that reveals one of the U.S. government’s most intensely guarded secrets.

Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson & Dolly Parton – On the rise and on the run, a young singer-songwriter arrives in Nashville to claim her destiny, but it’s also where the darkness she’s fled might find her – and destroy her.

Shadows Reel by C. J. Box – Game warden Joe Pickett, while dealing with the brutal murder of a fishing guide, must help his wife solve a mystery involving a photo album that belonged to an infamous Nazi officer, placing them in the crosshairs of a killer.

The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton – Arriving at St. Dunstan’s Academy in Maine, shy, sensitive Laura Stearns falls under the spell of charismatic, neurotic overachiever Virginia, who gives her purpose until the new school chaplain challenges Virginia, forcing Laura to decide how far she will let her devotion to Virginia go.

Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth by Elizabeth Williamson – Drawing on hours of interviews and exclusive sources and access, a New York Times journalist documents Sandy Hook and its aftermath, where a conspiracy theorists have forced the victims and survivors to defend that an event even occurred.

~Semanur

Heat Things Up with a Romance

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The Roughest Draft
by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

When Katrina “Kat” Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen met six years ago at a writers’ workshop in upstate New York, their writing styles and personalities just clicked, and the two quickly became the closest of friends and the co-authors of a well-received first novel. By the time their second book goes to print and is on its way to become a hugely successful best-seller, however, something has fractured their partnership and the two aren’t even on speaking terms.

Four years later, Kat and Nathan are still under contract to co-write a final book for their publisher who won’t take no for an answer. Kat very reluctantly agrees to write with Nathan once more, but only to please her agent/fiancé Sam. Nathan agrees, because he secretly thinks he can’t write without Kat.

The two reunite in the same house in the same Florida town they wrote their last book, the one that propelled them to fame, broke up their friendship and quite possibly destroyed Nathan’s marriage. Sequestered on Key Largo, long-buried sparks fly and closing the cover on their book and their relationship may not be as easy as it sounds.

Will they or won’t they? Did they or didn’t they? Told in the present time and through flashbacks, The Roughest Draft by co-authors and real-life couple Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka is a steamy, slow-burn of a romance that will definitely heat up your reading list.

-Carol

Cozy up with a good book

EmmaLeave a comment

James Acton, a pilot with the Royal Air Force during WWII, is also an ordained Anglican priest. Following the war and his release from a POW camp, James and Yvetee Haddad marry. His first parish was in rural England. When Yvette suffers a miscarriage with their first child, James shuts down emotionally. He leaves Yvette to find support and comfort from a stranger who experienced a miscarriage many years earlier. Unknown to James, the women became close friends.

Fast forward 20+ years and James, now a widower, is at another rural parish not far from his original assignment. (Yvette died of leukemia in 1964.) When James first enters his new church he finds a silk scarf left on a pew. The scarf becomes an important hint for James. There have been too many secrets. Even Tom, James college-aged son, did not realize that he had a sister.

The book offers a dual timeline. Commentary by Yvette is interspersed based on the notebooks she left behind. Yvette’s journals are filled with her thoughts and feelings following the miscarriage and the ways James changed after that.

If you are a fan of gentle reads and historical fiction, this is the book for you.

~Emma