Title: Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Author: Steve Martin
Genre: Autobiography, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Did you know that Steve Martin performed stand-up comedy before he was in such films as The Jerk, Parenthood, and Father of the Bride? This autobiography of his stand-up years will share the path that Steve took to stardom that include stops at Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, The Smother's Brothers Comedy Hour, and later, Saturday Night Live. Between these big names, he played a lot of small venues, worked on honing his craft, and endeavored to be an original voice on stage.
Included are some of his jokes, but really this is more about his journey, so if you're hoping for a comedy album, look for "Let's Get Small" or "Wild and Crazy Guy." This recount is more serious including topics such as difficulties connecting with his father, the loneliness of a life on the road, and the pressure to be "on" all the time.
- Sarah R.
Check out Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life @ the library!
Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
I have been rereading some of my favorite stories, and allowing myself to escape back into some of my favorite worlds for pockets of time. It's comforting, which is especially nice in winter. This series is filled with angels and demons, vampires and werewolves, warlocks and fairies, but at its heart, it is about the love between family, the strength found in friendship, and the miracles created by putting aside differences and working together. The first story introduces Clary to a world of darkness and monsters that she didn't know existed, and leaves her to face the fact that she might just belong there more than she has ever truly belonged in the typical New York City world that she has grown up within. “What would you do if you saw something nobody else could see?”
- Katrina
Check out City of Bones @ the library!
Title: What Rose Forgot
Author: Nevada Barr
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Imagine waking up and not knowing where you're at or why you're in a hospital gown.
That's what happens to Rose after she's had a bout of the flu. She's been committed to a ward for dementia patients in an upscale nursing home. As her lucidity reinstates itself, she figures she'll have to make a break for it to figure out how she landed there.
What follows is part mystery, part action/adventure, and part comedy of errors involving Rose, her granddaughter, Rose's sister, and a string of hired drivers. Will Rose get to the bottom of her own mystery? What else will she discover along the way?
I have always enjoyed Nevada Barr's writing - in particular her Anna Pigeon mysteries - so it is no surprise that I enjoyed this book as well. Nevada does "spunky" women leads well.
- Sarah R.
Check out What Rose Forgot @ the library!
Title: We Met in December
Author: Rosie Curtis
Genre: Fiction, Romance
If you're looking for a light, winter read, this book is the one for you. Jess moves into a house in London with four practical strangers. On the first night, she has a connection with Alex, one of her new roommates. Alex recently left his fiancee because she did not support him leaving his nice job as a lawyer in order to study to become a nurse. Jess and Alex connect over walks around the city and coffee at their favorite coffee place...but just as friends.
Told in alternating perspectives, this book will make you root for Jess and Alex to fall in love and get on with their lives together.
- Megan
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Title: No Judgments
Author: Meg Cabot
Genre: Romance
Bree Beckham fled to Little Bridge Island to avoid her lousy ex-boyfriend and her bossy mom. She's made a life for herself as a waitress at the Mermaid Cafe and is completely devoted to her cat, Gary, the only male in her life that isn't giving her trouble.
- Sarah R.
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Title: A Corner of White
Author: Jaclyn Moriarty
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
The tentative connection, based only on the written letters of two teenagers, between our world and the new world of Cello is intriguing. Because these teens continue to write and share the details of their lives, both begin to gain knowledge of the other world and insight into their own. Although, as the first in a trilogy, this book spends a lot of time on world building, the big reveals at the end have me eager to read more!
- Katrina
Check out A Corner of White @ the library!
Title: Things You Save in a Fire
Author: Katherine Center
Genre: Romance
This book has been nominated as a 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist for best romance.
Cassie Hanwell is a heck of a fire fighter/paramedic. Her singular focus on being good at her job has helped her cope with past trauma, but when she's presented a valor award in Austin, TX by a ghost from her past, she loses it. The other shoe drops when she's pressured by her dad to move to the Boston area to help her estranged mom. Cassie feels like the life she has so carefully built has gone up in smoke.
The old-school fire fighters in the Massachusettes town where she lands aren't exactly rolling out the red carpet (\kapet\), but they're desperate so they sign on Cassie and another rookie at the same time. One look at newbie Owen and all kinds of alarming alarms go off. As the two are pranked by their new crew and thrown together for training, will Cassie be able to keep the contact professional or will passions ignite?
One thing I really like about this story is how Cassie's character is really good at her job - she isn't adorably bumbling or waiting to be rescued. She's authoritative, strong, and determined.
- Sarah R.
Check out Things You Save in a Fire @ the library!
