Book Recommendations

We’re All Adults Here

Book Recommendations & Other Musings

by Carol Tuttle

Our buildings are open!

To help return to some library normalcy, I have ideas for new books to read. One was just published, and the other two are being published in March. They are all available in the catalog for holds, so get your place in line because they are going to be popular. Use the CLEVNET app or online catalog to place your holds or give your library a call and we’ll place the holds for you. Our buildings are open, and we would love to hear from you!

Send for Me   by Lauren Fox (Historical Fiction, February 2021) Annelise is a lovable girl who works at her family bakery and grows up as conditions deteriorate for the Jewish members of the community. What begins as a story about a Jewish family enduring the increasingly dangerous life in their beloved German town, becomes a story about the generational impact of the treatment of Jews during the Nazi regime. Arriving in the USA as refugees, Annelise and her husband and child face the challenges of assimilation. Each day finds them living a divided life, in the new world of their Midwest community and in the old world of their family and life left behind in Germany. This novel, based on letters in possession of the author’s family, portrays how the struggles and trauma can continue to impact the lives of surviving family members. This is what I look for in a novel: characters I care about and writing that creates a vision of their world.

Foregone   by Russell Banks (Literary Fiction, March 2021) This book astonished me as I read it. Written in a stream of consciousness style, we move in and out of reality along with the main character. The life of documentary filmmaker shifts from myth to truth as it is examined. The novel challenges the reader’s perception of ethics and morality with regards to another person’s freedom to speak even in the face of privacy issues for others. Who controls the narrative of our own lives? Who decides what legacy we leave behind? While the writing style may not please every reader, it is deeply reflective and the kind of book that stays with you.

Eternal   by Lisa Scottoline (Historical Fiction, March 2021) This epic novel is a departure for popular author Lisa Scottoline. Set in Italy during the Mussolini regime and subsequent Nazi involvement, it is a solid dose of important history told through the lives and loves of characters who are personally affected by the politics. The impact of decisions and the efforts of individuals to change the course of their country and their lives are vividly portrayed. Characters we can love and understand make this novel real and very readable. Based on extensive research by Scottoline, it is a cautionary tale of the slippery slope of citizens granting authoritarian power to a leader.

Carol Tuttle is the Collections and Digital Services Manager for the Willoughby-Eastlake Library System. She  is currently reading Raft of Stars by Andrew J. Graff.

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