Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

Director of The Children’s and Young Adult Library DeAnn Campbell recommends We are Definitely Human by X. Fang.

Here in the Children’s Library, we’ve read this book to all sorts of children and teens, who all understand its message and its charm.

When three creatures arrive in Mr. Li’s field, they claim that they are “definitely human.” Taking them at their word, Mr. Li, being a kind human, takes them home and offers to help them fix their. . . car. (Their car looks suspiciously like a spaceship, but no matter).

When Mrs. Li awakens, she finds three strange visitors in her home. The claim to be “definitely human.” They tell her about themselves: “they make business,” “they play sportsball,” and “they wear hat.” And so, they all set off to town to find parts to fix their. . . car.

When the “definitely humans” encounter the townspeople, how will the townspeople react to and treat these three different-looking humans?

We Are Definitely Human is a charming picture book about . . . well, maybe it’s mostly about the best part of what makes us human.

Find it in our collection here.

Director of Gold Mine Stores Raeghen Peavey recommends Dracula by Bram Stoker.

This classic is the most important novel in gothic literature, and probably one of the best novels of all time. Originally published in 1897, Dracula has endured in the literary canon ever since. This novel has spawned numerous movies and other novels and expanded on the mythology of vampire lore.

The plot is nothing short of entertaining. Jonathan Harker, an attorney from London, has been asked to go to Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase property in England.  Written in a series of letters and journal entries, the novel creates a documentary feel to the story.

Once in Dracula’s castle, Harker realizes that Dracula is not an average everyday count. He has supernatural abilities and a thirst for blood.

Harker barely manages to escape the Count’s grasp with his life. The story shifts back to London where Dracula has arrived. There he is causing havoc in Victorian London and two young women, Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker, fall under Dracula’s spell. Lucy is raised as a vampire and is ultimately destroyed by her family. Jonathan is determined to save his fiancée, Mina, and end Dracula’s reign. He follows Dracula back to Transylvania, confronts and destroys him.

The novel reflects the times in which it was written. In 19^th century England, the idea of globalization and immigration were just beginning. The fear that other cultures would undermine the established traditions causes great concern. The novel also illustrates the concern over new science and old religion.

Times and industries were changing fast, leaving many Victorians feeling groundless. Other themes in the novel concern gender roles. England is a patriarchal society, and any thoughts of feminism were seen as a challenge to hierarchical rule.

Stoker keeps his female characters within the boundaries of society; but their wit, intelligence, and other active roles in the story opens a challenge to old gender norms.

Overall, Dracula is an excellent read and I can emphatically say the novel is far better than any Dracula/vampire movie. I would certainly recommend this read.

Find it in our collection in print, ebook, and eaudiobook, here.

Gold Mine Processing Manager Kelly Noble recommends The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst.

When it comes to exceptional writing skills, Alan Hollinghurst is among the best. In his 1988 novel, The Swimming Pool Library, Hollinghurst authors an exquisite story that capture gay life in pre-AIDs London.

It is a novel of privilege, wealth, homosexuality, history, and social class.

The novel centers on the life of a young William Beckworth. Young, wealthy and gay, William’s life is all about what privilege allows. He moves from sexual exploit to sexual exploit without blinking an eye. The novel is set before the AIDs crisis and captures a time when free love was all that some people wanted.

As the story moves forward, William saves the life of an elderly aristocrat, Lord Charles Nantwich. Nantwich offers William the opportunity to write his memoirs. William starts by reading old dairies and comes to find that Lord Nantwich is also gay but lived through a different time. At one point, Lord Nantwich was imprisoned for the crime of homosexuality.

This is true history and a plug to the brave journey many young men faced growing up in a homophobic world.

In the end, William declines to write the memoir. He learns through his research of his own family’s participation in these criminal prosecutions. Most of the crimes were brought to trial by William’s grandfather. This is an exceptional novel that approaches a controversial topic with sensitivity and depth. As with many LGBTQ+ novels, the ending is not one of happiness. The novel ends with William letting go of his boyfriend and moving on with his life. It always seems difficult to find a happy conclusion in this genre. Such as life!

Overall, Alan Hollinghurst is an exceptional writer. The quality of the writing cannot be understated. If I had to site an example of what a British novel should read like, The Swimming Pool Library, would be it. Hollinghurst captures not only British dialogue but something deeper. There is something quintessential British about this novel.

Request this title through interlibrary loan here.

Director of Library Operations Pam Parker recommends The God of the Woods by Liz Moore.

In the 1970s, summer was synonymous with camp for some of us. My fondest memories of summer camp are full of firsts, like sleeping away from home on iron cots and learning traditional campfire songs from teen counselors. Yet, when the flames faded to coals, the bedside stories between campers often turned to dark tales that kept us awake late into the night! Could there be a more perfect setting for a summer who-done-it?

The God of the Woods (2024), by Liz Moore, is set in upstate New York during the summer of 1975 at Camp Emerson. Moore crafts several engaging storylines across generations of the Van Laar family, who live on the property and founded the camp. Their majestic home on the property is coined “Self Reliance,” having been built by their immigrant grandfather. He also founded a summer camp for the children of his wealthy friends. While the campers experience all the normal trappings, there is a survivalist bent to the camp that reminds us that the woods are not always a safe place for the unprepared.

In an early plot twist, Barbara, a Van Laar granddaughter, goes missing from her cabin overnight.

Other campers and counselors are left trying to explain her disappearance, and state police investigators soon arrive on the scene to ask questions. Rumors start to fly when it is revealed that a local serial killer has recently escaped from prison. The engaging story follows the search for the missing girl, who has seemingly disappeared without trace.

Her parents, Peter Van Laar III and his fragile wife Alice, live a privileged life of lawn games and boozy gatherings in their mansion. Through flashbacks to the early 1960s, we realize that the Van Laar marriage has its struggles from the start, and there is a sense that the family is trapped in this reclusive world. The cast of characters – and potential suspects – also includes a rough-at-the-edges camp director, TJ, and her elderly father who has worked for the Van Laar for many years. Louise, the camp counselor who was out partying the night Barbara goes missing, struggles to explain the girl’s disappearance. We also meet the state’s first female police investigator, Judy Luptak, who is not afraid to ask probing questions as she arrives on the scene.

This mix of well-drawn characters sets this 2024 novel apart from more run-of-the-mill thrillers.

Author Liz Moore has received significant literary accolades for the work, which remains in high demand at the Library. Her fourth novel, Long Bright River (2020), has recently been adapted into a TV crime series, and the screen rights to this 2024 novel have been purchased.

You might need to place a hold for this popular book – there’s been a waitlist since it was released last year. You might also consider signing up for The Community Library Book Club to attend the June 4th event where I’ll be hosting an informal discussion of the novel. In any case, I highly recommend this page-turner for your summer reading – but do keep your flashlights nearby while reading this well-crafted psychological thriller.

Find it in our collection in print, ebook, and eaudiobook here.

Communications Manager Kyla Merwin recommends the short story, “Leaf by Niggle,” in Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tomorrow, March 25, those of a certain Fellowship celebrate a seminal event: The downfall of Sauron, lord of Mordor, the One Ring, the Orc and the Uruk-hai, and all things evil. In the modern vernacular, we call March 25 Tolkien Reading Day.

So, let’s take a journey together—an inescapable journey between desire and responsibility, hope and despair …

… far away from Middle-earth, orcs and elves, wizards and hobbits. Specifically, to a tree in a very different place inside the grand landscape of a little man named Niggle.

Niggle is an artist. His current passion project is a tree—with ever expanding branches and twigs and leaves, painted in exquisite detail. He sacrifices all of his other creative endeavors in favor of this tree, sometimes attaching abandoned works to the fringes and margins of the landscape in which this tree grows.

Niggle has a good heart, a talent for painting and for procrastination, and a sincerely needful neighbor. Negotiating a life that consistently pulls him away from his painting, Niggle neglects to prepare for a great, imminent journey—a journey, we may infer, that we must all take.

Scholars suggest that Niggle is a reflection of the author himself, and that “Leaf by Niggle” is allegorical to the journey of death, purgatory, redemption, and – shall we say? – the Undying Lands.

Interestingly, Niggle’s quiet struggles mirror Frodo’s epic quest in The Lord of the Rings. Where Frodo carries the crushing burden of the One Ring to Mount Doom, Niggle carries the quieter burdens of duty and compassion, repeatedly sacrificing his own desires to care for others.

Both journeys demand personal sacrifice. Both reveal that true heroism is often found in loyalty, not glory.

But where Frodo walks through the dramatic wastelands of Mordor, Niggle traverses profound, interior landscapes of the soul. Tolkien layers meaning into every one of the story’s brief twenty-seven pages, weaving together art, mortality, and hope.

What remains is a sweet and powerful reminder: small acts of kindness, persistence, and creativity matter in this life. And perhaps, the unfinished works we leave behind—our dreams, our art, our regrets—might, in some better world, find completion. Or, as Tolkien might have put it, find their place in the Undying Lands.

Find Tales from the Perilous Realm in our collection here.

Note: This review was revised with AI assistance.