RFPL Reads

Visit this page each month to see what RFPL staff are reading! This page contains the same content as our RFPL Reads blog, which you can also find at www.rfplreads.wordpress.com

Pat’s August Recommendation - Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder “I’m going through Pulitzer Price winner Tracy Kidder’s new book, STRENGTH IN WHAT REMAINS.  A  young man arrives in New York with $200  in his pocket from Burundi in search of a new life.  In Burundi he suffered through a civil war, genocide and is plagued  by dreams [...]

Sue’s August Recommendation - A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan I just finished A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.  It is a novel of interrelated short stories about different people and in different voices spanning a period of more than 30 years (starting in the early 80′s and ending in the year 2020). [...]

Claudia’s August Recommendation - Little Heathens: hard times and high spirits on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish “The subtitle sums it up, but not as sweetly as this memoir of growing up in a family of seven on her grandparents’ Iowa farm.  This was a time of endless work and austere conditions with no [...]

Joanna’s August Recommendation - Priceless: how I went undercover to rescue the world’s stolen treasures by Robert K. Wittman “In this true crime memoir, founder of the FBI’s Art Crime Team,  Robert Wittman shares his experiences of working undercover to recover some of  the world’s most precious stolen art and artifacts.  Full of interesting facts and and unbelievable stories, [...]

Mary Ann’s August Recommendation - In a Cardboard Belt! : essays personal, literary and savage by Joseph Epstein Topical , witty, often humorous essays  from the erudite Epstein, former Northwestern University professor and American Scholar editor.  Many essays have a Chicago perspective.  Some are high-brow critiques of writers . Observing academia, movies, and aspects of American culture inspires Epstein to [...]

Claudia’s July Recommendation - True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. Kennedy “Senator Kennedy, the youngest sibling of John F. Kennedy, tells a very personal story about his family, his nearly fifty years at the center of national and world politics, and his health battles.  He wrote with warmth, wit and grace about the history of his family as [...]

Margaret’s July Recommendation - Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta “This is a really compelling teen fantasy read by one of my favorite authors who writes for teens.  This is Marchetta’s first fantasy title, and she does a fabulous job of creating complex characters and a fascinating world.   Many of the citizens of Lumatere fled their city when [...]

Hadley’s July Recommendation -  The Bad Seed by William March “Yes, this is the novel that inspired many campy stories of evil children (and Nick Cave’s band name)- but it is also the classic novel that was nominated for the National Book Award in 1955 and was adapted into a long running Broadway play and an Oscar-nominated film. If you’re looking for some chills [...]

Blaise’s July Recommendation - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot “This book tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, a woman who died of cancer in the 1950′s and had her cells taken for research and used by scientists across the world. Skloot blends memoir, science, history and ethics as she tells the story of her researching [...]

Megan’s July Recommendation - Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood by Carey Goldberg, Beth Jones and Pamela Ferdinand. “I picked up this book from our new book shelf at random and went on to devour it within a few days.  Three Wishes is a true [...]