Have you read Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes? Originally published in 1959 in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, this work of fiction went on to win both Nebula and Hugo awards. Read on to hear what Millie has to say about this classic work. Also, Max recommends a new pandemic-inspired graphic novel and Camden suggests a favorite book in the popular Discworld series written by Briton Terry Pratchett.

 

Millie recommends . . .

Cover ArtFlowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

“How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes—how such people think nothing of abusing a man with low intelligence.”

Daniel Keyes’ banned novel is about a mentally disabled adult who underwent an experimental surgery to ‘correct’ his disability. The most successful of the test operations was on Algernon, a white mouse that Charlie Gordon forms a connection with. Gordon gains extraordinary intelligence as time goes on. Though this intellect increases, it is apparent that his emotional and social growth is less than ideal. Charlie struggles with the memories of his past, and what they mean for his current relationships to those around him. As he learns more about who he was, and who he is now, he struggles to find a complete identity. Gordon grapples with institutional politics, the limitations of learning, and what it means to be human.  With his new found abilities, Gordon begins to help the researchers of his own experiment, finding the fatal flaw that will be his, and Algernon’s, demise.  
Find Flowers for Algernon in the library catalog Here
Also available for digital checkout:
Montana Library2Go/Libby eBook and audiobook
Hoopla eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here

 
 
 
Camden recommends . . .

Cover ArtGoing Postal by Terry Pratchett

What happens when a con man is forced to take on a major corporation in a magic city just starting to embrace industrialization?  A war of words, trickery, and base cunning elevated to the truly majestic!  While Going Postal is a book firmly set in the Discworld canon, it's a fine jumping on point for anyone who adores watching the little guy take on the giant and possible finding redemption at the end of his story

Find Going Postal in the library catalog Here
Also available for digital checkout:
Montana Library2Go/Libby  audiobook
Hoopla eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here

 
 

 

Max recommends . . .

Cover ArtDog Biscuits by Alex Graham

This graphic novel employs storytelling, psychosocial theories, and expressionist surrealism to explore the complex, interrelated lives of several Seattleites who find themselves embroiled in the conflict, uncertainty, and perpetual anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic. Graham captures humanity in captivating vacillations between the intellectual, the explicit, and the humorous and mundane.
Find Dog Biscuits in the library catalog Here

 
 
We hope you are finding new and interesting titles to read and that you enjoy reading about some of our favorite books. Stop by the library and check out our Staff Picks display on the second floor.  Also, do you have a book recommendation?  Tell us about it and stay tuned for our new "Reader Picks" section -- books recommended by you, our cherished library patrons.
See you at the library!