Shakespeare is in the air! If you've been fortunate to partake of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks traveling show this summer, perhaps you know what I mean. Read on to hear about two recently recommended books by readers in the community. Each book is inspired by the works of the bard.
Kyla recommends . . .
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn't level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.
In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage--by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.
Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.
Find By Any Other Name in the library catalog Here
Also available for digital checkout:
Libby eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here
Mary E. recommends . . .
A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd
Once upon a time a young couple met and fell in love. You probably know that story, and how it ended (hint- badly). Only here's the thing- That's not how it ended at all.
Romeo and Juliet are alive and well and the parents of seven kids. I'm the oldest, with the emphasis on 'old'-a certified spinster at twenty, and happy to stay that way. It's not easy to keep your taste for romance with parents like mine. Picture it-constant monologues, passionate declarations, fighting, making up, making out . . . it's exhausting.
Each time they've presented me with a betrothal, I've set out to find the groom-to-be a more suitable bride. After all, someone sensible needs to stay home and manage this household. But their latest match, Duke Stephano, isn't so easy to palm off on anyone else. The debaucher has had three previous wives-all of whom met unfortunate ends. Conscience forbids me from consigning another woman to that fate. As it turns out, I don't have to . . .
At our betrothal ball-where, quite by accident, I meet a beautiful young man who makes me wonder if perhaps there is something to love at first sight-I stumble upon Duke Stephano with a dagger in his chest. But who killed him? His late wives' families, his relatives, his mistress, his servants-half of Verona had motive. And when everyone around the Duke begins dying, disappearing, or descending into madness, I know I must uncover the killer . . . before death lies on me like an untimely frost
Find A Daughter of Fair Verona in the library catalog Here
Read more about the author Here
Stop by the library and check out the downstairs Readers Picks/Staff Picks display and while you're there, tell us about a book YOU would like to recommend!
Rachel recommends . . .
The Stolen Life of Collette Marceau by Kristin Harmel
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau follows a modern-day jewel thief seeking justice for a decades-old crime that tore her family apart. The narrative alternates between 2018 Boston and Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II. A heartbreaking WWII epic, I was intrigued from the very first page of this heart-breaking WWII epic, and and could not put it down!
Find The Stolen Life of Collette Marceau in the library catalog
Also available for digital checkout:
Libby eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here
McKinzie recommends . . .
This dystopian science fiction novel is set in a future society divided into a rigid caste system based on color. The story follows Darrow, a low caste "Red" who toils underground believing he’s helping make Mars habitable. After a personal tragedy and a shocking revelation about the society's lies, Darrow infiltrates the elite "Gold" caste to bring down the oppressive system from within. The book combines elements of political intrigue, brutal competition, and rebellion, with a fast-paced, emotionally charged narrative.
Find Red Rising in the library catalog
Also available for digital checkout:
Libby eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here
Camden recommends . . .
Anything is better with dragons, but especially the Napoleonic Wars! When a British naval officer accidently bonds with a powerful dragon, he finds himself embroiled in the world of the British Aerial Core, where gun crews mount powerful dragons to fend off France’s own dragonic flyers. A thrilling war drama filled with brilliantly written characters, both human and dragon, sure to enthrall both fantasy and period piece fans alike!
Find His Majesty’s Dragon in the library catalog
Also available for digital checkout:
Libby eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here
Beth P. recommends . . .
A socially awkward mother of the bride, Gail Baines, faces a chaotic wedding weekend. On the day before her daughter Debbie's wedding, Gail quits her job and is surprised by the unannounced arrival of her ex-husband, Max, and the cat he is fostering.
The story unfolds over the course of the three days, prompting Gail to reflect on her life, her failed marriage, and her rigid nature. By the end of the wedding weekend, Gail gains a new perspective on her future.
Find Three Days in June in the library catalog
Also available for digital checkout:
Libby eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here
In Angie Kim's Happiness Falls, the father of a Korean-American family goes missing after a walk in the park with his nonverbal, autistic son, Eugene. The only witness is Eugene, who has Angelman syndrome and cannot speak, leaving the family with no immediate answers.
As the family investigates, narrator Mia (the 20-year-old daughter) must reconsider her assumptions about her father and brother. The plot unravels family secrets, including the discovery of her father's "Happiness Quotient" research and a secretive correspondence. The investigation is complicated by police suspicion falling on Eugene, who is unable to defend himself. This is an amazing mystery novel and I will read more from this author.
Find Happiness Falls in the library catalog
Also available for digital checkout:
Libby eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here
Kadie recommends . . .
Out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times--the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant.
It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington's eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on the boys' own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man's personal quest.
Find The Boys in the Boat in the library catalog
Also available for digital checkout:
Libby eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here
Nancy recommends . . .
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.
New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.
Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse--one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.
Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism
Find Horse in the library catalog
Also available for digital checkout:
Libby eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here
Kristy recommends . . .
For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.
Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible
Find Remarkably Bright Creatures in the library catalog
Also available for digital checkout:
Libby eBook and audiobook
Read more about the author Here
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