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The year is 1921 in this fictional tale of two teenagers growing up and falling in love in historic Greenwood, or Black Wall Street, in Tulsa Oklahoma days before the horrific race massacre. Isaiah is secretly an intelligent poet and deep thinker, but he hides his true self behind the persona of a mischievous troublemaker. Angel tells the other half of the story and contrasts Isaiah with her kind hearted, helpful nature, but she too is a more complicated character who reads Booker T. Washington and WEB DeBois and dances with inspiration. Historic Greenwood, Ok is a prosperous black community that is seemingly sheltered from the Jim Crow violence of the time and has excellent schools, hospitals and a thriving business district. In the story that unfolds the week before the race massacre, Isaiah and Angel are hired by a teacher to bike around historic Greenwood, passing out books and reading to children. They fall into an unlikely friendship and genuine interest in each other. The story reads like a sweet summer love tale, a safe and inspiring story that every teenager deserves.
Lingering in the shadows of their tender story is the knowledge of the violence that is to come. A white mob from the other side of town, emerges on the town in the middle of the night and begins to burn houses to the ground. Isaiah and Angel are faced with difficult choices, the testing of their ideals and of their young love. Angel of Greenwood both reminds us of the horrific racial violence of the past (one that was covered up for almost a century) as well as draws us into longing for the culmination of the dream of what Greenwood was–a safe and loving community where two teenagers can find themselves and fall in love. This book offers both a reminder of the past and to hope for a better future for all of us.
Fall into this timeless book and get caught up in the word of Orphan Island. It’s a place governed by rules and magic and nature. Idyllic. Until one of the nine kids decides to break the rules…
Snyder treats world-building very differently than most fantasy authors. She does not share the background of the magic, nor does she sketch a complete world. She is interested in her wonderfully real characters and what they will do next.
This is NOT a book for folks who need all the loose ends tied up nor is it a book to pick up if you are feeling fragile or lost. You need your wits about you to read this book and definitely a friend to talk to, preferably one who’s also just read this book! Because so much is left open at the end, you will desperately want to talk to someone about this book. So, hurry up and read it so I can talk to YOU!
I would be surprised if Orphan Island wasn’t mentioned as a contender for the Newbery.
Sabrina is about to turn sixteen and in order to become a full-blown sorceress, she finds herself having to make a huge decision: Choose her magical destiny or her non-magical boyfriend Harvey? And on top of that, an enemy, that Sabrina doesn’t even know she has, arrives in town with a deadly agenda. This is Sabrina the Teenage Witch like you’ve never seen her before! Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack have created a comic that looks like it came out of Rosemary’s Baby or the Omen. Gory, intense, and fun.
Kristy Woodson Harvey has been called “the next major voice in Southern fiction” by NY Times bestselling author Erin Hilderbrand, and on Tuesday, May 9 you can find out why when Harvey visits EPL to share her novel Slightly South of Simple. The first book in her new Peachtree Bluff Series, Slightly South of Simple explores the powerful bonds between sisters, mothers, and daughters while offering a heaping helping of “Southern charm, emotional drama, and heart.” Make sure to register to guarantee your seat at this special author event, and in the meantime, don’t miss this video in which Harvey talks about her strong new character Ansley Murphy and Ansley’s daughters Caroline, Sloane, and Emerson. See you Tuesday!
Our latest Book Trailer of the Week is for Amor Towles’ stylish new novel A Gentleman in Moscow. Already a NY Times bestseller, the novel follows Count Alexander Rostov after a 1922 Bolshevik tribunal orders him to spend the rest of his life inside the luxury Metropol hotel for being an unrepentant aristocrat. Described by theSkimm as crossing The Grand Budapest Hotel and Eloise with all the Bond villains, A Gentleman in Moscow is Rules of Civility-author Towles at his best. Don’t miss it.
The longlist for the 2015 National Book Award nominees was released today and though there were a lot of familiar faces to be found (Clegg, Pearlman, Hanagihara) we were happy to see some surprises as well. Who could have predicted the appearance of Karen E. Bender’s Refund? Or the inclusion of Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson? Haven’t read them? Well here’s your chance. Reserve your own copies by clicking on the links and covers below: Continue reading “National Book Award 2015 Nominees: Fiction”→
Author Steven Erikson visits EPL on Saturday, Sept. 29th at 4 pm.
EPL is bringing fantasy to life. Fantasy fiction, that is. In case you haven’t heard, NY Times Bestselling novelist Steven Erikson is coming to the library, and we couldn’t be more excited. Author of the critically acclaimed “Malazan Book of the Fallen” fantasy series, Erikson will visit the Community Meeting Room of EPL’s Main Branch on Saturday, September 29th at 4 p.m. to read from Forge of Darkness – the first book in his new Kharkanas trilogy. As we eagerly await this very special event, we thought we’d share a pair of pleasant diversions to help pass the time until Mr. Erikson’s arrival. First off, check out this excellent intro to Forge of Darkness written for new fantasy readers by the author himself. Then, as a final literary appetizer, don’t miss this fascinating Tor interview in which Mr. Erikson discusses escapist lit, the merits of fantasy fiction, and his growth as a writer. Enjoy, and see you on the 29th!
A creative book project in elementary school was the impetus to the thriving, successful career of Romance novelist Caridad Piñeiro. Writing her first romance novel in the fifth grade about stranded high school students on a tropical island finding solace in each other, she is now the author of over 20 published books. The New York City Chapter of Romance Writers of America honored Caridad with the Golden Apple Author of the Year Award. In a recent interview with Reader’s Services’ Elvira Carrizal-Dukes, Caridad Piñeiro shared her love of writing.
The Chicago Tribune ran an interesting article entitled The Evolution of the Thriller about the resurgence of the thriller as a popular genre in the post 9/11 world. According to Brad Thor, the author of the bestseller Full Black, the time period after the Cold War through the 1990s was a stagnant period for the thriller genre. 9/11 gave readers and writers a common, well-defined enemy back. Gone are the spy novels and simmering tension of superpowers of the mid-twentieth century replaced instead by detailed novels about military hardware and modern spycraft. According to author David Morrell, thrillers are the most popular form of reading in the past 10 years. Other books mentioned in the article include Rules of Betrayal by Christopher Reich and Die Twice by Andrew Grant. The article also pays homage to some classic gems of the genre including The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carre, The Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry, and Absolute Power by David Baldacci.
Kristy Woodson Harvey has been called “the next major voice in Southern fiction” by NY Times bestselling author Erin Hilderbrand, and on Tuesday, May 9 you can find out why when Harvey visits EPL to share her novel 
