HONORING BOOK WORLD PASSINGS
HONORING BOOK WORLD PASSINGS February 2021 This month I’m deviating from my usual book review to honor two special people in the book world who passed away recently. One was a famous author known throughout the world. The other was a bookseller none of us here have...
BECOMING by Michelle Obama
BECOMING by Michelle Obama (2018) January 2021 Young Michelle Robinson had carefully planned her life: good education, career, home ownership, children. While she did achieve those goals, it was done in a way that she never could have imagined in her wildest...
THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS
THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS by Jodi Picoult (2020) December 2020 We finally made it to the last month of 2020, a year that has seemed like a decade with all its changes and upheavals. As we take time to reflect upon what we did and what remains to be done before 2020 ends,...
The Butterfly’s Daughter
THE BUTTERFLY’S DAUGHTER by Mary Alice Monroe (2011) November 2020 It’s November! That means our beloved monarch butterflies are returning to the Pismo Beach Butterfly Grove on their annual wintering pilgrimage. Thousands of visitors come to the Grove to enjoy their...
Little Fires Everywhere
LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng (2017) October 2020 I intended to read this very popular book long ago, but never could find a copy available when I was in the mood for it. Now, though, with monumental fires burning in the West and smoke everywhere…what could...
A Long Petal of the Sea
by Isabel Allende (2020) “A masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exiles, and belonging, A Long Petal of the Sea shows Isabel Allende at the height of her powers.” I cannot disagree with this assessment from the cover of this book. Isabel Allende has been a...
THE PASHA OF CUISINE
by Saygin Ersin (2016); English translation 2018 I suspect you’re as bored as I am with our current restrictions and news which never seems to improve. We need to ESCAPE, if only for a few hours, to another place and time. I can help you with that. We’re going to the...
Senior Book Break: July 2020
Our discussions this month concerned how fictionalized histories, often based on facts, help us to understand what life was like during often turbulent times. What was life like for the person living then, who perhaps was not a major player in the circumstances, but...
STAMPED: RACISM, ANTIRACISM, AND YOU
by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (2020) For the past several months, technology and various media forms have revealed much to Americans about racism and racist incidents. I think many Americans are bewildered by recent events because they haven’t had (or taken)...
Library Now Open for Limited Access
We are excited to report that after several weeks of “pick up” only operations, the State of California has decreed that we may open to the public with limited access. We will keep the same hours as the curbside service of Monday and Friday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m....