Reader's Place: Oct. 22, 2020
In October, or Samhain, as it is known to pagans, the veil between the dead and the living is particularly thin. This week we’re exploring titles with a slightly ghoulish ring to them.
Death is hard work, by Khaled Khalifa (Library Catalog)
Three ordinary people face down the stuff of nightmares armed with little more than simple determination. Abdel Latif, an old man from the Aleppo region, dies peacefully in a hospital bed in Damascus. His final wish, conveyed to his youngest son, Bolbol, is to be buried in the family plot in their ancestral village of Anabiya. His children’s decision to set aside their differences and honor their father's request quickly balloons from a minor commitment into an epic and life-threatening quest.
Mostly dead things, by Kristen N. Arnett (Library Catalog)
One morning, Jessa-Lynn Morton walks into the family taxidermy shop to find that her father has committed suicide. Shocked and grieving, Jessa steps up to manage the failing business, while the rest of the Morton family crumbles. Her mother starts sneaking into the shop to make aggressively lewd art with the taxidermied animals. Her brother Milo withdraws, and Brynn, Milo’s wife—and the only person Jessa’s ever been in love with—walks out without a word. For the first time, Jessa has no choice but to learn who these people truly are, and ultimately how she fits alongside them.
Afterlife: A novel, by Julia Alvarez (Library Catalog)
A literature professor tries to rediscover who she is after the sudden death of her husband, even as a series of family and political jolts force her to ask what we owe those in crisis in our families, biological or otherwise"
Final judgment: A Samantha Brinkman legal thriller, by Marcia Clark (Library Catalog)
When it comes to relationships and self-preservation, defense attorney Samantha Brinkman has always been cut and run. But it’s different with her new lover, Niko, an ambitious and globally famous entrepreneur. Sam is putting her faith in him. She has to. He’s also her new client--a suspect in the murder of an investor whose shady dealings turned Niko’s good life upside down.
Drive your plow over the bones of the dead, by Olga Tokarczuk (Library Catalog)
Retired teacher Janina lives a begrudgingly contented life in a remote Polish village, studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and caring for the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. She allows only those she tolerates into her inner circle. As neighbors start to turn up dead, she inserts herself into the marginally competent investigations.
Compiled by Ina Rimpau