Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

Title: Things You Save in a Fire
Author: Katherine Center
Publication: St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, 2019
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Present-day Massachusetts

Description: Cassie Hanwell is a firefighter who has fought for and earned the respect of her peers. Yet she has never forgotten the worst day of her life: her 16th birthday when her mother, Diana, walked out on the family.

The Innocents from Indiana, a memoir by Emily Kimbrough

Title: The Innocents from Indiana
Author: Emily Kimbrough
Illustrator: Alice Harvey
Publication: Harper & Brothers, hardcover, 1950
Genre: Memoir
Setting: Pre-WWI Chicago

Description: When Emily was 11 and her brother 4, their family moved from Muncie, Indiana to Chicago.

Enemy Brothers by Constance Savery - an unusual and appealing WWII story

Title: Enemy Brothers: A Story of World War II
Author: Constance Savery
Publication: Bethlehem Books, paperback, 2001 (originally published in 1943)
Genre: Juvenile Historical Fiction
Setting: World War II Britain

Description: When Flying Officer Dym Ingleford uses part of his leave for a flying visit to his brother in the Navy, he has a premonition that he is needed there – and he is right.

WWW Wednesday – June 23, 2021

WWW Wednesday is run by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently listening to The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult (2020). I have been reading her books since the early 90s when I was given a copy of Picture Perfect at work.

Never Jam Today by Carole Bolton - Votes for Women!

Title: Never Jam Today
Author: Carole Bolton
Publication: Atheneum, hardcover, 1971
Genre: YA Historical Fiction
Setting: 1917 New York and Washington, DC

Description: At 17, Maddy Franklin has had a privileged upbringing in New York City, with a lawyer father and a mother who never questions the man of the house. But as the country prepares for war, Maddie reads in the newspaper that suffragists are picketing the White House for the right to vote.

$5 per bag

I stopped at my childhood library the other night to pick up a reserve, and as I was leaving I saw a room full of discarded books and a sign that said “$1/per book, $5/per bag.”  Reader, I had to poke my head in, although I only had a few minutes to spare. 

The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert

Title: The Only Black Girls in Town
Author: Brandy Colbert
Cover Art: Jenny Kimura
Publication: Little, Brown & Company, paperback, 2021 (originally published in 2020)
Genre: Middle-grade fiction
Setting: Southern California

Description: Seventh-grader Alberta has been the only black girl in her grade and town, so she is delighted to have new black neighbors when Edie, also 12, and her mother buy the B&B across the street.

Band of Sisters: The Women of Smith College Go to War by Lauren Willig

Title: Band of Sisters: The Women of Smith College Go to War
Author: Lauren Willig
Publication: William Morrow, hardcover, 2021
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: World War I France

Description: Based on actual events, this is a novel about a group of Smith College alumnae who traveled to France during the First World War to assist small French villages that had suffered from German destruction.

The Illustrated Dust Jacket, 1920-1970 by Martin Salisbury

Title: The Illustrated Dust Jacket, 1920-1970
Author: Martin Salisbury
Publication: Thames & Hudson, hardcover, 2017
Genre: Nonfiction/Books about Books/Art

Description: This book describes the history of the dust jacket, beginning in the 1920s, as an illustrated art form that is decorative and promotional, rather than merely providing protection.

While Justice Sleeps - a thriller by multi-talented Stacey Abrams

Title: While Justice Sleeps
Author: Stacey Abrams
Publication: Doubleday, hardcover, 2021
Genre: Suspense
Setting: Present-day Washington, DC

Description: Unpredictable and irascible Justice Howard Wynn is the swing vote on the United States Supreme Court and the President is determined to replace him with someone who will support his right-wing agenda.

A Lion in the Way by Elizabeth Cadell - a glimpse of the last days of the Raj

Title: A Lion in the Way
Author: Elizabeth Cadell
Publication: William Morrow, hardcover, 1982
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 1913-1929, India and England

Description: Annerley Brooke (whose name is really Rosalind Anna Lee, after her deceased mother) has been brought up frugally in India with her maternal grandmother, and father, who coaches the sons of affluent Indian families before they are sent to away boarding school.

Six Degrees of Separation - from The Bass Rock to The Rose Garden

It’s June and time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld, winner of Australia’s Stella Prize. This is a historical novel set in 18th-century Scotland about darkness, violence, and madness. Which is right up my alley – sometimes, so I have it on reserve at the library.  Due to a New York Times book review, it is getting more attention than I expected, and what a cool cover!

The Apple Stone, a fantasy by Nicholas Stuart Gray

Title: The Apple Stone
Author: Nicholas Stuart Gray
Illustrator: Charles Keeping
Publication: Meredith Press, hardcover, 1969 (originally published 1965)
Genre: Juvenile fantasy
Setting: Great Britain, 20th century

Description: It was an odd-looking apple – dull yellow and crinkled all over with age – but it had a nice smell. And, as they soon learned, that’s not all it had.

Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout - the launch of Nero Wolfe's adventures

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Title: Fer-de-Lance
Author: Rex Stout
Publication: Bantam paperback, 1992 (originally published in 1934)
Genre: Mystery series
Setting: Mid-20th century New York

Description: This is the first book in the Nero Wolfe series, about an omniscient and somewhat reclusive detective who operates from a brownstone on West 35th Street in New York.