Sarah's Picks: The Catastrophic History of You and Me

Hi readers!

My name is Sarah, and I work in the Young Adult Department at the Charleston County Public Library. Some of my favorite things are: the first day in spring when it's warmer outside than inside, my dog, Chip, and (naturally) a good book.


The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg



I was hooked after reading the title. Then to learn that Jess Rothenberg is a local! I was primed to love this book, and it did not disappoint. Here's the premise:

Before her sixteenth birthday, Brie's heart is LITERALLY broken in half after her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her. She goes on a quest to make sense of what happened (with her guide, Lost Soul Patrick) and work through the five stages of grief in order to move on from her life--and death--on earth.

I liked this book's inventive conceit; it explores the idea of what happens after you die without being too preachy or serious. There's also an excellent dog character (one of my metrics for determining what is a good book) with an excellent name (Hamloaf). Another cool feature of the book is the integration of musical tidbits. I challenge you to try to identify which songs all of the titles come from (before looking in the back--no cheating)!

To sum it up, this book is light and delicious as a meringue cookie. A perfect blend of romance, supernatural, mystery, humor, and adventure, it is a great one to take to the beach and remember your first love--and first heartache.

Sarah's Picks: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Hi there!  My name is Sarah, and I work in the Young Adult department at the Charleston County Public Library. Some of my favorite things are: the first day in spring when it's warmer outside than inside, my dogs, Chip and Izzy, and (naturally) a good book.



The book for this round of my picks was pretty easy to, well, pick. Starting today, September 11, teens around the lowcountry are encouraged to try their hand (click here!) at identifying the places we left copies of Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. See a sneak peek here:

Also, I happen to love the book. And have a teensy-tiny (literary) crush on the author.

In the novel, a young Oskar Schell goes on a mission to find a lock. The lock must match the key that belonged to his father, who died in the 9/11 attacks. Interspersed with newspaper articles, photographs, business cards, and plenty of other tidbits, Oskar's quest will captivate you, break your heart, make you cry, make you laugh.  Foer brings his unique writing style to another (also read Everything is Illuminated!) unique narrator.

First sentence:  "What about a teakettle?"

Okay, so you can take this information and run with it--run all the way to any of our branches to check out the book, to our catalog of downloadable books to read an e-copy, to our scavenger hunt website, and/or to meet Mr. Foer (you can bet I'll be there!) on Tuesday, October 23rd at College of Charleston's TD Arena at 5pm.

Happy reading,

Sarah

Sarah's Picks: It's Time for Haiku Reviews!

Hey readers! My name is Sarah, and I work in the Young Adult department at the Charleston County Public Library. Some of my favorite things are: the first day in spring when it's warmer outside than inside, my dogs, Wallace and Izzy, and (naturally) a good book.

This month, I thought I’d do a quick-and-dirty series of reviews. Inspired in part by the book There is No Long Distance Now: Very Short Stories by poet Naomi Shihab Nye (on my reading list), National Poetry Month, and the popularity of novels in verse, I am going to limit myself to the 17 syllables of haiku…Oh, and don't forget to click on any of the titles to reserve a copy of the book through our online catalog!

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

This book with pictures

Tells a deeply sad story--

Keep tissues handy.