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Staff Picks: Exploring Afrofuturism
by lucroe
Afrofuturism is a wide-ranging social, political and artistic movement that imagines a world where African-descended peoples and cultures (largely ignored in mainstream depictions of a utopian future) play a central role in the creation of that world. Afrofuturism’s influence is represented in every art form from the literature of Octavia Butler and Samuel Delaney to the music of Sun Ra and Janelle Monae to Black Panther and its costume designer Ruth E Carter. The list goes on….
Afrofuturism : the World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture by Ytasha Womack | Request Now
A primer for understanding Afrofuturism and those that play a role in it. Whether one is interested in knowing the artists or further understanding the movement from its beginnings, this informative and entertaining work is, as DJ Spooky puts it a “…quantum romp through the Afro-Multiverse…”
Blog Post
Staff Picks: Skip the Hold Line and Check Out the Express Shelf!
by emjane
You may gulp when you see the length of the hold list for these amazing titles. They’re deservedly in high demand and are worth the long wait. But sometimes you just don’t feel like waiting for that hot new title! And if you’re lucky, you might be able to snag an Express Shelf copy.
What is the Express Shelf? We get extra copies of super popular books and rather than using them to fill holds, we put them back on the shelf as soon as they’re returned! They check out for two weeks and can’t be renewed, but with books this good, you’ll want to find the time to read them before the due date! It’s a bit of a lottery, but I recommend making a quick perusal of the Express Shelf a part of every library trip. You never know what great thing you might be lucky enough to find!
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Staff Picks: Black Comic Book Creators
by lucroe
In celebration of Black History month, we present a series of graphic novels featuring powerful stories by Black creators, exploring many aspects of race in ways both real and fantastic.
Bitter Root Vol 1 by Check Brown, Sanford Greene, Rico Rizzi & Clayton Cowless | Request Now
Set in Harlem renaissance New York, it tells the tale of the Sangereye family that use roots and potions to fight supernatural forces that threaten the world in a blend of horror and historical fiction.
Blog Post
Staff Picks: Spotlight on Ukraine
by eapearce
The ongoing war in Ukraine has many people interested in learning more about the country and in reading titles by Ukrainian authors. AADL is growing our collection of these titles! We’re also growing our collection of books in Ukrainian for both kids and adults. Browse AADL’s World Languages collection to see newly added titles in Ukrainian. In March, you can also view our Spotlight on Ukraine display in the Downtown Library lobby. For English speakers interested in Ukraine, here are a few titles to start with!
Budmo!: Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen, by Anna Voloshyna | Request Now
In this new cookbook, you can celebrate the rich culture of Ukrainian cuisine with traditional recipes with a modern twist. Anna Voloshyna is a young Ukrainian chef who moved to the Bay Area in 2011 from Kyiv. There, she began hosting Eastern European pop-up dinners featuring recipes from her homeland, and from these, Budmo! was born. Voloshyna’s mouth-watering recipes include her grandmother’s roasted duck, reinvented borscht with sorrels and soft eggs, and roasted beet pkhali, a minced vegetable dish topped with pomegranate molasses. “Budmo!” means “cheers!” in Ukrainian and you’ll want to host your own dinner party featuring recipes from this gorgeous book after you flip through the pages!
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Staff Picks: Celebrating Black Chefs
by emjane
A culinary road-trip to Oakland to eat at the Brown Sugar Kitchen, to New York to dine at Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster Harlem, and to the island of Edisto to knock on Emily Meggett’s side door and get some Gullah Geechee home cooking sounds amazing! If a cross-country trip isn’t in the cards for you, we’ve got great cookbooks to bring a bit of these chef’s kitchens into your own!
The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food by Marcus Samuelsson | Request Now
More than a collection of recipes, The Rise highlights the role food—Black food specifically—plays in social justice. Broken into collections of recipes created in honor of Black chefs, activists, and authors (among others), The Rise places biographies and thought-provoking histories alongside sharply photographed food and recipes all the more meaningful because of the context. From the simpler hoecakes to the more complex Ayib and Sweet Potato Ravioli with Berbere Brown Butter, The Rise could keep you cooking for days. I think I’ll start by making Leftover Wine Spiced Chocolate Cake with Mulled Wine Raspberries (doesn’t that sound decadent?!)
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Staff Picks: Romantic Movies
by lucroe
Valentine’s Day is around the corner so enjoy these romance movies, some with a crossover appeal into other genres like horror, action, and fantasy.
The Lovebirds directed by Michael Showalter | Request Now
Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani play a couple that at the start seem to click perfectly but eventually the magic fades. But this is not about them coming apart, it is ultimately about being in the wrong place, wrong time when they accidentally stumble into a murder scene. In order to clear their names, they must find the killer but not without a lot of action and comedic moments along the way. Through it all, will the couple’s relationship become stronger or will this drive them even further apart? Watch and find out. 86 min.
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Staff Picks: Great Family Read Alouds
by eapearce
Reading aloud is a great activity even for kids (and adults!) who already know how to read. But it can be challenging to find a good read aloud book for families with children of varying ages. It has to be exciting and interesting enough to keep the attention of older kids, but gentle enough for the younger ones. Here are a few of our recommendations for titles the whole family will enjoy listening to.
Sideways Stories from Wayside School, by Louis Sachar | Request Now
First published in 1978, this book is chock full of old-school humor that kids will love. Wayside School was built straight up from the ground, thirty stories high, with one classroom on each story. The book is written in short chapters with funny anecdotes from various classrooms in the school, making it perfect to read aloud in short snippets.
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Staff Picks: If You Liked This Year's Washtenaw Read, You Might Also Like...
by eapearce
The 2023 Washtenaw Read is Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid. Reid will give a talk, answer questions and do a book signing at the Downtown Library on Sunday, February 5 at 4pm. If you enjoyed Such a Fun Age, you might also enjoy some of these other titles!
That Kind of Mother, by Rumaan Alam | Request Now
First-time mother Rebecca is experiencing many of the common feelings of new mothers: she loves her son, but is also overwhelmed caring for him and mourns her life pre-child. Feeling desperate, she hires a Black woman named Priscilla to be her son’s nanny. As Priscilla becomes a large part of Rebecca’s life, Rebecca is forced to confront her long-held blind spots about her privilege, and ultimately begins to feel that Priscilla teaches her more about motherhood and herself than anyone else. When Priscilla tragically dies in childbirth, Rebecca steps up to adopt the baby, though she’s deeply unaware of what it means to be a white mother with a Black baby. Now, she must learn to raise two children whom she both loves fiercely, but who will have different experiences of the world simply because of their skin colors.
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Staff Picks: Books to Celebrate the Lunar New Year
by emjane
Also known as Chūnjié, Seollal, and Tết, the Lunar New Year celebrations begin Sunday, January 22 this year. Learn more about the traditions and mark the New Year in the books below!
Mindy Kim and the Lunar New Year Parade by Lyla Lee | Request Now
Elementary-schooler Mindy is mostly ready to learn more about her Korean heritage as Lunar New Year approaches – though she’s a little worried the parade her dad wants to take her to will be boring, and she knows that celebrating the new year without her mother will be different. In this short chapter book, learn about the traditions of Lunar New Year alongside Mindy and watch she and her dad make the most of the holiday!
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #822 - Resourceful Women
by muffy
The Bandit Queens * * by Parini Shroff (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is “a darkly hilarious take on gossip, caste, truth, village life, and the patriarchy….. A perfect match for fans of Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister, the Serial Killer (2018) and clever, subversive storytelling.“ (Booklist)
Ever since her abusive husband Ramesh disappeared five years ago, Geeta has become a social piranha in their small Indian village. She is feared and ostracized - for rumor has it that Geeta killed him. It turns out being a "self-made" widow has its perks…freedom. When a member of her microloan group (that funds her thriving wedding jewelry business) consults her for her “expertise” in husband disposal, it sets in motion a chain of events that will change everything, not just for Geeta, but for all the women in their village.
Inspired by the resourcefulness of Phoolan Devi, the Bandit Queen (the subject of a 1994 featured film), a folk heroine who exacted revenge on her abusers, Geeta reluctantly agrees to help Farah kill her husband. In the process, Geeta connects with widower Karem, a gentle and kind bootlegger, and her estranged childhood friend Saloni, fortuitous because bigger troubles come knocking at her door.
“Shroff deals sharply with misogyny and abuse, describing the misery inflicted as well as its consequences in unflinching detail, and is equally unsparing in her depictions of mean-girl culture in the village. Readers are in for a razor-stuffed treat.” (Publishers Weekly)
Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man, the first in the Girl Friday Mystery by Emily J. Edwards (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook). New York City, 1950. Viviana Valentine is girl Friday to Tommy Fortuna, a private eye working out of Hell’s Kitchen. When fabulously wealthy Tallmadge Blackstone hires Tommy to tail his 18 year-old daughter Tallulah, who is resistant to marry his partner, the much older Webber Harrington-Whitley, it looks like routine business, and it will pay the bills.
At a society event, Viviana meets the delightful Tallulah. Unfortunately, before she could report to Tommy the next day, she finds a lifeless body on the office floor and Tommy missing. The cops, led by Detective Jake Lawson who finds Tommy’s business tactics questionable at best, is quick to issue a warrant for his arrest. It is now up to Viviana to take on the Blackstone case, and to clear Tommy’s name.
“Though the mystery doesn’t seem to be up to much, Edwards sneaks in a raft of twists and complications under your guard, and the big reveal is surprisingly big and revealing. Just what 1950s men’s magazine fiction would be like if it were written by and about women.” (Kirkus Reviews)
The Socialite's Guide to Murder: A Pinnacle Hotel Mystery by S. K. Golden (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) a series debut perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen and Ashley Weaver.
1958. 21 year-old Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy, heiress to The Pinnacle Hotel, one of New York City’s premier hotels, is privileged, pampered and frankly, spoiled. Since finding her mother’s body in an alley when she was six, she suffers from agoraphobia, and rarely if ever, leaves the hotel. From her perch in the penthouse suite and the hotel staff at her disposal, life is grand, until a valuable painting in a splashy affair goes missing, and the artist murdered in the hotel corridor, following a violent confrontation with her best friend, actor Henry Fox. Before Evelyn could prove Henry’s innocence, the head of hotel security is arrested.
Enlisting the help of bellboy/her secret crush, Malcolm "Mac" Cooper, they pick locks, snoop around the hotel, and discover the walls around them contain more secrets than they previously knew. Now, Evelyn must force herself to leave the hotel to follow the clues to find the murderer. “Suggest to readers who enjoyed other hotel-set mysteries with young amateur sleuths, like Nita Prose's The Maid and Audrey Keown's Murder at Hotel 1911.” (Library Journal)
* * = 2 starred reviews