April/May Book Breakdowns

Fiction 

 Title: A Marvellous Light 

Author: Freya Marske 

Summary/Themes: 

Official Summary: "Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He’s struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known.

Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it—not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else.

Robin’s predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they’ve been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles—and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep."

Notable Quotes/Moments: 

“I am nothing like you, and yet I feel more myself with you.”

“On the contrary, stories are why anyone does anything.”

“It didn't take long to become so accustomed to something that you could describe the exact shape of its absence.”

Genre/sub-genre: Fiction, LGBTQ Fiction, Historical Fiction 

Available Formats: Physical book at the DFL, e-book on Libby 

Personal Thoughts: 

Everything about this book was gorgeous. The writing was lyrical and romantic, descriptive and ornate. I would say the main plot of the book was the romance, but I also felt that the magical elements were just as important. The author does a fantastic job with world-building; she's created a world of magicians in turn-of-the-century London that's fun and fascinating. I'm glad this book will continue into a series because I'm looking forward to reading more by this author. 

Recommended Resources/Read-Alike Books: 

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley 

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke 

Witchmark by C.L. Polk 

Slipper Creatures by KJ Charles 

Non-Fiction 

Title: Call Us What We Carry

Author: Amanda Gorman 

Summary/Themes: 

Official Summary: "Formerly titled The Hill We Climb and Other Poems, the luminous poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman captures a shipwrecked moment in time and transforms it into a lyric of hope and healing. In Call Us What We Carry, Gorman explores history, language, identity, and erasure through an imaginative and intimate collage. Harnessing the collective grief of a global pandemic, this beautifully designed volume features poems in many inventive styles and structures and shines a light on a moment of reckoning. Call Us What We Carry reveals that Gorman has become our messenger from the past, our voice for the future."

Notable Quotes/Moments: 

"This book is a letter.

This book does not let up.

This book is awake. 

This book is a wake. 

For what is a record but a reckoning?

The capsule captured? 

A repository, 

An ark articulated? 

& the poet, the preserver

Of ghosts & gains, 

Our demons & dreams, 

Our haunts & hopes. 

Here's to the preservation 

Of a light so terrible."

"Call us fish-meal. 

We are no prophet. 

We are no profit. 

Our whole year swallowed, 

As if by a massive maw. 

What else could stomach

Our hearts, huge with hurt, 

Everyone & everything hell

-shocked, as a sea bat-

ing its breath, its time. 

As if to hold its whole self." 

Genre/sub-genre: Poetry 

Available Formats: Physical book at the DFL, Large Print (Hot Summer Reads), Libby e-book, Libby audiobook 

Personal Thoughts: 

Like many people, I first heard of Amanda Gorman when she read at President Joe Biden's Inauguration. I was really looking forward to reading a collection her work, and was glad to have the opportunity with Call Us What We Carry. Two of my favorite poems were "Ship's Manifest" and "Essex 1," both of which invoked whaling and sea imagery. These two poems reminded me of Moby Dick and the local whaling tradition in this area of Massachusetts. 

Recommended Resources/Read-Alike Books: 

Playlist for the Apocalypse by Rita Dove 

Dream of the Divided Field by Yanyi