Taking a Look at Popular Picks for Reads, From a Local Librarian to the Mysterious Book Club
By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief
With school back in session, it might be time to take a fresh look at your to be read list and consider adding one of these popular picks from community members.
Laura Diamond, a local author who is involved with Friends of the Palisades Library, recommended a memoir, “Poser: My Life in 23 Yoga Poses,” written by Claire Dederer—a 2011 national bestseller.
“Dederer writes with candor, depth and a sharp, self-deprecating sense of humor about becoming a mother while working to maintain her career and marriage,” Diamond shared. “Her voice is genuine and introspective. On every page I find myself laughing or wanting to underline a passage and write ‘Yes! This!’ in the margins.”
When Dederer put her back out while breastfeeding, she was told by many different people to try yoga, according to a synopsis of the book. After she took her first class, she “fell madly in love.”
The book follows her 10-year journey with yoga, as well as what was happening with her outside of the studio, including “confronting the forces that shaped her generation.”
“If you missed it when it came out, it is evergreen, and especially relatable for those who have spent any time in downward dog,” Diamond said. “Or heck, for those who just wear yoga pants on the couch.”
When it comes to options for young adult readers, Palisades Branch Library Senior Librarian Mary Hopf shared that “Feed” is the book at Palisades Branch Library that has the most circulation for the last 12 years. She shared that this is most likely “due to its cheekiness, relevance, timeliness and voice” that appeals to teenage readers.
“I believe that the narrative voice really speaks to the YA audience,” Hopf continued. “It has [circulated] over 400 times in our library, which is kind of unheard of.”
Published in 2022, “Feed,” by Matthew Tobin Anderson, is a young adult dystopian novel that falls into the cyberpunk subgenre. The story focuses on issues like corporate power, consumerism, information technology, data mining and environmental decay.
“For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon—a chance to party during spring break,” according to a synopsis on Amazon. “But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days.”
Titus meets Violet in the story, who has decided to fight against the feed and the way it categorizes human thoughts and desires.
Other popular choices among the age group are manga and graphic novels, which Hopf said are “huge.”
“‘Naruto’ is still most likely No. 1 at our branch,” she continued.
The Japanese manga series was written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto, and tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who dreams of becoming the leader of his village.
She said that Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” and James Dashner’s “Maze Runner” series both remain “widely popular” but “they are the tip of the iceberg.” Both series, which also fall into the dystopian theme, have since been turned into popular movies as well.
“‘The Hate U Give’ is still huge,” Hopf shared of the book that was penned by Angie Thomas in 2017.
“Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends,” according to a synopsis on the author’s website. “The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed …
“What Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.”
For those looking for a discussion around what they read, the Mysterious Book Club will next meet at the library on Tuesday, September 20, at 1:30 p.m. to discuss “Birds of a Feather” by Jacqueline Winspear.
“It is the spring of 1930, and Maisie has been hired to find a runaway heiress,” the library wrote on its website. “But what seems a simple case at the outset soon becomes increasingly complicated when three of the heiress’s old friends are found dead. Is there a connection between the woman’s mysterious disappearance and the murders? Who would want to kill three seemingly respectable young women? As Maisie investigates, she discovers that the answers lie in the unforgettable agony of the Great War.”
The book is the second in the Maisie Dobbs series, which the book club started in August. The discussion is geared toward teenagers and adults.
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