Staff book reviews - Donna Monday 4/20

For National Library Week we will be posting staff book (and sometimes movie) reviews! Today's reviews come from Donna.

"Winter’s Tale” (Mark Helprin) This mammoth fantasy novel is one of my favorite books ever even though it’s in a genre that I don’t as a rule choose. It will immerse you in New York City at the turn of the 20th century . Perhaps it’s because Grand Central Station, a favorite place of mine, serves as a central character. A poor Irish mechanic attempts to rob a stately mansion thinking no one is home. Instead, he encounters the daughter of the house, and they (of course) fall in love. The rest is an intertwining of tales of rival gangs, a mysterious horse, endless winter and incredibly beautiful writing. If you want to lose yourself in a new world, try this one. It is available on hoopla as an audiobook or an ebook.

“Wait Until Next Year” (Doris Kearns Goodwin) Historian Goodwin’s memoir takes you back to her baseball obsessed youth, during a time when the Red Sox never win. Somehow the title seems particularly apt during a time when virtually all sporting events have adopted a “wait until next year” policy. Goodwin is a wonderful writer and I recommend any of her books, including “Bully Pulpit” about eddy Roosevelt or her books on Lyndon Johnson or Franklin Roosevelt. Several of these are available in e or audiobook format from hoopla.

“Borgen” (Sidse Babett Knudsen) A three season immersion into Danish politics (with subtitles) called “Denmark’s “West Wing” (but better). It is about a female politician’s rise to power as Prime Minister and how it changes her and her family. Addictive watching. Available on hoopla.