BPL Blog
Posted by JGranatino on Thu, May 17
Francisco Cantu’s mother, a National Parks ranger, introduced him to the beauty and nature of the Southwest. The daughter of a Mexican immigrant, she talked about the family’s struggle to find their place as citizens of the United States. Francisco went off to college and majored in International Relations but instead of entering the State Department, he found work with the Border Patrol, covering the borderline from Texas to San Diego. His knowledge of local geography and fluency in Spanish...
Posted by JGranatino on Wed, May 02
In 2015 at the age of 16, Emily Trunko created a submission based blog, "The Last Message Received" on the social media network,Tumblr. Her request to her followers was to submit a last message received within an exchange whether it be from a friend, parent, ex-lover or whatever the circumstance may be. What she received spans the human emotions all the way from joy, sorrow, heartbreak, to love and hate. Trunko compiled the submissions into her book, The Last Message Received...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Apr 30
In interviews about her role on Star Trek: The Next Generation, actress Whoopi Goldberg has often said that the original Star Trek series gave her hope, because it featured a black woman as a strong role model. While Star Trek imagined a future world where humans have outgrown race discrimination, An Unkindness of Ghosts posits a less hopeful future, one in which humanity travels the universe in a starship run by an elite few who enforce race and class...
Posted by BHanley on Fri, Apr 27
Fifteen-year-old Will steps onto the elevator, gun in his waistband, and anger in his veins. His brother was recently gunned down by a gangster. Will is determined to uphold the Rules, essentially an honor code. Once on the elevator he pushes the button for the lobby. The doors close, then open on floor 7, only for Buck to step on. Only problem is: Buck is dead. Will panics internally and questions his sanity. Is Buck real? Is he a ghost? Why is the elevator taking forever to get down to the...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Apr 23
Kit, the head librarian of the local library of Riverton, New Hampshire tries to drown herself in her work and avoid thinking about her life. When a 15 year old girl named Sunny is assigned to do community service at the library as a result of stealing a dictionary, life for the both of them begins to change for the better. Sunny's upbeat and curious personality helps Kit open up, along with another library user named Rusty. All three of them have their own troubles but together they are able...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Apr 23
Set in 1970s Johannesburg, this is a story of the apartheid era in South Africa. The novel is told through the point of view of a white child going on ten years old named Robin and a black woman named Beauty. Due to the set circumstances they're living under they shouldn't have crossed paths, but the events of their lives have brought them together. Robin becomes an orphan after her parents are killed on a night out due to the Soweto Uprising and she is sent to live with her aunt Edith...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Apr 23
Joanna Langley has returned to her ancestral home upon hearing of her estranged father’s death. Langley Hall was sold and turned into a boarding school after her mother died while her father retained a position as Art Master. While going through his few belongings, she finds a letter to Sofia, who risked her life to save her father after he was shot down in Italy during WWII, with references to the “beautiful boy” they hid from the Germans. With her future uncertain and intrigued by the...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Apr 23
What happens when a young man is caught between what is usually described as the "two sides" in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, between love of country and love for life and humanity, between faith and friendship? In lyrical prose and first person narration Sadness is a White Bird is constructed through memories and something like a confessional letter. We follow Jonathan, a 19 year old newly trained American-Israeli soldier in the IDF struggling with his place in this...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Apr 23
“But stories are like people, Atticus. Loving them doesn’t make them perfect. You try to cherish their virtues and overlook their flaws. The flaws are still there, though.”
Fans of Rhode Island horror writer H.P. Lovecraft may come to this book expecting uncanny, tentacled encounters with Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, and other extraterrestrial monstrosities, but the real horrors here are all too terrestrial: the horrors of racism and discrimination. Members of a black family living in the Jim Crow era...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Apr 23
In the 1980s, in rural upstate New York, three young teens are bound together for life by a terrible secret. Matthew is the leader, an edgy, brilliant, but troubled boy with an abusive home life; Patrick is shyer and more conventional, a born follower; and Hannah is an innocent girl whose crush on a “bad boy” leads her into places darker than she could have imagined. The story begins with a disturbing act of violence, then flashes forward to 2008. Hannah is a crime reporter married to Patrick,...
