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Valentine’s Day Picks: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales and Dead Until Dark

12 Feb

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, here are two romantasies, one a classic and another brand new that I recommend checking out.

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales
by Heather Fawcett
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales is the third and supposedly final in Heather Fawcett’s series about a scholar studying fairies who becomes mixed up in their magic. The books are written as if fairies are a real scholarly subject and Emily is studying them as one would another culture; footnotes to various fairy stories are even included throughout to add to the seeming reality of the stories. However, fairies can be capricious and dangerous. In this novel Emily has the possibility of becoming the queen of a fairy realm if she marries its heir. She has some hesitation though that despite Wendell’s devotion that fairies have been known to tire of their mortal loves. The couple must also overcome a curse put upon the land by Wendell’s half fairy/half human step mother. Fawcett does a great job at creating a strange world that is both beautiful and yet spooky at the same time such as trees that have leaves with eyes and kind brownies with needles for fingers. Beauty can be monstrous and monsters can be kind in the story which also speaks to being aware of ones expectations and prejudices. You can also read my two previous reviews of Fawcett’s books. We are reading the first in the series for this month’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club, if you would like to join us on February 24 at 6 PM at the Main Branch.

Dead Until Dark
by Charlaine Harris
It had been awhile since I had read the first in the Sookie Stackhouse series or watched the HBO show True Blood that it was based upon so I enjoyed rereading it along with the Science Fiction and Fantasy book club last October. This series starts with vampires being revealed to be real after Japanese scientist find a blood alternative that they can survive on. Slowly over the course of the series other supernatural creatures including weretigers, shifters, and fairies also are revealed. We know from the beginning that Sookie is special with her ability to read human’s minds and her irresistible scent when it comes to vampires. Much like with the fairies, vampires are both alluring and yet highly dangerous to people. Sookie struggles in this story to decide if Bill’s charm and the sense of peace she gets from not constantly having his thoughts enter her mind is enough to overlook the more deadly side. Craving more?; you can also read the review of the last book in the series, Dead Ever After, that I had written when it came out as well as a review of the True Blood Cookbook.

Love is in the air! According to the National Retail Federation’s survey those celebrating Valentine’s Day are up from last year with over half those in the US celebrating. Need to get statistics? Access Statista.com while in the library to get statistics and graphs on a variety of topics.

Share your favorite Valentine’s Day Read in our Comments!

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Americana Explored: Man vs History and The Great American Recipe

29 Jan

Man vs. History
Man vs History was a show that originally debuted on the History channel that aired in 2021. Master storyteller and historian Bil Lepp looks at a variety of American historical legends from Houdini’s ability to get out of a straight jacket by supposedly dislocating his shoulder to Ben Franklin supposedly inventing the first swim fins. The episodes all have loose themes such as being centered on iconic stunts or folk tale legends. Lepp interviews experts and even recreates some of the events himself to determine how true the legends are. You can stream all eight episodes using only 4 of your monthly 60 Kanopy tickets. It is rated PG so may not be appropriate for some younger children, but older kids and teens may enjoy watching it along with their parents. I especially enjoyed hearing about some stories based locally such as the Hamilton/Burr duel that took place in nearby Weehawken.

The Great American Recipe
The Great American Recipe returned to PBS for season 3 last year. You can have 5 days to binge the 8 episodes for 5 of your Kanopy monthly tickets. This season Alejandra Ramos returns as host but Tiffany Derry is now joined by Francis Lam, host of public radio’s “The Splendid Table,” and Timothy Hollingsworth, an award winning chef, as judges. The show highlights the regional and ethnic diversity of the American culinary scene with this season’s contestants including those who have Italian, Mexican, Chinese and West African heritage. One contestant from Alaska discusses foraging for ingredients during one of the challenges. This is definitely a program for those who prefer their reality shows low stakes and friendly such as The Great British Baking Show. No one is voted off, though there are constructive critiques of some recipes that were less successful. The show ends with a top 3 and one winner declared, but unlike previous seasons there is no mention of a cookbook; never fear though if you want to create any of the dishes you can find the recipes online. The previous two seasons are also available to borrow from Kanopy and the show has been renewed for a fourth season on PBS.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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