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Celebrate Disability Pride Month: The Space You Left Behind and Stronger

16 Jul

The Space You Left Behind
by Ona Gritz
Some of our Hoboken residents may remember Ona Gritz, who, back in the early 2000’s, was the YA Librarian here at the Hoboken Public Library and helped me run the library’s first Writers Group. Now Gritz is writing full time; The Space You Left Behind was one of two Young Adult novels she had published in 2024 along with Take a Sad Song. In The Space You Left Behind, Cara a sixteen year old who has cerebral palsy works to overcome her self-consciousness about her disability. She and her crush bond over a mystery podcast and then decide to to look into Cara’s own mystery about who her biological father is. Though the novel is fiction, Gritz is able to use her own experience with having cerebral palsy to give authenticity to Cara’s depiction and her outlook of the world. You can also checkout Gritz’s short autobiographical work, On the Whole which details her experience as a new mother with a physical disability, which I had previously blogged about.

Stronger
We screened Stronger as our Monthly Library Movie for Adults back in April , which is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Jeff Bauman who lost both his legs during the Boston Marathon bombing and was instrumental in helping get a description of the bomber so he could be found. At first Bauman struggles to adjust to his loss of limbs but with the support of his girlfriend, family, and friends, he learns to use prosthetics and works through his PTSD. The movie came out in 2017 and despite not having huge success on the big screen, I think it is one that should not be overlooked if you enjoy biographical films about real life perseverance. The film was directed by David Gordon Green and written by John Pollono, based on the memoir by Jeff Bauman and Bret Witter. Gyllenhaal, gives a stunning performance as the lead and Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson, Carlos Sanz, and Clancy Brown also are excellent in the supporting cast. Having lived in Boston for two years, I felt they gave an authentic look at the resilient blue collar community that resides there.

For our July Movie Screening we will be showing Les Miserables in honor of Bastille Day (French Independence Day) at 10:30am on July 11.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Sisters Cooking Up Competition: A Catered Bake-Off and The Chicken Sisters

25 Jun

A Catered Bake-Off
by Isis Crawford
A Catered Bake-Off is the latest in Isis Crawford’s long running cozy Mystery with Recipes series. I had read a few in the series in the past and enjoyed them so was curious to give this one a peak since I’m a fan of The Great British Baking Show something that the New York based competition in the story took inspiration from. The Simmons sisters Bernie and Libby run a catering company A Little Taste of Heaven and are excited to participate in the baking competition, but from the start of the first run through in preparations for filming, disasters abound; some like a herd of goats in the tent are funny, but when a judge receives life-threatening injuries from an espresso machine, it becomes much more serious. A creepy anonymous prologue which sets the suspenseful tone for the story, lets the reader in on the fact that these aren’t just horrible accidents. The sisters must solve the mystery before the killer comes for them. The story weaves in some contemporary issues like the real estate crisis which keep it feeling current. It was easy also to jump in to the drama even not having read all of the other novels that came before this one since the novel largely focused on a group of new characters rather than a huge cast of reoccurring ones. The author adds a personal element by including 3 recipes from family and friends at the end of the story. Fans of cozy mysteries like Donna Andrews’s Meg Langslow Mysteries should enjoy this tasty treat.

The Chicken Sisters part of Hoopla’s Hallmark+ BingePass
The Chicken Sisters reminded me of the Gilmore Girls if the family/community dramedy were located in the South rather than in New England its fun quips, but at a slower pace with a southern drawl. The story is about two beloved fried chicken restaurants feuding over a generations old grudge, which was only increased by a Romeo/Juliet romance between two of the younger generations. The TV series is based on the book by K. J. Dell’Antonia. Wendy Malick and Lea Thompson are the stars at the two matriarchs, but the younger generations of children and grandchildren are also charming. When the TV show Kitchen Clash comes to their town it heats up the competition between the two restaurants and forces them to deal with the family drama that has been simmering for so long. It is definitely good that this addictive drama is part of the Hallmark+ BingePass. You can watch as much of the show and other Hallmark Chanel series and movies as you have time for over a 7 day period using just one of your Hoopla checkouts. I also recommend streaming the mystery movie series Curious Cater (based on the books by Diane Mott Davidson) , Murder, She Baked/Hannah Swenson Mysteries (based on the books by Joanne Fluke), and the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries (based on the books by Charlaine Harris).

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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