This is one of my favorite weeks of the year – National Library Week. And while the annual Tasters’ Luncheon, a fundraising event presented by the Winona Friends of the Library, is not being held this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we can still celebrate our public libraries “virtually.”
The Mid-Mississippi Library Association invites the community to visit the library system’s Facebook page located at facebook.com/midmisslib each day during this week to view a new virtual program. The schedule of programs are of interest to all ages, and are accessible to the public on demand from the safety of their homes. I encourage everyone to check it out, pun intended.
Each year, during National Library Week, I get the privilege of sharing some of my favorite “reads” during the past year, and believe me, it is difficult to pick just a few to share in this column.
My favorite book of the past year is a toss-up between Cemetery Road by Greg Ilses and Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Both are fantastic reads from two very different genres.
I love reading books by Mississippi authors, an appreciation I developed while attending Ole Miss. With its Writer in Residence program, Center for Southern Studies, and spectacular English Department, Ole Miss knows how to celebrate Mississippi’s writers. A trip to Square Books in Oxford is a great place to start if looking for a Mississippi author to read.
Greg Ilses is one of my favorite authors, especially because he writes about his hometown of Natchez and the surrounding communities. His book Cemetery Road was released last March, and I pre-purchased it – patiently waiting for the official release. It was worth the wait!
The book is told from the point of view of Marshall McEwan, an award-winning national journalist who returns to his hometown to help his ailing father run the family’s small local newspaper. He eventually uncovers a plot of corruption and murder and, well, the plot definitely keeps you turning pages.
I listened to Daisy Jones and the Six on audiobook, and I am so glad I did. The book is told from several points-of-view, and each character is portrayed by a different reader. There were days I would sit in my car in the driveway for an extra 10 minutes just to find out what happened next.
Daisy Jones and the Six is about the rise and fall of the biggest -- fictional -- rock band of the 1970s. The story is told through “interviews” with the band, management, road crew, and family members, and I thought the author unwound the story perfectly through the various points-of-view.
New York Times Bestseller Where the Crawdads Sing was another favorite this year. Set in North Carolina’s low country, Where the Crawdads Sing is part coming of age story, romance, and murder mystery. Author Delia Owens is a beautiful writer, crafting lush descriptions of the North Carolina coast and detail of its plants and wildlife. Owens also renewed my interest in poetry, scattering poetry, original and from well-known poets, throughout the novel.
Educated by Tara Westover is a memoir, a genre I rarely delve into these days with every celebrity hiring ghostwriters to tell their publicist-approved story. Educated, however, introduced me to Westover’s upbringing in rural Idaho in a Mormon fundamentalist family.
Westover did not attend traditional school as a child due to her father’s suspicion of the federal government, but she was determined to attend college. Self-taught, she earned her way to Brigham Young University and then to Cambridge University in England.
Westover’s story was fascinating and inspirational, as the reader experiences her intellectual awakening first hand. I highly recommend.
I love a good mystery, especially one I can’t figure out in chapter three. Three books captivated me this year with their twisty plots and surprise endings. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine, and Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain kept me guessing to the end. You can’t go wrong with any of them.
Currently, I am listening to The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes, interestingly about a traveling library established as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal. How fitting, right?
As all of us are sheltering-in-place, this is a perfect time to whittle down that “To Be Read” list. And remember, the Hoopla App from Mid-Mississippi Regional Library can keep you with something new to read via audiobook or ebook free of charge until you can visit the library again.
