Category Reviews

A beige background with blood red off-kilter font that reads Midnight Riot with the author's name in black sans serif above it. A red splatter colors the top portion of a black line drawing of a map of London, and turns the Thames River red too.

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

Kristen B. Leave a comment
A beige background with blood red off-kilter font that reads Midnight Riot with the author's name in black sans serif above it. A red splatter colors the top portion of a black line drawing of a map of London, and turns the Thames River red too.

Reviewed by Kristen B.

This fast paced police procedural, set in modern London, comes with a twist. Peter Grant’s only goal in life is to be promoted from probationary constable to detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. His plans seem to be thwarted at every turn, and he is sure he will be marking time in a records unit when he gets his first big break: an eyewitness to a murder. The big problem occurs when Peter realizes that said witness is a ghost. Grant then learns about an entire other kind of investigating as he becomes the apprentice to DCI Thomas Nightingale, who investigates uncanny and potentially magical crimes.

Midnight Riot takes you on a fantastic wild ride through London’s neighborhoods and immediate countryside, with Peter Grant as your point of view both to familiar London and to unfamiliar magic. I love Peter to pieces, with his modern take on life, an old-fashioned wish to serve, and perhaps even a mild case of ADD. I learned a bit of modern British slang (some of which I had to look up) and some ancient history about the geography of the River Thames.

If you love to watch Supernatural or enjoy any sort of magical realism, this is the first installment in an established series of books. If you happen to see it listed as Rivers of London, that’s how it was originally published in England. No matter how you find it, it’s a terrific, fun read. You can find it as an eAudiobook via RB Digital.

Books on Tap will be discussing Midnight Riot on Wednesday, June 3 at 6 pm via an online meeting. If you’d like to join us, please register and a WebEx invitation will be sent to you. Many other book discussion groups are also offering online discussions, please join one that suits your reading tastes and schedule!

Kristen B. has worked for HCLS for more than 15 years, and currently hosts Books on Tap discussion group at Hysteria Brewing Company. She loves reading, Orioles baseball, and baking.

Frankly in Love

madammommy 1 Comment
The book cover is yellow with the title, Frankly in Love, and the author's name, David Yoon, set on a diagonal, in a stylized, gradated green font with a visual illusion of falling into the cover.

Review by Piyali C.

Frank Li is a senior in high school, growing up in Southern California. He is a first generation Korean American, trying to find his identity in this world. Is he considered Korean, even though he does not speak the language and has never visited that country? Is he fully American and does the world consider him so? He has grown up accompanying his immigrant parents to their monthly gatherings with other Korean families and hanging out with other first-generation Korean children, who, like Frank, are struggling to find where they belong. They call themselves Limbo. Some of the Korean children have embraced the country where they were born, while others retain the culture and language of the country from which their parents emigrated.  There is a big divide even between the first- generation Korean Americans. Frank is very aware of his parents’ blatant racism and knows he is doomed if he dates any girl outside his ethnicity. As luck would have it, he falls in love with Brit Means. Brit is beautiful, smart, kind – and she is white. Frank has to conspire with fellow Limbo, Joy Sung, who is in the same predicament. They decide to pretend-date each other to make their parents happy while continuing to see their respective partners of choice. But how long can this ruse last?

The protagonist of the book is an eighteen year old, and the book primarily explores his self identity and where he belongs,. However, I feel this book provides valuable insight, for adult readers along with teens, into the immigrant community in this country (or anywhere) where the immigrants struggle to find the balance between holding on to the culture of their birth country while trying to assimilate in their adopted country. The struggle becomes extremely poignant for first generation Americans, as is highlighted in this novel. 

David Yoon does a tremendous job of exploring the issues of race and identity in this novel while keeping the narrative light.  The voice of the narrator, a somewhat confused, sometimes lovelorn, and mostly empathetic senior in high school, is authentic. While we live Frank Li’s life vicariously and shudder at the blatantly racist comments that his parents utter, we also examine our own biases regarding race and racial identity. Told in a partly eloquent, partly colloquial voice, this book really satisfies the need for a light yet thought provoking read.

YA Fiction. Available through CloudLibrary and Libby.

Piyali is an instructor and research specialist at HCLS Miller Branch, where she co-facilitates both Global Reads and Strictly Historical Fiction.

Black and white photo shows a young woman in an overcoat and high heels walking through a narrow alley, with stone walls to either side. TItle is in red above, and subtitle in white below. Subtitle read: The Daring Young Woman Who Lead France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler.

Madame Fourcade’s Secret War

juliefitzreader 4 Comments
The cover shows a woman in 1940's-era clothing, carrying a package under her arm and walking down a deserted alley surrounded by stone walls.

Review by Julie F.

Imagine running the largest spy organization in Vichy France – setting up safe houses and networks, negotiating the tensions between de Gaulle’s Free French and the anti-Gaullist General Giraud, and helping to spirit spies and messengers from France to England in the dead of night on dangerous Lysander plane trips. Never staying in one “safe” location for too long; never knowing who has your back or who might stab you in the back.

Now imagine doing all of that as a woman, a mother of two young children and an infant, in a society where, as author Lynne Olson describes it, “Men fought, and women stayed home” (525). Marie-Madeleine Fourcade resisted both the German occupation and the gendered expectations of a military and espionage apparatus designed for and perpetuated by men. When the life of a spy in occupied France was reputed to be six months at the most, her success is a credit to her resourcefulness, daring, and people skills. The colleagues she trusted and led knew her worth. In the words of Léon Faye, her dependable lieutenant and the father of her youngest child, “A woman…But not just any woman!  She’s an indisputable and undisputed leader. Even the English have accepted her” (201).

Readers who enjoy tales of espionage will be amazed that Marie-Madeleine’s story is real and not more widely known. The scenes depicting her captures and escapes, and those of her Resistance colleagues, are riveting – sometimes by simply talking her way out of the hands of the Gestapo, or waiting until their backs were turned to climb out of a window and make a run for it. Not all went according to plan; she lost friends and companions, and their stories, and her anxiety for their safety and grief over their losses, are powerfully depicted. Her devotion to a cause greater than herself and her family is heroic – even after the war, when she advocated for remembrance ceremonies, official honors, government pensions, and medical care for Alliance agents, as well as benefits for the families of those the German executed. Read this fascinating account of her dedication and defiance of societal norms, and be riveted by her exploits and those of her spy network.

Adult nonfiction. Available in eaudio through CloudLibrary and in ebook and eaudio through Libby.

Julie is an instructor and research specialist at HCLS Miller Branch, where she facilitates two book discussion groups – Spies, Lies, and Alibis and Bas Bleu.

20th Century Women

Rohini G. Leave a comment

review by Eric L.

A group of people stand on a beach with the ocean behind them. 20th Century Women is in basic type above their heads. A gold banner at the top announces that the movie has been nominated for an Academy Award

The story centers around a middle-aged single mother, Dorothea (Annette Bening), raising a fifteen-year-old son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). Dorothea owns a large old house (under slow renovation) wherein she rents rooms to Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and William (Billy Crudup). Abbie is a twenty-something, artistic, feminist photographer interested in the nascent punk rock scene; William is a forty-something hippie and handyman mechanic. The other character often in the house is Jamie’s seventeen-year-old female friend Julie (Elle Fanning), with whom he has a complicated relationship.

The thrust of the film is that the overly analytical Dorothea decides to enlist Abbie and Julie to help raise Jamie, in lieu of another man. The different ages and experiences of the characters in the film create the tension. People of different ages and backgrounds attempting to understand and relate to each other is always fraught with problems, irrespective of the setting. Different characters narrate the background of each character as they are introduced and understood, which is very well done with dialogue and images.

The washed out, sunny Southern California setting and the wardrobe selection create a strong visual aesthetic for the film. There are also wonderful scenes of a punk rock club and a seemingly out of place, psychedelic style to the car travel scenes.

I enjoyed the film very much, but perhaps that’s because it “reflected” aspects of me back. However, it’s my opinion that many people will feel the same about it. It’s “indie” and “artsy,” but has a mass appeal due to the characters deftly portrayed in the film. I would describe it as feel-good, but not overly sentimental or trite.

The film is rated R and does include some sexual content.

DVD Fiction. Available to view through Kanopy.

Eric is a DIY Instructor and Research Specialist at HCLS Elkridge Branch. He enjoys reading, films, music, doing nearly anything outside, and people.