Patch Picks: Must-Reads from the Trenton Memorial Library

Patch Picks: Must-Reads from the Trenton Memorial Library

• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  The Scene:  Alternating between the 1940s and 1986, this novel chronicles the losses of old age alongside the bewilderment of youth.  Henry Lee, who has lost his wife to cancer in 1986, recalls the difficulties of his life in the 1940s, amidst WWII internment of Japanese Americans and his attempted balance between his Japanese-American friend Keiko and his Chinese father’s anti-Japanese sentiment.  Recalling his prior experiences, Henry is forced to make decisions and accept circumstances that may alienate him from his family and love. 

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  The Scene:  Recalling a troubled time in American history, the civil rights movement of the 1960s is the stage for a book full of heart and history.  Eugenia Skeeter Phelan, home from college and anxious to begin her writing career, embarks on a journey to archive the scathing and shocking stories of black women in Jackson, Mississippi.  Through Phelan, Stockett depicts the ironies and hypocrisies of the era , displaying a main character who brings pride and hope to the black community  as well as breaks down her own personal boundaries in her literary and social activist accomplishments. 

• The Deep Blue Sea for Beginners by Luanne Rice.  The Scene:  A combination of realism, romance and the bonds of family, this heart-tugger is an account of Lyra Nicholson and her daughters Pell and Lucy.  Pell travels to Italy where her lonely heiress mother resides, wanting her to take responsibility for the abandonment of herself and her sister.  The story of the reunion between a mother and her daughters, separated for 10 years due to a disturbing secret, is a poignant narrative on the survival of families plagued by tragedy. 

• Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  The Scene:  Heartbreaking and moving, yet an accurate portrayal of Alzheimer’s disease, this portrait of Alice Howland is highly relevant today and will especially appeal to those readers dealing with the disease.  Howard, an esteemed psychology professor at Harvard, lived a comfortable life in Cambridge with her husband John until the disease manifested, leading to shock, disorientation and a life unraveling among the heartbreaking illness.  Compelling and engaging, the book creates a precise account of the firsthand struggles of an Alzheimer’s patient.  

• Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson.  The Scene:  Released to coincide with the 100^th anniversary of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, this prequel to the beloved classic reveals a bleak elucidation of Anne’s early years.  The imaginative backstory begins with the heroine’s parents, but then shifts to Anne’s infant orphanage, her consistent change of families and the poverty, hardships and heartbreak that constitute her life.  However, not delineating from the optimistic inflection of the original, Wilson evokes wonder and hope in the explanation of Anne’s early life.