GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — If you haven't had time to crack open a book this summer don't worry, we have a great selection of August books to choose from.
Adult Fiction: "On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong
Adult fiction novel, "On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous" is named one of the most anticipated books of 2019 by Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Oprah.com, Huffington Post, The A.V. Club, Nylon, The Week, The Rumpus, The Millions, The Guardian, Publishers Weekly, and more.
“A lyrical work of self-discovery that’s shockingly intimate and insistently universal…Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post
Poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling
"On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous" is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.
At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity.
Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but under-girded by compassion and tenderness, "On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous" is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.
With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.
Adult Non-Fiction: "The Pioneers" by David McCullough
Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important and dramatic chapter in the American story—the settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would come to define our country.
As part of the Treaty of Paris, in which Great Britain recognized the new United States of America, Britain ceded the land that comprised the immense Northwest Territory, a wilderness empire northwest of the Ohio River containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. A Massachusetts minister named Manasseh Cutler was instrumental in opening this vast territory to veterans of the Revolutionary War and their families for settlement.
Included in the Northwest Ordinance were three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the prohibition of slavery. In 1788 the first band of pioneers set out from New England for the Northwest Territory under the leadership of Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam. They settled in what is now Marietta on the banks of the Ohio River.
McCullough tells the story through five major characters: Cutler and Putnam; Cutler’s son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science.
They and their families created a town in a primeval wilderness, while coping with such frontier realities as floods, fires, wolves and bears, no roads or bridges, no guarantees of any sort, all the while negotiating a contentious and sometimes hostile relationship with the native people. Like so many of McCullough’s subjects, they let no obstacle deter or defeat them.
Drawn in great part from a rare and all-but-unknown collection of diaries and letters by the key figures, "The Pioneers" is a uniquely American story of people whose ambition and courage led them to remarkable accomplishments. This is a quintessentially American story, written with David McCullough’s signature narrative energy.
Local: "Dragonfly Crystal" by Caroline Hall
It's been five years since Princess Cassia last saw her parents. Her kingdom and its people have been plagued by a mysterious sickness and are threatened by an encroaching Darkness. No one knew that the magical crystals used to heal and protect also contained the Darkness.
As the royal family and their Protectors struggle to keep their people safe, they receive help from an unexpected ally. For years the Huldra have been feared, but now the King must put aside his hesitation for the sake of his people.
The Huldra comes to their aid, but no one knows who ignited the Darkness in the crystals. As human and Huldra work together to find a cure for the sickness, another threat looms beyond the boundaries of the kingdom.
Young Adult: "The Poet X" by Elizabeth Acevedo
- 2018 National Book Award Winner for Young People's Literature
- 2018 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Winner for Fiction/Poetry
- 2019 Walter Award Teen Winner
Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth.
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.
With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.
Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.
“Crackles with energy and snaps with authenticity and voice.” —Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nation
“An incredibly potent debut.” —Jason Reynolds, author of the National Book Award Finalist Ghost
Children: "Ship Dog of the Great Lakes" by Pamela Cameron
In 1914 crew members of the lighthouse tender Hyacinth rescued a stray puppy from the Milwaukee River and named him Sport. For the next twelve years, this charming Newfoundland-retriever mix lived the life of a ship dog, helping the Hyacinth crew as they carried supplies to lighthouses and maintained the buoys and other safety features around Lake Michigan.
Sport quickly became a valued companion to his crew and a recognizable mascot of the lake—making friends in every port.
In this beautifully illustrated children’s book based on historical documents and photographs, readers share in Sport’s adventures while discovering the various ways lighthouse tender ships helped keep the lake safe for others.
Helpful diagrams, a map, and a historical note supplement this engaging story for young readers.
To learn more about these August books, you can visit The Book Nook & Java Shop website here. The bookstore is located at 8744 Ferry Street, Montague, Michigan 49437 and contact information: (231) 894-5333
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