A few fascinating new books!!
The new memoir by Katy Tur is entitled Rough Draft. Katy Tur, in case you aren’t familiar with her, is an MSNBC anchor and the author of the bestselling book Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History (that would be former President Trump’s campaign) In Rough Draft, Tur not only offers very interesting insights to her childhood, her career and her relationship with Tony Dokoupil. She also tells about dealing with her father who calls her one day to tell her he is a woman.
*This book is so new that the library system in Charleston does not yet have copies.
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt is a book that any of you who have taught middle school students know well. The book was made into a movie. The premise is captivating. If you could live forever by drinking from a special well, would you?
Nikki Erlick is asking a slightly different question in her debut novel The Measure–If you had the choice, would you want to know how long you had to live? Don’t worry. You don’t have to answer that question. In the novel, all people receive a wooden box that, if they choose to open it, has information about how much more time they have left. The author focuses on only eight people, however, and how each one reacts to this startling situation. Reviewer Marie Claire states, “perfect for book clubs, Nikki Erlick’s The Measure is equal parts charming and thought-provoking.”
Marrying the Ketchups, by Jennifer Close, is a departure from the weighty topics of the above two books. One reviewer calls the book “laugh-out-loud funny.” After seeing a photo of the author, one can believe that this is a true statement.
Marrying the Ketchups follows three generations of a family that owns a restaurant in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Like all families, the Sullivans have their ‘issues.’ By the way, did any of you participate in the Women’s March in January of 2017? That is exactly the time period when the book begins. So take it from there and imagine family chaos and hilarity, even if the Health Department tells the restaurant that they can NOT marry the ketchups anymore!
