And it is with heavy, but inspired hearts that we bid farewell to Aretha Franklin, who passed away on August 16 of pancreatic cancer, at the age of 76. A signer of undisputed quality and unrivaled power, the “Queen Of Soul” created an amazing legacy that spans an incredible six decades, from her first recording as a teenage gospel star to her latest release of Diva Classics. The recipient of the U.S.A.’s highest civilian honor, The Presidential Medal Of Freedom, and eighteen Grammy awards (to date), Franklin was a voice for people who had none. Her music spoke to our hearts, and her work within the Civil Rights Movement offered hope and inspiration to generations of people across the country. As Candace Allen wrote in The Guardian:
Before Aretha we’d been girls listening to girls who sang of girlish things: fun and dancing, the ups and downs of puppy love. Securely girdled into lovely girlish dresses, they cooed and swayed with ladylike gestures and graceful steps that produced very little sweat, and we’d been more than happy with that; but then came this voice that ripped and curved, caressed, cried and emphasised. Songs tumbling out at a phenomenal pace with lyrics at once about love, black personhood and pride, and a voice that punched out our points about that elusive good man and appreciative nation…She gave us strength. Singing, dancing and politically organising together, or in the privacy of our dorm rooms, each and every one of us was not only Somebody but Everything.
Last March, in honor of her birthday, Entertainment Weekly put together a photo montage of her life. These photos show a woman with confidence in her talents and her own power, and the remarkable career she forged. We hope you enjoy browsing through them and remembering Ms. Franklin as much as we did!
And now, a look at some of the books that sashayed onto our shelves this week, and are looking forward to sharing your weekend adventures!
Flights: We are delighted to have the Man Booker International Prize winning novel on our shelves at last! From Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk comes a series of essays that interweave reflections on travel with an in-depth exploration of the human body, broaching life, death, motion, and migration. Chopin’s heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a wanderer, a body in motion not only through space but through time. The Los Angeles Review of Books was just one of the outlets that offered glowing praise for this book, noting “Tokarczuk is one of Europe’s most daring and original writers, and this astonishing performance is her glittering, bravura entry in the literature of ideas… A select few novels possess the wonder of music, and this is one of them…An international, mercurial, and always generous book, to be endlessly revisited.”
Burden: A Preacher, a Klansman, and a True Story of Redemption in the Modern South: In 1996, the town of Laurens, South Carolina, was thrust into the international spotlight when a white supremacist named Michael Burden opened a museum celebrating the Ku Klux Klan on the community’s main square. Journalists and protestors flooded the town, and hate groups rallied to the establishment’s defense, dredging up the long history of racial violence in this formerly prosperous mill town. What happened next was as remarkable as it was unpredictable: shortly after his museum opened, Michael Burden abruptly left the Klan at the urging of a woman he fell in love with. Broke and homeless, he was taken in by Reverend David Kennedy, an African American preacher and leader in the Laurens community, who plunged his church headlong in a quest to save their former enemy. The events of this book are being turned into a feature film starring Forest Whitaker, Garrett Hedlund, Tom Wilkinson, Andrea Riseborough, and Usher Raymond, but before its release, check out the book that Bret Witter, bestselling co-author of The Monuments Men, hailed in his blurb as follows: “By digging deep and exhaustingly researching one small relationship in one small South Carolina town, Courtney Hargrave uncovers the big truths that usually elude us. This is an honest, empowering, incredibly enjoyable, and unforgettable book.”
The Ruin: Those looking for a stellar noir mystery to heat up their summer reading need look no further than Dervla McTiernan’s debut. When Aisling Conroy’s boyfriend Jack is found in the freezing black waters of the river Corrib, the police tell her it was suicide. A surgical resident, she throws herself into study and work, trying to forget–until Jack’s sister Maude shows up. Maude suspects foul play, and she is determined to prove it. Cormac Reilly is the detective assigned with the re-investigation of a seemingly accidental overdose twenty years ago–the overdose of Jack and Maude’s drug and alcohol addled mother. Detective Reilly is under increasing pressure to charge Maude for murder when his colleague Danny uncovers a piece of evidence that will change everything. This is a wonderfully claustrophobic book that deals with the secrets hidden in a small Irish town, and the laws that govern places outside the bounds of traditional rules. This book has made several ‘best of’ and ‘most highly anticipated’ lists, with Publisher’s Weekly giving it a starred review and calling it ““Powerful . . . McTiernan neatly ties [the threads of the novel] all together in the suspenseful conclusion. McTiernan, born in Ireland but now living in Australia, is a writer to watch.”
Our Homesick Songs: Emma Hooper’s latest novel is one for music lovers, nature lovers, and literature lovers alike. The Connor family is one of the few that is still left in their idyllic fishing village, Big Running; after the fish mysteriously disappeared, most families had no choice but to relocate and find work elsewhere. Aidan and Martha Connor now spend alternate months of the year working at an energy site up north to support their children, Cora and Finn. But soon the family fears they’ll have to leave Big Running for good, placing a strain on their marriage that continues to drive them farther apart. Between his accordion lessons and reading up on Big Running’s local flora and fauna, eleven-year-old Finn Connor develops an obsession with solving the mystery of the missing fish. While Finn schemes, his sister Cora spends her days decorating the abandoned houses in Big Running with global flair, but it’s clear she’s desperate for a bigger life beyond the shores of her small town. As the streets of Big Running continue to empty Cora takes matters—and her family’s shared destinies—into her own hands. This may be a story about one small family, but there are big themes here about love, loss, home, and self that have been earning rave reviews from critics, including Booklist, who gave it a starred review, and called it a “haunting fable about the transformative power of hope.”
The Line That Held Us: David Joy’s novel is drawing comparisons to Faulkner for its emotional depth and personal insight, as well as rave reviews from critics who love Joy’s unique storytelling powers. When Darl Moody went hunting after a monster buck he’s chased for years, he never expected he’d accidentally shoot a man digging ginseng. Worse yet, he’s killed a Brewer, a family notorious for vengeance and violence. With nowhere to turn, Darl calls on the help of the only man he knows will answer, his best friend, Calvin Hooper. But when Dwayne Brewer comes looking for his missing brother and stumbles onto a blood trail leading straight back to Darl and Calvin, a nightmare of revenge rips apart their world. This is a tale of friendship and family, set in a place where the only hope is to hold on tight, clenching to those you love. It’s a dark and gut-wrenching tale, but one that is also stylistically beautiful and gripping. Publisher’s Weekly noted “Joy pulls no punches in this stark and violent examination of sacrifice and suffering. . . . The paranoia that builds alongside Dwayne’s and Calvin’s troubled rumination [culminates] by the end in the powerful possibility of collective redemption. Fans of Frank Bill and Cormac McCarthy will enjoy this gritty thriller.”