It’s been a good year to be a reader, beloved patrons. And a good year for music and movies, and all the other beautiful things that libraries provide! And here, we are celebrating the year in books, music, and movies with as many people as possible! In addition to having a Peabody Library Staff “Best of 2018” List, we will also be featuring some selections from our friends at other NOBLE libraries, as well!
And we’re eager for your input, too! The NOBLE Collection Management Working Group is assembling nominations for a “NOBLE Book Awards”, and NOBLE staff have been asked for their input. So please let us know what books you’ve loved this year, and we’ll be sure to pass them on to the NOBLE Book Awards committee, but also to feature them here on the blog so that other readers can benefit from your recommendations! Nominations will be accepted until December 16, so get yours to us today! You can tell us in person, or via email (click the word “email” for our address).
And so, without further ado, let’s get to our first round of “Best of 2018” selections, courtesy of our marvelous staff! In our request for nominations, we stipulated that books, movies, or albums could be from any year, but they had to have been enjoyed in 2018. So you’ll see plenty of oldies-but-goodies on this list to savor, along with some new titles!
From the Teen Room:
I’ll Be Gone In the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara: For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area. Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called “the Golden State Killer.” Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was. This book, edited with fascinating afterwards and appendices after McNamara’s death, offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman’s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Utterly original and compelling, it has been hailed as a modern true crime classic—one which fulfilled Michelle’s dream: helping unmask the Golden State Killer.
From our Staff: The author passed away before she could finish the book, but her family and friends lovingly compiled, completed and published the book this February. On a related, exciting note, the Golden State Killer was identified and arrested in April this year. Myself and other fans of her work only wish that Ms. McNamara had lived to see this man brought to justice. But her book was stellar and I’d recommend it to any true crime fans!
From the Children’s Room:
Meaty: Essays by Samantha Irby: Smart, edgy, hilarious, and unflinchingly honest, Samantha Irby explodes onto the printed page in her uproarious first collection of essays. In these works, Irby laughs her way through tragicomic mishaps, neuroses, and taboos as she struggles through adulthood: chin hairs, depression, bad sex, failed relationships, masturbation, taco feasts, inflammatory bowel disease and more. Updated with her favorite Instagramable, couch-friendly recipes, this much-beloved romp is treat for anyone in dire need of Irby’s infamous, scathing wit and poignant candor.
From our staff: Re-released this year after the popularity of her last essay collection, this is every bit as funny, irreverent and brutally honest as her other work. Irby is blunt but her bluntness often translates into hilarity as she’s doesn’t shy away from the messier parts of life.
From the Public Service Desk:
The Shining by Stephen King: An oldie, but a goodie, this is one of King’s novels that just seems to get better with time. Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old. It seems that Danny is the only person able to see what the hotel is doing to Jack–and perhaps the only person who can stop it.
From our staff: I had read this book years ago, but it was only this time around that I really appreciate how King used Jack Torrance’s story to address the agony of addiction, the lure, allure, and threat of toxic masculinity, and the long-lasting legacy of abuse. This is a haunted house novel, obviously, but it’s also a book about the damage we as humans do to each other, and the effects that has, making this a powerful and heart-wrenching human study, as well.
Until next week, beloved patrons!