inspirational fiction

 

In attendance today, 17 total:

Holley W, O’Neal Library
Jenn P, Smithfield
Rachel, Smithfield
Reba, Smithfield
Samuel R, Springville Road
Maura D, Trussville
Leslie D, Avondale
Samantha H, Hoover
Catherine F, BPL Central
Ellen S, Avondale
Shawn, Pinson
Alisha J, BPL Central
Amanda, Titusville
Jon N, Avondale
Michelle H, Irondale
Leslie W, Homewood
Loretta J, Books By Mail

BPL is debuting a new program, a weekly Community Interview, on Monday, February 15^th at 10am on their Facebook page.  The first interview will be with Lisa Yeager, Program Director at STAIR, a free after-school tutoring program for 2^nd grade students at 13 schools across Birmingham.  Monday, February 22^nd will feature Rachel Bayerle and Nicole Putman, owners of Charm on 2^nd, a locally owned and operated boutique in downtown Birmingham featuring jewelry, accessories, and handmade and locally made goods. 

Join the Trussville Library over ZOOM Tuesday, February 23rd at 6:30PM as Dr. Aaron Hawkins discusses mental health and coping skills. You will not want to miss this interesting and engaging educational program! Sign-up here to receive the ZOOM link: https://forms.gle/q9uZxRzQNTKuLK3KA

The next meeting of the Reader’s Advisory Roundtable will be Wednesday, April 14th at 9am on Zoom and the topic up for discussion will be podcasts and other not-a-book recommendations.  Podcasts have come up in discussions before, but I don’t remember ever exploring it as its own independent meeting so I’m particularly excited about this one.  Do mark your calendars to join the conversation on April 14th!

Today, RART met for a discussion of inspirational/Christian fiction.

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

California’s gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep. Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside.  
 
Then she meets Michael Hosea, a man who seeks his Father’s heart in everything. Michael obeys God’s call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel’s every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw.  
 
But with her unexpected softening comes overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband’s pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does…the One who will never let her go.  
 
A powerful retelling of the story of Gomer and Hosea, Redeeming Love is a life-changing story of God’s unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

In the Bible, Dinah's life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that tell of her father, Jacob, and his twelve sons.

The Red Tent begins with the story of the mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through childhood, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. Dinah's story reaches out from a remarkable period of early history and creates an intimate connection with the past.

Deeply affecting, The Red Tent combines rich storytelling and the valuable achievement of presenting a new view of biblical women's lives.

Romance-focused Christian/inspirational fiction:

Deanna Gist
Janette Oke
Ryan Phillips
Candace Calvert (medical field focus)
Colleen Cobble

Non-romance Christian/inspirational fiction:

Madman by Tracy Groot

If there is a way into madness, logic says there is a way out. Logic says. Tallis, a philosopher’s servant, is sent to a Greek academy in Palestine only to discover that it has silently, ominously, disappeared. No one will tell him what happened, but he learns what has become of four of its scholars. One was murdered. One committed suicide. One worships in the temple of Dionysus. And one . . . one is a madman.

From Christy Award–winning author Tracy Groot comes a tale of mystery, horror, and hope in the midst of unimaginable darkness: the story behind the Gerasene demoniac of the Gospels of Mark and Luke.

Thirsty by Tracey Bateman

"Hello, I'm Nina Parker…and I'm an alcoholic."
For Nina, it's not the weighty admission but the first steps toward recovery that prove most difficult. She must face her ex-husband, Hunt, with little hope of making amends, and try to rebuild a relationship with her angry teenage daughter, Meagan. Hardest of all, she is forced to return to Abbey Hills, Missouri, the hometown she abruptly abandoned nearly two decades earlier–and her unexpected arrival in the sleepy Ozark town catches the attention of someone–or something–igniting a two-hundred-fifty-year-old desire that rages like a wildfire.

Unaware of the darkness stalking her, Nina is confronted with a series of events that threaten to unhinge her sobriety. Her daughter wants to spend time with the parents Nina left behind. A terrifying event that has haunted Nina for almost twenty years begins to surface. And an alluring neighbor initiates an unusual friendship with Nina, but is Markus truly a kindred spirit or a man guarding dangerous secrets?

As everything she loves hangs in the balance, will Nina's feeble grasp on her demons be broken, leaving her powerless against the thirst? The battle between redemption and obsession unfold to its startling, unforgettable end.

The books of Kimberla Lawson Roby

The Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye

   1. Left Behind 
   2. Tribulation Force 
   3. Nicolae 
   4. Soul Harvest 
   5. Apollyon 
   6. Assassins 
   7. The Indwelling 
   8. The Mark 
   9. The Desecration 
   10. The Remnant 
   11. Armageddon 
   12. Glorious Appearing 
   13. The Rising 
   14. The Regime 
   15. The Rapture 
   16. Kingdom Come

Mystery/Thriller authors:

Robin Lee Hatcher
Dee Henderson
Lynette Eason
Terri Blackstock
Julie Klassen
Tracie Peterson
Ted Dekker

No religious/spiritual focus, but “clean” stories:

Craig Johnson (modern western-themed crime novels)

Adriana Trigiani (women’s fiction)

Shadow Mountain Publishing’s Proper Romance imprint; these titles are available in PB and digitally in the JCLC

Allen, Nancy Campbell – Beauty and the Clockwork Beast

Brass Carriages and Glass Hearts

Kiss of the Spindle

My Fair Gentleman

The Lady in the Coppergate Tower

The Secret of the India Orchid

Donaldson, Julianne – Blackmoore

Edenbrooke

Heir to Edenbrooke

Eden, Sarah M – Ashes on the Moor

Healing Hearts

Hope Springs

Longing for Home

The Gentleman and the Thief

The Lady and the Highwayman

The Sherrifs of Savage Wells

Garriott, Leah – Promised

Hawks, Arlem – Georgana's Secret

Jensen, Krista Lynne – Miracle Creek Christmas

Kilpack, Josi S – A Heart Revealed

All that Makes Life Bright

Daisies and Devotion

Forever and Forever

Lord Fenton's Folly

Miss Wilton's Waltz

Promises and Primroses

Rakes and Roses

The Lady of the Lakes

The Vicar's Daughter

Todd, Ilima – A Song for the Stars

Walker, Megan – Lakeshire Park

Wilhite, Rebecca – Check Me Out

Wright, Julie – Glass Slippers, Ever After, and Me

Lies Jane Austen Told Me

Lies, Love, and Breakfast at Tiffany's

Resources:

Libraries with NoveList subscriptions will find much assistance there.  If you don’t have access to NoveList, Literature-Map is a fun exploration: https://www.literature-map.com/.

Fantastic Fiction, long a treasure trove for series information and forthcoming publications, also has a genre area and Inspirational is one of their offerings: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/genres/?gp=I.

Jon from Avondale has generously shared access to a genre-organized list of 50 Christian fiction authors, which does overlap and reorganized discussion above.  Your mileage may vary!

Contemporary                                                                 

Brunstetter, Wanda

Cramer, W. Dale                                                                              

Samson, Lisa (The Church Ladies)                                                             

Tatlock, Ann

Turner, Jamie L.

Gulley, Phillip

Whitlow, Robert

Karon, Jan

Colleen Coble

Richard Paul Evans

Andrew Greeley

Jerry Jenkins

Karen Kingsbury

Gilbert Morris

Janette Oke

Tracie Peterson

Francine Rivers

Lori Wick

 

Historical

Beazely, Jan and Thom Lemmons

 

African American authors

Michele Andrea Bowen

Victoria Christopher Murray

ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Vanessa Davis Griggs

Jacquelin Thomas

Kendra Norman Bellamy

T.D. Jakes

Sharon Ewell Foster

Michelle Stimpson

Kimberla Lawson Roby

Serita Jakes

Angela Benson

Sharon Ewell Foster

Linda Hudson-Smith

North American Historical

Austin, Lynn

Dow, Rosey

Morris, Gilbert

Oke, Janette

 

Historical International                                               

Cavanaugh, J.     (Fire)                                                                    

Rivers, Francine

                                                                               

Romance                                                                                                            

Heitzmann, Kristen                                         

Alexander, Hannah                         

Henderson, Dee

Palmer, Catherine

Hatcher, Robin Lee

 

Western

Bly, Stephen

 

Suspense

Alcorn, Randy C.

Blackstock, Terri

Bright, Bill

Bunn, T. Davis

Burkett, Larry

Coble, Colleen

Dekker, Ted

Singer, Randy

Rosenberg, Joel                                               

Morris, Gilbert

Peterson, Tracie

Lewis, Beverly

Kingsbury, Karen

Hatcher, Robin Lee

Wangerin, Walter

Billingsley, ReShonda T.

Thoene, Bodie                                                  

Huggins, James B.

Peretti, Frank

Martinusen, Cindy M.

Norris, Helen

Whitlow, Robert

steampunk

The next Reader’s Advisory Roundtable meeting will be Wednesday, August 12th at 9am and the topic up for discussion is the self-help collection. Feel free to choose whatever you’d like: nonfiction, documentary, audiobook, fiction…the format is up to you!

The original plan was for meeting at the Trussville Library but, of course, I have no way of predicting whether we will meet at Trussville, have the meeting on Zoom, or a combination of both.  I will go ahead and promise that if we have an in-person meeting, I will also broadcast it via Zoom as well.

Today we discussed steampunk.  It was a small, yet lively group!

Total attendance: 13

Holley W, Emmet O’Neal
Elizabeth W, BPL Southern History
Mary Anne E, BPL Southern History
Lynn H, BPL Central Info/Circ
Jiemin F, BPL Central Circ
Stephanie B, Hoover Fiction Dept
Krysten G, Hoover Fiction Dept
Leigh W, BPL North Birmingham
William D, BPL East Lake
Paul C, BPL Southside

and 3 anonymous 😊

Annotations are pulled from amazon.com unless otherwise noted.

The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature by Jeff VanderMeer and S.J. Chambers

Steampunk—a grafting of Victorian aesthetic and punk rock attitude onto various forms of science-fiction culture—is a phenomenon that has come to influence film, literature, art, music, fashion, and more. The Steampunk Bible is the first compendium about the movement, tracing its roots in the works of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells through its most recent expression in movies such as Sherlock Holmes. Its adherents celebrate the inventor as an artist and hero, re-envisioning and crafting retro technologies including antiquated airships and robots. A burgeoning DIY community has brought a distinctive Victorian-fantasy style to their crafts and art. Steampunk evokes a sense of adventure and discovery, and embraces extinct technologies as a way of talking about the future. This ultimate manual will appeal to aficionados and novices alike as author Jeff VanderMeer takes the reader on a wild ride through the clockwork corridors of Steampunk history.
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History

Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy (fabulous in audiobook!)
Leviathan
Behemoth
Goliath

Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She’s a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered. With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected ways, taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.

Holley, Emmet O’Neal

Clockwork Century series by Cherie Priest

Boneshaker
Dreadnought
Ganymede
The Inexplicables
Fiddlehead
Jacaranda

In 2011, this book was optioned by Hammer Films (of Hammer House of Horror fame). IMDB shows it is still optioned, but I find nothing else definitive about the possibility of film (htw).

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska's ice. Thus was Dr. Blue's Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue's widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.
Holley, Emmet O’Neal

Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger
Soulless
Changeless
Blameless
Heartless
Timeless

Five books chronicling the exploits of Alexia Tarabotti, a lady of considerable assets including a large Scottish werewolf, a battle-parasol, and treacle tart. Oh, and she has no soul.
Stephanie, Hoover

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark

In an alternate New Orleans caught in the tangle of the American Civil War, the wall-scaling girl named Creeper yearns to escape the streets for the air -- in particular, by earning a spot on-board the airship Midnight Robber. Creeper plans to earn Captain Ann-Marie’s trust with information she discovers about a Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls The Black God’s Drums.

But Creeper also has a secret herself: Oya, the African orisha of the wind and storms, speaks inside her head, and may have her own ulterior motivations.

Soon, Creeper, Oya, and the crew of the Midnight Robber are pulled into a perilous mission aimed to stop the Black God’s Drums from being unleashed and wiping out the entirety of New Orleans.
Riana, Pinson

Monstress graphic novel series by Marjorie M. Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda

Steampunk meets Kaiju in this original fantasy epic for mature readers, as young Maika risks everything to control her psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, placing her in the center of a devastating war between human and otherworldly forces.
Riana, Pinson

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Nemo trilogy by Alan Moore, illustrated by Kevin O’Neill
Nemo: Heart of Ice
Nemo: The Roses of Berlin
Nemo: River of Ghosts

It's 1925, fifteen long years since Janni Dakkar first tried to escape the legacy of her dying science-pirate father, only to accept her destiny as the new Nemo, captain of the legendary Nautilus. Now, tired of her unending spree of plunder and destruction, Janni launches a grand expedition to surpass her father's greatest failure: the exploration of Antarctica. Hot on her frozen trail are a trio of genius inventors, hired by an influential publishing tycoon to retrieve the plundered valuables of an African queen. It's a deadly race to the bottom of the world -- an uncharted land of wonder and horror where time is broken and the mountains bring madness. Jules Verne meets H.P. Lovecraft in the unforgettable final showdown, lost in the living, beating and appallingly inhuman HEART OF ICE.
Jon, Avondale

Joe Golem and the Drowning City by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden

In 1925, earthquakes and a rising sea level left Lower Manhattan submerged under more than thirty feet of water, so that its residents began to call it the Drowning City. Those unwilling to abandon their homes created a new life on streets turned to canals and in buildings whose first three stories were underwater. Fifty years have passed since then, and the Drowning City is full of scavengers and water rats, poor people trying to eke out an existence, and those too proud or stubborn to be defeated by circumstance. 

Among them are fourteen-year-old Molly McHugh and her friend and employer, Felix Orlov. Once upon a time Orlov the Conjuror was a celebrated stage magician, but now he is an old man, a psychic medium, contacting the spirits of the departed for the grieving loved ones left behind. When a seance goes horribly wrong, Felix Orlov is abducted by strange men wearing gas masks and rubber suits, and Molly soon finds herself on the run. Her flight will lead her into the company of a mysterious man, and his stalwart sidekick, Joe Golem, whose own past is a mystery to him, but who walks his own dreams as a man of stone and clay, brought to life for the sole purpose of hunting witches. 

Jon, Avondale

A Red Sun Also Rises by Mark Hodder (not available in the JCLC system)

Transported to the alien world of Ptallaya by a strange and terrifying ritual, Victorian missionary Aiden Fleischer and his brilliant but damaged assistant Clarissa Stark are stranded.

Befriended by the Yatsill, a race of bizarre telepathic alien mimics, the travellers watch in amazement as the society around them transforms into a parody of London.

But as the dual yellow suns of this new world slowly set, a red sun is also rising, and with it come the Blood Gods, an ancient and indestructible evil...
Jon, Avondale

The Doctor and the Kid by Mike Resnick

Welcome to a West like you've never seen before! With the O. K. Corral and the battle with the thing that used to be Johnny Ringo behind him, the consumptive Doc Holliday makes his way to Deadwood, Colorado. But when a gambling loss drains his bankroll, Doc aims for quick cash as a bounty hunter. The biggest reward? Young, 20-year-old desperado known as Billy the Kid. With a steampunk twist on these classic characters, nothing can be as simple as it seems.
Jon, Avondale

Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare
Clockwork Angel
Clockwork Prince
Clockwork Princess

The series follows Tessa Gray, an orphaned teenage girl who discovers she has the power to shape-shift, but doesn't bear a mark that shows she is a warlock. She is forced to learn how to control this newly established power and navigate the new world she was forcefully introduced into.
Kristen, Hoover

Steampunk Chronicles series by Kady Cross
The Girl in the Steel Corset
The Girl in the Clockwork Collar
The Girl with the Iron Touch
The Girl with the Windup Heart

When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch. Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets, against the wishes of his band of misfits. And Finley thinks she might finally be a part of something, finally fit in—until a criminal mastermind known as the Machinist threatens to tear the group apart….
Leigh, North Birmingham

Custard Protocol series by Gail Carriger
Prudence
Imprudence
Competence
Reticence

Rue and her crew of miscreants charge about in their high-tech dirigible trying to fix the British Empire - mainly with tea. A four book series that explores how the supernatural evolved throughout the Parasolverse.

Lynn, BPL Central Info/Circ

GENERAL DISCUSSION AND MOVIES: (film annotations pulled from rottentomatoes.com unless otherwise noted):

The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (2003)

Allan Quatermain, the world's greatest adventurer, leads a legion of superheroes the likes of which the world has never seen. Quatermain's extraordinary League is comprised of Captain Nemo, Dracula vampiress Mina Harker, an invisible man Rodney Skinner, American secret service agent Sawyer, Dorian Gray, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde and M--the League's enigmatic recruiter. The League members are staunch individualists, outcasts in fact, with checkered pasts and singular gifts that have been both blessing and curse. Now they must learn to trust each other and work as a team for the very hope of civilization. With little preparation and no time to lose, they will be transported via Captain Nemo's extraordinary submarine, the Nautilus, to the frontline of defense: Venice, Italy. There, a masked madman known as the Fantom plans to sabotage a conference of world leaders by setting off a domino chain of explosions, sinking the entire city. The threat is catastrophic, the risks are staggering. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has 96 hours to save the world.

Hugo (2011)

Throughout his extraordinary career, Academy Award-wining director Martin Scorsese has brought his unique vision and dazzling gifts to life in a series of unforgettable films. This holiday season the legendary storyteller invites you to join him on a thrilling journey to a magical world with his first-ever 3-D film, based on Brian Selznick's award-winning, imaginative New York Times best-seller, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret." Hugo is the astonishing adventure of a wily and resourceful boy whose quest to unlock a secret left to him by his father will transform Hugo and all those around him, and reveal a safe and loving place he can call home. -- (C) Paramount

The Time Machine

A progressive scientist builds a machine that allows him time travel in this adaptation of the classic from H.G. Wells.

The Prestige (2006)

In 1878, two young stage magicians clash in a darkened salon during the course of a fraudulent seance. From this moment on, their lives become webs of deceit and exposure, secrets and revelations, as they feud to outwit and destroy one another. Their rivalry takes them both to the peak of their careers, but with terrible consequences.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

This 1954 Disney version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea represented the studio's costliest and most elaborate American-filmed effort to date. Kirk Douglas plays a trouble-shooting 19th century seaman, trying to discover why so many whaling ships have been disappearing of late. Teaming with scientist Paul Lukas and diver Peter Lorre, Douglas sets sail to investigate--and is promptly captured by the megalomaniac Captain Nemo (James Mason), who skippers a lavish, scientifically advanced submarine. The film's special effects, including a giant squid, were impressive enough in 1954 to win an Academy Award. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Castle in the Sky

(Disney.com) Pazu, an engineer's apprentice, finds a young girl, Sheeta, floating down from the sky, and discovers they are both searching for a legendary floating castle, Laputa. Together, they embark on a daring quest and encounter greedy pirates, secret agents and astounding obstacles that keep them from the truth - and from each other.

Stardust

The sleepy English village of Wall is so named for the cobblestone wall that has, for eons, kept the villagers safely apart form the supernatural parallel universe that lies just on the other side. It is here that young Tristan Thorne makes a wild-eyed promise to the prettiest girl in the village, whose heart he hopes to win: that he will bring her back a fallen star. Now, in order to make good on his promise, Tristan will have to cross the forbidden wall, and enter a mysterious kingdom lit by unending magic and unfolding legends. In this fantastical realm known as Stormhold, Tristan discovers that the fallen star is not at all what he expected but a spirited young woman injured by her cosmic tumble. Now, she is in terrible danger--sought after by colossal powers including the King's scheming sons for whom only she can secure the throne; and a chillingly powerful witch desperate to use the star to achieve eternal youth and beauty. As Tristan sets out to protect the star and bring her back to his beloved on the other side of the wall, he encounters with a pirate captain and a shady trader, among other surprises. But if he can survive, Tristan will also uncover the secret key to his own identity and a fate beyond his wildest dreams.

Doctor Who episode: The Next Doctor (2008 Christmas special, not sure if it’s in here or not!)

(imdb.com) The Doctor arrives in London on Christmas Eve in 1851 where he encounters the Cybermen and a man who claims he's a Time Lord called the Doctor.

Tv show “Hidden Killers”

Dr. Suzannah Lipscomb reveals the hidden killers that lurk in every room across the ages. From the Victorian (this is the episode I watched!) to the Post War era, we discover the lethal inventions and the ‘safe’ domestic home life of households from the past. Episodes available on Amazon Prime Video and streaming freely on Tubi TV.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Cora is a young slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is on the cusp of womanhood—where greater pain awaits. And so when Caesar, a slave who has recently arrived from Virginia, urges her to join him on the Underground Railroad, she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him. In Colson Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next, encountering, like Gulliver, strange yet familiar iterations of her own world at each stop. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the terrors of the antebellum era, he weaves in the saga of our nation, from the brutal abduction of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is both the gripping tale of one woman's will to escape the horrors of bondage—and a powerful meditation on the history we all share.

The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack: A Burton & Swinburne Adventure by Mark Hodder

London, 1861. Sir Richard Francis Burton - explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead. Algernon Charles Swinburne - unsuccessful poet and follower of de Sade, for whom pain is pleasure, and brandy is ruin! They stand at a crossroads in their lives and are caught in the epicenter of an empire torn by conflicting forces: Engineers transform the landscape with bigger, faster, noisier, and dirtier technological wonders; Eugenicists develop specialist animals to provide unpaid labor; Libertines oppose repressive laws and demand a society based on beauty and creativity; while the Rakes push the boundaries of human behavior to the limits with magic, drugs, and anarchy. The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End. Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn't exist at all!

urban fiction

Reader’s Advisory Roundtable

February 12, 2020

Homewood Library

Urban Fiction

Mark your calendar for our next meeting on Wednesday, April 8th at 9am at the Irondale Library for a discussion of audiobooks.

Attendance:

Holley W – Emmet O’Neal Library

Samuel R – BPL Springville Road Library

Mary Anne E – BPL Central/Southern History 

Veronica C – Homewood Library

Laura T – Homewood Library

Judith W – Homewood Library

Leslie W – Homewood Library

Riana M – Pinson Library

Handout:
Leon, Aya de. “It's Time for Urban Fiction to Get Some Literary Respect.” CrimeReads, 3 July 2019, crimereads.com/its-time-for-urban-fiction-to-get-some-literary-respect/.

Uptown Thief (Justice Hustlers series) by Aya de León

In this sexy, heart-stopping tale, one smart, sizzling mami robs the rich and protects the exploited--until one heist too many puts everything at stake. . .

Marisol Rivera barely survived being abused with nowhere to turn. So there's nothing she won't do to keep her Lower East Side women's health clinic open and give disadvantaged women new lives. Running an exclusive escort service for New York City's rich and powerful 1% is the perfect way to bankroll her business--not to mention the perfect cover for robbing corrupt CEOs. And when times get even tougher, pulling a heist on a mega-billionaire will secure the clinic's future--and her gorgeous crew's--for good. . .

There's just one problem: Marisol didn't anticipate bad news even more dangerous than her curves. A seductive ex-cop who's too close for comfort, and a powerful thug with a score to settle, are turning Marisol's precise planning and seductive fail-safes into insidious traps. Now this beautiful modern-day Robin Hood will have to play some lethal wild cards without rules or limits to save those she loves--and live to steal another day. . .

Holley, Emmet O’Neal Library

The Heist 2 by Kiki Swinson and De’nesha Diamond

The Last Heist
 KIKI SWINSON
Shannon Marshall gambled that betraying her husband’s biggest heist ever was her way out of the game for good.  Losing that bet put her in lockdown—and at the top of Todd Marshall’s revenge-fueled hit list. Now she’ll work every seductive move and lethal play to survive. ’Cause when it comes to wreaking her own vengeance, this devious beauty isn’t taking any prisoners …

Caked Up
DE’NESHA DIAMOND
Harlem Banks already has twenty-five million reasons to break out of the federal pen. But saving his desperately ill daughter is at the top of his list, even as he’s racing his ex-partner-in-crime to his stashed loot … while U.S. Marshals are hot on his trail. His only chance is the one woman he can’t stop loving—even if she’s the one endgame he’ll never escape …

Samuel, Springville Road Library

The Demise of Alexis Vancamp by Karen Williams

Twenty-four-year-old Alexis Vancamp has the world at her feet. She is young, beautiful, educated and adored by her family, fiancé and friends.  Just when she thinks her life is set, in walks sexy, thugged-out Santana. A dangerous man with a dark secret, a past and a plan: To get Alexis under his thumb.  Despite the warnings from the people around her, Alexis finds herself drawn to this man, who is no good for her and leads her down a destructive path. To have him means to lose everything. None of this bothers Alexis as long as she has him in her world.  Santana turns her away from her family and friends. Alexis's sheltered life dissipates as she finds herself wrapped up in deceit, violence, lies and trouble with the law.  Despite losing almost everything, Alexis refuses to let Santana go.  A secret is revealed that will blow Alexis away. But will she let him go before it's too late?

Samuel, Springville Road Library

The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Renowned hip-hop artist, political activist, and bestselling author Sister Souljah brings the streets of New York to life in a powerful and utterly unforgettable first novel.

I came busting into the world during one of New York's worst snowstorms, so my mother named me Winter. Ghetto-born, Winter is the young, wealthy daughter of a prominent Brooklyn drug-dealing family. Quick-witted, sexy, and business-minded, she knows and loves the streets like the curves of her own body. But when a cold Winter wind blows her life in a direction she doesn't want to go, her street smarts and seductive skills are put to the test of a lifetime. Unwilling to lose, this ghetto girl will do anything to stay on top.

Riana, Pinson Library

Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles

An Indie Next List Pick!

In his first contemporary teen novel, critically acclaimed author and two-time Edgar Award finalist Lamar Giles spotlights the consequences of societal pressure, confronts toxic masculinity, and explores the complexity of what it means to be a “real man.”

Del has had a crush on Kiera Westing since kindergarten. And now, during their junior year, she’s finally available. So when Kiera volunteers for an opportunity at their church, Del’s right behind her. Though he quickly realizes he’s inadvertently signed up for a Purity Pledge.

His dad thinks his wires are crossed, and his best friend, Qwan, doesn’t believe any girl is worth the long game. But Del’s not about to lose his dream girl, and that’s where fellow pledger Jameer comes in. He can put in the good word. In exchange, Del just has to get answers to the Pledgers’ questions…about sex ed.

With other boys circling Kiera like sharks, Del needs to make his move fast. But as he plots and plans, he neglects to ask the most important question: What does Kiera want? He can’t think about that too much, though, because once he gets the girl, it’ll all sort itself out. Right?

Holley, Emmet O’Neal

POPULAR AUTHORS

Ashley (Antoinette) & JaQuavis (Coleman)

Zane

Sister Souljah

K’wan

Teri Woods

Wahida Clark

Nikki Turner

Carl Weber

Vickie Stringer

Omar Tyree

Deja King

Tracy Brown

Shannon Holmes

Eric Jerome Dickey

Treasure Hernandez

Keisha Ervin

Niobia Bryant

Toy Styles

Iceberg Slim

Mary B. Morrison

Sapphire

Roy Glenn

La Jill Hunt

Kimberla Lawson Roby

Coe Booth

Eric Pete

Nisa Santiago

Treasure E. Blue

Kashamba Williams

Mz Lady P

T. N. Baker

Relentless Aaron

Brenda Hampton

Earl Sewell

R.M. Johnson

Sharon G. Flake

Noire

Allison Hobbs

Jessica N. Watkins

Daaimah S. Poole

Erick S. Gray