An Eclectic Group of Recommendations:

Two Audiobooks, enjoyed on Hoopla. When traveling, you can’t beat renting a book from Hoopla for helping the miles fly by. Two movies, one available from SPLD and one rented from the vast array of movies available in the system. One Native American Novel which was recommended during a panel discussion at the Chicago Public Library, this title also available at our location.

Remarkably Bright Creatures | Shelby Van Pelt

Format: book, and also great on audio

Check it out in our online card catalog!

Summary: Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors–until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova

Recommendation: I highly recommend listening to this book in the audio format. The voice of Marcellus is intriguing and captivating. I listened to this book while traveling home from an art show in Canada this fall. I don’t normally enjoy fast food as I travel, but I wanted to keep listening and not take time to sit in a diner for dinner. So, I ended up with a drive-thru meal and sat at a road side rest area to continue listening to the story. I found this audiobook to be extremely entertaining.

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The Things We Cannot Say | Kelly Rimmer

Format: book, and also great on audio

Check it out in our online card catalog!

Summary: WWII Alina and Tomasz are childhood sweethearts. But when their village falls to the Nazis, Alina doesn’t know if Tomasz is alive or dead. Alice begins to uncover the story her grandmother is so desperate to tell. As a painful family history comes to light, will the struggles of the past and present finally reach a heartbreaking resolution?

Recommendation: In the audio format the narrators do an excellent job of representing the varied characters’ voices. Again, I LOVE hoopla when I travel. Listening to this audiobook on the road this fall brought the struggles of WWII into sharper focus. It transported me to the feelings I had during my international travels to Germany earlier this spring. I enjoyed the intrigue and content of this story. If you enjoy historical fiction from the WWII era, you may find this book a captivating read.

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Barbie | Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc

Format: movie

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Summary: Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.

Recommendation: Barbie the Movie. I’ll be honest, I had no desire to watch this movie until a friend of my son recommended it. I’m so glad I watched it. I enjoyed it more than I thought was possible, given the title and my personal feelings toward the Barbie franchise. The movie is fun, extremely colorful and an interesting spin on the societal constructs created in the contemporary world. It seems outrageous at times, but that’s only because it strikes a nerve of truth. I would recommend the movie for young adults to adults.

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Inhabitants – Documentary Film | Good Docs

Format: movie

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Summary: This feature documentary film follows five Native American communities as they restore their traditional land management practices in the face of a changing climate. For millennia Native Americans successfully stewarded and shaped their landscapes, but centuries of colonization have disrupted their ability to maintain these processes.

Recommendation: Traditional Native American Ecological knowledge (TEK) has far too long been considered the alternative to Scientific Ecological knowledge (SEK). This is unfortunate. In this documentary film it becomes clear TEK has been maintaining and adapting to planetary sustainability with proven successful results. Are you are interested in systems and procedures that can reduce climate changes and continued conflagration, while also addressing our diminished fresh water reserves and loss of biodiversity? This film shows how TEK can lead by partnership with the land. We need to listen, learn and implement their time tested ways before the world hits the rightly feared irreversible tipping point.

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There There | Tommy Orange

Check it out in our online card catalog!

Summary: This book is a relentlessly paced multigenerational story about violence and recovery, memory and identity, and the beauty of despair woven into the history of a nation and its people. Tommy Orange writes of the plight of the urban Native American, the Native American in the city, in a stunning novel that grapples with a complex and painful history. This debut novel is destined to become required reading in schools and universities across the country.

Recommendation: I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in 2023 on Native American Studies. I have focused mainly on environmental issues, but this novel caught my attention at a conference I attended. The book is written in an unfamiliar style, so it took a few chapters to gain momentum for me. However, when I let go of my preconceived expectations and allowed new perspectives to awaken my mind, I found it hard to put down. It helps to travel this road of inherit beauty and profound spirituality with these characters to understand the plague of addiction and abuse in the Native American communities. I now conceptualize the generational trauma endured by many Native Americans. This book may awaken your mind to Native Americans’ significant experiences and their narratives which deserve to be heard and appreciated.

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