Tessa Fox Reads
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Me

Book review: 'The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry' by Gabrielle Zevin

8/19/2015

0 Comments

 
“You know everything you need to know about a person from the answer to the question, 'What is your favorite book?'"  ― The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

It's quotes like that one that make The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry so beloved and memorable. Like any good bibliophile, I can't pass up a book about books, but this one is unlike any other I have ever read. 
Picture

I give this book:
★★★★★

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry introduces you to a grieving (in the form of grumpy) independent bookstore owner named – you got it – A.J. Fikry. After the death of his wife, A.J. has no real interest in doing anything besides working in his store, getting drunk off cheap wine and surviving on microwaveable meals. When one of his most valuable books goes missing, A.J. pretty much gives up hope for a happy ending ... that is, until a small and very surprising gift is left for him in the bookstore and changes his life forever.

With foreshadowing that is so subtle you almost can't notice it, the pages of the book follow A.J.'s life along with a few other key people on Alice Island, including a determined sales rep, a friendly police chief, an adulterous author and more. Like most books that I find myself connected to, this story unfolds much like that of life – one event at a time and somehow also all at once.

Complete with a booklist of it's own, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry covers a lot of literary ground. Just when you think you know where the story is going – just when your attention is focused on one aspect of the story – author Gabrielle Zevin mixes things up. It is this lifelike unpredictability that  makes the work such a wonder.
While it may seem a bit redundant or obvious, I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read. After all, it's really A.J.'s connection to the written word that draws you into the story and keeps you there –at least it sure did for me.

“The words you can’t find, you borrow. We read to know we’re not alone. We read because we are alone. We read and we are not alone. We are not alone. My life is in these books, he wants to tell her. Read these and know my heart. We are not quite novels. The analogy he is looking for is almost there. We are not quite short stories. At this point, his life is seeming closest to that. In the end, we are collected works.” ― The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
0 Comments

Libraries and social justice: Ferguson one year later

8/12/2015

0 Comments

 
Just over a year ago, the small town of Ferguson, Mo. was rocked by the shooting of Michael Brown. More than 365 days later, the community is still attempting to heal. At the center of that peace-seeking effort is the Ferguson Municipal Public Library and its director, Scott Bonner.
Since Brown's death in 2014, the library has transformed to fulfill many of the town's essential needs. It became an educational safe haven when local schools were closed due to the riots after the grand jury's ruling. The library also became an office for local businesses and a meeting space for anyone who needed it. Bonner and his team stepped up to serve the needs of their community the best way they could: by being librarians.

According to an article in American Libraries Magazine, "Bonner discussed modifying library policies to account for the changing needs of the area. The library even acted as an art gallery, being one of 14 venues that participated in the Alliance of Black Art Galleries’ 'Hands Up, Don’t Shoot: Artists Respond,' an art exhibition that featured more than 100 artists and ran from October 17 – December 20, 2014."
Picture
"Hands Up, Don’t Shoot" Quilt by Heidi Lung on the wall of the Ferguson Municipal Public Library. Photo credit: Willie Miller/American Libraries Magazine.
When the shooting happened just over a year ago, Bonner had only been in his position as director for five short weeks. In a recent interview with American Libraries Magazine, he discussed how the library has changed since Brown's death:

"We are far, far more programming-oriented. I knew when I took this job that I was going to try to make the library more responsive to the community. I didn’t know we would have to do it at lightning speed. It was a big shift from what the library did previously. When I started, there was no programming on the schedule. The previous director had watched her budget drop from $600,000 in 2008 to $400,000 in 2012, so she pulled back a lot on library hours and programming, like so many libraries have had to,"  – Scott Bonner

Thanks in large part to a flood of donations, increased funding allowed the library to start to address important issues through its programming, including the creation a teen newspaper, STEM/STEAM learning, and discussions about social justice and equality. Bonner told American Libraries Magazine:

Picture
Director Scott Bonner. Image via Library Journal.
"We still have healing kits [backpacks stuffed with a stuffed animal, children’s books about healing, and information about mental health resources; patrons check out the kits, return the books and the backpack, and keep the rest]. We just had a big box of stuffed animals donated for those. And our Readings on Race book club is doing really well. It was started by community member Carla Fletcher. She wanted to find ways for people to stop talking past one another on race issues, and help people find a common vocabulary. They meet once a month, and we usually have a diverse group of about 20 people show up. In my experience, that’s a really good turnout for a small library book club,"

                                             –
Scott Bonner

When asked how the past year changed his perception of the Ferguson community and the library’s role in it, Bonner told American Libraries Magazine, "It has magnified my existing perception of what libraries are for and what they can do in a community. It’s given me a chance to take the community library idea and try it in hyperdrive."

Bonner and the rest of the staff at the Ferguson Municipal Public Library have proven just how important local libraries are to their communities. Public libraries are far more than book-lending institutions filled with old ladies saying "Shh." Instead, libraries are at the center of their communities and their staff members work effortlessly to unify, unite and better the people they serve.

0 Comments

Book review: 'Fangirl' by Rainbow Rowell

7/28/2015

0 Comments

 
One of my favorite things about reading is finding an author who just ~gets you!~ They know what you like, and they deliver. Cue Rainbow Rowell – who I will refer to simply as Rainbow because we're totally on a first name basis and it's just a cute freakin' name.

I've read a couple of Rainbow's books now, including Landline and Eleanor & Park, and I recently finished Fangirl just before starting up Attachments. Can you tell I like her work? One of the things I enjoy so much about Rainbow's writing is how real it is. How you can't help but feel like you know her characters on an intimate level. Like you know their whole lives, not just the parts covered in 200 or so pages. There's a strong sense of reality in her works of fiction that is missing in many other books.
With Fangirl, I found myself relating to the book's main character, Cath, in a variety of ways: we both love to write, wear glasses and can get entirely too caught up in works of fiction. Not to mention how talented Cath (in the form of Rainbow) is at noticing/obsessing over the small details about other people's appearances – mainly boys'.

As an incoming college freshman, Cath is also Internet famous for the Simon Snow fanfiction she writes. Simon Snow is a made up book series within the Fangirl story, and is basically a Harry Potter and Twilight hybrid. For this reason, some readers bash Fangirl, but I think it just makes Cath's obsession with a fictional world that much more relatable and acceptable. 

While adjusting to college life, Cath also must come to terms with the ever-growing distance between her and her twin sister, Wren; her manic father and estranged biological mother; a new roommate and *gasp* a new love interest, Levi (who may be one of the most adorable fictitious characters I've ever "met"). Not to mention impending release of the final book in the Simon Snow series . . .
Picture

I give this book:
★★★★★

“The whole point of fanfiction is that you get to play inside somebody else's universe. Rewrite the rules. Or bend them. The story doesn't have to end. You can stay in this world, this world you love, as long as you want, as long as you keep thinking of new stories,”  ― Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl
There is nothing crazy or overly dramatic about this plot, like many of those in Rainbow's books. Instead, her stories are much more like life: chugging along until a few major moments shape what comes next.
As one Goodreads reviewer so aptly put it: "Whether you find yourself in the insecure girl who's afraid of life; the happy-go-lucky guy always ready with a smile; the self-centered sister; the deceitful friend; the emotionally disabled dad; the outspoken, honest roommate; the talented but uncertain writer; the intellectual or the one who falls short; the life of the party or the one hiding in the shadows — there are bits and pieces of everyone scattered throughout this story; representing all the highs and lows that make us exactly who we are." 

I recommend Fangirl (and any of Rainbow's books) to anyone who is looking to get caught up in someone else's story, and to anyone who wants to smile and laugh out loud while flipping through the pages.

0 Comments

Tessa Fox Reads launches new Tumblr account

12/8/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Since launching this website more than two months ago, I've run into a bit of a problem. I've been seeing so many great book-related images that I want to share with the internet, but these images didn't necessarily warrant a blog post. That's where Tumblr comes in.

I first started using Tumblr at the end of high school, but never really got serious about it until 2012 when I became the Wisconsin representative of The Washington Post project, The 12. The 12 used Tumblr as an online platform to share and discuss local and national elections in 2012, using 12 college representatives from swing states across the country.

After the election ended, I let Tumblr sort of fall off my online activity radar – that is, until now.

I've recently made a Tessa Fox Reads Tumblr account which will allow me to curate and share endless images of bookshelves and libraries, inspirational quotes from authors and much more. If you have a Tumblr account, be sure to follow my blog. Not a Tumblr user? Don't worry. My posts will show up in my Twitter feed.

Thanks for checking it out! Happy Tumbling! 
Picture
0 Comments

A must-read Halloween story for any age

10/30/2014

0 Comments

 

"What is Halloween? How did it start? Where? Why? What for? Witches, mummy dusts, haunts. It's all there in that county from which no one returns. Will you dive into the dark ocean, boys? Will you fly in the dark sky?" 
  – Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree

My favorite season is autumn, my favorite holiday is Halloween and one of my favorite authors is Ray Bradbury. What better way to celebrate this time of year by combining the three? 

I seem to find myself reading a lot of Bradbury as of late. Most people know the man for his highly acclaimed book, Fahrenheit 451, but I much prefer his lesser-known stories. Earlier this week I closed the last page of From the Dust Returned, and I immediately picked up The Halloween Tree – one of my favorite stories since I was a child.

I grew up watching the animated version of The Halloween Tree, and it was easily one of my most-played VHS tapes (after all, I watched and re-watched it no matter what time of year it was).
I think the reason I loved the movie so much was how effortlessly it captured the spirit of Halloween, especially for a child growing up in the Midwest. And the book? Why, the book does the same, but even more successfully.

If you are unfamiliar with the story, The Halloween Tree is a tale of eight trick-or-treaters who gather at a haunted house near the edge of town looking for a spooky adventure. But when their friend Joe Pipkin, "the greatest boy who ever lived," is surprisingly absent from the festivities, the boys must venture through time and space to look for their friend and discover the true meaning of All Hallows' Eve.

As their sinister guide, Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud, whisks them around the globe in search of Pipkin, the boys learn how Halloween was celebrated around the world since the beginning of mankind.
Picture
Despite being somewhat of a forgot work of Bradbury's, The Halloween Tree is what made him one of my favorite authors. His singsongy prose and seemingly endless sentences transport you to that "small town by a small river and a small lake in a small northern part of a Midwest state," mentioned in the book. His words make you feel like one of the youngsters dressed up in Halloween garb, running through the streets with a crisp, autumnal breeze lapping at your heels as you sprint from door to door, yelling "Trick or treat!"
Maybe one of the reasons I love Halloween the most, is because it feels like one big contradiction. It makes me feel more aware of the unknown, while somehow simultaneously exuding a sense of familiarity. I'm scared just as much as I'm comforted. I'm here, but I'm also there. 

And so goes the story of the children in The Halloween Tree. Will the gang find their beloved Pip before it's too late? Where will they find him? And when?
0 Comments

More than just words: Thoughts beyond the quotations

10/8/2014

0 Comments

 
There's a lot you can learn from books, and there may be even more you can learn from their authors. But because of the magic of storytelling, there is a slight disconnect between an author as a human and an author as a creator. 

Forgive me if that sounds confusing. I guess what I mean is, it's sometimes hard to image what a writer is actually like beyond pages and pages of carefully crafted words. It's even more difficult to get a glimpse at who they really are.

Luckily for bookworms like me, there is documentation of very excellent book-related quotes from some of history's greatest which I believe get to the root of who their speakers were as people. Here are a few of my favorites I would like to share with you:
"You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me,"
– C.S. Lewis
I wish I could take credit for this quote, because it's totally me in a nutshell. What I think C.S. Lewis is really getting at here though, is how the desire for reading and knowledge is like that of an unquenchable thirst. The comfort of a good book, much like a good cup of tea, is something to be sipped, tasted and enjoyed. Literature is something that can warm you entirely – body, soul and mind. And for those who have different tastes, a multitude of flavors exist, just waiting to be sampled.
"If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads,"
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
We could also encounter a woman of rare intellect, but I get what you're saying, Emerson. The sort of books people read (let alone, write) reflect a lot about who they are and are not.
"A house without books is like a room without windows,"
– Horace Mann
Books are absolutely like windows, much more so than doors. Doors can be locked, and you may never know what's on the other side. Windows can be locked too, but even when they are, you can still see the beauty and magic beyond them. Open a window, and just like with a book, you'll get a breath of fresh air.
"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child,"
– Dr. Seuss
If there was only one thing I could change about society, it would be for everyone to read to their children. Don't have kids? Read to somebody else's. A passion for reading is so much more than that. It's a passion for learning, for adventure, for discovering something new. Instilling that desire in every child would solve so many of the world's problems. And above all else, that is the reason I want to become a public librarian.

What are some of your favorite author quotes? Tweet to me @TessaFoxReads or leave a comment below!
0 Comments

    Author

    Tessa Fox is the Early Literacy Librarian at the Kenosha Public Library. After working in the journalism and publishing fields, Tessa decided to dedicate her life to books and public librarianship, and went back to school to get her Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she graduated in December 2016. Tessa has been working in public libraries since 2014. Disclaimer: The views expressed here are mine alone and do not reflect those of my employer.


    Connect with me online!

    Picture

    Picture
    Picture

    Picture

    Tweets by @TessaFoxReads

    Archives

    April 2020
    December 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    July 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014


    Categories

    All
    Adult
    Audiobooks
    Banned Books
    Best Picture Books Of The Year
    Book Contests
    Book Crafts
    Book Displays
    Book Lists
    Book News
    Book Reviews
    Books
    Bookshelves
    Bookstores
    Booktalking
    Book Trivia
    Children
    Children's Books
    Community Library
    Diversity And Inclusion
    DIY
    Fantasy
    Favorite Books
    Feminism
    Fiction
    Girl Power Books
    Halloween
    Historical Fiction
    Horror
    Humor
    Kenosha
    Kenosha Public Library
    Librarian
    Librarianship
    Libraries Now A Day In The Life
    Library
    Library And Information Science
    Library Contests
    Library Ideas
    Library Internships
    Library News
    Library Programs
    Mainstream Fiction
    Mike De Sisti
    Milwaukee
    Milwaukee Public Library
    MLIS
    Mobile Libraries
    Movies
    MPL Express
    Mystery
    Nonfiction
    Personal
    Picture Books
    Poetry
    Politics
    Public Library
    Quotations
    Reading
    Refurbished Furniture
    Representation
    Romance
    Science Fiction
    Sci-Fi
    Seasonal
    Self-publishing
    Social Media
    South Milwaukee Public Library
    Storytime
    Summer Reading Programs
    Technology
    Television
    The Journal Sentinel
    Thriller
    UWM Grad School
    UWM School Of Information Studies
    Video
    Webinars
    Western
    What I'm Reading
    Why Books Matter
    Why Libraries Matter
    Women's Fiction
    Writing
    Young Adult
    Youth Services

    RSS Feed