Staff Reviews: For Adults
Check out these reviews written by the staff of the Marathon County Public Library, featuring books DVDs for adults! (For reviews of books for all ages, visit our main Staff Reviews webpage.) Staff book reviews are also published at Goodreads.com; follow us for the latest updates. The book reviews on this website represent the personal opinions of the individuals who created them and do not represent any official views of the Marathon County Public Library.
"The Art of Racing in the Rain"
Enzo loves his family, and loves car racing nearly as much. It just so happens that Enzo is also a dog. This is the story of Enzo reflecting back on his family, and how he sees the world, during his last moments on Earth. Does he want thumbs just like humans? Yes. Can he bark two times to tell Denny, his owner, to drive faster? Yes...
"Grave's End"
This book is an account of the actual terrors the author and her family experienced while living in a home they bought in Brooklyn New York. While I can’t say that the story is incredibly well-written, the fear that was felt is credible, even to someone that doesn’t believe in the paranormal. I found myself not reading it at night, as I usually do....
Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction, Horror
"Red, White & Royal Blue"
Alex Claremont-Diaz is like American royalty. His mom, Ellen, is the first female President of the United States and he aspires to follow in her political footsteps one day and also become prez. During his time in the White House, Alex has had a not-so-secret rivalry with Henry, the Prince of England. Alex has always thought of Henry as being spoiled,...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Romance
"Daisy Jones & The Six"
Classic rock bands from the 1970s and 80s are known for great music that defined a generation. But part of what also made them famous – and perhaps even inspired some of their greatest hits – were the bands’ interpersonal relationships. Groups like Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, and Jefferson Starship were subject to infighting, firing and hiring band members,...
"Lock Every Door"
One thing New York City is known for is the exorbitant cost of rent and real estate. So when twentysomething Jules loses her job and breaks up with her cheating boyfriend all in the same day, she is instantly in need of money and a place to stay. Jules answers an ad looking for someone to live rent-free at the Bartholomew – an elite, historic and...
"Furious Hours"
Author Casey Cep takes a page out of Harper Lee's book to recreate her own fact-checking non-fiction title. The book starts out by detailing the tale of Reverend Willie Maxwell, a man accused of murdering multiple family members in order to claim insurance policies he held in their names. This causes quite the stir as the public starts to believe Maxwell to...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, True Crime
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
Order and routine are the two main tenets that keep the Salem State Hospital running smoothly. Under the strict control of Nurse Ratched, members of the ward (comprised of “acutes” and “chronics”) have a set schedule, know their limitations, and stick to the rules. That is, until R.P. McMurphy arrives.
McMurphy is an unruly, insubordinate inmate...
"Ladies Who Punch"
The View has been a staple of daytime television for more than 20 years. Since debuting in the summer of 1997, the show has seen 23 co-hosts come and go, and has had its fair share of high-profile arguments and controversies. For creator and executive producer Barbara Walters, the show started as a labor of love. For years leading up to the...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction, Celebrities
"Maybe You Should Talk to Someone"
For most people, a breakup can be a difficult life event to process. Sometimes, it can even cause folks to seek out help in the form of talk therapy. But what if you’re a therapist and you’re the one who’s being broken up with?
As a therapist, Lori Gottlieb has helped clients with a myriad of problems, from cheating spouses to adults who were abused or...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction, Self-Help
"Ben is Back"
It’s Christmas Eve in upstate New York, and the last thing Holly (Julia Roberts) expects to see is her son, Ben (Lucas Hedges). Why? Because for the past several months, Ben has been to rehab and then gone to live in a sober living house as he battles an opioid addiction. Though she’s ecstatic to see Ben, Holly is also skeptical, wondering if he is well...
"The Night Visitors"
Alice, desperately fleeing an abusive relationship, finds herself and 10 year-old Oren getting off a bus in the midst of a snowstorm, relying on the help of strangers to protect them. Mattie, the social worker who collects them, ends up breaking protocol and bringing them to her house in the middle of the woods instead of the local shelter. She tells them...
"What the Health"
Based on the Netflix documentary of the same name, this is an absolute must read for anyone looking for the truth behind the Standard American Diet and information on what the healthiest way of eating actually is. Backed by scientific studies and packed with recipes, this is an eye-opening resource for anyone looking to take control of their health. As...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction
"Free Solo"
Alex Honnold is one of the rare, lucky people in this world who have managed to translate a beloved passion and hobby into a full-time career. As a professional rock climber, he has traveled all around the world, climbing mountain sides, boulders and cliffs in places like Borneo, Patagonia and Chad. But Honnold's way of climbing is a bit more...
"I Owe You One"
Fixie Farr is the youngest of the Farr family, helps to keep their family shop a success, and lives by the family motto of "family first" to a fault. Fixie and her siblings are charged with the task of keeping the family shop in good working order when her mother takes a holiday in Spain. It should be easy, but in reality her...
"Freak Kingdom"
Hunter S. Thompson was an American journalist who wrote for Rolling Stone and other magazines, and is best known for this books Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. He was one of the pioneers of an immersive style of journalism in which he inserted himself into the events around him and included his own...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction, Biography
"This Is How It Always Is"
Rosie and Penn are a happily married couple living just outside Madison with a house full of delightfully eccentric sons (four, to be exact). In hopes of having a daughter, the two decide to have one more child, which turns out to be…another boy, whom they name Claude.
But around the time he starts kindergarten, Claude begins to question his gender...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
"The Last One"
Imagine being a contestant of a survival type of reality television show. Now imagine a world that encounters a deadly virus that wipes out much of the Earth's population the same time you become a contestant of a survival reality show. That is the exact scenario that the author of The Last One has conjured up.
The story starts out...
"My Struggle, Book 1"
My Struggle is a very serious book; if you couldn’t guess as much from the title, you will find out from the first pages of book one, which are a reflection on death. The author returns to this theme of death—specifically the death of his father—throughout the book in seamless passages, recollections that touch on his childhood, his adolescence, and his...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction
"Beartown"
Team sports can be important to a small town. In the case of Beartown, a tiny, rural town in Sweden, that sport is hockey. Boys begin skating almost as soon as they can walk, and the townspeople look at the sport as a source of pride, validation and opportunity.
Beartown follows around fifteen different characters, who all have ties to the town’s beloved...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
"The Winters"
In this modern-day telling of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, a young woman moves into a lovely estate in the Hamptons with her new fiancé. Max Winter is a wealthy politician and widower: his wife Rebekah is recently deceased. After a whirlwind romance on a boat, Max welcomes his new fianceé to his lavish estate, Asherley, and introduces her to...
"Baby Teeth"
How would you react if your first-grader was trying to kill you? Would you try to appeal to her with unconditional love, or would you protect yourself and wish for her to disappear from your life? That’s the dilemma stay-at-home mom Suzette finds herself in in Baby Teeth.
To put it mildly, Suzette has a rocky relationship with her seven year-old daughter...
"The Travel Atlas"
If you love to travel the world, you will love this book! This travel atlas covers the entire globe, providing highlights for each country or region, along with sample itineraries to help jump start a trip. As an atlas, there are maps and pictures provided for a reference point as you go through the book. I found the book to be half...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction
"Elevation"
"Elevation" was my very first Stephen King novel due to the fact that I had heard a lot of buzz surrounding this book. In this story we meet Scott Carey, who seems to be in a predicament. He keeps losing pounds on the scale; however, his body composition never changes. It seems that no matter how much he eats or wears, Scott simply cannot stop losing...
"Less"
Arthur Less no longer wants to be in love. On the verge of turning 50, Less is a mildly successful author who has spent a large chunk of his adult life in relationships, only to get burned in the end. His book publisher also has passed on his most recent manuscript, putting him at a unique crossroads in his life.
To avoid attending the wedding of Freddy...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
"Delish: Eat Like Every Day's the Weekend"
Total honesty? I judged his book by it's delicious looking cover and boy am I glad that I did! I had never heard of the online sensation that is Delish, but will now start to follow them on social media. Their recipes don't cater to a special diet, nor do they require special skills in the kitchen. All of the ingredients are easy to...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Nonfiction
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