Barb Gross

This is Barb Gross with the Sioux City Public Library, and you’re listening to “Check it Out.” 

Today, I’m recommending The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, an author you may remember for Station Eleven, the post apocalyptic novel that soared to the top of critics’ lists when it came out in 2014. In her new work, Mandel goes off in an entirely new direction, but with the same haunting intensity and intricate, interlocking characters and plot lines. 

This is Barb Gross with the Sioux City Public Library, and you’re listening to “Check it Out.” As a new year’s resolution – which now seems like a lifetime ago – a friend and I began a quest to read two books each month written by African American authors. By reading more diversely, we hope to increase our empathy for the experiences of black people in America. Little did we know how important this reading would be now. 

Support for Check It Out comes from Avery Brothers.

Support for Check It Out comes from Avery Brothers.

Support for Check It Out comes from Avery Brothers. 

This is Barb Gross with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check it Out.  Today I’m recommending “There There,” a vivid and moving debut novel by Tommy Orange. It was included in best-of-2018 fiction lists from the New York Times, NPR, and Publisher’s Weekly, to mention a few.