Award Winners On Display At CDPL

Hello friends! As the Oscars approach, here at CDPL we thought “Why not also honor the best of the best books from 2021according to readers and critics?” So during the month of February, when you stop by, come to the second floor and find your next great read! Here are some highlights of what you will find.

If you are a non-fiction fan, Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson (070.92 Law) was the Goodreads Choice 2021 winner in the category of Humor. This is a special award as it’s given by readers just like you and me. Lawson is not a stranger to fame, her previous books Furiously Happy (921 Lawson, J.) and Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (818.6 Law) were also #1 New York Times bestsellers. In Broken, Lawson’s storytelling takes readers along her heartbreaking and hilarious journey on mental and physical health.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (921 Zauner, M.) was also a 2021 Goodreads award winner (Memoir and Autobiography). Zauner, a Korean American author and musician, discusses love and the loss of her mother as well as art and music, and her experiments with Korean cuisine as she honors the memory of her mother.

Les Payne and Tamara Payne’s book The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X (921 X. M) won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography as well as the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in 2021. Not to forget, this book also won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2020 amongst many other honors. The biography, based on hundreds of hours of interviews started in the 1990s, rewrites much of the known narrative on the life of Malcolm X. Interviews include all living siblings, classmates, friends, cellmates, and many others who had actually known this central figure to the African American freedom struggle.

For fiction lovers, The Last Thing He Told me: A Novel by Laura Dave (FIC Dav) won the Goodreads Award for Best Mystery & Thriller. The story follows the disappearance of Owen Michaels who leaves a two-word note to his wife before vanishing: “Protect her.” Hannah understands that the note refers to her 16-year-old stepdaughter Bailey. In trying to solve the mystery of Michael’s disappearance, Hannah and Bailey stumble into his mysterious past, and their unknown future as a family.

Next is a title that explores that weird gray area between friendship and true love. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (FIC Hen) was the winner of Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Romance. It follows the lives of best friends Poppy and Alex who, despite their differences and intricacies, every year take a one-week vacation together: “a glorious, uncomplicated, summer holiday.” But something happened during their last vacation and the relationship becomes complicated. Will they ever travel together again?

Finally, No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood (FIC Gya) is a title that will have you pondering about life and human connections. The novel was a finalist for the 2021 Booker Prize and was one of the New York Times’ 10 best books of 2021. The story revolves around a woman who is famous for her viral social media presence. As she travels around the world speaking to her fans, she feels overwhelmed by the internet – or “the portal” – as she calls it. As real-life collides with the portal, the woman starts to confront the complexities of a universe full of contradictions.

These insightful reads and many more can be found at CDPL on display on the second floor at the Reference & Local History Department. Come visit us and leave with a new story to enlighten and entertain you. Hope to see you soon!

Ivette de Assis-Wilson is the Head of Reference and Local History at CDPL