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ReadME 2022

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Read ME is a statewide summer reading experience presented by the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine State Library. Every summer, Read ME gets Maine adults all reading two books recommended by a well-known Maine author. This coming summer, recommending author Christina Baker Kline has chosen Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran and Beneficence by Meredith Hall.

For more information, and a list of statewide events, click here.

Sigh, Gone was one of our book club selections for Readers’ Circle, and we hosted Phuc Tran in June 2021. You can watch his book talk here:

Author Phuc Tran Q&A with Readers Circle, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth, ME, 6/3/2021

Look what I talked Miss Mary into!

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by Elsa Rowe

If you have ever said to me that you like science fiction, I can say with 100% certainty that I’ve recommended the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. It’s a series of doorstop sized books, so few have taken me up on that. However, I am thrilled to announce that Miss Mary, who is more of a fantasy reader, is currently reading and enjoying these books. Woo hoo!

So, what’s the story? It’s a dystopian world, because of course it is. The first book was published in 2014, when dystopian fiction was at its peak.
From our library catalog, “Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow and Reds like him, are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.”
Reasons that I like it: interesting characters with diverse perspectives on life and their places in it. A hero who is incredibly heroic and willing to do anything to make society better and more just. And finally, oddly, there is quite a large amount of military strategy. I never would have thought I’d find that interesting, but in this series it is fascinating. It is also a well-written page turner.

Reasons why Mary is liking it: To quote, “Darrow always has an Ace up his sleeve” and the continuing contrast between leaders with grit and leaders with vision.

This show is old news to many, but it’s new to me.

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I have an old love for cozy mysteries, both in print and on the screen. With pandemic-style binge watching, I’ve made it through every version of every Agatha Christie adaptation (and named a kitten Arthur Hastings after Poirot’s loyal friend), I watched some murder mysteries that were a little heavy on the gore, and some that were a little creepy, and thanks to my library pals I have a new-to-me show that isn’t gory or creepy. I’m talking about Death in Paradise, which has 10 seasons available through the library! Perfect for those of us who don’t want to decide what to watch next.

Death in Paradise is a classic “Fish out of Water” scenario, with an uptight British police detective stationed in the fictional Caribbean island of Saint-Marie, with lots of charismatic characters, and an actor from Red Dwarf, much to the delight of my children. One critical review calls it, “unremarkable” and “an undemanding detective show, with nice Caribbean scenery.”

Right now, that is exactly what I want, and maybe it is for you too.

-Elsa Rowe

A Tiny Taste of Africanfuturism

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A short novel I recently read and loved is Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor. She also wrote Binti, which I know many people love, but I haven’t gotten to yet, and many other books. Right after I read Remote Control, we got a copy of Sankofa, which is the name of the main character (and by a completely different author, Chibundu Onuzo). It’s funny to me how often a new-to-me word or concept suddenly seems to be everywhere once I’m aware of it. Sankofa means “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind” according to The Power of Sankofa: Know History. That’s a definition to think about, which clearly Okorafor did because it permeates this book.

In Remote Control, a young girl named Fatima suffers horribly, forgets her name, renames herself Sankofa, and becomes a figure of Death. She can destroy whole cities, but also use her death power to ease suffering. This book is about her journey chasing a stolen, and then lost, object, while also chasing down her lost identity and forging a new one. It’s a short book, but it stuck with me and left me with a lot to think about.

-Elsa Rowe