Rediscover Books from the Bottom Shelf Display
Studies have shown that books at or around eye level circulate much more frequently than those both above and below them. Humans are creatures of convenience. Therefore, if we have the choice to bend down or grab something right in front of us, we're probably doing the latter. Since we can't just shift shelves around to our heart's content (imagine the chaos!), we decided to help out some of the ones from down under. This month you'll find a display of books that live on the very bottom shelf. Rediscover books from years past or find something new and exciting, the choice is yours—check these titles out today:
Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva was first published as La infancia del mundo and was translated to English by Rahul Bery. It's a great pick for anyone looking for climate fiction as we get closer to Earth Day. "A dystopian cyberpunk coming-of-age novel about a mutant mosquito-kid set in 2272 Argentina when all the ice caps have melted and mega-conglomerates rule the world with their virofinance--The protagonist of this story has no understanding of the words "winter","cold", or "snow" because he has never experienced the phenomena they describe. We find ourselves in Victorica, a province of La Pampa, Argentina, some time after 2197 - the year in which the last of the Antarctic icecaps melted and an unprecedented climate catastrophe ensued, radically transforming the landscape of the region into a Caribbean Pampas. It is here that the Dengue Child grows up, a mutant mix of child and mosquito, the result of crazy experimenting driven by ultra-capitalistic corporations racing against each other to own viruses and their cures, destroying even their very own children's existence to cash in on the stock exchange. Another of the surprising effects of the thaw is the appearance of powerful telepathic pebbles from the bowels of the earth that seem to encapsulate the world's original wisdom, and which are the subject of lucrative smuggling. Meanwhile, the wealthy of the region chose to cruise around on ships where they can experience ice-skating and hand carve ice from valuable remains of glaciers. In their ultra-air conditioned homes, their kids play Indians vs Christians, a brutal video game set in the historical 19th century."
If you ever feel like there's not enough books with mermaids, When the tides held the moon by Venessa Vida Kelley may be the pick for you. "Benigno "Benny" Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can't call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds everyone, especially the eccentric side-show proprietor who commissioned it. Benny's work earns him an invitation to join the show's eclectic crew of performers--his first welcome in the city--and share in their astonishing secret: the tank Benny built is a cage for their newest exhibit, a living, breathing, in-the-flesh merman stolen from the banks of the East River under a gleaming full moon. The merman is more than a mythic marvel, though. Benny comes to know Río as a clever philosopher, an observant traveler, and a kindred spirit more beautiful and compassionate than any human he's ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny's heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Río's captivity--and his own. A cage is no place for a merman to survive. Though releasing Río means betraying his new family, bankrupting their home, and losing his soulmate forever, Benny must look within for the courage to do what's right, and find a love strong enough to free them both."
I was drawn to Little Gods by the gorgeous cover. Meng Jin weaves an expansive exploration of the immigrant experience. "On the night of June Fourth, a woman gives birth in a Beijing hospital alone. Thus begins the unraveling of Su Lan, a brilliant physicist who until this moment has successfully erased her past, fighting what she calls the mind's arrow of time. When Su Lan dies unexpectedly seventeen years later, it is her daughter Liya who inherits the silences and contradictions of her life. Liya, who grew up in America, takes her mother's ashes to China--to her, an unknown country. In a territory inhabited by the ghosts of the living and the dead, Liya's memories are joined by those of two others: Zhu Wen, the woman last to know Su Lan before she left China, and Yongzong, the father Liya has never known. In this way a portrait of Su Lan emerges: an ambitious scientist, an ambivalent mother, and a woman whose relationship to her own past shapes and ultimately unmakes Liya's own sense of displacement."
You'll find these and other titles in our "Rediscover These Books" display. For additional title suggestions, see the lists below:
