Your insider's guide to the items our librarians are loving or in some cases - not loving - at the moment.

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Staff Reviews

New Books This Month

September Spotlight

Hello, Americantowns!
When you were a child, did you ever read one of those “choose your own adventure” books? Each book enables you to choose multiple storylines for the main characters. Want to go explore the woods? Turn to page 33. If you prefer opening the mysterious package, turn to page 35. Either way, you were sure to end up with a fun-filled read.   

It occurred to us that libraries are an adult version of a “choose your own adventure” read. Walk through the aisles and you have the chance to get lost in a faraway land, travel to a different time, meet new friends in the pages of a book, or find solace through someone else’s experience. You can learn new skills, explore hobbies, discover information, and find inspiration. Libraries are not only an adventure waiting to happen but also a window into a whole new world. 

September is National Library Card Sign-Up month. We invite you to encourage your friends and neighbors to sign up for a Darien Library card, so they can join the adventure waiting for them here at the Library. 

Here’s what our librarians are reading and recommending this month!

Staff Reviews

If Hamnet, winner of the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award wasn’t enough of a tour de force, O’Farrell has done it again with her newest title, The Marriage Portrait. Set in Renaissance Italy, O’Farrell has fictionalized the all too brief and little known life of Lucrezia de’Medici, daughter of a noble Florentine family, and much later, the subject of Robert Brownings’ famous poem, “My Last Duchess.”

Read Pat S's full review or place hold

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain is a delightful, heartwarming novel of reckoning with the past in an attempt to ensure a meaningful future. Albert’s quiet, introverted life working as a “postie” in a small English village is upended when he is informed that he will be forced into retirement on his sixty-fifth birthday – literally a few months away.

Albert must rethink his purpose if he no longer has a job that connects him to the world.

Read Colleen's full review or place hold

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak tells of forbidden love on the war-torn island nation of Cyprus. Starting in 2010 London, we meet teenaged Ada as she is reeling from the death of her mother, Defne. Kostas, her father, copes by immersing himself in work and caring for a young fig tree.

The novel jumps to 1970s Cyprus amid political upheaval where we find Ada’s parents as teenagers in love.

Read Joanne's full review or place hold

If you love tropical destinations, bantering, and enemies-to-lovers tropes, read The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren!

Twin sisters Olive and Ami are identical, except for one thing: Olive is unlucky and Ami is lucky. After winning a series of contests, Ami's wedding and honeymoon are practically free. Meanwhile, Olive spends the entire day with a man she hates: Ethan, the best man.

Read Kristen H's full review or place hold 

Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series is widely considered one of the best comic series of all time – and for good reason. Gaiman is a masterful storyteller with an expansive knowledge of new and ancient folklore and mythology. He builds worlds where that mythology, religion, superstition, and fantasy collide. Our protagonist, Dream, is a member of The Endless, a group of beings with unfathomable powers sought after by greedy humans.
Read Brittany's full review or place hold 

View September New Releases

September's Spotlight:

We are celebrating our freedom to read during Banned Books Week from September 18th – 24th. Browse some of our favorite historically challenged or banned books that we are free to read here at the Library.

Thursday, September 15th marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, which celebrates the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. One of the easy ways to participate in this heritage month is to dive into the rich history of the more than 60 million Americans who honor their Hispanic and Latinx heritage.

Check out a museum pass and enjoy the beautiful fall weather with a trip to the Beardsley Zoo or the New York Botanical Gardens.