Blog Entries

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
By Lisa See
Adult Fiction

 

Good historical fiction can transport you to another culture and time with the turn of a page, and Lisa See’s Lady Tan’s Circle of Women did just that. I was captivated by how easily See submerges us into the setting and ethos of Ancient China. Our main character is Tan Yunxian, a bold girl from the Ming dynasty and raised by her grandparents. Though she is born into an elite family of tradition, Yunxian’s grandmother teaches her to break these barriers and become more than what tradition has defin...

The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County
By Claire Swinarski
Adult Fiction

This atmospheric novel revolves around two families in small town Northwoods Wisconsin. Based on the title and cover, I was expecting a cozy read, but Swinarski took her characters into some deeper and darker territory than I was expecting.

Whenever there is a funeral at St. Anne’s parish in Ellerie, the funeral ladies cook up a storm. They believe that grieving families shouldn’t have to worry about cooking, so they load mourners up with enough food for the bereavement dinner and days a...

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

By David Grann
Adult NonFiction

I was excited to read David Grann’s The Wager, but I was especially excited when I discovered I could snag an e-audiobook copy from Libby. As far as research goes, this book was researched flawlessly. It’s packed with 1700s history, but never once felt heavy or dry with information. Grann gives us the voyage of the Wager: how this beast of a ship and its crew traveled the Drake Passage, how it endlessly endured until its very last demise. We see the characters come to li...

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide 

By Rupert Holmes
Adult Fiction

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes takes readers on a thrilling journey back to the 1950s, where a prestigious college for aspiring murderers sets the stage for intrigue and dark humor. Step into the halls of The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, a luxurious institution shrouded in secrecy, where students learn the fine art of dispatching their deserving targets.  

In this retro setting, Holmes crafts a ...

April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate, the Public Libraries of Saginaw is welcoming you to submit to our Poetry Contest! Whether you write in rhyme, converse in couplets, scrawl in sonnets or frolic with free verse, we want to see  your best work!

Teens (ages 13-17) and Adults (18+) can submit their work to https://saginawlibrary.librariesshare.com/saginawpoetry between April 1-30. Winners will be selected by judges Colleen Alles and Maureen Hart from the Friends of Roethke.

Poetry submissions will only be accepted online.ONE POEM PER PERSON may be submitt...

Our Bookmobile is on the move, bringing mobile services to partner agencies all around Saginaw! And we're currently looking to add more stops to our regular routes.

Bookmobile stops are scheduled once a month and typically last an hour, during which patrons can sign up for a library card, check out books and Chromebooks, get help accessing the library’s ebook collections and return library materials.

Unlike Bookmobiles of the past, the current Public Libraries of Saginaw Mobile Outreach Vehicle is designed to transport books but not be a self-contained unit. “Setting up ...

Remarkably Bright Creatures
by Shelby Van Pelt
Adult Fiction

This debut novel from Shelby Van Pelt is a beautiful story, full of feel-good moments and a whole lot of life lessons. The story is alluringly sensitive, building on your heart piece by piece. The narration is partially given from a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus McSquiddles. Through his perspective we see real human feeling, emotion and even some mischief (the octopus can pick locks, sneak out of his tank, and go for late night snack runs…all amazing and hilarious).

In another central pers...

The Seven Year Slip
By Ashley Poston
Adult Fiction

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston was one of my favorite reads of 2022, so I was hoping for good things from her follow-up. I was not disappointed in this story of time slips and second chances.

Clementine always had a special bond with her artistic Aunt Analea. When the two of them weren’t off exploring the world together, Clementine spent a lot of time at Analea’s magical New York City apartment. Sometimes, one could walk in the door and slip into a moment seven years in the past, but Analea always wa...

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Honestly, it was the cover of Jenny Jackson’s debut novel Pineapple Street that captured me initially. It had a Great Gatsby feel and, from the first couple of pages, I could tell it was a very character-driven story. The characters weren’t ones I expected though. In fact, they were kind of annoying. Why did you keep reading? Well, the characters were so laughable, so totally not-relatable (except to maybe the wealthiest of New York City), that my reading journey felt like an escapist funhouse. I couldn’t put the book down.

In Pineapple ...

The Peacekeeper by B.L. Blanchard

In this alternate history, the Great Lakes region is part of an independent Ojibwe nation that was never colonized by Europeans. The peacekeeper of the title is Chibenashi, a lawman who has lived in the village of Baawitigong (which we know better as Sault Ste. Marie) his entire life.

Keeping the peace in Baawitigong usually isn’t a very strenuous job, but when a brutal murder occurs, the horror seems all too familiar to Chibenashi. When he was a teenager, his mother was killed in a very similar way. His family was further torn apart whe...

In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas

In the years before the American Civil War, Canada became a place of safety for formerly enslaved people who could reach its shores. There, refugees settled in communities like Buxton, Ontario and the fictional town of Dunmore, which sits on the northern coastline of Lake Erie and serves as the setting for Kai Thomas’s first novel.

One evening in 1859, the peace of Dunmore is disturbed when a bounty hunter turns up looking for a group of recent arrivals from Kentucky. During his attempted abduction, he is shot and killed with his own ri...

Verity by Colleen Hoover

The story starts with struggling writer, Lowen, who was hired to complete the remaining books of successful writer, Verity, who cannot communicate and is confined to her bed due to an “accident”. She is invited to stay with Verity and her husband, Jeremy, at their creepy mansion, so she can get into the headspace of the famous writer.  

She stumbles upon a hidden memoir written by Verity about her life as a wife and mother. She details a life of vile child abuse and pain inflicted on her children. During her pregnancy, she drank alcohol, pop...

The Divorce Colony by April White

For a woman traveling without her husband in the late 19th century, there was only one reason to take the train to Sioux Falls, South Dakota: divorce. South Dakota required only a 90-day residency before a woman could file for divorce, making it an appealing destination for women from other states with more restrictive laws. In The Divorce Colony, author April White details the stories of four different women who traveled to South Dakota with just that intention. Through her research, White unveils a little known piece of women’s history. This is ...

The Legend of Pedestrio by Abner Serd

This author’s pseudonym is very apt. Abner Serd has written an “Ab Serd” tale, indeed. His folksy story of two wandering outdoorsmen searching for a legendary traveler “who roams the Earth by day and the sky at night” is full of dry humor and fantastical landscapes.

The author visited Butman-Fish Library last June, spinning some of the yarns from his book and sharing what it’s like to hike cross-country. His stories are just as entertaining in written form.

Abner, the character who narrates this novel, merely wants his favo...

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

If your marriage was on the rocks, would you seek advice from a recently “unlicensed” therapist?

How about if she guarantees she can fix your issues in only 10 sessions?

This compelling story begins with a successful, wealthy, seemingly perfect couple and parents, Marissa and Matthew. Their idyllic marriage takes a turn when they attempt to navigate the fallout from her infidelity. A game of cat and mouse ensues and you are never quite sure who is playing who.

“Therapist” Avery swoops in to ...