Sisters Matsumoto

 Gotanda, Philip Kan. Sisters Matsumoto. 2019. ISBN 9781682660850. 

The three Matsumoto sisters have always been close-knit. They grew up on a prosperous farm in California, but when the U.S. was Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, their world suddenly changed. Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast were ordered to report to train stations, where they were loaded in trains with blinds to prevent them seeing where they were heading. They soon found themselves in an internment camp. As the war rolled towards its conclusion, the Matsumoto family was released, and the sisters returned to California minus their father, who died in the camp.

Back home, they soon realize that life will not return to what it was before Pearl Harbor. For one, their father, worried about who would take care of the farm while they were gone, and needing money to support his family, sold the farm while they were in the camp, and never told his daughters. Their house still stands filled with memories, but it will soon be occupied by someone else. As the sisters pick up the pieces of their pre-war life, they begin contemplating what their future holds.

Pair this audiobook with We Hereby Refuse and Displacement for a well-rounded view of the Japanese-American war experience in the 1940s.

The Body Snatcher and Other Stories

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Body Snatcher and Other Stories. 2009. 146 mins. ISBN 9789626349823.

Written in 1884, The Body Snatcher and other stories continue to elicit horror and goose bumps more than a hundred years later. When two former medical students coincidentally meet in a small inn late one evening, the horrors of their experience as dealers of cadavers is revealed and relived. Back when anatomists were clamoring for bodies to dissect and learn from, unscrupulous individuals would dig up freshly buried bodies and, when none were to be had, cause a few deaths to keep delivering to medical schools. Unscrupulous men would look the other way and purchase victims of foul play, all in an effort to make the next great discovery. For these two doctors, a victim they were responsible for murdering and disposing of through dissection returns to haunt their conscience, creating tension and culminating in a chilling denouement. 

Several other tales are included, but the other most interesting one is that of The Bottle Imp. In this story, owning a bottle grants any wishes you may have, but at a cost. If you die while in possession of the bottle, your soul will burn in hell. And you can only get rid of the bottle by selling it at a loss, meaning for cheaper than you bought it. Thus, eventually it will be impossible to sell, since it will have no value. When Keawe buys the bottle from a wealthy elderly man, he is forewarned of the dangers, but he purchases it nonetheless. The sudden death of his uncle following his wish for a large home in his native Hawaii leaves him with enough money to purchase and build a wonderful estate, and he then quickly sells the bottle for less than he purchased it so as not to lose his soul. But when he falls in love and discovers at the same time that he has leprosy, he desperately seeks the bottle again. The problem? He can only buy it for 1 cent, and he will be the last owner of the bottle.

Each short story features an atmosphere of dread and fear, and the audiobook narrator does a wonderful join dripping chills down the listener's spine. Fans of short content will appreciate these classic tales!

One Was Lost

Richards, Natalie D. One Was Lost. 2016. 308p. ISBN 9781492615743. Available both as an ebook an audiobook from Overdrive.

Sera is a senior in high school, and she's already regretting signing up for this camping trip with the school. There's broken Emily, always putting herself down and hiding her tru personality. Jude, the preppy rich boy who shows everyone how easy it can be. And Lukas. Bad boy Lukas, with whom Sera exchanged a kiss on Sophie's deck a few months back. Lukas wasn't supposed to be on this trip, so why did he come? Two more teens and two teacher chaperones complete this group. And now, three days from the trailhead, the incessant rain is making everyone else miserable.

Nearing a river, the group is separated in two by a sudden rise in water. Sera, Emily, Lukas, Jude and Mr. Walker pitch their tents and retire for the night on one shore, hoping to reunited with Madison, Hannah and Ms. Brighton  in the morning. When they wake up the next day, however, they find that they have been drugged, their phones have been destroyed, and each of them has been marked with a word on their forearm. Lukas is dangerous. Emily is damaged. Jude is deceptive. Sera is darling. Mr. Walker is drugged out of his mind and completely incapacitated. It is mid-afternoon. Across the raging river they find a dead body, their hiking mates' camp site destroyed, and the brightly colored nail attached to a severed finger of Ms. Brighton's hanging. They also find the roman numeral III hung up near their site.

Far away from civilization, with no way of contacting anyone, and with a killer on the loose, the four teens must decide how to escape, and, more importantly, whom to trust. The very killer could be in their midst...

Suspenseful but with an ending that will disappoint some, this thriller will keep fans of mysteries turning the page to find out who did it, and why.

100 Sideways Miles

Smith, Andrew. 100 Sideways Miles. 2014. 277p. 420 mins. ISBN 9781442444959. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

When he was a young boy, Finn Easton and his mother were walking below a bridge when a dead horse, poorly strapped to a flatbed truck and destined for the glue factory, fell off and crushed both of them, killing her and severely injuring Finn. Finn has no recollections of the time before the accident, and he feels no physical sequels except for the epilepsy attacks he frequently suffers from. When he’s about to pass out, Finn first begins experiencing different smells, then he loses control of his body before forgetting even words and thoughts. When he invariably comes back to, he’s usually hurt (an unprotected fall will do that), has been gone for hours, and is in an angry mood. Finn does not measure time, but rather distance, with the Earth traveling about 20 miles in space every second, the fall of the horse lasted 5 seconds, or 100 sideway miles.

Now a junior in high school and living in the San Francisquito Canyon, below the site of the collapse of St. Francis Dam, California’s biggest engineering disaster, Finn spends most of his time with his best friend, Cade Hernandez. Born to Argentinian immigrants, Cade and Finn look very similar, but Cade is everything Finn is not: popular with girls, charismatic, a leader of his class, the captain of the baseball team, an inveterate tobacco chewer and beer drinker. Cade keeps an eye on Finn for his crises, even though Finn’s dad hates him. Finn’s father, Mike Easton, is a writer and he wrote a famous book about aliens looking like angels coming to Earth through small doors and killing and eating humans. One of the main characters was inspired by Finn.

With the school year only weeks away, Finn is asked to introduce new junior student Julia Bishop to the school. No one moves school this close to the end of the year, and Finn is immediately smitten with Julia. She seems interested as well, but finds him laying unconscious in a pool of his own urine by the open door of his house one evening, wearing only boxers. That’s when she notices the mark on his back, the same mark left when angels’ wings are cut in his father’s book. Julia instantly make the connection. Finn has never wanted to be a character in a book, and has sought to escape his fate. With Julia in town, however, and with Cade as his wing man, Finn attempts to rewrite his ending so that he can finally become his own man.

A raunchy and hilarious tale which combines actual history with a coming-of-age story, readers who enjoy Finn’s trials and tribulations should take a look at Grasshopper Jungle by the same author.

Macbeth

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. 2005. 210p. 138 mins. ISBN 0-300-10654-8 . Available at 822.3 SHA on the library shelves and as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Following their great victory over the forces of Norway and Ireland, general Macbeth and his friend Banquo travel through woods when they are confronted by three witches. These witches predict that Macbeth will become King of Scotland, while Banquo will not reach as high yet will be much happier, and his own son will be royalty. Macbeth doubts the witches’ pronouncement, yet when he is proclaimed Thain by King Duncan as a reward for valor in the recent war, he realizes that the witches’ prediction will come true. Not content to wait for the crown, Macbeth conspires with his wife, Lady Macbeth, to kill King Duncan and seize the throne.

Now worried about his own fragile position, Macbeth turns on Banquo and slays his friend. Banquo returns and haunts Macbeth, causing him to lose face in front of his lords and nobles. Meeting with the witches once more, Macbeth is goaded into eliminating yet more enemies, killing entire castles in the hope of securing his throne. Those who survive regroup and launch an assault on Scotland with a multinational force. In an ultimate confrontation, Macbeth is killed and beheaded, while Lady Macbeth commits suicide.

Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, Macbeth illustrates the perils that naked ambition generates in the hearts of men. A classic of Western literature, Macbeth continues to be read and studied for the lessons that it imparts.

The Demon Lexicon

Brennan, Sarah Rees. The Demon Lexicon. Book 1 of the Demon Lexicon trilogy. 2009. 322p. 610 mins. ISBN 1-41696379-0. Available both on the library shelves at FIC BRE and as an audiobook from Overdrive.

At sixteen, Nick Ryves already towers over his scrawny and crippled older brother Alan. They have been on the run for as long as Nick can remember, as their mother, Olivia, is a magician and is being hunted by the Obsidian Circle, an order of magicians she used to belong to. She reportedly stole talismans from the Obsidian Circle, and the order wants them back. Their father died protecting the family, and every few weeks or, at most, months, the three of them move to another ramshackle apartment. With Olivia in a perpetual state of psychosis, they have to fend for themselves.

Nick has never liked school, and has trouble reading. Unlike Alan, who loves to read books, Nick would rather practice with his sword and knives, ready at any time to fight magicians and demons. The two of them have kept their mother alive, and together they have managed to stay alive. But when they are contacted by two teenagers from Nick’s current school with an occult question, everything changes. Mae and her brother Jamie have experienced several strange events recently, and Jamie bears the three marks of demon possession. If he doesn’t get help soon, he will succumb to the demon seeking to take control of Jamie’s body.

Nick doesn’t want to get involved, but Alan volunteers their help. Soon, everything Nick thought he knew about the world, his past, his mother, and his brother turns out to be a lie. With the Obsidian Circle hot on their trail, who can Nick trust to survive?