For the month of March, “Lessons in Chemistry,” a novel by Bonnie Garmus, was at the top of the Missouri Valley Public Library’s checkout list.
It’s the early 1960s and chemist Elizabeth Zott is part of an all-male team at Hastings Research Institute which takes a very unscientific view of gender equality. Except for Calvin Evans, the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with — of all things —her mind.
A few years later Elizabeth finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show "Supper at Six". As it turns out, she isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
This book falls in that rare category of “laugh-out-loud funny.”
The new book of choice for April is “Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” by Patrick Radden Keefe.
The Sacklers are one of the richest families in the world, known for their large donations to the arts and sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing OxyContin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis.
This is a fascinating story, painstakingly researched and compelling, and extremely relevant in today’s world.
The Library invites you to check out these books and others that promise to entertain!
Those patrons who prefer eBooks can check out copies using the Libby app and Hoopla. If you have questions about any of the above, be sure and contact the Library for more information.
