Finding Urban Fiction at WPL

Do you love reading urban fiction?  Have you ever had a tough time locating the books you want at the library?  Here are some tips that should help you find the authors you love and discover some new ones while you're at it.

At WPL urban fiction authors are included in our general fiction collection on the first floor.  It can be tricky to locate books if you're not looking for a specific title or author.  If you'd like to browse for books in this genre your best bet is to use our catalog to pull up a list of titles.  One strategy is to search by publisher.  There are many publishers who focus exclusively on urban fiction.  Doing a keyword search for one of these publishers will pull up a list of titles.  You can browse that list and use the call numbers to locate the titles you want on our shelves.

Searching by publisher...

Start with these popular urban fiction publishers:

• Strebor books
• Triple Crown
• Urban Books
• Q-Boro Books

Perform a keyword search:





Browse results:



You may find authors you'd never heard of before!

Search by author...

Another option is to search for popular urban fiction authors.  Here are some suggestions (experienced readers will know that this list is not exhaustive!):

• K'Wan
• Noire
• Sister Souljah
• Carl Weber
• Teri Woods

Using Novelist...

 Finally, if you have specific reading preferences you can try our readers' advisory database, Novelist.  Search for books or authors you've loved and find a "read-a-like."  Or search for a specific theme, setting or other story element to find suggested titles.



 


As always we welcome you to ask a librarian for assistance or advice on what to read next!

Send us your haiku!

April is National Poetry Month, and we have had a few events at the library to celebrate. We had a class about writing haiku, a short form of Japanese poetry. Haikus are all about expressing one or two brief ideas, and are often about nature or seasons. Many haikus juxtapose two ideas or two experiences together. In America, they are written in three lines, and the syllables are counted as 5 - 7 - 5. Here are a few examples:

In Kyo I am,
and still I long for Kyo -
oh, bird of time!
-Basho

Spring too, very soon!
They are setting the scene for it -
plum tree and moon.
-Basho


Early butterfly
balances on yellow jasmine
testing new space suit?
-Paton


We are collecting haikus from everyone throughout the month of April, and will create a collage of them on Saturday, April 25th from 1-3. If you would like to try your hand at writing one, we'd love to read it! You an submit it to us and we will display it anonymously. Write your haiku in a comment here or email it to us at kgray@worcpublib.org.

April 2015 Staff Book Recommendations

April 13, 2015

All My Puny Sorrows 
By Miriam Toews 

Miriam Toews’s tragicomic novel of sisterhood, inherited suffering, and death is somehow irresistibly readable. The novel is the story of two sisters, Yolandi and Elfrieda, “enemies who love each other.” Yolandi narrates the book with humor, desperation and self-deprecation. She describes herself as a “social failure” with two children by different fathers and a faltering literary career. In contrast, her sister seems to have it all: a sensational career as a classical pianist, a loving husband and beautiful home. But Elfrieda desperately wants to end her life and Yolandi is determined to keep her alive. Yolandi’s struggle with this conflict is the heart of the book. 

Much of Toews’s novel deals with the realities of caring for a loved one with mental illness. Particularly poignant is Yolandi’s battle with hospital staff to ensure that her sister will not be released. She begs the psych ward nurses not to let her sister go for fear that she will again attempt suicide. Yolandi switches between describing the mundane details of family crisis and speculating philosophically on the virtue of keeping alive a sister who wishes to die. 

Despite the melancholy subject matter that Toews grapples with her novel is at times funny and refreshing. I particularly adored the mother who is addicted to playing online Scrabble and who confronts the suffering of her life with audacious sass. All My Puny Sorrows is intellectually rewarding and a tiny bit fulfilling on a spiritual level. You may even find it uplifting. After all, life goes on. As Yolandi says, “even if I didn’t wholeheartedly believe in the existence of God it felt good to close your eyes and make a mental list of all the things you were grateful for.” 

--Chelsea

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April 6, 2015

The Other End of the Leash By Patricia McConnell

“The scientist in me is perfectly comfortable with the animal lover in me, and we are both happy to celebrate together the miracle of our relationship with dogs.”

In The Other End of the Leash, author Patricia McConnell explores canine and primate behavior to illuminate the ways that humans and dogs interact.  McConnell, an applied animal behaviorist and dog trainer, combines science with love and compassion, informing the reader while also connecting to us as dog lovers.

The central premise of this book is that in order to be better dog owners we not only have to understand what our dogs are trying to say to us, but what we are saying to our dogs with our voices and bodies.  A powerful example of how humans and dogs interpret actions differently is the hug.  Most dog owners adore wrapping their arms around their furry companion.  But for canines this kind of display can be about dominance.  Many dogs will “benevolently put up with it” but there are others who won’t tolerate being hugged, especially when they’re already agitated.  McConnell argues that our love of dogs and our primate tendencies sometimes work against us despite our best intentions.  Strangers will often approach a dog/owner pair and attempt to greet the dog by looking them directly in the eyes, looming forward and extending a hand over the dog’s head.  For a shy, nervous dog this can be a terrifying experience.  McConnell explains that if we greet dogs the way they do each other--avoiding eye contact, approaching from the side, and petting their chest or chin instead of the top of their head--we’ll have more successful interactions.

McConnell also provides practical tips for training our dogs.  Her advice is based not on traditional dog training methods but on meaningful communication with canines.  Many owners attempt to teach their dogs using verbal commands while ignoring the messages that we send with our body language.  By using verbal and physical communication together McConnell argues that our dogs will be less baffled and therefore happier and better behaved.

The author’s humor and storytelling ability bring to life an otherwise dry subject.  I would highly recommend this title, in addition to Alexandra Horowitz’s Inside of a Dog, as an introduction to canine cognition and training for all dog owners.

--Chelsea

March 2015 Staff Book Recommendations

March 30, 2015 

Master Thieves 
By Stephen Kurkjian 

Certain subjects can be assured of a bankable audience at almost all times and, at least in the Northeast, books dealing with the March 18, 1990, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s theft of thirteen works of art valued at millions are certain to be in demand. Master thieves : the Boston gangsters who pulled off the world's greatest art heist by Stephen Kurkjian, an award winning Boston Globe writer, has landed with a “bang” on top of the pile on this, the 25th anniversary of the simple but most successful of art heists. 

Kurkjian’s book contains a list of characters, which is very useful in following the various theories, claims, and counterclaims of who may or may not have been involved. The story can get very complicated but the theft itself was not. The key to understanding how the theft was pulled off is security, or lack thereof; the Gardner had minimal security. The museum was almost looking to get mugged. The plan? Two men disguised as police lured a young night watchman to open the door and let them in during the early hours after St. Patrick’s Day, and then taped the guard and the only other security guard to chairs in the basement and went about their work. That was it…a minimum of drama to engineer this historical art theft. 

All avenues are explored: theories, linkages, possibilities, and relationships in the murky Boston underworld which, at times, can make for a labyrinth of connections and conjecture. One important point is that there seems to be a persistent belief that the paintings are being held as “collateral” to possibly reduce mob prison sentences. However, after 25 years with no paintings appearing on the horizon and more and more of the cast dying off, perhaps the theory that the paintings were hidden and someone took the secret of their whereabouts to the grave is the most plausible. Or, the paintings were stored improperly and somehow destroyed by the elements. In any case, the mystery still exists. Each reader will likely develop their own list of possible theories and scenarios. Mr. Kurkjian’s book is a very thorough overview of key players in the Gardner theft. 

The book can be frustrating in the sense that no answer to the mystery exists, but we know that in advance. As Kurkjian states, after 25 years “…the biggest art theft in world history is still an open case”. Let’s hope that the next Gardner theft book is the story of the paintings’ return to the famed museum, but until that time, this fascinatingly frustrating and complicated work will have to satisfy. 

--Bill

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March 23, 2015

Nyctophobia 
By Christopher Fowler 

Houses aren’t haunted…only people are.

Thus begins Christopher Fowler’s twisting, mind-bending, dream-like thriller, Nyctophobia. Nyctophobia, the title of the story, and the name of the condition from which the main character Callie suffers, follows the life of Callie, a newlywed, and her husband and stepdaughter as they move into their new home. Hyperion House, which is a magnificent find built in the cliffs of a secluded area overlooking the coast of Southern Spain, is an architect’s and homeowner’s dream: “In the hall of midnight blue Castilian tiles, sunlight bounced off every surface. All around me, motes and midges glowed golden in the angled geometries of four great stained-glass windows. It seemed as if brightness was filtering in from everywhere; it flowed in pools across the floors and cast chromatic diagonals on the walls, so that they appeared to be lit from within” (p. 49). 

However, even though Hyperion House is bathed in sunlight, the back of the house which lies against the cliffs and is cast in constant darkness holds many sinister secrets. In one gripping scene for instance, a spool of red thread that Callie is using unravels out of her hands and rolls under a locked door of one of the rooms at the back of the house. Frustrated, Callie attempts to pull the thread back onto its spool when suddenly “the thread stopped and tightened. Dropping to my knees, I tried to see under the door, but there was only blackness. I pulled again. Something pulled back. I rose with a start. Wrapping the thread around my fingers I pulled hard, but whatever was on the other end pulled harder still” (p. 113). 

While Callie continues to uncover the secrets of Hyperion House, Fowler drops kernels of doubt throughout the pages, in the guise of Callie’s sanity level, making the reader wonder if Hyperion House is really haunted. Fowler orchestrates this doubt to such a peak that by the end of the story, I could no longer trust that the light is safer than the darkness, something I’ve always believed. 

As I flew through this story I could not help but think about what purpose our shadows serve? If we could hide behind them and somehow have a shield from the sickness, loneliness, and death that lurks in and around us all, would we? Should we? And if so, at what cost? One thing is for certain: Fowler’s Nyctophobia may have an ending, but the haunting questions it leaves behind are just the beginning. 

--Cara

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March 19, 2015 

The Goldfinch
By Donna Tartt
Donna Tartt’s 2013 novel, The Goldfinch, is an epic bildungsroman that shines with languid, lyrical language and a plot which propels the reader through its 700+ pages with ease. Tartt combines elements of the thriller with philosophical introspection and the result is a page-turner that also inspires metaphysical questioning. Theo Decker is 13 years-old when his mother is killed in a terrorist attack in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Theo survives and spends the rest of his life struggling with his guilt and sorrow. It wasn’t his fault, that’s what the adults around him say, but the fact is Theo and his mom were on their way to a school disciplinary meeting when the rain forced them to seek shelter in the museum. In the days and weeks following the event Theo moves through the ordinary world in a fog, thoughts haunting him. If only…if I hadn’t done…I wish … It’s some time before practical considerations sink in. Such as what to do with the painting, the picture of the shining little yellow bird, that he carried out of the rubble. 

The painting and a signet ring given to him by a dying old man lead Theo to strange places: a curious old antiques shop where he meets the love of his life, Park Avenue and a family of selfish modern aristocrats, the desert of Las Vegas where he’s neglected by an alcoholic, gambling father and where he begins a life-long drug habit. Brushes with the Russian mafia and an introduction into the criminal underworld of art theft and forgery further Theo’s moral descent. The whole rushing, whirling thing leaves the reader to decide: Do good outcomes justify bad means? Was Theo selected by fate on the day of the explosion or was it just “rotten luck”? Is there inherent value in art, beauty? Or is it the human lives and stories attached to these objects which make them special? 

This book is required reading for literary lovers; a rewarding experience that’s not for the faint of heart. 

--Chelsea

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March 6, 2015

Humans of New York

By Brandon Stanton

By now you’ve probably heard of the Humans of New York phenomenon.  It has been on the New York Times bestseller list nearly every week since its publication in 2013; the website, updated daily, is wildly popular.  Its inception?  Brandon Stanton, a bond trader in Chicago, was downsized out of his day job.  He soon decided to expand what had been a weekend hobby of photographing interesting urban sites into a new career. As he states,“It felt like a treasure hunt. And that seemed like a pretty good way to spend my time.” Add a fateful trip to New York City during which Stanton discovered New Yorkers and Stanton’s idea to create a photographic census began to take shape.  

Flipping the pages of Humans of New York (or HONY as it is referred to online due to the overwhelming popularity of its original Tumblr page and then humansofnewyork.com) makes you feel like  you are walking the streets or chillin’ on a park bench.  If you are a city person, you will feel affectionate nostalgia.  If you are a country person, you are invited to view the bizarre, the beautiful and the surreal from a safe distance.  Each photo is accompanied by a brief explanation, sometimes just a word or two, sometimes a mini essay. Regularly featured are residents of all boroughs. Most neighborhoods are represented, as are all ages, gender expressions, and a wide variety of ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds.

The wonderful thing about both this book, and the fact that it is so successful, is that the audience can sense the love with which Stanton photographs his subjects.  In the introduction, he thanks each one of them for willing to be photographed and you can really feel his appreciation in the image and the words he chooses as accompaniment. If you have not looked at a photography book or visited New York City lately, this is the book for you. If you love people watching, this book is for you.  And if you need your faith in humanity restored, this book is for you.

--Christina

Big Library Read is back!

We’re excited to announce the return of the Big Library Read, OverDrive’s global digital book club where millions of people from around the world have the ability to read the same eBook at the same time. This time around, OverDrive users will be able to read Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard, by Laura Bates, without any wait lists or holds.

The book is Bates’ autobiography about working with inmates in solitary confinement, teaching them the works of William Shakespeare. Her fascinating life’s story is sure to captivate you as she shares the unlikely friendship she formed with Larry Newton, a convicted murder with multiple escape attempts to his name.

The title will be available from March 17 through April 1 simultaneously for users who would like to join. All you need is a Worcester Public Library card to access the book! On our website, click on digital download, then OverDrive to go to the digital catalog and check-out the book.

February 2015 Staff Book Recommendations

February 24, 2015 

Fourth of July Creek 
By Smith Henderson 

Smith Henderson’s substantive debut novel opens with the following epigraph from Henry David Thoreau: "If I knew for a certain’ty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life". Indeed, this quote encapsulates the central issue of Fourth of July Creek, which takes place in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the Pacific Northwest, a time and place renowned for rugged individualism. 

At the heart of this story is the heart of social worker Pete Snow. Employed by the Department of Child Welfare, it is his job to check on kids in unstable homes and decide on their immediate future. We meet several children with whom Pete gets emotionally involved, including Cecil, a teenage boy living with his drug addicted mother and terrified six-year old sister Katie, and ten-year old Benjamin Pearl, son of stridently anti-government, possibly insane Jeremiah. The Pearls choose to live off the grid in the woods despite malnutrition and medical hardships, and the elder Pearl may or may not be violent. These “work” relationships in which Pete attempts to protect and improve people’s lives are set against a backdrop of Pete’s tumultuous personal life: an estranged wife, a missing daughter, a fugitive brother, and a girlfriend who is a former foster child herself. Add to that his binge-drinking hobby and you have one very flawed hero. Questions emerge: Can you help others if you can barely help yourself? Can anybody truly help anybody else or is everybody more or less responsible for their own fate? Is Jeremiah Pearl paranoid or is he right to mistrust and avoid modern society? Is Pete's sympathy for him misplaced?

Much is being made of this book capturing a period in American history in which questioning authority and the virtue of self-reliance perhaps weighed more heavily on the collective mindscape than it does today. In concert with Henderson’s unerring ear for dialogue, picture perfect eye for description and impressive facility for creating page-turning suspense, this novel is a must-read for lovers of literary fiction. 

--Christina

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February 17, 2015 

Wayfaring Stranger 
By James Lee Burke 

I have been a fan of James Lee Burke for some time now, especially his Dave Robicheaux series, and while I don’t read all of his novels, I am always curious when a new one turns up. Wayfaring Stranger has proven to be a satisfyingly brawny story spanning decades and encompassing World War II, Louisiana, Texas, and Hollywood as settings. As usual, Burke’s characters are an interesting slice of social and moral strata. As usual, too, his descriptions of Louisiana are particularly a pleasure to read. Burke’s novels usually involve certain moral choices that his characters must rise or sink to and not often in simplified black and white distinctions. 

This most recent novel follows Weldon Holland from his teen years in the 1930s through the Battle of the Bulge into peacetime America. On this tense journey we meet Hershel Pine, Holland’s sergeant in combat and future business partner, and Rosita Lowenstein, a concentration camp survivor who becomes Weldon’s bride. The scope of this sprawling novel involves Hollywood, corruption on many levels, and a cast of very distinctive and unique characters which Burke is an expert at creating. It is Holland’s and Lowenstein’s fight for justice that creates the tension in this tightly drawn novel. 

An interesting sidelight is that while reading about Burke, I learned that the renowned Massachusetts writer Andre Dubus is Burke’s cousin and helped provide some of the inspiration for Burke’s decision to pursue literature as a career. That was a decision I, and many other fans, have enjoyed over the years. Wayfaring Stranger is a good solid entertaining read for these snowy winter days and we’ve certainly had many of those recently.

--Bill

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February 9, 2015 

Searching for Grace Kelly 
By Michael Callahan 

This debut novel by Vogue editor Michael Callahan sparkles with details of 1950’s Manhattan. Fans of Mad Men will be enchanted. It is a quick read, describing a formative summer in the lives of three young women staying at the Barbizon Hotel while they start their careers and search for husbands. The hotel sounds more like a dormitory by today’s standards. Men are strictly not allowed on the premises, a rule that is enforced with an iron fist by the no-nonsense Ms. Metzger. When Laura and Dolly first meet British, redheaded rebel Vivian, she is flouting this rule, and they lie for her without a second thought. They are an eccentric trio: Vivian introduces them to the city’s nightclubs, where she hopes to perform as a singer but is stuck as a cigarette girl; Laura in her turn is their ambassador to Greenwich village and literary life, while Dolly is along for the ride and often the voice of reason. Of course, they all meet men. Lots of men. The men they choose to spend their time with all end up being mistakes, with, at times, disastrous results. Searching for Grace Kelly is a light novel but makes up for a lack of substance with grace, wit and style. The three women are well-developed characters, and the reader is happy to be along for the ride.

--Kate

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February 2, 2015

Panic in a Suitcase

By Yelena Akhtiorskaya

This hilarious first novel by Yelena Akhtiorskaya is a must-read for Russian immigrants, Slavophiles, and the like. It is an immersive reading experience, and you will leave it missing the characters as if they were friends. The reader is first introduced to the Nasmertov family in July 1993, in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, often known as Little Odessa. Pasha Nasmertov is visiting from the real Odessa, as his mother has recently been diagnosed with cancer.  His family’s apartment, food, dialect, and overall way of life are emblematic of the larger Russian diaspora experience.

Pasha is a poet of reasonable renown, but also contempt in his home country, and his decision to stay there is a strong point of contention during his visit to the States. He ventures into Manhattan to see a childhood friend and attend a party of hip young ex-patriot poets, who wouldn’t be caught dead in Brighton. When they do visit Brighton, the following summer during Pasha’s second and last visit, it Is treated mainly as a quaint or ironic curiosity. This cast of characters adds richness and humor to the story, especially as Pasha, a sickly misanthrope, attempts to relate.

We switch gears in the second half of the novel, which takes place in 2004 and follows Pasha’s sister, Marina, and her daughter, Frida, now college-aged and still living at home in Brighton. She decides, much to the chagrin of her family, to travel to Odessa for her cousin’s wedding. (Among their numerous instructions: “For the feral dog situation, we recommend peppermint spray. Most of the time, they’re harmless.”) Her stay with Pasha and his new wife, Sveta, in their tiny apartment, enables yet another voyeuristic look into an unusual lifestyle. 

Akhtiorskaya is an accomplished author who can easily bring readers to laughter and tears within a few paragraphs. She uses inventive metaphors and punchy dialogue which is delightful to listen to; if you are a fan of audiobooks, Stefan Rudnicki, the reader, can help out with unwieldy names and mannerisms.  This family saga, while unique culturally, is moving for anyone with complex feelings about their own next of kin.

--Kate

Tax Season is Here!

Tax Season is here and we have the information you may need to obtain tax appointments and/or tax forms.

Tax Appointments are available at Worcester Public Library:

The Worcester Public Library is currently taking appointments for the annual free AARP tax preparation assistance. For an appointment, stop by the library or call 508-799-1655, ext. 3. Appointments are available on Saturdays ONLY beginning in February. 

Please read if you normally receive your paper tax forms from Worcester Public Library:
Congress recently cut monies sent to the IRS for federal tax forms. No printed copies of the instructions were sent from the IRS to any public library in the country this year, because of these budget cuts.

Unfortunately, only form 1040 will be available in paper format. Please go to the 2nd floor of the Main Library if you would like to acquire a paper version of form 1040.

To Acquire Federal Tax Forms, Patrons Have the Following Options:

Tax Forms and Instructions can be ordered by phone and sent to your home.   Call 1-800-829-3676

Tax Forms and Instructions can be ordered online and sent to your home.   Go to IRS.gov/orderforms

Tax forms and Instructions can be viewed and downloaded to a printer.  IRS.gov/Forms

The Worcester Public Library will have Reproducible Forms and Instructions that can be photocopied for .15 cents per page.

The Worcester Public Library has ONE copy of Pub 17. That copy can be viewed or photocopied from for .15 cents per page. Photo ID required at the 2^nd Floor Reference Desk. 

If you have any questions about the 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill passed by Congress that led to these budget cuts, please contact: 

Senator Edward Markey

Boston 617-565-3170

Email: http://www.markey.senate.gov/contact

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Boston 617-565-3170

Email: http://www.warren.senate.gov/?p=email_senator

Representative James McGovern

Washington 202-225-6101

Email: https://mcgovern.house.gov/contact/email-me

Massachusetts State Tax Booklets are available at the 2nd Floor Reference Desk. Due to the limited supply of booklets, only 1 booklet is allowed per patron. Additional copies are available for download from http://www.mass.gov/dor/forms/online-forms-index.html