We relaunch Desert Island Books with the choices of Kelsey Landes.
Kelsey is an assistant librarian based at Newham Hospital, where she helps hospital staff find resources that support patient safety and evidence-based practice. She is originally from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the United States. Prior to her career as a librarian, she worked in healthcare for more than 10 years -- first, as a pharmacy technician, and later, as an emergency department registered nurse in the United States. She has lived in London for 3+ years with her husband and their 13-year-old beagle, Max. Kelsey loves to hike, go on countryside walks, travel, and read, of course!
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Spanning from 1909 to 1947, The Color Purple documents the traumas and gradual triumph of Celie, introduced at the novel’s start as an African American teenager raised in rural isolation in Georgia, as she comes to resist the paralyzing self-concept forced on her by others. Celie narrates her life through painfully honest letters to God.
Kelsey says: “This is my favorite book of all time -- a must read.”
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Lacuna combines history and fiction as it traces the life of a Mexican American novelist who befriends Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky and who is later investigated during the anticommunist McCarthy era.
Kelsey says: “Favorite author! This novel is set in mid-20th century Mexico and the United States and features Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and McCarthyism -- fascinating period in history.”
Circe by Madeline Miller
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Kelsey says: “Amazing re-telling of a Greek myth.”
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined.
Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit.
Kelsey says: “This story is told in both narrative writing and letters -- haunting, real and beautiful.”
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.
Kelsey says: “Unique format for a science fiction/fantasy novel that's really a love story.”
The Three-Body Problem Book 3: Death's End by Cixin Liu
Half a century after the Doomsday Battle, the uneasy balance of Dark Forest Deterrence keeps the Trisolaran invaders at bay.
Earth enjoys unprecedented prosperity due to the infusion of Trisolaran knowledge and, with human science advancing and the Trisolarans adopting Earth culture, it seems that the two civilizations can co-exist peacefully as equals without the terrible threat of mutually assured annihilation. But peace has made humanity complacent.
Kelsey says: “This is an awesome, long, mind-expanding science fiction series -- if I'm stuck on a desert island, I need this very long final book in the trilogy to keep me company.”
(American spellings retained at Kelsey's request)
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