Summer Reading at Windsong Place Apartments

The Windsong Place Apartments Blog brings some summer reading book recommendations to members of our apartment community today, along with information about our local library.

The Williamsville Branch of the Buffalo and Erie County Library system located in Williamsville offers a variety of programs to area residents including clubs for children and adults, local historical documents (materials about the history of the village), and the Amherst Bee (on microfilm) going back to 1879! Check out their website for more details and plan a visit soon. It’s the perfect place to while away a summer afternoon browsing among the books.

Book Suggestions

Historical Fiction: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer garnered a 4.1 (out of 5) stars on Goodreads reviews. It tells the story of the Island of Guernsey under occupation by the German Army during WWII and the aftermath. Written as a series of letters, it is by turns charming, humorous, and compelling. A quote from the book kind of sums it up: “Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.” And this is definitely one of the good books.

Young Adult: Ready, Player One (soon to be a movie) by Ernest Cline is set in a futuristic dystopian society where real life is lived virtually, and loner teenager Wade Watts, a gamer and puzzle solver, only feels alive when he’s in the virtual utopia known as OASIS — but the game turns real, with players willing to kill to reach the prize. If Wade is to survive he has to win. It’s a page turner, with glimpses of teenage angst.

Mystery: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers is the first in a three-book series about assassin nuns and fifteenth-century politics. Admittedly, it takes some doing to work your mind around the premise, but once accepted, the mystery takes over, and the story carries the reader through, leaving a thought-provoking path in its wake. Or if you don’t think too much, it can simply be a quirky mystery series.

Biography: The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee. Goodreads reviews claim, “In this definitive new biography, Carol Ann Lee provides the answer to one of the most heartbreaking questions of modern times: Who betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis? Probing this startling act of treachery, Lee brings to light never-before-documented information about Otto Frank and the individual who would claim responsibility.” Sounds fascinating.

Take time to visit the Williamsville, NY branch library soon, and feel free to share your favorite books in the comments so we can all add to our “to read” list.