2023 Book Selections

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Book cover of Chevy in the Hole, a dandelion in cracked cement

Chevy in the Hole

Chevy in the Hole by Kelsey Ronan, is a gorgeous, unflinching love letter to Flint, Michigan, and the resilience of its people, Kelsey Ronan's Chevy in the Hole follows multiple generations of two families making their homes there, with a stunning contemporary love story at its center. 

In the opening pages of Chevy in the Hole, August “Gus” Molloy has just overdosed in a bathroom stall of the Detroit farm-to-table restaurant where he works. Shortly after, he packs it in and returns home to his family in Flint. This latest slip and recommitment to sobriety doesn’t feel too terribly different from the others, until Gus meets Monae, an urban farmer trying to coax a tenuous rebirth from the city’s damaged land. Through her eyes, he sees what might be possible in a city everyone else seems to have forgotten or, worse, given up on. But as they begin dreaming up an oasis together, even the most essential resources can’t be counted on.

Woven throughout their story are the stories of their families—Gus’s white and Monae’s Black—members of which have had their own triumphs and devastating setbacks trying to survive and thrive in Flint. A novel about the things that change over time and the things that don’t, Chevy in the Hole reminds us again and again what people need from one another and from the city they call home.

New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Named a Michigan Notable Book for 2023

 

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Cover of the book A Psalm for the Wild Built with a robot and tea cart monk and winding roads

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

In A Psalm for the Wild-Built, bestselling Becky Chambers's delightful new Monk and Robot series, gives us hope for the future. 

It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.

One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. 

But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.

They're going to need to ask it a lot.

Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

“Chambers’ writing is always tender and healing, but this book has something else braided into it — something more... This is a book that, for one night, made me stop asking ‘what am I even for?’ I’m prescribing a preorder to anyone who has ever felt lost. Stunning, kind, necessary.” —Sarah Gailey
 

Winner of the Hugo Award

 

About the Authors

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Portrait of author Kelsey Ronan

Kelsey Ronan

Kelsey Ronan grew up in Flint, Michigan. Her work has appeared in Lit Hub,Michigan Quarterly Review, The Kenyon Review and elsewhere. She lives in Detroit and teaches for InsideOut Literary Arts. Chevy in the Hole is her first novel.

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portrait of author Becky Chambers in the woods

Becky Chambers

Becky Chambers is the bestselling author of the Wayfarers series, the Monk and Robot novellas, and other standalone works of science fiction. She is a two-time Hugo Award winner, and has been nominated for the Nebula, the Locus, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Women's Prize for Fiction, among others. Her latest book is A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, the second installment of Monk and Robot. She is currently working on a new standalone novel.

Becky has a background in performing arts, and grew up in a family heavily involved in space science. She spends her free time playing video and tabletop games, watching bugs, and looking through her telescope. Having hopped around the world a bit, she has settled down (for the moment) in Humboldt County, California, where she lives with her wife. She hopes to see Earth from orbit one day.

Events

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Two Books Two Communities logo

EVENTS FOR 2023 BOOK SELECTIONS

Read, and meet these award-winning authors

September 26 • 6pm
Alger Reads, open to all, will meet to discuss A Psalm for the Wild Built and Chevy in the Hole. Copies are available at the library and digitally through Libby.
Munising School Public Library

September 27 • 5:30pm
Kelsey Ronan presentation and discussion of Chevy in the Hole.
Munising School Public Library.

September 28 • 7pm
Kelsey Ronan presentation and discussion of Chevy in the Hole.
Northern Michigan University, Olson Library Atrium, Marquette.

October 3 • 6:30pm
Book discussion on both titles. 
Peter White Public Library, Marquette.

October 10 • 7pm CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCE
Becky Chambers virtual presentation on A Psalm for the Wild-Built.

October 12 • 6:30 - 8pm
Let's Talk About Addiction
Peter White Public Library Heritage Room, Marquette.
A community discussion with panelists representing multiple perspectives. Led by Ashly Gleason, Health Education/Prevention Specialist with Marquette County Cares Coalition. 

All events are free and open to everyone!

Donations to Two Books Two Communities are appreciated and make our programming possible! Please choose "Other" in the Area of Support List and type in Two Books Two Communities. Thank you!


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How to Access the Books

Mention Two Books Two Communities at Snowbound Books or order online and get 10% off! 

Copies are also available for purchase at the NMU bookstore, Falling Rock Books and Cafe in Munising or from your local library.

Limited checkouts of Ebooks of both titles are available beginning July 24 via the Libby or Overdrive app. 

The audiobook of Psalm is available on Hoopla.

These apps are free accessible via your library card. Affiliated library systems may also have the titles available on the apps.

Free audiobook of Psalm for the Wild Built on YouTube