What Are Your Librarians Reading?
We don't just work in libraries because we love books, but it's certainly a big plus!
Here's a sneak peek at what some of your librarians are reading this month.
Empire of Shadows
Author(s):
Description:
"Nice Victorian ladies don't run off to find legendary lost cities. One trifling little arrest shouldn't have cost Ellie Mallory her job, but it's only the latest in a line of injustices facing any educated woman with archaeological ambitions. When Ellie stumbles across the map to a mysterious ancient city, she knows she's holding her chance to revolutionize Pre-Colombian history. There's just one teensy complication. A ruthless villain wants it, and Ellie is all that stands in his way. To race him to the ruins--and avoid being violently disposed of--she needs the help of maverick surveyor Adam Bates, a snake-wrangling rogue who can't seem to keep his dratted shirt on. But there's more than Ellie's scholarly reputation (and life) on the line. Her enemies aren't just looters. They're after an arcane secret rumored to lie in the heart of the ruins, a mythical artifact with a power that could shake the world. Between stealing trousers, plummeting over waterfalls, and trying not to fall in love with her machete-wielding partner, will Ellie be able to stop the oracle of a lost empire from falling into the wrong hands?" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Ben
From blood and ash
Author(s):
Description:
Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy's life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers. The entire kingdom's future rests on Poppy's shoulders, something she's not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden. Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Arm
The ends of the world : volcanic apocalypses, lethal oceans, and our quest to understand Earth's past mass extinctions
Author(s):
Description:
As new groundbreaking research suggests that climate change played a major role in the most extreme catastrophes in the planet's history, award-winning science journalist Peter Brannen takes us on a wild ride through the planet's five mass extinctions and, in the process, offers us a glimpse of our increasingly dangerous future. Our world has ended five times: it has been broiled, frozen, poison-gassed, smothered, and pelted by asteroids. In The Ends of the World, Peter Brannen dives into deep time, exploring Earth's past dead ends, and in the process, offers us a glimpse of our possible future. Many scientists now believe that the climate shifts of the twenty-first century have analogs in these five extinctions. Using the visible clues these devastations have left behind in the fossil record, The Ends of the World takes us inside "scenes of the crime," from South Africa to the New York Palisades, to tell the story of each extinction. Brannen examines the fossil record--which is rife with creatures like dragonflies the size of sea gulls and guillotine-mouthed fish--and introduces us to the researchers on the front lines who, using the forensic tools of modern science, are piecing together what really happened at the crime scenes of the Earth's biggest whodunits. Part road trip, part history, and part cautionary tale, The Ends of the World takes us on a tour of the ways that our planet has clawed itself back from the grave, and casts our future in a completely new light.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
576.84 Bra
Jackal : a novel
Author(s):
Description:
"Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn't exactly have fond memories of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. But her best friend is getting married, so she braces herself for a weekend of awkward and passive-aggressive reunions. Liz has grown, though; she can handle whatever awaits her. But on the day of the wedding, somewhere between dancing and dessert, the bride's daughter, Caroline, goes missing--and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood. As a frantic search begins, with the police combing the trees for Caroline, Liz is the only one who notices a pattern: a summer night. A missing girl. A party in the woods. She's seen this before. Keisha Woodson, the only other Black girl in school, walked into the woods with a mysterious man and was later found with her chest cavity ripped open and her heart missing. Liz shudders at the thought that it could have been her, and now, with Caroline missing, it can't be a coincidence. As Liz starts to dig through the town's history, she uncovers a horrifying secret about the place she once called home. Children have been going missing in these woods for years. All of them Black. All of them girls. With the evil in the forest creeping closer, Liz knows what she must do: find Caroline, or be entirely consumed by the darkness" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Ada
The most wonderful crime of the year : a novel
Author(s):
Description:
"Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt. She's the new queen of the cozy mystery. He's Mr. Big-Time thriller guy. She hates his guts. He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.) But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself. That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone. She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust? As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth--and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor. Assuming they don’t kill each other first" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Car
My best friend's funeral : a memoir
Author(s):
Thompson, Roger W., 1972-
Description:
"There's a certain kind of lost a boy feels in this world without a father. Tim felt it. I felt it. And we realized our only way out would be together. In an openhearted memoir of faith on the fringe, Roger Thompson meditates on the life and premature death of his best friend and business partner, Tim Garrety, cofounder of Skate Street Ventura. Roger and Tim's twenty-year friendship was forged in the surf and on the streets of 1980s California. Together they hazarded countless waves and every rite of passage--from guitars to girls to God--and influenced the lives of thousands of skateboarders, musicians, surfers, and otherwise disconnected youth in the process. With unrestrained honesty and a punk-rock soundtrack, My Best Friend's Funeral is a memoir of friendship, doubt, surfing, and the complex relationships between fathers and sons. If life has ever left you feeling abandoned--or if you simply prefer a rock show to a sermon--My Best Friend's Funeral is a memoir you won't want to miss, and a confirmation that you are never alone"--From publisher's website.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
B Tho
Mabuhay!
Author(s):
Description:
"First-generation Filipino siblings, JJ and Althea, struggle to belong at school. JJ wants to fit in with the crowd, while Althea wants to be accepted as she is. But between the leftover Filipino food their mom packs for their lunches to having a last name that nobody can pronounce, any sense of belonging seems like a long shot. To make matters worse, they have to help their parents run the family food truck, dressing up as a dancing pig and passing out samples. Ugh! And their parents are always drawing parallels between their poor work ethic and lazy characters from Filipino folklore -- stories they've heard again and again. But when witches, ogres, and other creatures from those same stories appear in their town and threaten their family, JJ and Althea realize that the myths their parents have always told them may be more real than they'd suspected. Can JJ and Althea embrace who they really are and save their family?" -- provided by publisher.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J FIC Ste
Tangled Up in You
Author(s):
Description:
Being published June 25th, 2024.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
Back after this : a novel
Author(s):
Holmes, Linda (Radio talk show host)
Description:
Cecily Foster loves to make podcasts. She fiercely protects her colleagues, dearly adores her friends, and never misses dinner with her sister. But after a disastrous relationship with a colleague who stole her heart and her ideas, she’s put romantic love on hold. When the boss who’s disappointed her again and again finally offers her the chance to host her own show, she wants to be thrilled. But there’s a catch--actually, two catches. First, the show will be about Cecily’s dating life. And second, she has to follow the guidance of influencer and newly minted relationship coach Eliza Cassidy, whose relentlessly upbeat attitude seems ready-made for social media, not real life. Cecily would rather do anything other than put her singledom on display (ugh) or take advice from the internet (UGH). But when her boss hints that doing the show is the only way to protect a friend’s job, she realizes she has no choice. To make matters more complicated, once she’s committed to twenty blind dates of Eliza’s choosing, Cecily finds herself unable to stop thinking about Will, a photographer she helped to rescue a very big and very lovable lost dog. Even though there are sparks between the two, Will’s own path is uncertain, and Eliza’s skeptical comments about Cecily’s decision-making aren’t helping. On the one hand, Will seems great. But on the other hand... don’t they all? As Cecily struggles to balance the life she truly desires and the one Eliza wants to create for her, she finds herself at a crossroads. Can Cecily sort through all the advice and find a way to do what she loves without losing herself in the process?
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Hol
Outlive : the science & art of longevity
Author(s):
Attia, Peter
Gifford, Bill
Description:
In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health. For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments too late to help, prolonging lifespan at the expense of healthspan, or quality of life. Dr. Attia believes we must replace this outdated framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, one where we take action now, rather than waiting. Dr. Attia's aim is less to tell you what to do and more to help you learn how to think about long-term health, in order to create the best plan for you as an individual. Aging and longevity are far more malleable than we think; our fate is not set in stone. With the right roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.--From publisher marketing.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
612.68 Att
The final strife : a novel
Author(s):
Description:
"Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the Empire from the red-blooded ruling classes' tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she's nothing, no one, a disappointment by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the Empire. But dust always rises in a storm. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. As the Empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC El-A
Hummingbird salamander
Author(s):
VanderMeer, Jeff
Flanagan, Lisa,
Description:
A security consultant receives a key to a storage unit from a dead woman, a reputed ecoterrorist. Inside is a taxidermied animal. Seeking for why the woman contacted her, time is running out, for her and the world.
Format:
Audiobook
Call Number:
FIC Van
Disobedience
Author(s):
Description:
"When a young photographer living in New York learns that her estranged father, a well-respected rabbi, has died, she can no longer run away from the truth, and soon sets out for the Orthodox Jewish community in London where she grew up. Back for the first time in years, Ronit can feel the disapproving eyes of the community. Especially those of her beloved cousin, Dovid, her father's favorite student and now an admired rabbi himself, and Esti, who was once her only ally in youthful rebelliousness. Now Esti is married to Dovid, and Ronit is shocked by how different they both seem, and how much greater the gulf between them is. But when old flames reignite and the shocking truth about Ronit and Esti's relationship is revealed, the past and present converge."--Back cover.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Ald
The fall of the House of Tatterly
Author(s):
Description:
"Twelve-year-old Theo Tatterly's ability to see ghosts is a useful skill in a house full of dead relatives, but it makes him a loner at school, where ghosts eternally pester him for help. For Theo, life is easier on the periphery. When his first failed exorcism portends an end to the Tatterly line, Theo must bring together his entire family -- living and dead -- to save the home they've lived in for generations and maybe the world." --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J FIC Mil
Master of me : the secret to controlling your narrative
Author(s):
Description:
"Keke Palmer thought she knew who she was. What it means to be a good person and what it takes to be a success. It all seemed so simple, until she realized the challenges she would have to face to prove to herself who she wanted to be. From feeling alienated to having to restart her career after ten years in to becoming a single mother just months after her son was born-everything she worked for in life that she felt granted her what she wanted now also reminded her that "life is going to life" and throw curveballs regardless of what you deserve. It was in this realization that her understanding of value changed: "Real value doesn't come from what you experience in the world but from how you manage yourself in the midst of those storms." She found herself asking, Where do I find my power? How do I master myself? In her own raw and intimate words, Keke talks about everything from her struggles with boundaries to unconditional love, forgiveness, and worthiness. "Don't block your blessings and potential opportunities by allowing the voices of other people to influence your actions," she says. "How you're choosing to set yourself up for success is between you and the person looking back at you in the mirror." Throughout the book, Keke also poses readers with the questions needed to get them through their own challenging times by sharing personal stories and lessons she's learned along the way. She gets candid about the tools she's developed to take the reins, harness her vulnerability, and recognize ownership in the narrative of her life-which allowed her to turn personal power into major power. In this exhilarating, deeply poignant, and often laugh-out-loud book, Lauren Keyana Palmer gets real about life, work, love, and belief. These pages will encourage readers to empower themselves with the truth, leverage their currency, and find the keys to master themselves and the art of alchemy. Keke writes. "You are not on anyone else's timeline, only your own." The result is a tour de force. They said, "Jack of all Trades, Master of None." She said, "No, I am the Master. Of Me.""--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
791.43028 Pal
Let's go (so we can get back) : a memoir of recording and discording with Wilco, etc.
Author(s):
Description:
While his songs and music have been endlessly discussed and analyzed, Jeff Tweedy has rarely talked so directly about himself, his life, and his artistic process. Here Jeff tells stories about his childhood in Belleville, Illinois; the St. Louis record store, rock clubs, and live-music circuit that sparked his songwriting and performing career; and the Chicago scene that brought it all together. He talks in-depth about his collaborators in Uncle Tupelo and Wilco; and writes lovingly about his parents, wife Susie, and sons, Spencer and Sam. Tweedy's memoir brings readers inside both his life and his musical process, illuminating his singular genius and sharing his story, voice, and perspective for the first time.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
B Twe
X-Men. The trial of Magneto
Author(s):
Williams, Leah
Delgado, Edgar,
Description:
Magneto, the mutant master of magnetism -- one of the founders of the mutant nation of Krakoa, a former villain who has never stopped fighting for the benefit of mutantkind -- stars in the story that will shake Krakoa to its core! A horrific murder. A shocking revelation. And a trial that will divide the new mutant nation down the middle -- and possibly shatter it forever! Leah Williams and Lucs Werneck bring you an epic mystery that threatens the Reign of X and upends the world that Magneto has worked so hard to build for his fellow mutants. Wanda Maximoff, branded one of mutantkind's deadliest enemies, has been killed on Krakoan soil! And as Earth's heroes gather for a memorial, Magneto pushes Krakoan law and the Quiet Council to the brink.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Wil
Saigami. 01, (re)birth by flame
Author(s):
Description:
"Saigami introduces the story of Ayumi, a trouble teenager who finds herself in a fantasy land where she has superhuman abilities"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Sen
Chickenpox
Author(s):
Lai, Remy
Gaillard, Ninakupenda,
Description:
"All big sister Abby wants is to spend more time with her friends, far away from the sticky fingers and snooping eyes of her annoying brothers and sisters. But when a case of the chickenpox leaves the Lai kids covered in scratchy red spots and stuck at home together for two weeks of nonstop mayhem, Abby thinks this might be the end...of her sanity. Yet she feels responsible for the situation since her best friend was Patient Zero and brought chickenpox into their home. Will the itch to escape her siblings overwhelm Abby or will she realize being a big sister isn't all bad?" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J FIC Lai
Saphie : the one-eyed cat. 01
Author(s):
Description:
"What exactly does a one-eyed cat do all day? Well, there's running, knocking things over, scratching things you're not supposed to, terrorizing your brothers, messing with your owner, stealing food, and generally causing mayhem left, right, and center!"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
J FIC Joh
Natsume's book of friends. Volume 01
Author(s):
Midorikawa, Yuki, 1976-
Olsen, Lillian,
Description:
Takashi Natsume is a troubled high school student that is able to see spirits and demons, and has inherited a "book of friends" that contains the bound names of enslaved spirits and demons that are willing to do anything to get their names back.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Mid