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.
Alas, Babylon
Author(s):
Description:
When a nuclear holocaust ravages the United States, a thousand years of civilization are stripped away overnight, and tens of millions of people are killed instantly. But for one small town in Florida, miraculously spared, the struggle is just beginning, as men and women of all backgrounds join together to confront the darkness.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Fra
Head full of ghosts : a novel
Author(s):
Description:
The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when fourteen-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of acute schizophrenia. To her parents' despair, the doctors are unable to stop Marjorie's descent into madness. As their stable home devolves into a house of horrors, they reluctantly turn to a local Catholic priest for help. Father Wanderly suggests an exorcism; he believes the vulnerable teenager is the victim of demonic possession. He also contacts a production company that is eager to document the Barretts' plight. With John, Marjorie's father, out of work for more than a year and the medical bills looming, the family agrees to be filmed, and soon find themselves the unwitting stars of The Possession, a hit reality television show. When events in the Barrett household explode in tragedy, the show and the shocking incidents it captures become the stuff of urban legend. Fifteen years later, a bestselling writer interviews Marjorie's younger sister, Merry. As she recalls those long ago events that took place when she was just eight years old, long-buried secrets and painful memories that clash with what was broadcast on television begin to surface - and a mind-bending tale of psychological horror is unleashed, raising vexing questions about memory and reality, science and religion, and the very nature of evil.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Tre
Cue the sun! : the invention of reality TV
Author(s):
Description:
"From beloved New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum comes a groundbreaking narrative detailing the fights, egos, drama, and future presidents of reality television. Cue the Sun is a rollicking, deeply reported story about how the early reality TV business metastasized into an industry that now dominates entertainment in the United States. Starting in 1948, Nussbaum pulls back the curtain on the cultural meat grinder that created a generation-defining form of entertainment, examining shows from The Real World to Survivor to The Apprentice. Through extensive interviews, Nussbaum follows the reality TV industry from its inception with shows like Candid Camera to its 90s heyday and 00s aftermath. The book dives into some of the industry's most remarkable stories--for instance, the one where a serial killer on the run once appeared on The Dating Game"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
791.456 Nus
Romantic outlaws : the extraordinary lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley
Author(s):
Description:
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) and her daughter Mary Shelley (1797-1851) have each been the subject of numerous biographies, yet no author has examined their lives in tandem. Perhaps this is because these two women never knew each other--Wollstonecraft died of infection at the age of 38, a week after giving birth to her daughter. Nevertheless their lives were closely intertwined, their choices, dreams and tragedies so eerily similar, it seems impossible to consider one without the other: both became famous writers; both fell in love with brilliant but impossible authors; both were single mothers and had children out of wedlock (a shocking and self-destructive act in their day); both broke out of the rigid conventions of their era and lived in exile; and both played important roles in the Romantic era during which they lived. The lives of both Marys were nothing less than extraordinary. Charlotte Gordon weaves their lives together in back and forth narratives, taking readers on a vivid journey across Revolutionary France and Victorian England, from the Italian seaports to the highlands of Scotland, in a book that reads like a historical novel--Excerpted from statement provided by publisher.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
920 Gor
Sociopath : a memoir
Author(s):
Description:
"Patric Gagne realized she made others uncomfortable before she started kindergarten. Something about her caused people to react in a way she didn't understand. She suspected it was because she didn't feel things the way other kids did. Emotions like fear, guilt, and empathy eluded her. For the most part, she felt nothing. And she didn't like the way that "nothing" felt. She did her best to pretend she was like everyone else, but the constant pressure to conform to a society she knew rejected anyone like her was unbearable. So Patric stole. She lied. She was occasionally violent. She became an expert lock-picker and home-invader. All with the goal of replacing the nothingness with...something. In college, Patric finally confirmed what she'd long suspected. She was a sociopath. But even though it was the very first personality disorder identified--well over 200 years ago--sociopathy had been neglected by mental health professionals for decades. She was told there was no treatment, no hope for a normal life. She found herself haunted by sociopaths in pop culture, madmen and evil villains who are considered monsters. Her future looked grim. But when Patric reconnects with an old flame, she gets a glimpse of a future beyond her diagnosis. If she's capable of love, it must mean that she isn't a monster. With the help of her sweetheart (and some curious characters she meets along the way) she embarks on a mission to prove that the millions of Americans who share her diagnosis aren't all monsters either"--Dust jacket.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
616.8582 Gag
Chang'e on the moon
Author(s):
Moore, Katrina
Chu, Jaime
Description:
Before she was the goddess of the moon, she was simply Chang'e. Once upon a time, there lived a kind, beautiful woman named Chang'e. She and her husband, Hou Yi, were deeply in love and existed in peaceful harmony. Until, one day, ten blazing suns rose into the sky and threatened everything they knew. But while the two worked together to save the lands from burning up--someone else they trusted was plotting against them. This epic romance follows how Chang'e's bravery and selflessness saved her people, and why, centuries later, they celebrate her and retell her story all over the world.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
E Moo
Harriet Tubman: live in concert : a novel
Author(s):
Bob, the Drag Queen, 1986-
Description:
In an age of miracles where our greatest heroes from history have magically, unexplainably returned to shake us out of our confusion and hate, Harriet Tubman is back, and she has a lot to say. Harriet Tubman and four of the enslaved persons she led to freedom want to tell their story in a unique way--by following in the footsteps of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. Harriet wants to put on a show about her life, and she needs a songwriter to help her. She calls upon Darnell Williams, a once successful hip-hop producer who was topping the charts before being outed by a rival at the BET Awards. Darnell has no idea what to expect when he steps into the studio with Harriet, only that they have one week to write a Broadway caliber musical she can take on the road. Over the course of their time together, they not only mount a show that will take the country by storm, but confront the horrors of both their pasts, and learn to find a way to a better future.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Bob
Not in love
Author(s):
Description:
"Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down. Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through--and he's a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can't stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him. Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business--one that plays for keeps" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Haz
The tainted cup
Author(s):
Bennett, Robert Jackson, 1984-
Description:
In Daretana's most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead--killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it's a death at once terrifying and impossible. Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior's eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana's quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home. Din is most perplexed by Ana's ravenous appetite for information and her mind's frenzied leaps--not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire's greatest detective. As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he's barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra--and wonders how long he'll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Ben
Kiss and tell
Author(s):
Description:
Life comes in stages. Even the Sisterhood has been content to let their gold shields gather a little dust while they enjoy friends and family. But when a string of anonymous emails arrives at Pinewood suggesting shady dealings at a local assisted-living facility, Myra Rutledge and best friend Annie de Silva are ready to out-hustle a master con-artist at his own game. This time, they'll need to enlist some new allies in order to pull off their brilliant plan.
Format:
Large Print
Call Number:
LP FIC Mic
Riley Thorn and the dead guy next door
Author(s):
Description:
A nice, normal life. Is that too much to ask? For Riley Thorn it is. Divorced. Broke. Living with a pack of elderly roommates. And those hallucinations she’s diligently ignoring? Her tarot card-dealing mom is convinced they’re clairvoyant visions. Just when things can’t get worse, a so-hot-it-should-be-illegal private investigator shows up on her doorstep looking for a neighbor...who turns up murdered. Nick Santiago doesn’t play well with others. He’s a rebel, a black sheep, a man who prefers a buffet of options to being stuck with the same entrée every night, if you catch his drift. When the pretty, possibly psychic Riley lands at the top of the list of suspects, Nick volunteers to find out whodunit. Only because he likes solving mysteries--not because he wants to flex his heroic muscles for the damsel in distress. All they have to do is figure out who pulled the trigger, keep the by-the-book detective with a grudge at bay, and deal with a stranger claiming he was sent to help Riley hone her psychic gifts. All before the killer discovers she’s a loose end that requires snipping.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Sco
One day we'll all be dead and none of this will matter
Author(s):
Description:
"In One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, Scaachi Koul deploys her razor sharp humor to share all the fears, outrages, and mortifying moments of her life. She learned from an early age what made her miserable, and for Scaachi anything can be cause for despair. Whether it's a shopping trip gone awry; enduring awkward conversations with her bikini waxer; overcoming her fear of flying while vacationing halfway around the world; dealing with internet trolls, or navigating the fears and anxieties of her parents. Alongside these personal stories are pointed observations about life as a woman of color, where every aspect of her appearance is open for critique, derision, or outright scorn. Where strict gender rules bind in both Western and Indian cultures, leaving little room for a woman not solely focused on marriage and children to have a career (and a life) for herself"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
818.603 Kou
Before Dorothy
Author(s):
Description:
"Chicago, 1924: Emily Gale and her new husband, Henry, yearn to leave the bustle of Chicago behind for the promise of their own American dream. But leaving the city means leaving Emily's beloved sister, Annie, who was once closer to her than anyone in theworld. Kansas, 1932: Emily and Henry have made a life in the warmth of the community of Liberal, Kansas, and among the harsh beauty of the prairie. Their lives hold a precarious and hopeful purpose, until tragedy strikes and their orphaned niece, Dorothy, lands on their doorstep. The wide-eyed child isn't the only thing to disrupt Emily's world. Drought and devastating dust storms threaten to destroy everything, and their much-loved home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. When the past catches upwith the present and old secrets are exposed, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of all: Dorothy."--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
The names
Author(s):
Description:
"In the wake of an enormous, history-making storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to follow his family tradition going back generations, and name the child Gordon. But on the journey there, Cora wonders if it's right to impose the burden of this name and its legacy onto her tiny newborn son. She herself has Julian in mind, and Maia offers up her own suggestion: Bear. What follows are three alternate and alternating versions of both Cora's life and her young son's life shaped by her brave, last-minute choice of name. Spanning thirty-five years, the novel draws us in from the first page, as we follow three unforgettable journeys of one young man, but also his mother, grandmother, and sister. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing" --
Format:
Large Print
Call Number:
LP FIC Kna
Those Jensen Boys!
Author(s):
William W. Johnstone
J. A. Johnstone
Description:
Their father is Luke Jensen, supposedly killed in the Civil War. Their uncle Smoke is one of the fiercest gunfighters the west has ever known. It's no surprise that the inseparable Ace and Chance Jensen have a knack for taking risks--even if they have to blast their way out of them. Chance is a bit of a hothead, good with his gun and his fists. Ace is more of a thinker, sharp as a snake bite and just as deadly quick. Their skills are put to the test when two young ladies ask them to protect their struggling stagecoach line from a ruthless, bloodthirsty mine owner with money, power--and enough hired killers to slaughter half the territory.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Joh
Stag dance : a novel & stories
Author(s):
Description:
"In Stag Dance, the titular novel, a group of restless lumberjacks working in an illegal winter logging outfit plan a dance that some of them will volunteer to attend as women. When the broadest, strongest, plainest of the axmen announces his intention to dance as a woman, he finds himself caught in a strange rivalry with a pretty young jack, provoking a cascade of obsession, jealousy, and betrayal that will culminate on the big night in an astonishing vision of gender and transition. Three startling stories surround Stag Dance: 'Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones' imagines a gender apocalypse brought about by an unstable ex-girlfriend. In 'The Chaser,' a secret romance between roommates at a Quaker boarding school brings out intrigue and cruelty. In the last story, 'The Masker,' a party weekend on the Las Vegas strip turns dark when a young crossdresser must choose between two guides: a handsome mystery man who objectifies her in thrilling ways, or a cynical veteran trans woman offering unglamorous sisterhood" --
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Pet
The birds, the bees, and the elephant in the room : talking to your kids about sex and other sensitive topics
Author(s):
Description:
Known as Shug to her nearly 1 million TikTok followers, Rachel Coler Mulholland has become a favorite voice for parents trying to navigate tricky conversations with their curious and confused children. As a nationally certified counselor with a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling, she is the ideal person to write this book, which will empower parents and caregivers by helping facilitate essential but scary conversations with their kids, from toddlers to teens. The book covers a broad variety of topics including how babies are made, dating, safe sex practices, the differences between gender and sexual orientation, and how to discuss consent. It is perfect for caregivers struggling to find the words, and it aims to help navigate the sometimes murky waters of discussions around bodies and sex. Written in the frank and funny tone of Rachel's videos, this book arms listeners with applicable skills and accurate knowledge and keeps the next generation of kids safe in an ever-changing world. Whether you're parenting teens, toddlers, or anything in between, this book empowers caregivers by providing age-appropriate sex education and advice on navigating difficult conversations around bodies, consent, puberty, and LGBTQ+ issues.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
649.1 Mul
A Caribbean heiress in Paris
Author(s):
Herrera, Adriana (Romance author)
Description:
"Paris, 1889. Luz Alana set sail from Santo Domingo armed with three hundred casks of rum, her two best friends and one simple rule: under no circumstances is she to fall in love. In the City of Lights, she intends to expand the rum business her family built over three generations, but buyers and shippers alike can't imagine doing business with a woman...never mind a woman of color. This, paired with being denied access to her inheritance unless she marries, leaves the heiress in a very precarious position. Enter James Evanston Sinclair, Earl of Darnick, who has spent a decade looking for purpose outside of his father's dirty money and dirtier dealings. Ignoring his title, he's built a whisky brand that's his biggest -- and only-- passion. That is, until he's confronted with a Spanish-speaking force of nature who turns his life upside down" --Publisher's description.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Her
One of the boys
Author(s):
Description:
"Grace Woodhouse has left a lot behind. She used to have a great friend group, an amazing girlfriend, and a right foot set to earn her a Division I football scholarship--before she came out as trans. As senior year begins, Grace is struggling to find herplace in early transition, new social circles, and a life without football. But when her skills as the best kicker in the state prove to be vital, her old teammates beg her to come out of retirement, dragging her back into a sport--into a way of life--shethought had turned its back on her forever"--
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Zel
Phantom limbs
Author(s):
Description:
"Otis and Meg were inseparable until her family abruptly moved away after the terrible accident that left Otis's little brother dead and both of their families changed forever. Since then, it's been three years of radio silence, during which time Otis has become the unlikely protégé of eighteen-year-old Dara--part drill sergeant, part friend--who's hell-bent on transforming Otis into the Olympic swimmer she can no longer be. But when Otis learns that Meg is coming back to town, he must face some difficult truths about the girl he's never forgotten and the brother he's never stopped grieving"--Amazon.com.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Gar
Space punch. 1
Author(s):
Description:
In a mafia-governed city where corruption and violence is commonplace, two brothers find a mysterious artifact that will change their lives forever. Joe and Zack lost their father when they were young. Since then, the two brothers have chosen vastly different paths: Zack is a policeman, while Joe is a food delivery man. Despite their differences, both share a gift for boxing. However, the discovery of mysterious artifacts left by their late father is about to change their lives forever. Can the two thrive against all odds, thrown into a sprawling metropolis commanded by corrupt mafia gangs?
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC ZD
Hild : a novel
Author(s):
Description:
In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, usually violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods' priests are worrying. Edwin of Northumbria plots to become overking of the Angles, ruthlessly using every tool at his disposal: blood, bribery, belief. Hild is the king's youngest niece. She has the powerful curiosity of a bright child, a will of adamant, and a way of seeing the world--of studying nature, of matching cause with effect, of observing human nature and predicting what will happen next--that can seem uncanny, even supernatural, to those around her. She establishes herself as the king's seer. And she is indispensable--until she should ever lead the king astray. The stakes are life and death: for Hild, her family, her loved ones, and the increasing numbers who seek the protection of the strange girl who can read the world and see the future.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
YA FIC Gri
The hour of the fox
Author(s):
Description:
"Who would cut the throat of a young nun and throw her remains in the river? And what was she doing outside the confines of the priory in the first place? Secretly acting as a spy for Henry Bolingbroke, Chandler is torn by conflicting loyalties and agonising self-doubt. As the king's cousin marches towards Wales and England teeters on the brink of civil war, Chandler's investigations will draw him into affairs of state - and endanger not only himself but all those around him."--Publisher description.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Cla
The time of the wolf
Author(s):
Description:
"1062, a time many fear is the End of Days. With the English King Edward heirless and ailing, across the grey seas in Normandy the brutal William the Bastard waits for the moment when he can drown England in a tide of blood. The ravens of war are gathering. But as the king's closest advisors scheme and squabble amongst themselves, hopes of resisting the naked ambition of the Norman duke come to rest with just one man: Hereward. To some a ruthless warrior and master tactician, to others a devil in human form, Hereward is as adept in the art of warfare as the foes that gather to claim England's throne. But in his country's hour of greatest need, his enemies at court have made him an outlaw. To stay alive-and a free man-he must carve a bloody swathe from the frozen lands outside the court, in this evocative tale of a man whose deeds will become the stuff of legend."--Dust jacket.
Format:
Book
Call Number:
FIC Wil