Don't miss these book happenings - including new materials at our library, featured recommendations, and more! Click on any of these book covers to place your holds. |
|
My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson -- Short Stories
A young woman descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings driven from her neighborhood by a white militia. A university professor studying racism by conducting a secret social experiment on his own son. A single mother desperate to buy her first home even as the world hurtles toward catastrophe. Each fighting to survive in America.
Tough-minded, vulnerable, and brave, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. Set in the near future, the eponymous novella, “My Monticello,” tells of a diverse group of Charlottesville neighbors fleeing violent white supremacists. Led by Da’Naisha, a young Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, they seek refuge in Jefferson’s historic plantation home in a desperate attempt to outlive the long-foretold racial and environmental unravelling within the nation.
|
|
A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris -- Literary Fiction
Someone is telling the story of the life of Charlie Barnes, and it doesn't appear to be going well. Too often divorced, discontent with life's compromises and in a house he hates, this lifelong schemer and eternal romantic would like out of his present circumstances and into the American dream. But when the twin calamities of the Great Recession and a cancer scare come along to compound his troubles, his dreams dwindle further, and an infinite past full of forking paths quickly tapers to a black dot.
Then, against all odds, something goes right for a change: Charlie is granted a second act. With help from his storyteller son, he surveys the facts of his life and finds his true calling where he least expects it—in a sacrifice that redounds with selflessness and love—at last becoming the man his son always knew he could be.
|
|
Out of Love by Hazel Hayes -- Fiction/Love Story
Out of Love begins at the end. A couple call it quits after nearly five years, and while holding a box of her ex-boyfriend’s belongings, the young woman wonders: How could they have spent so long together? When did they fall out of love? Were there good times before the bad? These are the questions we obsess over when a relationship ends, even when obsessing can do no good. But instead of moving forward through the emotional fallout of a break-up, Out of Love moves backward in time, weaving together an already unraveled tapestry, from tragic ending to magical first kiss. Each chapter jumps further into the past, mining their history for the days and details that might help us understand love; how it happens and why it sometimes falls apart.
|
|
Reprieve by James Han Mattson -- Psychological Suspense
On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, “reprieve,” they’ll win a substantial cash prize—a startling feat accomplished only by one other group in the house’s long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants.
Those who were present on that fateful night lend their points of view: Kendra Brown, a teenager who’s been uprooted from her childhood home after the sudden loss of her father; Leonard Grandton, a desperate and impressionable hotel manager caught in a series of toxic entanglements; and Jaidee Charoensuk, a gay international student who came to the United States in a besotted search for his former English teacher. As each character’s journey unfurls and overlaps, deceit and misunderstandings fueled by obsession and prejudice are revealed, forcing all to reckon with the ways in which their beliefs and actions contributed to a horrifying catastrophe.
|
|
Are you participating in our 2021 Reading Challenge? Here are some ideas for October! There are lots of goodies here to get you reading different things. Download the full challenge list here and READ ON!
|
|
Kristy Vermeulen, Administrative Assistant, recommends reading Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker.
She likes this book because it's incredibly interesting and eye-opening. It's not a happy book, but you'll learn a lot and be grateful for the strides, however small, we've taken in mental health.
|
|
|
Jennifer Everitt, Circulation Library Assistant, recommends reading The Storyteller by Dave Grohl.
She likes this book because it really is the author sharing unbelievable threads of his life story. Going back and forth between the book and audiobook has been fun for her, and she thinks you'll like it too!
|
|
|
Tess Hurt, Children's Library Associate, recommends reading Rhinos in Nebraska by Alison Pearce Stevens.
She likes this book because it was very cool and interesting to learn about the rhinos in Nebraska. She likes all the archaeological things and thinks it will appeal to adults and kids alike!
|
|
|
Click on any of these book covers to place your holds! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
