My LINKcat AccountIs this indeed an early spring? I know we have recently sailed past Ground Hogs’ Day and Super Bowl Sunday and it is still only the second (full) week of February, but the piles of snow are all but gone, the grass is greening up nicely, and the chickadees have started singing their “phoebe” song. I saw power line full of dark, medium-sized birds at the beginning of the week. Could these have been early migrating red-winged blackbirds? Could be. I’ve seen big skeins of geese heading north. These feel like migrants, not locals who are going to just circle back and land on a pond. Although they could be geese that wintered over here and are practicing to make the big push north. And you know me and sandhill cranes. I can just feel them coming north. My google feed showed me a newscast from Kearney, Nebraska this morning talking about how early the crane migration is this year. As we all know, typically, cranes don’t start staging north until Valentine’s Day – which at this writing has yet to happen. But the cranes are already starting to appear at the Kearney flyway. I got a text from my friend and fellow craniac telling me by crane instincts were right on. She heard cranes calling in her marsh on Monday morning. And speaking of spring, the spring book titles are also flocking north (ur book jobber is in Momence, IL). Below are some of the titles which recently appeared at the library. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration” by Harold Holzer. Lincoln historian presents a groundbreaking examination of how immigration in the decades before the civil led to enormous changes in the political landscape, destroyed the Whig party and exacerbated tensions in the country.
“Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search For Purpose” by Jared Cohen. From the Founding to today, this book tells the stories of seven former presidents who each changed history and offered lessons about how to decide what to do in the next chapter of life as they handled human problems of ego, finances and questions about their legacy and mortality.
“The Unit: My Life Fighting Terrorists As One of America’s Most Secret Military Operatives” by Adam Gamal & Kelly Kennedy. The first and only book to ever be written by a member of America's most secret military unit—an explosive and unlikely story of immigration, service, and sacrifice.
“How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi: Collected Quirks of Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math from Nerd Nite” by Chris Balakrishnan & Matt Wasowski. The co-founders of the global science organization Nerd Nite bring readers a collection of fascinating STEM topics.
“Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory’s Power to Hold on to What Matters” by Charan Ranganath. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, eye-opening studies and examples from pop culture, a pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist unveils the hidden role memory plays throughout our lives and how once we understand its power, we can cut through the clutter to remember the things we want to remember.
New Fiction
“The Book of Love” by Kelly LinkBrought back to life by their high school music teacher, Laura, Daniel and Mo, desperate to reclaim their lives, agree to perform a series of magical tasks, but when their resurrection attracts the notice of supernatural figures, they must solve the mystery of their deaths to save everything they love
“Love and Hot Chicken: A Delicious” by Mary Liza Hartong. A spicy and humorous Tennessee story about family, friendship, fried chicken and two girls in love.
“The Boy Who Cried Bear, No. 2 Haven’s Rock)” by Kelley Armstrong. In a well-hidden refuge for those who need to disappear, Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, when the town’s youngest resident claims a bear with human eyes is stalking a hiking party and then a dead body turns up, must find out what they’re up against.
“Murder at an Irish Chipper, No. 10 (An Irish Village Mystery)” by Carlene O’Connor. Taking a holiday by the sea to eat enough fish and chips to support the struggling business of the aptly named Mrs. Chipper, newlyweds Siobhan and Macdara Flannery instead find the proprietor murdered and place their long-delayed honeymoon on hold to catch a slippery killer.
“The Atlas Maneuver, No. 18” by Steve Berry. When he unwittingly becomes caught in a war between the world’s oldest bank and the CIA, one that directly involves the Black Eagle Trust and a legendary treasure worth billions, retired Justice Department operative Cotton Malone, must stop cryptocurrency from being weaponized to attack the world’s financial systems.
“The Chaos Agent, No. 13” by Mark Greaney. Coming out of hiding when someone starts killing leading experts on robotics and intelligence, Gray Man, the world’s deadliest assassin, must elude his enemies to uncover a sinister global plot.
“The Orchid Ghost (Alex Delaware)” by Jonathan Kellerman. Consulting on the baffling double murder of a playboy heir to an Italian shoe empire and his married lover, brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware and LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis are led to L.A.’s darkest side as they contend with one of the most shocking cases of their careers.
“The Year of the Locust” by Terry Hayes. CIA spy Kane travels to the badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West—but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction.