As of the publication date -- one assumes Friday, April 26th-- of this column, there are only a handful of days left in April which means that May is right around the corner. If May is just around the corner, with all those May flowers the April showers helped bring forth (and that the April freeze at the beginning of this week attempted to thwart). And if May is just around the corner, that means that the start of the Summer Reading Program is also around the corner.
If one assumes a publication date of April 26th, then today is also the Eve of the library’s first ever Bluey Party. It starts tomorrow -- that would be Saturday, April 27th-- at 9:30.There will be crafts, a treat, and, I have it on good authority, Bluey and Bingo will be making an appearance. While many think Bluey is only for younger children, I am one adult who has binge-watched the entire oeuvre (more than once, she admits, blushing) and am a huge fan. It is sweet and funny and has subtle life lessons. It also has dancing -- individually and as a family-- and imaginative play. Our party will try to capture some of that spirit! It’s from 9:30 to noon. Hope to see you there!
Below are some of the new spring titles which recently arrived at the library. We are still getting books from the publishers’ spring lists. Any minute now the Beach Reads will begin to arrive. In the meantime, check these out or put them on hold, Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“The Rulebreaker : The Life and Times of Barbara Walters” by Susan Page. The definitive biography of one of the most successful female broadcasters of all time—Barbara Walters—a woman whose personal demons fueled an ambition that broke all the rules and finally gave women a permanent place on the air.
“Shakespeare : The Man Who Pays the Rent” by Judi Dench & Brendan O’hea. For the very first time, a noted actor opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra.
Dog
“Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show” by Tommy Tomilinson. From a Pulitzer Prize finalist and the author of The Elephant in the Room comes the first inside account of the Westminster Dog Show—America’s oldest and most beloved dog
show—following one dog on his quest to become a champion.
“Age of Revolution: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present” by Fareed Zakaria. The CNN host and best-selling author explores the revolutions—past and present—that define the polarized and unstable age in which we live.
New Fiction
“Crow Talk” by Eileen Garvin. The best-selling author of “The Music of Bees” returns with the story of the unlikely friendship between a lonely ornithologist and an Irish musician working to save an injured crow in the wild beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
“The Paris Novel” by Ruth Reichl. Resigning herself to honor her mother’s last wishes, Stella travels to Paris where she meets an octogenarian art collector who introduces her to the who’s who of the 1980’s Paris literary, art and culinary worlds, helping her understand what it might mean to live a larger life.
“Ash Dark as Night, No.2 (Harry Ingram Mysteries)” by Gary Phillips. After being beaten unconscious for taking a photo during the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles, Harry Ingram agrees to help a friend track down a missing business associate, in the second novel of the series following OneShot Harry.
“Close to Death (Hawthorne and Horowitz Mysteries)” by Anthony Horowitz. When Charles Kentworthy is found dead on his doorstep after moving his loud, boisterous family into an idyllic gated community, Detective Hawthorne investigates, in the fifth novel of the series following “The Twist of a Knife”.
“Death by Chocolate Raspberry Scone, No. 7 (Death by Chocolate Mysteries)” by Sarah Graves. Passamaquoddy Bay bakers Jake and Ellie search for the remains of a skilled fisherman who vanished with a valuable gold doubloon inherited from his grandfather in the seventh novel of the series following Death by Chocolate Marshmallow Pie.
“Lucky” by Jane Smiley. Coming of age in recording studios, backstage and on tour, rising folk musician Jodie Rattler, trying to hold her own in the wake of Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell, feels like something is missing and sets out on a journey in search of herself.
“The Poison Pen, No. 9 (Scottish Bookshop Mysteries)” by Paige Shelton. The ninth installment in the cozy mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Delaney Nichols is set in a specialty bookshop in Edinburgh called The Cracked Spine.
“Funny Story” by Emily Henry. After being dumped for her boyfriend's lifelong best friend, Petra, Daphne agrees to room with Petra's freshly heartbroken ex until she can figure things out, in the new
novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Happy Place.
“A Calamity of Souls” by David Baldacci. In a Virginia courtroom in 1968, a reluctant white lawyer and a dedicated black attorney must bridge their differences to fight for a black man's life against racial prejudice and powerful forces seeking to undo civil rights