My LINKcat AccountThe 10th day of January. The second Friday of the month. And, as I foretold sometime back in the dark days of December, we have started to gain minutes of daylight back at the end of the day. Since that earliest sunset of 4:22 p.m. during the 7-10th of December, we have gained a whopping 21 minutes of light as evening falls. And, sunrise has also started to get earlier and earlier. We have been stuck at the latest sunrise of 7:29 a.m. from around the 27th of December until just this week when on January 8th, sunrise was a minute earlier. This is all great news for those of us who look forward to longer hours of sunlight. These longer days, however, come with a caveat. Weatherlore in this neck of the woods states that “as the days lengthen, the cold strengthens”. The weather between January 6th and the 23rd are typically the coldest stretch of days we get around Madison. This year’s weather seems to be bearing that out. This is perfect weather to stay indoors and read. Remember the Winter Reading Program is underway and books that you read can be logged and earn you dragon dollars to either spend in our store, gift to a friend or relative to spend in our store, or donate to one of the designated charities. There are lots of new books arriving at the library. Below you will find a sampling of some of the titles. Enjoy!
Jan's Column 2025
If you want to reserve any of these titles, give us a call at 846-5482 and have your library card handy!
Can't make it in when we're open? Call and ask about our electronic locker system.
New Non-Fiction:
“Four Points of the Compass: The Unexpected History of Direction” by Jerry Brotton. The history and significance of the four cardinal directions are explored and shows how societies have defined and used them for navigation and travel while examining the evolving impact of technology on our orientation and connection to the world.
“Sisters in Science: How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History” by Olivia Campbell. Explores the lives of physicists Hedwig Kohn, Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer, and Hildegard Stücklen, who made groundbreaking discoveries during the golden age of physics before fleeing Nazi Germany due to their Jewish ancestry or anti-Nazi sentiments, continuing their revolutionary work abroad and inspiring future generations.
“The White Ladder: Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering” by Daniel Light. A sweeping history of mountaineering before Everest looks at the epic human quest to reach the highest places on Earth.
“The Miraculous From the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature” by Alan Lightman. Combines full-color photographs with accessible essays to explore the science behind some of nature’s awe-inspiring phenomena, from rainbows and snowflakes to galaxies, while reflecting on how these wonders connect with both spiritual and scientific perspectives.
“Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures” by Katherine Rundell. Highlights the beauty and fragility of the natural world through detailed explorations of extraordinary animals facing extinction, showcasing their unique behaviors and adaptations while making an urgent call to appreciate and protect these remarkable species.
New Fiction:
“The Shutouts” by Gabrielle Korn. In a dystopian 2041, Kelly embarks on a perilous journey across a storm-ravaged United States to reunite with her estranged daughter, while another mother-daughter duo flees a sinister climate change project, uncovering deep connections and human resilience amidst environmental and societal collapse.
“A Sky of Emerald Stars (Golden Court)” by A.K. Mulford. As war looms, royal guard Sadie embarks on a mission to uncover a rival king's secrets, while Queen Calla navigates a treacherous alliance in the second novel of the series following “A River of Golden Bones”.
“The Rest is Memory” by Lily Tuck. In a fictionalized retelling of a real-life tragedy, fourteen-year-old Czeslawa’s brief life, from her upbringing in a Polish village to her death at Auschwitz, is explored alongside the broader suffering of millions during the German occupation, bringing her forgotten story to light.
“Irish Soda Bread Murder” by Carlene O’Connor, Peggy Ehrhart, & Liz Ireland. A collection of cozy mystery novellas feature the popular St. Paddy’s Day treat Irish soda bread.
“Knife Skills for Beginners” by Orlando Murrin. A MasterChef semi-finalist and cookbook writer presents a locked-room culinary mystery set in a London cooking school.
“Pretty Dead Things” by Lilian West. A small-town bride-to-be’s discovery of long-lost wedding rings at an estate sale reveals the key to a decades-old cold case.
“Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love” by Marianne Cronin. Ninety-year-old Eddie Winston, a lifelong romantic who has never been kissed, embarks on an unexpected adventure with grieving young woman, Bella, to finally find love and discover the enduring power of friendship and second chances.
“Lawbreaker” by Diana Palmer. Aspiring Met singer Odalie Everett and New York art gallery owner and former crime boss Tony Garza meet and give in to passion, but when they escape danger by fleeing to her family’s Texas ranch, she must decide between true love or a shot at her dream.
“The Close-up” by Pip Drysdale. A struggling author’s life takes a terrifying turn when a stalker starts reenacting violent scenes from her failed thriller, just as she begins to rekindle a romance with her former flame, now a famous actor, and her career experiences an unexpected revival.
“Locked in” by Jussi Alder-Olssen. Detective Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, is framed for a violent case from his past, so his colleagues Rose, Assad, and Gordon ignore direct orders to find answers and free Carl from Copenhagen’s Vestre prison, where there’s a million-dollar bounty on his head to ensure he doesn’t talk.
Today, should be the third day of January, 2025. You have already had a couple of days to get that date of the year right, if, like me, you still occasionally write a check or two and or send actual, handwritten, Thank-you cards. Here are some fun facts about January. The month is named after the Roman god, Janus (pronounced the same way my unabbreviated name is, but that is purely coincidental) the protector of beginnings and endings as well as gates, doorways, and other areas of transition. This god is portrayed as being two –faced, which does make sense, to be both looking back towards the past and forward towards the future. This pause that January gives us after the rush of the holidays, allows us chance to firmly resolve to take up new actions (sometimes) and set down old ones (sometimes). In the publishing world, this is the time of year that all the self-help books pour out into bookstores, libraries, and the hands of well-intentioned, determined individuals. You will note, that today’s selection of book titles, only includes one book that might be considered a self-help (“Lifestyled”). More titles of this ilk, I am sure will be following as we get deeper into the month of January. Today, January 3rd, is “National Drinking Straw Day”. This is the date in 1888 that Marvin C. Stone received the patent for the paper drinking straw. It is “National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day”. These cherries can be covered in white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate and can also contain a little bit of kirsch liqueur (or other cherry cordial). I hope the beginning of this brand, new, year is treating you well. Below you will find some of the new books which recently arrived at the library. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction:
“Indigenous: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist” by Richard Munson. The dramatic story of an ingenious American Founder who explained nature and created a country.
“The McCartney Legacy: 1974-80” by Allan Kozinn & Adrian Sinclair. The extensively researched second entry of this multi-volume biography chronicles the celebrated musician's life from 1974 onward, detailing his rise with Wings as a top band of the 1970s and his continued evolution as a musician beyond the Beatles, solidifying his enduring legacy into the 21st century.
“Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops” by Tim Robey. A “Daily Telegraph” film critic presents an entertaining alternative history of Hollywood, exploring a century of notable film flops, with insights into the film industry, public tastes and the circumstances behind these essential cinematic failures.
“A Certain Idea of America: Selected Writings” by Peggy Noonan. From a Pulitzer-prize-winning Wall Street Journal columnist and New York Times bestselling author comes a masterclass in how to see and love America.
“Lifestyled: Your Guide to a More Organized & Intentional Life” by Gill Shira. Providing chapters covering health, home, relationships, career, finance, and personal development, a professional home organizing expert uses her signature blend of practical minimalism and organization to design a framework to streamline and simplify every part of your life, regardless of lifestyle or budget.
“The Paris Girl: The Young Woman Who Outwitted the Nazis and Became a WWII Hero” by Francelle Bradford White. Written by her own daughter, an intimate biography chronicles the courage of Andrée Griotteray, a teenage girl in Nazi-occupied Paris who would become a hero of the French Resistance through her harrowing work as an underground intelligence courier.
New Fiction:
“Bellevue” by Robin Cook. As Dr. Mitt Fuller begins his surgical residency at Bellevue Hospital, his sixth sense intensifies, leading him to uncover sinister connections between mysterious patient deaths and the dark secrets of an abandoned local psychopathic hospital.
“I Made It Out of Clay” by Beth Kander. Wrestling with crushing grief and desperate for a date to her sister’s wedding, Eve, a Jewish woman in Chicago, creates a golem to be her plus-one, but what begins as a lighthearted rom-com fantasy swiftly mudslides toward something much, much darker.
“The Icarus Needle” by Timothy Zahn. In a universe where ancient Icari portals offer instant travel across stars, Gregory Roarke and his Kadolian partner Selene must navigate shifting allegiances and rival factions on a distant world with a ruined city and competing alien groups, all while uncovering the true purpose behind the portals.
“A Monsoon Rising, No.2 (Hurricane War)” by Thea Guanzon. Forced into a marriage to end their nations' war, Alaric and Talasyn navigate their feelings along with a dangerous plot that could cause a cataclysmic event in the second novel of the series following The Hurricane Wars.
“Only the Stars Know the Meaning of Space: A Literary Mixtape” by Ngamije Remy. Presented as a literary mixtape, the A-Side describes an almost thirty-year-old aspiring writer navigating a complicated world, and the B-Side features (seemingly) unrelated short stories—but when read together, they reveal a third, complex, intergenerational, and interconnected world exploring grief.
“The Champagne Letters” by Kate Macintosh. In 1805 Reims, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, determined to build a premier champagne house despite her husband’s death, navigates war, competition, and court politics, while in present-day Paris, Natalie Taylor, inspired by Clicquot’s letters, seeks to rebuild her life after a divorce and faces a life-changing decision.
“Against the Grain, No.22 (Detective Peter Diamon Mysteries)” by Peter Lovesey. Returning to a small Georgia town to inherit her eccentric Aunt Rose's quirky bookstore, Madeline Brimley is threatened by arson and a murder in the store, forcing her to investigate before she becomes the next victim.
“Death at an Irish Wedding, No.2 (Irish Castle Mysteries)” by Ellie Brannigan. Rayne McGrath’s plan to save her family’s crumbling castle hinges on hosting a celebrity wedding, but the suspicious death of a guest threatens everything in the second novel of the series following Murder at an Irish Castle.