My LINKcat AccountThis past weekend, a friend of mine who is an avid bird watcher, texted me to say that there was a large, migratory flock of cowbirds and starlings hanging around at the edge of the marsh on their property. Birds flock up to head south, generally speaking, and return north in the spring in smaller bands. So was this a group of birds that had lingered during that cold snap we had a few weeks ago and are now confused about which season they're in? Hard to say. That flock left and a couple of days later there were about 1,000 red-winged blackbirds using that same marsh as a stop over. The weather has certainly been unseasonable. January looks to continue to be mild for the foreseeable forecast. There is a bush on the library grounds with a south facing that looks like it's seriously considering budding. I continue to point out to people that migration and plants beginning to wake from dormancy is a function of not only temperature (which can be a real fooler) but also length of daylight. And while the days have gotten noticeably longer at the sunset end of things -- that stopped way back at the beginning of December when the latest sunset was 4:22 and we have been slowly but steadily gaining minutes until at this publishing sunset is at 4:46-- we only just stopped have sunrise at a later time every day. Way back in December when sunset quit getting later and later --on the 11th or so-- sunrise was at 7:19. Today it is at 7:27 (actually a gain of two minutes of daylight since the 1st of the year). This is a long way of saying that although length of day is moving in the right direction (at last) it shouldn't be triggering early spring behavior -- except in humans who always have hope in their hearts. But I digress from the real reason you are here. Below are the new books which recently arrived at the library --not because of any urges to migrate north to our library brought on by mild temperatures and longer daylight hours, but by the UPS man. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future” by Danielle Clode. An Australian biologist combines evolutionary biology, natural history, and ecology and takes readers on a surprising and delightful journey into the world of koalas, exploring their complex relationship with their modern habitat and their unexpected connections with humans.
“The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness” by Robert Waldinger & Marc Schultz. Looks at what science has to say about what a person needs for a happy, fulfilling life.
New Fiction
“Dark of Night, No.2 (Annie Pederson)” by Colleen Cobie. Ranger Annie Pederson is preoccupied by another missing hiker in Michigan's Upper Peninsula when a woman claiming to be her long-lost, abducted sister shows up in the second novel of the series following “Edge of Dusk”.
“Moonrise Over New Jessup” by Jamila Minnicks. Winner of the 2021 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, a debut novel follows a black woman who will do whatever it takes to protect all she loves at the beginning of the civil rights movement in Alabama
“Please Report Your Bug Here” by Josh Riedel. A debut novel about a dating app employee who discovers a glitch that transports him to other worlds.
“Really Good, Actually” by Monica Helsey. Determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcee, 29-year-old Maggie, with the help of her tough-loving academic advisor, her newly divorced friend and her group chat, barrels through her first year of singledom, searching for what truly makes her happy.
“The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre” by Natasha Lester. Tells the tale of an orphan turned World War II spy turned fashion icon in Paris.
“The Game is Afoot, No. 8 (Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries)” by Vicki Delany. Asked to look into some strange happenings at Scarlet House, a historical re-enactment museum, Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, and Jayne instead find a dead body and suspect foul play as secrets about the museum come to light
“The Mitford Murders, No. 6 (The Mitford Murders)” by Jessica Fellowes. In 1941, when the Mitford family gathers at Chatsworth for Christmas, along with society’s most glamourous guests and Louisa Cannon, an old family friend turned private detective, a mystery unfolds after a psychic reveals a long-ago murder in this very house, prompting Louisa to solve this cold case.
“The House of Wolves” by James Patterson & Mike Lupica. Jenny Wolf’s murdered father has left her in charge of a multi-billion-dollar empire—a newspaper, a football team, a holding company ... and a dysfunctional family that knows no bounds.
“Just the Nicest Couple” by Mary Kubica. When her husband Jack vanishes without a trace, Nina Hayes will stop at nothing to uncover the truth, which, unbeknownst to her, is inextricably linked to their close friends, who may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing.
“Locust Lane” by Stephen Amidon. When three teenagers – Hannah, a sweet girl with an unstable history; Jack, the popular kid with a mean streak; and Christopher – an outsider desperate to fit in – become suspects in the murder of a fellow student, their parents will do anything to protect them, even at the others’ expense.
“What Lies in the Woods” by Kate Alice Marshall. Twenty-two years after her best friend was attacked in the woods, surviving seventeen stab wounds, Naomi Shaw, who has a secret worth killing for, returns home when the man responsible dies in prison to find out what really happened, no matter how dangerous the truth may be.
“You Must Remember This” by Kat Rosenfield. When 85-year-old Miriam Caravasios slips through the ice to her death, Delphine, a frightened and insecure young woman who adored her grandmother, falls under scrutiny when it is revealed that Miriam’s will cut off her children, leaving her almost everything and emboldening her to find the truth.