June 25, 2015 - Literary Day

We officially rolled past the first day of summer on Sunday, June 21st. That day was 15 hours, 22 minutes, and 22 seconds long. The next day we lost two seconds of daylight. Today, we have already lost 14 seconds off the longest day. It’s all a downhill slide from here on out until the end of December when we’ll start gaining daylight again. How quickly time flies! Speaking of time flying, on June 16th we rolled past a literary day, celebrated world-wide. It is a day that celebrates a novel that is approximately 265,000 words in length, uses 30,030 words (including proper names, plurals and various verb tenses), and is divided into eighteen episodes. This novel transformed modern writing with it use of stream-of-consciousness technique, its use of structure, and its experimental prose. Here is the opening of that famous work, see if you recognize it: “Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stair head, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressing gown, ungirdled, was sustained gently-behind him by the mild morning air.” Yup. You guessed it. We missed Bloomsday. Next year for sure we should have a celebration. Perhaps we can travel around the area reading excerpts from the book, quaffing a pint or two of ginger beer or root beer or a cuppa tea while arguing about what it all means. I really think we should do this. “yes I will, yes.” But until next year, we will leave “Ulysses” and move on to the newly-arrived books. They are listed below for your perusal and your pleasure. Enjoy!

New Non-Fiction

New Fiction

  • cover art The sunken cathedral : a novel / by Kate Walbert. A pair of widows, an art historian, their painting class instructor and an increasingly insecure neighbor navigate rapid changes and extreme weather in their Manhattan community. By the National Book Award-nominated author of “A Short History of Women”.
  • cover art The truth according to us : a novel / by Annie Barrows. Refusing to marry according to her senator father's wishes before taking a job with the Federal Writer's Project, Miss Layla Beck boards with an eccentric family in a backwater town before discovering long-kept secrets. By the #1 best-selling co-author of “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”.
  • cover art A fatal chapter / by Lorna Barrett. When the president of the Stoneham Historical Society is murdered, mystery bookshop owner Tricia Miles, haunted by his enigmatic last words to her, is determined to solve this strange case before someone else becomes history. Includes recipes. By the “New York Times” best-selling author of “Book Clubbed”.
  • cover art The governor's wife / by Michael Harvey. Receiving a lucrative anonymous offer to track down an escaped criminal, private investigator Michael Kelly unwinds the past of the fugitive's wife, who harbors deeply complicated and dangerous reasons for standing by her husband.
  • cover art Margery Allingham's Mr Campion's fox / by Mike Ripley. Before Albert Campion can help a Danish Ambassador who considers his 18-year-old daughter's suitor unsuitable, both the Ambassador's daughter and her beau disappear without trace—and then a body is discovered in a lagoon.
  • cover art Purl up and die / by Maggie Sefton. Enjoying a summer with her boyfriend and her knitting circle companions, Kelly is on the case when a friend's doctor son is wrongly accused of murdering a young woman. Includes recipes and a knitting pattern. By the “New York Times” best-selling author of “Yarn Over Murder”.
  • cover art Ripped from the pages / by Kate Carlisle. While visiting her parents in Sonoma, book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright attends an excavation of the caves hidden deep under her parents' commune where she is faced with a real-life mystery when priceless treasure is unearthed and a crime from the past is exposed. By the “New York Times” best-selling author of “The Book Stops Here”.
  • cover art Sign Wave / by Andrew Vachss. When a calculating predator threatens his loved ones, mercenary soldier Dell attempts to track down a killer who possesses an uncanny talent for disguise. By the author of the Burke series.
  • cover art Superfluous women : a Daisy Dalrymple mystery / by Carola Dunn. Visiting the 1920s English countryside, Daisy and her husband, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher, are challenged to defend the innocence of an old friend when a long-dead body is found in her locked wine cellar. By the author of “Heirs of the Body”.
  • cover art Wildfire in his arms / by Johanna Lindsey. Heading West after the events in “One Heart to Win”, gunfighter Degan Grant discovers a new sense of purpose when he is hired to capture a beautiful fugitive and turn her into a corrupt sheriff who would see her hanged. By the #1 “New York Times” best-selling author of the Malory series.
  • cover art The breaking point / by Jefferson Bass. Called in by the FBI to identify the charred remains of a maverick millionaire, Dr. Brockton finds himself plunged into deadly chaos when his identification is called into question, a serial killer from his past returns and his beloved wife delivers some shocking news that changes everything. By a “New York Times” best-selling author.
  • cover art Finders keepers : a novel / by Stephen King. A follow-up to “Mr. Mercedes” follows the experiences of an irate fan whose obsession with a reclusive writer leads to an act of violence, the discovery of a hidden manuscript decades later and a young boy's desperate struggle for survival. By a #1 “New York Times” best-selling author.