My LINKcat AccountToday is Endangered Species Day. If you are an inveterate reader of new hardcover, or soft cover books or, let’s just use a broader term and go with paper-based books you might feel a bit endangered at this library this week. For reason known only to the book publishers, book jobbers, and book shipping companies we have no new books to write about this week. Gasp! I know! This hardly ever happens. But that won’t stop me from talking about books! No sirree! Staff has put together a list of book titles they have been reading and which they have liked. This list shall appear on Beanstack in this year’s Summer Reading Program section. Below are some of the titles our staff recommends to you. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy that Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore 1994-2007 by Dan Ozzi. The author chronicles this embattled era in punk. Focusing on eleven prominent bands who made the jump from indie to major and charts the twists and turns of the last “gold rush” of the music industry, where some groups “sold out” and rose to surprise super stardom, while others buckled under mounting pressures.
Bingo Queens of Oneida: How Two Moms Started Tribal Gaming in Wisconsin by Mike Hoeft. The author traces the historical struggles of the Oneida from their alliance with America during the Revolutionary War to their journey to Wisconsin. The women-run bingo hall helped revitalize an indigenous culture on the brink of being lost. The Bingo Queens of Oneida is the story of not only how one game helped revive the Oneida economy but also how one game strengthened the Oneida community.
The Eagle Huntress:The True Story of the Girl Who Soared Beyond Expectations by Aisholpan Nurgaiv. In this compelling memoir, teenaged eagle hunter tells her own story for the first time. She tells how with the support of her father, she captured and trainee her own golden eagle and won the Olgii Eagle Festival. She became the first girl to compete in—and win—one of Mongolia's most prestigious competitions.
New Fiction
“A Cup of Silver Linings” by Karen Hawkins. Ava Dove-the sixth of the seven famed Dove sisters and owner of Ava Dove's Landscaping and Specialty Teas-is frantic. Just as she is getting ready to open her fabulous new tearoom, her herbal teas have gone wonky .At the same time Ava's newest employee's-sixteen-year-old Kristen Foster-life has just come crashing down around her. With the help of Kristen’s grandmother and an ancient herbal remedy book the three embark on a magical journey of healing, friendship, and family.
“Under the Whispering Door” by T.J. Klune. When a (grime) reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he's definitely dead. But even in death he's not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days. Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home"
“The Last Chance Library” by Freya Sampson. Lonely Librarian, June Jones, emerges from her shell to fight for her beloved local library, and through the efforts and support of an eclectic group of library patrons, she discovers life-changing friendships along the way.
“The Madness of Crowds (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #17)” by Louise Penny. Gamache is asked to provide security for what promises to be a non-event. A visiting Professor of Statistics will be giving a lecture at the nearby university. He is perplexed as to why the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec would be assigned this task, until he starts looking into Professor Abigail Robinson and discovers an agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture. They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse him of censorship and intellectual cowardice. When a murder is committed it falls to Gamache and his team to investigate the crime as well as this extraordinary popular delusion.
“Low Tide (The Forgotten Coast Florida Suspense Series” by Dawn Lee McKenna. Lt. Maggie Redmond is called to a crime scene on St. George Island, where she is met with the body of Gregory Boudreaux. The medical examiner calls it a suicide, but no one knows that Maggie has a horrible connection to the dead man.
“Murder with Peacocks (Meg Langslow #1)” by Donna Andrews. Meg Langslow is the maid of honor at the nuptials of three loved ones--each of whom has dumped the planning in her capable hands. One bride is set on including a Native American herbal purification ceremony, while another wants live peacocks on the lawn. Only help from the town's drop-dead gorgeous hunk, disappointingly rumored to be gay, keeps Meg afloat in a sea of dotty relatives and outrageous neighbors. When someone is found dead in suspicious circumstances, followed by a string of accidents--some fatal. Soon, level-headed Meg's to-do list extends from flower arrangements and bridal registries to catching a killer.
“Prodigal Summer” by Barbara Kingsolver. This book weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives inhabiting the forested mountains and struggling small farms of southern Appalachia. Over the course of one humid summer, these three sets of characters find their connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with whom they share a place.
“Reprieve” by James Han Mattson. A chilling and blisteringly relevant literary novel of social horror centered around a brutal killing that takes place in a full-contact haunted escape room-a provocative exploration of capitalism, hate politics, racial fetishism, and our obsession with fear as entertainment. On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, "reprieve," they'll win a substantial cash prize.
“The last bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II” by Madeline Martin. August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler's forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and drawn curtains that she finds on her arrival are not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she'd wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London. Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed--a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.