My LINKcat AccountAs is my wont at this time of year, I fill up the top of a library column, soon after the end of the Summer Reading Program, and do a whole lot of math. As you may – or may not recall – I convert the number of pages read into miles and after many calculations, plot those miles of books read on a map. Well, the good new is, I won’t be doing that this week. Consider this your fair dues warning for next week. As of this writing, we are still tallying up a few of the reading sheets that were turned in using the old pencil-and-paper approach. Once that final number is achieved, I shall begin the calculations. In the meantime, it seems as if fall-like weather has arrived and is planning on staying for at least a few days. The skies have that cold-weather cloud look. Plants are beginning to yellow. Birds are starting to flock up (admittedly in small groups, but still, it’s starting). Nights are getting crisper. Sweater weather is almost here. Geese are flying. The robins have departed (or at least they are not hanging out in my neighborhood). The seasons are getting ready to turn. Fall book titles are drifting in like leaves spiraling down from trees. Pumpkin spice everything is appearing everywhere. If you are beginning to feel the urge to curl up with a good book in the evenings that are getting increasingly longer, below you will find some of the new titles which recently appeared at the library. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“JFK: Public, Private, Secret” by Randy Taraborrelli. In this deeply researched presidential biography, a bestselling Kennedy historian tells John F. Kennedy’s story in a provocative new way by revealing how public moments in his life were influenced by his private relationships.
“The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and that Marriage That Made an American Icon” by Laurie Gwen Shapiro. Explores the marriage of a pioneering aviator and a publicity-driven publisher, examining how their partnership shaped her career, fueled her ambitions, and pressured her into ever-riskier feats, revealing the tensions of independence, fame, and societal expectations in the early 20th century.
“Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution” by Molly Beer. Through the extraordinary life of Angelica Schuyler Church, a politically astute and socially influential figure, this story reveals how women shaped early American history through diplomacy, personal networks and a strategic presence in key revolutionary moments.
“The Mind Electric: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains” by Pria Anand. Explores the storytelling nature of the brain through case studies, personal narrative, and cultural critique, examining how neurological symptoms are shaped, interpreted, and often misunderstood within medicine, revealing overlooked truths about illness, identity, and the porous boundaries between health and suffering.
New Fiction
“Wayward Girls” by Susan Wiggs. In 1968 Buffalo, six teenage girls are sent to the Good Shepherd Refuge, an institution controlled by the Sisters of Charity, for reasons ranging from being gay to rebellious, where they face forced labor, exploitation, and personal struggles while finding strength and solidarity.
“Katabasis” by R.F. Kuang. Alice has sacrificed everything to work with Professor Grimes at Cambridge, the world’s greatest magician, but when he dies in a magical accident and is sent to Hell, she and rival Peter follow him, using only tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them.
“The Society of Unknowable Objects” by Gareth Brown. A trio of seemingly everyday people are members of a secret society tasked with finding and protecting hidden magical objects—ordinary items with extraordinary properties.
“Warrior Princess Assassin (Braided Fate)” by Brigid Kemmerer. Three characters—a princess caught between duty and desire, the fearsome warrior king she’s promised to and the assassin tasked with hunting them down—are torn between chasing, betraying and craving each other.
“Black Cherokee” by Antonio Downing. As her hometown faces environmental and cultural collapse, Ophelia Blue Rivers embarks on a powerful journey to understand her Cherokee Freedmen heritage and what it means to truly belong when identity comes at a cost.
“The Break-In” by Katherine Faulkner. After killing an intruder in self-defense while hosting a playdate at her London home, Alice becomes obsessed with uncovering his identity, unraveling unsettling clues that suggest her seemingly perfect life may be built on hidden betrayals.
“The Grand Paloma Resort” by Cleyvis Natera. As ambitious resort manager Laura nears a career-defining promotion, her troubled sister Elena becomes entangled in a harrowing scandal involving missing children, forcing both women to confront the brutal realities of privilege, exploitation, and sacrifice within a luxury Dominican resort.
“I Know How This Ends” by Holly Smale. Margot Wayward is in manically gleeful self-destruct mode. Following the implosion of a 10-year relationship, she’s willfully derailing her successful career, joyfully taking down men on dating apps and living in total chaos, until she meets the actual man she had pictured in a vision.
“The Incredible Kindness of Paper” by Evelyn Skye. Decades after a mysterious childhood bond is severed, Chloe and Oliver navigate adult loneliness and lingering trauma in New York City, until a trail of yellow origami roses rekindles memories, hope, and the possibility of reconnection.