September 2, 2021 - The Season is Beginning to Turn

After a few near-ninety degree days last week, summer seems to be loosening its grasp this week. High temperature's near 80 degrees, low humidity, some sun thrown to brighten things up and fall seems to be strengthening its hold on the calendar. We are in September, school has started, and Labor Day will be upon us this weekend. Lots of plants are beginning to finish production weather we are talking about tomatoes or four o'clocks. Tomatoes are ripening so fast they are hopping off the bushes and walking into the house. The flowers are dropping seeds right and left. The fall crickets started chirping about three weeks ago, which, as we all know, means that the first frost is only about three weeks away. If you are an earlier riser you will have noted how much later it is until the first light appears in the world and that the dawn chorus has gotten progressively quieter. Dusk descends upon us a whole lot sooner than it did only a couple of months ago. The season is beginning to turn. The "beach books" or "summer reads" are being replaced by the publishers' fall list of titles. "What's the difference?", I hear you saking. "Not much", I would reply. The summer fare seems to be slightly lighter in subject matter and treatment. The fall titles might have a bit more substance, but since these descriptors are highly subjective, I'll stand by my not-much answer. Below you will find some of the titles that recently arrived at the library. Enjoy!

New Non-Fiction

The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe by Josh Mitchell. Charting the 70-year history of student debt in America, a reporter in the Washington bureau of "The Wall Street Journal" tells the untold story of the scandals, scams, predatory actors and government malpractice that have created today’s central economic issue

 

The Art of Patience: Seeking the Snow Leopard in Tibet by Sylvain Tesson. In this celebration of the power and grace of the wild, a restless adventurer embarks on a perilous journey to Tibet in search of one of the most elusive creatures on the planet – the snow leopard – during which he learned to embrace the virtues of patience and silence.

 

The Family Firm: A Data-driven Guide to Better Decision Making in the Early School Years (Parentdata) by Emily Oster. From the best-selling author of Cribsheet and Expecting Better comes the next step in data-driven parenting from a noted economist.

 

Piglet: The Unexpected Story of a Deaf, Blind, Pink Puppy and His Family by Melissa Shapiro/ Mim Eichler Rivas. In this extraordinary story, a Connecticut veterinarian opens her heart and home to Piglet, a deaf and blind pink dog whose purpose becomes teaching the power of empathy, love and kindness.

 

American Marxism by Mark Levin. A "New York Times" best-selling author, Fox News star, and radio host explains how the dangers he warned against in “Liberty and Tyranny” have come to pass.

 

New Fiction

The Devil You Know, No.2 (Mercenary Librarians) by Kit Rocha. Maya, genetically engineered for genius and trained for revolution, vows to stop an operation trading in genetically enhanced children with the help of Gray, who, unable to escape the time bomb in his head, has found his purpose in his final days – keeping Maya safe.

 

Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton. After rescuing pets who had been trapped in their homes during the apocalypse, a Cheeto-loving crow, S.T., and his bloodhound bestie, Dennis, discover humanity's last hope for survival in this follow-up to Hollow Kingdom.

 

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Jones. Protected by horror movies – especially the ones where the masked killer seeks revenge on a world that wronged them, Jade Daniels, an angry, half-Indian outcast, pulls us into her dark mind when blood actually starts to spill into the waters of Indian lake.

 

Prime Directive by T. Davis Bunn. Lieutenant Amanda Bostick is ordered to investigate why scientists on a distant outpost on the planet of Lorian are being murdered with no alarm raised.

 

She Wouldn’t Change a Thing by Sarah Adlakha. When 39-year-old psychiatrist, wife and mother Maria Forssmann wakes up in her 17-year-old body, she desperately tries to get back to her home and life, and wonders if she can change time and still keep what it’s given her.

 

All’s Well by Mona Awad. A college professor with chronic back pain, painkiller dependence and a failed marriage meets three strange benefactors who know her past and offer her a tantalizing future in this new novel from the critically-acclaimed author of Bunny.

 

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson. A mother and midwife inadvertently threatens the fortunes and livelihoods of her family and their neighbors after noticing an increase in local miscarriages and believes it's caused by the pesticides used by the Sanderson Timber Company.

 

Her Heart for a Compass by Sarah Ferguson. Expected to make an advantageous marriage, Lady Margaret Montagu Scott rebels shortly before her betrothal is announced and flees to Ireland, befriending a group of similarly-minded, independent women in this new novel from the Duchess of York.

 

Billy Summers by Stephen King. A former Iraq war vet working as an assassin-for-hire who only accepts jobs when the target is truly a bad guy seeks retirement in the new novel from the legendary best-selling author of over 60 novels.