Upcoming programs:
Monday, July 14 @ 6:30pm – Great Short Stories discussing “My
Friend Flicka” by Mary O’Hara REGISTER HERE
Tuesday, July 15 @ 6pm – Adult Summer Reading: Carrie
Rollwagen presents “Finding Your Genre”
REGISTER HERE
Tuesday, July 22 @ 6:30pm – Books & Beyond discussing
travel writing
REGISTER HERE
Wednesday, July 30 @ 6pm – Adult Summer Reading Finale: DIY
Reading Journal Meetup
REGISTER HERE
At the June meeting we had no assigned topic, so
participants chatted about anything they’d been listening to, reading, and
watching 😊
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
New York Times bestselling author Xochitl
Gonzalez delivers a mesmerizing novel about a first-generation Ivy League
student who uncovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her
suspicious death. Moving back and forth through time and told from the
perspectives of both women, Anita de Monte Laughs Last is a
propulsive, witty examination of power, love, and art, daring to ask who gets
to be remembered and who is left behind in the rarefied world of the elite.
Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim
Ever since she can remember, Vanessa has been able to see
people's fortunes at the bottom of their teacups. To avoid blurting out their
fortunes, she converts to coffee, but somehow fortunes escape and find a way to
complicate her life and the ones of those around her. To add to this plight,
her romance life is so nonexistent that her parents enlist the services of a
matchmaking expert from Shanghai.
After her matchmaking appointment, Vanessa sees death for the first time. She
decides that she can't truly live until she can find a way to get rid of her
uncanny abilities. When her eccentric Aunt Evelyn shows up with a tempting
offer to whisk her away, Vanessa says au revoir to California
and bonjour to Paris. There, Vanessa learns more about herself
and the root of her gifts and realizes one thing to be true: knowing one's
destiny isn't a curse, but being unable to change it is.
The Tanglewood Tea Shop by Lilac Mills
Patisserie-Chef Stevie is stuck in a rut.
Her beloved Great Aunt Peggy has passed away and she’s lost
both her job and the love of her life. Then she gets the call from the
solicitor's office about Peggy’s will, and everything changes. When Stevie sees
a quirky tea shop up for sale in the beautiful village of Tanglewood, she
decides to take Peggy’s advice and turn her life around. But the village isn't
as idyllic as it may at first have seemed, and when the gorgeous but grouchy
local stable-owner, Nick, shows up he seems like just another fly
in the pastry batter…
A Pack for Winter by Emilia Emerson (not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)
Ivy Noelle Winter is content with being a 31-year-old unbonded omega with no prospects of a pack. She adores teaching fifth grade, she has wonderful friends — and that baking show marathon isn’t going to watch itself. Until a snowstorm and power outage traps Ivy in her classroom after hours…with three men. Rome, the new alpha music teacher. James, the flirtatious beta vet he’s bonded to. And Logan, the town’s grumpy alpha electrician.
Their scents call to Ivy and her body answers, setting off
her first-ever mini heat. When the pheromones settle, she gets a proposition
beyond her wildest dreams — a chance to be a pack. But there’s no such thing as
a perfect courtship, especially when the biggest roadblock to happiness might
be Ivy herself.
A Pack for Autumn by Emilia Emerson (not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)
Starlight Grove needs a new Lighthouse Keeper and Olive
Autumn Harvest needs a fresh start. Preferably one with as much solitude as
possible. So, her new job and isolated ocean cottage is perfect—except for the
eccentric, meddling townspeople, and the cat who’s adopted her.
When the town wins a grant for lighthouse restoration, Olive is forced to let the contractors into her space…a company comprised of three hot alphas: Easton, her golden retriever stalker. Lars, the steady, protective viking. And Finn, who’s hiding a pain that matches her own. Suddenly, these guys are everywhere—and they’re completely unfazed by Olive’s prickly personality as they try to care for her, protect her, and court her. But everyone in this relationship is holding on to secrets… and it might not just be the lighthouse that needs restoration.
Gold Rush by R. L. Randolph (not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)
Juniper Walden has lived a life of quiet obscurity as a Beta
and romance author. When one of her novels gains traction and she’s suddenly
trapped in a broken elevator with two strangers the night before her UK book
tour, she realizes her future might not be so clear-cut. Seth Harding is a
happily bonded Beta, but he can’t get the pretty stranger’s honey-sweet scent
out of his head. Imagine his and his Alpha’s surprise when they see her face on
the news, because it’s unheard of for a designation to emerge late.
In a world where Omega rights are not their own, Omegas and their golden-hued
blood are coveted and exchanged like property because of their rarity. June
finds herself stranded in a foreign country, with no legal protection and an
oncoming heat to navigate. Her only choice might just be the Beta she keeps
meeting by happenstance— and his pack of three Alphas.
Lola and the Millionaires by Kathryn Moon (not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)
Lola Barnes only wants one thing, to get her life under
control. No more chasing alphas who abuse and toss away betas like her. No more
hiding in her cousin’s apartment licking wounds that won’t heal. Armed with her
dream job and her less than dreamy apartment, Lola is ready to start a new
chapter of her life without alphas.
But that’s easier said than done when one stumbling incident
after another leads Lola closer to an alluring pack of captivating men. These
alphas are everything Lola dreamed of, but they already have an omega—a playful
male model who won’t stop flirting with her. And Lola is only a beta, one who
comes with deep scars and an unshakeable aversion to alphas and their powerful
presences.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions
about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for
his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our
nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea
of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies
of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and,
today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it
like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we
all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its
burden?
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
In her great historical epic Kristin Lavransdatter,
set in fourteenth-century Norway, Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset tells the life
story of one passionate and headstrong woman. Painting a richly detailed
backdrop, Undset immerses readers in the day-to-day life, social conventions,
and political and religious undercurrents of the period.
Allegro by Ariel Dorfman
In 1789 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visits the grave of Johann
Sebastian Bach in Leipzig, looking for a sign, a signal, an answer to an enigma
that has haunted him since childhood: Was Bach murdered by a famous oculist?
And years later, was Handel a victim of the same doctor? Allegro follows
his investigation, from the salons of London to the streets of Paris,
recreating an enthralling and turbulent time, full of rogues and brilliant
composers, charlatans and presumptuous nobles.
Sgt. Reckless: America’s War Horse by Robin Hutton
She might not have been much to look at—a small
"Mongolian mare," they called her—but she came from racing stock, and
had the blood of a champion. Much more than that, Reckless became a war hero—in
fact, she became a combat Marine, earning staff sergeant's stripes before her
retirement to Camp Pendleton. This once famous horse, recognized as late as
1997 by Life Magazine as one of America's greatest heroes—the
greatest war horse in American history, in fact—has unfortunately now been
largely forgotten.
But author Robin Hutton is set to change all that. Not only
has she been the force behind recognizing Reckless with a monument at the
National Museum of the Marine Corps and at Camp Pendleton, but she has now
recorded the full story of this four-legged war hero who hauled ammunition to
embattled Marines and inspired them with her relentless, and reckless, courage.
We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes
Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two
wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who
seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is
. . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran
off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it
feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you
could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, and what it
actually means to be family.
The Sicilian Avengers by Luigi Natoli (Not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)
Reminiscent of a Dumas novel, Sicilian Avengers is a
vibrant, atmospheric fresco of early eighteenth-century Palermo. Onto the stage
of the ancient city, Blasco da Castiglione, a bold, brash, orphan adventurer,
arrives on a quest to discover his origins and seek his destiny. But this
fearless, swashbuckling D’Artagnan-esque hero unwittingly gets caught up in a
devious and murderous succession plot involving a powerful noble family.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin
begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to
High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she
will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí
knows little about the region. Her only ally in this
inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to
want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s
past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once
colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as
Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.
Black River by Nilanjana Roy (eaudio available on Hoopla; book not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)
Offering readers a gripping mystery and a sweeping
state-of-the-nation saga, Black River stands as a searing
critique of modern India, weaving an intricate narrative that captures the
essence of a nation grappling with its own complexities and contradictions.
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada (Not available within JCLC, request from Interlibrary Loan)
Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear. At the house
on 55 Jablonski Strasse, its various occupants try to live under Nazi rule in
their different ways: the bullying Hitler loyalists the Persickes, the retired
judge Fromm and the unassuming couple Otto and Anna Quangel. Then the Quangels
receive the news that their beloved son has been killed fighting in France.
Shocked out of their quiet existence, they begin a silent campaign of defiance,
and a deadly game of cat and mouse develops between the Quangels and the
ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich. When petty criminals Kluge and
Borkhausen also become involved, deception, betrayal and murder ensue,
tightening the noose around the Quangels' necks ...
James by Percival Everett
A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the
enslaved Jim's point of view.
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
Philip Ashley's older cousin Ambrose, who raised the
orphaned Philip as his own son, has died in Rome. Philip, the heir to Ambrose's
beautiful English estate, is crushed that the man he loved died far from home.
He is also suspicious. While in Italy, Ambrose fell in love with Rachel, a
beautiful English and Italian woman. But the final, brief letters Ambrose wrote
hint that his love had turned to paranoia and fear.
Now Rachel has arrived at Philip's newly inherited estate.
Could this exquisite woman, who seems to genuinely share Philip's grief at
Ambrose's death, really be as cruel as Philip imagined? Or is she the kind,
passionate woman with whom Ambrose fell in love? Philip struggles to understand
Rachel's intentions, knowing Ambrose's estate, his future, and his sanity, hang
in the balance.
Tramps Like Us by Joe Westmoreland
Told with openhearted frankness, Joe Westmoreland’s Tramps
Like Us is an exuberantly soulful adventure of self-discovery and
belonging, set across a consequential American decade. In New Orleans and San
Francisco, and on the roads in between, Joe and Ali find communities of misfits
to call their own. The days and nights blur, a blend of LSD and heroin, new
wave and disco, orgies and friends, and the thrilling spontaneity of youth―all
of which is threatened the moment Joe, Ali, and seemingly everyone around them
are diagnosed with HIV. But miraculously, the stories survive.
Back in print after two decades and with an introduction by
Myles and an afterword by the author, Tramps Like Us is an ode
to a nearly lost generation, an autofictional chronicle of America between gay
liberation and the AIDS crisis, and an evergreen testament to the force of
friendship.
The Son of Man by Jean-Baptiste del Amo (eaudio & ebook available on Hoopla)
From the author of the “extraordinary” Animalia (Sunday
Times, ebook available on Hoopla), winner of the Republic of Consciousness Prize and finalist for the
Lambda Literary Award and Best Translated Book Award, a blazing new novel
exploring nature, family, and violence, set on a hostile and glorious
mountainside haunted by transgressions of the past.
Slewfoot by Brom
Connecticut, 1666: An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood.
The wildfolk call him Father, slayer, protector. The colonists call him
Slewfoot, demon, devil. To Abitha, a recently widowed outcast, alone and
vulnerable in her pious village, he is the only one she can turn to for help.
Together, they ignite a battle between pagan and Puritan – one that threatens
to destroy the entire village, leaving nothing but ashes and bloodshed in their
wake. This terrifying tale of bewitchery features more than two dozen of Brom’s
haunting full-color paintings and brilliant endpapers, fully immersing readers
in this wild and unforgiving world.
I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney (eaudio available in Hoopla)
Obituary writer Bud Stanley isn’t really living his best
life. He’s fallen into a funk after a divorce. (She left him for another man,
who, in fairness, was far more interesting.) He’s not doing his job well. He’s
given up on dating. And he’s about to be fired for accidentally publishing his
own obituary one mildly drunken night (though technically the company can’t
legally fire a dead person). As Bud awaits his fate at work, he does the only
logical thing: He goes to the wakes and funerals of total strangers to learn
how to live again.
The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki
Marjorie’s journey began gluing cereal boxes in her father’s
barn as a young girl. No one could have predicted that C. W. Post’s Cereal
Company would grow into the General Foods empire and reshape the American way
of life, with Marjorie as its heiress and leading lady. Not content to stay in
her prescribed roles of high-society wife, mother, and hostess, Marjorie dared
to demand more, making history in the process. Before turning thirty she
amassed millions, becoming the wealthiest woman in the United States. But it
was her life-force, advocacy, passion, and adventurous spirit that led to her
stunning legacy.
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