Friday, January 22, 2021

January digital hotlist

 

The digital hotlist is back!  If you are on hold for any of the following digital titles on Libby by Overdrive, here are some suggestions to tide you over while you wait.




Top five hold list titles for downloadable audiobooks:

A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

If you’re waiting for A Promised Land by Barack Obama, try one of these available or short-wait high-interest titles!

On Libby:

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon

She was a fierce dissenter with a serious collar game. A legendary, self-described "flaming feminist litigator" who made the world more equal. And an intergenerational icon affectionately known as the Notorious RBG. As the nation mourns the loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, discover the story of a remarkable woman and learn how to carry on her legacy.

Our Time is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams

Celebrated national leader and bestselling author Stacey Abrams offers a blueprint to end voter suppression, empower our citizens, and take back our country. A recognized expert on fair voting and civic engagement, Abrams chronicles a chilling account of how the right to vote and the principle of democracy have been and continue to be under attack. Abrams would have been the first African American woman governor, but experienced these effects firsthand, despite running the most innovative race in modern politics as the Democratic nominee in Georgia. Abrams didn't win, but she has not conceded. The audiobook compellingly argues for the importance of robust voter protections, an elevation of identity politics, engagement in the census, and a return to moral international leadership.

Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Don Van Natta Jr and Erik Singer

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. bring us the first comprehensive and balanced portrait of the most important woman in American politics. Drawing upon myriad new sources and previously undisclosed documents, Her Way shows us how, like many women of her generation, Hillary Rodham Clinton tempered a youthful idealism with the realities of corporate America and big-league politics.

Lead From the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change by Stacey Abrams

Leadership is hard. Convincing others—and yourself—that you are capable of taking charge and achieving more requires insight and courage. Lead from the Outside is the handbook for outsiders, written with an eye toward the challenges that hinder women, people of color, the working class, members of the LGBTQ community, and millennials ready to make change.

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama

Published before his election, the heart of this audiobook is then Senator Obama’s vision of how we could move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. Underlying his stories about family, friends, members of the Senate, and even the president is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus.

The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham

Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the “better angels of our nature” have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and illuminating the courage of such influential citizen activists as Martin Luther King, Jr., early suffragettes Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, civil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and John Lewis, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer Joseph N. Welch, Meacham brings vividly to life turning points in American history.

On Hoopla:

Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville

In 1831, a Frenchman named Alexis de Tocqueville arrived in New York convinced that the democratic spirit America had embraced would eventually spread across Europe. Democracy in America, a treatise on democratic government written from his fresh perspective as an outsider, is now a classic document of political history.

The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield

In The Faith of Barack Obama, New York Times bestselling author Stephen Mansfield takes readers inside the mind, heart, and soul of presidential hopeful Barack Obama - as a person of faith, as a man, as an American, and possibly as our future commander in chief.

The RBG Way: The Secrets of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Success by Rebecca Gibian

Organized into three parts and then broken down into more specific chapters within each part, The RBG Way offers wisdom from Justice Ginsburg, based on comments she has made on particular topics of importance. Insight is offered on subjects such as women's rights, creating lasting partnerships, overcoming hardship, how to be brave, and how to create lasting change.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: First in Her Class by David Hudson

Join bestselling author and constitutional scholar David L. Hudson, Jr. for awe-inspiring listening on the life and career of one of the most revered Supreme Court justices in U.S. history.

To America by Stephen Ambrose

Ambrose's final book is a stirring collection of reflections that covers such wide-ranging subjects as the Battle of New Orleans, the transcontinental railroad, Crazy Horse and Custer, sexism and racism, the author's personal ruminations on what it means to be an historian, and so much more. Throughout the book, Ambrose is candid while assessing himself, legendary historical figures, and the entire nation.

If you’re waiting for Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey, try one of these available or short-wait high-interest titles!

On Libby:

Blood: A Memoir by Allison Moorer

1986, Mobile, Alabama. A fourteen-year-old girl is awakened by the unmistakable sound of gunfire. On the front lawn, her father has shot and killed her mother before turning the gun on himself. Allison Moorer would grow up to be an award-winning musician, with her songs likened to "a Southern accent: eight miles an hour, deliberate, and very dangerous to underestimate" (Rolling Stone). Now, Allison turns her lyrical storytelling powers to recount the events leading up to the moment that forever altered her own life and that of her older sister, Shelby Lynn, with whom she shares an unbreakable bond.

Open Book by Jessica Simpson

Jessica reveals for the first time her inner monologue and most intimate struggles. Guided by the journals she's kept since age fifteen, and brimming with her unique humor and down-to-earth humanity, Open Book is as inspiring as it is entertaining.

Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die by Willie Nelson (also avail. on Hoopla)

Willie Nelson muses about his greatest influences and the things that are most important to him, and celebrates the family, friends, and colleagues who have blessed his remarkable journey. Willie riffs on everything, from music to poker, Texas to Nashville, and more. He shares the outlaw wisdom he has acquired over the course of eight decades, along with favorite jokes and insights from family, bandmates, and close friends.

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead-ringer for Santa and a lunatic in the bargain. Suddenly, at age twelve, Augusten Burroughs found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian in perfect squalor. The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients, and a pedophile living in the backyard shed completed the tableau. Here, there were no rules, there was no school. The Christmas tree stayed up until summer, and Valium was eaten like Pez. And when things got dull, there was always the vintage electroshock therapy machine under the stairs....

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson

When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father and a morbidly eccentric childhood. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame-spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.

Revolution by Russell Brand

In this book, Russell Brand hilariously lacerates the straw men and paper tigers of our conformist times and presents, with the help of experts as diverse as Thomas Piketty and George Orwell, a vision for a fairer, sexier society that's fun and inclusive.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert

An intensely articulate and moving memoir of self-discovery, Eat, Pray, Love is about what can happen when you claim responsibility for your own contentment and stop trying to live in imitation of society's ideals. It is certain to touch anyone who has ever woken up to the unrelenting need for change.

On Hoopla:

Wear Your Dreams: My Life in Tattoos by Ed Hardy

Your Dreams is a never-before-seen look at the tattoo artist who rocked the art world and has left a permanent mark on fashion history.

The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 by Hunter S. Thompson

Here, for the first time, is the private and most intimate correspondence of one of America's most influential and incisive journalists-Hunter S. Thompson. In letters to a who's who of luminaries, from Norman Mailer to Charles Kuralt, Tom Wolfe to Lyndon Johnson, William Styron to Joan Baez-not to mention his mother, the NRA, and a chain of newspaper editors-Thompson vividly catches the tenor of the times in 1960s America and channels it all through his own razor-sharp perspective.

Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs

This is the fabric of Augusten Burroughs's life: a collection of true stories that are universal in their appeal yet unabashedly intimate, stories that shine a flashlight into both dark and hilarious places. With Magical Thinking, Augusten Burroughs goes where other memoirists fear to tread.

Mentors by Russell Brand

Brand describes the impact that a series of significant people have had on the author – from the wayward youths he tried to emulate growing up in Essex, through the first ex-junkie sage, to the people he turns to today to help him be a better father. It explores how we all – consciously and unconsciously – choose guides, mentors and heroes throughout our lives and examines the new perspectives they can bring.

Walden, or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau

Immersing himself in nature and solitude, Thoreau sought to develop a greater understanding of society amidst a life of self-reliance and simplicity. Originally published in 1854, Walden remains one of the most celebrated works in American literature.

If you’re waiting for The Guest List by Lucy Foley, try one of these available or short-wait high-interest titles!

On Libby:

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora's reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods.

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

From the New York Times bestselling author of Moriarty and Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery.

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. You're hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. You'd like to get to know Grace better. But it's difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are inseparable. Some might call this true love. Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone. Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn't work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. Or why she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen. Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows. Some might wonder what's really going on once the dinner party is over, and the front door has closed.

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

The twisty new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door and A Stranger in the House
A weekend retreat at a cozy mountain lodge is supposed to be the perfect getaway . . . but when the storm hits, no one is getting away.

The Last by Hanna Jameson

This propulsive post-apocalyptic thriller "in which Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None collides with Stephen King's The Shining" (NPR) follows a group of survivors stranded at a hotel as the world descends into nuclear war and the body of a young girl is discovered in one of the hotel's water tanks.

On Hoopla:

Malice by Keigo Higashino

Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he's planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver. His body is found in his office, a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis. Or so it seems.

The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux

In this, rival detectives try to crack the following case: Madamoiselle Stangerson retires to bed in the Yellow Room. Suddenly, revolver shots echo through the house and she screams for help. Her father and a servant run to the locked room where they find the wounded girl - alone. The only other exit, a window, is barred. How had the assailant escaped?

The Secrets You Keep by Kate White

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wrong Man and Eyes on You comes a harrowing new psychological thriller about a successful self-help author who suddenly finds her life spiraling dangerously out of control. What would you do if you realized that your new husband, a man you adore, is keeping secrets from you-secrets with terrifying consequences?

If you’re waiting for American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, try one of these available or short-wait high-interest titles!

On Libby:

Followers by Megan Angelo

Orla Cadden is a budding novelist stuck in a dead-end job, writing clickbait about movie-star hookups and influencer yoga moves. Then Orla meets Floss—a striving, wannabe A-lister—who comes up with a plan for launching them both into the high-profile lives they dream about. So what if Orla and Floss's methods are a little shady—and sometimes people get hurt? Their legions of followers can't be wrong. Thirty-five years later, in a closed California village where government-appointed celebrities live every moment of the day on camera, a woman named Marlow discovers a shattering secret about her past.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live? One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them are a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured veteran returning from Afghanistan, a business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.

American War by Omar El Akkad

An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle—a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself.

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

The unforgettable New York Times best seller begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.

On Hoopla:

A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen

Six years after a global pandemic wiped out most of the planet's population, the survivors are rebuilding the country, split between self-governing cities, hippie communes and wasteland gangs.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan Henry

From New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan comes an exquisite novel of Joy Davidman, the woman C. S. Lewis called "my whole world."

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of hope and heartbreak, raw courage and strength splintered with poverty and oppression, and one woman's chances beyond the darkly hollows. Inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek showcases an atmospheric, fascinating, and important footnote of Kentucky history that should be prized and preserved.

If you’re waiting for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, try one of these available or short-wait high-interest titles!

On Libby:

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. Ursula dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on toward its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can, will she?

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

What if two people who loved each other deeply, married, and faced a life in which one person remained constant while the other slipped fluidly in and out of time? A modern love story with a twist that invites us to linger over questions of how life and love change over time.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages—and for the ages—about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.

The Magic Strings of Frankie Preston by Mitch Albom

With its Forest Gump-like romp through the music world, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto is a classic in the making. A lifelong musician himself, Mitch Albom delivers a remarkable novel, infused with the message that "everyone joins a band in this life" and those connections change us all.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

"Are you happy with your life?" Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend." In this world he's woken up to, Jason's life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

On Hoopla:

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

When too many jumps back to 1940 leave 21st century Oxford history student Ned Henry exhausted, a relaxing trip to Victorian England seems the perfect solution. But complexities like recalcitrant rowboats, missing cats, and love at first sight make Ned's holiday anything but restful.

Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt

When physicist Michael Shelborne mysteriously vanishes, his son Shel discovers that he had constructed a time travel device. Fearing his father may be stranded in time-or worse-Shel enlists Dave Dryden, a linguist, to accompany him on the rescue mission.

Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The story of the scholar Faust, tempted into a contract with the Devil in return for a life of sensuality and power. 

 The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others . . .The most inventive debut of the year twists together a mystery of such unexpected creativity it will leave listeners guessing until the very last second.

Top five holdlists titles for ebooks:

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
A Promised Land by Barack Obama
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
The Bridgerton Collection Volume 1 (Books 1-3) by Julia Quinn

If you’re waiting for The Guest Book by Lucy Foley , try one of these authors!

On Libby:

Janelle Brown

Lauren Beukes

Maria Peshl

Fiona Barton

Kate Atkinson

On Hoopla:

John Dickson Carr

Agatha Christie

Also, look for ebook versions of the audiobook recommendations in that section!

If you’re waiting for The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, try one of these available or short-wait high-interest titles!

On Libby:

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

"In less than 200 sparsely filled pages, this book manages to encompass issues of class, education, ambition, racial prejudice, sexual desire and orientation, identity, mother-daughter relationships, parenthood and loss....With Red at the Bone, Jacqueline Woodson has indeed risen — even further into the ranks of great literature." – NPR

God Help the Child by Toni Morrison

At the center: a young woman who calls herself Bride, whose stunning blue-black skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life, but which caused her light-skinned mother to deny her even the simplest forms of love. There is Booker, the man Bride loves, and loses to anger. Rain, the mysterious white child with whom she crosses paths. And finally, Bride’s mother herself, Sweetness, who takes a lifetime to come to understand that “what you do to children matters. And they might never forget.”      

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

In this instant New York Times bestseller and "multigenerational narrative that's nothing short of brilliant" (People), two sisters' lives from the 1950s to the present are explored as they struggle to find their places—and be true to themselves—in a rapidly evolving world from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner.

The Dazzling Truth by Helen Cullen

One Irish family. Three decades. One dazzling story. "A love letter to family and to the arts. Beautiful." —Maggie Smith, author of Good Bones

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

"You can be beautiful, even more beautiful than before." This is the seductive promise of Dr. Nzinga's clinic, where anyone can get their lips thinned, their skin bleached, and their nose narrowed. A complete demelanization will liberate you from the confines of being born in a black body—if you can afford it. In this near-future Southern city plagued by fenced-in ghettos and police violence, more and more residents are turning to this experimental medical procedure. Like any father, our narrator just wants the best for his son, Nigel, a biracial boy whose black birthmark is getting bigger by the day. The darker Nigel becomes, the more frightened his father feels. But how far will he go to protect his son? And will he destroy his family in the process?

Kind of Freedom by Margaret Sexton

"Brilliantly juxtaposing World War II, the '80s and post-Katrina present, Sexton follows three generations of a black New Orleans family as they struggle to bloom amid the poison of racism." —People

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

With the opening line of Silver Sparrow, "My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist," author Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man's deception, a family's complicity, and two teenage girls caught in the middle.

On Hoopa:

Passing by Nella Larsen

Clare Kendry is living on the edge. Light-skinned, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a racist white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past after deciding to “pass” as a white woman. 

Quicksand by Nella Larsen

Brave, bold, and brilliant, this ground-breaking first novel is the work of one of the Harlem Renaissance's most influential and enduring writers. Larsen's autobiographical portrait of a biracial woman's quest for self-identity and acceptance offers a cautionary tale of an individual lost between two cultures.

The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

The Turner House brings us a colorful, complicated brood full of love and pride, sacrifice and unlikely inheritances. It's a striking examination of the price we pay for our dreams and futures, and the ways in which our families bring us home.

White Like Her by Gail Lukasik

In the historical context of the Jim Crow South, Gail explores her mother's decision to pass, how she hid her secret even from her own husband, and the price she paid for choosing whiteness. Haunted by her mother's fear and shame, Gail embarks on a quest to uncover her mother's racial lineage, tracing her family back to eighteenth-century colonial Louisiana. In coming to terms with her decision to publicly out her mother, Gail changed how she looks at race and heritage

If you’re waiting for A Promised Land by Barack Obama, try one of these available or short-wait high-interest titles!

On Libby:

The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham

Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the “better angels of our nature” have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of Lincoln and other presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson, and illuminating the courage of such influential citizen activists as Martin Luther King, Jr., early suffragettes Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, civil rights pioneers Rosa Parks and John Lewis, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Army-McCarthy hearings lawyer Joseph N. Welch, Meacham brings vividly to life turning points in American history. 

Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World by Linda Hirschman

The relationship between Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—Republican and Democrat, Christian and Jew, western rancher's daughter and Brooklyn girl—transcends party, religion, region, and culture. Strengthened by each other's presence, these groundbreaking judges, the first and second to serve on the highest court in the land, have transformed the Constitution and America itself, making it a more equal place for all women.

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

In this story of human triumph that “hums with hope and exhilaration” (NPR), Justice Sotomayor recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.

First: Sandra Day O’Connor by Evan Thomas

Women and men who want to be leaders and be first in their own lives—who want to learn when to walk away and when to stand their ground—will be inspired by O’Connor’s example. This is a remarkably vivid and personal portrait of a woman who loved her family, who believed in serving her country, and who, when she became the most powerful woman in America, built a bridge forward for all women.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world's most famous address.

This America: The Case for the Nation by Jill Lepore

A manifesto for a better nation, and a call for a "new Americanism," This America reclaims the nation's future by reclaiming its past.

Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest, and the Music that Made a Nation by Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw

A celebration of American history through the music that helped to shape a nation, by Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Meacham and music superstar Tim McGraw.

Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (De la démocratie en Amérique) is a classic text detailing the United States of the 1830s, showing a primarily favorable view by Tocqueville as he compares it to his native France. Considered to be an important account of the U.S. democratic system, it has become a classic work in the fields of political science and history. It quickly became popular in both the United States and Europe.

On Hoopla:

On Democracy by E.B. White

Anchored by an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham, this concise collection of essays, letters, and poems from one of this country's most eminent literary voices offers much-needed historical context for our current state of the nation-and hope for the future of our society. Speaking to Americans at a time of uncertainty, when democracy itself has come under threat, he reminds us, "As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman . . . the scene is not desolate."

A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s, Our Decade of Hope, Possibility, and Innocence Lost by Frye Gaillard

"There are many different ways to remember the sixties," Gaillard writes, "and this is mine. There was in these years the sense of a steady unfolding of time, as if history were on a forced march, and the changes spread to every corner of our lives. As future generations debate the meaning of the decade, I hope to offer a sense of how it felt to have lived it. A Hard Rain is one writer's reconstruction and remembrance of a transcendent era - one that, for better or worse, lives with us still."

Reagan’s America: Innocents at Home by Garry Wills

Updated with a new preface by the author, this captivating biography of America's fortieth president recounts Ronald Reagan's life-from his poverty-stricken Illinois childhood to his acting career to his California governorship to his role as commander in chief-and examines the powerful myths surrounding him, many of which he created himself. 

1968 in America: Music, Politics, Chaos, Counterculture, and the Shaping of a Generation by Charles Kaiser

Nineteen sixty-eight has come to be recognized as the pivotal year in a period of nearly unprecedented change and upheaval-a year that witnessed the turning point of the Vietnam War and the Tet offensive; the shattering assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy; the near-breakdown of the Democratic National Convention-and, some thought, of the American political system itself.

If you’re waiting for The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, try one of these available or short-wait high-interest titles!

On Libby:

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages—and for the ages—about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.

Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

A charming, clever, and quietly moving debut novel of of endless possibilities and joyful discoveries that explores the promises we make and break, losing and finding ourselves, the objects that hold magic and meaning for our lives, and the surprising connections that bind us.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

"Are you happy with your life?" Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend." In this world he's woken up to, Jason's life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

The Oxford Time Travel series by Connie Willis

The series is set in the 2050’s and 2060’s. Time travel has been invented. But since it is apparently impossible to bring objects back from the past, commercial organizations lost interest, and time travel is now the domain of the history departments of universities. Historians travel back in time, to engage in research of the periods they are studying.

On Hoopla:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

In this celebrated work, his only novel, Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world.

Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling

In the late twenty-first century, technology has lengthened lifespans far beyond what was once medically possible. Existence itself has become relatively easy-if boring. In this futuristic paradise, ninety-four-year-old Mia Ziemann longs for something different and undergoes a radical new treatment that restores both her body and mind to that of a twenty-year-old. After her dramatic transformation, Mia finds herself lost in an avant-garde world of passion, designer drugs, and creative expression...

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

When two immortals meet in the long-ago past, the destiny of mankind is changed forever. For a thousand years, Doro has cultivated a small African village, carefully breeding its people in search of seemingly unattainable perfection. He survives through the centuries by stealing the bodies of others, a technique he has so thoroughly mastered that nothing on Earth can kill him.

Immortality, Inc by Robert Scheckley

Thomas Blaine remembered the car accident that killed him-and then he woke up in the hospital. A nurse told him where he was. "You'd call it being in the future." A future where bodies are sold to the highest bidder as new homes for the minds of the rich, who are greedy for more life when their own bodies wear out or are damaged. Suddenly, keeping body and soul together has taken on a new, and very sinister, meaning.

If you’re waiting for Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, try one of these available or short-wait high-interest titles and travel to other historical worlds!

On Libby:

Try Georgette Heyer’s novels (also available on Hoopla)

Georgette Heyer, born in London in 1902, had her first novel published when she was nineteen years old and continued to write novels of many genres for more than fifty years. During that time she never made a public appearance or granted an interview. The great majority of her books are historical romances set in Regency England and are admired to this day for the meticulous research and profusion of essential ingredients - arranged marriages, murder, fashion, upper classes, sarcasm and humor. Indeed, Heyer set the tone for this entire genre. 

The Countess Conspiracy by Courntey Milan

Sebastian Malheur is the most dangerous sort of rake: an educated one. When he's not scandalizing ladies in the bedchamber, he's outraging proper society with his scientific theories. He's desired, reviled, acclaimed, and despised — and he laughs through it all. Violet Waterfield, the widowed Countess of Cambury, on the other hand, is entirely respectable, and she'd like to stay that way. But Violet has a secret that is beyond ruinous, one that ties her irrevocably to England's most infamous scoundrel: Sebastian's theories aren't his. They're hers.

My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh

Meet the Union of the Rakes—a new Regency romance series inspired by the Breakfast Club and other classic 80s films! In the first book, a bluestocking enlists a faux suitor to help her land an ideal husband only to be blindsided by real desire...

The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas

Felix Rivendale, the Marquess of Wrenworth, is The Ideal Gentleman, a man all men want to be and all women want to possess. Even Felix himself almost believes this golden image. But underneath is a damaged soul soothed only by public adulation. Louisa Cantwell needs to marry well to support her sisters. She does not, however, want Lord Wrenworth—though he seems inexplicably interested in her. She mistrusts his outward perfection, and the praise he garners everywhere he goes. Still, when he is the only man to propose at the end of the London season, she reluctantly accepts. Louisa does not understand her husband's mysterious purposes, but she cannot deny the pleasure in his touch. Nor can she deny the pull this magnetic man exerts upon her. But does she dare to fall in love with a man so full of dark secrets, any one of which could devastate her, if she were to get any closer?

Tall, Duke, and Dangerous by Megan Frampton

He needs a bride…she longs for love. After the death of her father and wicked stepmother, Ana Maria goes from virtual servant to lady-in-training, and while society life has its benefits—gorgeous gowns!—its restrictive rules stifle her sprit. And when her independent actions put her in danger, her half-brother insists Nash teach her some self-defense. While most of London's ladies find Nash intimidating, she only sees a man who needs introducing to all the joys life has to offer. So although officially they are coming together for fighting lessons, unofficially their physical contact begins to blur the line between friendship and begins to grown into something more...

The Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore

Revolutionary turmoil in France threatens to cross the English border—and tear apart an increasingly tense marriage—in this "brilliant" gothic thriller (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

The Visitors by Sally Beauman

Based on a true story of discovery, The Visitors is New York Times bestselling author Sally Beauman's brilliant recreation of the hunt for Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings—a dazzling blend of fact and fiction that brings to life a lost world of exploration, adventure, and danger, and the audacious men willing to sacrifice everything to find a lost treasure.

On Hoopla:

Dark Days of Georgian Britain by James Hobson

A historian reveals the grittier side of Regency England, far from the country houses and costume balls of high society.

The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare

They call him the Duke of Ruin. To an undaunted wallflower, he's just the beast next door.
Wealthy and ruthless, Gabriel Duke clawed his way from the lowliest slums to the pinnacle of high society-and now he wants to get even. Loyal and passionate, Lady Penelope Campion never met a lost or wounded creature she wouldn't take into her home and her heart. When her imposing-and attractive-new neighbor demands she clear out the rescued animals, Penny sets him a challenge. She will part with her precious charges, if he can find them loving homes. Soon he's covered in cat hair, knee-deep in adorable, and bewitched by a shyly pretty spinster who defies his every attempt to resist.

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian

Once beloved by London's fashionable elite, Hartley Sedgwick has become a recluse after a spate of salacious gossip exposed his most-private secrets. Rarely venturing from the house whose inheritance is a daily reminder of his downfall, he's captivated by the exceedingly handsome man who seeks to rob him.
Since retiring from the boxing ring, Sam Fox has made his pub, The Bell, into a haven for those in his Free Black community. But when his best friend Kate implores him to find and destroy a scandalously revealing painting of her, he agrees. Sam would do anything to protect those he loves, even if it means stealing from a wealthy gentleman. But when he encounters Hartley, he soon finds himself wanting to steal more than just a painting from the lovely, lonely man-he wants to steal his heart.

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

When Lady Henrietta Sedley declares her twenty-ninth year her own, she has plans to inherit her father's business, to make her own fortune, and to live her own life. But first, she intends to experience a taste of the pleasure she'll forgo as a confirmed spinster. Everything is going perfectly…until she discovers the most beautiful man she's ever seen tied up in her carriage and threatening to ruin the Year of Hattie before it's even begun.

While the Duke was Sleeping by Sophie Jordan

Sometimes the man of your dreams . . . Shop girl Poppy Fairchurch knows it's pointless fantasizing about the Duke of Autenberry. Still, dreams can't hurt anyone . . . unlike the carriage Poppy spies bearing down upon the unsuspecting duke. After she pulls him to safety, the duke lapses into a coma and Poppy is mistaken for his fiancée. But one person isn't fooled: his arrogant and much too handsome half-brother, Struan Mackenzie. Soon Poppy isn't sure what she wants more . . . the fantasy of her duke or the reality of one smoldering Scot who challenges her at every turn.

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

book club alert

In January, the Lost & Found Book Group will be reading Philip Roth's singular "The Counterlife", narrated once again by Roth's great skeptic and alter-ego, the novelist Nathan Zuckerman. 

Click
 here to register for the January meeting.

It is a meditative, nuanced novel whose characters are relentlessly bedeviled by the prospect of a substitute existence that can alter their destiny. Like a master composer, Roth plays variations on this theme throughout the novel, giving his main character, Henry, who is Zuckerman's brother and suffering from a potentially ruinous heart condition, "counterlives" that take him from New Jersey to Gloucestershire, England to a settlement in Israel's occupied Left Bank. 

As always, Roth's book is concerned with what it means to be a somewhat cynical and Jewish intellectual in a century irrevocably transformed by two world wars. It is a disturbing, funny and moving novel that only a writer as multifariously gifted as Philip Roth could write. 

Click here to reserve a copy of the book.  Please join us for our Zoom meeting on January 28, 2021! Feel free to enjoy an adult beverage during the discussion! We look forward to seeing you!

Lost & Found is about rediscovering lost 20th Century classics that have become
available once again. We meet on the last Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m.
Click here to register for the January meeting. For more information, email Gregory.

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

reader's choice

 

Last night, the Genre Reading Group met for one of our biannual Salon Discussions.  There are no assigned topics at Salon so we spent an enjoyable couple of hours talking about our favorite recent reads/views/listens.

War/Combat fan fiction films curated by a group member

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZJCprt9ByAROABxVeutaqNcdp6vrzwPt

Cargo short film

Stranded in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, a man sets in motion an unlikely plan to protect the precious cargo he carries: his infant daughter.  Recently remade into a feature length film starring Martin Freeman. 

The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis

Engaging and fast-paced, this gripping coming-of-age novel of chess, feminism, and addiction speeds to a conclusion as elegant and satisfying as a mate in four. Now an acclaimed Netflix series.

The 7½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

For fans of Claire North, and Kate AtkinsonThe 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a breathlessly addictive mystery that follows one man's race against time to find a killer, with an astonishing time-turning twist that means nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

Quantum Leap (tv show)

A time-travel experiment that went wrong sends physicist Sam Beckett back in time, where he assumes other people's identities and helps to resolve the crises of his new hosts. He's assisted in his adventures by Al Calavicci, also known as `The Observer,' who has the ability to appear in holographic form. 

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig

How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages—and for the ages—about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets. . . . From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes “a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror” (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico.  In development as a Hulu Original limited series produced by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

Turn on all the lights and check under your bed. Things are about to get spooky in Trenton, New Jersey.  According to legend, the Jersey Devil prowls the Pine Barrens and soars above the treetops in the dark of night. As eerie as this might seem, there are things in the Barrens that are even more frightening and dangerous. And there are monkeys. Lots of monkeys. Diesel and Plum hunt down Munch and Grimoire, following them into the Barrens, surviving cranberry bogs, the Jersey Devil, a hair-raising experience, sand in their underwear, and, of course . . . monkeys.

The Order by Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon has slipped quietly into Venice for a much-needed holiday with his wife and two young children. But when Pope Paul VII dies suddenly, Gabriel is summoned to Rome by the Holy Father’s loyal private secretary, Archbishop Luigi Donati. A billion Catholic faithful have been told that the pope died of a heart attack. Donati, however, has two good reasons to suspect his master was murdered. The Swiss Guard who was standing watch outside the papal apartments the night of the pope’s death is missing. So, too, is the letter the Holy Father was writing during the final hours of his life. A letter that was addressed to Gabriel: While researching in the Vatican Secret Archives, I came upon a most remarkable book …

The Borgias (tv show)

An historical drama about the infamous Renaissance-era Italian family, one of whom became head of the Catholic Church as Pope Alexander VI. His son Cesare was the subject of Machiavelli's classic "The Prince."

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.  Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place in a world without his family. When you’ve lost everything, how do you find the strength to put one foot in front of the other? How do you learn to feel safe again? How do you find meaning in your life? Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate

The compelling, poignant true stories of victims of a notorious adoption scandal—some of whom learned the truth from Lisa Wingate’s bestselling novel Before We Were Yours and were reunited with birth family members as a result of its wide reach.

This is How you Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

From award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone comes an enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and space about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future.

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.

The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime by Judith Flanders

In this fascinating book, Judith Flanders retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder―both famous and obscure―from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper to the tragedies of the murdered Marr family in London's East End; Burke and Hare and their bodysnatching business in Edinburgh; and Greenacre, who transported his dismembered fiancée around town by omnibus. With an irresistible cast of swindlers, forgers, and poisoners, the mad, the bad and the dangerous to know, The Invention of Murder is both a gripping tale of crime and punishment, and history at its most readable.

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death by Corinne May Botz (not available within the Jefferson County Library system)

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death offers readers an extraordinary glimpse into the mind of a master criminal investigator. Frances Glessner Lee, a wealthy grandmother, founded the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard in 1936 and was later appointed captain in the New Hampshire police. In the 1940s and 1950s she built dollhouse crime scenes based on real cases in order to train detectives to assess visual evidence. Still used in forensic training today, the eighteen Nutshell dioramas, on a scale of 1:12, display an astounding level of detail: pencils write, window shades move, whistles blow, and clues to the crimes are revealed to those who study the scenes carefully.

18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics by Bruce Goldfarb

A captivating blend of history, women in science, and true crime, 18 Tiny Deaths tells the story of how one woman changed the face of forensics forever.

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (Oxford Time Travel series)

For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received. But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin—barely of age herself—finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours.

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest. He’s been shuttling between the 21st century and the 1940s searching for a Victorian atrocity called the bishop's bird stump. It’s part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in a Nazi air raid over a hundred years earlier.  But then Verity Kindle, a fellow time traveler, inadvertently brings back something from the past. Now Ned must jump back to the Victorian era to help Verity put things right—not only to save the project but to prevent altering history itself.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson

The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis

A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s, Our Decade of Hope, Possibility, and Innocence Lost by Frye Gaillard

Frye Gaillard has given us a deeply personal history, bringing his keen storyteller’s eye to this pivotal time in American life. He explores the competing story arcs of tragedy and hope through the political and social movements of the times but he also examines the cultural manifestations of change. “There are many different ways to remember the sixties,” Gaillard writes, “and this is mine.”

Nobody Knows How It Got This Good by Amos Jasper Wright IV

Wright's debut collection of short stories was awarded the 2018 Tartt First Fiction Award. Drawing heavily on the author's experiences growing up in Alabama, the stories explore themes of racial injustice, class, the Civil Rights Movement, environmental catastrophe, imprisonment, suburbanization, and the perennial themes of love, life and loss.

Blood: A Memoir by Allison Moorer (eaudio on Libby)

Blood delves into the meaning of inheritance and destiny, shame and trauma -- and how it is possible to carve out a safe place in the world despite it all. With a foreword by Allison's sister, Grammy winner Shelby Lynne, Blood reads like an intimate journal: vivid, haunting, and ultimately life-affirming.

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister

One of the world's most esteemed and influential psychologists, Roy F. Baumeister, teams with New York Times science writer John Tierney to reveal the secrets of self-control and how to master it.

A regular GRG attendee (pre-COVID) visited the library this afternoon and offered this one:

Hours (feature film)

A new father (Paul Walker) must remain behind and try to keep his prematurely born daughter alive after Hurricane Katrina knocks out the power in their New Orleans hospital.

 

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Hot Reads for Cold Nights

 

Warm up with these great romance novels of 2020!





From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout

Ever since she could remember Poppy’s life has always consisted of being The Maiden, chosen from birth to usher in a new era.  The solitary life of never being touched, spoken to, or looked upon has isolated her and leaves a gaping hole in her own desires. When her certain destiny becomes entangled with unbridled desire and danger Poppy’s life as The Maiden becomes blurred by right and wrong as she fights for her life and her heart.






Beach Read by Emily Henry

A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.






In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

In interviews, everyone is usually asked the question of where you see yourself in five years? Manhattan lawyer Donnie Kohan had the perfect answer during the most important interview of her career. Scoring a proposal from her boyfriend and having a successful interview, Donnie goes to sleep content in the knowledge that she is right on track. When she wakes up though, it is in an entirely different reality. It is the same day, December 15th, but five years in the future.






Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits—someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom. 






A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore

Lady Lucie is fuming. She and her band of Oxford suffragists have finally scraped together enough capital to control one of London's major publishing houses, with one purpose: to use it in a coup against Parliament. But who could have predicted that the one person standing between her and success is her old nemesis, Lord Ballentine? Or that he would be willing to hand over the reins for an outrageous price--a night in her bed.






The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

A wedding planner left at the altar? Yeah, the irony isn’t lost on Carolina Santos, either. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina’s offered an opportunity that could change her life. There’s just one hitch… she has to collaborate with the best (make that worst) man from her own failed nuptials. The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel






The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel

A fiercely independent engineer walks out on the man her parents have set her up with -- only to start working side-by-side with him at her job in this laugh-out-loud debut with "delicious banter, deep wounds, heartwarming friendships, and a path to love that often feels impossibly hard, and [a payoff] satisfying enough to give you a book hangover the size of Texas" (Sonali Dev, USA Today bestselling author of Recipe for Persuasion).

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

National Film Registry

 

Each year, the Library of Congress selects films, based on their cultural, historic, or aesthetic importance to the nation’s film heritage, to be inducted into the National Film Registry.  Yesterday Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced this year’s picks. (Full article on https://loc.gov/item/prn-20-082/)

Suspense (1913)

Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914)

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)

Lilies of the Field (1963)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)

Wattstax (1973)

Grease (1978)

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Illusions (1982)

Losing Ground (1982)

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

Buena Vista Social Club (1999)

Shrek (2001)

The Hurt Locker (2008)

The Dark Knight (2008)

Freedom Riders (2010)

 

Not available within the Jefferson County Library system:

Bread (1918)

The Battle of the Century (1927) (Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p47i4MHOE5o)

With Car and Camera Around the World (1929)

Outrage (1950) (Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCRemHI0usY)

The Devil Never Sleeps (1994)

Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege (2006) Available online: https://oiwi.tv/oiwitv/mauna-kea-temple-under-siege/

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Most popular titles in the Southeastern US

 

These are the top 10 most popular titles in fiction, nonfiction, and young adult fiction in the Southeastern United States, (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) as aggregated by Panorama Picks.  For more information on how that’s calculated or to see the popular titles in other regions or even nationwide, click here.

MOST POPULAR ADULT FICTION TITLES


The House in the Cerulean Sea
by TJ Klune

The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place―and realizing that family is yours.

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Captivating and action-packed, From Blood and Ash is a sexy, addictive, and unexpected fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

“A must-read about modern Britain and womanhood . . . An impressive, fierce novel about the lives of black British families, their struggles, pains, laughter, longings and loves . . . Her style is passionate, razor-sharp, brimming with energy and humor. There is never a single moment of dullness in this book and the pace does not allow you to turn away from its momentum.”―Booker Prize Judges

Everything Inside: Stories by Edwidge Danticat

Set in locales from Miami and Port-au-Prince to a small unnamed country in the Caribbean and beyond, here are eight emotionally absorbing stories, rich with hard-won wisdom and humanity. At once wide in scope and intimate, Everything Inside explores with quiet power and elegance the forces that pull us together or drive us apart, sometimes in the same searing instant. 


The Winemaker’s Wife
by Kristin Harmel

The author of the “engrossing” (People) international bestseller The Room on Rue Amélie returns with a moving story set amid the champagne vineyards of France during the darkest days of World War II, perfect for fans of Heather Morris’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

The unforgettable, inspiring story of a teenage girl growing up in a rural Nigerian village who longs to get an education so that she can find her “louding voice” and speak up for herself, The Girl with the Louding Voice is a simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant tale about the power of fighting for your dreams.

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

A witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who’s tired of being “boring” and recruits her mysterious, sexy neighbor to help her experience new things—perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory, and Helen Hoang!


Deacon King Kong by James McBride

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range. The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride’s funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

MOST POPULAR ADULT NONFICTION TITLES

A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith by Timothy Egan

From "the world's greatest tour guide," a deeply-researched, captivating journey through the rich history of Christianity and the winding paths of the French and Italian countryside that will feed mind, body, and soul (New York Times).

The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming Wonder in Your Child’s Education by Ainsley Arment

Allow your children to experience the adventure, freedom, and wonder of childhood with this practical guide that provides all the information, inspiration, and advice you need for creating a modern, quality homeschool education.


House Lessons: Renovating a Life by Erica Bauermeister

In this mesmerizing memoir-in-essays, Erica Bauermeister renovates a trash-filled house in eccentric Port Townsend, Washington, and in the process takes readers on a journey to discover the ways our spaces subliminally affect us. A personal, accessible, and literary exploration of the psychology of architecture, as well as a loving tribute to the connections we forge with the homes we care for and live in, this book is designed for anyone who’s ever fallen head over heels for a house.

Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive by Marc Brackett, Ph.D.

This book combines rigor, science, passion and inspiration in equal parts. Too many children and adults are suffering; they are ashamed of their feelings and emotionally unskilled, but they don’t have to be. Marc Brackett’s life mission is to reverse this course, and this book can show you how.

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race, and Identity by Douglas Murray

In The Madness of Crowds Douglas Murray examines the most controversial issues of our moment: sexuality, gender, technology and race, with interludes on the Marxist foundations of 'wokeness', the impact of tech and how, in an increasingly online culture, we must relearn the ability to forgive.

The Obesity Code Cookbook: Recipes to Help You Manage Insulin, Lose Weight, and Improve Your Health by Dr. Jason Fung

In his original bestseller The Obesity Code, Dr. Jason Fung showed us that everything about our metabolism, including our weight, depends upon on our hormones. He showed us that the hormone insulin triggers our bodies to store calories as fat, and that once we understand weight gain as a result of excess insulin and hormonal imbalance in our body, we can begin to treat it by looking at what’s on our plate. Enter The Obesity Code Cookbook, a collection of mouthwatering recipes for your journey to lower insulin, lose weight for good, and reverse and prevent type 2 diabetes. 

Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating by Christy Harrison

In Anti-Diet, Christy Harrison takes on diet culture and the multi-billion-dollar industries that profit from it, exposing all the ways it robs people of their time, money, health, and happiness. It will turn what you think you know about health and wellness upside down, as Harrison explores the history of diet culture, how it's infiltrated the health and wellness world, how to recognize it in all its sneaky forms, and how letting go of efforts to lose weight or eat "perfectly" actually helps to improve people's health - no matter their size.

What Color Is Your Parachute? 2020: A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers edition by Richard N. Bolles

With more than 10 million copies sold in 28 countries, the world's most popular job-search book is updated for 2020, tailoring Richard Bolles's long-trusted guidance with up-to-the-minute information and advice for today's job-hunters and career-changers.


Good Economics for Hard Times by Abhijit V. Banerjee

The winners of the Nobel Prize show how economics, when done right, can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our day.

Half Baked Harvest Super Simple: More Than 125 Recipes for Instant, Overnight, Meal-Prepped, and Easy Comfort Foods by Tieghan Gerard

There’s something for everyone in these 125 easy, show-stopping recipes: fewer ingredients, foolproof meal-prepping, effortless entertaining, and everything in between, including vegan and vegetarian options!


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The Kissing Booth #2: Going The Distance by Beth Reekles

The sizzling sequel to The Kissing Booth, that inspired the Netflix film starring Joey King, Jacob Eloradi, and Molly Ringwald!

Cursed by Frank Miller

Now an original series starring Katherine Langford on Netflix! The Lady of the Lake is the true hero in this cinematic twist on the tale of King Arthur created by Thomas Wheeler and legendary artist, producer, and director Frank Miller (300, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City).

The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller

“Tricia Levenseller’s latest, The Shadows Between Us, is a decadent and wickedly addictive fantasy, full of schemes and court intrigue, and delightful descriptions of food, which I am always a fan of.” ―Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series


The Upside of Falling by Alex Light

It's been years since seventeen-year-old Becca Hart believed in true love. But when her former best friend teases her for not having a boyfriend, Becca impulsively pretends she's been secretly seeing someone. When Brett Wells overhears Becca's lie, he decides to step in and be her mystery guy. It's the perfect solution: he gets people off his back for not dating and she can keep up the ruse.

The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with a sumptuous, sultry and romantic new series set in 19th century New Orleans where vampires hide in plain sight.

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

In the sequel to New York Times bestselling A Curse So Dark and Lonely, Brigid Kemmerer returns to the world of Emberfall in a lush fantasy where friends become foes and love blooms in the darkest of places.

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

A fresh, irresistible rom-com from debut author Emma Lord about the chances we take, the paths life can lead us on, and how love can be found in the opposite place you expected.


Into The Pit by Scott Cawthon

In this volume, iFive Nights at Freddy's/i creator Scott Cawthon spins three sinister novella-length stories from different corners of his series' canon, featuring cover art from fan-favorite artist LadyFiszi.

The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey

Fangirl meets Jane Austen in this deeply heartfelt love story about hiding the worst parts of ourselves, and the people who love us anyway.

Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie

Bone Criers are the last descendants of an ancient family charged with using the magic they draw from animal bones to shepherd the dead into the afterlife—lest they drain the light from the living.