Regina had been warned about Professor Brodeur long before arriving as a graduate student at his prestigious university high on a pastoral hill. He’s said to lie in the dark in his office while undergraduate women read couplets to him. He’s condemned on the walls of the women’s restroom, and enjoys films by Roman Polanski. But no one has warned Regina about his exceptional physical beauty—or his charismatic, volatile wife. My Education, by Susan Choi, is the story of Regina’s mistakes, which only begin in the bedroom, and end—if they do—fifteen years in the future and thousands of miles away. By turns erotic and completely catastrophic, Regina’s misadventures demonstrate what can happen when the chasm between desire and duty is too wide to bridge.
Desire and Disaster
Regina had been warned about Professor Brodeur long before arriving as a graduate student at his prestigious university high on a pastoral hill. He’s said to lie in the dark in his office while undergraduate women read couplets to him. He’s condemned on the walls of the women’s restroom, and enjoys films by Roman Polanski. But no one has warned Regina about his exceptional physical beauty—or his charismatic, volatile wife. My Education, by Susan Choi, is the story of Regina’s mistakes, which only begin in the bedroom, and end—if they do—fifteen years in the future and thousands of miles away. By turns erotic and completely catastrophic, Regina’s misadventures demonstrate what can happen when the chasm between desire and duty is too wide to bridge.
Wise Coming of Age Story
From award winning author Susan Crandall comes a touching new novel, Whistling Past The Graveyard. The summer of 1963 begins like any other for nine-year-old Starla. Born to teenage parents in Mississippi, Starla is being raised by a strict grandmother, Mamie, whose worst fear is that Starla will turn out like her mother. Starla hasn’t seen her mother since she was three, but is convinced that her mother will keep her promise to take Starla and her daddy to Nashville and that one day her family will be whole and perfect. When Starla is grounded on the Fourth of July, she sneaks out to see the parade. After getting caught, Starla’s fear that Mamie will make good on her threats and send her to reform school cause her to run away from home. Once out in the country, Starla is offered a ride by a black woman, Eula, who is traveling with a white baby. She happily accepts a ride, with the ultimate goal of reaching her mother in Nashville. As the two unlikely companions make their long and sometimes dangerous journey, Starla’s eyes are opened to the harsh realities of 1963 southern segregation. Through talks with Eula, reconnecting with her parents, and encountering a series of surprising misadventures, Starla learns to let go of long-held dreams and realizes family is forged from those who will sacrifice all for you, no matter if bound by blood or by the heart.
Funny and Compulsive Read
The narrator of this tale is no ordinary human—in fact, he’s not human at all. Before he was sent away from the planet he calls home, precision and perfection ruled his life. He lived in a utopian society where mathematics transformed a people, creating limitless knowledge and immortality. But all of this is suddenly threatened when an earthly being opens the doorway to the same technology that the alien planet possesses. Cambridge University professor Andrew Martin cracks the Reimann Hypothesis and unknowingly puts himself and his family in grave danger when the narrator is sent to Earth to erase all evidence of the solution and kill anyone who has seen the proof. The only catch: the alien has no idea what he’s up against. Disgusted by the excess of disease, violence, and family strife he encounters, the narrator struggles to pass undetected long enough to gain access to Andrew’s research. But in picking up the pieces of the professor’s shattered personal life, the narrator sees hope and redemption in the humans’ imperfections and begins to question the very mission that brought him there. Clever and heartwarming, Matt Haig's The Humans is a perfect beach read!
Explosive New Thriller
Stephen King calls Meg Gardiner "the next suspense superstar" and it's not hard to see why in her new book, Shadow Tracer. Sarah Keller is a single mother to five-year-old Zoe, living quietly in Oklahoma. She’s also a skip tracer, an expert in tracking people who’ve gone on the lam to avoid arrest, prosecution, or debt—pinpointing their locations to bring them to justice. When a school bus accident sends Zoe to the ER, their quiet life explodes. Zoe’s medical tests reveal what Sarah has been hiding: Zoe is not her daughter. Zoe’s biological mother—Sarah’s sister, Beth—was murdered shortly after the child’s birth. And Zoe’s father is missing and presumed dead. With no way to prove her innocence, Sarah must abandon her carefully constructed life and go on the run. Chased by cops, federal agents, and the group responsible for Beth’s murder, Sarah embarks on a desperate journey. Can her knowledge as a skip tracer help her stay off the grid, remain one step ahead of her pursuers, and find a way to save her daughter?
Sally Gardner wins the 2013 Carnegie Medal
Sally Gardner has been awarded the Carnegie Medal for her book, Maggot Moon, a dystopian tale that also won this year’s Costa Children’s Book Award. The heroine of Gardner's book is, like the author, dyslexic and in the tale stands up to a sinister dictatorship while friends and family around him ‘disappear’. With one hundred very short chapters, told in an utterly original first-person voice, Gardner propels readers through a narrative that is by turns gripping and darkly humorous, bleak and chilling, tender and transporting.Visionary New Tale
The year is 2052 and Dr. Toby Glyer has effected miracle cures with the use of nanotechnology. But Glyer’s controversial nanites are living things—a new form of life—and they have more uses than just medical. They also have the potential to make everyone on Earth rich from the wealth of asteroids…if he can control them. Unfortunately, as every parent learns, when you produce a new, thinking being, the plans it makes are not necessarily your plans. And when a two-hundredgigaton asteroid that rivals the rock that felled the dinosaurs is hurtling toward Earth on a collision course, you don’t have time to argue. Will Glyer’s nanites be Earth’s salvation or destruction? Larry Niven's The Goliath Stone is a fast paced read filled with fascinating characters and should not be missed.
Bram Stoker Prize Awarded
Caitlin R. Kiernan won the best novel award at the Bram Stoker Awards for The Drowning Girl. The Horror Writers Association revealed the winners at a gala this weekend. The book tells the story of India Morgan Phelps, Imp to her friends, a schizophrenic. Struggling with her perceptions of reality, Imp must uncover the truth about her encounters with creatures out of myth. Check out this creepy novel at your Community Library today!
Novel of family and identity
From an early age, Kate and her identical twin sister, Violet, knew that they were unlike everyone else. Kate and Vi were born with peculiar “senses”—innate psychic abilities concerning future events and other people’s secrets. Though Vi embraced her visions, Kate did her best to hide them. Now, years later, their different paths have led them both back to their hometown of St. Louis. Vi has pursued an eccentric career as a psychic medium, while Kate, a devoted wife and mother, has settled down in the suburbs to raise her two young children. But when a minor earthquake hits in the middle of the night, the normal life Kate has always wished for begins to shift. After Vi goes on television to share a premonition that another, more devastating earthquake will soon hit the St. Louis area, Kate is mortified. Equally troubling, however, is her fear that Vi may be right. As the date of the predicted earthquake quickly approaches, Kate is forced to reconcile her fraught relationship with her sister and to face truths about herself she’s long tried to deny. Funny, haunting, and thought-provoking,Curtis Sittenfeld's Sisterland is a beautifully written novel of the obligation we have toward others, and the responsibility we take for ourselves.
New James Patterson Out This Week!
A walk down the aisle, a resort hotel, a drink on the beach...for these unlucky couples, the honeymoon's over. A newlywed couple steps into the sauna in their deluxe honeymoon suite--and never steps out again. When another couple is killed while boarding their honeymoon flight to Rome, it becomes clear that someone is targeting honeymooners, and it's anyone's guess which happy couple is next on the list. FBI Agent John O'Hara is deep into solving the case, while Special Agent Sarah Brubaker is hunting another ingenious serial killer, whose victims all have one chilling thing in common. As wedding hysteria rises to a frightening new level, John and Sarah work ever more closely together in a frantic attempt to decipher the logic behind two rampages. Second Honeymoon is being called James Patterson's most mesmerizing, most exciting, and most surprising thriller ever! Reserve your copy today!New Longmire Novel
The success of Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire series that began with The Cold Dish continues with A Serpent's Tooth. In this ninth Western mystery, Longmire stares down his most dangerous foes yet. It’s homecoming in Absaroka County, but the football and festivities are interrupted when a homeless boy wanders into town. A Mormon “lost boy,” Cord Lynear is searching for his missing mother but clues are scarce. Longmire and his companions, feisty deputy Victoria Moretti and longtime friend Henry Standing Bear, embark on a high plains scavenger hunt in hopes of reuniting mother and son. The trail leads them to an interstate polygamy group that’s presiding over a stockpile of weapons and harboring a vicious vendetta.
New Series From Janet Evanovich
From Janet Evanovich, bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum novels, and Lee Goldberg, bestselling author and television writer for Monk, comes The Heist the first adventure in a new series featuring an FBI agent who always gets her man, and a con artist who lives for the chase. FBI Special Agent Kate O’Hare is known for her dedication and discipline on the job. Her boss thinks she is tenacious and ambitious; her friends think she is tough, stubborn. And while Kate has made quite a name for herself for the past five years, the only name she’s cared about is Nicolas Fox—an international crook she wants in more ways than one. At first he did it for the money. Now he does it for the thrill. He knows that the FBI has been hot on his trail—particularly Kate O’Hare, who has been watching his every move. For Nick, there’s no greater rush than being pursued by a beautiful woman . . . even one who aims to lock him up. But just when it seems that Nicolas Fox has been captured for good, he pulls off his greatest con of all: he convinces the FBI to offer him a job, working side by side with Special Agent Kate O’Hare. Problem is, teaming up to stop a corrupt investment banker who’s hiding on a private island in Indonesia is going to test O’Hare’s patience and Fox’s skill. Not to mention the skills of their ragtag team made up of flamboyant actors, wanted wheelmen, and Kate’s dad. High-speed chases, pirates, and Toblerone bars are all in a day’s work . . . if O’Hare and Fox don’t kill each other first.
Best Historical Novels
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: It’s no coincidence that the biggest prize for historical fiction is named after Sir Walter Scott. Ivanhoe, published in 1819, is set in the highly romanticised medieval world of tournaments and sieges, chivalry and adventure. Scott merges the historical and fictional with great skill as he follows Ivanhoe on a crusade in the Holy Land with Richard the Lion Heart. On his return, Ivanhoe is desperate to be reunited with lady Rowena, but he soon gets caught up in a power struggle between King Richard and his brother John.
War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy: Tolstoy's epic masterpiece, published in 1869, is a story of family life set against the backdrop of war, as Napoleon's armies sweep through Europe. Seen through the eyes of five Russian aristocratic families, the novel culminates in the French invasion of Russia in 1812 and Napoleon's defeat. It is widely considered to be Tolstoy’s finest work and one of the greatest novels ever written, historical or otherwise, although the writer himself said that it was “not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle”.
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald: Set in Germany at the end of the eighteenth century, The Blue Flower tells the story of the brilliant Fritz von Hardenberg, who becomes the great romantic poet and philosopher ‘Novalis’ and falls in love with twelve-year-old Sophie von Kuhn. Several real-life characters, including Goethe and von Schlegel, make appearances.
The Long Earth Book #2
A generation after the events of The Long Earth, Terry Prachett brings us The Long War. Mankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by Stepping. Where Joshua and Lobsang once pioneered, now fleets of airships link the stepwise Americas with trade and culture. Mankind is shaping the Long Earth - but in turn the Long Earth is shaping mankind... A new 'America', called Valhalla, is emerging more than a million steps from Datum Earth, with core American values restated in the plentiful environment of the Long Earth - and Valhalla is growing restless under the control of the Datum government. Meanwhile the Long Earth is suffused by the song of the trolls, graceful hive-mind humanoids. But the trolls are beginning to react to humanity's thoughtless exploitation... Joshua, now a married man, is summoned by Lobsang to deal with a gathering multiple crisis that threatens to plunge the Long Earth into a war unlike any mankind has waged before.
Shivery Family Secrets
In New York Times bestselling author Chevy Stevens's Always Watching, psychiatrist Nadine has a true desire to help people put their demons at rest, but she has demons of her own. Nadine’s mother was a unpredictable manic depressive, her father an alcoholic, and there are whole chunks of Nadine’s life that are black holes. It takes all her willpower to tamp down her claustrophobia, and her daughter, Lisa, is a runaway. After she’s attacked outside her office, Nadine decides to take a job at a hospital in Victoria as a staff psychiatrist. It’s the perfect opportunity: She won’t get as attached to her patients and she’ll be closer to her daughter. But when a distraught woman, Heather, is brought in after a suicide attempt, Nadine gently coaxes her story out of her—and learns of some troubling parallels to their lives. Digging deeper, Nadine is forced to confront her own history. What happened to Nadine? Why was her family destroyed? As dual stories unfold, Nadine finds herself drawn to uncover her own secrets and learn why you can sometimes leave the past, but you can never escape.
A Story Of Friendships and Secrets
Charlotte and Nicole were once the best of friends, spending summers together in Nicole's coastal island house off of Maine. But many years, and many secrets, have kept the women apart. A successful writer, single Charlotte lives on the road, while Nicole, a food blogger, keeps house in Philadelphia with her surgeon-husband, Julian. When Nicole is commissioned to write a book about island food, she invites her old friend Charlotte back to Quinnipeague, for a final summer, to help. Outgoing and passionate, Charlotte has a gift for talking to people and making friends, and Nicole could use her expertise for interviews with locals. Missing a genuine connection, Charlotte agrees. But what both women don't know is that they are each holding something back that may change their lives forever. For Nicole, what comes to light could destroy her marriage, but it could also save her husband. For Charlotte, the truth could cost her Nicole’s friendship, but could also free her to love again. And her chance may lie with a reclusive local man, with a heart to soothe and troubles of his own. Take a trip to Quinnipeague in Barbara Delinsky's Sweet Salt Air. Novel of Post-Revolutionary Iran
Neda is born in Tehran’s Evin Prison, where her mother is allowed to nurse her for a few months before the arms of a guard appear at the cell door one day and take her away. In another part of the city, three-year-old Omid witnesses the arrests of his parents from his kitchen table. More than twenty years later, Sheida learns that her father was one of those executed. These are the children of the Jacaranda Tree. Set in post-revolutionary Iran from 1983 to 2011, this debut novel follows a group of mothers, fathers, children, and lovers, some related by blood, others brought together by the tide of history that washes over their lives. Finally, years later, it is the next generation that is left with the burden of the past and their country’s tenuous future as a new wave of protest and political strife begins. Children of the Jacaranda Tree, by Sahar Delijani is an evocative portrait of three generations of men and women inspired by love and poetry, burning with idealism, chasing dreams of justice and freedom. Written in spellbinding prose, capturing the intimate side of revolution in a country where the weight of history is all around, it is a moving tribute to anyone who has ever answered its call.
A Family In Crisis
Instructions for a Heat Wave is a stunning new novel from Costa-Novel-Award-winning novelist Maggie O'Farrell that paints a portrait of an Irish family in crisis in the legendary heatwave of 1976. It's July 1976. In London, it hasn't rained for months, gardens are filled with aphids, water comes from a standpipe, and Robert Riordan tells his wife Gretta that he's going round the corner to buy a newspaper. He doesn't come back. The search for Robert brings Gretta's children - two estranged sisters and a brother on the brink of divorce - back home, each wih different ideas as to where their father might have gone. None of them suspects that their mother might have an explanation that even now she cannot share.The Murderously Ambitious Side of Hollywood
When the daughter of a billionaire Hollywood director is found murdered after what appears to be a kidnapping gone wrong, Los Angeles Special Trials prosecutor Rachel Knight and Detective Bailey Keller find themselves at the epicenter of a combustible and high-profile court case. Then a prime suspect is revealed to be one of Hollywood's most popular and powerful talent managers--and best friend to the victim's father. With the director vouching for the manager's innocence, the Hollywood media machine commences an all-out war designed to discredit both Rachel and her case. Marcia Clark's Killer Ambition is at once a thrilling ride through the darker side of Tinseltown and a stunning courtroom drama with the brilliant insider's perspective that the author is uniquely qualified to give
Inspiring Memoir
High Price is the absorbing, inspiring memoir of Carl Hart, who grew up in one of Miami's toughest hoods. Today he is a cutting-edge neuroscientist whose landmark, controversial research is redefining our understanding of addiction. In this provocative memoir, Dr Hart tells his story of self-discovery: how he escaped a life of crime and drugs, and avoided becoming one of the crack addicts he now studies. Hart unmasks the relationship between drugs and pleasure, choice, and motivation. His findings revolutionize our ideas about drugs, race and our minds.Smart and Unnerving New Novel
Professor David Ullman’s expertise in the literature of the demonic—notably Milton’s Paradise Lost—has won him wide acclaim. But David is not a believer. One afternoon he receives a visitor at his campus office, a strikingly thin woman who offers him an invitation: travel to Venice, Italy, witness a “phenomenon,” and offer his professional opinion, in return for an extravagant sum of money. Needing a fresh start, David accepts and heads to Italy with his beloved twelve-year-old daughter Tess. What happens in Venice will send David on an unimaginable journey from skeptic to true believer, as he opens himself up to the possibility that demons really do exist. In a terrifying quest guided by symbols and riddles from the pages of Paradise Lost, David attempts to rescue his daughter from the Unnamed—a demonic entity that has chosen him as its messenger. The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper is a thrilling horror novel that will terrify you to the bone!
Suburban Secrets
When the shining star pitcher of the girls’ softball team guns down the most popular boy in school, the shockwaves echo beyond the school’s walls. In the wake of the killing, two of the town’s newer residents turn over deeply embedded rocks, exposing a subculture of almost unimaginable horror lurking beneath. Formerly a nurse with Médecins Sans Frontières, Dolly has become a defender and confidante to dozens of local teenage girls, and she refuses to accept that MaryLou's gunning down Cameron is a typical school shooting. Although MaryLou’s guilt is not in doubt—it’s even captured on the school’s security camera—the girl insists on a trial but inexplicably refuses to cooperate with her defense. Enlisting her troupe of teenagers and the local contacts she has cemented, Dolly calls on all of her resources to get to the truth and to whatever secret MaryLou is guarding. The explosive verdict in Andrew Vachss' Aftershock will blow you away.Explore The Creation Of Superman
Just inn time for the 75th anniversary of the Man of Steel, comes the first comprehensive biography of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, creators of the DC Comics superhero Superman. Drawing on ten years of research, Brad Ricca's Super Boys is the first ever full biography about Superman’s creators. Among new discoveries, the book reveals the first stories and pictures ever published by the two, where the first Superman story really came from, the real inspiration for Lois Lane, the template for Superman’s costume, and more. Super Boys also tracks the boys’ unknown, often mysterious lives after they left Superman, including Siegel's secret work during World War II and never-before-seen work from Shuster. Super Boys explains, finally, what exactly happened with the infamous check for $130 that pulled Superman away from his creators—and gave control of the character to the publisher. Ricca also uncovers the true nature of Jerry’s father’s death, a crime that has always remained a mystery. Super Boys is the story of a long friendship between boys who grew to be men and the standard that would be impossible for both of them to live up to!
Crossfire Novel #3
The Women Behind America's Heroes
As America's Mercury Seven astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, television cameras focused on the brave smiles of their young wives. Overnight, these women were transformed from military spouses into American royalty. They had tea with Jackie Kennedy, appeared on the cover of Life magazine, and quickly grew into fashion icons. Annie Glenn, with her picture-perfect marriage, was the envy of the other wives; platinum-blonde Rene Carpenter was proclaimed JFK's favorite; and licensed pilot Trudy Cooper arrived on base with a secret. Together with the other wives they formed the Astronaut Wives Club, meeting regularly to provide support and friendship. Many became next-door neighbors and helped to raise each other's children by day, while going to glam parties at night as the country raced to land a man on the Moon. As their celebrity rose-and as divorce and tragic death began to touch their lives-they continued to rally together, and the wives have now been friends for more than fifty years. The Astronaut Wives Club by Lilly Koppel tells the real story of the women who stood beside some of the biggest heroes in American history.
Brand New Series
In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills. When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board. Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of Xseries, has the elements that have made her Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.
Ultimate Beach Reads
How The Light Gets In by Louise Penny: Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it’s a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings. But shadows are falling for Chief Inspector Gamache. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna's reluctance to reveal her friend's name, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo.
The English Girl by Daniel Silva: When a beautiful young British woman vanishes on the island of Corsica, a prime minister's career is threatened with destruction. Allon, the wayward son of Israeli intelligence, is thrust into a game of shadows where nothing is what it seems...and where the only thing more dangerous than his enemies might be the truth.
Big Titles This Month
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann: Moving from 1845 to 1919 to 1998, weaving together stories in Canada, Ireland and the United States, TransAtlantic explores the ways in which past touches present and lives are connected. The pillars of the story are Frederick Douglass' visit to Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century, the first two men to fly a plane across the Atlantic ocean, and the Good Friday Peace Accords.
Big Brother by Lionel Shriver: When the protagonist's brother, who she has not seen in years, arrives, he is hundreds of pounds larger than when she last saw him. The conflict exists between the brother who overstays his welcome, the husband who is obsessed with fitness and the wife/sister who loves to cook and wants to help.
Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger: This sequel to The Devil Wears Prada takes place 8 years after the last story closed. Andy is now running her own successful bridal magazine with Miranda's other ex-assistant, Emily. Andy is also on the verge of getting married. She should be happy, but soon she finds that the life she has built puts her back in Miranda's path.
New Stephen King!
King of Horror Stephen King's latest book, Joyland, hits shelves this Tuesday. Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, it tells the
story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a
carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child,
and the ways both will change his life forever. Featuring hard boiled action with all of the elements of a crime thriller, this book reminds us that King can still spin a good yard. Place your holds today!
Chasing A Time Travelling Serial Killer
Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future. Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times. At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of the shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He’s the ultimate hunter, vanishing into another time after each murder, untraceable-until one of his victims survives. Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the ex-homicide reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on the impossible truth . The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes is being hailed as the "it book" of the summer. Check it out at your Community Library today!
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