Tag: Bookshelf

Bookshelf

August Books

FICTION

The Boy in the Field, by Margot Livesey

The New York Times bestselling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy delivers a novel written with with the deceptive simplicity and power of a fable. One September afternoon in 1999, teenagers Matthew, Zoe and Duncan Lang are walking home from school when they discover a boy lying in a field, bloody and unconscious. Thanks to their intervention, the boy’s life is saved. In the aftermath, all three siblings are irrevocably changed.

Squeeze Me, by Carl Hiaasen

Brightening even the darkest of days, Squeeze Me is pure, unadulterated Hiaasen. Irreverent, ingenious and highly entertaining, it captures the absurdity of our times. A prominent high society dowager suddenly vanishes during a swank gala, and is later found dead. She was an ardent fan of the Winter White House resident just down the road, and a founding member of the POTUSSIES, a group of women dedicated to supporting their president, who immediately declares that Kiki was the victim of rampaging immigrant hordes, which is far from the truth.

Migrations, by Charlotte McConaghy

In an effort to find the last flock of Arctic terns, a young Irish woman with a tragic past finagles her way onto a fishing boat in Greenland to follow their migratory path. This is a staggering tale of hardship, loss, danger, adventure and, most of all, it is a wake-up call that the humans of this world need to answer.

The Wright Sister, by Patty Dann

An epistolary novel of historical fiction, The Wright Sister imagines the life of Katharine Wright and her relationship with her famous brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright. After Wilbur passed away, Katharine lived with and took care of her increasingly reclusive brother Orville, who often turned to his more confident and supportive sister to help him through fame and fortune. When Katharine became engaged to their mutual friend Harry Haskell, Orville felt abandoned and betrayed.

The Orphan Collector, by Ellen Marie Wiseman

From the internationally bestselling author of What She Left Behind comes a gripping and powerful tale of upheaval: a heartbreaking saga of resilience and hope perfect for fans of Beatriz Williams and Kristin Hannah, set in Philadelphia during the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak, the deadly pandemic that infected one-third of the world’s population.

NONFICTION

The Smallest Lights in the Universe,
by Sara Seager

In this luminous memoir, an MIT astrophysicist must reinvent herself in the wake of tragedy and discovers the power of connection on this planet, even as she searches our galaxy for another Earth. With the unexpected death of Seager’s husband, the purpose of her own life becomes hard for her to see. Suddenly, at 40, she is a widow and the single mother of two young boys. For the first time, she feels alone in the universe. Seager takes solace in the alien beauty of exoplanets and the technical challenges of exploration. She also discovers earthbound connections that feel every bit as wondrous.

Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy, by Edward Ball

A descendant of a carpenter in Louisiana who took up the cause of fanatical racism during the years after the Civil War, Ball reconstructs the story of his great-great-grandfather, who had a career in white terror of notable and bloody completeness: massacres, night riding, masked marches, street rampages. It was all part of a tireless effort that he and other Klansmen made to restore white power when it was threatened by the emancipation of 4 million enslaved people. Ball seeks out descendants of African Americans who were once victimized by “our Klansman” and his comrades, and shares their stories.

Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain, by David Eagleman

The magic of the brain is not found in its parts, but in the way those parts constantly reweave themselves in an electric, living fabric. With his hallmark clarity and enthusiasm, the renowned neuroscientist reveals the myriad ways the brain absorbs experience: developing, redeploying, organizing, and arranging the data it receives from the body’s own absorption of external stimuli, enabling us to gain the skills, facilities and practices that make us who we are.

Reaganland: America’s Right Turn 1976-1980, by Rick Perlstein

From the bestselling author of Nixonland and The Invisible Bridge comes the dramatic conclusion of how conservatism took control of American political power. Backed by a reenergized conservative Republican base, Reagan ran on the campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” — and prevailed. Reaganland is the story of how that happened, tracing conservatives’ strategies to gain power and explaining why they endure four decades later.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Summer Song, by Kevin Henkes

The song of summer is loud sprinklers and lawn mowers and thunder, and also quiet dragonflies and lightning bugs and foggy mornings. The song of summer is long, long days until summer is bored and ready for a new song. The latest in Henkes’ wonderful season series, Summer Song will have young readers running through sprinklers in their minds long after the orange oak leaves begin to fall. (Ages 3-6.)

Randy, The Badly Drawn Horse,
by T. L. McBeth

Randy is a beautiful horse. Everyone says so. With his flowing mane, long powerful legs, culinary expertise and stunning visage, Randy knows he is practically perfect — until one day he sees his reflection and begins to doubt what he is certain is the truth. This hilarious adventure in self-confidence and believing in yourself is perfect for story time or together time and is sure to have young readers begging: Again! Again! Randy is a real hero for our time. (Ages 4-7.)

Soaked, by Abi Cushman

Ugh, days and days and days of rain are just TOO MUCH, so Bear and friends head into the cave. Once inside, moose becomes too much when he begins to juggle hula hoops in an attempt to change the mood of the crew. Readers who adore Ryan Higgins’ 1 Grumpy Bruce will adore this grumpy rain-soaked crew, who finally come around to some serious joviality. (Ages 3-6.)

I Got the School Spirit, by Connie Schofield-Morrison

A new school year, whether virtual or in person, just begs for a rush of school spirit! Fresh kicks, new friends, new backpacks, and fun energetic teachers are amazing opportunities just filled with discovery and delight in this new back-to-school book that celebrates a spirit of discovery and joy. (Ages 5-7.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

Bookshelf

July Books

FICTION

Utopia Avenue, by David Mitchell

Utopia Avenue is the strangest British band you’ve never heard of. Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967, and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, blues bassist Dean Moss and guitar virtuoso Jasper de Zoet, Utopia Avenue embarked on a meteoric journey from the seedy clubs of SoHo, a TV debut on Top of the Pops, the cusp of chart success, glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American sojourn in the Chelsea Hotel, Laurel Canyon and San Francisco during the autumn of ‘68. Mitchell’s kaleidoscopic novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue’s turbulent life and times; of fame’s Faustian pact and stardom’s wobbly ladder; of the families we choose and the ones we don’t; of voices in the head, and the truths and lies they whisper; of music, madness and idealism. Can we really change the world, or does the world change us?

The Pull of the Stars, by Emma Donoghue

In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new flu are quarantined together. Into Julia’s regimented world step two outsiders: doctor Kathleen Lynn, a rumored rebel on the run from the police; and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney. In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward these women change each other’s lives in unexpected ways. They lose patients to this baffling pandemic, but they also shepherd new life into a fearful world. With tireless tenderness and humanity, caregivers and mothers alike somehow do their impossible work.

Crossings, by Alex Landragin

There are two ways to approach this novel — read it straight through in a traditional manner, a tale told in three novellas; or skip around the entire work using the key given in the prologue. Either way, Crossings is a deliciously clever literary treat of love, suspense and historical fiction, combined with the paranormal ability of two separated lovers searching for one another throughout centuries and continents.

Hieroglyphics, by Jill McCorkle

The brilliance of Jill McCorkle is that her novels read as if you are enjoying a marvelous cup of coffee and conversation with a very dear friend. Hieroglyphics is told from the point of view of four people. Lil and Frank, an elderly couple from Boston recently moved to Southern Pines, North Carolina, are forever bound by the grief of having lost a parent tragically at a very young age. Shelley is a young mother fighting her past while raising her troubled child, Harvey, whose dark and vivid imaginings provide daily challenges. Above all, Hieroglyphics is about memories and remembering, loss of love and loved ones, preserving the past and what remains after we are gone. Written with poignancy and wry honesty, this is the work of a master at the top of her game.

The Book of Lost Names, by Kristin Harmel

Inspired by a true story, this historical novel centers around Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian who, as a graduate student in 1942, fled Paris to a small mountain town where she forged papers to help Jewish children escape to Switzerland. Determined to find a way to keep track of the children’s real identities, she and a forger, Rémy, entered them in code in an 18th century religious text, one of many books looted by the Nazis during the war. When she sees a photograph containing the priceless volume, Eva knows only she holds the answers but it means revisiting old memories.

NONFICTION

Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, by Francis Fukuyama

The New York Times bestselling author of The Origins of Political Order offers a provocative examination of modern identity politics: its origins, its effects, and what it means for domestic and international affairs of state. In 2014, Fukuyama wrote that American institutions were in decay, as the state was progressively captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions were borne out by the rise to power of a series of political outsiders whose economic nationalism and authoritarian tendencies threatened to destabilize the international order. The universal recognition on which liberal democracy is based has been increasingly challenged by narrower forms of recognition based on nation, religion, sect, race, ethnicity, or gender, which have resulted in anti-immigrant populism, the upsurge of politicized Islam, the fractious “identity liberalism” of college campuses, and the emergence of white nationalism. Identity is an urgent and necessary book — a sharp warning that unless we forge a universal understanding of human dignity, we will doom ourselves to continuing conflict.

The Fire Is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America, by Nicholas Buccola

On February 18, 1965, an overflowing crowd packed the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, to witness a historic televised debate between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., a fierce critic of the movement and America’s most influential conservative intellectual. The topic was “The American dream is at the expense of the American Negro,” and no one who has seen the debate can soon forget it. Nicholas Buccola’s The Fire Is Upon Us is the first book to tell the full story of the event, the radically different paths that led Baldwin and Buckley to it, and how the debate and the decades-long clash between the men illuminates the racial divide that haunts America today.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Together We Grow, by Susan Vaught

On a rainy, stormy night, the fox family is at first sent away from the crowded barn, but when the duck opens the door and invites them in, they are gracious and thankful. A sweet, lyrical story that reminds us, there’s always room to be kind to those in need. (Ages 3-5.)

Vinny Gets a Job, by Terry Brodner

When Vinny learns jobs are places to get food and toys, he decides he must have a job of his own. After hilarious, unsuccessful stints at his neighborhood Italian restaurant, flower shop and natural history museum, Vinny’s owner reminds him that he already has a very important job — to be a good dog. Laugh out loud fun for story time or any time. (Ages 3-6.)

Ronan the Librarian,
by Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie

After discovering an unusual cache in his plunder, Ronan the Barbarian becomes Ronan the Librarian! With a little coercing and some pretty fantastic modeling, Ronan convinces his fellow pillagers that books can indeed be the greatest treasure. (Ages 4-6.)

The Elephant’s Girl,
by Celesta Rimington

Lex and Fisher are zoo kids. They both live in a Nebraska zoo — Fisher with his parents and Lex with her . . . well, with her Roger. After a tornado blew Lex into the zoo as a baby, she was protected by Nyah, an elephant, and then grew up in the care of Roger, the zoo’s train driver. Now, a strange new wind is blowing. It threatens everything important to Lex, and Nyah may just be the key to it all. Fans of Three Times Lucky, Circus Mirandus and Savvy will not be able to put down this clever, fun mystery about a girl, a friend, an elephant and a very special kind of family. (Ages 8-12.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

2020 Bookshelf Department

Bookshelf

June Books

FICTION

Friends and Strangers, by J. Courtney Sullivan

From the best-selling author of Maine and Saints for All Occasions comes this insightful, hilarious and compulsively readable novel about a complicated friendship between two women who are at two very different stages in life. Elisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly 20 years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. Enter Sam, a senior at the local women’s college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit. Sam is struggling to decide between the path she’s always planned on and a romantic entanglement that threatens her ambition. She’s worried about student loan debt and what the future holds. In short order, they grow close. But when Sam finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Elisabeth’s father-in-law, the true differences between the women’s lives become starkly revealed, and a betrayal has devastating consequences. A masterful exploration of motherhood, power dynamics and privilege in its many forms, Friends and Strangers reveals how a single year can shape the course of a life.

Mother, Daughter, Widow Wife, by Robin Wasserman

Who is Wendy Doe? The woman, found on a Peter Pan Bus to Philadelphia, has no money, no ID, and no memory of who she is, where she was going, or what she might have done. She’s assigned a name and diagnosis by the state: dissociative fugue, a temporary amnesia that could lift at any moment, or never at all. When Dr. Benjamin Strauss invites her to submit herself for experimental observation at his Meadowlark Institute for Memory Research, she feels like she has no other choice. To Dr. Strauss, Wendy is a female body, subject to his investigation and control. To Strauss’ ambitious student, Lizzie Epstein, she’s an object of fascination, a mirror of Lizzie’s own desires, and an invitation to wonder: Once a woman is untethered from all past and present obligations of womanhood, who is she allowed to become? To Alice, the daughter she left behind, Wendy Doe is an absence so present it threatens to tear Alice’s world apart. Through their attempts to untangle the mystery of Wendy’s identity — as well as Wendy’s own struggle to construct a new self — Wasserman has crafted a jaw-dropping, multi-voiced journey of discovery, reckoning and reclamation.

Super Host, by Kate Russo

Bennett Driscoll is a Turner Prize-nominated artist who was once a rising star. Now, at age 55, his wife has left him, he hasn’t sold a painting in two years, and his gallery wants to stop selling his work, claiming they’ll have more value retrospectively . . . when he’s dead. So, left with a large West London home and no income, he’s forced to move into his artist’s studio in the back garden and list his house on the popular vacation rental site, AirBed. A stranger now in his own home, with his daughter, Mia, off at art school, and any new relationships fizzling out at best, Bennett struggles to find purpose in his day-to-day. It all changes when three different guests — lonely American Alicia; tortured artist Emma; and cautiously optimistic divorcée Kirstie — unwittingly unlock the pieces in him that have been lost for too long. Warm, witty and utterly humane, Super Host offers a captivating portrait of middle age, relationships and what it truly means to take a new chance at life.

NONFICTION

Finding Dora Maar: An Artist, an Address Book, a Life, by Brigitte Benkemoun

Merging biography, memoir and cultural history, this compelling book traces Maar’s life through a serendipitous encounter with the artist’s address book. In search of a replacement for his lost Hermès agenda, Brigitte Benkemoun’s husband buys a vintage diary on eBay. When it arrives, she opens it and finds inside private notes dating back to 1951 — 20 pages of phone numbers and addresses for Balthus, Brassaï, André Breton, Jean Cocteau, Paul Éluard, Leonor Fini, Jacqueline Lamba and other artistic luminaries of the European avant-garde. After realizing that the address book belonged to Dora Maar — Picasso’s famous “Weeping Woman” and a brilliant artist in her own right — Benkemoun embarks on a two-year voyage of discovery to learn more about this provocative, passionate and enigmatic woman, and the role that each of these figures played in her life. Longlisted for the prestigious literary award Prix Renaudot, Finding Dora Maar is a fascinating and breathtaking portrait of the artist.

The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir, by Wayétu Moore

When Wayétu Moore turns 5 years old, her father and grandmother throw her a big birthday party at their home in Monrovia, Liberia, but all she can think about is how much she misses her mother, who is working and studying in faraway New York. Before she gets the reunion her father promised her, war breaks out in Liberia. The family is forced to flee their home on foot, walking and hiding for three weeks until they arrive in the village of Lai. Finally, a rebel soldier smuggles them across the border to Sierra Leone, reuniting the family and setting them off on yet another journey, this time to the United States. The Dragons, the Giant, the Women is a deeply moving story of the search for home in the midst of upheaval. Moore shines a light on the great political and personal forces that continue to affect many migrants around the world, and calls us all to acknowledge the tenacious power of love and family.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Ocean! Waves for All, by Stacy McAnulty

Home to the world’s biggest animal, longest mountain range, and largest living structure, the ocean covers 71 percent of the Earth’s surface, holds a wealth of riches, and is the ultimate melting pot because the waves are for all, man! In this latest fun fact-filled STEM title (as told by Ocean — his salty self), engineer-turned author McAnulty once again brings science to life for the youngest readers. (Ages 4-7.)

Grow Kind, by Jon Lasser

Everyone wants their child to grow up to be kind, but how do you grow a kind child? In this sweet story of sisterhood, friendship and neighborly love, Keiko shares the bounty of the garden she has lovingly tended and finds extra special joy in the delight of others. Grow Kind is the third book in a series that also includes Grow Happy and Grow Grateful. (Ages 3-7.)

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, by Suzanne Collins

Hunger Games fans have been anxiously awaiting this new title, a prequel focusing on the early life of Hunger Games villain Coriolanus Snow, the tyrannical president of Panem. It’s set on the morning of the reaping that will begin the 10th annual Hunger Games, 64 years before the events in the first three books. This is likely to be the hottest book of the summer season. (Ages 14 and up.)

Nowhere on Earth, by Nick Lake

Emily is struggling to find a break. Struggling in school and struggling with her parents. She wants to leave her Alaskan village, but when suspicious men start following her brother, Emily has to make sure he is OK. Things quickly take a turn for the worse and she is stuck on a mountain with her brother, finding that all she wants is to go home. A suspenseful and thrilling read for teens. Recommended by teen review by Sarah McIntosh. (Ages 14 and up.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally.

2020 Bookshelf Department

Bookshelf

May Books

FICTION

The Paris Hours, by Alex George

What would happen if instead of burning all of Marcel Proust’s notebooks, his maid kept the last remaining one? And what would happen if that last notebook made its way into Ernest Hemingway’s hands? The Paris Hours follows four characters, each on a quest to right a past wrong.

A Children’s Bible, by Lydia Millet

Pulitzer Prize finalist Lydia Millet’s sublime new novel — her first since the National Book Award long-listed Sweet Lamb of Heaven — follows a group of 12 eerily mature children on a forced vacation with their families at a sprawling lakeside mansion. Contemptuous of their parents, who pass their days in a stupor of liquor, drugs and sex, the children feel neglected and suffocated at the same time. When a destructive storm descends on the summer estate, the group’s ringleaders — including Eve, who narrates the story — decide to run away, leading the younger ones on a dangerous foray into the apocalyptic chaos outside.

All Adults Here, by Emma Straub

Straub writes with knife-edged humor, sliced and diced and added into a delectable stew of flawed characters and story. Astrid is a steely widow and mother of three adult children in the small town of Clapham. She witnesses a terrible accident involving a longtime acquaintance, and it turns out to be the cataclysm that unleashes her reflections on past mistakes and decisions kept bottled up for decades. Her intentions and attempts to right a series of wrongs spanning the years allows the reader to dive into the secrets kept not only by Astrid, but also by her family and those around them. This is a sly, wicked and wholly satisfying read.

Latitudes of Longing, by Shubhangi Swarup

This book is nothing short of amazing. The elemental forces of nature and how we understand and relate to those forces are at the core of the three stories of interconnected people in this book. Unapologetic and with a full portrayal of complex lives, this book is ultimately a love story to the best and worst versions of humanity and the planet. The young author is a storyteller of extraordinary talent and insight who was awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in India for this novel. Richly imaginative and wryly perceptive, Latitudes of Longing offers a soaring view of humanity: our beauty and ugliness, our capacity to harm and love each other, and our mysterious and sacred relationship with nature.

Hello, Summer, by Mary Kay Andrews

Conley Hawkins left her family’s small town newspaper, The Silver Bay Beacon, in the rearview mirror years ago. Now a star reporter for a big-city paper, Conley is exactly where she wants to be and is about to take a fancy new position in Washington, D.C. Or so she thinks. When the new job goes up in smoke, Conley finds herself right back where she started, working for her sister, who is trying to keep The Silver Bay Beacon afloat — and she doesn’t exactly have warm feelings for Conley. Soon she is given the unenviable task of overseeing the local gossip column, “Hello, Summer.” Conley witnesses an accident that ends in the death of a local congressman — a beloved war hero with a shady past. The more she digs into the story, the more dangerous it gets. As an old heartbreaker causes trouble and a new flame ignites, it soon looks like their sleepy beach town is the most scandalous hotspot of the summer.

Old Lovegood Girls, by Gail Godwin

From the best-selling, award-winning author of Flora and Evensong comes the story of two remarkable women and the complex friendship between them that spans decades. When the dean of Lovegood Junior College for Girls decides to pair Feron Hood with Merry Jellicoe as roommates in 1958, she has no way of knowing the far-reaching consequences of the match. Feron, who has narrowly escaped from a dark past, instantly takes to Merry and her composed personality. Underneath their fierce friendship is a stronger, stranger bond, one comprising secrets, rivalry and influence — with neither of them able to predict that Merry is about to lose everything she grew up taking for granted, and that their time together will be cut short. Ten years later, Feron and Merry haven’t spoken since college. Life has led them into vastly different worlds. And when each woman finds herself in need of the other’s essence, that spark — that remarkable affinity, unbroken by time — is reignited, and their lives begin to shift.

NONFICTION

On Lighthouses, by Jazmina Barrera, Christina MacSweeney

Obsession can be a form of mental collecting, involving an accumulation of images, experiences and stories, but it’s the stories that really bring the thing to life. On Lighthouses artfully examines lighthouses from the Spanish to the Oregon coasts and those in the works of Virginia Woolf, Edgar Allan Poe, Ingmar Bergman and many others. Barrera’s musings take the reader on a journey into her obsession, from hopeless isolation to a meaningful one, so comforting, yet so very ethereal and spectral. This is a book to be read, then read again and again.

Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter that Changed America, by Jim Rasenberger

A riveting and revealing biography of Colt, a man who made significant contributions to our country during the 19th century, Revolver is also a lively and informative historical portrait of America during a time of extraordinary transformation. Colt seemingly lived five lives in his 47 years — he traveled, womanized, drank prodigiously, smuggled guns into Russia, bribed politicians, and supplied the Union Army with the guns they needed to win the Civil War. He lived during an age of promise and progress, but also of slavery, corruption and unbridled greed, and he not only helped to create this America, he embodied it. By the time he died in 1862 in Hartford, Connecticut, he was one of the most famous men in the nation, and one of the richest.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Hundred Feet Tall, by Benjamin Scheuer

With a little love and a little time and a little care, a little seed in a little jar can grow a hundred feet tall. Perfect for Earth Day or graduations or for simply a story of persistence and dedication, Hundred Feet Tall is sure to become a classic. (Ages 3-6.)

Green on Green, by Dianne White

This stunningly beautiful ode to the seasons practically begs to be read aloud in the shade of a longleaf pine. For story time, bedtime or anytime a new season comes around, Green on Green will delight young listeners and fulfill the desires of readers when new seasons begin to peek their heads out of the weather-worn earth. (Ages 3-6.)

Layla’s Luck, by Jo Rooks

Layla is sooo lucky. She wins the race wearing her lucky socks, aces the spelling test with her lucky pencil, and grows the tallest flowers with her lucky watering can. But on the day when it matters most, it seems Layla’s luck has just run out. It takes a friend to point out that it’s not luck that helped Layla find such success, but hard work and dedication, and this is just the thing she needs to push on toward her goal. Cute illustrations and a gentle message of stick-to-itiveness make this the perfect book to read together. (Ages 4-7.)

Malamander, by Thomas Taylor

Herbert Lemon works as the Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel, and among the lost umbrellas and trunks one day, Herbert finds himself face-to-face with a lost girl. This girl, Violet, leads Herbert on a wild journey through his unusual town, where the pair encounter a powerful old woman with spying capabilities, a top hat-wearing book-recommending monkey, a 12-year-old mystery, and a mysterious aquatic monster. A fun mystery with quirky humor, Malamander is perfect for that sophisticated young reader who appreciates a little dark humor. (Ages 9-12.)

Be You!, by Peter Reynolds

Brave, curious, kind, adventurous. Reynolds honors all the ways we celebrate the amazing young people in our lives in this charming new book destined to become a classic for new babies and graduation gift giving. (All ages.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

2020 Bookshelf Department

Bookshelf

April Books

FICTION

Braised Pork, by An Yu

This smashing debut is a dreamscape of a novel set in Beijing. Jia Jia discovers the body of her distant husband in the bath with an unusual drawing of a “fishman” beside him. Using the sketch as her guide, she begins a journey of self-discovery through the smog-choked streets of Beijing, to a village in Tibet, and a mysterious world of water. Exquisitely attuned to the complexities of human connection, and an atmospheric and cinematic evocation of middle-class urban China, Braised Pork explores the intimate strangeness of grief, the indelible mysteries of unseen worlds, and the energizing self-discovery of a newly empowered young woman.

Simon the Fiddler, by Paulette Jiles

In Jiles’ deeply satisfying work of historical fiction, Simon Boudlin has avoided conscription into the Confederate Army for the last time. The young fiddler had been making his way through the South playing his music until the fateful day when he was rounded up and sent to an encampment on the Rio Grande. There, at the war’s end, he sets his eyes on a beautiful Irish girl indentured to a Union colonel. She captures his heart and is gone. Thus begins Simon’s long and treacherous journey working and playing music across the postwar Texas landscape to find her. Hope and yearning rise off every page, along with characters and an unforgettable story crafted in exquisite detail.

Redhead by the Side of the Road, by Anne Tyler

Micah Mortimer is a middle-aged man living alone in Baltimore. Although his family is raucous, he lives a very regimented life alone in his basement apartment, where he is the building super. He is also the self-employed Tech Hermit, carefully driving to his appointments under the approving watch of the Traffic Gods. He is myopic, yet the appearance of a teenage boy claiming to be his son and the break-up with his comfortable girlfriend yield a clearer vision of his life. Tyler has produced yet another charming and absorbing read.

Sin Eater, by Megan Campisi

Condemned to be a Sin Eater after stealing a loaf of bread, May must get used to a life of being shunned and feared. At first confused and distressed, she eventually grows into her role and uses it to her advantage. A twisted tale influenced by a not-so-ancient practice of absorbing one’s sins by eating from atop their coffin or deathbed, Campisi has cooked up a delightfully macabre novel that is sure to stick with you. The Handmaid’s Tale meets Alice in Wonderland in this gripping and imaginative historical novel about a shunned orphan girl in 16th century England who is ensnared in a deadly royal plot and must turn her subjugation into her power.

The Book of Lost Friends, by Lisa Wingate

From the New York Times best-selling author of Before We Were Yours comes a new novel inspired by historical events: a dramatic story of three young women on a journey in search of family amid the destruction of the post-Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who rediscovers their story and its vital connection to her own students’ lives. In her distinctive voice, Wingate brings to life startling stories from actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold off.

Afterlife, by Julia Alvarez

Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: Her big-hearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves — lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack — but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words.

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, by Grady Hendrix

Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she’s always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor’s handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn’t felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. James is a monster of a different kind — and Patricia has already invited him in. Steel Magnolias meets Dracula.

NONFICTION

Navigate Your Stars, by Jesmyn Ward

Speaking about the value of hard work and the importance of respect for oneself and others at Tulane University’s 2018 commencement, Ward inspired everyone in the audience with her meditation on tenacity. Navigate Your Stars is a beautiful, inspiring book about striving to be the best you can be. Beautifully illustrated in full color by Gina Triplett, this gorgeous and profound book will charm a generation of students — and their parents. Ward’s voice shines through as she shares her experience as a Southern black woman, addressing the themes of grit, tenacity and the importance of family bonds. A perfect gift for anyone in need of inspiration from the author of Salvage the Bones, Men We Reaped, and Sing, Unburied, Sing.

American Harvest, by Marie Mutsuki Mockett

Having grown up in Carmel, California, when Mockett inherits a massive Nebraska wheat farm that had been in her father’s family for generations, this Japanese-American woman sets out to learn about the land in the middle of America, its people and culture. She travels with a group of evangelical Christian harvesters, led by Eric Wolgemuth, the man whose team cuts the family’s wheat. They follow the ripening from Texas to Idaho. Along the way, she thoughtfully explores the connotations of the divide: the politics, religion and science. There are lessons in history, the Bible, farming methodology, and a renewed appreciation of the vastness of this stretch of the American landscape.

The Heart: Frida Kahlo in Paris, by Marc Petitjean

In 1938, just as she was leaving Mexico for her first solo exhibition in New York, Frida Kahlo was devastated to learn from her husband, Diego Rivera, that he intended to divorce her. In early 1939, anxious and adrift, Kahlo traveled from the United States to France — her only trip to Europe, and the beginning of a unique period of her life when she was enjoying commercial success on her own. In The Heart, Petitjean delves into Kahlo’s time in Paris, her whirlwind relationship with the author’s father, and the darker corners of her personal narrative.

The House of Kennedy,
by James Patterson

The Kennedys have always been a family of charismatic adventurers, raised to take risks and excel, living by the dual family mottos: “To whom much is given, much is expected” and “Win at all costs.” And they do — but at a price. Across decades and generations, the Kennedys have occupied a unique place in the American imagination: charmed, cursed, at once familiar and unknowable. The House of Kennedy is a revealing, fascinating account of one of America’s most storied families, as told by one of America’s most prolific storytellers.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

A Book for Escargot,
by Dashka Slater

Oooh la la! Escargot, the adorable French gastropod, is back for another adventure. On a mission to try something new, Escargot ventures to the library and sets out to be the star of a magnifique book of his own. Silly, fun, and just a little French, Escargot is sure to become a story time favorite. (Ages 3-5.)

I Found a Kitty!, by Troy Cummings

Adorable, lovable Arfy from Can I Be Your Dog? has found a friend. Unfortunately Arfy’s humans are allergic so in the ultimate pay-it-forward move, Arfy sets out to find a place where Scamper can play, cuddle, get brushed and sing but most of all a place where he will be adored. (Ages 3-6.)

Roy Digs Dirt, by David Shannon

Some dogs dig bones, some dig big comfy couches and some dig fancy collars, but Roy? Roy digs dirt. Giggle-inducing and just plain fun, young readers will really dig reading about Roy’s adventures again and again. (Ages 3-5.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

2020 Bookshelf Department

Bookshelf

March Books

FICTION

The Yellow Bird Sings, by Jennifer Rosner

In Poland, as World War II rages, Róza and her daughter Shira are hiding from German soldiers in a barn loft. Having to be very quiet, Róza makes up a story about a yellow bird that is free to go out and sing and make noise while they must be quiet. Separated when they have to leave the barn, mother and daughter remain attached through their musical abilities and the story of the bird, but wonder if they will ever see each other again. A mesmerizing story.

The Pride of Eden, by Taylor Brown

Anse Caulfield is a life-toughened Vietnam veteran and former jockey who, for reasons of his own, uses an ill-gotten windfall to establish Little Eden, a wildlife sanctuary on the coast of Georgia. Here, a collection of unforgettable mavericks, living on the periphery of society, wage an unofficial war of their own to rescue exotic animals from the hands of greed and cruelty. Brown has the rare ability to place his readers into the minds of his characters, allowing them to inhabit their skin. We can tap into their senses, passions and motivations. Every page explodes, and every line is pure poetry. Pride of Eden is original, sensitive, and unsparing.

The New Life of Hugo Gardner, by Louis Begley

Hugo is in his 80s, his wife has just left him for a younger man, and he’s lonely. With a plan to end his life should it become necessary (he doesn’t want to be a burden), he tries to find a way to be happy. In the past this has always included sexual intimacy, so why should that change?

Blackwood, by Michael Farris Smith

The thing about the invasive kudzu vine is that it is unstoppable. Nearly impenetrable, it harbors and smothers its secrets. The countryside around the dead-end town of Red Bluff, Mississippi, is filled with the encroaching vine and the sad stories it keeps. That peace is shattered when a vagabond family lands in the town, along with an artist whose family met with tragedy there when he was a boy. A disturbing chain of events follows in this tense, breathtaking novel.

The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel

A Ponzi scheme collapses, obliterating lives and fortunes, and a woman mysteriously disappears from the deck of a container ship at sea. These seemingly disparate events converge in a glass-fronted hotel on Vancouver Island in this story of crisis and survival. An exquisite, character-driven novel that will haunt the reader for days after the last page.

A Good Neighborhood, by Therese Anne Fowler

It began with a tree, a wonderful, massive oak in a modest, diverse neighborhood, with small, modest homes, and close-knit neighbors. The tree is a treasured part of a property owned by a widowed black college professor and her talented teenage son. The tree is put in peril and the serenity of the neighborhood is disrupted when a gargantuan home is built on a razed lot next door by a wealthy businessman who does little to hide his contempt for his neighbors. This man has a beautiful young daughter, and as fate would have it, the two teens fall in love, setting the course for heartbreak and disaster. This tale will provide fodder for book clubs and community discussions for years to come.

My Dark Vanessa, by Kate Elizabeth Russell

It was love. It was real. She may have been only 15 years old, and he was her teacher, but nobody understands the depth of their connection. Yes, it was love, because if it wasn’t love then it was something else, something ugly, something unspeakable. And now, 16 years later, she is still not ready to face that possibility, not ready to label him a monster and herself a victim. It’s not necessary for you to be the judge, just accept the journey through Vanessa’s memories as she tries to make peace with who she is today.

Writers and Lovers, by Lily King

Not since Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose novels has a character so vividly, brilliantly and quietly risen off the page as has Casey Peabody in Writers and Lovers. Seamlessly crafted by a master of literary fiction, King’s novel of fear, bravery, chance, silliness, disappointment and deep fortitude is absolutely impossible to put down.

The Operator, by Gretchen Berg

Vivian is a telephone operator in a small town in the 1950s and listens in on the conversations. One night she hears a secret about her family that upends her life and, of course, leads to other secrets coming to light. A humorous story of small-town life that is loosely based on the author’s grandmother.

Valentine, by Elizabeth Wetmore

In the early hours of the morning after Valentine’s Day, 14-year-old Gloria Ramírez appears on the front porch of Mary Rose Whitehead’s ranch house, broken and barely alive. The teenager has been viciously attacked in a nearby oil field — an act of brutality that is tried in the churches and barrooms of Odessa before it can reach a court of law. When justice is evasive, a local woman decides to take matters into her own hands, setting the stage for a showdown with potentially devastating consequences. Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope.

NONFICTION

House Lessons, by Erica Bauermeister

This book is a joy to read. Be prepared to underline insights on every page. House Lessons is a meditation that takes place over two decades. This memoir in essay form fuses thoughtful perceptions with practical information about how we consider spaces and how people inhabit them. A quiet delight.

Pearls of Wisdom: Little Pieces of Advice (That Go a Long Way), by Barbara Bush

At the end of the day, she taught all of us some valuable lessons. As First Lady, she made a point of cuddling a baby with AIDS and hugging a young man who was HIV positive and whose family had rejected him, showing us by example the importance of compassion and the myth of fear. As a mother, she made sure we all knew that your children must come first, and one of the most important things you can do is to read to them. As a friend and mentor, she showed that you had to be true to yourself, and even at the end of her life, she taught us how to die with grace.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

The Imaginaries: Little Scraps of Larger Stories, by Emily Winfield Martin

Beautiful, whimsical, and ethereal are the thoughts and illustrations that make up the “Imaginaries.” A book of story starters and idea encouragers, The Imaginaries could also serve as a most intriguing coffee table art book. Martin never disappoints! (Ages 6-10.)

The Girl and the Dinosaur, by Hollie Hughes

On a beach in a town not so very far from here, a girl and a dinosaur find each other and, with spirits wild and free, explore the night together. Dinosaur lovers and dreamers alike will adore this stunningly illustrated lyrical tale of fun, fantasy and flight. (Ages 3-6.)

No More Naps, by Chris Grabenstein

No kid ever wanted to take a nap, but what if, when that kid finally does get drowsy and cave, all the naps had been taken by everyone else in the neighborhood — even the dog! A cautionary tale with a little sleepy time silliness that will certainly stay on top of the “read it again” stack. (Ages 2-4.)

Nesting, by Henry Cole

From the first dry grass and small twigs gathered to build a perfect, comfortable nest, to the warm summer day when the independent babies fly away on their own, this simple sweet picture book chronicles a season in the life of a robin family. Young ornithologists and nature lovers will enjoy learning more about the wild, wonderful world. (Ages 3-6.)

American Royals, by Katharine McGee

If George Washington had been named king instead of president, America may very well have been naming a new queen instead of a new president in 2020. The author of The Thousandth Floor brings that scenario to life and, with Harry and Meghan stepping down from their royal duties and moving to North America, this fun book couldn’t be more timely. (Ages 14 and up.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

2020 Bookshelf Department

Bookshelf

February Books

FICTION

A Long Petal of the Sea, by Isabel Allende

In the late 1930s, civil war has gripped Spain. When Gen. Francisco Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life irreversibly intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an Army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. As the two refugees flee to France, eventually landing in Chile, where they build a life together, they find no place is immune from political strife. A story about making a home wherever you are.

Apeirogon, by Colum McCann

Named for a polygon with an infinite number of sides, Bassam Aramin (Palestinian) and Rami Elhanan (Israeli) inhabit a world of conflict that colors every aspect of their daily lives, from the roads they are allowed to drive on to the schools their daughters, Abir and Smadar, each attend, to the checkpoints both physical and emotional that they must negotiate. Their worlds shift irreparably after 10-year-old Abir is killed by a rubber bullet, and 13-year-old Smadar becomes the victim of suicide bombers. When Bassam and Rami learn of one another’s stories, they recognize the loss that connects them, and they attempt to use their grief as a weapon for peace.

The Cactus League, by Emily Nemens

Jason Goodyear is the star outfielder for the Los Angeles Lions, stationed with the rest of his team in the punishingly hot Arizona desert for their annual spring training. Handsome, famous and talented, Goodyear is nonetheless coming apart at the seams. Everyone is eager to find out why, even as they hide secrets of their own. Narrated by a sportscaster, Goodyear’s story is interspersed with tales of Michael Taylor, a batting coach trying to stay relevant; Tamara Rowland, a resourceful spring training paramour, looking for one last catch; Herb Allison, a legendary sports agent grappling with his decline; and a plethora of other richly drawn characters, all striving to be seen as the season approaches. A tight debut novel by the editor of Paris Review.

Amnesty, by Aravind Adiga

Danny, formerly Dhananjaya Rajaratnam, is an illegal immigrant in Sydney, Australia, denied refugee status after he fled Sri Lanka. Working as a cleaner, living out of a grocery storeroom, for three years he’s been trying to create a new identity for himself. With his beloved girlfriend, Sonja, his hidden accent and highlights in his hair, he is as close as he has ever come to living a normal life. But then one morning, Danny learns a female client of his has been murdered. The deed was done with a knife, at a creek he’d been to with her before; and a jacket was left at the scene, which he believes belongs to another of his clients — a doctor Danny knows the woman was having an affair with. He’s confronted with a choice: come forward with his knowledge about the crime and risk being deported; or say nothing, and let justice go undone. Evaluating the weight of his past, his dreams for the future, and the unpredictable, often absurd reality of living invisibly and undocumented, he must wrestle with his conscience and decide if a person without rights still has responsibilities.

Salt River, by Randy Wayne White

A local author returns with a thrilling tale of marine biologist and former government agent Doc Ford and his friend, avowed bachelor and beach-bum pal Tomlinson, who is confronted by rash past decisions that escalate to deadly present-day dangers. As a young man, Tomlinson fathered multiple children via for-profit sperm bank donations, and his now-grown offspring have tracked him down, seeking answers about their roots. Doc quickly grows suspicious that one of them might be planning something more nefarious than a family reunion. In addition to watching Tomlinson’s back, Doc encounters a number of unsavory individuals, including a disgraced IRS investigator and a corrupt Bahamian customs agent, after their cut of a cache of precious Spanish coins he quietly “liberated” from a felonious treasure hunter. Doc has no choice but to get creative.

NONFICTION

Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era,
by Jerry Mitchell

Mitchell takes readers on the twisting, pulse-racing road that led to the reopening of the investigations into four of the most infamous killings from the days of the civil rights movement. As an investigative journalist with a mission, his work played a central role in bringing killers to justice for the assassination of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham, and the Mississippi Burning case. Mitchell reveals how he unearthed secret documents, found long-lost suspects and witnesses, and built evidence strong enough to take on the Klan. He takes us into every harrowing scene along the way, meeting one-on-one with the very murderers he is seeking to catch. His efforts put four leading Klansmen behind bars, years after they thought they had gotten away with murder. Race Against Time is an astonishing, courageous story as the past is uncovered, clue-by-clue, and long-ignored evils are brought into the light.

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

Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley; and, of course, 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents and once-secret intelligence reports — some released only recently — Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experiences of Churchill and his wife, Clementine, their youngest daughter, Mary (who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness), and their son, Randolph, with his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela, and her lover, a dashing American emissary. All comprised Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turned in the hardest moments.

Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote, by Craig Fehrman

Fehrman opens a rich new window into presidential biography. From volumes lost to history like Calvin Coolidge’s Autobiography, which was one of the most widely discussed titles of 1929, to ones we know and love like Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father (very nearly never published), and gems like Abraham Lincoln’s collection of speeches, titled Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, Fehrman delivers countless insights about the presidents through their literary works.

The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross, by Jon Meacham

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author explores the seven last sayings of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, combining rich historical and theological insights. For each saying, Meacham composes a meditation on the origins of Christianity and how Jesus’ final words created a foundation for oral and written traditions that upended the very order of the world. In a tone more intimate than many of his previous award-winning works, Jon Meacham returns us to the moment that transformed Jesus from a historical figure into the proclaimed Son of God.

Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe, by Brian Greene

From the world-renowned physicist and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe comes this captivating exploration of deep time and humanity’s search for purpose. Through a series of nested stories that explain distinct but interwoven layers of reality — from quantum mechanics to consciousness to black holes — Greene provides us with a clearer sense of how we came to be, a finer picture of where we are now, and a firmer understanding of where we are headed. With this grand tour of the universe, Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Lola Dutch, I Love You So Much, by Kenneth and Sarah Jane Wright

Lola, Gator, Crane and Pig are back, and we love them so much! In this fun follow-up to Lola Dutch When I Grow Up, Lola finds ways to show her friends just how special they all are. Perfect for fans of Ladybug Girl or Pinkalicious. Young listeners can never have too much Lola Dutch. (Ages 3-6.)

In a Jar, by Deborah Marcero

Together, in jars big and small, Llewellyen and Evelyn collected buttercups, feathers and heart-shaped stones. They collected rainbows, the sound of the ocean and the wind just before snow falls. And when a move separates the collectors, they share friendship in a jar across the miles. (Ages 3-6.)

Just Like Mama, by Alice Faye Duncan

Mama Rose makes sure Olivia learns to ride a bike, has her hair braided just so, and that she plays outside every day. Mama Rose tells Olivia one day she will grow her own wings and fly, just like Mama. And Mama Rose tells Olivia she is loved. Just Like Mama is the perfect way to honor everyone who fills the gap when Mama cannot always be there. (Ages 3-6.)

Ashlords, by Scott Reintgen

Ashlords, Davidians, Longhands — three clashing cultures whose names will soon be household names after Reintgen’s brilliant new novel, Ashlords, sets the YA world on fire in January 2020. With Phoenix horse races, powerful young adversaries and a world teetering on the brink of war, fans of Marie Lu’s Legend series or and Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games will devour Ashlords. (Ages 12 and up.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

2020 Bookshelf Department

Bookshelf

January Books

FICTION

American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummins

On a sunny afternoon in Acapulco, a cartel massacres 16 members of a family at a barbecue. By a twist of fate, Lydia and her 8-year-old son, Luca, survive; and so begins their terrifying and interminable journey across Mexico in an attempt to cross the border. The tale exemplifies the struggle to elude the long-encompassing arms of the cartels. Who can be trusted? Propelled by fear and weighing the terror of what lies behind you against what lies ahead of you, to what lengths would you go to ensure the survival of your child? Cummins’ urgent and precise prose forbids you to stop reading until the end, then lingers long afterward.

The Truants, by Kate Weinberg

In a debut novel of suspense, Weinberg weaves a tale of obsession, deception and misguided love. Jess Walker is a young woman who enters an uninspiring university in East Anglia for the sole purpose of being a student of a charismatic professor of literature, Lorna Clay, who seems to have taken the position under a cloud of suspicion. Clay will be conducting studies on the life and work of Agatha Christie, with an underlying theme: “People disappear when they most want to be seen.” Jess not only falls under her thrall, but also that of her three new friends who introduce her to a lifestyle of excess and awakenings, with tragic and life-altering consequences. This is a moody, mesmerizing, literary read.

Run Me to Earth, by Paul Yoon

What happens when it seems that war and its atrocities are all you know, but somehow the instinct for survival and some semblance of childhood innocence prevail? That is precisely what Yoon has captured in this work, which is both elegant and spare, yet imbued with an incredible depth of emotion. The haunting story follows three orphaned children in Laos during the 1960s who find themselves working as couriers for a makeshift hospital with an enigmatic doctor. When an evacuation attempt forces the three in different directions, what follows is the tale of their lives through the decades. A magnificent read.

What I Carry, by Jennifer Longo

If a checklist exists for all the things a read requires, then this novel ticks off all the boxes. The number of foster homes Muir has found herself in far exceeds the 17 years of her life. She’s learned to pack light. Socks and toothbrush? Sure. Emotional attachments? Never. What she does have is an amazing, longtime social worker she can depend on, and what she finds is a new foster mom who is different from the rest, a for-the-first-time best friend, and a perfect boyfriend — all who actually “see” her. She also has a pillowcase resembling a blackbird’s nest of small objects acquired over the years to tell her story. Muir’s great love of the outdoors finds a home on a beautiful Pacific Northwest island as she comes to terms with her future and her imminent “aging out” of the foster care system in this unforgettable and exquisitely written book.

The Secret Guests, by Benjamin Black

A fictional account of the two daughters of the king of England, Elizabeth and Mary, who are sent to Ireland during the bombing of London. Keeping the girls’ location a secret is hard for everyone and the action starts when their secret is discovered.

Dear Edward, by Ann Napolitano

How do you go on living when the plane you’re on with your family crashes, and you’re the only survivor? That’s the dilemma for 12-year-old Edward, who is now living with his aunt and uncle, but doesn’t know how to stop feeling guilty. A wonderful story of how he discovers happiness again.

Lady Clementine, by Marie Benedict

In 1909, Clementine steps off a train with her new husband, Winston. An angry woman attacks him from the crowd, shoving him in the direction of an oncoming train. Just before he stumbles, Clementine grabs him by his suit jacket. This will not be the last time Clementine Churchill will save her husband. Lady Clementine is the ferocious story of the ambitious woman at Churchill’s side, the story of a partner who did not flinch through the darkness of war, and who would not surrender to either expectations or to enemies.

Big Lies in a Small Town, by Diane Chamberlain

North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher’s life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women’s Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold — until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy Southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.

North Carolina, 1940: Anna Dale, an artist from New Jersey, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. Alone in the world and desperate for work, she accepts. But what she doesn’t expect is to find herself immersed in a town where prejudices run deep, where people are hiding secrets behind closed doors, and where the price of being different might just end in murder.

What happened to Anna Dale? Are the clues hidden in the decrepit mural? Can Morgan overcome her own demons to discover what exists beneath the layers of lies?

Hunter Killer, by Brad Taylor

Pike Logan and the Taskforce were once the apex predators, an unrivaled hunting machine that decimated those out to harm the United States, but they may have met their match. While Logan and Jennifer Cahill prepare to join their team on a counter-terrorist mission in the lawless tri-border region where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet, they are targeted in Charleston, South Carolina. A vicious explosion kills a friend, and the perpetrators have set it up to look like an accident. While the authorities believe this was not foul play, Pike knows the attack was meant for him. He and the Taskforce are under assault. Pike and Jennifer head to Brazil and run headlong into a crew of Russian assassins. Within days they are entangled in a byzantine scheme involving Brazilian politics and a cutthroat battle for control of offshore oil fields.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Croc & Turtle Snow Fun, by Mike Wohnoutka

It’s time for a playdate, but the two friends have come to an impasse. Croc wants to play outside while Turtle is determined to stay inside. The result is a fabulous compromise. Perfect for classroom or home reading — any place where young listeners may find themselves at odds with their fellow playmates. Croc and Turtle are the coolest new characters on the learning-to-read scene. (Ages 2-6.)

Bear Has a Story to Tell, by Philip Stead

Bear has a story to tell but, with all his friends busily preparing for the coming winter, will he ever get to share his thoughts before he must make his own preparations? A sweet winter read-together just perfect for story time or snuggle time. (Ages 2-4.)

Scientist Scientist,
Who Do You See? by Chris Ferrie

Borrowing the rhythm from the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear series, Ferrie introduces the youngest scientists to some of the most famous chemists, biologists, and meteorologists as well as pioneers in technology, artificial intelligence and space travel. The perfect book for new babies or budding young experimenters. (Ages 2-5.)

Camilla, Cartographer, by Julie Dillemuth

Camilla loves maps — old ones with crisping edges that show her home as it once was; maps left behind by summer hikers; and even maps of imaginary places. So when the snow falls deep enough to obscure all the known trails, Camilla delights in making a new map to help her friend Parsley find the path to the creek. Lovely, warm illustrations bring to life this fun title that reminds readers young and old of the value of thinking, creativity and exploration. (Ages 6-8.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

2020 Bookshelf Department

Bookshelf December 2019

GREAT GIFT BOOKS

Biblio-Style: How We Live at Home with Books, by Nina Freudenberger

This is the book you might actually buy for yourself at Christmas. Freudenberger is an interior designer whose first coffee table book, Surf Shack, was a great success. She brings us fantastic homes of people surrounded by what they love, and this time it’s their books. The people and homes are an eclectic mix of booklovers — from writers, to a prince, to a fashion designer and everything in-between. She features bookstores, libraries and collections periodically throughout like little gifts. It’s a wonderful present for anyone who loves to read.

On Flowers, by Amy Merrick

This lovely coffee table book is a treasure. Beautifully designed, it’s as fun to read for its transformative ability and its flower arranging tips as it is to look at. Written with a sense of whimsy and a slightly ’50s lilt, the book is peppered with cleverly titled lists, coupled with sweet paintings of flowers and beauty shots of arrangements. It’s the perfect gift for Southerners who love flowers and nature and find themselves living in the city, or anyone who enjoys flower arranging.

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

This is a great cookbook. There are loads of pictures, and easily accessible recipes that are familiar, yet, somehow slightly new. Some recipes come with three different ways to cook it (slow cooker, pressure cooker or stovetop). Inventive dinners like browned sage butter chicken potpie or spiced lamb hummus (it can exist as an appetizer, too) accompany delightful breakfasts, side dishes and dessert options. A great gift for anyone who is cooking for a family, especially someone working on integrating pressure cooking into a busy lifestyle.

Lush: A Season-by-Season Celebration of Craft Beer and Produce, by Jacquelyn Dodd

A celebration of fruit, vegetables and craft beer, this latest book from the author of The Craft Beer Cookbook features 80 produce-forward recipes, all made with seasonal craft beer. Ciara hop and basil pesto, Mexican street corn beer cakes with chipotle crema, and roasted cabbage wedges with feta-mustard beer vinaigrette are just three of the dazzling dishes. Recipes are measured both by cup and weight. A holiday favorite might be mushroom- and Gouda-stuffed barley wine onions. It is true that this book has no meat recipes. It is also true that you will be so captivated you might not notice. A gift for anyone who likes to be in the kitchen and is looking for new ideas, you might even include a pint or two.

Close to Birds: An Intimate Look at Our Feathered Friends, by Mats and Asa Ottosson, photographs by Roine Magnusson

Intimate photographs by Magnusson, an award-winning photographer and National Geographic contributor, capture the beauty and detail of each bird’s form, as well as their unique character and personality. The accompanying essays by the Ottossons share charming and often hidden details from birds’ lives. Discover why robins sing so early in the morning, and learn the science behind the magical iridescence of mallard feathers. A wonderful gift for your bird-watching aunt.

The Envious Siblings and Other Morbid Nursery Rhymes, by Landis Blair

Heralding a brilliant new cartooning talent, Envious Siblings will captivate readers who have thrilled to the lurid fantasies of Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake, Charles Addams, Shel Silverstein and Tim Burton. Blair interweaves absurdist horror and humor into brief, rhyming vignettes at once transgressive and hilarious. In Blair’s surreal universe, a lost child watches as bewhiskered monsters gobble up her fellow train passengers; a band of kids merrily plays a gut-churning game with playground toys; and two sisters, grinning madly, tear each other apart. These charmingly perverse creations take ordinary settings — a living room, a subway car, a playground — and spin them in a nightmarish direction. For the brother or sister you never buy a present for.

50 Things that Aren’t My Fault: Essays from the Grown-up Years, by Cathy Guisewite

From the creator of the iconic “Cathy” comic strip comes her first collection of funny, wise, poignant, and incredibly honest essays about being a woman in what she lovingly calls “the panini generation.” Guisewite found her way into the hearts of readers more than 40 years ago, and has been there ever since. Her hilarious and deeply relatable look at the challenges of womanhood in a changing world became a cultural touchstone for women everywhere. Now Guisewite returns with her signature wit and warmth in this debut essay collection about another time of big transition, when everything starts changing and disappearing without permission — aging parents, aging children, aging self stuck in the middle. For the woman who read Cathy aloud every morning from the paper or has cut at least one of her comics out.

Why Don’t You Write My Eulogy Now So I Can Correct It, by Patricia Marx

Marx, a New Yorker writer, has never been able to get her mother’s one-line witticisms out of her brain, so she’s collected them in a book, accompanied by full color illustrations by New Yorker staff cartoonist Roz Chast. These snappy maternal cautions include: If you feel guilty about throwing away leftovers, put them in the back of your refrigerator for five days and then throw them out; if you run out of food at your dinner party, the world will end; when traveling, call the hotel from the airport to say there aren’t enough towels in your room and, by the way, you’d like a room with a better view. Why Don’t You Write My Eulogy Now is a perfect gift for Mom!

Surf Like a Girl, by Carolina Amell

This coffee table book is a collection of photographs and interviews with 30 girl surfers from all over the world. Perfect for surfing enthusiasts, this unique compilation of stunning pictures and hard-won wisdom proves that the thrill of catching a wave, riding it, and kicking out belongs to everyone.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Ho Ho Homework, by Mylisa Larsen

Everyone wonders just what Santa does the 364 days a year he isn’t in the spotlight, and Jack wonders if he just might have found out when the substitute teacher eats reindeer cookies, knits stockings and teaches the class how to make snowflakes. A fun new look at Old Saint Nick, Ho Ho Homework is sure to be a hit this holiday season. (Ages 3-6.)

If I Could Give You Christmas, by Lynn Plourde

Pops of red on green, the taste of the very first snowflake, choruses of chirping carolers . . . the gifts of Christmas that mean the very most are the things that just can’t be wrapped up in a box. This fun read-together title features delightful illustrations of animals found in the author’s home state of Maine and is a wonderful celebration of the natural world at Christmastime. (Ages 3-6.)

Bear is Awake: An Alphabet Story, by Hannah Harrison

Absolutely adorable, this unique alphabet book tells a beautiful story of friendship, kindness and the value of research with a text simple enough for the youngest reader yet rich enough for a family read-together. An absolute must-have for holiday giving. (Ages 3-6.)

Saving Fable, by Scott Reintgen

Indira has been a character-in-waiting all her life when she’s finally chosen to attend the great Protagonist Preparatory in Fable, a school known for producing heroes. Or at least that is the way it is suppose to go. But after a failed audition, Indira discovers an evil protagonist might be to blame. Fable is under siege and everything she believes in is under threat. Can a side character save the day? Readers of The Land of Stories and the Inkheart Trilogy will find themselves drawn in to this exciting new series. (Ages 9-13.)

Legacy, by Shannon Messenger

It has been a long time since a series has come along with such a rapidly growing dedicated fan base as the Keepers of Lost Cities series. Messenger’s unique blend of fun and fantasy have young readers literally jumping up and down and hugging each new book. Readers will be waiting at the door the day Legacy arrives. (Ages 10-14.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

2019 Bookshelf Department

Bookshelf November

November Books

NONFICTION

Finding Chika, by Mitch Albom

The best-selling author returns to nonfiction for the first time in more than a decade in this poignant memoir that celebrates Chika, a young Haitian orphan whose short life would forever change his heart. Told in hindsight, and through illuminating conversations with Chika herself, this is Albom at his most poignant and vulnerable. Finding Chika is a celebration of a girl, her adoptive guardians, and the incredible bond they form — a devastatingly beautiful portrait of what it means to be a family, regardless of how it is made.

The Fall of Richard Nixon, by Tom Brokaw

The NBC News White House correspondent during the final year of Watergate, Brokaw writes of justice and judgment, in this nuanced and thoughtful chronicle, a close-up, personal account of the players, the strategies, and the highs and lows of the scandal that brought down a president. He recounts Nixon’s claims of executive privilege to withhold White House tape recordings of Oval Office conversations; the bribery scandal that led to the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew and the choice of Gerald Ford as vice president; Nixon’s firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox; travels with Henry Kissinger and how Nixon organized emergency relief for Israel during the Yom Kippur War in the midst of Watergate; Nixon’s “I am not a crook” speech; the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court that required Nixon to turn over the tapes; and other insider moments from this important and dramatic period.

Our Wild Calling: How Connecting with Animals Can Transform Our Lives — and Save Theirs, by Richard Louv

Louv’s landmark book, Last Child in the Woods, inspired an international movement to connect children and nature. Our Wild Calling makes the case for protecting, promoting and creating a sustainable and shared habitat for all creatures — not out of fear, but out of love. Transformative and inspiring, this book points us toward what we all long for in the age of technology: real connection. Louv interviews researchers, theologians, wildlife experts, indigenous healers, psychologists and others to show how people are communicating with animals in ancient and new ways; how dogs can teach children ethical behavior; how animal-assisted therapy may yet transform the mental health field; and what role the human-animal relationship plays in our spiritual health.

Little Weirds, by Jenny Slate

This collection of essays is a little weird — and very funny. Slate, who won the 2014 Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy, was a literature major at Columbia University, where she helped form the improv group Fruit Paunch. She was a cast member on Saturday Night Live, a regular on the Jimmy Fallon Show and had a recurring role on Bored to Death.

The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire, by Francesca Cartier Brickell

At the heart of this revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty — four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s — are the three brothers whose motto was “never copy, only create.” Thanks to their unique and complementary talents, they made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the 20th century. Brickell, whose great-grandfather was the youngest of the Cartier brothers, has traveled the world researching her family’s history, tracking down those connected with her ancestors and discovering long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way. This book is a magnificent, epic social history shown through the deeply personal lens of a legendary family.

Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory that Changed American History, by Brian Kilmeade

Recapturing this pivotal war that changed America forever, Kilmeade sheds light on the tightrope all war heroes walk between courage and calculation. Thanks to his storytelling, a new generation of readers will remember the Alamo. In March of 1836 Gen. Santa Anna led the Mexican Army in a massacre of more than 200 Texians, including Jim Bowie and Davey Crockett, besieged in a tiny adobe mission for 13 days. The defeat galvanized the surviving Texians, commanded by Sam Houston, who led them to a shocking victory in the Battle of San Jacinto, securing their freedom and paving the way for America’s growth.

FICTION

On Swift Horses, by Shannon Pufahl

Muriel is newly married and restless, transplanted from her rural Kansas hometown to life in a dusty bungalow in San Diego. She begins slipping off to the Del Mar racetrack to bet and eavesdrop, learning the language of horses and gambling. Her freethinking mother died before Muriel’s 19th birthday and her brother-in-law, Julius, is testing his fate in Las Vegas, working at a local casino, where he falls in love with Henry while the tourists watch atomic tests from the rooftop. When Henry is run out of town as a young card cheat, Julius takes off to search for him in the plazas and dives of Tijuana, trading one city of dangerous illusions and indiscretions for another.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Beverly, Right Here, by Kate DiCamillo

In a crooked little house by a crooked little sea, a hardened young teen finds compassion, friends, family and the beginnings of a lightness of spirit that compels her to move forward and to reach back. She finds the courage to let people in and to open up to the world of possibility. In her signature style, the two-time Newbery-winning National Book Award honoree has again brought to life a story raw, incredibly sweet and sure to stick with the reader long after the final page. Fans of all of DiCamillo’s books are invited to meet her Friday, Jan. 10, at 5:30 p.m. at the Southern Pines Elementary School auditorium, 255 S. May Street. Sponsored by The Country Bookshop, tickets are available at www.ticketmesandhills.com. (Ages 10-14.)

Juno Valentine and the Fantastic Fashion Adventure, by Eva Chen

This second book from Instagram fashion superstar Eva Chen is part girl power, part history lesson and all fun! When Juno Valentine cannot decide what to wear for picture day, she gets help from her mom and her dad but also (with the help of her magic shoes) from Michelle Obama, Simone Biles and Audrey Hepburn. Perfect for back-to-school or any time a young listener might need a self-confidence boost. (Ages 4-7.)

The Crayons’ Christmas, by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers

’Tis the season for wish lists and holiday giving but everyone knows the best gifts are the ones you give. Duncan and all the crayons from the beloved The Day the Crayons Quit are back in this delightful holiday title that includes punch-out ornaments, letters to unfold and read and a pop-up Christmas tree. This little gem is sure to be a new holiday favorite. (Ages 4-8.)

Allies, by Alan Gratz

The ever-amazing master of historical fiction, Gratz has crafted another masterpiece. From land, air and sea, Allies follows the lives of four young people through the 24-hour period that will forever change their lives and the lives of so many others. Gratz fans of all ages will devour this one in one big gulp. (Ages 12 and up.)

Charlie Hernandez and the League of Shadows, by Ryan Calejo

Charlie Hernandez heard Hispanic myths from his abuela since he was a very young boy. He always thought that the myths were just that — fun stories meant to entertain. Then, his parents disappeared, his house burned down, and to top it all off, he grew a pair of horns. Now, Charlie suspects his grandmother was not merely entertaining him; she was preparing him. To find out what is really going on, Charlie teams up with his school’s best investigative reporter (and his crush), Violet Rey. Together they embark on an adventure that will change their lives. From talking skeletons to witches and queens, they both will have to come to terms with their new reality and learn how to survive in it. Review by Annabelle Black. (Ages 10-14.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

2019 Bookshelf Department