Grammy Award for Audio Books

Did you know that there is a category in the Grammy Awards for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording? I had no idea! While researching for a future blog post about the 2024 Audie Award winners, I fell down a research hole about whether or not there was a Grammy Award for audio books. I found a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album AND a Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording! Let’s highlight the 2024 winner and nominees of the Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording! Descriptions are provided by the publishers or authors.

Field 8: Children’s, Comedy, Audio Books, Visual Media & Music Video/Film

68. Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording

Big Tree by Brian Selznick
Meryl Streep, narrator

A mysterious voice has been speaking to Louise in her dreams. She and her brother Merwin are Sycamore seeds, who hope to one day set down roots and become big trees. But when a fire forces them to leave their mama tree prematurely, they find themselves catapulted into the unknown, far from home. Alone and unprepared, they must use their wits and imagination to navigate a dangerous world――filled with dinosaurs, meteors, and volcanoes!――and the fear of never finding a safe place to grow up. As the mysterious voice gets louder, Louise comes to realize their mission in life may be much bigger than either of them ever could have imagined!

Brimming with humor, wonder, mystery, and a profound sense of hope, Big Tree is a trailblazing adventure, illustrated with nearly 300 pages of breathtaking pictures. It is Selznick’s most imaginative and far-reaching work to date and a singular reading experience for the whole family! – Brian Selznick

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Boldly Go: Reflections On A Life Of Awe And Wonder by William Shatner with Joshua Brandon
William Shatner, narrator

The beloved star of Star Trek, recent space traveler, and living legend William Shatner reflects on the interconnectivity of all things, our fragile bond with nature, and the joy that comes from exploration with “the insights he’s gleaned over his long, productive life” (Booklist) in this inspiring, revelatory, and exhilarating collection of essays.

Long before Gene Roddenberry put him on a starship to explore the galaxy, long before he actually did venture to space, William Shatner was gripped by his own quest for knowledge and meaning. Though his eventful life has been nothing short of extraordinary, Shatner is still never so thrilled as when he experiences something that inspires him to simply say, “Wow.”

Within these affecting, entertaining, and informative essays, he demonstrates that astonishing possibilities and true wonder are all around us. By revealing stories of his life—some delightful, others tragic—Shatner reflects on what he has learned along the way to his ninth decade and how important it is to apply the joy of exploration to our own lives. “A refreshingly self-aware portrait of a man determined to live every moment to the fullest” (Publishers Weekly), Boldly Go is an unputdownable celebration of all that our miraculous universe holds for us. – Simon & Schuster

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The Creative Act: A Way Of Being by Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin, narrator

From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us.

“I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.” —Rick Rubin

Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn’t, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone’s life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities.

The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distills the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime’s work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments—and lifetimes—of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us. – Penguin Press

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It’s Ok To Be Angry About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders
Senator Bernie Sanders, narrator

It’s OK to be angry about capitalism. Reflecting on our turbulent times, Senator Bernie Sanders takes on the billionaire class and speaks blunt truths about our country’s failure to address the destructive nature of a system that is fueled by uncontrolled greed and rigidly committed to prioritizing corporate profits over the needs of ordinary Americans.

Sanders argues that unfettered capitalism is to blame for an unprecedented level of income and wealth inequality, is undermining our democracy, and is destroying our planet. How can we accept an economic order that allows three billionaires to control more wealth than the bottom half of our society? How can we accept a political system that allows the super rich to buy politicians and swing elections? How can we accept an energy system that rewards the fossil fuel corporations causing the climate crisis? Sanders believes that, in the face of these overwhelming challenges, the American people must ask tough questions about the systems that have failed us and demand fundamental economic and political change. This is where the path forward begins.

It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism presents a vision that extends beyond the promises of past campaigns to reveal what would be possible if the political revolution took place, if we would finally recognize that economic rights are human rights, and if we would work to create a society that provides a decent standard of living for all. This isn’t some utopian fantasy; this is democracy as we should know it. – Crown

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The Light We Carry: Overcoming In Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama – WINNER
Michelle Obama, narrator

In an inspiring follow-up to her acclaimed memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world.

There may be no tidy solutions or pithy answers to life’s big challenges, but Michelle Obama believes that we can all locate and lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. In The Light We Carry, she opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much?

Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles—the earned wisdom that helps her continue to “become.” She details her most valuable practices, like “starting kind,” “going high,” and assembling a “kitchen table” of trusted friends and mentors. With trademark humor, candor, and compassion, she also explores issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, encouraging readers to work through fear, find strength in community, and live with boldness.

“When we are able to recognize our own light, we become empowered to use it,” writes Michelle Obama. A rewarding blend of powerful stories and profound advice that will ignite conversation, The Light We Carry inspires readers to examine their own lives, identify their sources of gladness, and connect meaningfully in a turbulent world. – Crown

Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley

Sloane Crosley’s Cult Classic is witty, self-aware, and eloquently rendered. The novel follows Lola, a woman in her late thirties, as she maneuvers her half-hearted engagement, eccentric collection of colleagues from a psychology magazine, and the seemingly endless slew of ex-flames that she keeps running into. Lola’s smart–too smart to consider these run-ins with old boyfriends a coincidence. What she failed to predict, however, was who was behind these interactions and why they placed so much weight (and currency) in her past romantic escapades. 

The plot gains more and more momentum the farther we delve into the cultish endeavors of Clive, the self-appointed psychology guru that Lola cannot help but be entranced by. Like all cult-leaders, Clive denies that his group, the Golconda, the abundance of infatuated followers, or the synagogue-disguised secret headquarters are attributes of a full-on cult. But the true nature of his secret society resides somewhere between meditative groupthink and the layers of social media that petrify the what-ifs of our expired relationships.

 I, unfortunately, found the ending to leave a little to be desired. The majority of the narrative was incredibly engrossing and ultimately deserved a better finale. The plot plunges into the mysterious cosmic alignments between Lola and her exes, which we discover is a product of Clive and his followers’ mind-control. In the end, though, the climax flat lines. 

Crosley’s originality in story conception almost makes up for some of the gaps in narrative substance. The story especially shines in its focus on our main character and the mental aerobics she performs to work through her underdeveloped emotional tendencies. Crosley’s underlining commentary on social media and how it has altered modern dating is sharp but forgivingly nuanced. Her contribution to the overarching conversation about human connection in the age of online relationships alone makes Cult Classic worth a read.

Also available as a CD audiobook.

New Large Print at Fairmount

Looking for a new large print title to read? This blog post is full of new large print titles pulled right from the shelves at our Fairmount branch! If you want to read any of them, click the link or contact the library. All the descriptions are provided by the publisher.

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The Kaiser’s Web by Steve Berry (Cotton Malone #16)

Two candidates are vying to become Chancellor of Germany. One is a patriot having served for the past sixteen years, the other a usurper, stoking the flames of nationalistic hate. Both harbor secrets, but only one knows the truth about the other. They are on a collision course, all turning on the events of one fateful day — April 30, 1945 — and what happened deep beneath Berlin in the Fürherbunker. Did Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun die there? Did Martin Bormann, Hitler’s close confidant, manage to escape? And, even more important, where did billions in Nazi wealth disappear to in the waning days of World War II? The answers to these questions will determine who becomes the next Chancellor of Germany.

From the mysterious Chilean lake district, to the dangerous mesas of South Africa, and finally into the secret vaults of Switzerland, former-Justice Department agent Cotton Malone discovers the truth about the fates of Hitler, Braun, and Bormann. Revelations that could not only transform Europe, but finally expose a mystery known as the Kaiser’s web.

This book is also available in the following formats:

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Summer Longing  by Jamie Brenner

Ruth Cooperman arrives in beautiful beachside Provincetown for her retirement, renting the perfect waterfront cottage while she searches for her forever home. After years of hard work and making peace with life’s compromises, Ruth is looking forward to a carefree summer of solitude. But when she finds a baby girl abandoned on her doorstep, Ruth turns to her new neighbors for help and is drawn into the drama of the close-knit community.

The appearance of the mystery baby has an emotional ripple effect through the women in town, including Amelia Cabral, the matriarch who lost her own child decades earlier; Elise Douglas, owner of the tea shop who gave up her dream of becoming a mother; and teenage local Jaci Barros who feels trapped by her parents’ expectations. Ruth, caring for a baby for the first time in thirty years, even reaches out to her own estranged daughter, Olivia, summoning her to Provincetown in hopes of a reconciliation.

As summer unfolds and friends and family care for the infant, alliances are made, relationships are tested, and secrets are uncovered. But the unconditional love for a child in need just might bring Ruth and the women of Provincetown exactly what they have been longing for themselves.

This book is also available in the following format:

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Burden of Proof  by T. Davis Bunn

Three weeks after his twenty-third birthday, Ethan missed the chance to save his brother’s life when he was murdered on the steps of the courthouse in Jacksonville, Florida. Ever since that fateful day, Ethan has sensed a deep disconnect between the man he should have been and the one he has become. His days play out a beat too slow, his mind replaying the scene of his failure again and again.

But when his brother’s widow appears, asking for his help in uncovering what was really behind his brother’s death, Ethan is stunned to hear that she and her late husband were involved in a much larger case than he knew–one that threatens the global power structure. As Ethan joins the search for answers, he will enter into his own past–and discover a means of redeeming his future.

This book is also available in the following format:

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Turning Tide by Melody Carlson (The Legacy of Sunset Cove #4)

As the Great War rages on, Sunset Cove continues to feel its impact. Running the small town newspaper, Anna McDowell can’t escape the grim reports from the other side of the world, but home-front challenges abound as well.

Dr. Daniel is serving the wounded on the front lines. And Katy, expecting her first child, with her husband in the trenches, tries to support the war effort with her Red Cross club. Even as the war winds down the costs are high—and Sunset Cove is not spared.

This book is also available in the following format:

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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

At the dawn of the new millennium, Colombia is a country devastated by half a century of violence. Elena and Mauro are teenagers when they meet, their blooming love an antidote to the mounting brutality of life in Bogotá. Once their first daughter is born, and facing grim economic prospects, they set their sights on the United States.

They travel to Houston and send wages back to Elena’s mother, all the while weighing whether to risk overstaying their tourist visas or to return to Bogotá. As their family expands, and they move again and again, their decision to ignore their exit dates plunges the young family into the precariousness of undocumented status, the threat of discovery menacing a life already strained. When Mauro is deported, Elena, now tasked with caring for their three small children, makes a difficult choice that will ease her burdens but splinter the family even further.

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed author Patricia Engel, herself the daughter of Colombian immigrants and a dual citizen, gives voice to Mauro and Elena, as well as their children, Karina, Nando, and Talia—each one navigating a divided existence, weighing their allegiance to the past, the future, to one another, and to themselves. Rich with Bogotá urban life, steeped in Andean myth, and tense with the daily reality for the undocumented in America, Infinite Country is the story of two countries and one mixed-status family—for whom every triumph is stitched with regret and every dream pursued bears the weight of a dream deferred.

This book is also available in the following formats:

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Shootout at Sioux Wells by Cliff Farrell

Zack Keech’s business was cattle; railroads were a nuisance, an interloper on the free range and a pain in Zack’s saddle-tanned anatomy. So how did this rootin’-tootin’ cowboy — who only wanted the money he figured was due him for a train-triggerd stampede — find himself working as an undercover agent for two most unusual railroad owners and the notorious Wild Bill Hickok? And furthermore, what was he doing in a situation where not only were a lot of self-declared enemies out to gun him down but even his supposed friends had to pretend that he was an outlaw and a man that Sioux Wells would be better off without?

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The Girl from the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat

The year is 1940, and the world is torn apart by war. In June of that year, Hitler’s army captures the Channel Islands—the only part of Great Britain occupied by German forces. Abandoned by Mr. Churchill, forgotten by the Allies and cut off from all help, the Islands’ situation is increasingly desperate.

Hedy Bercu is a young Jewish girl who fled Vienna for the island of Jersey two years earlier during the Anschluss, only to find herself trapped by the Nazis once more—this time with no escape. Her only hope is to make herself invaluable to the Germans by working as a translator, hiding in plain sight with the help of her friends and community—and a sympathetic German officer. But as the war intensifies, rations dwindle and neighbors are increasingly suspicious of one another. Hedy’s life is in greater danger every day. It will take a definitive, daring act to save her from certain deportation to the concentration camps.

A sweeping tale of bravery and love under impossible circumstances, Hedy’s remarkable story reminds us that it’s often up to ordinary people to be quiet heroes in the face of injustice.

This book is also available in the following format:

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Lizzie’s Heart by Susan Lantz Simpson (The Amish of Southern Maryland #5)

Fall in Southern Maryland’s Amish country is a time of fiery falling leaves, a bountiful harvest, and bracing, frost-touched days. It’s the perfect season for one irrepressible maidel to try an unexpected match.

Good-hearted and impulsive, twenty-year-old Lizzie Fisher has many chores—and secrets. She’s caring for kittens abandoned by their mother and practicing her drawing talent away from disapproving eyes. So the last thing she needs is someone like handsome Stephen Zimmerman constantly “helping” her out of trouble. But when she discovers they both have lovelorn siblings, she has an idea: why can’t she and Stephen bring his older brother and her older sister together? After all, how hard could matchmaking be?

Even though he’s the youngest son of an Old Order Mennonite family, Stephen is used to looking out for everyone else. Yet somehow the romantic schemes he and Lizzie cook up keep going awry—in ways that hint they may suit each other. But their deepening bond is both delightful and complicated. For bridging their differences will take bravery, compromise—and faith in their hopes and dreams.

This book is also available in the following format:

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The Affair by Danielle Steel

When Rose McCarthy’s staff at Mode magazine pitches a cover shoot with Hollywood’s hottest young actress, the actress’s sizzling affair with a bestselling French author is exposed. The author happens to be Rose’s son-in-law, which creates a painful dilemma for her. Her daughter Nadia, a talented interior designer, has been struggling to hold her marriage together, and conceal the truth from their young daughters, her family, and the world. But Nicolas, her straying husband, is blinded by passion for a younger woman—and not only that, she is pregnant with his child.

Nadia’s three sisters close ranks around her, flying to Paris from Los Angeles and New York to lend support and offer their widely divergent advice. Athena, a jovial celebrity chef with her own TV show in Los Angeles, is leery of marriage. Olivia, a stern conservative New York superior court judge, is haunted by a shocking secret of her own. Venetia, a zany fashion designer, happily married with three kids, has the gentlest, most realistic point of view. Despite their well-meaning advice, Nadia needs to figure out what she herself thinks, and what to do next.

The Affair is about the painful journey to discover who you are, what you want, and how much forgiveness and compromise you are capable of in order to be loved. It’s about finding yourself at the crossroads of life when everything is on the line. It’s about the hard lessons we are forced to learn about others and ourselves. Right up until its final twist, this gripping novel is full of powerful insights about who we love, how much—and even how much we love ourselves.

This book is also available in the following formats:

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Tropic of Stupid  by Tim Dorsey (Serge Storms #24)

Devoted Floridaphile Serge Storms is a lover of history, so he’s decided to investigate his own using one of those DNA services from late-night TV. Excited to construct a family tree, he and Coleman hit the road to meet his kin. Along the way, he plans to introduce Coleman to the Sunshine State’s beautiful parks where he can brush up on his flora, fauna, and wildlife, and more importantly, collect the missing stamps for his park passport book.

But as the old saying goes, the apple doesn’t fall far . . .  Serge is thrilled to discover he may be related to a notorious serial killer who’s terrorized the state for twenty years and never been caught. Which one of his newfound relatives will be the one to help him hunt down this deranged maniac? Serge doesn’t know that a dogged investigator from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is also hot on the trail.

Then Serge meets a park ranger who’s also longing to make a family re-connection. But all is not as it appears on the surface, and Serge’s newfound friendship in the mysterious swamps of Florida may lead to deadly results. Finding his own relatives has made Serge understand the importance of family. Of course he’ll do anything to help.

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Pianos and Flowers: Brief Encounters of the Romantic Kind by Alexander McCall Smith

A delightful compendium of short stories inspired by images in the renowned photographic archive of The Sunday Times. A picture can paint a thousand words, but what about a vintage photograph?

In 2015 Alexander McCall Smith wrote a book entitled Chance Developments: Unexpected Love Stories, in which he imagined the stories behind five chanced-upon black and white photographs. Who were those people, why were they smiling, what made them sad? He so enjoyed the experience that when The Sunday Times generously offered him access to their early 20th century photograph archive he jumped at the opportunity.

In Pianos and Flowers we are invited, through the medium of sepia images, to glimpse a world long departed. In these stories, inspired by long-lost photographs, the lives of the people in the frame are imagined and then explored, layer by layer. What must have it like to be them? We hold our breath for them. Our heart beats faster for them. We look again at the photograph in a new light, and say Yes, it might have happened just like that. This journey of exploration takes us to some exotic places. We share the lives of three sisters, brought up in Penang. We read of what happened to them, and to their Chinese neighbors caught in the tides of war. We see a group of small boys in a Glasgow slum, their young lives stunted by poverty, and hear how life worked out in contrasting ways for them. We follow a young woman’s search for love in the unlikely realm of Egyptian antiquities. And through all of these photographs, and all of these stories, there runs the same refrain: the possibilities of love, of friendship, of happiness lie before us. There are big stories in these simple pictures. At first glance the photographs may seem unexceptional: the mere freezing of a moment in time. But delve deeper and you will realize that these photographs speak volumes.

This book is also available in the following format:

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She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs by Sarah Smarsh

The National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Heartland focuses her laser-sharp insights on a working-class icon and one of the most unifying figures in American culture: Dolly Parton.

Growing up amid Kansas wheat fields and airplane factories, Sarah Smarsh witnessed firsthand the particular vulnerabilities—and strengths—of women in working poverty. Meanwhile, country songs by female artists played in the background, telling powerful stories about life, men, hard times, and surviving. In her family, she writes, “country music was foremost a language among women. It’s how we talked to each other in a place where feelings aren’t discussed.” And no one provided that language better than Dolly Parton.

Smarsh challenged a typically male vision of the rural working class with her first book, Heartland, starring the bold, hard-luck women who raised her. Now, in She Come By It Natural, originally published in a four-part series for The Journal of Roots Music, No Depression, Smarsh explores the overlooked contributions to social progress by such women—including those averse to the term “feminism”—as exemplified by Dolly Parton’s life and art.

Far beyond the recently resurrected “Jolene” or quintessential “9 to 5,” Parton’s songs for decades have validated women who go unheard: the poor woman, the pregnant teenager, the struggling mother disparaged as “trailer trash.” Parton’s broader career—from singing on the front porch of her family’s cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains to achieving stardom in Nashville and Hollywood, from “girl singer” managed by powerful men to leader of a self-made business and philanthropy empire—offers a springboard to examining the intersections of gender, class, and culture.

Infused with Smarsh’s trademark insight, intelligence, and humanity, She Come By It Natural is a sympathetic tribute to the icon Dolly Parton and—call it whatever you like—the organic feminism she embodies.

This book is also available in the following format:

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The Unwilling by John Hart

Gibby’s older brothers have already been to war. One died there. The other came back misunderstood and hard, a decorated killer now freshly released from a three-year stint in prison.

Jason won’t speak of the war or of his time behind bars, but he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn’t known for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women.

But the day turns ugly when the four encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road. Beautiful but drunk, one of the women taunts the prisoners, leading to a riot on the bus. The woman finds it funny in the moment, but is savagely murdered soon after.

Given his violent history, suspicion turns first to Jason; but when the second woman is kidnapped, the police suspect Gibby, too. Determined to prove Jason innocent, Gibby must avoid the cops and dive deep into his brother’s hidden life, a dark world of heroin, guns and outlaw motorcycle gangs.

What he discovers there is a truth more bleak than he could have imagined: not just the identity of the killer and the reasons for Tyra’s murder, but the forces that shaped his brother in Vietnam, the reason he was framed, and why the most dangerous man alive wants him back in prison.

This book is also available in the following formats:

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Prodigal Son by Gregg Hurwitz (Orphan X #6)

Forced into retirement, Evan Smoak gets an urgent request for help from someone he didn’t even suspect existed.

As a boy, Evan Smoak was pulled out of a foster home and trained in an off-the-books operation known as the Orphan Program. He was a government assassin, perhaps the best, known to a few insiders as Orphan X. He eventually broke with the Program and adopted a new name – The Nowhere Man―and a new mission, helping the most desperate in their times of trouble. But the highest power in the country has made him a tempting offer – in exchange for an unofficial pardon, he must stop his clandestine activities as The Nowhere Man. Now Evan has to do the one thing he’s least equipped to do—live a normal life.

But then he gets a call for help from the one person he never expected. A woman claiming to have given him up for adoption, a woman he never knew—his mother. Her unlikely request: help Andrew Duran—a man whose life has gone off the rails, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, bringing him to the deadly attention of very powerful figures. Now a brutal brother & sister assassination team are after him and with no one to turn to, and no safe place to hide, Evan is Duran’s only option. But when the hidden cabal catches on to what Evan is doing, everything he’s fought for is on the line—including his own life.

This book is also available in the following format:

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The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly

Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.

1907: A talented artist with a growing reputation for her ambitious work, Venetia Smith has carved out a niche for herself as a garden designer to industrialists, solicitors, and bankers looking to show off their wealth with sumptuous country houses. When she is hired to design the gardens of Highbury House, she is determined to make them a triumph, but the gardens—and the people she meets—promise to change her life forever.

1944: When land girl Beth Pedley arrives at a farm on the outskirts of the village of Highbury, all she wants is to find a place she can call home. Cook Stella Adderton, on the other hand, is desperate to leave Highbury House to pursue her own dreams. And widow Diana Symonds, the mistress of the grand house, is anxiously trying to cling to her pre-war life now that her home has been requisitioned and transformed into a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. But when war threatens Highbury House’s treasured gardens, these three very different women are drawn together by a secret that will last for decades. 

This book is also available in the following formats:

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Hammer to Fall by John Lawton (Joe Wilderness #3)

It’s London, the swinging sixties, and by all rights MI6 spy Joe Wilderness should be having as good a time as James Bond. But alas, his postings are more grim than glamorous. Luckily, Wilderness has a knack for doing well for himself even in the most unpromising postings, though this has gotten him into hot water in the past. A coffee-smuggling gig in divided Berlin was a steady money-maker but things went pear-shaped when he had to smuggle a spy back to the KGB instead.

In the wake of what became an embarrassing disaster for MI6, Wilderness is reprimanded with a posting to remote northern Finland, under the guise of a cultural exchange program to promote Britain abroad. Bored by his work, with nothing to spy on, Wilderness finds another way to make money, this time by smuggling vodka across the rather porous border into the USSR. He strikes a deal with his old KGB pal Kostya, who explains to him there is, no joke, a vodka shortage in the Soviet Union, following a grain famine caused by Khrushchev’s new agricultural policies. But there is something fishy about why Kostya has suddenly turned up in Finland–and MI6 intelligence from London points to a connection to the mining of cobalt in the region, a critical component in the casing of the atomic bomb. Wilderness’s posting is getting more interesting by the minute, but more dangerous too.

Moving from the no-man’s-land of Cold War Finland to the wild days of the Prague Spring, and populated by old friends (including Inspector Troy) and old enemies alike, Hammer to Fall is a gripping tale of deception and skullduggery, of art and politics, a page-turning story of the always riveting life of the British spy.

This book is also available in the following format:

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Vesper Flights by Helen MacDonald

Animals don’t exist in order to teach us things, but that is what they have always done, and most of what they teach us is what we think we know about ourselves.

Helen Macdonald’s bestselling debut H is for Hawk brought the astonishing story of her relationship with goshawk Mabel to global critical acclaim and announced Macdonald as one of this century’s most important and insightful nature writers. H is for Hawk won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction and the Costa Book Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, launching poet and falconer Macdonald as our preeminent nature essayist, with a semi-regular column in the New York Times Magazine.

In Vesper Flights Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best loved essays, along with new pieces on topics ranging from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches to her own private vespers while trying to fall asleep. Meditating on notions of captivity and freedom, immigration and flight, Helen invites us into her most intimate experiences: observing songbirds from the Empire State Building as they migrate through the Tribute of Light, watching tens of thousands of cranes in Hungary, seeking the last golden orioles in Suffolk’s poplar forests. She writes with heart-tugging clarity about wild boar, swifts, mushroom hunting, migraines, the strangeness of birds’ nests, and the unexpected guidance and comfort we find when watching wildlife. By one of this century’s most important and insightful nature writers, Vesper Flights is a captivating and foundational book about observation, fascination, time, memory, love and loss and how we make sense of the world around us.

This book is also available in the following formats:

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

Yo, Malcolm X said it best. ‘The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman. – Tiffany D Jackson, Grown

Sometimes a book breaks your heart, but you need to share it with others. Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson was a brutal, raw, heartrending, but necessary read, telling the story of so many Black girls that are trapped in a system of violence, abuse, misogyny, manipulation, and rape culture perpetuated by men who are consistently protected by the people surrounding them. This book was hard for me to read, as most of Tiffany D. Jackson’s books are, but it’s an essential read to spread awareness and inspire change.

Enchanted Jones wakes up in a room with a painful headache. She has no idea where she is. Her vision is still blurry. There are red pools all over the floor, the walls, the furniture. Why would someone pout beet juice everywhere? Wait. That’s not beet juice. That’s blood. This isn’t her house. She slowly remembers that this place belongs to Korey. Korey. He is going to be so angry with her when he sees this mess. Wait! Who is that lying covered in beet juice? That’s Korey. And that’s not beet juice. He’s not moving. He’s not breathing. Someone’s knocking on the door. She’s going to be in so much trouble.

Flash back.

All Enchanted wants is to be a singer. She’s only 17, but she knows college isn’t for her. She wants to sing. Her parents aren’t so sure. But ever since she sang those old songs with her grandmother when she was young, Enchanted has known this is what she needs to do. She has the voice and the talent. She just needs a break.

Miracles do happen. Or that’s what Enchanted thinks when she goes to a singing competition and meets the famous R&B singer Korey Fields. Korey sees her potential and wants to help her succeed. He offers to give her free singing lessons. Korey wants her to join his world tour. He’ll help her record an album. Enchanted finally has what she wants within her reach.

Enchanted feels like she’s living a fairytale dream. Her parents and friends are more skeptical. They don’t understand why Korey Fields, a 28 year old man, would be interested in her, a 17-year old girl still in high school. Korey begins to act possessive around Enchanted and despite her friend Gabby’s warning that she should get away from him, she wants desperately to keep him in her life.

Enchanted loves Korey. He’s her whole world. Korey believes in her. She wants to sing. She wants to feel beautiful and loved. She wants Korey’s support and approval because he is already established in the music industry and has the power to give her everything she has ever wanted. He loves her. What does it matter if the Korey she thought she knew has different sides she’s not 100% comfortable with? She still loves him.

Until she doesn’t. She needs to get out. Her fairytale love has turned into a nightmare that she can’t escape from. Korey is no longer showering her with love and affection. He’s manipulative, obsessive, abusive and keeps her captive in the house. He tells her lies about her loved ones, pushes on her insecurities, and sends her to her limits. Korey mentally and physically abuses Enchanted, leaving her desperate to escape.

This book is powerful. It shook me to my core. Jackson has written a shocking, twisted, breathtaking book giving voice to people who are afraid to talk about the traumatic experiences that they had endured in the past or may still be enduring.

This book is also available in the following formats:

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

Young adult fiction hardly ever fails me. When I need a pick-me up read, I can generally find one in the young adult section with little effort. My latest read came recommended by another librarian, so I knew I would most likely enjoy it and it didn’t disappoint!

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson is so many things: a romance, an underdog story, friends becoming lovers, but most of all it is full of yearning. Liz Lighty has grown up believing that she is never enough. She’s awkward, poor, black, and doesn’t fit in with the rich and prom-obsessed kids who go to her high school. Liz isn’t what people expect her to be in her tiny midwestern town of Campbell, Indiana, but she has always known that she has an escape. Liz plans on getting out of this super small town to attend Pennington College to play in their orchestra. Eventually she wants to become a doctor in order to treat patients who have the same life-threatening condition that killed her mom and is ravaging her younger brother.

Liz’s senior year is sailing by and the world finally seems to be on her side. All of that comes crashing down when Liz learns that the financial aid and scholarship she was depending on in order to go to college falls through. She is $10,000 short and has no idea how she will get the money to cover the cost and let her keep her Pennington hopes alive. Knowing that her grandparents would sell their house to support her, Liz is desperate to find a solution on her own.

The solution she finds? She must win prom queen. Why? Her school awards a scholarship to the prom king and queen. The very last thing that Liz wants to do is campaign to be prom queen, but with no other options, she reluctantly turns to her friends to help her win. Her high school’s competition for prom court is elaborate: full of mandatory public events, social media popularity, and fellow contestants willing to do whatever it takes to sabotage Liz so they will win. With her friends by her side, Liz struggles to get over her fear of being the center of attention in order to get herself to Pennington.

At the first prom meeting, Liz meets a new student who rocks her whole world. Mack does not fit into the cookie cutter mold that Campbell tries to put their students in: she’s hilarious, smart, and different enough to repeatedly catch Liz’s eye. The only downfall to Liz is that she is also running for queen. The closer the two get, the more Mack wonders if their relationship will keep her from getting to Pennington. What is she willing to risk?

This book is also available in the following formats:

Best Seller Club February Authors – Jodi Picoult and Debbie Macomber

Want the hottest new release from your favorite author? Want to stay current with a celebrity book club? Love nonfiction? You should join the Best Sellers Club. Choose any author, celebrity pick, and/or nonfiction pick and the Davenport Public Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! If you still have questions, please check out our list of FAQs.

New month means new highlighted authors from the Best Sellers Club! February’s authors are Jodi Picoult for fiction and Debbie Macomber for romance. Have you read either of these authors?

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Our February fiction pick is Jodi Picoult. Picoult is a New York Times bestselling author of over twenty-five novels. Her books have been translated into thirty-four languages in thirty-five countries. Four of her novels, The Pact, Plain Truth, The Tenth Circle,  and Salem Falls, have been made into television movies while her novel My Sister’s Keeper was made into a major motion picture starring Cameron Diaz. She has also written two young adult novels with her daughter: Between the Lines and Off The Page. In addition to her novels, Picoult has also won many awards.

Her latest book is The Book of Two Ways, published in September 22, 2020. Curious what this book is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher:

Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband, but a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong.

Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, her beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, where she helps ease the transition between life and death for patients in hospice.

But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a job she once studied for, but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offering her second chances, she is not as sure of the choice she once made.

After the crash landing, the airline ensures the survivors are seen by a doctor, then offers transportation wherever they want to go. The obvious option for Dawn is to continue down the path she is on and go home to her family. The other is to return to the archaeological site she left years before, reconnect with Wyatt and their unresolved history, and maybe even complete her research on The Book of Two Ways–the first known map of the afterlife.

As the story unfolds, Dawn’s two possible futures unspool side by side, as do the secrets and doubts long buried beside them. Dawn must confront the questions she’s never truly asked: What does a life well-lived look like? When we leave this earth, what do we leave behind? Do we make choices…or do our choices make us? And who would you be, if you hadn’t turned out to be the person you are right now?

This book is also available in the following formats:

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Our February romance pick is Debbie Macomber. A New York Time’s best selling author with more than 200 million copies of her books in print all over the world. A writer of romance and inspirational fiction, as well as children’s fiction, Macomber’s books often bring to life relationships, communities, friendships, and families that share a common warming sense of hope and love. With over 335 books published, Macomber has a wide catalog of books for all sorts of interests.

Macomber’s latest book is It’s Better This Way, which will be published on July 13, 2021. The following description is provided by the publisher.

After her marriage ends, one woman’s struggle to pick up the pieces finally leads to a new beginning but is the past truly behind her? #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber explores the powerful intersections of love and family in this poignant novel.

It’s been nearly six years since Julia Jones had her heart broken. After her husband became involved with another woman, she did everything she could to save their marriage, to no avail. Their two daughters continue to stand by Julia in the wake of their father’s behavior–and they’ve had a tough time getting along with the “other woman” who became their stepmother. Distraught after selling the family home, Julia moves into a condominium complex that offers the warmth and charm of a fresh start. Now, having settled into her new community and sold her successful interior design business, she’s embraced a fulfilling new life, one that doesn’t seem to need a man in it. Her beloved father’s trusty saying is ringing truer than ever: It’s better this way.

But when Julia meets a handsome new resident in the building’s exercise room, she can’t help but be drawn to him. Heath Johnson is a welcome change from the men she’s encountered on the occasional–mostly disastrous–dates her sister has eagerly planned for her over the years. As she and Heath, a divorce himself, begin to grow close, their friendship blossoms into an unexpected love. However, they soon realize that combining families proves to be a challenge, even though their four children are adults.

When a dramatic revelation threatens the happiness they’ve found, Julia and Heath must reconcile their love for their children with their love for each other. If they can’t, their bright future together may be nothing but a dream.

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

Sue Monk Kidd is an author that has lived in my to-read pile since The Secret Life of Bees came out in 2002. Late one night, unable to sleep, I found The Book of Longings, Kidd’s latest novel, available online through OverDrive. I decided to give it a go.

Set in the first century, The Book of Longings tells the story of a young woman named Ana who desires to find her voice and lead her own destiny. Ana was raised in a wealthy family in Sepphoris. Her father worked very closely with the ruler in Galilee, a position that benefited the family immensely, yet also put the family in danger. Ana has always been rebellious and ambitious, wanting to spend her days writing the stories of women who have been silenced, neglected, and castigated for years. Her parents have other ideas of how she should spend her time.

In the market one day, Ana runs into Jesus, an eighteen-year-old with rich philosophical and spiritual ideas. Drawn to his presence, Ana manufactures ways to bump into him again, leading to hours long conversations where the two exchange intellectual ideas that blossom into love. Soon married, Ana and Jesus settle into life in Nazareth with Jesus’ extended family: his mother, Mary, his brothers, James and Simon, and their respective families. While living there, Ana’s longings to be her own understood woman intensifies while Jesus toils to provide for the family.  Consistently defying the expectations society places on women, Ana isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Her rebellious and impetuous streak leads Ana and her family into danger.

Bolstered by the support of her aunt, Yaltha, her childhood friend, Tabitha, and an older friend, Phasaelis, Ana speaks her mind consistently. When one outburst puts her in even more danger, Ana and Yaltha are forced to flee Nazareth and head to Alexandria. Leaving Jesus behind right as he begins his public ministry, Ana gains comfort with the knowledge that her adopted brother, Judas, will send a note to her when it is safe for her to return. Finding refuge in an unexpected place, Ana and Yaltha spend their days waiting for word from Judas so they can reunite with Jesus and his disciples.

The story of Ana is one of a woman who longs to be able to pursue the passion boiling inside of her, while society continuously shuts her down. Her story is one of many, yet the focus on Ana allows readers to learn more about the women behind the scenes during this time. Sue Monk Kidd has woven a very well researched tale of Jesus’ life told from the perspective of the women that surround him.

This book is also available in the following formats:

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

Angie Thomas is a young adult author whose breakout book, The Hate U Give , won many awards and was made into a major motion picture. That gut-wrenching novel discussed topics of police brutality and systemic racism in a timely and much needed way. Her subsequent novel, On The Come Up, was widely anticipated and pushes the narrative even more.

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas is the story of a young woman working hard to pursue her dreams. Bri wants to be a rapper. Not just any rapper though, she has dreams of becoming one of the greatest rappers of all time. Bri’s father was an underground hip hop legend named Lawless who was killed right before he made it big. Growing up hearing all the stories about her dad, but not having many memories of her own, Bri wants to make it big and be her own person. She doesn’t want to be known as Lil Law forever.

With the help and support of her aunt, Bri goes to the ring to rap battle and gain some popularity. Her aunt is even able to get her studio time to record her first song. When her first song is released, Bri is excited. She spoke from her heart when she wrote that song and can’t wait for people to actually understand more about her life. But when the song goes viral and the media picks it up, Bri discovers that it’s gaining popularity for all the wrong reasons. Now that she’s being made out to be a menace and is the center of controversy, Bri is uncomfortable with what others are saying. When her family’s financial situation grows even more dire, Bri realizes that the only way to help is to become a rap star as fast as she can. It’s not just something she wants to do, Bri HAS to make it. Her family’s livelihood depends on her.

This book is also available in the following formats:

Can’t Get Enough Game of Thrones?

The final season of HBO’s hit show Game of Thrones has finally concluded. The ending of this show has left some craving for more from this universe. If you are one of those people, fear not! Your Davenport Public Library has just the thing for you no matter what your desired method for consuming entertainment is. If you have not read the books that the show is based on, I recommend starting there. The Davenport Public Library offers a number of ways to read the books.

You can check them out as ebooks through the Overdrive app here. If reading on a device isn’t your thing, we also have all of the A Song of Ice and Fire books available in their physical forms as well. If reading over 5,000 pages doesn’t sound like your idea of a fun leisurely time, fret not, we also offer the books in the form of audiobooks that you can also find in our catalog. These audiobooks come in both a CD format that you can come to the library and check out or on the Overdrive app where you just download the file to listen to on your device.

If you have already read the books and are looking for something else to read that satiates your love for Westeros and beyond, there are also books that Martin has published that tell  stories beyond the scope of what is covered in the books and the show. Fire and Blood follows the story of the Targaryen house centuries before the events of Game of Thrones. This story informs on the beginnings of house Targaryen and what Westeros looked like years before we get to experience it with the books and show.

Finally, if you just cancelled your HBO subscription at the end of the season and are feeling the itch to rewatch it, we have you covered there as well. All seven seasons that are currently available to commercially purchase are available to check out at the library as well. We have all of these resources and more to check out to get more from your favorite fantasy epic.Just because the show has ended doesn’t mean that your watch has to!

The Stranger In The Woods: the Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

Fresh out of college as a 22 year-old, I packed 45 pounds of my belongings, including clothing, books, and camping gear into my backpack with guitar-in-hand and boarded a plane for Maine. Apparently, I thought living out of a backpack (and then a car) and laboring in the backwoods of Maine in mid-July when the black flies were thick and most brutal, was a brilliant idea. I mean, I was armed with my zeal for life, my college degree, and my personal copies of The Maine Woods, On The Road, Howl, and A Coney Island of the Mind.  I was going “suck the marrow out of life”, as Thoreau mused.

Cute idea, Erin. Really adorable.

Two weeks into my backwoods adventure I called my parents and whined (cried, actually) into the payphone that I wanted to come home. Every muscle in my body ached from doing manual labor. I was sleeping in a tent for weeks on end,  hanging pulley systems high into the treetops, quarrying rocks out of the earth and drilling them into moveable sized stone steps, and then effectively building staircases and hiking trails all over the state of Maine. But I was like a moose caught in the headlights and it took me some time to adjust to my new life.”You’re not coming home,” my dad informed me.  “You’ll wish you had stuck it out if you give up now. Give it two more weeks, and if you’re still adamant about leaving, you can come home.”

Seven months later I (again) cried into the payphone while talking with my parents, and this time it was because I didn’t want to come home. The woods changed me, and to this day, I still have dreams that I’m trying to find my way back to Maine. I’m so thrilled my dad wouldn’t allow me to just throw in the towel.

So, you might understand why I would cackle uncontrollably to hear Mark Bramall, narrating in the thickly-accented voice of Christopher Knight, describe Henry David Thoreau–one of my inspirations for joining the Maine Conservation Corps–as a “dilettante.” Yeah, so basically the one and only Henry David Thoreau, famous Transcendentalist who wrote Walden and The Maine Woods is, according to Christopher Knight, is a mere amateur. A dabbler. And if that proclamation isn’t an indication of how hardcore of a hermit Knight is, then you require a level of convincing beyond what I can provide.

A.K.A.: dude is savage. And his story is controversial. You’ll have to read it to decide if you’d consider him laudable or loathe-able. You might think it relatively easy to flat-out condemn a guy who dropped out of society and lived off of the refuse of other working people for nearly three decades. And you wouldn’t be hasty, either. I mean, he was charged for over 1,000 break-ins. Even author Finkel says he did not aim to portray Knight as some kind of hero.

Here is what Finkel says of Knight in one of his entries on Goodreads:

“He confessed to 1,000 break-ins, one of the most extensive burglary cases in U.S. history. He tormented people. But — he also never physically harmed anyone, never carried a weapon, never stole anything of great monetary value, never shattered a window or kicked down a door. He had a wildly unusual idea for how to live, and he lived in a way radically different from any other human you will ever encounter, and he has an awesome and daunting brain — he is, I feel certain, a genius — and he has insights into modern society and solitude and the meaning of life that you will find nowhere else. “Take the good with the bad,” Knight told me, when speaking of how he should be portrayed in my book, and I did. I firmly believe that in the good are some incredible insights, and in the bad is a fascinating true-crime tale. And please note — Knight is receiving no money from this project.”

Not only is Knight’s story of solitude fascinating (in that he claimed to have spoken only one word in the nearly 30 years he was alone in the woods), but the journalism and storytelling is particularly noteworthy.You will learn the details surrounding Christopher Knight’s arrest and makeshift scavenger camp, his love for Lynyrd Skynyrd, his interest in Rush Limbaugh and Dostoevsky, how he didn’t completely freeze to death during 27 brutal Main winters, and his insight that one year in jail was more damaging to his psyche than 27 years alone in the woods. Also, this book will intrigue and perplex you and leave you with much to contemplate, perhaps in solitude. Oh, and you’ll learn the storied history of hermits, including the bizarre and curious traditions of “ornamental hermits“, who were hired by rich people to hang out, not bathe, and subsequently create a “rustic” ambiance thereby increasing property and estate values.

Oh, and for the record, moneybags, I’ll gladly perch on your lands like a woodland sprite sans deodorant and makeup if the price is right, even at the cost of confirming your suspicions that I’m just some huge hippie masquerading as friendly neighborhood librarian  #Noshame.