Month: July 2020

Virtual Book Club – July 15

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Join our Virtual Book Club on Wednesday, July 15th at 2pm central for a virtual discussion of You Are Not Alone  by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. We will be using GoTo Meeting for this program.  Information on how to join in is listed below! We hope to see you there!

You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen is the third and most recent book written by the duo. The below is a description of the book provided by the publisher:

Shay Miller has three strikes against her: no job, no apartment, no love in her life. But when she witnesses a perfectly normal looking young woman about her age make the chilling decision to leap in front of an ongoing subway train, Shay realizes she could end up in the same spiral. She is intrigued by a group of women who seem to have it all together, and they invite her with the promise: ‘You are not alone.’ Why not align herself with the glamorous and seductive Moore sisters, Cassandra and Jane? … They are everything Shay aspires to be, and they seem to have the keys to getting exactly what they want. As Shay is pulled deeper and deeper under the spell of the Moore sisters, she finds her life getting better and better. But what price does she have to pay? What do Cassandra and Jane want from her? And what secrets do they, and Shay, have that will come to a deadly confrontation? You are not alone: Is it a promise? Or a threat?

This book is also available in the following formats:

Virtual Book Club
Wed, Jul 15, 2020 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (CDT)

Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/617521805

You can also dial in using your phone.
United States: +1 (312) 757-3121

Access Code: 617-521-805

New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts:
https://global.gotomeeting.com/install/617521805

Jenna Bush Hager July Book Club Pick

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Jenna Bush Hager has selected Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan as her July pick for the #ReadWithJenna book club.

Curious what this book is about? Check out the below description provided by the publisher:

Tells the story of the complex relationship between two women, Elisabeth, a privileged new mother and writer attempting to find her footing after childbirth, and Sam, the idealistic, working-class college student she hires to nanny her young son.

Want to make sure that Jenna’s picks are automatically put on hold for you? Be sure to join our Best Sellers Club.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

- Stephanie Leave a comment

The cover of this book was what first caught my eye when I was looking for a new book to read. I listened to this as an audiobook and I will admit that it took me about thirty minutes to become fully invested. Once that happened though, I was hooked. This book became my favorite book  and the one that I recommend to all of my friends. (Pretty big hype talk for this book, huh? I promise you – no pressure). Let’s get into it.

In The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, a massive labyrinth of tunnels and rooms filled with stories exists far underneath the surface of the Earth. This area isn’t accessible to everyone and those who wish to see its wonder must find an entryway. These entryways aren’t your typical doors. They are hidden throughout the world in places where you might not expect to find them. They appear before those seeking a change or those who are worthy or those looking.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont. One day in the stacks at the library, he stumbles upon a hidden mysterious book that doesn’t look like it belongs. Drawn to it, Zachary begins flipping through and is shocked when he sees a story from his very own childhood written there. Confused, Zachary tries to figure out why and how his story came to be there and finds a series of clues that lead him to a masquerade party to a secret club to a doorway to an ancient hidden library. That ancient library is hidden far far below the surface and is beyond anything that Zachary Ezra Rawlins could ever imagine. He is quickly drawn into this mysterious realm and is introduced to those who are willing to sacrifice anything to protect it. Zachary teams up with travelers and they begin traversing the many, many different hidden places in this labyrinth. Everyone who travels to this library seems to be looking for their purpose in the real world, in the library, and in that mysterious book Zachary first found.

This book is also available in the following formats:

The Less People Know About Us by Axton Betz-Hamilton

- Stephanie Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but the amount of reading I have done recently has drastically decreased. I have been gravitating toward podcasts instead. Another librarian recommended The Less People Know About Us  by Axton Betz-Hamilton as a true crime memoir that I would like and she was right! This book may be nonfiction, but it reads like fiction: a riveting tale of family drama and one person’s journey to rebuild their life from bare bones.

The Less People Know About Us  by Axton Betz-Hamilton follows Axton from childhood to adulthood. Growing up in small-town Indiana in the early 1990s, Axton and her parents (and the occasional grandparent) found themselves struggling. Why? When she was 11, both of Axton’s parents had their identities stolen. Life changed forever for them after this happened: fights over money became more and more frequent and their credit ratings were tanked. Every time Axton mentioned going to the authorities or the banks to help, her mom said she would handle it, when in reality, there was nothing much they could do to help because identity theft was a somewhat new concept.

To hide from the identity thief, they moved to different addresses and changed all of their personal information. Going so far as to avoid answering the door and to try to live as quiet a life as possible, Axton and her parents completely cut off the outside world. Isolated from friends and family, Axton’s life became increasingly more lonely. She became more and more anxious and eventually developed an eating disorder, seemingly quarantined in her childhood home as the identity thief was always able to find them no matter where they moved.

Years later, Axton discovered that she also was a victim of identity theft. Unfortunately by the time she discovered this, she was already thousands of dollars in debt. Her credit was ruined. In order to dig herself out of this, Axton became an award-winning identity theft expert doing research into this topic and trying to figure out why people choose to steal the identities of others. It took her years to figure out who was responsible and that involved trying to untangle a massively intricate web of lies that formed before she was even born.

Virtual Book Club – July 8

- Stephanie Leave a comment

On Wednesday July 8th at 2pm, the Virtual Book Club will be discussing The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney. Information about how to join the book club is listed below! We are using GoTo Meeting which will allow patrons to video chat with the librarian about the book.

Want to know what The Perfect Wife is about before you read the book? Check out the following description provided by the publisher:

A missing woman receives a second chance at life, thanks to her billionaire husband–but the consequences are deadly in this gripping psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Before. Abbie awakens in a daze with no memory of who she is or how she landed in this unsettling condition. The man by her side claims to be her husband. He’s an icon of the tech world, the founder of a lucrative robotics company. He tells Abbie that she is a gifted artist, an avid surfer, a loving mother to their young son, and the perfect wife. He says she had a terrible accident five years ago, and that, through a huge technological breakthrough, she has been brought back from the abyss. She is a miracle of science. But as Abbie pieces together memories of her marriage, she begins questioning her husband’s motives–and his version of events. Can she trust him when he says he wants them to be together forever? And what really happened to Abbie half a decade ago? 

This book is also available in the following formats:
Virtual Book Club
Wed, Jul 8, 2020 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (CDT)
 
Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
 
You can also dial in using your phone.
United States: +1 (571) 317-3122
 
Access Code: 522-793-053
 
New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts:

Devolution by Max Brooks

- Allison Leave a comment

You might not think that horror would be a good genre to turn to during These Troubled Times ™, but it’s  been one of my favorites since the 9th grade (shout out to Mr. Healy for introducing me to Stephen King!) In fact, back in March, I re-read World War Z  by Max Brooks, just for fun (I‘m weird, I know.)

I was very excited to read Brooks’ latest novel Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre. Much like World War Z, Devolution is told as a collection of first-person recollections, book excerpts, interviews, and journal entries. It is these journal entries, written by Kate Holland and discovered at the massacre site by her brother Frank that make up the bulk of the novel.

Kate and her husband, Dan, have joined a small “eco-community” in Washington state hoping to save their marriage. Built deep in the woods, Greenloop appears to be an idyllic escape from Silicon Valley, while still maintaining a connection to civilization through 24/7 internet connections and weekly drone deliveries.

That is until Mt. Rainier erupts.

Greenloop suddenly finds itself cut off from all communication and without enough supplies to survive for very long. The other members of the Greenloop community react to this crisis in varying and maddeningly frustrating ways. When nature –  with which some of the residents so desperately want to connect to – begins to turn on them, most remain in denial.

At least, until people begin to disappear and a troop of carnivorous Sasquatch is quite literally pounding down their doors. This assuredly is not a book for the squeamish, though it will teach you how to make an effective spear out of bamboo and kitchen knives.

With Brooks acting as narrator, he pulls testimonies and consultations together to present a story that feels incredibly plausible. And that is the mark of a great horror story – it makes you pause and examine that rustle in the bushes just a little more closely.

Oprah Book Club Pick – June 2020

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Oprah has just announced her latest book club pick: Deacon King Kong by James McBride! Oprah is one of the celebrities featured on our Best Sellers Club. If you would like to make sure that you don’t miss a single one of Oprah’s book club picks, be sure to join our Best Sellers Club today!

Deacon King Kong by James McBride is her latest pick. A work of domestic psychological fiction set in 1969 in a housing project in South Brooklyn.

Need more information? Check out the information below provided by the publisher:

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .45 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range. The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride’s funny, moving novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird. In Deacon King Kong, McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood’s Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself. As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters–caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York–overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion. Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us.

This book is also available in the following formats:

Online Reading Challenge – July

- Ann Leave a comment

Greetings Challenge Readers!

Well, we made it to another month. I think that deserves something fun, like – baseball! Which works out perfectly since this month’s movie is Field of Dreams!

Like so many other things in 2020, baseball is going to look a little different, but at least there will be some baseball – the MLB just announced a shortened, 60 game season scheduled to begin at the end of this month. And, at least at the time of this writing, the special game between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees will probably still be held at in Dyersville, Iowa on the field made famous by the film Field of Dreams . That could change of course, but right now things are looking up, baseball-wise!

So what should you read to get you back in the baseball mode? There actually a lot of great books, fiction and non-fiction, that have been inspired by this most American of past times. You could also read something about Iowa, or father-son relationships or any sports-centric book – it’s your choice. Here I’ve listed some baseball favorites – clicking on the title will take you to our catalog where you’ll find a brief description and the location of the book. Remember, we’re open to the public again so you can stop by and pick up a book, or you can take advantage of curbside pick-up at Main and Eastern, or our drive-up window at Fairmount!

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

The Natural by Bernard Malamud

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

The Cactus League by Emily Nemens

Blockade Billy by Stephen King

There are also lots of non-fiction about baseball from famous players like Ernie Banks and Babe Ruth, to great games and rivalries, to the science and statistics that make the game tick. Check out the 796.357 Dewey number for a wide range of choices.

I’m planning to read Calico Joe by John Grisham which a baseball- and Grisham-loving fan told me was well worth reading.

Now, what about you, what will you be reading this month?

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