Author: Allison

Haunt by Robert Kirkman, Todd McFarlane and Ryan Ottley

- Allison Leave a comment

Hauntvol1-covWorld-weary priest Daniel Kilgore has fallen. Arriving at his church after his usual visit with a prostitute, he is asked to take the confession of his brother Kurt, who works as an agent for a secret intelligence outfit. Daniel listens, grudgingly, more out of duty than love or divine inspiration.

Soon after, Kurt is killed during a covert operation in Bolivia and Daniel finds himself quite literally haunted by his brother. Kurt begs him to look after his wife, who he believes in is danger from the same people that killed him. However, Daniel is reluctant – hostile, really – to do so. He’s not sure of his own sanity, and worse, he was once in love with Amanda until his brother stole him away. He eventually agrees, if only to keep his brother’s spirit quiet.

That night in Amanda’s apartment, just as Kurt had suspected, two hit men appear to kill her and Daniel is quickly overcome (priests don’t get much combat training). In desperation, Kurt’s spirit attempts to enter his brother’s body. As they merge Kurt and Daniel transform into, well, something powerful enough to defeat the assassins and resilient enough to withstand a hail of bullets.

Physically drained and horrified at his brutal actions, Daniel returns to his church, only to find another hitman, Cobra, waiting. Cobra slaughtered the parish priest and Daniel narrowly escapes. Kurt insists that Daniel seek out the organization Kurt once worked for. Upon his arrival, he is drugged and imprisoned, along with some of the people Kurt had rescued in Bolivia, where they had been undergoing some kind of horrific experimentation by a Doctor Schiller. A female prisoner, traumatized and quite possibly insane, tells Daniel that he is Haunt – a spirit caught in the physical realm, bound by blood and unable to move on.

But none of this helps Daniel who now finds himself at the center of a deep conspiracy within Kurt’s old agency. All sides are searching for what is left of Dr. Shiller’s research, none trust Daniel and further blood and betrayal await Daniel and Kurt. And what – or who – is Haunt?

Kirkman (Walking Dead) writes action and violence adeptly – this not a comic for the faint of heart. There are reminders here of other characters like Spawn and Venom. McFarlane drew the 2009-10 series of Spawn and two Spider-Man series in the early ’90s, and those characters’ influence is strong here. If you enjoyed Kirkman & McFarlane’s previous work, and if you’re in the mood for some grimdark action, you should definitely pick up Haunt.

Banned Books Week: Banned & Challenged Classics

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Each year, the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom records hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups to have books removed from libraries shelves and from classrooms. According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 46 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts. Despite being widely accepted as classic literature, these titles are often banned or challenged for the same reasons as contemporary books.

The titles below represent banned or challenged books on that list, and some of the latest reasons why.

rye_catcherThe Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

* Challenged, but retained  on the shelves of Limestone County, AL school district (2000) despite objections about the  book’s foul language.

* Banned, but later reinstated after community protests at the Windsor  Forest High School in Savannah, GA (2000). The controversy began in early 1999 when a  parent complained about sex, violence, and profanity in the book that was part of an  Advanced Placement English class.

* Removed by a Dorchester District 2 school board member in  Summerville, SC (2001) because it “is a filthy, filthy book.”

* Challenged by a Glynn County,  GA (2001) school board member because of profanity. The novel was retained.

* Challenged in  the Big Sky High School in Missoula, MT (2009).

johnsteinbeck_thegrapesofwrathThe Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

*Challenged at the Cummings High School in Burlington, NC (1986) as an optional reading assignment  because the “book is full of filth. My son is being raised in a Christian home and this book takes the Lord’s name in vain and has all kinds of profanity in it.” Although the  parent spoke to the press, a formal complaint with the school demanding the book’s removal  was not filed.

*Challenged at the Moore County school system in Carthage, NC (1986) because  the book contains the phase “God damn.”

*Challenged in the Greenville, SC schools (1991)  because the book uses the name of God and Jesus in a “vain and profane manner along with  inappropriate sexual references.”

*Challenged in the Union City, TN High School  classes (1993).

to_kill_a_mockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

*Challenged by a Glynn County, GA (2001) School Board member because of profanity. The novel was retained. Returned to the freshman reading list at Muskogee, OK High School (2001) despite complaints over the years from black students and parents about racial slurs in the text.

*Challenged in the Normal, IL Community High School’s sophomore literature class (2003) as being degrading to African Americans.

*Challenged at the Stanford Middle School in Durham, NC (2004) because the 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel uses the word “n*****.”

*Challenged at the Brentwood, TN Middle School (2006) because the book contains “profanity” and “contains adult themes such as sexual intercourse, rape, and incest.”  The complainants also contend that the book’s use of racial slurs promotes “racial hatred, racial division, racial separation, and promotes white supremacy.”

*Retained in the English curriculum by the Cherry Hill, NJ Board of Education (2007).  A resident had objected to the novel’s depiction of how blacks are treated by members of a racist white community in an Alabama town during the Depression.  The resident feared the book would upset black children reading it.
*Removed (2009) from the St. Edmund Campion Secondary School classrooms in Brampton Ontario, Canada because a parent objected to language used in the novel, including the word “n*****.”

colorpurpleThe Color Purple, by Alice Walker

*Removed from the Jackson County, WV school libraries (1997) along with sixteen other titles. Challenged, but retained as part of a supplemental reading list at the Shawnee School in Lima, OH (1999). Several parents described its content as vulgar and “X-rated.”

*Removed from the Ferguson High School library in Newport News, VA (1999). Students may request and borrow the book with parental approval.

*Challenged, along with seventeen other titles in the Fairfax County, VA elementary and secondary libraries (2002), by a group called Parents Against Bad Books in Schools. The group contends the books “contain profanity and descriptions of drug abuse, sexually explicit conduct, and torture.”

*Challenged in Burke County (2008) schools in Morganton, NC by parents concerned about the homosexuality, rape, and incest portrayed in the book.

 

ulysses_james_joyce_ Ulysses, by James Joyce

*Burned in the U.S. (1918), Ireland (1922), Canada (1922), England (1923) and banned in England (1929).

 

 

 

 

belovedBeloved, by Toni Morrison

*Challenged in the Sarasota County, FL schools (1998) because of sexual material.  Retained on the Northwest Suburban High School District 214 reading listing in Arlington Heights, IL (2006), along with eight other challenged titles.  A board member, elected amid promises to bring her Christian beliefs into all board decision-making, raised the controversy based on excerpts from the books she’d found on the Internet.

*Challenged in the Coeur d’Alene School District, ID (2007).  Some parents say the book, along with five others, should require parental permission for students to read them.

*Pulled from the senior Advanced Placement (AP) English class at Eastern High School in Louisville, KY (2007) because two parents complained that the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about antebellum slavery depicted the inappropriate topics of bestiality, racism, and sex.  The principal ordered teachers to start over with The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne in preparation for upcoming AP exams.

lordofthefliesbookcoverThe Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

*Challenged in the Waterloo, IA schools (1992) because of profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women and the disabled.

*Challenged, but retained on the ninth-grade accelerated English reading list in Bloomfield, NY (2000).
 

 

 

1984-book-cover1984, by George Orwell

*Challenged in the Jackson County, FL (1981) because Orwell’s novel is “pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter.”

 

 

 

 

e5ee0bb0efc66de49e34fdd8c1bef35fLolita, by Vladmir Nabokov

*Challenged at the Marion-Levy Public Library System in Ocala, FL (2006).  The Marion County commissioners voted to have the county attorney review the novel that addresses the themes of pedophilia and incest, to determine if it meets the state law’s definition of “unsuitable for minors.”

 

 

 

ofmiceandmenOf Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck

*Banned from the George County, MS schools (2002) because of profanity. Challenged in the Normal, IL Community High Schools (2003) because the books contains “racial slurs, profanity, violence, and does not represent traditional values.” An alternative book, Steinbeck’s The Pearl, was offered but rejected by the family challenging the novel.  The committee then recommended The House on Mango Street and The Way to Rainy Mountain as alternatives.

*Retained in the Greencastle-Antrim, PA (2006) tenth-grade English classes.  A complaint was filed because of “racial slurs” and profanity used throughout the novel.  The book has been used in the high school for more than thirty years, and those who object to its content have the option of reading an alternative reading.

*Challenged at the Newton, IA High School (2007) because of concerns about profanity and the portrayal of Jesus Christ.  Newton High School has required students to read the book since at least the early 1980s.  In neighboring Des Moines, it is on the recommended reading list for ninth-grade English, and it is used for some special education students in the eleventh and twelfth grades.

*Retained in the Olathe, KS ninth grade curriculum (2007) despite a parent calling the novel a “worthless, profanity-riddled book” which is “derogatory towards African Americans, women, and the developmentally disabled.”

Source: American Library Association, Office of Intellectual Freedom

Banned Books Week: Virtual Readouts

- Allison Leave a comment

bbw_virtualreadout_logo3_lgAre you interested in participating in Banned Books Week, but don’t know how? Consider joining many celebrities, libraries and bookstores across the country in the Banned Books Virtual Read-Out!

Participants may proclaim the importance of the freedom to read by posting videos that will be featured on the Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out YouTube channel.

Video criteria

*Choose a favorite banned/challenged book and talk about what the book meant to you and how you would feel if someone prevented you from reading it.

*A reading of a banned or challenged book. The video should include information on where and why the book was banned or challenged. You may also wish to add your thoughts on the importance of keeping that particular book on library or bookstore shelves.

*Discuss an eyewitness accounts of local challenges.

*For those who are camera shy, you can still participate in the Banned Books Virtual Read-out by creating a video montage that centers on banned/challenged books. Thomas University created a video last year that can be used as an example.

Submitting your video

Submit your video by filling out this form. You must have a YouTube/Gmail account in order to upload to YouTube.

Source: American Library Association, Office of Intellectual Freedom

We Read Banned Books

- Allison Leave a comment

Banned Books Week 2016 continues more  than 30 years of celebrating  – and protecting – the freedom to read. This freedom to choose what we read from the fullest array of possibilities is firmly rooted in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the amendment that guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Even as we enjoy a seemingly limitless and expanding amount of information, there is always a danger in someone else selecting what is available and to whom. Would-be censors from all quarters and political persuasions threaten our right to choose for ourselves.

The year’s Banned Book Week is focusing on the diversity of authors and ideas that have prompted a disproportionate share of challenges. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom estimates that more than half of all banned books are by authors of color or ones that represent groups of viewpoints outside the mainstream. When we speak up to protect the right to read, we not only defend our individual right to free expression, we demonstrate tolerance and respect for opposing points of view. When we take action to preserve our freedoms, we become participants in the ongoing evolution of our democratic society.

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Black Science Vol. 1: How to Fall Forever by Rick Remender, Matteo Scalera & Dean White

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BlackScience_vol1-1Across an alien landscape, two people in space suits race for safety. At each turn, they are thwarted. The woman is killed, but the man runs on, clutching a container, cursing himself for his mistakes, his obsessions, that have brought him – and his family – here. A race against time, it seems, to reach the Pillar before it is too late.

This breathless scene opens Rick Remender’s Black Science. Grant McKay, our narrator, does make it back to the Pillar, moments before it jumps. Along with Grant are is two children, teenaged Pia and younger Nathan, his five (now four)-person team of scientists and the man who bankrolled the project. We learn that Grant and his team have done the impossible – punched through the barriers between the multiverses’ dimensions, allowing humans to travel to new dimensions not only to explore, but also to exploit, possibly finding the keys to preserving our species. The method is called black science, and the Pillar is the tool. But the tool has been sabotaged, and now it and its passengers have no control over when or to where they will jump.

Grant laments his hubris and his recklessness for taking his children and his team with him on the first manned jump throughout the story. Each new dimension is as strange as the next, dumping the team into war and circumstance that are truly alien. There appears to be no way of repairing the Pillar, and now that the multiverse has been breached, nothing is certain, especially survival.

Remander’s (Uncanny Avengers, Fear Agent) novel moves at a frenetic pace, the art is both stark and riotously vivid. It harkens back to the era of pulp science fiction with non-stop action and lurid details. With three more volumes already published, this is a great choice for anyone looking for a true science fiction adventure. Fans of “The Venture Bros.,” will enjoy this considerable darker series (and the close similarity Grant McKay bears to a certain winged super-villain).

 

New Horror in September

- Allison Leave a comment

Featured new additions to DPL’s Horror collection! Click on the title to place a hold. For more new books, visit our Upcoming Releases page. As always, if there’s a title you would like to read, please send us a purchase suggestion.

9781250058515The Walking Dead: Search and Destroy by Jay Bonansinga and Robert Kirkman – For one brief moment, it seemed like Lilly and her plague-weary band of survivors might just engineer a better tomorrow. Banding together with other small town settlements, they begin a massive project to refurbish the railroad between Woodbury and Atlanta. The safer travel will begin a new post-apocalyptic era of trade, progress, and democracy. Little do they know, however, that trouble is brewing back home. Out of nowhere, a brutal new faction has attacked Woodbury while Lilly and the others have been off repairing the railroad. Now the barricades are burning. Adults have been murdered, children kidnapped. But why? Lilly Caul and her ragtag posse of rescuers will soon discover the chilling answers to these questions and more as they launch a desperate mission to save the kidnapped children. But along the way, the dark odyssey will take them into a nightmarish series of traps and hellish encounters with incomprehensible swarms of undead.

grant_feedback-hc21Feedback by Mira Grant – There are two sides to every story. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we unleashed something horrifying and unstoppable. The infection spread leaving those afflicted with a single uncontrollable impulse: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, a team of scrappy underdog reporters relentlessly pursue the facts while competing against the brother-and-sister blog superstars, the Masons. Surrounded by the infected, and facing more insidious forces working in the shadows, they must hit the presidential campaign trail and uncover dangerous truths. Or die trying.

15e8208c7b85c4e0bf47dcc0fabd8d3aChildren of Lovecraft edited by Ellen Datlow – Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s stories shaped modern horror more than any other author’s in the last two centuries: Cthulhu, the Old Ones, Herbert West: Reanimator, and more terrifying nightmares emerged from the mythos of this legendary writer. Dark Horse teams up with Hugo and Bram Stoker award-winning editor Ellen Datlow to bring you this anthology of original prose stories that are “inspired” in theme and plot by Lovecraft’s mythos. Featuring work by Richard Kadrey, Brian Hodge, A. C. Wise, Siobhan Carroll, Orrin Grey, and many more, with a cover art by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.

9781250057181The Motion of Puppets by Keith Donohue – In the Old City of Québec, Kay Harper falls in love with a puppet in the window of the Quatre Mains, a toy shop that is never open. She is spending her summer working as an acrobat with the cirque while her husband, Theo, is translating a biography of the pioneering photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Late one night, Kay fears someone is following her home. Surprised to see that the lights of the toy shop are on and the door is open, she takes shelter inside. The next morning Theo wakes up to discover his wife is missing. Under police suspicion and frantic at her disappearance, he obsessively searches the streets of the Old City. Meanwhile, Kay has been transformed into a puppet, and is now a prisoner of the back room of the Quatre Mains, trapped with an odd assemblage of puppets from all over the world who can only come alive between the hours of midnight and dawn. The only way she can return to the human world is if Theo can find her and recognize her in her new form. A Library Reads October pick!

creepypastacollectionThe Creepypasta Collection: Modern Urban Legends You Can’t Unread – There are stories that scare you. And then there are the dark and disturbing creepypasta stories that will leave you seriously freaked out. The Creepypasta Collection is an unsettling anthology of terror, full of nightmares and dangerous creatures – from unearthly supernatural beings to the murderously disturbed. So, lock the doors, check under the bed, turn up the lights, and get ready for an unforgettable, up-all-night journey into the heart of darkness.

 

jack-sparksThe Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp – It was no secret that journalist Jack Sparks had been researching the occult for his new book. No stranger to controversy, he’d already triggered a furious Twitter storm by mocking an exorcism he witnessed. Then there was that video: forty seconds of chilling footage that Jack repeatedly claimed was not of his making, yet was posted from his own YouTube account. Nobody knew what happened to Jack in the days that followed — until now.

New Science Fiction & Fantasy in September

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It’s a big month for SF&F! We’ve got new series installments in Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty and Fran Wilde’s Bone Universe, the final volume in Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past series Death’s End is out, and new titles from award-winning authors N K Jemisim and Connie Willis. Plus, TWO illustrated volumes of Welcome to Night Vale episodes!

As always, if there’s a title you would like to read, please send us a purchase suggestion.

25430248Crosstalk by Connie Willis –  In the not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. And Briddey Flannigan is delighted when her boyfriend, Trent, suggests undergoing the operation prior to a marriage proposal – to enjoy better emotional connection and a perfect relationship with complete communication and understanding. But things don’t quite work out as planned, and Briddey finds herself connected to someone else entirely–in a way far beyond what she signed up for. A Library Reads October pick!

 

fjuhobw1qz0krg4vuqv2The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu – In the much-anticipated sequel to The Grace of Kings, Kuni Garu, now known as Emperor Ragin, runs the archipelago kingdom of Dara, but struggles to maintain progress while serving the demands of the people and his vision. Then an unexpected invading force from the Lyucu empire in the far distant west comes to the shores of Dara – and chaos results.  But Emperor Kuni cannot go and lead his kingdom against the threat himself with his recently healed empire fraying at the seams, so he sends the only people he trusts to be Dara’s savvy and cunning hopes against the invincible invaders: his children.

 

cloudbound_comp1-1-678x1024Cloudbound by Fran Wilde – After the dust settles, the City of Living Bones begins to die, and more trouble brews beneath the clouds in this stirring companion to Updraft. When Kirit Densira left her home tower for the skies, she gave up many things: her beloved family, her known way of life, and her dreams of flying as a trader for her tower. Kirit set her City upside down, and fomented a massive rebellion at the Spire, to the good of the towers – but months later, everything has fallen to pieces. With the Towers in disarray, without a governing body or any defense against the dangers lurking in the clouds, daily life is full of terror and strife. Nat, Kirit’s wing-brother, sets out to be a hero in his own way – sitting on the new Council to cast votes protecting Tower-born, and exploring lower tiers to find more materials to repair the struggling City. But what he finds down-tier is more secrets – and now Nat will have to decide who to trust, and how to trust himself without losing those he holds most dear, before a dangerous myth raises a surprisingly realistic threat to the crippled City, in Cloudbound .

9781466853454_p0_v1_s1200x630Death’s End by Cixin Liu – Liu’s epic trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Past concludes with Death’s End . Half a century after the Doomsday Battle, the uneasy balance of Dark Forest Deterrence keeps the Trisolaran invaders at bay. Earth enjoys unprecedented prosperity due to the infusion of Trisolaran knowledge. With human science advancing daily and the Trisolarans adopting Earth culture, it seems that the two civilizations will soon be able to co-exist peacefully as equals without the terrible threat of mutually assured annihilation. But the peace has also made humanity complacent. Cheng Xin, an aerospace engineer from the early 21st century, awakens from hibernation in this new age. She brings with her knowledge of a long-forgotten program dating from the beginning of the Trisolar Crisis, and her very presence may upset the delicate balance between two worlds. Will humanity reach for the stars or die in its cradle?

jemisin_obeliskgate_tpThe Obelisk Gate by N K Jemisim –  This is the way the world ends, for the last time. The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night. In the sequel to Hugo Award for Best Novel, The Fifth Season, Essun – once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger – has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever.  Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power – and her choices will break the world.

 

wtnvMostly Void, Partially Stars: Welcome to Night Vale, Volume 1 & The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe: Welcome to Night Vale, Volume 2  by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor – From the authors of the New York Times bestselling novel Welcome to Night Vale and the creators of the #1 international podcast of the same name, comes a collection of episodes from seasons one and two featuring an introduction by the authors, behind-the-scenes commentary, and original illustrations. Mostly Void, Partially Stars introduces us to Night Vale, a town in the American Southwest where every conspiracy theory is true, and to the strange but friendly people who live there. Also included is the full script from the first Welcome to Night Vale live show, “Condos.” In The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe we witness a totalitarian takeover of Night Vale that threatens to forever change the town and everyone living in it. Volume two also includes the full script from the live show “The Debate.” ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD.

Online Reading Challenge – Books About Books!

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online colorIt’s September and time for a new Online Reading Challenge! This month, with school swinging back in session and autumn weather (hopefully) approaching, what could be more inviting than books about books?

As you might guess, there are a number of books written about books, or books that center around bookish things. And, there is a book about books for every reader!  Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

 

ReadersOfBroken-655The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald – The town of Broken Wheel, Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara, who traveled all the way from Sweden just to meet her pen pal, Amy. When she arrives, however, she finds that Amy’s funeral has just ended. Luckily, the townspeople are happy to look after their bewildered tourist–even if they don’t understand her peculiar need for books. Marooned in a farm town that’s almost beyond repair, Sara starts a bookstore in honor of her friend’s memory. All she wants is to share the books she loves with the citizens of Broken Wheel and to convince them that reading is one of the great joys of life. But she makes some unconventional choices that could force a lot of secrets into the open and change things for everyone in town.

811wT2-uD8LMr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Slone  – The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone – and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead “checking out” impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he’s embarked on a complex analysis of the customers’ behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what’s going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore. Bonus glow-in-the-dark cover!

bad ass librariansThe Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer – Seen earlier on this blog, this book tells the incredible story of how Haidara, a mild-mannered archivist and historian from the legendary city of Timbuktu, later became one of the world’s greatest and most brazen smugglers. In 2012, thousands of Al Qaeda militants from northwest Africa seized control of most of Mali, including Timbuktu. They imposed Sharia law and threatened to destroy the great manuscripts. As the militants tightened their control over Timbuktu, Haidara organized a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali.

8d83dc82-129c-4706-9755-83179562904aThe Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde – Beginning with the Eyre Affair, this alternate history  – surreal and hilariously funny – will appeal to lovers of zany genre work and lovers of classic literature alike. The scene: Great Britain circa 1985, but a Great Britain where literature has a prominent place in everyday life.  In this world where high lit matters, Special Operative Thursday Next (literary detective) seeks to retrieve the stolen manuscript of Dickens’s Martin Chuzzlewit. The evil Acheron Hades has plans for it: after kidnapping Next’s mad-scientist uncle, Mycroft, and commandeering Mycroft’s invention, the Prose Portal, which enables people to cross into a literary text, he sends a minion into Chuzzlewit to seize and kill a minor character, thus forever changing the novel. Worse is to come. When the manuscript of Jane Eyre, Next’s favorite novel, disappears, and Jane herself is spirited out of the book, Next must pursue Hades inside Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece. The cartoonish characters are either all good or all bad, but the villain’s comeuppance is still satisfying. Witty and clever, this literate romp heralds a fun new series set in a wonderfully original world.

91r-TwAl-eLThe Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler – Simon Watson, a young librarian on the verge of losing his job, lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home – a house, perched on the edge of a bluff, that is slowly crumbling toward the sea. His younger sister, Enola, works for a traveling carnival reading tarot cards, and seldom calls. On a day in late June, Simon receives a mysterious package from an antiquarian bookseller. The book tells the story of Amos and Evangeline, doomed lovers who lived and worked in a traveling circus more than two hundred years ago. The paper crackles with age as Simon turns the yellowed pages filled with notes, sketches, and whimsical flourishes; and his best friend and fellow librarian, Alice, looks on in increasing alarm. Why does his grandmother’s name, Verona Bonn, appear in this book? Why do so many women in his family drown on July 24? Could there possibly be some kind of curse on his family – and could Enola, who has suddenly turned up at home for the first time in six years, risk the same fate in just a few weeks? In order to save her – and perhaps himself – Simon must try urgently to decode his family history while moving on from the past. Enthusiastically recommended by our Customer Service Supervisor!

genevievecogman-theinvisiblelibraryThe Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman – Collecting books can be a dangerous prospect in this fun, time-traveling, fantasy adventure from a spectacular debut author. One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction. Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it’s already been stolen. London’s underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested – the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option – because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself.

Ann (your regularly scheduled host) reports that her choice for this month is The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. She and I have very different tastes, so I’m going with the comic book series Rex Libris by James Turner and I’ll also be paying another visit to Mr. Penumbra.

What about you? What are you going to read this September? Let us know in the comments!

A few more suggestions:
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabielle Zevin
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Fowler
Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting and Living With Books by Michael Dirda
A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
A Likely Story: A Library Lover’s Mystery by Jenn McKinlay
The Forgers by Bradford Morro
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

New Philosophy, Psychology & Self-Help in August

- Allison Leave a comment

Featured new additions to DPL’s Philosophy, Psychology & Self-Help collections! Click on the title to place a hold. For more new books, visit our Upcoming Releases page. As always, if there’s a title you would like to read, please send us a purchase suggestion.

9780385540391How to Be a Person in the World: Ask Polly’s Guide Through the Paradoxes of Modern Life by Heather Havrilesky – Should you quit your day job to follow your dreams? How do you rein in an overbearing mother?  Should you put off having a baby for your career?  Heather Havrilesky, the author of the weekly advice column Ask Polly, featured in New York Magazine’s The Cut, is here to guide you through the “what if’s” and “I don’t knows” of modern life with the signature wisdom and tough love her readers have come to expect. How to Be a Person in the World is a collection of never-before-published material along with a few fan favorites. Whether she’s responding to cheaters or loners, lovers or haters, the depressed or the down-and-out, Havrilesky writes with equal parts grace, humor, and compassion to remind you that even in your darkest moments you’re not alone.

51GCBlmDRAL__SX327_BO1,204,203,200_The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy by Anthony Gottlieb – Western philosophy is now two and a half millennia old, but much of it came in just two staccato bursts, each lasting only about 150 years. In his landmark survey of Western philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance, The Dream of Reason, Anthony Gottlieb documented the first burst, which came in the Athens of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Now, in his sequel, The Dream of Enlightenment, Gottlieb expertly navigates a second great explosion of thought, taking us to northern Europe in the wake of its wars of religion and the rise of Galilean science. In a relatively short period–from the early 1640s to the eve of the French Revolution–Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume all made their mark. The Dream of Enlightenment tells their story and that of the birth of modern philosophy.

1_jkTaeBQMgYcuzbg3VDRo4QThe Selfishness of Others: An Essay on the Fear of Narcissism by Kristin Dombek – They’re among us, but they are not like us. They manipulate, lie, cheat, and steal. They are irresistibly charming and accomplished, appearing to live in a radiance beyond what we are capable of. But narcissists are empty. So goes the popular understanding of narcissism, or NPD (narcissistic personality disorder). Pop psychologists have armed the normal with tools to identify and combat the vampiric influence of this rising population. In The Selfishness of Others, essayist Kristin Dombek provides a clear-sighted account of how a rare clinical diagnosis became a fluid cultural phenomenon, a repository for our deepest fears about love, friendship, and family. She cuts through hysteria in search of the razor-thin line between pathology and common selfishness, writing with robust skepticism toward the prophets of NPD and genuine empathy for those who see themselves as its victims. And finally, she shares her own story in a candid effort to find a path away from the cycle of fear and blame and toward a more forgiving and rewarding life.

413UF7ru1eLThe Cyber Effect: A Pioneering Cyberpsychologist Explains How Human Behavior Changes Online by Kristin Dombek – Mary Aiken is the world’s leading expert in forensic cyberpsychology – a discipline that combines psychology, criminology, and technology to investigate the intersection where technology and human behavior meet. In this, her first book, Aiken has created a starting point for all future conversations about how the Internet is shaping development and behavior, societal norms and values, children, safety, security, and our perception of the world. Cyberspace is an environment full of surveillance, but who is looking out for us? The Cyber Effect offers a fascinating and chilling look at a future we can still do something about. Readers will gain a new understanding of the rapid change taking shape around us and come away with critical tools to become part of this very necessary conversation.

7a848663_brief_viceA Brief History of Vice: How Bad Behavior Built Civilization by Robert Evans – Guns, germs, and steel might have transformed us from hunter-gatherers into modern man, but booze, sex, trash talk, and tripping built our civilization. Cracked editor Robert Evans brings his signature dogged research and lively insight to uncover the many and magnificent ways vice has influenced history, from the prostitute-turned-empress who scored a major victory for women’s rights to the beer that helped create – and destroy – South America’s first empire. A celebration of the brave, drunken pioneers who built our civilization one seemingly bad decision at a time, A Brief History of Vice explores a side of the past that mainstream history books prefer to hide.

9780374229702The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells us about the Relationship Between Parents and Children by Alison Gopnik – Drawing on the study of human evolution and her own scientific research into how children learn, Gopnik shows that although caring for children is profoundly important, it is not a matter of shaping them to turn out a particular way. Children are designed to be messy and unpredictable, playful and imaginative, and to be very different both from their parents and from each other. The variability and flexibility of childhood lets them innovate, create, and survive in an unpredictable world. “Parenting” won’t make children learn – but caring parents let children learn by creating a secure, loving environment.

New Religion & Spirituality in August

- Allison Leave a comment

Featured new additions to DPL’s Religion & Spirituality collections! Click on the title to place a hold. For more new books, visit our Upcoming Releases page. As always, if there’s a title you would like to read, please send us a purchase suggestion.

41PEVN8z0kLA Call to Mercy: Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve by Mother Teresa of Calcutta – For millions of people from all walks of life, Mother Teresa’s canonization is providentially taking place during Pope Francis’s Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. This is entirely fitting since she is seen both inside and outside of the Church as an icon of God’s mercy to those in need. Compiled and edited by Brian Kolodiejckuk, M.C., the postulator of Mother Teresa’s cause for sainthood, A Call to Mercy presents deep yet accessible wisdom on how we can show compassion in our everyday lives. In her own words, Mother Teresa discusses such topics as: the need for us to visit the sick and the imprisoned, the importance of honoring the dead and informing the ignorant, the necessity to bear our burdens patiently and forgive willingly, the purpose to feed the poor and pray for all, the greatness of creating a “civilization of love” through personal service to others. Featuring never before published testimonials by people close to Mother Teresa as well as prayers and suggestions for putting these ideas into practice, A Call to Mercy is a living testament to the teachings of a saint whose ideas are important, relevant and very necessary in the 21st century.

27840705Uninvited: Living Loved when you Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely by Lysa TerKeurst – In Uninvited, Lysa shares her own deeply personal experiences with rejection–from the incredibly painful childhood abandonment by her father to the perceived judgment of the perfectly toned woman one elliptical over. With biblical depth, gut-honest vulnerability, and refreshing wit, Lysa helps readers  release the desire to fall apart or control the actions of others by embracing God-honoring ways to process their hurt, to know exactly what to pray for the next ten days to steady their soul and restore their confidence, and to overcome the two core fears that feed our insecurities by understanding the secret of belonging. Stop feeling left out and start believing that “set apart” does not mean “set aside.” End the cycle of perceived rejection by refusing to turn a small incident into a full-blown issue.

27214167The Vanishing Messiah: The Life and Resurrections of Francis Schlatter by David Wetzel – In 1895, an extraordinarily enigmatic faith healer emerged in the American West. An Alsatian immigrant and former cobbler, Francis Schlatter looked like popular depictions of Jesus, and it was said that his very touch could heal everything from migraines and arthritis to blindness and cancer. By November of 1895, it is estimated that Schlatter was treating thousands of people every day. Then, one night, Schlatter simply vanished. Eighteen months later, his skeleton was reportedly found on a mountainside in Mexico’s Sierra Madre range. Within hours of the announcement of Schlatter’s found remains, a long-haired man emerged in Cleveland to say that he was Francis Schlatter, and over the next twenty-five years, several others claimed to be Denver’s great healer. In The Vanishing Messiah , a modern researcher painstakingly pieces together evidence from letters, newspaper reports, hospital records, mug shots, and published reminiscences of the healer to find out what really happened to Francis Schlatter after he left Denver in the middle of the night in November 1895.

k10684After One-Hundred-And-Twenty: Reflecting on Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in the Jewish Tradition by Hillel Halkin – After One-Hundred-and-Twenty provides a richly nuanced and deeply personal look at Jewish attitudes and practices regarding death, mourning, and the afterlife as they have existed and evolved from biblical times to today. Taking its title from the Hebrew and Yiddish blessing to live to a ripe old age–Moses is said to have been 120 years old when he died–the book explores how the Bible’s original reticence about an afterlife gave way to views about personal judgment and reward after death, the resurrection of the body, and even reincarnation. It examines Talmudic perspectives on grief, burial, and the afterlife, shows how Jewish approaches to death changed in the Middle Ages with thinkers like Maimonides and in the mystical writings of the Zohar, and delves into such things as the origins of the custom of reciting Kaddish for the deceased and beliefs about encountering the dead in visions and dreams. After One-Hundred-and-Twenty is also Hillel Halkin’s eloquent and disarmingly candid reflection on his own mortality, the deaths of those he has known and loved, and the comfort he has and has not derived from Jewish tradition.