My LINKcat AccountNow that we're officially into Summer, the weather has turned delightfully rainy, muggy, soggy, damp, and overcast (Which is an interesting word, BTW [by the way - for you non-texters]). It comes from Middle English and meant overthrow (meaning literally to throw something over, like a garment: "Overthrow that blanket onto your horse, Wulfric!" or "Overcast that that cape onto the bed, Rowena." The idea of clouds overcasting a sky as a metaphor came into the language about 1300. So even back in the Middle Ages, weather forecasters were talking about overcast skies. But, I digress.). All the humidity, besides making one's skin "glow", makes one long for sitting quietly. Preferably in air-conditioning. Reading is a non-glow producing activity to practice during this kind of weather. The library has lots of new books to whet your interest, but not your brow. Below is a sampling of the new books available at your public library. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
The attacking ocean : the past, present, and future of rising sea levels / by Brian Fagan. A history of climate change describes the dramatic evolution and stabilization of the oceans before the rise of humans approximately 6,000 years ago, tracing a significant rise in global temperatures since 1860 and how a rising sea level is affecting world populations.
The Society for Useful Knowledge : how Benjamin Franklin and friends brought the Enlightenment to America / by Jonathan Lyons. A sumptuous history of the American Enlightenment documents the intellectual revolution invoked by Benjamin Franklin and his contemporaries, exploring how their views about the value of knowledge have left a profound mark on American society and culture.
Bootstrapper : from broke to badass on a northern Michigan farm / by Mardi Jo Link. Describes how a resolve to save her financially strapped, century-old farmhouse in the aftermath of a divorce pitted the author and her three sons against such challenges as coyotes, rivals in a zucchini-growing contest and rampaging poultry.
New Fiction
Crazy rich Asians / by Kevin Kwan. Envisioning a quality-time summer vacation in the humble Singapore home of a boy she hopes to marry, Chinese American Rachel Chu is unexpectedly introduced to a rich and scheming clan that viciously competes against other wealthy families and strongly opposes their son's relationship with an American girl. A first novel.
The engagements : a novel / by J. Courtney Sullivan. A sharply observed tale inspired by the highs and lows of marriage explores the marital foibles of such characters as a long-time wife who looks back on the dissolution of her previous marriage, a paramedic who lives under the shadow of his wife's disapproving family and a woman who has vowed never to marry after seeing too many disastrous weddings and marriages.
Island Girls. by Nancy Thayer. When the will of a recently deceased ladies' man mandates a summer-long reunion for his daughters from different marriages at his posh Nantucket house, the three sisters are forced to confront long-festering resentments and misunderstandings as well as challenges in their private and professional lives, a situation that is complicated by a shocking revelation and the arrival of their mothers.
The last original wife : a novel / by Dorothea Frank. The last original wife among her husband's group of cronies, Leslie Anne, after an accident, realizes her perfect life is a sham and embraces the healing powers of South Carolina's white beaches where she, with the help of the feisty and funny residents, reclaims the strong and sexy woman she was meant to be.
The last summer of the Camperdowns / by Elizabeth Kelly. A 12-year-old girl keeps silent after witnessing a crime near her home on Cape Cod during the summer of 1972 as her parents struggle with running a campaign in this dramatic novel.
The silver star : a novel / by Jeannette Walls. Abandoned by their artist mother at the age of 12, Bean and her older sister, Liz, are sent to live in the decaying antebellum mansion of their widowed uncle, where they learn the truth about their parents and take odd jobs to earn extra money before an increasingly withdrawn Liz has a life-shattering experience.
Sweet salt air. by Barbara Delinsky. Two childhood friends reunite at a summer retreat, each harboring a horrible secret that would test the bounds of their longtime relationship if revealed in this new novel from the author of "Threats and Promises".
Trains and lovers / by Alexander MaCall Smith. Inspired by a love of trains and the nature of love, a series of intertwined romantic tales follows the experiences of four strangers traveling from Edinburgh to London who entertain each other with reminiscences about how trains have changed their lives. By the best-selling author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.
Choke point / by Pearson Ridley. Hired to investigate allegations of a sweat-shop operation in Amsterdam that is enslaving young girls, Knox and tech information expert Grace Chu embark on a rescue mission that is challenged by a crime organization that has seduced local neighborhoods with showy goodwill practices.
The caretaker / by A.X. Ahmed. A debut novel by an award-nominated international writer follows the efforts of disgraced Indian Army Captain Ranjit Singh, who struggles to forget an illicit affair and illegally moves into a politician's empty house that is broken into by mysterious armed men who are searching for an antique porcelain doll, a crime that draws Ranjit into the homeowner's shadowy world.