My LINKcat AccountWinter seems to have made a hasty retreat that seems to be persisting. We made it through the Girls’ WIAA Basketball tournaments without a blizzard and the extended forecast – at least at this writing—has the temperatures in the 50s right through the Boys’ WIAA Basketball tournaments. I’m knocking on wood even as I type this, but is it possible that we will miss this fine, old tradition of a major snow storm in mid-March? Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. In no way am I even remotely complaining mind you. You do have to look very hard to find little piles of snow anywhere and while I have yet to see or hear a robin, I am getting reports of sandhill cranes in the area. The resident song birds are already singing and starting to build nests. The grass is starting to green up. My spring allergies are in full swing. The spring lists of books are arriving from the publishers. All of which are pretty sure signs of spring. Couple that with the fact that the vernal equinox occurs on March 20th and I think it is safe to say that spring is arriving. I believe the library’s prognosticating badger made the correct call on Ground Hog’s Day when he saw his shadow and predicted 6 more weeks of winter. There are many new spring titles arriving almost daily at the library. Below is a sampling of titles. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
Hammer head : the making of a carpenter / by Nina MacLaughlin. Combining sage advice from Ovid and Mary Oliver with practical descriptions of tools and varieties of wood, the author, who quit her desk job to become a carpenter, shares the joys and frustrations of learning to make things by hand in an occupation that is 99% male.
An uncomplicated life : a father's memoir of his exceptional daughter by Paul Daugherty. In a love letter to his daughter, who was born with Down syndrome, a sports columnist for the “Cincinnati Enquirer” chronicles her childhood and her journey to find happiness and purpose in her adult life, showing readers how she inspires those around her to live better and more fully.
AsapSCIENCE : answers to the world's weirdest questions, most persistent rumors, and unexplained phenomena / by Mitchell Moffit and Greg Brown. The creators of the seriously scientific YouTube channel, AsapSCIENCE, take readers on a rollicking ride through biology, chemistry, physics and other hard sciences to answer the questions they never got to ask in science class and apply them to everyday life.
Better than before / by Gretchen Rubin. The best-selling author of “The Happiness Project” outlines a scientific framework for understanding and developing positive habits, offering dozens of proven, customizable strategies based in self-awareness. Discussion guide available online.
New Fiction
Arsenic and old books / by Miranda James. Charlie Harris preserves a set of Civil War-era diaries that several other residents of Athena, Mississippi, are literally willing to kill someone to get their hands on. Includes a bonus short story. By the “New York Times” best-selling author of “The Silence of the Library”.
Breaking Creed / by Alex Kava. Receiving positive and negative attention after intercepting major drug deals with his canine assistants, ex-marine-turned-K9 search-and-rescue trainer Ryder Creed teams up with FBI profiler Maggie O'Dell to stop a human smuggling operation and halt a series of brutal murders.
Cane and Abe / by James Grippando. Wrongfully implicated in the disappearance of his second wife, Miami prosecutor Abe Beckham is forced to consider his missing wife's accusations about his enduring love for his dead first wife. By the best-selling author of “The Pardon”.
Welcome to Braggsville : a novel / by T. Geronimo Johnson. Struggling with culture shock after leaving his tiny old-Dixie town to attend UC Berkeley, D'aron makes friends with three idiosyncratic characters who challenge him to protest his home community's annual Civil War reenactment. Reading-group guide. By the author of “Hold It 'Til It Hurts”.
A blink of the screen : collected shorter fiction / by Terry Pratchett. A collection of short fiction spanning the Carnegie Medal-winning author's career includes pieces from his school years, his early writing jobs and the successful Discworld series.
A fireproof home for the bride / by Amy Scheibe. Coming of age in her parents' mid-20th-century rural Lutheran world, Emmeline and her sister, Birdie, are swept up in an ugly family secret when she tries to step outside of strict expectations and marry according to her heart.
Hausfrau : a novel / by Jill Essbaum. Enduring private misery in spite of a well-appointed life in suburban Zürich with her distant Swiss banker husband and young children, Anna Benz experiments with unfulfilling hobbies before engaging in a series of surprising sexual affairs. A first novel.
One wish / by Robyn Carr. Starting a new life as a flower-shop owner, former champion figure skater Grace Dillon begins a no-strings-attached relationship with high school teacher Troy Headly, and when Grace's past comes back to haunt her, Troy doubles down on their relationship and brings it to the next level.