My LINKcat AccountThe Winter Reading Program is well underway as we get firmly entrenched in this new decade. The Winter Reading Program runs until February 28th so there is still plenty of time (50 days to be precise or 1200 hours or 72,000 minutes) get some reading done, enter those titles in the program app, earn dragon dollars which can then be used to A) "purchase" fabulous prizes from our prize store, or B) donate those dollars to one of three charities (I will personally donate US dollars to those charities in the same amount of those dragon dollars). Read for pleasure. Read to pass the time. Read for a worthy cause. Read because it's winter and there isn't a lot to do and spring seems so very far away. Speaking of spring, you have noticed I am sure that the days have been getting longer at the sunset-side of things. The earliest sunset we experience at this latitude is 4:22 p.m. during the early days of December. By the time you read this, sunset will be at 4:40. Sunrise has finally started getting earlier moving from the latest sunrise -- at 7:29-- and, as of the 7th, is at 7:28 a.m. The light has started to return to our winter season. In fact, it is a mere 70 days until Spring officially arrives at 10:50 p.m. Now would be a great time to check out some of the library's books on gardening and start making plans. It won't be long before you can start planting seeds indoors. While you're waiting for longer and warmer days to arrive, you find a selection of books which have recently arrived at the library listed below to help while away the time. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Guide to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed With Alcohol” by Holly Whitaker. The founder of a female-focused recovery program offers a radical new path to sobriety.
“The Wonders: The Extraordinary Circus Performers Who Transformed the Victorian Age” by John Woolf. A radical new history that rediscovers the remarkable freak performers whose talents and charisma helped define an era. In this richly evocative account, John Woolf uses a wealth of recently discovered material to bring to life the sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant, always extraordinary stories of people who used their (dis)abilities and difference to become some of the first international celebrities.
“Disney’s Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World” by Richard Snow. A history of the conception and development of the iconic California theme park chronicles how Walt and Roy Disney and a small group of artists endured innumerable setbacks to create one of the world's most popular destinations.
“All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change” by Michael Klare. The author of Resource Wars reveals how the American military regards climate change as a top threat to national security and is developing new strategies for responding to catastrophic weather, droughts and food shortages.
“How to Speak Machine: Computational Thinking for the Rest of Us” by John Maeda. A visionary designer and technologist defines the fundamental laws of how computers think, and why a person should care even if he or she isn't a programmer.
“Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything” by B.J. Fogg. An expert of habit formation and behavior science describes how to harness the power of transformation, whether it be to lose weight, exercise more or de-stress, through making tiny changes that we can feel good about.
New Fiction
“The Second Sleep” by Robert Harris. 1468. A young priest, Christopher Fairfax, arrives in a remote Exmoor village to conduct the funeral of his predecessor. The land around is strewn with ancient artefacts--coins, fragments of glass, human bones--which the old parson used to collect. Did his obsession with the past lead to his death?
“The Deep” by Rivers Solomon. The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society—and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella.
“Africaville” by Jeffrey Colvin. Three generations of a family of former slaves, the founders of a small Nova Scotia community, navigate prejudice, harsh weather and estrangements against a backdrop of the historical events of the 20th century. A first novel.
“The German House” by Annette Hess. Set against the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials of 1963, Annette Hess’s international bestseller is a harrowing yet ultimately uplifting coming-of-age story about a young female translator—caught between societal and familial expectations and her unique ability to speak truth to power—as she fights to expose the dark truths of her nation’s past.
“Brewed Awakening, No. 18 (Coffeehouse Mysteries)” by Cleo Coyle. Awakening on a park bench with no memory of the past decade, coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi becomes a suspect in a kidnapping and must solve the mystery of her own disappearance to prove her innocence.
“Laetitia Rodd and the Case of the Wandering Scholar” by Kate Saunders. A sequel to “The Secrets of Wishtide” finds Victorian detective Laetitia Rodd assisting a terminally ill gentleman in a search for his long-missing Oxford academic brother, before uncovering a formidable adversary lurking in the English countryside.
“Genesis, No.12 (Jack Stapleton & Laurie Montgomery)” by Robin Cook. Investigating the suspicious death of a social worker, Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery makes the controversial decision to use genealogic DNA databases to identify a mysterious killer. By the best-selling author of “Coma”.