My LINKcat AccountAs you may or may not recall, this year's Winter Reading Program ended on the first day of spring this year (due to all the inclement weather previously). And, as you may or may not recall, after each reading program when we have had the opportunity to tally up all the numbers, I take time in one of these weekly columns to tell you the astonishing numbers of items read. I shall now do that. During the Winter Reading Program 145 participants read 5,788 books (or 560,616 pages) and completed 531 challenges. Those seem like pretty good numbers, don't they? They seem even better when compared to last summer's reading program when 410 participants read 951,944 pages. That means that during this winter's program when compared to the previous summer's program that 35% of the number of participants read 59% of the pages. The participants this winter were obviously very serious about their reading. This held true for taking challenges as well. Last summer 824 challenges were completed. This winter's participants completed 531-- which is 64% of the summer's number by 35% of the number of participants. Hat's off to those intrepid Winter Reading Program readers! Props! Bravo! Since this winter's reading program lasted until spring, can the Summer Reading Program be far away? Actually not. As of today, it is only 44 days until Summer Library (a.k.a. Reading) Program starts. Below you will find some new titles to help you start training for the next reading program and challenges. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal” by William Burns. America's highest-ranking Foreign Service career ambassador and president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace presents a memoir of his career in service while outlining an impassioned case for diplomacy in today's increasingly volatile world.
“Mostly Sunny: How I Learned to Keep Smiling Through the Rainiest Days” by Janice Dean. The Fox & Friends meteorologist discusses her marriage to a 9/11 firefighter, her battle with multiple sclerosis and the impact of sexism on her career, revealing the strength of deliberate optimism in the face of any challenge.
“The Sun is a Compass: A 4000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds” by Caroline Van Hemert. Documents the biologist adventurer's treks in the vast wilderness region spanning the Pacific rainforest through the Alaskan Arctic, where her husband and she tested their physical boundaries while making profound natural-world connections and discoveries about animal survival.
“They Said It Couldn’t Be Done: The ’69 Mets, New York City, and the Most Astounding Season in Baseball History” by Wayne Coffey. A 50th-anniversary chronicle of the 1969 "Miracle Mets" season places their unlikely championship against a backdrop of the space race and the Vietnam War, sharing insight into the contributions of such individuals as Jerry Koosman, Gil Hodges and Ed
“What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays” by Damon Young. The co-founder of VerySmartBrothas.com presents a provocative and humorous memoir-in-essays that explores the direct impact of racism on his life, the shifting definition of Black male identity and the ongoing realities of white supremacy.
New Fiction
“Fulfilment, No.2 (Montclair Emeralds)” by Barbara Delinsky. Diandra Casey and Gregory York are childhood rivals and longtime adversaries, both vying for the same powerful position at one of the country's most elite department stores. By a New York Times best-selling author.
“Tiamat’s Wrath, No. 8 (The Expanse)” by James Corey. While Elvi Okoye weighs the consequences of uncovering the truth about weapons tied to an ancient genocide, Teresa Duarte navigates secrets and dangerous intrigues to fulfill her father's godlike ambition.
“On the Bright Side: The New Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 85 Years Old” by Hendrik Groen. A follow-up to the best-selling The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen finds octogenarian curmudgeon Hendrik emerging from a year of mourning to help the Old-But-Not-Dead Club save their homes from demolition plans.
“Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams. Constantly compared to her white middle-class peers, a young Jamaican-British woman in London makes a series of questionable decisions in the aftermath of a messy breakup before challenging herself to figure out who she wants to be.
“White Elephant” by Julie Langsdorf. When the owner of a gaudy monstrosity of a house compromises suburban aesthetics to sell the property, his fed-up neighbors stumble over private challenges to orchestrate an increasingly hostile, laugh-out-loud turf war. A first novel
“The Wolf and the Watchman”by Niklas Natt Och Dag. A U.S. release of an award-winning first novel finds a disabled ex-soldier and a lawyer with tuberculosis combing the underworld of 18th-century Stockholm to unmask a ruthless murderer before a young workhouse laborer becomes a next victim.
“Cemetery Road” by Greg Iles. His father's terminal illness, his family's struggling newspaper and a politically charged murder trial force a Washington journalist to return to his small Mississippi hometown. By the #1 New York Times best-selling author of “Mississippi Blood”.
“The Cornwalls Are Gone” by James Patterson with Brendan Dubois. An intelligence officer must use lethal tactics in open defiance of Army Command when a mysterious adversary kidnaps her family and gives her 48 hours to commit an unspeakable crime. Co-written by a #1 best-selling author.