My LINKcat AccountThis has been a very strange year no matter how you look at it. This year, Labor Day is as late as it can be. Our Summer Reading Program went until the August 31st thus ending later than it ever has. School has started with not as big a flurry of back-to-school ads, although kudos to the stores who gave that advertising tradition a shot during these pandemic times. At least that felt a little like the old normal. September does continue to be National Library Card Sign-Up month. If you don't have a card, inquiring minds might want to know why you are reading this, but perhaps you are reading this in anticipation of getting a library card which is very easy to do. And since the library is mostly open now -- with brief closures during the day for cleaning-- a library card is a very useful thing to have. You can use it to check out books from Overdrive, our online source for electronic books, audio, and some video. Or you can use it in person to check out books, dvds, magazines, cake pans, and other things ( a telescope and metal detector leap to mind). On very rare occasions, I know my library card has been able to remove a layer of snow/ice (not the welded on type) from the windshield of my car. It pay to have a library card in your wallet! Those solid forms of precipitation aren't that far a way. Those fall field crickets that start singing at the end of July or the beginning of August presaging the first frost by six weeks, started singing in my neck of DeForest on August 8th. That would put their first frost prediction for September 12th, and once you have a frost, can solid precipitation be far behind? Until then, you will find some of the summer book titles that are still arriving from the publishers. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
Chasing the Light: Writing, Directing, and Surviving “Platoon”, “Midnight Express”, “Scarface”, “Salvador”, and the Movie Game by Oliver Stone. An intimate memoir by the controversial and outspoken Oscar-winning director and screenwriter includes coverage of his complicated New York childhood, service in Vietnam, cocaine addiction and creative struggles and triumphs in 1970s and 1980s Hollywood.
The Bohemians: The Lovers Who Led Germany’s Resistance Against the Nazis by Norman Ohler. The best-selling author of Blitzed draws on unpublished diaries, letters and Gestapo files to trace the remarkable story of idealistic lovers Harro Schulze-Boysen and Libertas Haas-Heye, the leaders of the anti-Nazi resistance in 1930s Berlin's bohemian underworld.
Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act by Nicholson Baker. The National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of The Mezzanine presents a deeply researched assessment of the Freedom of Information Act that reveals how deliberate obstructions, from extensive wait times to copious redactions, conceal government corruption and human-rights violations.
2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything by Mauro Guillen. An award-winning Wharton School management authority presents a revolutionary analysis of the global trends that he predicts will permanently change the world's economy and population dynamics, from robot workforces to a reduced prioritization of Western consumers.
What Girls Need: How to Raise Bold, Courageous, and Resilient Women by Marisa Porges. The former White House strategist and jet pilot turned headmaster of Philadelphia's Baldwin School for girls draws on career insights to counsel parents and educators on how to support audacity and ambition in girls everywhere.
Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality, and the Future of Humanity by Sam Harris. The best-selling neuroscientist and author of “The End of Faith” shares transcripts of 12 top-selected conversations from his controversial podcast to explore such topics as the nature of consciousness, free will, political extremism and ethical living.
New Fiction
The Big Door Prize by M.O. Walsh. When an unassuming DNA machine is installed at their local grocery store, Douglas and his wife, Cherilyn, are swept up by their community's efforts to transform lives by reconnecting with their ancestry.
A Star is Bored by Byron Lane. A debut novel by Carrie Fisher's former personal assistant follows the experiences of an assistant to an award-winning celebrity who becomes a close friend and possibly more as she conducts him through the wonders of Hollywood life.
Murder in Chianti, No. 1 (Tuscan Mysteries) by Camilla Trinchieri. In the heart of Tuscan wine country, Nico Doyle is a former NYPD homicide detective who’s just looking for space to grieve when he finds himself pulled into a local murder investigation.
His and Hers by Alice Feeney. Sacrificing everything for her hard-won BBC presenter career, Anna teams up with DCI Jack Harper to investigate a childhood friend's murder in her sleepy hometown village. By the author of “I Know Who You Are”.
When She Was Good, No. 2 (Cyrus Haven) by Michael Robotham. A sequel to “Good Girl, Bad Girl” finds criminal psychologist Cyrus Haven uncovering answers about Evie Cormac's dark past that force the latter to flee and question whether or not her secrets should remain hidden.
Good Dogs Don’t Make It to the South Pole by Hans-Olav Thyvold. A heartwarming tale of aging, friendship and death is told from the perspective of a grumpy mutt who bonds with his late master's widow during walks to the library, before their home is threatened by impatient relatives.
Luster by Raven Leilani. A young black artist falls into an affair with a man in an open marriage before gradually befriending his wife and adopted daughter against a backdrop of dynamic racial politics. A first novel.
True Story by Kate Reed Petty. Haunted by the roles they played in covering up the sexual assault and attempted suicide of a student 15 years earlier, reclusive ghostwriter Alice and her former schoolmate, Nick, explore memories from different viewpoints that eventually reveal what really happened.
Bronte’s Mistress by Finola Austin. A meticulously researched debut by the award-winning "Secret Victorianist" blogger follows the scandalous 1843 love affair between a grieving Lydia Robinson of Thorp Green Hall and her son's erratically unconventional tutor, Branwell Brontë.
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. A novel set in 1918 Dublin offers a three-day look at a maternity ward during the height of the Great Flu pandemic. By the best-selling author of “Room”.