New Items ~ October 2020

FICTION

All the devils are here by Louise Penny.  Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec investigates a sinister plot in the City of Light.

Bear necessity by James Gould-Bourne.  A feel-good story about coping with grief that focuses on the love between a dad and his son and how it can lead to friendship.

Before she was Helen by Caroline Cooney.  Clemmie is a 70something, semi-retired Latin teacher, a spinster living in a somnolent Florida retirement community.  But there must be more to her.  Why else is she rattled when she learns that a cold case is coming back to life?

Cactus Jack by Brad Smith.  A 30something single woman, the untried colt she inherits, a horse crazy little girl, and their band of misfits and has-beens stick it to the establishment in the cut-throat world of horse racing.

Celine by Peter Heller.  She is nearly 70, has emphysema from years as a smoker, and she’s never too far from her oxygen tank.  She’s a blue blood and a sculptor.  She’s also a private eye in this smart, comic mystery.

Dear Ann by Bobbie Ann Mason.  A meditation on one woman’s life choices and the road she didn’t take.

Death at high tide by Hannah Dennison.  Two sisters inherit an old hotel in the remote Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall and find it full of intrigue, danger, and romance.

The exiles by Christina Baker Kline.  Three young women are sent to the fledgling British penal colony of Australia in the 1840s.

Fast girls by Elise Hooper.  This celebrates three unheralded female athletes in a tale spanning three Olympiads.

The haunted lady by Mary Roberts Rinehart.  Someone’s trying to kill the head of the Fairbanks estate, and only her nurse can protect her.  A superior example of the plucky-heroine-in-an-old-dark-house school.

His and hers by Alice Feeney.  A brilliant cat-and-mouse game.  There are two sides to every story:  yours and mine, ours and theirs, his and hers.  Which means someone is always lying.

The killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah.  Lovers of classic whodunits will hope that the author will continue to offer her take on the great Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.

The lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis.  When rarities disappear, a curator at the New York Public Library, who grapples with her grandmother’s legacy, uncovers new truths about her family heritage.

The lying life of adults by Elena Ferrante.  In this coming-of-age story, Giovanna seeks her true reflection in tow kindred cities.

The new American by Micheline Marcom.  The epic journey of a young Guatemalan American student, a “dreamer”, who gets deported and decides to make his way back home to California.

The new wilderness by Diane Cook.  This explores a moving mother-daughter relationship in a world ravaged by climate change and overpopulation.

One by one by Ruth Ware.  Ware does what she does best – gives us a familiar locked-door mystery setup and lets the tension and suspicion marinate until they reach fever pitch.

Payback by Mary Gordon.  A novel of lifelong reckoning between two women.  It contrasts the 1970s world of upper-class women’s education with the #MeToo era.

Royal by Danielle Steel.  In 1943, the 17 year old Princess Charlotte assumes a new identity in the country and falls in love.

Shadows in death by J.D. Robb.  Lt. Eve Dallas is about to walk into the shadows of her husband’s dangerous past….

Someone to romance by Mary Balogh.  Pitch-perfect – a riveting, fast-paced narrative.  Regency fans will be delighted.

Squeeze me by Carl Hiaasen.  A dead dowager, hungry pythons, and occupants of the winter White House shake up the Palm Beach charity ball season.

Thick as thieves by Sandra Brown.  Arden Maxwell returns home to uncover the truth about her father’s involvement in a heist that went wrong 20 years ago.

Troubled blood by Robert Galbraith.  Private detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwell when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.

NEW DVDs

A simple favor (2018) starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively

Q: the winged serpent (1982) starring Michael Moriarty and Candy Clark

Dead of night (1945) starring Michael Redgrave

Hester Street (1975) starring Carol Kane and Steven Keats

The private life of Henry VIII (1933) starring Charles Laughton

NEW MUSIC CDs

Rough and rowdy ways by Bob Dylan

Gaslighter by Dixie Chicks

100 hits: the best 70s album

Ultimate Grammy Collection: Classic Country

NONFICTION

The beauty of living by J. Alison Rosenblitt.  Focusing on a brief period in the life of poet E.E. Cummings, notably his WW I experiences as a POW and ambulance driver, this sheds new light.  The horrors of gas warfare, mass slaughter, and illness bring new life to the American poet’s work.

A better man by Michael Black.  A radical plea for rethinking masculinity and teaching young men to give and receive love.

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.  The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist examines aspects of caste systems across civilizations and reveals a rigid hierarchy in America today.

The detective in the dooryard by Timothy Cotton.  Stories about the people, places and things of Maine.  There are sad stories, big events, and even the very mundane, all told from the perspective of a seasoned police officer and in the wry voice of a lifelong Mainer.

Disloyal by Michael Cohen.  An account of being on the inside of Donald Trump’s world from his former personal attorney.

The dynasty by Jeff Benedict.  The history of the New England Patriots from NFL laughingstock to making 10 trips to the Super Bowl.

Faith instinct by Nicholas Wade.  How religion evolved and why it endures.

How we live now by Bill Hayes.  A poignant and profound tribute in stories and images to a city (NYC) amidst a pandemic.  The photos serve as potent documentation of an unprecedented time.

Kent State: four dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf.  A graphic novel telling of the day America turned guns on its own children: a shocking event burned into our national memory.

A Libertarian walks into a bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling.  Once upon a time, a group of libertarians got together and hatched a plan to take over an American town and completely eliminate its government in 2004.  They set their sights on Grafton, NH, a barely populated settlement with one paved road.  They overlooked one hairy detail: no one told the bears.

Looking for Miss America by Margot Mifflin.  A lively account of memorable Miss America contestants, protests, and scandals – and how the pageant, near its one hundredth anniversary, serves as an unintended indicator of feminist progress.

Mill Town by Kerri Arsenault.  The author writes of her hometown – Mexico, Maine.  This is an American story, a human predicament, and a moral wake-up call that asks:  what are we willing to tolerate and whose lives are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival?

Rage by Bob Woodward.  Interviews with firsthand sources provide details about Trump’s moves as he faced a global pandemic, economic disaster, and racial unrest.

The ultimate retirement guide for 50+ by Suze Orman.  Winning strategies to make your money last a lifetime.

What it’s like to be a bird by David Sibley.  From flying to nesting, eating to singing – what birds are doing and why.

 

Notes from Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, and New York Times Book Review.