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Mary - Branch Manager (Bowman)
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The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Set in South Carolina in 1964, this book tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the town's fiercest racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love--a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come. Also available as an eBook on Libby
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Sarah - Youth Services Assistant (Handley)
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My Antonia by Willa Cather"I never get tired of reading Willa Cather." ~Sarah My Antonia is a novel published in 1918 by American writer Willa Cather, considered one of her best works. It is the final book of her prairie trilogy of novels, preceded by O Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark. Orphaned Jim Burden rides the trains from Virginia to Black Hawk, Nebraska, where he will live with his paternal grandparents. Jake, a farmhand from Virginia, rides with the 10-year-old boy. On the same train, headed to the same destination, is the Shimerda family from Bohemia. Jim lives with his grandparents in the home they have built, helping as he can with chores to ease the burden on the others. The home has the dining room and kitchen downstairs, like a basement, with small windows at the top of the walls, an arrangement quite different from Jim's home in Virginia. The sleeping quarters and parlor are at ground level. |
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Rushali - Information Services Assistant (Bowman)
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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman"This is a great pick if you're looking for a story about growth/ transformation! I first read this book back in 2021 and have loved it so much that I re-read it another 1-2 times since then (alongside buying my own copy from a bookstore).
In short, it's a very heartwarming, lovely story about a woman that has a great inner (mental & emotional) transformation over the course of the book with the help of others in her life.
It's a story of hope-- even if you had a rough start to your life or bad childhood, it's never too late to heal your wounds (whether emotional or physical) if you meet genuinely good, caring people in life. Ultimately, this novel left a deep impression upon me and positively influenced how I viewed adulthood, since I read it during a transitional time in my life between my teenage and early 20's. " ~Rushali Hers is an ordinary, nonspecific life with work, day to day mundane things, but everything changed when she met Raymond Gibbons, a nondescript colleague, and Sammy Thom a middle age man whom she and Raymond helped when Sammy met with an accident on the road... |
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Robyn - PR & Marketing Associate (Handley)
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"Jen Sincero just gets it. This book speaks to the part of you who says you can't, and makes sure you know you can. It can feel hard to see your worth is when you are constantly seeing more successful people on the internet or on tv. This book reminds you that who you are is awesome, and Sincero teaches you how to see it, too. " ~Robyn Jen Sincero serves up twenty-seven bite-sized chapters full of inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word, helping you to identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that stop you from getting what you want, create a life you totally love, and make the kind of money you've never made before. |
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Kati - Administrative Assistant (Handley)
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"Station Eleven is a meditation on survival, the importance of art, and the ways in which human lives intersect across time." ~Kati
An audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame, and ambition set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, from the author of three highly acclaimed previous novels. One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains-this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet. Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it--
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Stephanie - Information Services Assistant (Handley)
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The Book of Doors by Gareth BrownCassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers--a lonely yet charming old man--dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading. But this is no ordinary book...It is the Book of Doors. Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door. You just need to know how to open them. Then she's approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He's a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie's possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them. Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books. With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors--and the other magical books in his secret library's care--from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie's book can get them there. |
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Gwen - Information Services Assistant (Bowman)
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Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten MillerThe provocative and hilarious summer read that will have book lovers cheering and everyone talking Kirsten Miller, author of The Change, brings us this bracing, wildly entertaining piece of humorous fiction and satire about a small Southern town, a pitched battle over banned books, and a little lending library that changes everything. Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on a mission of censorship to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books--none of which she's actually read. To replace the pornographic books she's challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she's sure the town's readers need. What Lula doesn't know is that a local troublemaker has stolen her wholesome books, removed their dust jackets, and restocked Lula's library with banned books: literary classics, gay romances, Black history, witchy spell books, Judy Blume novels, and more. In this unforgettable work of women's fiction, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean's library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. |
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Sophie - Youth Services Assistant (Handley)
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"Yes, the movie Howl's Moving Castle is based on a book! Fun for kids and adults, this is a classic fantasy read that everyone should know. If you've never heard of it, be sure to check out the movie after the book. They both have the atmosphere perfect for a cozy spring read or watch. " ~Sophie
Sophie has the great misfortune of being the eldest of three daughters, destined to fail miserably should she ever leave home to seek her fate. But when she unwittingly attracts the ire of the Witch of the Waste, Sophie finds herself under a horrid spell that transforms her into an old lady. Her only chance at breaking it lies in the ever-moving castle in the hills: the Wizard Howl's castle.To untangle the enchantment, Sophie must handle the heartless Howl, strike a bargain with a fire demon, and meet the Witch of the Waste head-on. Along the way, she discovers that there's far more to Howl--and herself--than first meets the eye. What will happen to Sophie Hatter when she enters Howl's castle?In this giant jigsaw puzzle of a fantasy, people and things are never quite what they seem. Destinies are intertwined, identities exchanged, lovers confused.
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Alison - Clarke County Library Branch Manager
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"This lovely book celebrating the seasons starts in Spring with festivities, crafts, history, and all things wonderful that happen in the natural world. It is beautifully illustrated and a really charming way to get in touch with nature and celebrate all that it brings us each season!" ~Alison
A beautifully illustrated, interactive guide to ancient, nature-based holidays and customs. Through themed meditations, crafts, and rituals, young readers can learn about old and new ways of honoring the seasons-and create their own!-- |
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Mackenzie - Branch Assistant (Clarke)
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Theo of Goldenby Allen Levi One spring morning, a stranger arrives in the small southern city of Golden. No one knows where he has come from ... or why ... His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers. Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their "rightful owners." With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered. A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another. |
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Jemison - Information Services Assistant (Handley)
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Now isolated in a single frail human body, Breq, an artificial intelligence that used to control of a massive starship and its crew of soldiers, tries to adjust to her new humanity while seeking vengeance and answers to her questions.
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