December 9, 2020
Featured in this week's Book Talk Bakersfield:
  • Join Kern County Library staff members, Fahra and Jasmin, along with guest Libby Copeland author of The Lost Family to talk about what we're reading, watching, listening to, and how DNA testing and massive genealogy databases are upending our family trees.
Libby Copeland
Author of The Lost Family
 
Fahra Daredia
Beale Memorial Library
 
Jasmin LoBasso
Kern County Library
 
Libby is reading...

The Mirror & The Light
by Hilary Mantel

A tale inspired by the final years of Thomas Cromwell describes how after the execution of Anne Boleyn and childbed death of Queen Jane, the former blacksmith’s son orchestrates a desperate plot to fortify England and save his own life.
 
Also available as eBook & eAudiobook on CloudLibrary 
 
Also available as eBook on OverDrive
The Searcher
by Tana French

Looking to start a new life in a small Irish village, former Chicago police officer Cal Hooper comes out of retirement to help find a missing kid and uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat.
 
Also available as ebook & eAudiobook on OverDrive 
 
Also available as eAudiobook on CloudLibrary 
Libby is watching...
 
Outlander

Claire Randall, a married combat nurse in 1945, is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743 where she is forced to marry a young Scottish warrior.
 
 
Fahra is reading...
 
The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are
by Libby Copeland

A journalist investigates the business practices of companies like Ancestry and 23andMe and explores the stories of individuals who participated in home genetic testing and had their lives turned upside down by the results. 
 
Also available as ebook & eAudiobook on HooplaDigital 
 
We Free the Stars
by Hafsah Faizal

A conclusion to the duology that began with We Hunt the Flame finds Zafira, Nasir and Kifah navigating limited resources, reluctant allies and a fearful kingdom to finish a captive Altair’s plan to restore magic to all of Arawiya. 
 
Fahra is watching...
Resurrection Ertugrul 

Ertugrul is captured by the Mongols. After escaping, his return to the tribe creates internal strife with his cousin Tugtekin. Meanwhile, Ertugrul's long-lost brother appears. The Kayi tribe splits as Ertugrul and a group journey to West Anatolia, leaving the rest of the tribe.
 
Also available on YouTube
 
 Jasmin is reading...

The Knife of Never Letting Go
by Patrick Ness

A lone telepathic boy in a town filled with aggressive men becomes increasingly aware that a terrible secret is being kept from him, prompting him to run away with his loyal dog before stumbling on an eerily silent, surviving girl. 
 
Also available as eBook on OverDrive
 
Also available as eBook on CloudLibrary 
 
Willa's Beast 
by Ruby Dixon 
 
Beast. Creature. Monster.
Dangerous.
All of these things have been said about Gren.
Willa doesn't believe it, though. She knows that monsters can sometimes come in appealing packages. She knows that for all of his snarls and fearsome appearance, he'd never hurt her.
And she knows she has to get Gren away from the Icehome camp, because no one will ever see him as a person, not when he attacks all who come close. Not when he's tied and treated like an animal.
She's going to save him . . . or fall in love. Maybe both. Willa doesn't mind that he's a beast, as long as he's her beast.

Contains mature themes.
 
Available as eAudiobook on HooplaDigital
 
Jasmin is watching...
Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Follows the adventures of the detectives and their commanding officer in a Brooklyn, New York, police precinct.
 
Even More Titles We Talk About
    Books
    Angie's Gladiator by Ruby Dixon
    Manhattan Beach: A Novel by Jennifer Egan
    A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
    Movies 
    Happiest Season on Hulu
    Midsommer also available on Amazon Prime
    Mulan on Disney+
    The New Mutants
    Superintelligence on HBOMax