| The Romantic by William BoydStarring: Cashel Greville Ross, who is born in 1799 County Cork, Ireland, but leaves as a teen to travel the world and seek his fortune.
What happens: In this picaresque tale that covers decades, Ross sees history unfold (such as fighting at Waterloo), encounters a wide variety of people (including Lord Byron and the Shelleys in Italy) and becomes a soldier, brewer, explorer, writer, and father.
Reviewers say: "A smart, colorful entertainment" (Kirkus Reviews); "holds the reader spellbound" (Publishers Weekly). |
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| Witness by Jamel BrinkleyWhat's inside: ten lyrical New York City stories that feature unforgettable characters -- children, siblings, grandmothers, delivery drivers, and ghosts -- and shows what happens when they either act, or don't, on things they've seen.
Stories include: "Blessed Deliverance," "Comfort," "Witness," "Bartow Station," and "The Happiest House on Union Street."
For fans of: atmospheric, perceptive short story collections, like Deesha Philyaw's The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. |
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| Save What's Left by Elizabeth CastellanoThe beginning: When her husband, Tom, wants a break and sets out on a world cruise alone, middle-aged Kathleen Deane leaves Kansas for a New York coastal town and her own fresh start.
A new house: She arrives to find a massive modern monstrosity that breaks regulations being built next to the tiny cottage she's bought sight unseen. She teams up with a neighbor to fight town hall, and then Tom shows up in an Airstream that he parks in her driveway.
Read this next: Tara Conklin's Community Board or Beck Dorey-Stein's Rock the Boat. |
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| Time's Mouth by Edan LepuckiThe beginning: Born in 1938 in Mystic, Connecticut, Sharon realizes at 16 that she can travel back in time in her mind, to her own past. Running away to the west coast at 17, she renames herself Ursa.
Through the years: She ends up in San Francisco, becomes the leader of a cult, and gives birth to a son, Ray. Later, Ray and his pregnant girlfriend run away to Los Angeles, where their child, Opal, grows up.
Is it for you? Time's Mouth mixes time travel, abuse, intergenerational trauma, family relationships, counterculture California, and more into an "emotionally intense, wildly imaginative novel" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| The Apartment by Ana MenéndezWelcome to... The Helene, a 1940s art deco apartment building in South Miami Beach.
The people in 2B: Over seven decades, this apartment has had multiple residents, from Texas newlyweds to a troubled Vietnam veteran, and these interlinked tales showcase them all. But the book lingers longest on the latest to dwell there, a young Cuban woman.
Why you might like it: Featuring richly drawn characters and elegant writing, The Apartment examines memory, community, loneliness, and what makes a home. |
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| Fireworks Every Night by Beth RaymerFlorida or bust: After her used car salesman dad burns down their Ohio business for the insurance money, 12-year-old C.C. Borkoski grows up in 1990s Florida playing basketball as her dysfunctional family spirals.
Is it for you? Moving back and forth across different times in C.C.'s life, including her marriage into a wealthy New York family, this darkly humorous coming-of-age story deals with various types of abuse. |
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| The English Experience by Julie SchumacherThe setup: On short notice, professor Jason Fitger is voluntold to lead Payne University's "Experience: London" over winter break.
What happens: Beleaguered Jason navigates a foreign country and his own issues while keeping watch over 11 undergrads he doesn't know, including one who has never been away from her cat, another who is claustrophobic, one with a juvenile detention record, and an ex-couple.
Series alert: This is the delightful final entry in a smart, satirical trilogy that wryly depicts life in American academia. The first two books are Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement. |
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In the Shadow Of the Mountain: A Memoir Of Courage by Silvia Vasquez-LavadoA Latinx powerhouse in the tech world of Silicon Valley returns home to Peru and turns her life around by climbing the world's highest peaks along with other victims of childhood trauma. Tuesday, October 10, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. Fowler Park Alternate location Sharon Forks Library |
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Sea of Tranquilityby Emily St. John MandelHired to investigate the black-skied Night City, Detective Gaspery-Jacques Roberts discovers an anomaly in the North American Wilderness, where he encounters a strange group of individuals who have all glimpsed a chance to do something extraordinary that could disrupt the timeline of the universe. Wednesday, October 11, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. Post Road Library |
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. DickPhilip K. Dick's classic science fiction novel captures the strange world of twenty-first-century Earth, a devastated planet in which incredibly realistic androids, banned from Earth, fight back against their potential destroyers while hunted by bounty hunters commissioned to "retire" them. Thursday, October 12, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. Sharon Forks Library |
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Not the Witch You Wed by April AsherMagic-less witch Violet Maxwell wants nothing to do with alpha wolf shifter Lincoln Thorne-the man who broke her fragile, teenage heart. But when the two of them are forced by arcane Supernatural Laws to find mates, Violet and Lincoln agree to fake-date their way to a fake-mating in order to conjure themselves some time. The joke's on them. When old feelings make a reappearance-along with Violet's magic-they both realize there's nothing fake about their feelings. But there are old secrets and looming threats that could snatch away their happily ever after, again. One thing's for sure: magic doesn't make dating and love any easier. Sunday, October 15, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. Hampton Park Library |
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The Switch by Beth O'LearyReady for an adventure in the months after her husband of 60 years departs, a woman from a picture-postcard Yorkshire village offers to swap places with her burned-out adult granddaughter to pursue romance in bustling London. Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. Hampton Park Library |
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Her Perfect Life by Hank Phillippi RyanLily Atwood, a beloved television reporter with fame, fortune, Emmy awards and a young daughter is spooked when the anonymous source who feeds her tips begins suddenly giving her inside information about her own life. Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. Post Road Library |
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Miss Eliza Doolittle has been transformed from a cockney guttersnipe to a proper lady of London. When Col. Pickering recovered from a bout of malaria, he was astounded at the woman before him. Is it possible this transformation is due to nothing more than elocution lessons and some splendid new hats? Or has Professor Henry Higgins surreptitiously traded one girl for another? He reaches out to Sherlock Holmes, who is now retired to the Sussex countryside. As the case unfolds, Holmes and Watson find themselves in ever stranger territory. Who are the four identical "Freddies" pursuing Miss Doolittle? What part do the respected Dt. Jekyll and his malevolent associate, Mr. Hyde, long thought dead, have to play in this caper? And who is the devilish Baron von Stettin? Thursday, October 26, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. Cumming Library |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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