NEXT LITERARY SALON - Wednesday, October 14 @ 4:30pm
Join us the 2nd Wednesday of the month to share favorite books, authors, or series. Literary Salon is a no-rules book club where you bring whatever you're reading to a round of interested listeners. You are welcome to come and be a listener, too. Fourteen people shared the following 15 titles & 3 series in September. Please join us at the next Lit Salon on Wednesday, October 14 at 4:30pm. Check lopezlibrary.org or email Beth for current information.

Recommendations
Blackie & Co.: Blackbirds in My Garden
by Hockley Clarke

Each page is] a radiance of curiosity and kindness, the whole of it a bright assurance of the tenacity of life . . . To extend friendship] across the barrier of biology and sentience, to another creature endowed with a wholly other consciousness, partakes of the miraculous. --Maria Popova, from the Foreword From Marginalian Editions comes a moving meditation on our connection with other creatures, told through the unforgettable story of a family of blackbirds sharing a birder's backyard garden. In the savage winter of 1962--Europe's coldest in eighty years--a blackbird began roosting in the elderberry tree outside Hockley Clarke's window. Clarke, a retired headmaster and lifelong birder, named him Blackie and began bringing him food every morning and evening. What followed was a quiet miracle: an exchange of trust and tenderness between a man and a bird, deepening into something like friendship. First published in 1978, Blackie & Co. is Clarke's luminous account of the blackbird family that took up residence in his garden. With warmth, humility, and wonder, Clarke records the small, daily rituals through which interspecies connection can take root: a chuckle of greeting, a flight to the hand, a shared rhythm of weather and care. I spoke to him; he knew my voice and I am sure that he answered in his own language, Clarke writes. There was perfect trust between us, a source of joy to me, and it must have been a comfort to him. Echoing the spirit of Gilbert White, J. A. Baker, and Helen Macdonald, Clarke reminds us that our relationships with other species need not be symbolic or sentimental to be profound. With a foreword by Maria Popova--who describes the book as a bright assurance of the tenacity of life--Blackie & Co. is a forgotten classic of uncommon grace: a hymn to the unspectacular wonders of the everyday.
Whistler
by Ann Patchett

A Katie Couric Book Club Pick / One of President Obama's '26 Summer Reading List Picks / A Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick / A GoodReads Most Anticipated Book of SummerAnn Patchett's new novel is a rare phenomenon in contemporary fiction: a novel both majestic and intimate, original and masterful in its structure, crystalline in its prose, revelatory in its insights, utterly devastating yet ultimately uplifting in its emotional impact. . . . I think it is her best novel yet. --The Boston GlobeThe acclaimed, prize-winning #1 New York Times bestselling writer returns with a moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time.When Daphne Fuller and her husband Jonathan visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they notice an older, white-haired gentleman following them. The man turns out to be Eddie Triplett, her former stepfather, who had been married to her mother for a little more than year when Daphne was nine. Now fifty-three, Daphne hasn't seen Eddie for many years, not since the fateful event that changed the direction of both their lives. Meeting again, time falls away; while their relationship was brief, it had a profound impact on them both, and now that they are reunited, they have no intention of ever being separated again.Whistler is a story about two adults looking back over the choices they made, and the choices that were made for them. It's a story about bravery, memory, the often small yet consequential moments that define our lives, and the endless stream of loss that in time comes for us all. Beautiful in its simplicity, it is ultimately about how love endures, and how the feeling of being known by one other person, even for a short period of time, can change everything.
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
by Claire Vaye Watkins

Leaving behind her husband Theo and their young daughter, Claire, a writer, gets on a flight for a speaking engagement in Reno, not carrying much besides a breast pump--and a creeping case of postpartum depression. But what begins as a temporary escape from domestic duties and an opportunity to reconnect with old friends soon mutates into an extended flight from the confines of marriage and motherhood, and a seemingly bottomless descent into the depths of the past--
The Certainty Illusion: What You Don't Know and Why It Matters
by Timothy Caulfield

In a world where there is so much conflicting information about how we are supposed to live, what can we really know? Knowing the truth, what's real from what's fake, should be easy. In today's world, that's far from the case. In The Certainty Illusion, Timothy Caulfield lifts the curtain on the forces contributing to our information chaos and unpacks why it's so difficult--sometimes even for experts--to escape the fake. Whether it's science, our own desire to be good and do the right thing, or the stories and opinions of others, there's more to sussing out the truth than simply tracking down what feels like an authoritative source. Caulfield argues that these major forces--science, goodness, and opinion--drive beliefs and behaviour, but the ways that they can be corrupted, or worse, used to nefarious ends by bad actors, are endless. While it may feel, at times, as though we are circling the drain of truth, especially as new technologies make it even easier to spread dangerous fictions, Caulfield pulls us out of the vortex and keeps us afloat, helping us recognize and combat the forces that threaten to pull us under.
Circe
by Madeline Miller

The story is both mythical and real about Cirne. She is not terribly powerful like her father, not as evil as her mother. She is outside the gods and ordinary people. She has power over magic. When her talent threatens the gods themselves, she is driven out to the desert island. In the wrath of the gods, Circe is forced to choose, whether she will belong to the spirit world where she was born or mortal where she begins to love.
Slanting Towards the Sea
by Lidija Hilje

National Bestseller * Dazed Best Book of the Year Spanning twenty years and one life-altering summer in Croatia, Slanting Towards the Sea is at once an unforgettable love story and a powerful exploration of what it means to come of age in a country younger than oneself.Ivona divorced the love of her life, Vlaho, a decade ago. They met as students at the turn of the millennium, when newly democratic Croatia was alive with hope and promise. But the challenges of living in a burgeoning country extinguished Ivona's dreams one after another--and a devastating secret forced her to set him free. Now Vlaho is remarried and a proud father of two, while Ivona's life has taken a downward turn. In her thirties, she has returned to her childhood home to care for her ailing father. Bewildered by life's disappointments, she finds solace in reconnecting with Vlaho and is welcomed into his family by his spirited wife, Marina. But when a new man enters Ivona's life, the carefully cultivated dynamic between the three is disrupted, forcing a reckoning for all involved. Set against the mesmerizing Croatian coastline, Slanting Towards the Sea is a cinematic, emotionally searing debut about the fragile nature of potential and the transcendence of love.
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
by Christine Kuehn

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - USA TODAY BESTSELLER - INDIE BESTSELLER An amazing and gripping tale, full of suspenseful twists and cinematic details New York Times Book ReviewA propulsive, never-before-told story of one family's shocking involvement as Nazi and Japanese spies during WWII and the pivotal role they played in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It began with a letter from a screenwriter, asking about a story. Your family. World War II. Nazi spies. Christine Kuehn was shocked and confused. When she asked her seventy-year-old father, Eberhard, what this could possibly be about, he stalled, deflected, demurred, and then wept. He knew this day would come. The Kuehns, a prominent Berlin family, saw the rise of the Nazis as a way out of the hard times that had befallen them. When the daughter of the family, Eberhard's sister, Ruth, met Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels at a party, the two hit it off, and they had an affair. But Ruth had a secret--she was half Jewish--and Goebbels found out. Rather than having Ruth killed, Goebbels instead sent the entire Kuehn family to Hawaii, to work as spies half a world away. There, Ruth and her parents established an intricate spy operation from their home, just a few miles down the road from Pearl Harbor, shielding Eberhard from the truth. They passed secrets to the Japanese, leading to the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. After Eberhard's father was arrested and tried for his involvement in planning the assault, Eberhard learned the harsh truth about his family and faced a decision that would change the path of the Kuehn family forever. Jumping back and forth between Christine discovering her family's secret and the untold past of the spies in Germany, Japan, and Hawaii, Family of Spies is fast-paced history at its finest and will rewrite the narrative of December 7, 1941.
The Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novels Volume One: The Cater Street Hangman, Callander Square, and Paragon Walk
by Anne Perry

The Pitt stories begin in London, 1881. From Thomas Pitt meeting Charlotte when her family is involved in a series of murders, through their marriage and his career (frequently assisted by her) rising up the ranks until his final knighthood by Queen Victoria at the turn of the century.

 
Daniel Pitt Detective series
by Anne Perry

The Daniel Pitt series begins in 1910, with Daniel (Charlotte and Thomas’s son) as a newly qualified lawyer, taking on complicated cases, and his relationship with Miriam, one of the first woman pathologists, and her fight to be recognized.

#1 - Twenty-One Days
William Monk Detective Series
by Anne Perry

William Monk is a mid-Victorian Londoner who wakens in a hospital bed, with no memory and no knowledge of who he is. He learns bit by bit that he is a brilliant, feared and disliked detective in the police. He has to solve a complex case at the same time learning who are his friends, who his enemies, and worst of all, what was his own involvement in the case. Throughout this and later cases, he is assisted by Hester Latterly, a remarkably brave nurse who served during the Crimean War with Florence Nightingale.

#1 - The Face of a Stranger
Rust: The Longest War
by Jonathan Waldman

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize ** A Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year It has been called the great destroyer and the evil. The Pentagon refers to it as the pervasive menace. It destroys cars, fells bridges, sinks ships, sparks house fires, and nearly brought down the Statue of Liberty. Rust costs America more than $400 billion per year--more than all other natural disasters combined. In a thrilling drama of man versus nature, journalist Jonathan Waldman travels from Key West, Florida, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to meet the colorful and often reclusive people who are fighting our mightiest and unlikeliest enemy. He sneaks into an abandoned steelworks with a brave artist, and then he nearly gets kicked out of Ball Corporation's Can School. Across the Arctic, he follows a massive high-tech robot that hunts for rust in the Alaska pipeline. On a Florida film set he meets the Defense Department's rust ambassador, who reveals that the navy's number one foe isn't a foreign country but oxidation itself. At Home Depot's mother ship in Atlanta, he hunts unsuccessfully for rust products with the store's rust-products buyer--and then tracks down some snake-oil salesmen whose potions are not for sale at the Rust Store. Along the way, Waldman encounters flying pigs, Trekkies, decapitations, exploding Coke cans, rust boogers, and nerdy superheroes. The result is a fresh and often funny account of an overlooked engineering endeavor that is as compelling as it is grand, illuminating a hidden phenomenon that shapes the modern world. Rust affects everything from the design of our currency to the composition of our tap water, and it will determine the legacy we leave on this planet. This exploration of corrosion, and the incredible lengths we go to fight it, is narrative nonfiction at its very best--a fascinating and important subject, delivered with energy and wit.
The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald
by John U. Bacon

The definitive account of America's most haunting maritime disasterOn the fiftieth anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking, the bestselling author of The Great Halifax Explosion tells the definitive story of the Mighty Fitz.For three decades following World War II, the Great Lakes overtook Europe as the epicenter of global economic strength. The region was the beating heart of the world economy, possessing all the power and prestige that Silicon Valley does today. And no ship represented the apex of the American Century better than the 729-foot-long Edmund Fitzgerald--the biggest, best, and most profitable ship on the Great Lakes.But on November 10, 1975, as the storm of the century threw 100 mile-per-hour winds and 50-foot waves on Lake Superior, the Mighty Fitz found itself at the worst possible place, at the worst possible time. When she sank, she took all 29 men onboard down with her, leaving the tragedy shrouded in mystery for a half century.In The Gales of November, award-winning journalist John U. Bacon presents the definitive account of the disaster, drawing on more than 100 interviews with the families, friends, and former crewmates of those lost. Bacon explores the vital role that Great Lakes shipping played in America's economic boom, the uncommon lives the sailors led, the sinking's most likely causes, and the heartbreaking aftermath for those left behind--the wives, the sons, and the daughters, as Gordon Lightfoot sang in his unforgettable ballad.Focused on those directly affected by the tragedy, The Gales of November is both an emotional tribute to the lives lost and a propulsive, page-turning narrative history of America's most-mourned maritime disaster.
Theo de Golden / Theo of Golden
by Allen Levi

Una ma ana de primavera, un hombre desconocido llega a la peque a localidad de Golden. Nadie sabe de d nde viene, ni por qu est aqu ...Descubre el bestseller que ha enamorado a legiones de lectores en ingl s y que est conquistando al mundo entero, con ediciones en m s de treinta idiomas.En la apacible ciudad de Golden la llegada de Theo despierta curiosidad. Nadie sabe de d nde viene, pero su presencia transforma las vidas de quienes lo rodean. Una ma ana, Theo visita una cafeter a local en la que hay colgados noventa y dos retratos de la gente de Golden, hechos por un artista local. Conmocionado, decide comprarlos todos y entregarlos a quienes corresponden. Con cada encuentro va tejiendo amistades, y este generoso gesto llena la comunidad de luz y resalta el poder de las relaciones. Theo de Golden es una novela delicada y conmovedora sobre el poder de ayudar al pr jimo y la belleza de los peque os actos que cambian el mundo. Con una prosa reconfortante, esta historia universal invita a detenerse y mirar con calidez la vida cotidiana. Es un homenaje a la humanidad que se encuentra en los gestos sencillos y en la magia de dar sin esperar nada a cambio. ENGLISH DESCRIPTIONOne spring morning, an unknown man arrives in the small town of Golden. No one knows where he comes from, or why he is here...Discover the bestseller that has captivated legions of English-language readers and is now conquering the world, with editions in more than thirty languages. In the peaceful town of Golden, Theo's arrival sparks curiosity. No one knows where he comes from, but his presence transforms the lives of those around him. One morning, Theo visits a local caf where ninety-two portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, painted by a local artist. Deeply moved, he decides to buy them all and give each one to its rightful owner. With every encounter, he weaves new friendships, and this generous gesture fills the community with light and highlights the power of human connection. Theo of Golden is a delicate and moving novel about the power of helping others and the beauty of small acts that change the world. Written in comforting prose, this universal story invites readers to pause and view everyday life with warmth. It is a tribute to the humanity found in simple gestures and in the magic of giving without expecting anything in return.
Mad Mabel
by Sally Hepworth

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth comes a twisty tale of justice, redemption, and one irrepressible woman who's not done breaking the rules just yet. Meet Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick: eighty-one years old, gloriously grumpy, fiercely independent, and never without a hot cup of tea--or a cutting remark. She minds her own business in her quiet Melbourne suburb, until a neighbor turns up dead and the whispers start flying. Because Elsie hasn't always been Elsie. Once upon a headline, she was Mad Mabel Waller--Australia's youngest convicted murderer. But was she really mad, or just misunderstood? Either way, she's kept her secret buried for decades. Enter seven-year-old Persephone, a relentless little chatterbox who has just moved in across the road (armed with stickers, questions, and no sense of personal boundaries); Joan, who appears to have it in for Elsie; and a healthy dose of public interest--the cops are sniffing around, and the media is circling like seagulls at a picnic. So Mabel does what she's always done best--she takes matters into her own hands. Is she a cantankerous old lady with a shady past? A cold-blooded killer with arthritis? Or just someone who's finally ready to tell her side of the story? Sharp, surprising, and wickedly funny, this is the unforgettable story of a woman who's spent a lifetime being underestimated--and is about to prove everyone wrong. Again.
The Librarians
by Sherry Thomas

This delicious murder mystery is a must-read for any library lover --New York Times bestselling author Shelby Van Pelt Murder disrupts four quirky librarians' lives when they try to hide among books to keep their secrets. A LIBRARY READS PICK l An NPR Books We Love l Libby Book Award Winner for Best Mystery Sometimes a workplace isn't just a workplace but a place of safety, understanding, and acceptance. And sometimes murder threatens the sanctity of that beloved refuge.... In the leafy suburbs of Austin, Texas, a small branch library welcomes the public every day of the week. But the patrons who love the helpful, unobtrusive staff and leave rave reviews on Yelp don't always realize that their librarians are human, too. Hazel flees halfway across the world for what she hopes will be a new beginning. Jonathan, a six-foot-four former college football player, has never fit in anywhere else. Astrid tries to forget her heartbreak by immersing herself in work, but the man who ghosted her six months ago is back, promising trouble. And Sophie, who has the most to lose, maintains a careful and respectful distance from her coworkers, but soon that won't be enough anymore. When two patrons turn up dead after the library's inaugural murder mystery-themed game night, the librarians' quiet routines come crashing down. Something sinister has stirred, something that threatens every single one of them. And the only way the librarians can save the library--and themselves--is to let go of their secrets, trust one another, and band together.... All in a day's work.
Graceful Exits: How Great Beings Die: Death Stories of Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist, and Zen Masters
by Sushila Blackman

Death is a subject obscured by fear and denial. When we do think of dying, we are more often concerned with how to avoid the pain and suffering that may accompany our death than we are with really confronting the meaning of death and how to approach it. Sushila Blackman places death--and life--in a truer perspective, by telling us of others who have left this world with dignity. Graceful Exits offers valuable guidance in the form of 108 stories recounting the ways in which Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist, and Zen masters, both ancient and modern, have confronted their own deaths. By directly presenting the grace, clarity, and even humor with which great spiritual teachers have met the end of their days, Blackman provides inspiration and nourishment to anyone truly concerned with the fundamental issues of life and death.
A far better thing
by H. G. Parry

"Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell meets A Tale of Two Cities in H. G. Parry's A Far Better Thing, a heart-rending fantasy of faery revenge set during the French Revolution. Most Anticipated SSF Books 2025-The Nerd Daily I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse. The faeries stole Sydney Carton as a child, and made him a mortal servant of the Faery Realm. Now, he has a rare opportunity for revenge against the fae and Charles Darnay, the changeling left in his stead. It will takemagic and cunning-cold iron and Realm silver-to hide his intentions from humans and fae and bring his plans to fruition. Shuttling between London and Paris during the Reign of Terror, generations of violence-begetting-violence lead him to a heartbreakingchoice in the shadow of the guillotine"
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature. The novel, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution, depicts the plight of the French peasantry in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. Charles Darnay is a former French aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution who is falsely accused of treason despite his virtuous nature. Sydney Carton is a dissipated English barrister who endeavors to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay's wife. Within A Tale of Two Cities Dickens unfolds a masterpiece of drama, adventure, and courage.