It is time for some new books! Buckle up and take notes for some future reads! We have non-fiction, fiction, large print, and illustrated children’s books.
Sara: Some new books at the library which has the blue star on the spine: Numerology : a guide to decoding your destiny with the hidden meaning of numbers / Anne-Sophie Casper [“Using only a name and date of birth, this easy-to-use guide teaches how to use the art of numerology for self-understanding. Incorporating an original approach that takes the two sides of the brain into consideration, Numerology employs methods of both logic and intuition, and then mixes theory and practice through calculations and tests. What are hereditary, expression, and spiritual numbers? How can readers use these numbers to determine their key elemental energies? Along with basic information and background on numerology, this guide shares the tools necessary to use it to understand the world in greater detail. “], Epic homesteading : your guide to self-sufficiency on a modern, high-tech, backyard homestead / Kevin Espiritu of Epic Gardening [“Epic Homesteading is the ultimate guide to starting a modern, high-tech homestead with advice on growing and preserving food, raising chickens and bees, utilizing solar power, harvesting rainwater, and so much more”], The Black Angels : the untold story of the nurses who helped cure tuberculosis / Maria Smilios [“During those dark pre-antibiotic days, when tuberculosis killed one in seven people, white nurses at Sea View, New York’s largest municipal hospital, began quitting. Desperate to avert a public health crisis, city officials summoned Black southern nurses, luring them with promises of good pay, a career, and an escape from the strictures of Jim Crow. But after arriving, they found themselves on an isolated hilltop in the remote borough of Staten Island, yet again confronting racism and consigned to a woefully understaffed facility, dubbed “the pest house” where “no one left alive.” Spanning the Great Depression and moving through World War II and beyond, this story follows the intrepid young women, the “Black Angels,” who, for twenty years, risked their lives working under dreadful conditions while caring for the city’s poorest-1,800 souls languishing in wards, waiting to die or become “guinea pigs” for experimental (often deadly) drugs. Yet despite their major role in desegregating the NYC hospital system-and regardless of their vital work in helping to find the cure for tuberculosis at Sea View-these nurses were completely erased from history. The Black Angels recovers the voices of these extraordinary women and puts them at the center of this riveting story celebrating their legacy and spirit of survival”], The wake-up call / Beth O’Leary [Two hotel receptionists–and archrivals–find a collection of old wedding rings and compete to return them to their owners, discovering their own love story along the way. It’s the busiest season of the year, and Forest Manor Hotel is quite literally falling apart. So when Izzy and Lucas are given the same shift on the hotel’s front desk, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and see it through. The hotel won’t stay afloat beyond Christmas without some sort of miracle. But when Izzy returns a guest’s lost wedding ring, the reward convinces management that this might be the way to fix everything. With four rings still sitting in the lost and found, the race is on for Izzy and Lucas to save their beloved hotel–and their jobs. As their bitter rivalry turns into something much more complicated, Izzy and Lucas begin to wonder if there’s more at stake here than the hotel’s future. Can the two of them make it through the season with their hearts intact?], Upcountry / Chin-Sun Lee [Claire Pedersen and her husband are relocating from NYC to the Catskills–they have found a terrific deal on a property in foreclosure. The house has been in April Ives’ family for three generations, but the single mother of three children from two different fathers needs the money. Claire and April are instantly antagonistic, but the sale proceeds, and renovations begin. Soon after, Claire’s husband develops an erotic fascination with Anna, a young member of a nearby religious community called The Eternals. Two marriages–and one pregnancy–swiftly and dramatically end. Claire is left to finish the renovation and salvage the life she had imagined. April, meanwhile, is dealing with her ex who has just been released from prison on a drug charge and the decision of whether to let him build a relationship with the son he has never known. Life “upcountry” means close encounters between disparate social classes: Claire and April navigate mutual dislike and unanticipated empathy. The house remains a sore point for both. Anna is the unhappy fulcrum between the two older women. Shunned from The Eternals since the incident with Claire’s husband, she yearns to return to their protection. Anna’s strict views on transgression and penance are baffling to April; for Claire, Anna remains the embodiment of her ruined marriage.], Homecoming / Kate Morton [Called home to care for her grandmother after a fall, Jess, a journalist, discovers a book chronicling the police investigation into an old unsolved murder that has a shocking connection to her family].
Nicole: Best of 2023 Picture Books: An American story / Kwame Alexander [A picture book in verse that threads together past and present to explore the legacy of slavery during a classroom lesson], Before, now / by Daniel Salmieri [Ava’s world is full of opposites: colorful sneakers on a gray sidewalk, thick books made up of thin sheets of paper, and dreams of huge spaces in her small head. Together, these opposites depict a full and impactful life, as Ava moves from girl to student to scientist, from daughter to mother to grandmother. While years pass and some things change, there is even more that is constant in this visually rich, soothing portrait of family connection through the generations], Big / Vashti Harrison [ Praised for acting like a big girl when she is small, as a young girl grows, “big” becomes a word of criticism, until the girl realizes that she is fine just the way she is], Eclipse / Andy Rash [After hearing about the total solar eclipse happening in two months, a boy makes a plan with his father to go see it. They drive to the perfect campsite, not wanting to miss the couple of minutes when the sun will be completely hidden by the moon. When the moment happens, being together makes it even more special. Based on a trip that author-illustrator Andy Rash took with his son to see the eclipse in August 2017, Eclipse is a heartfelt and playfully illustrated ode to seeking out unique adventures and savoring the most special moments with the people you love. The book features maps of eclipses’ paths and scientific back matter about eclipses].
