Books, Movies, CDs

Consider the lobster, and other essays

David Foster Wallace

814.54 /Wallace

Added by Tom

We live in water : stories

Jess Walter

FICTION Walter Jess

Added by Tom

The consolations of philosophy

Alain De Botton

100 /De Botton

Added by Tom

The thousand autumns of Jacob De Zoet

David (David Stephen) Mitchell

FICTION Mitchell, David

1799, Dejima in Nagasaki Harbor. Jacob de Zoet, a devout and resourceful young clerk, has a chance encounter with Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured daughter of a samurai doctor and midwife to the city's powerful magistrate. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, one rash promise made and then fatefully broken--the consequences of which will extend beyond Jacob's worst imaginings.

Added by Tom

Them : adventures with extremists

Jon Ronson

322.42 /Ronson

Added by Tom

Where men win glory : the odyssey of Pat Tillman

Jon Krakauer

BIOGRAPHY Tillman, Pat

Irrepressible individualist and iconoclast Pat Tillman walked away from his $3.6 million NFL contract in May 2002 to enlist in the United States Army. Deeply troubled by 9/11, he felt a strong moral obligation to join the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Two years later, he died on a desolate hillside in Afghanistan. Though obvious to most on the scene that a ranger in Tillman's own platoon had fired the fatal shots, the Army aggressively maneuvered to keep this information from Tillman's family and the American public for five weeks following his death, while President Bush repeatedly invoked Tillman's name to promote his administration's foreign policy. Biographer Krakauer draws on his journals and letters, interviews with his wife and friends, conversations with the soldiers who served alongside him, and extensive research in Afghanistan to render this driven, complex, and uncommonly compelling figure as well as the definitive account of the events and actions that led to his death.--From publisher description.

Added by Tom

Into thin air : a personal account of the Mount Everest disaster

Jon Krakauer

796.522 /Krakauer

Added by Tom

Life of Pi : a novel

Yann Martel

FICTION Martel, Yann

Added by Tom

You just don't understand : women and men in conversation

Deborah Tannen

302.3 /Tannen

"Spending nearly four years on the New York Times bestseller list, including eight months at number one, You Just Don't Understand is a true cultural and intellectual phenomenon. This is the book that brought gender differences in ways of speaking to the forefront of public awareness. With a rare combination of scientific insight and delightful, humorous writing, Tannen shows why women and men can walk away from the same conversation with completely different impressions of what was said. Studded with lively and entertaining examples of real conversations, this book gives you the tools to understand what went wrong -- and to find a common language in which to strengthen relationships at work and at home. A classic in the field of interpersonal relations, this book will change forever the way you approach conversations."--Back cover.

Added by Tom

Harris and me : a summer remembered

Gary Paulsen

jFICTION Paulsen, Gary

Sent to live with relatives on their farm because of his unhappy home life, an eleven-year-old city boy meets his distant cousin Harris and is given an introduction to a whole new world.

Added by Tom

But what if we're wrong? : thinking about the present as if it were the past

Chuck Klosterman

303.49 /Klosterman

"But What If We're Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past"--

Added by Tom

Words on the move : why English won't - and can't - sit still (like, literally)

John H. McWhorter

417.7 /McWhorter

"A bestselling linguist takes us on a lively tour of how the English language is evolving before our eyes and why we should embrace this transformation and not fight it. Language is always changing -- but we tend not to like it. We understand that new words must be created for new things, but the way English is spoken today rubs many of us the wrong way. Whether its the use of literally to mean "figuratively" rather than "by the letter" or the way young people use LOL and like or business jargon like Whats the ask? it often seems as if the language is deteriorating before our eyes. But the truth is different and a lot less scary, as John McWhorter shows in this delightful and eye-opening exploration of how English has always been in motion and continues to evolve today. Drawing examples from everyday life and employing a generous helping of humor, he shows that these shifts are a natural process common to all languages, and that we should embrace and appreciate these changes, not condemn them. Words on the Move opens our eyes to the surprising backstories to the words and expressions we use every day. Did you know that silly once meant "blessed?" Or that ought was the original past tense of owe? Or that the suffix -ly in adverbs is actually a remnant of the word like? And have you ever wondered why some people from New Orleans sound as if they come from Brooklyn? McWhorter encourages us to marvel at the dynamism and resilience of the English language, and his book offers a lively journey through which we discover that words are ever on the move and our lives are all the richer for it"--

Added by Tom

Blood and thunder : an epic of the American West

Hampton Sides

978.02 /Sides
History

Added by Tom

Hellhound on his trail : the stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the international hunt for his assassin

Hampton Sides

364.1524 /Sides
History

"April, 1967: a prison escape. James Earl Ray, nondescript thief and con man, drifts through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he is galvanized by George Wallace's racist presidential campaign. February, 1968: a Memphis garbage strike. Martin Luther King joins the sanitation workers' cause, but their march turns violent. King vows to return to Memphis in April. Historian Sides follows Ray and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the drifter catches up with his prey. Against the backdrop of the resulting nationwide riots and the pathos of King's funeral, Sides gives us a cross-cut narrative of the assassin's flight and the 65-day search that led investigators to Canada, Portugal, and England-- a massive manhunt ironically led by Hoover's FBI. Drawing on previously unpublished material, this nonfiction thriller illuminates how history is so often a matter of the petty bringing down the great"--From publisher description.

Added by Tom

Lonesome Dove : a novel

Larry McMurtry

FICTION McMurtry, Larry
Historical Fiction

Added by Tom

Complications : a surgeon's notes on an imperfect science

Atul Gawande

617.092 /Gawande
Science

Added by Tom

The big short : inside the doomsday machine

Michael (Michael M.) Lewis

330.973 /Lewis
Business

The author examines the causes of the U.S. stock market crash of 2008 and its relation to overpriced real estate, bad mortgages, shareholder demand for excessive profits, and the growth of toxic derivatives.

Added by Tom

Punch-drunk love

DVD MOVIE COMEDY Punch

Struggling to cope with his erratic temper, novelty toilet plunger salesman Barry Egan spends his days collecting frequent-flyer-mile coupons and dodging the insults of his seven sisters. The promise of a new life emerges when Barry inadvertently attracts the affections of a mysterious woman named Lena. But their budding relationship is threatened when he falls prey to the swindling operator of a phone sex line and her deranged boss.

Added by Tom

The undoing project : a friendship that changed our minds

Michael (Michael M.) Lewis

612.8233 /Lewis
Biographies, Science

Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original studies undoing our assumptions about the decision-making process. Their papers showed the ways in which the human mind erred, systematically, when forced to make judgments in uncertain situations. Their work created the field of behavioral economics, revolutionized Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation, and made much of Michael Lewis's own work possible. Kahneman and Tversky are more responsible than anybody for the powerful trend to mistrust human intuition and defer to algorithms.The Undoing Project is about a compelling collaboration between two men who have the dimensions of great literary figures. They became heroes in the university and on the battlefield--both had important careers in the Israeli military--and their research was deeply linked to their extraordinary life experiences. Amos Tversky was a brilliant, self-confident warrior and extrovert, the center of rapt attention in any room; Kahneman, a fugitive from the Nazis in his childhood, was an introvert whose questing self-doubt was the seedbed of his ideas. They became one of the greatest partnerships in the history of science, working together so closely that they couldn't remember whose brain originated which ideas, or who should claim credit. They flipped a coin to decide the lead authorship on the first paper they wrote, and simply alternated thereafter.This story about the workings of the human mind is explored through the personalities of two fascinating individuals so fundamentally different from each other that they seem unlikely friends or colleagues. In the process they may well have changed, for good, mankind's view of its own mind.

Added by Tom

Dead woman walking

S. J. Bolton

MYSTERY Bolton S. J.
Suspense, Mystery

The twelve sightseers in a hot-air balloon are drifting over Northumberland. They're passing over an isolated farmhouse when Jessica and her sister, Bella see a man killing a young woman. Everyone in the balloon is watching the man when he looks up and spots them. He only has one option-- to kill them all. After a furious crash the balloon crashes, and Jessica's the only survivor. She's seen his face-- and he won't rest until he's eliminated the only witness to his crime.

I love all of Sharon (S.J.) Bolton's works, some of which are in the Lacey Flint series, others are standalones. Her books have a modernity, seriousness, and depth that I enjoy, and often some unique element that sets the story apart. This book is no different, from the unusual beginning where a crime is witnessed from a hot air balloon, to the way the intended victim turns the chase around. -Candice

Manhattan Beach : a novel

Jennifer Egan

FICTION Egan Jennifer
Historical Fiction

"The long-awaited, daring, and magnificent novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad. Manhattan Beach opens in Brooklyn during the Great Depression. Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to the house of Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. She is the sole provider for her mother, a farm girl who had a brief and glamorous career with the Ziegfeld Follies, and her lovely, severely disabled sister. At a nightclub, she chances to meet Dexter Styles again, and she begins to understand the complexity of her father's life, the reasons he might have vanished. Mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful, with the pace and atmosphere of a noir thriller, Egan's first historical novel is a masterpiece, a deft, startling, intimate exploration of a transformative moment in the lives of women and men, America and the world. Manhattan Beach is a spectacular novel by one of the greatest writers of our time"--

This book is very different from "A Visit from the Goon Squad." I guess it is much more straightforward in narrative elements and how the plot unravels. However, there is a a lot happening here: in the language, in the emotional struggles of the characters, in the changing society of America in World War II. I loved this book--reveled in every page turned. -Anne M

A black mile to the surface

composer Manchester Orchestra

COMPACT DISC PO Manchester Black
Alternative Rock

Each song flows beautifully into the next, and we're treated to a textured, introspective rock album. My favorite of 2017. -Brian

Westworld. Season one, The maze

DVD TV Westworld 1st season
Science Fiction

A dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, not matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged. No rules, no laws, no judgment. Live without limits.

Meticulously crafted and filled with amazing reveals, Westworld explores our darkest impulses and what it means to be alive. -Brian

Legion. The complete season one

DVD TV Legion 1st season
Science Fiction

David Haller is a troubled young man diagnosed as schizophrenic, but after a strange encounter, he discovers special powers that will change his life forever.

A trippy, visually arresting TV show that constantly challenges the idea of what's real throughout the season. -Brian

The little stranger

Sarah Waters

FICTION Waters, Sarah
Fiction, Horror

One postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country physician, is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once impressive and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. Its owners—mother, son, and daughter—are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as with conflicts of their own. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become intimately entwined with his.

A decaying English manor and a once prominent British family facing changing times equals the perfect set-up for a little bit of horror. Waters brings her exceptional writing and character building to this dark novel. I switched between listening to the audiobook and reading the print and there were genuinely times where I had to stop listening to this because I was frightened. If you like unreliable narrators, this is one to pick up. -Anne M

The great Halifax explosion : a World War I story of treachery, tragedy, and extraordinary heroism

John U. Bacon

971.603 /Bacon
History

The astonishing true story of history’s largest manmade explosion before the atomic bomb, and its world-changing aftermath, from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author John U. Bacon December 1917: the freighter Mont-Blanc steamed out of New York Harbor packed with a staggering load of explosives intended to break the ghastly stalemate on the Western Front. The floating powder keg bobbed up the Eastern seaboard for four days, avoiding rocky shores and German U-boats. But after reaching the safety of Halifax Harbour, a collision sparked a fire on deck, the panicked crew fled, and the burning ghost ship drifted toward the city. At 9:04 a.m. a cataclysm unlike anything the world had ever seen erupted. This is the unforgettable story told in John U. Bacon’s The Great Halifax Explosion: a ticktock account of the hours preceding the disaster, the fateful decisions that led to doom, the human faces of the blast’s 11,000 casualties, and the aftermath. The blast dominated global headlines, transformed Canada and the United States from adversaries to allies, and, years later, gave J. Robert Oppenheimer his best case study in the power of a weapon of mass destruction. Mesmerizing and inspiring, Bacon’s deeply researched narrative brings to life the tragedy, bravery, and surprising afterlife of one of the most dramatic events of modern times.

Although this is an incredibly terrible and tragic event (from the explosion itself to the tsunami, the blizzard, and the thaw that caused flooding), Bacon highlights the best moments of neighbors helping neighbors, fellow countrymen helping fellow countrymen, and the international response. This event may have brought the United States and Canada closer through their gestures of aid and thankfulness. For fans of Erik Larson, this is a riveting read. -Anne M

The remains of the day

Kazuo Ishiguro

FICTION Ishiguro, Kazuo
Historical Fiction, Fiction

The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel -- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence.

Added by Jason

Emergency contact

Mary H. K. Choi

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Choi Mary
Young Adult

"After a chance encounter, Penny and Sam become each other's emergency contacts and find themselves falling in love digitally, without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other"--

Absolutely charming book! I haven't been this invested in a fictional couple for quite a while. Also, I'm still not over how gorgeous the cover is. -Brian

New energy

composer Four Tet (Musician)

COMPACT DISC EL FourTet New
Electronic

Added by Jason

Monster trouble!

Lane Fredrickson

jE Fredrick
Picture Books

Although Winifred thinks the monsters who creep into her bedroom each night are cute, she cannot get any sleep and tries to scare them away.

I love everything about this book: a girl setting monster traps, playfully skippy rhyme scheme, and a twist ending. It has bedtime themes without forcing the "go to sleep" issue in your toddler's face, too. My 2yo son sits rapt each time we read it. Definitely recommend! -Melody

Harriet gets carried away

Jessie Sima

jE Sima
Picture Books

While shopping with her two dads for supplies for her birthday party, Harriet, who is wearing a penguin costume, is carried away by a waddle of penguins and must hatch a plan in order to get herself back to the store in the city.--Provided by Publisher.

It's time to get carried away with Jessie Sima's new picture book! -Casey

Together

Emma Dodd

jBOARD BOOK Dodd
Board Books

This little sea otter loves spending time with his parent learning new things, playing together, or even just holding each other. In fact, every day this little sea otter spends with his parent is special, just because they are together.

Emma Dodd's "Love" books are finally being released as board books! Look for this one and more from this series to come--perfect for sharing at bedtime. -Casey

Bloodfire

Helen Harper

eBOOK
Fantasy

Mack might be, to all intents and purposes, a normal looking human, but she lives with a pack of shapeshifters in Cornwall in rural England after being dumped there by her mother when she was just a young child. She desperately wants to be accepted by her surrogate family, not least because a lot of them hate her for merely being human, but for some reason her blood just won't allow the transformation to occur. With a terrible temper to match her fiery red hair, Mack is extraordinarily useful in a fight, and when her pack alpha is brutally and abruptly murdered, she swears vengeance. Unfortunately, his murder also draws in the Brethren - the leaders of the shapeshifter world - who will slaughter everyone in Mack's small rural pack if they discover her true identity. Unfortunately Corrigan, the green-eyed muscle-bound Lord Alpha of the Brethren, doesn't let much slip by him.

I admit I was a bit turned off by the cover of this book and put off checking it out. When I took a chance on it, I found it to have inventive twists on traditional urban fantasy mythos. I like how Helen Harper experiments with a variety of characteristics in her heroines. Other heroines in her books might avoid conflict. Bloodfire's "Mack Attack" explores how her blood gets all firey when she gets angry. How refreshing it was to read a character whose anger can turn into action! -Melody

The immortalists

Chloe Benjamin

FICTION Benjamin Chloe
Literary Fiction

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children -- four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness -- sneak out to hear their fortunes. Their prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco. Dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy. Eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11, hoping to control fate. Bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.

I found myself immersed in this book. I couldn't put it down. It is a serious read--it begins when four siblings visiting a fortune teller learn the dates of their deaths. Each person reacts differently as they approach their day, often looking like self-fulfilling prophecies, except one--who works to fight her time. This was a great read--wonderfully written--engaging characters. -Anne M

Not quite a genius

Nate Dern

817.6 /Dern
Humor, Literary Nonfiction

"From Funny Or Die senior writer and former artistic director at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre comes a collection of absurdist, hilarious stories and essays on relationships, technology, and contemporary society. A brave archaeologist journeys into a suburban man cave. Leif Eriksson writes Christopher Columbus a long overdue letter. A corporate flack admonishes a room of marijuana sales people to get their revenues up. A young man's penis turns into a lobster. Walt Whitman even teaches a spin class. With humor, originality, and narrative guile, Nate Dern examines man buns, dating apps, Wi-Fi terms and conditions, juicing crazes, vegetarianism, and so much more, all while plumbing his own life and a series of fantastical scenarios for a truth that's both revelatory and beautiful."--Jacket.

If you just want something funny and interesting to read that doesn't take too much time or energy, I recommend this fun book. -Heidi K

Apprenticed to Venus : my secret life with Anaïs Nin

Tristine Rainer

818.52 NinYr
Memoir

“I first met Anaïs in 1962 at her Village apartment, when I was an eighteen-year-old virgin.” And so begins Tristine Rainer’s years as Anaïs Nin’s accomplice, keeping Nin’s confidences—including that of her bigamy—even after Nin’s death and the passing of her husbands, until now. Apprenticed to Venus charts Rainer’s coming of age under the guidance of Anaïs Nin: lover to Henry Miller, Parisian diarist, author of the erotic bestseller Delta of Venus, and feminist icon of the sexual revolution. As an inexperienced young woman, Tristine was dazzled by the sophisticated bohemian author and sought her instruction in becoming a woman. From their first meeting in Greenwich Village through Nin’s death in 1977, Tristine remained a fixture of Anaïs Nin’s inner circle, implicated in the mysterious author’s secrets—while simultaneously finding her own way through love, lust, and loss. From personal memories to dramatized scenarios based on Nin’s revelations to the author, Apprenticed to Venus blurs the lines between novel and memoir, bringing Anaïs Nin to life in new way—a pioneer whose mantra was, “A woman has as much right to pleasure as a man!” A compelling look at the intricacies—and risks—of female friendship and the mentor-protégé relationship, Tristine Rainer’s Apprenticed to Venus is the intimate story of an entanglement only she could tell.

I have always been interested in the literary figure Anais Nin, ever since I was 12 and discovered a dusty old bound copy of her diaries in a library. This is an interesting perspective on Nin from a person who got closer to her than most. Nin was purposefully very secretive and enigmatic - there is much, much more on that topic in this book. Recommended if you like literary memoirs and/or Anais Nin. -Heidi K

Fetch : how a bad dog brought me home : a graphic memoir

Nicole J. Georges

BIOGRAPHY Georges, Nicole J.
Graphic Novels

From an award-winning artist, a memoir of life with a difficult, beloved dog that will resonate with anybody who has ever had a less than perfectly behaved pet. When Nicole Georges was sixteen she adopted Beija, a dysfunctional shar-pei/corgi mix--a troublesome combination of tiny and attack, just like teenaged Nicole herself. For the next fifteen years, Beija would be the one constant in her life. Through depression, relationships gone awry, and an unmoored young adulthood played out against the backdrop of the Portland punk scene, Beija was there, wearing her "Don't Pet Me" bandana. Georges's gorgeous graphic novel Fetch chronicles their symbiotic, codependent relationship and probes what it means to care for and be responsible to another living thing--a living thing that occasionally lunges at toddlers. Nicole turns to vets, dog whisperers, and even a pet psychic for help, but it is the moments of accommodation, adaption, and compassion that sustain them. Nicole never successfully taught Beija "sit," but in the end, Beija taught Nicole how to stay. -- Provided by publisher.

This is an adorable book about a "bad dog" Beija and her human Nicole who loves her anyway. -Heidi K

Are you my mother? : a comic drama

Alison Bechdel

BIOGRAPHY Bechdel, Alison
Graphic Novels, LGBTQ+

A graphic memoir of Alison Bechdel becoming the artist her mother wanted to be. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was a pop culture and literary phenomenon. Now, a second thrilling tale of filial sleuthery, this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, passionate amateur actor. Also a woman, unhappily married to a closeted gay man, whose artistic aspirations simmered under the surface of Bechdel's childhood . . . and who stopped touching or kissing her daughter good night, forever, when she was seven. Poignantly, hilariously, Bechdel embarks on a quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf. It's a richly layered search that leads readers from the fascinating life and work of the iconic twentieth-century psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, to one explosively illuminating Dr. Seuss illustration, to Bechdel’s own (serially monogamous) adult love life. And, finally, back to Mother—to a truce, fragile and real-time, that will move and astonish all adult children of gifted mothers.

If you like graphic novels, and haven't read this one yet: do it. If you swear you don't like graphic novels or comics: try this one. -Heidi K

Sula

Toni Morrison

FICTION Morrison, Toni
Fiction

Probably my favorite book ever. -Heidi K

Daredevils

Shawn Vestal

FICTION Vestal Shawn
Fiction

From the winner of 2014’s PEN Robert W. Bingham Prize, an unforgettable debut novel about Loretta, a teenager married off as a “sister wife,” who makes a break for freedom At the heart of this exciting debut novel, set in Arizona and Idaho in the mid-1970s, is fifteen-year-old Loretta, who slips out of her bedroom every evening to meet her so-called gentile boyfriend. Her strict Mormon parents catch her returning one night, and promptly marry her off to Dean Harder, a devout yet materialistic fundamentalist who already has a wife and a brood of kids. The Harders relocate to his native Idaho, where Dean’s teenage nephew Jason falls hard for Loretta. A Zeppelin and Tolkien fan, Jason worships Evel Knievel and longs to leave his close-minded community. He and Loretta make a break for it. They drive all night, stay in hotels, and relish their dizzying burst of teenage freedom as they seek to recover Dean’s cache of “Mormon gold.” But someone Loretta left behind is on their trail... A riveting story of desire and escape, Daredevils boasts memorable set pieces and a rich cast of secondary characters. There’s Dean’s other wife, Ruth, who as a child in the 1950s was separated from her parents during the notorious Short Creek raid, when federal agents descended on a Mormon fundamentalist community. There’s Jason’s best friend, Boyd, part Native American and caught up in the activist spirit of the time, who comes along for the ride, with disastrous results. And Vestal’s ultimate creation is a superbly sleazy chatterbox—a man who might or might not be Evel Knievel himself—who works his charms on Loretta at a casino in Elko, Nevada. A lifelong journalist whose Spokesman column is a fixture in Spokane, WA, Shawn has honed his fiction over many years, publishing in journals like McSweeney's and Tin House. His stunning first collection, Godforsaken Idaho, burrowed into history as it engaged with masculinity and crime, faith and apostasy, and the West that he knows so well. Daredevils shows what he can do on a broader canvas--a fascinating, wide-angle portrait of a time and place that's both a classic coming of age tale and a plunge into the myths of America, sacred and profane.

This is an interesting book featuring a fundamentalist Mormon female protagonist in the 1970s. The plot and voice are quite unique, and I finished this one quickly. -Heidi K

Educated : a memoir

Tara Westover

BIOGRAPHY Westover, Tara
Memoir

"Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent. As a way out, Tara began to educate herself, learning enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University. Her quest for knowledge would transform her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Tara Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes, and the will to change it."--Provided by publisher.

I was completely obsessed with finishing this book once I started it. Tara Westover describes her life as the daughter of "Homeschooling" Survivalists in the Idaho mountains. (Homeschooling is in quotes because based on Tara's account it does not seem she considered her education very educational. I'm speaking as a former Homeschooler here.) Back before YTK, her family was preparing for the End of Days by endless canning and stockpiling. During her teen years, Tara narrowly avoided being killed by heavy machinery while working for her dad scrapping metal. The love she feels for her family is never in question - as the narrator she is still ambivalent about the process of figuring out how to relate to her family. The way Tara describes coming to awareness about how differently she was raised was excellent, and you can't help but rooting for her as she makes her moves toward an independent adulthood and college. -Heidi K

The autobiography of Gucci Mane

1980- author Gucci Mane

781.649092 /Gucci
Memoir

Rapper Gucci Mane takes us to his roots in Alabama, the streets of East Atlanta, the trap house, and the studio where he found his voice as a peerless rapper. he reflects on his inimitable career and in the process confronts his dark past -- the murder charge, ears behind bras, addiction, career highs and lows -- the making of the Trap God. It is one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of music. -- Adapted from book jacket.

Gucci Mane is not my favorite rapper by any means. But, I thought this autobiography was an entertaining and (at times) really engaging look into Gucci's life in the Southern Trap scene. If you like autobiographies of famous people and/or you like rap music, don't miss it! -Heidi K

Designing with succulents

Debra Lee Baldwin

635.9525 /Baldwin

This new, completely revised second edition of her bestselling classic is a design compendium that is as practical as it is inspirational. Designing with Succulents shares design and cultivation basics; hundreds of succulent plant recommendations; and profiles of 50 easy-care, drought-tolerant companion plants. Lavishly illustrated with 400 photographs, you will find everything you need to visualize, create, and nurture a thriving, water-smart succulent garden.

Debra Lee Baldwin's 2nd edition of this book is even better than the original - which was pretty great. Encyclopedic information about a variety of succulents with great ideas on how to combine them in your garden or landscape. If you only think of green when you think of succulents, you should look at the photographs in this book. -Beth

The disaster artist : my life inside The room, the greatest bad movie ever made

Greg Sestero

eBOOK
Nonfiction

"In 2003, an independent film called The Room--starring and written, produced, directed by a mysteriously wealthy social misfit of indeterminate age and origin named Tommy Wiseau--made its disastrous debut in Los Angeles. Described by one reviewer as "like getting stabbed in the head," the six-million-dollar film earned a grand total of $1800 at the box office and closed after two weeks. Ten years later, The Room is an international cult phenomenon. Thousands of fans wait in line for hours to attend screenings complete with costumes, audience rituals, merchandising, and thousands of plastic spoons. In The Disaster Artist, actor Greg Sestero, Tommy's costar and longtime best friend, recounts the film's long, strange journey to infamy, unraveling mysteries for fans--who on earth is "Steven," and what's with that hospital on Guerrero Street?--as well as the question that plagues the uninitiated: how the hell did a movie this awful ever get made? But more than just a laugh-out-loud funny story about cinematic hubris, The Disaster Artist is also a great piece of narrative nonfiction, a portrait of a mysterious man who got past every road block in the Hollywood system to achieve success on his own terms. Written with a gimlet eye but an open heart, The Disaster Artist is the hilarious and inspiring story of a dream that just wouldn't die"--

Confession: I'm actually listening to the e-audiobook (https://icpl.overdrive.com/media/2300017) and it has me in stitches. The author reads his own story of what it was like to work with Tommy Wiseau, along with vocal impersonations of the infamous director. So hilarious. -Melody

The night manager

DVD TV Night
Thriller

The Night Manager is based on John le Carre's novel, ex-British soldier Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is recruited by MI-6's Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) to infiltrate the inner circle of an arms trader named Richard Onslow Roper (Hugh Laurie).

Added by Beth

Sherlock. Season one.

DVD TV Sherlock 1st season
Mystery

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch & Martin Freeman. A contemporary take on the classic Arthur Conan Doyle stories, Sherlock is a thrilling, funny, fast-paced adventure series set in present-day London. The iconic details from Conan Doyle's original books remain: they live at the same address, have the same names, and, somewhere out there, Moriarty is waiting for them. And so across three thrilling, scary, action-packed, and highly modern adventures, Sherlock and John navigate a maze of cryptic clues and lethal killers to get at the truth.

Added by Beth

Before we were yours

Lisa Wingate

FICTION Wingate Lisa
Historical Fiction

"Memphis, Tennessee, 1936. The five Foss children find their lives changed forever when their parents leave them alone on the family shantyboat one stormy night. Rill Foss, just twelve years old, must protect her four younger siblings as they are wrenched from their home on the Mississippi and thrown into the care of the infamous Georgia Tann, director of the Tennessee Children's Home Society. South Carolina, Present Day. Avery Stafford has lived a charmed life. Loving daughter to her father, a U.S. Senator, she has a promising career as an assistant D.A. in Baltimore and is engaged to her best friend. But when Avery comes home to help her father weather a health crisis and a political attack, a chance encounter with a stranger leaves her deeply shaken. Avery's decision to learn more about the woman's life will take her on a journey through her family's long-hidden history"--

'Before We Were Yours' is a highly emotional and moving fictional story, inspired by true events. Through the telling of this story, Lisa Wingate sheds light on the despicable real life actions of Georgia Tann, a woman that ran a black market child trafficking ring masked as a legitimate adoption agency for decades in Tennessee. -Angie

In your hands

Carole Boston Weatherford

jE Weatherf
Picture Books

"A prayer from mother to son that he will always in safe hands"--

Stunning art and an important message. -Casey

Sad animal facts

Brooke Barker

590 /Barker
Nonfiction

"A delightful and quirky compendium of the animal kingdom's more unfortunate truths, with over 150 hand-drawn illustrations." -- Back cover.

Each fact is accompanied by a quip from the anthropomorphic cuties. And the appendix includes more facts with explanations, so you can find out things like why dik diks mark their territory with their tears. Library lovers will enjoy the fact that Brooke Barker spent time as a reference librarian, and started illustrating these sad animal facts in her downtime on the desk. -Melody

Four Seasons in Rome : on twins, insomnia, and the biggest funeral in the history of the world

Anthony Doerr

914.5632 /Doerr
Travel, Biographies

"The recipient of an American Academy fellowship, Doerr, his wife, and their twin newborns are on their way to Rome for a year. Cultural isolation, the death of John Paul II, struggles to complete a novel, and the tales of first-time parenthood uniquely blend together as Doerr meanders his way through a one-year Roman holiday. Along the way, he meets Romans quick to praise his twins, Romans quick to prejudge an American, and Romans happy to share the secrets of their city with him. Set against this backdrop, Doerr finds it difficult to focus on the novel he plans on writing; instead, like so many other visitors, he falls for the Eternal City. For readers who have been to Rome, Doerr's reflections will leave them longing for a return trip. For those who have not, Doerr's stories of piazzas and pizzas will have them checking travel arrangements. Either way, this memoir is a wonderful combination of a writer's two dominant struggles: cultural identity and family."--

Anthony Doerr (author of All the Light We Cannot See) was a brand-new father of twins when he was granted a sabbatical in Rome. He takes on the Eternal City and the newborns all in one go, and is rewarded for it. A sort of epic love poem to Rome and family, and all there is to be aware of and savor. -Candice

Through the woods

Emily Carroll

GRAPHIC NOVEL Carroll
Graphic Novels, Horror, Fantasy

"A collection of five spine-tingling short stories"--

Emily Carroll's collection of horror stories is absolutely thrilling. -Casey

Get out

DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Get
Horror, Thriller

A young black man meets his white girlfriend's parents at their estate, only to find out that the situation is much more sinister than it appears.

Many of the horror films I love are fun, but not really very good. This one stands out - its is fun and a good movie! As a 2018 Best Original Screenplay Oscar winner and Best Picture nominee, it must be! -Shawna

Ex machina

DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Ex
Science Fiction

Caleb, a coder at the world's largest Internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a retreat belonging to the company's reclusive CEO, Nathan. But when Caleb arrives he finds that he will have to participate in a fascinating experiment with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot woman, Ava. Truths, emotions, and motives are blurred as the relationship between Caleb, Ava, and Nathan intensifies.

It's one of those movies that sticks with you after you watch it. Thought provoking as only really good Science Fiction can be. -Brian

I love you, Michael Collins

Lauren Baratz-Logsted

jFICTION Baratz-Logsted Lauren
Kids, Fiction

In 1969, as her own family is falling apart, ten-year-old Mamie finds comfort in conducting a one-sided correspondence with the least famous astronaut heading toward the moon on Apollo 11.

A story told through a collection of letters that 10 year old Mamie Anderson sends to Michael Collins in 1969 as he prepares to go to the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. I am not sure what made me pick this book up off the shelf, but I am glad I did. Since I was a child, I have found that I really like reading books in this format, so I was pleasantly surprised when I flipped through to see it was an epistolary story. -Angie

Janesville : an American story

Amy Goldstein

977.5 /Goldstein
Nonfiction

Learn what happens to the residents of a small Midwestern town when the GM plant closes at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, forcing thousands out of long-term, secure jobs and creating ripple effects throughout the region. Goldstein embeds herself with the residents for years, and Paul Ryan and Barack Obama make appearances. Extremely intimate and compelling portrait of a town in crisis! -Anne W

Black Orpheus : original soundtrack from the Marcel Camus film

Antonio Carlos Jobim

COMPACT DISC MU Black V85

One of my desert island albums. A must-listen for bossa nova lovers. Fun dancing beats and romantic melodies. -Melody

It happened one night

BLU-RAY It

A rich young woman marries an idle playboy against her father's will. Her father holds her captive on his yacht but she escapes and, while on her way to New York, becomes entangled with an unemployed news reporter.

I love everything about this movie. It's funny, charming, and Claudette Colbert's silk charmeuse wedding dress is worth watching the film for alone. -Anne M

The life and the adventures of a haunted convict

Austin Reed

BIOGRAPHY Reed, Austin
History

The earliest known prison memoir by an African American writer—recently discovered and authenticated by a team of Yale scholars—sheds light on the longstanding connection between race and incarceration in America. In 2009, scholars at Yale University came across a startling manuscript: the memoir of Austin Reed, a free black man born in the 1820s who spent most of his early life ricocheting between forced labor in prison and forced labor as an indentured servant. Lost for more than one hundred and fifty years, the handwritten document is the first known prison memoir written by an African American. Corroborated by prison records and other documentary sources, Reed’s text gives a gripping first-person account of an antebellum Northern life lived outside slavery that nonetheless bore, in its day-to-day details, unsettling resemblances to that very institution. Now, for the first time, we can hear Austin Reed’s story as he meant to tell it.

This book is a remarkable find. Perfect for history buffs, rare manuscript nerds, and African American prison researchers, this book was written by an African American man born free in the 1820s but living much of his life in confinement. Reed was a natural storyteller and his memoir reads like a novel. He documents his experiences both in prison and as a free man, the cruelties of the whip and other 19th Century torture tactics as well as adventures and opportunities he encountered while living free. -Melody

This is us. The complete first season

DVD TV This 1st season
Drama

Centered on characters who share the same birthday, the story follows several decades in the lives of Jack and Rebecca Pearson. As the plot unfolds, it traverses numerous timelines, and intertwines the stories of people whose lives connect in unexpected ways. Filled with memorable performances from its acclaimed cast, it is a smart, poignant dramedy.

You get all the feels with this TV Drama- have the tissues handy! -Angie

Death in Florence : the Medici, Savonarola, and the battle for the soul of a renaissance city

Paul Strathern

945.51 /Strathern
History

"By the end of the fifteenth century, Florence was well established as the home of the Renaissance. As generous patrons to the likes of Botticelli and Michelangelo, the ruling Medici embodied the progressive humanist spirit of the age, and in Lorenzo de' Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) they possessed a diplomat capable of guarding the militarily weak city in a climate of constantly shifting allegiances between the major Italian powers. However, in the form of Savonarola, an unprepossessing provincial monk, Lorenzo found his nemesis. Filled with Old Testament fury and prophecies of doom, Savonarola's sermons reverberated among a disenfranchised population, who preferred medieval Biblical certainties to the philosophical interrogations and intoxicating surface glitter of the Renaissance. Savonarola's aim was to establish a 'City of God' for his followers, a new kind of democratic state, the likes of which the world had never seen before. The battle between these two men would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events--invasions, trials by fire, the 'Bonfire of the Vanities', terrible executions and mysterious deaths--featuring a cast of the most important and charismatic Renaissance figures." --

A detailed, and engrossing, recounting of the period of time in Florence, Italy, when the Medici family's control was faltering, and a preacher named Savonarola was beginning to exert power through his foreboding sermons. It didn't go well. -Candice

Anya's ghost

Vera Brosgol

GRAPHIC NOVEL Brosgol
Graphic Novels, Horror, Fantasy

Anya, embarrassed by her Russian immigrant family and self-conscious about her body, has given up on fitting in at school but falling down a well and making friends with the ghost there just may be worse.

If you're looking for something unputdownable this is it! -Casey

Baby driver

DVD MOVIE ACTION Baby
Action, Thriller

A talented, young getaway driver relies on the beat of his personal soundtrack to be the best in the game. But after being coerced into working for a crime boss, he must face the music when a doomed heist threatens his life, love and freedom.

I love a movie that has me searching for the playlist on Spotify as the final credits roll! -Shawna

Giant days

John Allison

COMIC Giant
Graphic Novels

"Susan, Esther, and Daisy started at university three weeks ago and became fast friends. Now, away from home for the first time, all three want to reinvent themselves. But in the face of hand-wringing boys, "personal experimentation," influenza, mystery-mold, nu-chauvinism, and the willful, unwanted intrusion of "academia," they may be lucky just to make it to spring alive. Going off to university is always a time of change and growth, but for Esther, Susan, and Daisy, things are about to get a little weird."--Provided from Amazon.com.

All of the characters shine, and you’ll immediately want to read the next volume. -Brian

The best of the Laurie Berkner Band.

Laurie Berkner Band

jCOMPACT DISC Berkner Best
Children's

Laurie Berkner and her band perform frequently on Nickelodeon and were guest artists on Ziggy Marley's hit 2009 album Family Time. This greatest hits collection features all the most popular tunes from all five of Laurie Berkner's albums and other releases.

Laurie Berkner's music is always a hit with kids at Storytimes! -Angie

Easy to love, difficult to discipline : the seven basic skills for turning conflict into cooperation

Rebecca Anne Bailey

649.64 /Bailey
Nonfiction, Self Help

My parenting Bible! This book will give you the tools manage your young child's behavior, striking the perfect balance between letting them walk all over you and being a hard-driving taskmaster. -Anne W

Vote for Jim Gill

Jim Gill

jCOMPACT DISC Gill Vote
Children's

Bouncing, hopping and jumping -- B-A-N-J-O -- Conducting can be fun -- Vote for Jim Gill -- Hammer and saw -- The countdown -- Sad and tired of cryin' -- Am stram gram -- My accordion is on the run -- Play guitar -- Lemonade serenade -- One from the left (a finger play) -- The model a song -- Repeat after me!.

Jim Gill is by far my favorite Children's Singer, we have all of his CD's at the library, and use his music at our Storytimes. Plus, he has done many live concerts for the library over the years! -Angie

Blade runner 2049

DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Blade
Science Fiction

A young blade runner's discovery of a long buried secret leads him to track down former blade runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.

I was very uncertain when they announced Blade Runner 2049--why make a sequel to such a Science Fiction classic? Director Denis Villeneuve proved me very wrong by making an exceptionally beautiful and essential film. -Brian

Peony : the best varieties for your garden

David Michener

635.93344 /Michener
Gardening

In The Peony, David Michener and Carol Adelman help spread the joy of gardening with peonies. They share the history of this beloved plant, highlight the different types of peonies available, and profile the best 193 varieties of both. Growing information includes details on climate, soil, light, planting, and water needs. Helpful lists detail the best peony variety for specific needs and a resource listshares the best places to buy peonies and the best public gardens to see them in.

A new book about one of my favorite flowers. Some of the varieties in my yard are over 50 years old. Can't wait to see if they're in this book. -Beth

Star Wars : Darth Vader

Kieron Gillen

COMIC Star Wars Darth 2015
Graphic Novels

Ever since Darth Vader's first on-screen appearance, he has become one of pop-culture's most popular villains. Now, follow Vader straight from the ending of A New Hope (and the pages of the new Star Wars comic book) into his own solo adventures - showing the Empire's war with the Rebel Alliance from the other side! But when a Dark Lord needs help, who can he turn to? As Vader pursues a very personal vengeance against the Rebels and investigates the Emperor's secret machinations, he clashes with weapons scavenger Aphra and deadly Battle Droids, and returns to Geonosis to build an army. But some very powerful people don't want him to learn the truths he seeks! Guest-starring Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett and more!

Vader is a man of few words, and when he speaks, you listen.  Gillen nails that, and I can almost hear James Earl Jones booming voice in the dialog.  Also, artist Salvador Larocca couldn't do a better job drawing an iconic Vader.  I highly recommend Star Wars: Darth Vader to any Star Wars fan. -Brian

Wise craft quilts : a guide to turning beloved fabrics into meaningful patchwork

Blair Stocker

746.46 /Stocker

In Wise Craft Quilts, celebrated quilt designer and crafter Blair Stocker shares ways to use cherished fabrics to make quilts with more meaning. Each of twenty-one quilts featured here gathers a special collection of fabric, outlines a new technique, and spins a story. By using special fabrics as the starting point for each project -- from a wedding dress to baby's first clothes, worn denim, Tyvek race numbers, and more -- the finished quilt is made even more special. Create quilts that have a story to tell and you'll find a whole new level of appreciation for what they represent in your life and the lives of the ones you love.

Another fun recycled-fabric quilt book. This is a step beyond creating a tshirt quilt. -Beth

Gotham Central

Greg Rucka

COMIC Gotham
Graphic Novels

A police drama and procedural set in Gotham City. Batman is a presence--and not always a welcome one--but this is really about the men and women in uniform. -Brian

Criminal

Ed Brubaker

COMIC Criminal
Graphic Novels

Brubaker nails the story and dialog while Phillips sets the perfect mood with his art. It’s hard to not want to read it in one sitting. Heads up--this is an adult comic with language, violence and sex. -Brian