Here are some of the new books coming to our shelves this week for you to add to your book list!
Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson – A heartrending, intimate memoir from the iconic pin-up and former star of Baywatch.
Maame by Jessica George – A young British Ghanaian woman navigates her 20s and finds her place in the world.
Exilesby Jane Harper – A federal investigator, Aaron Falk, investigates the disappearance of young mother who left her baby alone in a festival crowd and vanished in the latest novel from the New York Times best-selling author of The Dry.
The Driftby C. J. Tudor – Hannah, trapped with a handful of survivors after an accident; Meg, stranded in a cable car high above snowy mountains with five strangers; and Carter, plunged into darkness at an isolated ski chalet, are all faced with something that threatens to consume all of humanity.
Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano – Owing a favor to the Russian mob for buying a luxury car she accidentally destroyed, Finlay agrees to help identify a contract killer in the latest novel of the series following Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead.
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer – A redemptive story of a mother’s gripping journey across the Caribbean to find her stolen children in the aftermath of slavery.
8 Rules of Love by Jay Shetty – The author of the #1 New York Times best-seller Think Like a Monk offers a revelatory guide to every stage of romance, drawing on ancient wisdom and new science.
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix – Forced to return to the small Southern town where she grew up to sell her late parents’ house, Louise discovers that her and her brother’s old grudges pale in comparison to the terror that still lurks within its walls.
The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict – After her sister Diana divorces her wealthy husband to marry a fascist leader and her sister Unity follows Diana to Munich, inciting rumors that she’s become Hitler’s mistress, novelist Nancy Mitford, after uncovering disquieting documents, must make difficult choices as Great Britain goes to war with Germany.
The Cabinet of Dr. Leng by Douglas Preston – As Constance finds her way back to New York City in the late 1800s to prevent the death of her siblings and stop serial killer, Dr. Enoch Leng, FBI Special Agent Pendergast desperately tries to find a way to reunite with her before it’s too late.
Locust Lane by Stephen Amidon – When three teenagers – Hannah, a sweet girl with an unstable history; Jack, the popular kid with a mean streak; and Christopher – an outsider desperate to fit in – become suspects in the murder of a fellow student, their parents will do anything to protect them, even at the others’ expense.
What Lies in the Woodsby Kate Alice Marshall – Twenty-two years after her best friend was attacked in the woods, surviving seventeen stab wounds, Naomi Shaw, who has a secret worth killing for, returns home when the man responsible dies in prison to find out what really happened, no matter how dangerous the truth may be.
The Backup Plan by Jill Shalvis – When she inherits a falling-apart-at-the-seams old Wild West B&B along with her ex-best friend Lauren and Knox, the guy who once broke her heart, Alice unexpectedly finds acceptance, true friendship and love as they work together to restore the inn to its former glory.
Take a look at some of the exciting new releases coming to our shelves in this week…
Spare by Prince Harry – With its raw, unflinching honesty, Prince Harry’s memoir—in which he discusses the effect of his mother Princess Diana’s death on his life—is full of insight, revelation, self-examination and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – A Cambridge professor, scholar and researcher on the study of faeries visits the hardscrabble village of Hransvik where she gets closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones and resists her insufferably handsome academic rival.
Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica – When her husband Jack vanishes without a trace, Nina Hayes will stop at nothing to uncover the truth, which, unbeknownst to her, is inextricably linked to their close friends, who may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing.
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo – Assembling a team of dubious allies, Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to find a gateway to the underworld and rescue Darlington from purgatory in the second novel of the series following Ninth House.
Nazi Conspiracy, The: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchillby Brad Meltzer – In this gripping true story of daring rescues, body doubles and political intrigue, the New York Times best-selling authors of The First Conspiracy and The Lincoln Conspiracy reveal the Nazi’s plans to kill FDR, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill – an assassination plot that would’ve changed history.
All the Dangerous Thingsby Stacy Willingham – After her son is kidnapped while sleeping in his crib, a mother agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster with ulterior motives in the new novel from the best-selling author of A Flicker in the Dark.
The House of Wolves by James Patterson & Mike Lupica – Jenny Wolf’s murdered father has left her in charge of a multi-billion-dollar empire—a newspaper, a football team, a holding company … and a dysfunctional family that knows no bounds.
On December 22, 1808, Ludwig van Beethoven debuted two symphonies (including perhaps his most famous, The Fifth Symphony), a piano concerto, and a choral piece, plus a few other favorites in a four-hour long benefit concert at the Theater-an-der-Wien, one of Vienna’s grandest theaters.
The concert was…not a success. From frigid temperatures to ill-rehearsed pieces to contentious relationships between Beethoven and the musicians, the concert was certainly one to remember, but maybe not for the reasons a composer would want!
Even though the concert may not have gone to plan, Beethoven did make a cash profit—his only of the entire year. Many composers were not revered in their time and only in their later years or even posthumously, were they appreciated and acknowledged for their talent.
Beethoven is probably one of the most famous names in composing and if you’re interested in some of the reasons he is so highly regarded, here are some books to learn more:
Beethoven: A Life by Jan Caeyers
The Great Composers: The Lives and Music of 50 Great Classical Composers by Jeremy Nicholas
How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and Beyond by John Powell
Playlist: The Rebels and Revolutionaries of Sound by James Rhodes
We were supposed to choose our top ten, but some I read were in a series, so I grouped them together – cheating? nah, just a way to promote more books! Changes from previous years – I read a lot more nonfiction that I usually do – and not as much literary fiction, though there were a lot of enticing releases. Here’s the list, in no particular order.
Here are some of the new books coming to our shelves this week for you to add to your book list!
Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy – Told entirely through the transcripts of the narrator’s psychiatric sessions, this intimate portrait of grief and longing follows 20-year-old Alicia Western as she, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, contemplates the nature of madness, her hallucinations and her own existence in 1972 Black River Falls, Wisconsin.
Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon by Kate Andersen Brower – The author of the New York Times best-seller The Residence returns with the first authorized biography of the Hollywood icon, including her rise to fame at age 12, her eight marriages and her efforts to fight AIDS.
Tom Clancy Red Winter by Marc Cameron – When possibly Soviet defector offers the CIA details of his government’s espionage plans in return for asylum, former Marine and brilliant CIA analyst Jack Ryan goes behind the Iron Curtain to find answers before the Cold War turns into a Red Winter.
A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley – A 1851 Monterey widow working at a brothel investigates when the dead bodies of young women start appearing on the outskirts of town in the new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres.
The Ingenue by Rachel Kapelke-Dale – When the family estate is bequeathed to a man she shares a complicated history with, former piano prodigy Saskia Kreis is forced to reexamine her own past—and the romantic relationship that changed the course of her life—for answers.
Night Shift by Robin Cook – When her longtime friend, Dr. Sue Passero, dies mysteriously in the hospital parking garage, newly appointed chief medical examiner Dr. Laurie Montgomery asks her husband to investigate, which pits him against a clever and deranged killer determined to administer another lethal blow.
Three-Edged Sword by Jeff Lindsay – Fearless thief and master of disguise Riley Wolfe plans his biggest heist yet even though his list of powerful enemies grows longer and more dangerous.
W. E. B. Griffin the Devil’s Weapons by Peter Kirsanow – Dick Canidy and the agents of the OSS search war-torn Poland for a rocket scientist who holds the secrets to the Nazis’ superweapons before the Germans and Soviets get their hands on him.
The Last Invitation by Darby Kane – Invited to join a secret club of powerful women, the Sophie Foundation, who mete out justice to men who behave very, very badly, Jessa Hall soon realizes the high—and deadly—price of admission and discovers that once in the group, it’s impossible to get out.
On this day, 67 years ago, Rosa Parks refused to move from her bus seat to one in the back of the bus. This marked the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, lasting from the day Rosa Parks was arrested (December 5) to more than a year later. On December 20, 1956, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the bus segregation laws in Alabama and Montgomery were unconstitutional.
While this did mark a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, Parks was not the first to refuse to move her seat on a bus. Earlier in 1955, Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old student, was arrested for refusing to move from her seat for a white person. As for why she did not become a catalyst for the movement the way Rosa Parks did, Colvin offers a simple explanation: “she was an adult. They didn’t think teenagers would be reliable.” (NPR, 2009)
Additionally, Rosa Parks was active in the Civil Rights Movement before the bus boycott and for decades afterward. She was involved with the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, a member of the League of Women Voters, and attended the Highlander Folk School, an education center for activism for workers’ rights and racial equality.
For more information on Rosa Parks and integral figures in the Civil Rights Movement, check out these titles:
When the enemy’s witches, traitorous and power-mad, appear to her in a dream, practicing black magick and sacrificing the innocent, Breen, united with Keegan and all of Talamh, must save those in need of rescue and, with every weapon she has, confront the darkness once and for all.
When a devastating tragedy takes their parents from them, the eldest four adult Whittier children must put aside their personal issues and grief to keep the family together and support each other and their two youngest siblings.
A wealthy entrepreneur hires Colter Shaw to track down and protect his employee, Allison Parker, a brilliant engineer, who is on the run from her ex-husband with her teenage daughter, in the fourth novel of the series following Hunting Time.
Reeling from the loss of his brother in Vietnam, Richard moves with his family from California to his grandmother’s abandoned house in Utah where he finds the holiday spirit with the help of an elderly neighbor and his dog.
When a network of professional assassins, trained by the U.S. military, terrorize New York City, NYPD Red detectives Kylie MacDonald and Zach Jordan must hunt down these elusive mercenaries—the biggest challenge they’ve ever faced, which forever changes their lives.
Hand-picking the keenest insights and funniest exchanges from 84 episodes of the groundbreaking streaming series, this gorgeously designed and carefully curated book collects casual yet intimate conversations with the funniest people alive, becoming the most important historical archive about the art of comedy ever amassed.
Roaring Twenties New York society is set ablaze when a working-class black woman marries the son of a wealthy, prominent family and makes international headlines after he sues for annulment accusing her of hiding her “Negro blood.”
The family of a gifted medium who can receive messages from Beyond are welcomed by the town of Cherrvale, but no one knows about their other business, in a novel based on the true story of old West serial killers.
Okay, maybe we’re in Cleveland. And maybe it’s Thursday. But it is Lorne Michaels’ birthday, the creator of the beloved series Saturday Night Live. Through showrunner changes, controversial sketches, and the COVID-19 pandemic, SNL has remained a mainstay in many households. For some, it’s how they learn about a hot new band; for others, it’s how they learn about the latest political scandal. And while the number of laughs per season may ebb and flow, comedy remains a focal point of the show.
Many adored comedians have done their turn on the SNL stage. Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Maya Rudolph, John Belushi, Leslie Jones—the list goes on and on. Even though our favorite stars come and go, they’ve kept the content coming.
Whether you’re waxing nostalgic for the old days or just want to revisit some of the funny people you’ve only seen on SNL, here are some materials to check out that will hopefully satisfy your sense of humor.
Tina Fey
Tina Fey starred on, wrote for, and hosted SNL for numerous years. After her nine years on SNL, she went on to create hit shows like 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. She’s received Emmy’s, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Writers Guild Awards, and was even nominated for a Grammy and Tony. Her memoir, Bossypants,was a huge hit, staying true to her comedy bona fides.
Eddie Murphy
Credited with saving SNL from cancellation, Eddie Murphy’s genius is practically unmatched. He has had quite the career, from voice acting to singing to stand-up to dramas and back to comedy. He has won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for Dreamgirls, an NAACP Image Award for Trading Places,and People’s Choice Awards for Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, and Shrek.
Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell made a name for himself on SNL, starting in 1995 on season 21. Since leaving SNL after seven years, he’s acted in many comedic movies, many written and directed by former SNL writer Adam McKay. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy are all classic comedies you’d expect from the inimitable Will Ferrell.
Gilda Radner
One of the first cast members, Gilda Radner was an accomplished impressionist. After five years on SNL, she left for other pursuits. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and passed away at the age of 42 in 1989 after an extremely tough battle. She wrote a memoir, It’s Always Something, in 1989, a few months before her death, detailing her struggles and successes. Alan Zweibel, a former writer for SNL, wrote a biography for Gilda, sharing stories of their friendship that began on the SNL set and endured until her death.
Chevy Chase
One of the original cast members, Chevy Chase was also the first cast member to be banned from SNL (though he has appeared in sketches since, so perhaps the ban is not so strict). His comedic chops have been proven time and time again, from the classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to the more recent television show Community.
Kenan Thompson
Kenan Thompson started on SNL in 2003 and has become the longest-tenured cast member in the show’s history. Other than SNL, he is probably most known for his time on the Nickelodeon show Kenan and Kel. The pair also starred in the delightful movie Good Burger together in 1997. While not for all senses of humor, it certainly appeals to anyone craving some ridiculous 90s comedy.
I’m the first to admit when I’m in a reading slump. Like right now. Good thing there are so many leaves in my yard to rake. And, good thing that I have been keeping myself busy by binging a couple of awesome TV series that are based on books.
Based on musician sisters Tegan and Sara Quin’s best-selling memoir of the same name, High School tells the coming-of-age story of identical twins who are struggling to find themselves amidst the backdrop of ‘90s grunge culture. This honest, sometimes raw and moving show is about queer adolescence and explores themes of family, love and friendship. It has a killer soundtrack that sparks all the nostalgic feels. Fans of My So-Called Life, the band Tegan and Sara, or anyone looking for a story about discovering one’s self should check out High School, which is free to stream on Freevee. Oh, and if you want to read the memoir or listen to Tegan and Sara’s music, we’ve got those at the library for you to check out, too.
In other TV news, Masterpiece Mystery! has adapted Anthony Horowitz’s 2017 mystery novel Magpie Murders into a satisfying series that will soon be available on DVD from the library. The plot revolves around Susan Ryeland, a British book editor who is has been handed best-selling author Alan Conway’s latest novel. The day Susan finishes reading the manuscript and realizes that it is missing its last chapter – the part where readers learn “whodunit,” is the same day she learns that Conway has been found dead. When Susan goes in search of the book’s final pages, she unknowingly involves herself in a murder investigation. Both the book and TV show feature a story within the story and the action moves seamlessly between the historical novel and present day, despite multiple characters playing dual roles. If you enjoy British mysteries (à la Agatha Christie), a clever twisty plot, engaging characters and a satisfying conclusion, I recommend reading the book first. Then, tune into PBS Sunday evenings or place a hold on the DVD to catch Magpie Murders on the small screen. And, as a second season is in the works, prepare to become obsessed.
Read it or Weep 