New Book Friday: August

We had a dilemma this year – do we put New Book Friday up a week early, or a week late? Lucky for you, you get August’s New Book Friday a week ahead of schedule!

If you’re curious as to what the staff is loving…

A Bad Day for Voodoo – gross, gory, and HYSTERICALLY funny. Miss Kate has gotten weird looks on the subway because of how much she’s been LOLing.

Croak – ever wondered if there’s more than one Grim Reaper? And what if snarky teens had the job?

The End – learn how the world might end … or why some apocalypse movies just won’t happen in the real world.

Selection – okay. One of our librarians has the ebook out (THERE’S AN EBOOK) – but it’s apparently a cross between The Hunger Games and America’s Next Top Model.

     

     

     

     

   

     

     

   

Between the Covers: Mysteries

Get Between the Covers with a suspense-filled mystery and join the adult summer reading program!

Get Between the Covers with a suspense-filled mystery and join the adult summer reading program!

1222 by Anne Holt
When a train in Norway derails during a massive blizzard, the passengers abandon the train for a nearby hotel, centuries-old and practically empty. They think they are safe, until one of their number begins killing off the rest.

Bad Moon by Todd Ritter
Years after a young boy disappears near a waterfall in what is declared a fatal accident, his adult brother, a famous author, urges the local police to reopen the investigation and learns that their late mother had discovered clues that his brother was killed and that he was not the only victim.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson (eBook)
Without her husband’s knowledge, Christine, whose memory is damaged by a long-ago accident, is treated by a neurologist who helps her to remember her former self through journal entries until inconsistencies begin to emerge, raising disturbing questions.

Before the Poison by Peter Robinson
Returning to Yorkshire after his beloved wife dies, composer Chris Lowndes discovers that the old house he has just purchased was the scene of a murder more than 50 years before and becomes obsessed with solving the case.

Beneath the Shadows by Sara Foster
Returning to a tiny North Yorkshire hamlet where her husband disappeared a year earlier, Grace is unable to get answers from deeply superstitious villagers and experiences haunting dreams before discovering that she is in danger.

Bent Road by Lori Roy (audio download)
Celia Scott and her family move back to her husband’s hometown in Kansas, where his sister died under mysterious circumstances 20 years before. Celia and her two younger children struggle to adjust, especially when a local girl disappears.

Close Your Eyes by Amanda Eyre Ward (audio download, eBook)
For most of her life, Lauren has been certain of two things: that her mother is dead and that her father is a murderer. Years later, her brother disappears and she comes to question the version of her history that she has clung to so fiercely.

Cold Vengeance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Seeking revenge after his wife Helen is murdered, Special Agent Pendergast chases the killers from Scotland to New York City and into the bayous of Louisiana and discovers that Helen may have been a collaborator in her own death.

Cop to Corpse by Peter Lovesey
When three policemen are murdered in the Bath area by a sniper who eludes authorities and younger detectives, Chief Superintendent Peter Diamond embarks on what becomes one of the most dangerous cases of his life.

Curse of the Jade Lily by David Housewright
Hired by an insurance company to help ransom a stolen gem, Rushmore McKenzie learns that the reputedly cursed gem causes the death or ruination of everyone who owns it, a situation that is complicated by the untimely murder of one of the thieves.

The Demands by Mark Billingham
A convenience store owner holds a group of customers hostage until Detective Tom Thorne agrees to find out what really happened to his son, who died a year earlier in prison under suspicious circumstances.

The Fate of Katherine Carr by Thomas H. Cook
Shattered by the unsolved murder of his 8-year-old son, travel writer George Gates is approached by a retired missing-persons detective and given a mysterious story left behind by a woman who disappeared 20 years earlier.

The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli
Resolving to pursue an honest life after his brother goes on a murderous rampage, Terrier Rand learns that his brother did not commit one of the killings for which he was sentenced to die and resolves to learn what really happened.

Never Tell by Alafair Burke
While investigating the suicide of 16-year-old Julia Whitmire, whose famous parents believe that she was murdered, NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher discovers that Julia was engaged in a dangerous game of cyberbullying against an unlikely victim.

Night Rounds by Helene Tursten
When a nurse is murdered and another disappears during a hospital blackout, Detective Inspector Irene Huss struggles with a report by the crime’s only witness, who claims she saw a nurse who died 60 years earlier.

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (CD book)
Twenty-five years after her family vanishes without a trace, Cynthia Archer is struggling to live a normal life with her husband and daughter, until sinister clues begin to reveal the dark secrets of the past.

On Borrowed Time by David Rosenfelt
Proposing to his girlfriend Jen and accompanying her to Kendrick Falls, Richard loses control of his car in a freak storm. When the storm clears, Jen is gone, all traces of her have disappeared, and no one in Richard’s life will even confirm Jen’s existence.

Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag (audio download, CD book, eBook)
Sheriff’s detective Tony Mendez and child advocate Anne Leone investigate the murder of Marissa Fordham, a case that hinges on a key witness, Marissa’s young daughter, Haley. However, they soon discover a shocking fact: Marissa Fordham never existed.

Shatter by Michael Robotham
After Joe O’Loughlin fails to save a woman sobbing on a cell phone from jumping off a bridge, her teenage daughter finds him and reveals that she never would have committed such a desperate act, and that the answer to the mystery may lie with the voice on the other end of the phone.

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens (audio download)
Kidnapped by a psychopath, Annie spent a brutally traumatic year in captivity in a remote mountain cabin. She recounts her experiences and dramatic escape to her therapist while agonizing over the ongoing police search for her captor.

Think of a Number by John Verdon (eBook)
Recently retired NYPD homicide detective Dave Gurney is pulled back into service when an old friend receives threatening letters from a murderous sender who has an uncanny ability to read a person’s thoughts.

Between the Covers: Thrillers

Get Between the Covers with a thrilling page-turner and join the adult summer reading program!

Get Between the Covers with a thrilling page-turner and join the adult summer reading program!

The 500 by Matthew Quirk
Former con artist and Harvard Law student Mike Ford accepts a position with a DC-based consulting firm whose specialty is pulling strings for the 500 most powerful people inside the Beltway.

And Then There Was One by Patricia Gussin
Katie and Scott Monroe’s life is changed forever when two of of their identical triplets disappear from a movie theater.

Archive 17 by Sam Eastland
Appointed by Stalin to find the legendary missing gold of Tsar Nicholas II, former investigator Pekkala goes undercover in Siberia to infiltrate a gang of convicts rumored to know the treasure’s whereabouts.

The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd (eBook)
Ex-FBI agent Steve Vail is asked to help break a shadowy extortion group that is killing people one by one unless the bureau gives them cash, with the dollar amount and body count escalating each time the agency doesn’t pay up.

The Cold Kiss by John Rector
Giving a ride to a snowbound stranger who offers them a lucrative sum, a couple is thrown into a nightmarish situation when the stranger dies in their back seat with more than two million dollars in his possession.

Damaged by Alex Kava (audio download)
When the Coast Guard finds a murdered body in the Gulf of Mexico while preparing for a Category 5 hurricane, Special Agent Maggie O’Dell places herself in the path of the deadly storm to track down the victim’s identity and killer.

The Expats by Chris Pavone (audio download, CD book, eBook)
Newly arrived in Luxembourg, expat Kate Moore suspects that another American couple are not who they claim to be and as her paranoia grows, she becomes increasingly terrified that her own past is catching up with her.

Fifteen Digits by Nick Santora
A fifteen-digit bank account number holds the key to a plot involving five behind-the-scenes employees at a law firm who use discarded documents full of sensitive legal information to get rich.

Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon
In 1945 Istanbul, American undercover agent Leon Bauer’s attempt to save a life leads to a desperate manhunt, a game of shifting loyalties, and an unexpected love affair.

The Last Good Man by A.J. Kazinski
A story based on the Jewish legend about how the world is always protected by 36 people follows the sudden deaths of dozens of humanitarians whose untimely ends are investigated by Copenhagen detective Niels Benzon.

The Last Trade by James Conway
Hedge fund operator Drew Havens endures an explosive six days during which six other talented brokers are killed after executing trades linked to his boss’s lucrative fund.

Missing Child by Patricia MacDonald
Caitlin Eckhart finds her past coming back to haunt her, when her 6-year-old stepson is kidnapped from school, jeopardizing her relationship with her husband and everything she loves.

The Nightmare Thief by Meg Gardiner (audio download, eBook)
Given an expensive “ultimate urban reality” adventure for her 21st birthday, Autumn invites five friends to join her in a simulated drug deal and manhunt on the streets of San Francisco only to be exploited by real kidnappers.

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd
After a chance meeting with a stranger leads Adam Kindred to lose his home, family, friends, job, and reputation, the London police and a hired killer are after him, and Adam joins the army of the missing who live underground as he tries to sort through his life.

The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen
When a joke about making illicit money escalates to a kidnapping scheme, four friends enjoy the proceeds of a low-risk operation until they abduct the wrong target and capture the attentions of the law and a vengeful organized-crime ring.

Rules of Betrayal by Christopher Reich (audio download, CD book, eBook)
Married to an undercover spy who has gone rogue, Jonathan Ransom is catapulted into the shadowy world of double and triple agents, where his life becomes dependent on his discovery of his wife’s true loyalties.

The Sixes by Kate White (eBook)
After being accused of plagiarizing her latest bestselling celebrity biography, Phoebe Hall jumps at the chance to teach at a small college in rural Pennsylvania where she becomes immersed in a deadly mystery involving a mythic secret society known as The Sixes.

Sleepless by Charlie Huston
Working undercover to stop the black market trade of a sleep-aid drug that has become aggressively sought by a world stricken by pandemic insomnia, L.A. cop Parker Haas finds his work compromised by pharmaceutical company corruption.

They’re Watching by Gregg Hurwitz
Struggling with setbacks in his marriage and Hollywood ambitions, Patrick Davis begins receiving mysterious DVDs that reveal that he and his wife are being stalked.

The Wrong Man by David Ellis
When a homeless Iraq War veteran with severe PTSD is arrested for murder, Jason Kolarich agrees to take the case and discovers that the victim had stumbled on a terrorist conspiracy with ties to corporate America.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 13. Read a novel or memoir about motherhood (and grandmotherhood) and have a happy Mother’s Day!

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 13. Read a novel or memoir about motherhood (and grandmotherhood) and have a happy Mother’s Day!

Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg
After the death of her husband, Helen Ames is shocked to discover that he spent their retirement savings before he died, but what he did with their money leads Helen and her 27-year-old daughter Tessa to embark on new adventures.

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway
Entreated to visit her ancestral family in Japan in place of her ailing mother, Sue uncovers family secrets that influence her life in unforeseen ways, offer insight into her mother’s marriage to an American GI and reveal the role of tradition in shaping personal choice.

29 by Adena Halpern
Ellie Jerome is a 75-year-old who feels she has more in common with her granddaughter, Lucy, than her daughter, Barbara. After a birthday wish to be 29 again for a single day, she and Lucy are sent on an adventure of unexpected twists and turns.

Bloom: A Memoir by Kelle Hampton
Recounts the author’s first year with her newborn daughter, Nella–who has Down syndrome–and her own journey of transformation as she realized that she had been chosen to experience an extraordinary and special gift.

Watermelon by Marian Keyes
When her husband, James, leaves her after she delivers her first child, Claire retires to her family in Dublin, where she slowly recovers from the experience, giving James a big surprise when he shows up again.

The Rest of Her Life by Laura Moriarty.
When her daughter accidentally hits and kills another high school girl with the family’s car, Leigh, a troubled mother, is forced to confront her relationship with her daughter and her long-buried feelings towards her own neglectful mother.

Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble
Having received letters and a journal from their mother written at the end of her life, four sisters struggle through their first year without her, a time marked by their bereavement and efforts to achieve joy and passion.

Not Becoming My Mother: And Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way by Ruth Reichl
Reflects on the author’s mother, focusing on her early life as a bookstore owner and housewife and the diaries she kept which had been retrieved by her daughter after her death.

Best Friends, Occasional Enemies: The Lighter Side of Life as a Mother and Daughter by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella
A mother and daughter present personal essays that explore life through their close bond, in a volume inspired by their weekly column, “Chick Wit,” that discusses such topics as their relationship, their carb counts, and the green jacket that almost caused a catfight.

The Leopard Hat: A Daughter’s Story by Valerie Steiker
The author describes her magical childhood growing up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with her mother, a Belgian Jew hidden as a child from the Nazis during World War II, whose appetite for joy, flamboyance, and protectiveness surrounded her family with love, and the tragic loss of her mother during her junior year at Harvard.

Orange Prize for Fiction

The Orange Prize for Fiction honors the most excellent, accessible, and original work of fiction written in English by a woman. The shortlist for the 2012 award is:

The Orange Prize for Fiction honors the most excellent, accessible, and original work of fiction written in English by a woman. The shortlist for the 2012 award is:

Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright

Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding (available 9/12)

The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller

Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

 

Historical Fiction for Teens

This month we’re celebrating Historical Fiction in Teen Services. The list below is not exhaustive – you can find even more historical fiction novels in our shelves! The eras represented here range from the age of Cleopatra, to 1980s India and Zimbabwe! Want a book about a time period not represented here? Ask our teen librarian for a recommendation!

Joe Rat by Mark Barratt. In the sewers of Victorian London, a boy known as Joe Rat scrounges for valuables, which he gives to a criminal mastermind called “Mother,” but a chance meeting with a runaway girl and “the Madman” transforms all of their lives.

Strings Attached by Judy Blundell. When she drops out of school and struggles to start a career on Broadway in the fall of 1950, seventeen-year-old Kit Corrigan accepts help from an old family friend, a lawyer said to have ties with the mob, who then asks her to do some favors for him.

Wrapped by Jennifer Bradbury. Seventeen-year-old Agnes is about to make her debut into 1815 London society at a lavish party (though she’d rather be in Egypt examining ancient mummies) where she meets Lord Showalter, a wealthy and eligible man (who collects Egyptian antiquities), who happens to be hiding a dark and dangerous secret.

The haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzbee. Twelve-year-old Meg travels the rooftops and streets of 1862 London, England, in search of her missing brother, Orion, accompanied by a family friend, the famed author Charles Dickens, whose next quest is to find his next novel.

Deadly by Julie Chibbaro. Sixteen-year-old Prudence Galewski takes a job in the early twentieth-century as assistant to the head epidemiologist at New York City’s Department of Health and Sanitation who is trying to discover how a seemingly healthy woman can be spreading typhoid fever.

The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper. In January 1937, as Sophia FitzOsborne continues to record in her journal, the members of Montmaray’s royal family are living in exile in England but, even as they participate in the social whirl of London parties and balls, they remain determined to free their island home from the occupying Germans despite growing rumors of a coming war that might doom their country forever.

The Ausländer by Paul Dowswell. German soldiers take Peter from a Warsaw orphanage, and soon he is adopted by Professor Kaltenbach, a prominent Nazi, but Peter forms his own ideas about what he sees and hears and decides to take a risk that is most dangerous in 1942 Berlin.

Phantoms in the Snow by Kathleen Brenner Duble. In 1944, fifteen-year-old Noah, recently orphaned, is sent to live with an uncle he has never met at Camp Hale, Colorado, where he finds his pacifist views challenged.

In the Shadow of the Lamp by Susanne Emily Dunlap. Sixteen-year-old Molly Fraser works as a nurse with Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War to earn a salary to help her family survive in nineteenth-century England.

Sphinx’s Queen by Esther M. Friesner. Chased after by the prince and his soldiers for a crime she did not commit, Nefertiti finds temporary refuge in the wild hills along the Nile’s west bank before returning to the royal court to plead her case to the Pharaoh.

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen. Scarlet – a woman who disguises herself as a boy named Will – shadows Robin Hood, but when Gisbourne, a bounty hunter, is hired by the Sheriff of Nottingham, Robin must become Will’s protector.

Then by Morris Gleitzman. In early 1940s Poland, ten-year-old Felix and his friend Zelda escape from a cattle car headed to the Nazi death camps and struggle to survive, first on their own and then with Genia, a farmer with her own reasons for hating Germans.

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber. While Jonathan’s soul is trapped in a painting by dark magic, his possessed body commits unspeakable crimes in the slums of 1882 New York City, and only by luring Natalie Stewart into the painting can they free his damaged soul.

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper. In Victorian London, impoverished fifteen-year-old orphan Grace takes care of her older but mentally unfit sister Lily, and the two become victims of a fraud perpetrated by the wealthy owners of several funeral businesses.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. Rory, of Bouexlieu, Lousiana, is spending a year at a London boarding school when she witnesses a murder by a Jack the Ripper copycat and becomes involved with the very unusual investigation.

The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird. Sixteen-year-old Maggie, accused of being a witch in treacherous seventeenth-century Scotland, escapes imprisonment but brings disaster to her uncle’s door. After she is betrayed, she must try to save her family from the King’s men – at all costs.

Crusade by Elizabeth Laird. Young Adam eagerly joins the Crusade to reclaim the Holy Land in the service of a local knight, while a doctor’s apprentice in the camp of Sultan Saladin hopes to avoid engaging in conflict with the invading crusaders.

In Trouble by Ellen Levine. In 1950s New York, sixteen-year-old Jamie’s life is unsettled since her father returned from serving time in prison for refusing to name people as Communists, when her best friend turns to Jamie for help with an unplanned pregnancy.

Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl. Recently orphaned and destitute, seventeen-year-old Liza earns a position as a lady’s maid to sixteen-year-old Princess Victoria at Kensington Palace in 1836, the year before Victoria becomes Queen of England.

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy. Meeting fearless Benjamin Burrows when she moves to London in 1852, fourteen-year-old Janie Scott helps Benjamin on a quest to rescue his kidnapped father while protecting a sacred apothecary tome from dangerous Russian spies.

Cleopatra Confesses by Carolyn Meyer. Princess Cleopatra, the third (and favorite) daughter of King Ptolemy XII, comes of age in ancient Egypt, accumulating power and discovering love.

The Lost Crown by Sarah Elizabeth Miller. In alternating chapters, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia tell how their privileged lives as the daughters of the tsar in early twentieth-century Russia are transformed by world war and revolution.

The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli. Three years, three months, three days. In 1169 Sicily, when he loses everything in a tsunami, Don Giovanni makes a wager with a stranger he recognizes as the devil but, while desperate enough to surrender his pride and good looks for three years, three months, three days, he refuses to give up his soul.

Karma by Cathy Ostlere. India, 1984. After the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination, Maya and her father are separated and she must rely on Sandeep to reunite them.

Life: an exploded diagram by Mal Peet. In 1960s Norfolk, England, seventeen-year-old Clem Ackroyd lives with his mum and grandmother in a tiny cottage, but his life is transformed when he falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy farmer. Takes place against the backdrop of the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Last Full Measure by Ann Rinaldi. In 1863 Pennsylvania, fourteen-year-old Tacy faces the horrors of the Battle of Gettysburg while trying to stay out of the way of her brother David, who is in charge while their father serves as a doctor in the Union army, and to keep her friend Marvelous, a free black, safe from rebel soldiers.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their home in Lithuania by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death in a prison camp while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like her by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil.

The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow. In 1936 Berlin, fourteen-year-old Karl Stern, considered Jewish despite a non-religious upbringing, learns to box from the legendary Max Schmeling while struggling with the realities of the Holocaust.

The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. A young centurion ventures among the hostile tribes beyond the Roman Wall to recover the eagle standard of the Ninth, a legion which mysteriously disappeared under his father’s command.

Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace. In 1983, at an elite boys’ boarding school in Zimbabwe, thirteen-year-old English lad Robert Jacklin finds himself torn between his black roommate and the white bullies still bitter over losing power through the recent civil war.

Distant Waves: a novel of the Titanic by Suzanne Weyn. Provides a time-traveling adventure as four sisters take a journey aboard the Titanic and end up changing the entire course of history through a series of strange events.

The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf. Recreates the 1912 sinking of the Titanic as observed by different passengers on the ship … and the iceberg.

Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang. Emmajin, the sixteen-year-old eldest granddaughter of Khublai Khan, becomes a warrior in thirteenth-century China.

Earth Day 2012

Sunday, April 22 is Earth Day! Visit the library’s Environmental Center browse our collection of books and periodicals covering all aspects of our environment.

Sunday, April 22 is Earth Day! Visit the library’s Environmental Center browse our collection of books and periodicals covering all aspects of our environment.

Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health and What We Can Do About It by Paul R. Epstein & Dan Ferber

The Complete Guide to Eco-Friendly House Cleaning: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply by Anne B. Kocsis

Cook Food: A Manifesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating by Lisa Miya-Jervis

Earth Then and Now: Amazing Images of Our Changing World by Fred Pearce

The Healthy Home : Simple Truths to Protect Your Family from Hidden Household Dangers by Dave Wentz & Myron Wentz

The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv

The Next Eco-Warriors: 22 Young Women and Men Who Are Saving the Planet edited by Emily Hunter

Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis by Sandra Steingraber

The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health–and a Vision for Change by Annie Leonard

Upcycling: Create Beautiful Things with the Stuff You Already Have by Danny Seo

Wildly Affordable Organic: Eat Fabulous Food, Get Healthy, and Save the Planet–All on $5 a Day or Less by Linda Watson