Ghost
By Sawyer Bennett
A place where staff reviews are shared with the public! Be kind, all of these reviews are done by staff members who want to share what they are/have been reading, watching, and listening to. We also share what is new in the libraries and a staff member gives a brief blurb about the book, courtesy of our OPAC (Syndetics Unbound Blurbs) or Novelist Blurbs about the books.
Ghost
By Sawyer Bennett
January 4, 2021
Adult Fiction
The Secret Lives of
Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw.
“The Secret Lives of
Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where black women and girls
dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good.
The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters
grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the
church's double standards and their own needs and passions."-- Provided by
publisher.
The Land of Nod by Daniel Rose.
Maggie Stump is the eldest
daughter from a family of four children who were all named from the Bible. But
there is nothing holy about the Stump family. They are an old-ball mix of
druggies and drunks, linked together through shared history and common sorrows.
Predictably dysfunctional, they all appear to be going nowhere fast. Then enter
one catalyst in the form of a wild crazy circus clown whose tattoos suggest
interplanetary alignments, and change enters the formula. Maggie discovers
talents that she didn’t know she possessed, and just in time as her entire
family is perched on the brink of disaster. It is only through Maggie’s newly
acquired psychic skills that she is able to save her brothers and sister from
certain self-destruction.
The Law of Innocence by Michael Connolly.
"Defense attorney
Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, who find the body of a client in the
trunk of his Lincoln. Haller is charged with murder and can't make the exorbitant
$5 million bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge. Mickey elects to defend
himself and must strategize and build his defense from his jail cell in the
Twin Towers Correctional Center in downtown Los Angeles, all the while looking
over his shoulder--as an officer of the court he is an instant target. Mickey
knows he's been framed. Now, with the help of his trusted team, he has to
figure out who has plotted to destroy his life and why. Then he has to go
before a judge and jury and prove his innocence."-- Amazon.com.
Adult Non-Fiction
The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris.
“By reckoning with the big
challenges we face together, drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from
her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, Kamala Harris
offers in The Truths We Hold a master class in problem solving, in crisis
management, and leadership in challenging times. Through the arc of her own
life, on into the great work of our day, she communicates a vision of shared
struggle, shared purpose, and shared values. In a book rich in many home
truths, not least is that a relatively small number of people work very hard to
convince a great many of us that we have less in common than we actually do,
but it falls to us to look past them and get on with the good work of living
our common truth. When we do, our shared effort will continue to sustain us and
this great nation, now and in the years to come."-- Provided by publisher.
Rage by Bob Woodward.
An essential account of
the Trump presidency draws on interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes,
diaries, and confidential documents to provide details about Trump's moves as
he faced a global pandemic, economic disaster, and racial unrest.
Easy/Juvenile/Young Adult/Graphic Novel
Pirate Stew by Neil Gaiman. E
"Long John has a
whole crew of wild pirates in tow, and--for one boy and his sister--he's about
to transform a perfectly ordinary evening into a riotous adventure beneath a
pirate moon."—Provided by publisher.
Don’t Turn Out the
Lights by Jonathan Maberry. J
Featuring stories from
R.L. Stine and Madeleine Roux, this middle grade horror anthology curated by
New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry is a chilling tribute to
Alvin Schwartz s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. A life-size baby doll that
stalks its prey. A flesh-hungry ogre who jingle jangles when he walks. A
haunted house just dying for a visitor. What do all these things have in
common? They’re scarier in the dark!
December 28, 2020
Adult Fiction
All In by Shelley Shepard Gray.
Meredith Hunt is content
with her solo life. She owns and runs a successful Pilates studio, volunteers
at the high school every week, and recently bought a house. She can take care
of herself, which is good because she has a hard time relying on other people.
When she's mugged and a handsome man comes to her rescue, she doesn't know how
to accept his help -- or how to stop staring into his chocolate-brown eyes.
The Bitter Season by Tami Hoag.
As the dreary, bitter
weather of late fall descends on Minneapolis, Detective Nikki Liska is
restless, already bored with her new assignment to the cold case squad. She
misses the rush of pulling an all-nighter and the sense of urgency of hunting a
desperate killer on the loose. Most of all she misses her old partner, Sam
Kovac. Kovac is having an even harder time adjusting to Liska's absence,
saddled with a green new partner younger than most of Sam's wardrobe. But Kovac
is distracted from his troubles by an especially brutal double homicide: a
prominent university professor and his wife, bludgeoned and hacked to death in
their home with a ceremonial Japanese samurai sword. Liska's case--the unsolved
murder of a decorated sex crimes detective--is less of a distraction:
Twenty-five years later, there is little hope for finding the killer who got
away. Meanwhile, Minneapolis resident Evi Burke has a life she only dreamed of
as a kid in and out of foster homes: a beautiful home, a family, people who
love her, a fulfilling job. But a danger from her past is stalking her idyllic
present. A danger bent on destroying the perfect life she was never meant to
have. As the trails of two crimes a quarter of century apart twist and cross,
Kovac and Liska race to find answers before a killer strikes again. --
Amazon.com
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.
For years, rumors of the
"Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North
Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the
locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not
what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in
the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the
sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two
young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a
new life--until the unthinkable happens.
Adult Non-Fiction
Don’t Tell ‘Em You’re
Cold by Katherine P. Manley.
Don't Tell 'Em You're
Cold: A Memoir of Poverty and Resilience is an uplifting story of survival from
abject poverty, set in the hills and coal camps of southern West Virginia.
Katherine Manley and her family faced extreme challenges and struggles with
ingenuity and traditional Appalachian stoicism. Beyond the poverty, other
obstacles compounded Katherine's life: a severely disabled father, and a mother
who struggled with the day-to-day survival. On a cool October morning, she left
in a taxi and never returned, leaving 14-year-old Katherine to take care of her
father and raise her siblings in her mother's stead. Katherine went on to
become an award-winning teacher, paying forward her hard-learned lessons to
thousands of lucky students. This is a story of triumph that encourages
everyone to never give up.
Just Smile and Say
Hello by Trang Moreland.
Just Smile and Say Hello
is an inspirational autobiography from poverty in my homeland, Viet Nam, to
successful businesswoman of modern America. You’ll be swept far away to a
little hut with a dirt floor where my family and I lived for many years. You
will venture into our rice paddy where I would swim in a bomb crater left over
from the war while not knowing what it was. You’ll learn in detail how rice is
really grown. You can see, smell, and hear as if you were actually there.
You’ll learn about my brother and sister’s arranged marriages. You’ll learn
about our school system and how difficult it was to be able to get to school on
a daily basis. You’ll visit the local village, the market, the city… You will
go everywhere with me for my first 21 years. You will meet my mother, and learn
of her struggles, and hear stories such as how she could only afford to buy a
spoonful of sugar at one time, and how she was able to survive when she never
made one paycheck her entire life or received any government assistance. Then,
you’ll journey with me to America, a strange place far away that spoke a
language I did not know. You will learn how, with very little money, I was able
to go to trade school and become a successful business owner, first of a
restaurant and then a beauty salon. You will learn so much about the Vietnamese
culture, history, and much more… You will have a difficult time putting this
book down! -- From Amazon.com
Easy/Juvenile/Young Adult/Graphic Novel
Heroes Reborn: The
Avengers by Rob Liefeld, Jim
Valentine, Jeph Loeb, Scott Lobdell, Jim Lee, Brandon Choi, et. al. (GN)
In 1996, the hottest
creators of the day teamed up to reimagine and reinvigorate Marvel's greatest
heroes. The Avengers and Fantastic Four were reborn with bold new looks on a
brave new world, their origins re-envisioned with a raw vitality and
contemporary sensibility! Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Hawkeye,
Hellcat and more: The Avengers lineup is both new and classic - but will Thor
assemble alongside them? They'll need him against revised versions of Kang, Ultron,
the Enchantress, the Masters of Evil and more -but as Ant-Man and Iron Man
enter the fray, what is Loki up to in the shadows? Plus: The Avengers and
Fantastic Four take on the Hulk - and Galactus!
The Science of Fortnite by James Daley. (J NF)
This book will discuss how
many of the game's most fantastical weapons might actually work, how the
player-made structures would or wouldn't stand up to the stress of battle, and
what the deal is with that huge purple storm! Whether you're a fan of Battle
Royale, Save the World, or Creative play, The Science of
Fortnite will entertain and enlighten you with the scientific truths
behind this amazing game.
Brooke County Public Libraries Wellsburg (304) 737-1551 Follansbee (304) 527-0860
Happy Holidays, All!