New Releases: August 2023 Edition

New Releases: August 2023 Edition

Check out these highly anticipated August releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month!  

FICTION

Las Madres by Esmeralda Santiago - In her first novel since the widely acclaimed When I Was Puerto Rican, author Santiago tells the story of a close-knit group of Puerto Rican women bound by ties of family and friendship. It all begins in 1975 when aspiring ballerina Luz, is gravely injured in an automobile accident that takes the lives of both of her parents. Many years later, Luz, now living in the Bronx, returns to the island, accompanied by her daughter and the friends who helped raise her, to revisit the past and uncover the truth about the accident that inalterably changed the course of her life. When Hurricane Maria strikes and long-buried secrets come to light, they all get more than they bargained for.

Fever House by Keith Rosson - When leg-breaking debt collectors Hutch and Tim attempt to strong arm a drug addict named Wesley, who owes their boss $12,000, they find a severed hand hidden in a Wonder Bread bag and decide to take it home. Bad idea. Madness ensues. Full-throated splatter punk, gritty noir, rock and roll, break- neck pacing and, surprisingly well-realized characters. What’s not to love?

Mobility by Lydia Kiesling - The personal meets the political head on, in the story of Bunny a self-described “foreign service brat" who, after a privileged childhood in various exotic postings, moves on to an equally privileged adulthood as an oil company executive in Texas. But can she reconcile her comfortable life with her role in shaping the dire future she sees looming on the horizon?

NONFICTION

The Underworld:Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey - For centuries, mariners have spun tales of a sinister undersea world of deadly peril and marvelous creatures. Now cutting-edge technologies have allowed scientists to dive miles beneath the ocean’s surface, and they have discovered both marvelous creatures and deadly peril. Soaring mountains, smoldering volcanoes, valleys 7,000 times as deep as Everest is high, shimmering creatures one hundred feet long, sharks that live half a millennium and an estimated three million shipwrecks littering the ocean floor, to name a few. In her new work, oceanographic enthusiast Casey chronicles her own literal and figurative deep dive into the past, present and precarious future of the watery world that lies beneath.  

Anansi’s Gold: TheMan Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington and Swindled the World by Yepoka Yeebo. Some consider him the most successful con man in history. Beginning in 1957 after Ghana achieved independence from Britain, John Ackah Blay-Miezah perpetrated a series of audacious frauds, raking in millions, living large on several continents, and luring in many notable figures including, Nixon’s attorney general John Mitchell and child star and one-time US ambassador to Ghana, Shirley Temple Black. In Anansi’s Gold, Ghanaian journalist Yeebo tells the story of this charismatic man who hoodwinked just about everybody he met and proved maddeningly adept at escaping justice all along the way.

Althea by Sally Jacobs - Before Venus and Serena Williams, there was Althea Gibson. Three years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in professional baseball, Althea Gibson entered the rarefied, largely upper-crust world of professional tennis. Many were skeptical. After all, apart from the color of her skin, her impoverished background, short hair and tattered jeans fit nobody’s image of how a tennis player looks. Never mind, Gibson’s ability to play soon silenced all critics. Now, author Jacobs chronicles the life and career of this woman who defied multiple obstacles to win Wimbledon, hobnob with dignitaries and become a personal hero to women and people of color who aspired to secure a place on the court.

New Releases: July 2023 Edition

Check out these highly anticipated July releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month!  

FICTION

Carnivale of Curiosities by Aimee Gibbs In Victorian London tickets to a traveling sideshow, the Carnivale of Curiosities, are a hot commodity. Throngs gather nightly to gaze in wonder at an astounding assemblage of marvels. For those few in the know, however, the real magic happens behind the curtain, where for the right price, the show’s proprietor, Aurelius Ashe, can make any wish come true. This unique and dazzling gothic tale is set in a spectacular circus where star-crossed lovers’ destinies are forged at an unexpected price. Intrigued? Author Colson Whitehead calls Carnivale of Curiosities, “wonderfully imagined” and “fiendishly clever.”

 

Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson This classic coming of age tale set in the West African neighborhoods of South London, tells the story of aspiring trumpet player, Stephen, whose overriding passion for music and dance puts him at odds with his father an ambitious Ghanaian immigrant, who harbors more conventional dreams for his offspring. Nelson’s lovely prose and quietly meditative tone perfectly capture the heat of a city summer, the pulsing beat of a smoky dance club, the intensity of youth, the intimacy of family life, the trauma of intergenerational conflict, and the yearning for freedom from the expectations of others. 

 

The Librarianist by Patrick DeWitt Bob Comet is a retired librarian living a contented life surrounded by books and small comforts, when an unexpected encounter in a grocery store motivates him to volunteer at the local senior center where he is soon surrounded by a host of quirky characters. Gradually the complexities of Comet’s inner life and past adventures are revealed. This poignant and often very funny book celebrates the extraordinary depths hidden in even the most ordinary of lives.

 

NONFICTION

The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight by Andrew Leland Diagnosed with a condition called retinitis pigmentosa as a child, Andrew Leland has long known that he will eventually become totally blind. Leland has used his considerable emotional and intellectual resources to explore the social, cultural, political and, most importantly personal aspects of what it means to become a citizen of “the country of the blind.” He shares his story with abundant wit, warmth and no sentimentality, determined to gain whatever insight he can, into what he maintains is one of the generative experiences of his life. 

 

Bogie and Bacall: The Surprising True Story of Hollywood’s Greatest Love Affair by William J. Mann Actor Humphrey Bogart was forty-five years old, an established star and unhappily married when he met 19-year-old Lauren Bacall on the set of the film To Have or Have Not. Romance ensued; scandal followed and Hollywood pundits predicted that, of course, the couple would not last. They were wrong. Following his divorce, Bogie and Bacall married and they remained together-by all accounts happily-until his death in 1957. In this book, author William Mann offers a comprehensive look at this remarkable love story, capturing all of its complications, contradictions and challenges with sympathy and in great depth.

Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces that Sway Doctors Impact Patients, and Shape our Health by Dr Anupam P. Jena and Dr Christopher Worsham Why are children more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD at certain times of year than others? Why were Republicans far more likely to die of COVID than Democrats? Are marathons bad for your health even if you do not run?  Is it better to choose an experienced physician or a rookie? These are just a few of the questions addressed by authors Jena and Worsham as they delve into the social, political, economic and cultural factors that help define the landscape of  American healthcare. This is an entertaining and thought-provoking exploration of one of the most critical issues of our time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Releases: June 2023 Edition

Check out these highly anticipated June releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month! 

FICTION

 The Whispers by Audrey Audrain The peace of a summer barbecue in a bucolic suburban community is shattered when a hitherto “perfect mother” explodes in rage at her teenage son, Xavier. Scandalous enough, but when Zach falls through his bedroom window and ends up hospitalized and in a coma, friendships unravel and whispers abound. As in her previous best-selling novel, The Push, Audrain’s new work offers twist after suspenseful twist.

Open Throat: A Novel by Henry Hoke A lonely, dangerously hungry mountain lion, exiled from his family by his domineering father, ekes out a living below the Hollywood sign, and ponders the variety of humans who cross his path. Question is, does he want to eat a human or become one? This poignant highly original novel is garnering a host of rave reviews.

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women:A Novel by Lisa See Born into an aristocratic family in 15^th century China, Tan Yunxian overcomes numerous obstacles to become a physician catering especially to women. This richly detailed portrait of a strong woman and the time and place in which she lived, is based on a true story.

NONFICTION

Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper A self-described, “blerd”, black nerd, Cooper has been an avid birder since he was ten years old. Every spring he takes a short ride on the subway from his home to Central Park where he studies the migratory patterns of the Park’s avian population, a supremely peaceful pursuit, until in 2019, when a racially charged confrontation with a dog walker, was caught on film and went viral. Equal parts memoir, travelogue, and primer on the art of birding, Better Living Through Birding encourages us to both wake up to the racism that permeates our lives, and look up into the sky above us.

100 Places to See After You Die by Ken Jennings Think you’ve been there and done everything? Not so fast. From New York Times bestselling author, legendary Jeopardy! champion, and host Ken Jennings comes a hilarious travel guide to the afterlife, exploring destinations to die for from literature, mythology, and pop culture ranging from Dante’s Inferno to Hadestown to NBC’s The Good Place.  As the reviewer from Kirkus suggested, the book could be titled, everything you wanted to know about the afterlife but were too alive to ask.

 

      

 

  

PageBoy: A Memoir by Elliot Page Before he became one of the most well-known trans men in the world, Elliot Page, a talented  actor who had garnered critical respect for the roles he played in a number of mostly small indie films, before the breakout film, Juno, catapulted him to fame and earned him an Academy Award. What should have been a dream come true, became instead a nightmare, when Page, who was just beginning his transition, was forced to act the part of a hot young starlet, a role that made his skin crawl. In this highly anticipated memoir, Page shares the story of his search for identity and his coming of age in Hollywood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Releases: May Edition

Check out these highly anticipated May releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month! 

FICTION

Yellowface by R.F Kuang Plagiarism, white lies, snarky humor, biting satire, cultural appropriation and deadly consequences, all wrapped up in this fast-moving page turner by author R. F. Kuang, best known for writing fantasy.  First-time author Juniper Song is a literary sensation. Her new novel is at the top of the charts. Juniper should be thrilled, but there is just one problem — well, make that three. Juniper is not who she says she is, she didn’t actually write the book, she claims to have written, and she certainly is not Asian American. Instead, she is June Hayward, self-described “basic white girl” who takes advantage of the sudden death of her friend, the brilliant writer Athena Liu, to….umhh....steal her manuscript and make it her own—under an assumed name and fraudulent credentials of course. Hayward reasons that a book this good deserves to be published no matter who the author happens to be, right?  What could possibly go wrong?

Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda Author Pochoda set out to write a feminist Western  thriller, every bit as dark and gritty as Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. Hard-core noir in other words, but with female protagonists. When Florida Baum and Diosmary Sandoval, inmates at an Arizona Women’s prison, are given an unexpected reprieve, they set out for Los Angeles across a COVID-haunted landscape, making one bad decision after another until they draw the attention of Lobos, a detective with a few secrets of her own. A riveting cat and mouse game ensues, and the story moves toward its inevitable, explosive end.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese In his highly anticipated new novel, Verghese, author of the best-selling  Cutting for Stone, follows the fortunes of a South Indian family afflicted with a mysterious condition. In each generation, at least one member of the family dies from drowning. This sweeping saga of love, family, faith, politics and medicine, has already garnered a host of nothing less than ecstatic reviews.

NONFICTION

Traffic: Genius, Rivalry and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to go Viral by Ben Smith This is one of the latest entries among the reams of books devoted to analyzing the impact that digital media has had on our lives. Ben Smith, controversial former Editor-in-Chief of the now defunct BuzzFeed News, brings us back to the heady beginning when larger-than-life characters and the companies they established, including Buzzfeed, Gawker and HuffPost competed fiercely for the attention of a voracious, click-ready online audience, and invented the now ubiquitous term, “going viral.”  

Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of Latino by Hector Tobar Latin people, writes Pulitzer-Prize winning author Hector Tobar, “are brown, Black, white and Indigenous and they are European, Asian and African. Some speak excellent Spanish; many do not. In Our Migrant Souls, Tobar explores what it means to be identified in as Latino (Latina, Latinx) in 21^st century American society. He interweaves anecdotes of his childhood as the son of Guatemalan immigrants in LA, with historical vignettes, and a critique of the one-dimensional way in which Latinos are portrayed in popular culture. Spoiler alert: suffering refugees, and ruthless drug cartels, dominate in the media.  Timely and thought-provoking.

Quietly Hostile: Essays by Samantha Irby Readers who have laughed  their way through any of Irby’s three previous titles have been looking forward to Quietly Hostile, big time. Anyone who has not yet encountered the work of this self-described “sick fat, and queer” comic may want to start here. Irby’s essays tackle “all the gory details of modern life" including incontinence, QVC, Justin Bieber, Trader Joes, and Dave Matthews.  

 

 

Foundation Directory Online Professional Database at WPL

Research is key to finding grant funding opportunities for the non-profit community and that process can be made a lot easier by using the Foundation Directory Online Professional Database available at the library.

The Foundation Directory is a searchable database that provides comprehensive information on U.S. grant makers for non-profits seeking support. Create a custom search based on subject, geography, type of support, grant maker type, foundation staff names, and many other search fields. There is no remote access to this database so it can only be accessed in-house on all library public computers. Search results can be downloaded and saved via email or with a flash drive. 

The library offers an in-person class on the 2nd Monday each month that provides an overview of how to use the database. If you can't attend the class, contact our business resources librarian, Jackie, at jdzugan@mywpl.org to schedule an appointment for individual instruction.

Virtual Money Smart Week, April 17 - 21, 2023

 

Virtual Money Smart Week is a national, free campaign that aims to help people better manage their personal finances through a coordinated effort of experts and educators across the country.

This year's line-up of free, virtual events include:

• Family Budgeting | Monday, April 17 @ 12:00 p.m. 
• Presented by Katie Cullum of the University of Arkansas System, Division of Agriculture
• Instituciones Financieras | Tuesday, April 18 @ 12:00 p.m. 
• Presented by Vanessa Arita Reyes of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions
• Debt Relief | Wednesday, April 19 @ 12:00 p.m. 
• Presented by Bruce McCleary of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling
• Employer Retirement Plans | Thursday, April 20 @ 12:00 p.m. Presented by Kimberly Johnson of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration

Click on the program title links above to register for any of these free events.

The library has valuable resources to assist those wanting to improve their financial future and gain a better, well-informed understanding of how to manage their finances. A large collection of books on this subject can found on the 2nd floor of the library. The library has a subscription to the Morningstar Investment Center Research database that can be accessed from home with a WPL library card and PIN. If you need guidance on how to use Morningstar, please email Jackie, our business resources librarian, at jdzugan@mywpl.org.

A Staff Pick's book list for Financial Literacy can be found here.

New Releases: April Edition

Check out these highly anticipated April releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month! 

Fiction

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

They are what’s left. They are what must survive. Kyr is one of the best warriors of her generation, the sword of a dead planet. But when Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to the nursery to bear sons until she dies trying, she knows she must take humanity’s revenge into her own hands.

  

Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb 

A gripping page-turner about a professor who uncovers a shocking secret about the most famous American composer of all time—that his music was stolen from a young Black composer named Josephine Reed. Determined to uncover the truth and right history’s wrongs, Bern Hendricks will stop at nothing to finally give Josephine the recognition she deserves.

Pomegrante by Helen Elaine Lee

Ranita is regaining her freedom, but she’s leaving behind her lover Maxine, who has inspired her to imagine herself and the world differently. Now she must steer clear of the temptations that have pulled her down, while atoning for her missteps and facing old wounds. With a fierce, smart, and sometimes funny voice, Ranita reveals how rocky and winding the path to wellness is for a Black woman, even as she draws on family, memory, faith, and love in order to choose life.

Nonfiction

Honey, Baby, Mine by Laura Dern & Diane Ladd

Laura Dern and Diane Ladd always had a close relationship, but the stakes were raised when Diane developed a sudden life-threatening illness. Diane’s doctor prescribed long walks to build back her lung capacity. The exertion was challenging, and Laura soon learned the best way to distract her mom was to get her talking and telling stories. 

The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War

Drawing on a broad range of sources, most notably Du Bois’s unpublished manuscript and research materials, Williams tells a sweeping story of hope, betrayal, disillusionment, and transformation, setting into motion a fresh understanding of the life and mind of arguably the most significant scholar-activist in African American history. 

If It Sounds Like a Quack…: A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine By Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

It's no secret that American health care has become too costly and politicized to help everyone. So where do you turn if you can't afford doctors, or don't trust them? In this book, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling examines the growing universe of non-traditional treatments -- including some that are really non-traditional.

New Releases: March Edition

Check out these highly anticipated March releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month! 

Fiction

Evil Eye by Eta Rum

After Yara is placed on probation at work for fighting with a racist coworker, her Palestinian mother claims the provocation and all that’s come after were the result of a family curse. While Yara doesn’t believe in old superstitions, she finds herself unpacking her strict, often volatile childhood growing up in Brooklyn, looking for clues as to why she feels so unfulfilled in a life her mother could only dream of.

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey 

Pulsing with suspense and intellect while blending nonfiction and fiction, Biography of X is a roaring epic that plumbs the depths of grief, art, and love. In her most ambitious novel yet, Catherine Lacey, one of our most acclaimed literary innovators, pushes her craft to its highest level, introducing us to an unforgettable character who, in her tantalizing mystery, shows us the fallibility of the stories we craft for ourselves.

What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez

The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteen‑year‑old middle child Ruthy disappeared after track practice without a trace, it left the family scarred and scrambling. One night, twelve years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show. She rushes to tell her younger sister, Nina: This woman's hair is dyed red, and she calls herself Ruby, but the beauty mark under her left eye is instantly recognizable. Could it be Ruthy, after all this time?

Nonfiction

We Were Once a Family: A Stry of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian 

After a car crash of two white mothers and their six adopted black children was deemed a murder suicide, we follow Asgarian as she tries to uncover more about the children and their birth families. Her reporting uncovers racial biases and corruption as children of color are separated from birth parents without proper cause. The result is a riveting narrative and an indictment of a system that continues to fail America’s most vulnerable children while upending the lives of their families.

Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence by Paco Calvo

A leading figure in the philosophy of plant signaling and behavior, Paco Calvo offers an entirely new perspective on plant biology. In Planta Sapiens, he shows for the first time how we can use tools developed in animal cognition studies in a quest to deeply understand plant intelligence.Most importantly, he demonstrates that plants are neither objects nor resources; they are agents in themselves, and for themselves.

Above Ground by Clint Smith

Clint Smith’s vibrant and compelling new collection traverses the vast emotional terrain of fatherhood, and explores how becoming a parent has recalibrated his sense of the world. Above Ground wrestles with how we hold wonder and despair in the same hands, how we carry intimate moments of joy and a collective sense of mourning in the same body.