Book of the Week:
Temple Fall by R.L. Boyle
A macabre and chilling supernatural gothic horror about a group of teenagers cursed to die on their 18th birthday.
Barry's Picks
Pennies from Heaven by James P. Blaylock
With a 100-year storm threatening the southern California coast, Jane Larkin is approached by a strange, audacious woman who wants to invest much-needed money in Jane’s Old Orange Co-op. Meanwhile Jane’s husband Jerry discovers an ancient excavation beneath the Larkin home. On that ominous morning in autumn, shadows descend over the deceptively quiet neighborhoods of Old Orange, ushering in a flood of chaos, terror, and murder.
To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild
To End All Wars focuses on the long-ignored moral drama of the war’s critics, alongside its generals and heroes. Many of these dissenters were thrown in jail for their opposition to the war, from a future Nobel Prize winner to an editor behind bars who distributed a clandestine newspaper on toilet paper. These critics were sometimes intimately connected to their enemy hawks: one of Britain’s most prominent women pacifist campaigners had a brother who was commander in chief on the Western Front. Two well-known sisters split so bitterly over the war that they ended up publishing newspapers that attacked each other.
Guillermo Del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities by Guillermo Del Toro
Cabinet of Curiosities begins with a book-length interview with del Toro by New York Times best-selling author and filmmaker Marc Scott Zicree, in which they identify and discuss del Toro’s reigning themes, citing examples of his signature motifs that have originated in the notebooks and then migrated to the minds of other artists del Toro has worked with, including storyboard artists, concept artists, makeup artists, cinematographers, and comic book artists. Also explored are del Toro’s personal inspirations, including literary references, old films, and figures from mythology.
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Watership Down is a 1978 British animated adventure drama film written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the hugely popular book of the same name by Richard Adams. It was released on October 19, 1978, and was an immediate success, becoming the sixth most popular film of 1979 at the British box office. The same year of the film release, "The Watership Down Film Picture Book with linking text by Richard Adams" was published, a book of pictures from the film with linking text from the original novel by Richard Adams. It features a preface written by Richard Adams and a foreword written by Martin Rosen; hardcover with glossy printed cover over boards, 9.5" x 8'" x 1", more than 250 color stills from the film captioned with quotes from the book and the movie script, unpaginated - over 200 pages. The Lapine Glossary (courtesy of Richard Adams) appears at the back.
No Ordinary Time Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Pulitzer Prize–winning classic about the relationship between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, and how it shaped the nation while steering it through the Great Depression and the outset of World War II.
Patty's Picks
Bridgerton: The Duke & I by Julia Quinn
The story of Daphne Bridgerton, in the first of her beloved Regency romance novels featuring the charming, powerful Bridgerton family.
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual kind of clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Marry Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb.... As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends - and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island - boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.
The Library of Amorlin by Kaylyn Josephson
A brilliant con artist and a secretive librarian collide in this enchanting adult fantasy packed with twists, tricks, slow burn romantic tension, and magical creatures. When Kasira assumes the role of the new Assistant Librarian, she enters an enchanting world brimming with books and beasts, tempting her with a life she can never have. But Kasira’s real future depends on her long con to bring down the Librarian. Unfortunately, Allaster is as prickly as he is handsome, and his monstrous secrets are about to catch up with them both.
Spell Caster by Jaymin Eve
Intense enemies-to-lovers romantasy with steamy heat, magical creatures, fast pacing, and stakes that will keep you hooked. Dive into a world where love is as dangerous as power—and nothing is ever as it seems.
Amie's Picks
Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly
A fairy-tale twist on expectations. Beau is a thief. After the black-haired Spaniard’s good looks get him into the good graces of rich women, his robber band swoops in to monopolize on his ill-gotten insider knowledge. Their last job went sideways, and as the group rides for their lives through the woods in France, they stumble upon a castle, imposing and empty, with a feast laid out in the great hall. All too soon, a wolflike monster attacks, and as the men flee, the bridge—which is the only way out—collapses, leaving a terrified Beau behind. The castle is not abandoned, after all, but is filled with servants, a court of odd ladies-in-waiting, and, at their head, a beautiful woman named Lady Arabella. Beau needs to escape to help his sick brother, but he’s intrigued by some sort of secret—maybe even magic?—at the heart of this castle. Plus, blond, gray-eyed Arabella is beautiful when she’s not in a temper. With this gender-swapped “Beauty and the Beast,” Donnelly has crafted an absorbing fairy-tale retelling. Each of the main characters is complicated, possessing good intentions that have been buried thanks to harsh circumstances. The main pleasure of this book, aside from the witty dialogue and the delightful suspense of the slowly unfurling mystery, comes from witnessing two lost souls finding each other and becoming better people for it. Ultimately, this story is about learning to love oneself, despite what society has deemed “beastly.”
Compass South by Hope Larson
Get ready for a thrilling journey in Compass South, a New York Times–bestselling middle-grade graphic novel full of pirates and adventure.
The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweet water washing away all of high society’s troubles. Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.
The Unexpected Consequence of Bleeding on a Tuesday by Kelsey B. Toney
High school senior Delia Bridges has the most amazing mom and sister, a killer GPA--and periods that are so painful they make her scream, pass out, and throw up. Though she doesn't know it yet, Delia has endometriosis, an affliction plaguing millions of people that is notoriously difficult to diagnose. Pain makes everything harder, but Delia is just one semester away from graduating from Stockwood Prep and pursuing her dream of becoming the kind of doctor she's never had: one who takes her symptoms seriously. But when she breaks a rule for the first time ever and is caught using marijuana at school to manage her pain, Delia is expelled.
Hearing Lies by Olivia Smit
After a year of navigating her final year of high school, Skylar Brady can’t wait to go back to Golden Sound. But when she gets there, nothing is quite like she expected. Anastasia is gone, the library is in danger of closing, and there’s something Cam isn’t telling her. Skylar is sure she can rescue the library. But can she save Cam?
Acacia's Picks
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Neuromancer is a science fiction masterpiece—a classic that ranks as one of the twentieth century’s most potent visions of the future. Case was the sharpest data-thief in the matrix—until he crossed the wrong people and they crippled his nervous system, banishing him from cyberspace. Now a mysterious new employer has recruited him for a last-chance run at an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, a mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case is ready for the adventure that upped the ante on an entire genre of fiction.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Call of the Wild is a novel by Jack London published in 1903. The story is set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush—a period when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The novel's central character is a dog named Buck, a domesticated dog living at a ranch in the Santa Clara valley of California as the story opens. Stolen from his home and sold into the brutal existence of an Alaskan sled dog, he reverts to atavistic traits. Buck is forced to adjust to, and survive, cruel treatments and fight to dominate other dogs in a harsh climate. Eventually he sheds the veneer of civilization, relying on primordial instincts and lessons he learns, to emerge as a leader in the wild. London lived for most of a year in the Yukon collecting material for the book.
Do Aneroids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick
By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any living creature, and for people who can’t afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. They’ve even built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth. Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings, undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is commissioned to find rogue androids and “retire” them. But when cornered, androids fight back—with lethal force.
The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
In this captivating narrative of natural history (enlivened with more than seventy original illustrations and photographs), Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost
stars of the field?naming fifteen new species and leading groundbreaking scientific studies and fieldwork?masterfully tells the complete, surprising, and new history of the dinosaurs, drawing on cutting-
edge science to dramatically bring to life their lost world and illuminate their enigmatic origins, spectacular flourishing, astonishing diversity, cataclysmic extinction, and startling living legacy. Captivating and revelatory, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a book for the ages.