Author: Jollett, Mikel, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: B JOLLETT Format: Books Summary: "HOLLYWOOD PARK is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country's most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer. We were never young. We were just too afraid of ourselves. No one told us who we were or what we were or where all our parents went. They would arrive like ghosts, visiting us for a morning, an afternoon. They would sit with us or walk around the grounds, to laugh or cry or toss us in the air while we screamed. Then they'd disappear again, for weeks, for months, for years, leaving us alone with our memories and dreams, our questions and confusion. ... So begins Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollett's remarkable memoir. His story opens in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country's most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader's mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult's 'School.' After spending years in what was essentially an orphanage, Mikel escaped the cult one morning with his mother and older brother. But in many ways, life outside Synanon was even harder and more erratic. In his raw, poetic and powerful voice, Jollett portrays a childhood filled with abject poverty, trauma, emotional abuse, delinquency and the lure of drugs and alcohol. Raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to Stanford University and, eventually, to finding his voice as a writer and musician. Hollywood Park is told at first through the limited perspective of a child, and then broadens as Jollett begins to understand the world around him. Although Mikel Jollett's story is filled with heartbreak, it is ultimately an unforgettable portrayal of love at its fiercest and most loyal"--
Author: Gopnik, Blake, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: B WARHOL Format: Books Summary: The definitive biography of a fascinating and paradoxical figure, one of the most influential artists of his--or any--age To this day, mention the name "Andy Warhol" to almost anyone and you'll hear about his famous images of soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. But though Pop Art became synonymous with Warhol's name and dominated the public's image of him, his life and work are infinitely more complex and multi-faceted than that. In Warhol, esteemed art critic Blake Gopnik takes on Andy Warhol in all his depth and dimensions. "The meanings of his art depend on the way he lived and who he was," as Gopnik writes. "That's why the details of his biography matter more than for almost any cultural figure," from his working-class Pittsburgh upbringing as the child of immigrants to his early career in commercial art to his total immersion in the "performance" of being an artist, accompanied by global fame and stardom--and his attempted assassination. The extent and range of Warhol's success, and his deliberate attempts to thwart his biographers, means that it hasn't been easy to put together an accurate or complete image of him. But in this biography, unprecedented in its scope and detail as well as in its access to Warhol's archives, Gopnik brings to life a figure who continues to fascinate because of his contradictions--he was known as sweet and caring to his loved ones but also a cold-hearted manipulator; a deep-thinking avant-gardist but also a true lover of schlock and kitsch; a faithful churchgoer but also an eager sinner, skeptic, and cynic.Wide-ranging and immersive, Warhol gives us the most robust and intricate picture to date of a man and an artist who consistently defied easy categorization and whose life and work continue to profoundly affect our culture and society today.
Author: Lund, Cameron, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: Y LUND Format: Books Summary: "When eighteen-year-old Keely Collins decides to lose her virginity, she fears Dean, a college student, will be turned off by her inexperience, so she decides to start with lifelong friend Andrew." -- As the last virgin in her group of friends, Keely wants to have that experience too. She needs to find someone she trusts and actually likes, and fast. Problem is, she's known all the boys in her small high school forever. New guy Dean is already in college, and Keely is convinced he'll drop her if he finds out how inexperienced she is. Keely decides her lifelong best friend, Andrew, has clearly been with enough girls that he can show her the ropes before she goes all the way with Dean. She believes they can stay just friends-- but things are about to get complicated. -- adapted from jacket
Author: Miller, Samuel, 1991- author. Published: 2020 Call Number: Y MILLER Format: Books Summary: Told in multiple voices, teens at a preparatory school for the exceptional in the forests of Utah uncover a larger mystery after a student disappears. Emma stands out. Which is hard to do at Redemption Prep, a school where every student has been handpicked to attend its remote campus in the forest of Utah. It's a school with so many rules: Don't skip mass. Don't break curfew. Don't go into the woods. When Emma goes missing in plain sight during mass, it ignites an investigation. Neesha, Aiden, and Evan all want to find her--for different reasons. But not everyone wants Emma to be found. Redemption Prep has secrets, bigger than any of the students could have imagined. -- adapted from jacket
Author: Momplaisir, Francesca, 1973- author. Published: 2020 Call Number: F MOMPLAIS Format: Books Summary: "When Lucien flees Haiti with his wife, Marie-Ange, and their three children to New York City's South Ozone Park, he does so hoping for reinvention, wealth, and comfort. He buys a rundown house in a community that is quickly changing from an Italian enclave of mobsters to a haven for Haitian immigrants, and begins life anew. Lucien and Marie-Ange call their home La Kay - 'my mother's house' - and it becomes a place where their fellow immigrants can find peace, a good meal, and legal help. But as a severely emotionally damaged man emigrating from a country whose evils he knows to one whose evils he doesn't, Lucien soon falls into his worst habits and impulses, with La Kay as the backdrop for his lasciviousness. What he can't even begin to fathom is that the house is watching, passing judgment, and deciding to put an end to all the sins it has been made to hold. But only after it has set itself aflame will frightened whispers reveal Lucien's ultimate evil."--Publisher.
Author: McSmith, Tobly, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: Y MCSMITH Format: Books Summary: Told in two voices, Pony, who is concealing his transgender identity at his new Texas high school, and Georgia, a cisgender cheerleader counting the days until she graduates, develop a complicated relationship.
Author: Crompton, Laurie Boyle, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: Y CROMPTON Format: Books Summary: "Two estranged cousins--horror movie fanatic Ricki and online makeup guru Lana--accidentally switch bodies and share a fateful day filled with a mini-road trip and keeping up appearances for Lana's fans and Ricki's crush." --
Author: Walker, Martin, 1947 January 23- author. Published: 2020 Call Number: F WALKER Format: Books Summary: "It's summer in the Dordogne. The heirs of a Périgordian sheep farmer learn that they have been disinherited, and their father's estate sold to an insurance company in return for a policy that will place him in a five-star retirement home for the rest of his life. But the farmer never gets his life of luxury - he dies before moving in. Was it a natural death? Was there foul play? Bruno begins the investigation that leads him to several shadowy insurance companies owned by a Russian oligarch with a Cypriot passport. The companies are based in Cyprus, Malta, and Luxembourg, but Bruno finds a weak spot in France: the Russian's France-based notaire and insurance agent. As Bruno is pursuing this lead, the oligarch's daughter turns up in the Périgord, and complications ensue, eventually bringing the action to the château of an aging rock star. But, as ever, Bruno makes time for lunch amid it all."--Provided by publisher.
Author: Gonzales, S., 1992- author. Published: 2020 Call Number: Y GONZALES Format: Books Summary: When his aunt's illness keeps Ollie in North Carolina, he hopes his summer fling with Will can grow into something more, but at school Will proves to be a completely different--and firmly closeted--man. Will Tavares is the dream summer fling, and Ollie thinks he's found his happily ever after. Then Will stops texting him back, and a family emergency has Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school in North Carolina. Turns out Collinswood High is where Will goes to school-- but here he is a class clown, closeted-- and a bit of a jerk. When Will starts popping up in every area of his life, Ollie would be an idiot to trust him again. Right?
Author: Johansen, Iris, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: F JOHANSEN Format: Books Summary: "Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan and ex-Navy Seal Joe Quinn are about to give Seth Caleb their trust for the most important duty of his life: keeping their daughter, Jane, safe at any cost. Because Jane's talent as an artist has brought her to the attention of a madman. Seth, Jane's longtime ally and fierce protector, is determined to keep her out of danger, but that becomes nearly impossible when Jane is forced to take matters into her own hands and confronts the man who wants her for himself...and wants Seth Caleb dead. As Jane and Seth chase down their blood-thirsty adversary, they finally commit to one another - in the culmination of the love story that fans have been waiting for. As the two come face-to-face with danger, one thing is made clear: it will take both of them working together to confront and defeat this evil"--Provided by publisher.
Author: Fluke, Joanne, 1943- Published: 2020 2005 Call Number: PB FLUKE Format: Books Summary: With The Cookie Jar, Hannah Swensen has a mouthwatering monopoly on the bakery business of Lake Eden, Minnesota. But when a rival store opens, and one of the owners is found shot to death in the store, Hannah is determined to prove that she wasn't the only one who had an axe to grind with the Quinn sisters. Somebody wasn't fooled by the Georgia Peaches and their sweet-as-pie act--and now it's up to Hannah to track down whoever had the right ingredients to whip up a murder.
Author: Shalvis, Jill, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: F SHALVIS Format: Books Summary: "Brynn heads back home for a fresh start and to lick her wounds. Kinsey, her long-time frenemy, has her own battles and secrets she's keeping from Brynn. Eli, Kinsey's best friend and Brynn's childhood crush, is funny and sexy and has a proposition for Brynn. As the long days of summer wind down, the three of them must discover if forgiveness is enough to grasp the unconditional love that's right in front of them."--Publisher description.
Author: Colgan, Jenny, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: F COLGAN Format: Books Summary: London nurse Lissie needs a change of scene; she's suffering from PTSD after witnessing a violent crime. Cormac, a rural Scotland paramedic, trades places with her. Lissie has never experienced small-town life, and Cormac is a fish out of water in London. Through email, they discover new feelings for their jobs and each other. What will happen when they meet? -- adapted from jacket
Author: Napoli, Lisa, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: 070.43 Format: Books Summary: The wild inside story of the birth of CNN and dawn of the age of 24-hour news. How did we get from an age of dignified nightly news broadcasts on three national networks to the age of 24-hour channels and constantly breaking news? The answer--thanks to Ted Turner and an oddball cast of cable television visionaries, big league rejects, and nonunion newbies--can be found in the basement of an abandoned country club in Atlanta. Because it was there, in the summer of 1980, that this motley crew somehow, against all odds, launched CNN. Lisa Napoli's Up All Night is an entertaining inside look at the founding of the upstart network that set out to change the way news was delivered and consumed. Mixing media history, a business adventure story, and great characters, Up All Night tells the story of a network that succeeded beyond even the wildest imaginings of its charismatic and uncontrollable founder, and paved the way for the world we live in today.
Author: Yang, Kelly, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: Y YANG Format: Books Summary: They're called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the US while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she'd be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California. Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger's house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life. She soon embraces her newfound freedom, especially when the hottest and most eligible parachute, Jay, asks her out. Dani De La Cruz, Claire's new host sister, couldn't be less thrilled that her mom rented out a room to Claire. An academic and debate-team star, Dani is determined to earn her way into Yale, even if it means competing with privileged kids who are buying their way to the top. When her debate coach starts working with her privately, Dani's game plan veers unexpectedly off course. Desperately trying to avoid each other under the same roof, Dani and Claire find themselves on a collision course, intertwining in deeper and more complicated ways, as they grapple with life-altering experiences.
Author: Bolton, John R., author. Published: 2020 Call Number: 973.933 Format: Books Summary: As President Trump's National Security Advisor, Bolton spent many of his 453 days in the room where it happened. After working in the Reagan and both Bush presidencies, he has a great eye for the Washington inside game. What Bolton saw with Trump astonished him: a President for whom getting re-elected was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant endangering or weakening the nation. Here he shows a President addicted to chaos, who embraced our enemies and spurned our friends, and was deeply suspicious of his own government. -- adapted from jacket
Author: Calderone, Athena, author. Astley, Amy, writer of foreword. Franzen, Nicole, photographer. Published: 2020 Call Number: 747 Format: Books Summary: Beautiful design isn't just pleasant to look at; it improves the quality of our lives. It helps foster the traditions, rituals, and ceremonies we create in our homes. In Live Beautiful, the highly anticipated design book by Athena Calderone, the EyeSwoon creator taps into her network of interior decorators, fashion designers, and tastemakers to reveal how carefully crafted interiors come together. She also opens the doors to two of her own residences. With each homeowner, Calderone explores the initial spark of inspiration that incited the design journey and the deeply personal objects, stories, and references that accompanied it. She then breaks down the details of the rooms--like layered textures and patterns, collected pieces, and customized vignettes--and offers helpful tips and advice on how to bring these elevated elements into your own space. Filled with gorgeous photography by Nicole Franzen, Live Beautiful is both a showpiece of exquisite design and a guide to creating a home that's unique and thoughtfully put together.
Author: Gates, Robert Michael, 1943- author. Published: 2020 Call Number: 973.929 Format: Books Summary: "Since the end of the Cold War, the global perception of the United States has progressively morphed from dominant international leader to disorganized entity, seemingly unwilling to accept the mantle of leadership or unable to govern itself effectively. Robert Gates argues that this transformation is the result of the failure of political leaders to understand the complexity of American power, its expansiveness, and its limitations. He makes clear that the successful exercise of power is not limited to the use of military might or the ability to coerce or demand submission, but must encompass as well diplomacy, economics, strategic communications, development assistance, intelligence, technology, ideology, and cyber. By analyzing specific challenges faced by the American government in the post-Cold War period--Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Russia, China and others--Gates deconstructs the ways in which leaders have used the instruments of power available to them. With forthright judgments of the performance of past presidents and their senior-most advisors, first-hand knowledge, and insider stories, Gates argues that U.S. national security in the future will require learning, and abiding by, the lessons of the past, and re-creating those capabilities that the misuse of power has cost the nation."--
Author: Abrams, Stacey, author. Published: 2020 Call Number: 324.6 Format: Books Summary: "Voter suppression has plagued America since its inception, and so has the issue of identity-who is really American and what that means. When tied together, as they are in our modern politics, citizens are harmed in overt, subtle, and even personal ways. Stacey Abrams experienced the effects firsthand, running one of the most unconventional races in modern politics as the Democratic nominee for the governorship in Georgia and the first black woman major party nominee in American history. Abrams did not become governor, but she will not concede. And the reason she won't is because democracy failed voters. However, fixing suppression isn't enough unless we understand how it works and how identity plays a pivotal role. Suppression and identity altered the 2016 presidential election-and will do the same in 2020. But progress can win, and here Abrams lays out how. In Our Time Is Now, Abrams draws on extensive national research from her voter rights organization, Fair Fight Action, and her 2020 Census effort, Fair Count, as well as moving and personal anecdotes from her own life. Abrams weaves together the experiences of those who have fought for the vote and the right to be seen throughout our nation's history, linking them with how law and policy deny real political power. So much hangs in the balance for the 2020 election, and the stakes could not be higher. Our Time Is Now will galvanize those seeking change. It will be a critical book by the expert on fair voting and access that will show us where we fall short, who America is now, and most importantly, empower us to become the democracy we're meant to be"--
Author: Parry, H. G., author. Published: 2020 Call Number: F PARRY Format: Books Summary: "A sweeping tale of revolution and wonder in a world not quite like our own. It is the Age of Enlightenment -- of new and magical political movements, from the necromancer Robespierre calling for revolution in France to the weather mage Toussaint L'Ouverture leading the slaves of Haiti in their fight for freedom, to the bold new Prime Minister William Pitt weighing the legalization of magic amongst commoners in Britain and abolition throughout its colonies overseas. But amidst all of the upheaval of the early modern world, there is an unknown force inciting all of human civilization into violent conflict. And it will require the combined efforts of revolutionaries, magicians, and abolitionists to unmask this hidden enemy before the whole world falls to darkness and chaos"--