Author: McMahon, Sharon, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: 973
Format: Books
Summary: "From America's favorite government teacher, a heartfelt, inspiring portrait of twelve ordinary Americans whose courage formed the character of our country. In The Small and the Mighty, Sharon McMahon proves that the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people who didn't make it into the textbooks. Not the presidents, but the telephone operators. Not the aristocrats, but the schoolteachers. Through meticulous research, she discovers history's unsung characters and brings their rich, riveting stories to light for the first time. You'll meet a woman astride a white horse riding down Pennsylvania Ave, a young boy detained at a Japanese incarceration camp, a formerly enslaved woman on a mission to reunite with her daughter, a poet on a train, and a teacher who learns to work with her enemies. More than one thing is bombed, and multiple people surprisingly become rich. Some rich with money, and some wealthy with things that matter more.This is a book about what really made America --and Americans--great. McMahon's cast of improbable champions will become familiar friends, lighting the path we journey in our quest to make the world more just, peaceful, good, and free." --Front jacket flap.
Author: Kelley, Pamela M., author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: LP F KELLEY
Format: Large print
Summary: "Brooklyn based Hannah is a bestselling author struggling to write her second book after personal losses. Her older sister, Sara, still lives in Chatham, Cape Cod, where they grew up, and is married with four children. Once a dedicated librarian, Sara dreams of reviving her love affair with literature, but instead, she is stuck with too many family responsibilities and a fizzling marriage. When Hannah gets the chance to retreat to her aunt's oceanfront house in Chatham for the summer, it seems like just the thing to get her creative juices flowing. And she'll be able to spend more time with Sara, who is eager to find her way back into the workforce, to do something rewarding and book-related. The pair will spend the summer making friends, rekindling romance, especially Spencer, an old acquaintance from high school-turned very hot grump, and opening themselves up to the magic of books and the beach"--
Author: Ribay, Randy, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: Y RIBAY
Format: Books
Summary: After declining Prince Sozin's request for help reclaiming a Fire Nation island with legendary powers, Avatar Roku absconds from his airbending training to investigate, learning what it means to be a spirit of no nation. "Roku never expected to be the Avatar. Even his best friend, Crown Prince Sozin of the Fire Nation, doubts the accuracy of the Fire Sages' announcement. After all, Sozin is the strongest Firebender of their generation, while Roku struggles to grasp basic airbending principles, even after months of training under Sister Disha, his airbending master.When Sozin requests the new Avatar's aid in preventing the Earth Kingdom from claiming a remote Fire Nation island, it doesn't surprise Roku that Sister Disha advises him to decline. Convinced the Earth King's aggressive expansion of territory points to a more insidious agenda, Roku steals away with the help of an irritating young Airbender named Gyatso. As the reluctant companions delve deeper into their wayward mission, they realize the fog-shrouded island harbors a secret that could lead to catastrophe in the wrong hands..."--
Author: Sellers, Bakari, 1984- author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: 305.896
Format: Books
Summary: In late May in 2020, while discussing the murder of George Floyd on CNN, Bakari Sellers spoke from the heart sharing devastating insight that touched millions around the world: "It's just so much pain. You get so tired. We have black children. I have a 15-year-old daughter. I mean, what do I tell her? I'm raising a son. I have no idea what to tell him. It's just--it's hard being black in this country when your life is not valued and people are worried about the protesters and the looters. And it's just people who are frustrated for far too long and not have their voices heard." In this powerful and persuasive book, Sellers expands on the issues he addressed in his New York Times bestseller My Vanishing Country, examining national politics and policies that deeply impact not only Black people in his home state of South Carolina but the lives of millions of African Americans in communities across the nation. Four years later, Sellers has an answer to the question he raised on CNN, offering much-needed prescriptions to help all Black American lives. Sellers explores inequities in healthcare, education, early childhood education, and policing, drawing on interviews with numerous thought leaders such as pioneering voting rights and poverty activist the Rev. William Barber, and Ben Crump, the civil rights legend who successfully uses the law to achieve justice for people of color in racially charged cases. He also shares his thoughts on conservative media and the forces and dark money behind firebrands such as Tucker Carlson. This thoughtful and practical work is a timely meditation on the state of our world today and how we can all play a part in making it better for tomorrow. --
Author: Huber, Anna Lee, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: F HUBER
Format: Books
Summary: "April,1912: It's the perfect finale to a Grand Tour of Europe--sailing home on the largest, most luxurious ocean liner ever built. For the Fortune sisters, the voyage offers a chance to reflect on the treasures of the past they've seen--magnificent castles and museums in Italy and France, the ruins of Greece and the Middle East--and contemplate the futures that await them. For Alice, there's foreboding mixed with her excitement. A fortune teller in Egypt gave her a dire warning about traveling at sea. And the freedom she has enjoyed on her travels contrasts with her fiancé's plans for her return--a cossetted existence she's no longer sure she wants. Flora is also returning to a fiancé, a well-to-do banker of whom her parents heartily approve, as befits their most dutiful daughter. Yet the closer the wedding looms, the less sure Flora feels. Another man--charming, exasperating, completely unsuitable--occupies her thoughts, daring her to follow her own desires rather than settling for the wishes of others. Youngest sister Mabel knows her parents arranged this Grand Tour to separate her from a jazz musician. But the secret truth is that Mabel has little interest in marrying at all, preferring to explore ideas of suffrage and reform--even if it forces a rift with her family.Each sister grapples with the choices before her as the grand vessel glides through the Atlantic waters. Until, on an infamous night, fate intervenes, forever altering their lives . . ." --
Author: Olson, Parmy, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: 006.3
Format: Books
Summary: "In November of 2022, a webpage was posted online with a simple text box. It was an AI chatbot called ChatGPT, and was unlike any app people had used before. It was more human than a customer service agent, more convenient than a Google search. Behind the scenes, battles for control and prestige between the world's two leading AI firms, OpenAI and DeepMind, who now steers Google's AI efforts, has remained elusive - until now. In Supremacy, Olson, tech writer at Bloomberg, tells the astonishing story of the battle between these two AI firms, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the hazardous direction they could go as they serve two tech monopolies whose power is unprecedented in history. The story focuses on the continuing rivalry of two key CEOs at the center of it all, who cultivated a religion around their mission to build god-like super intelligent machines: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Demis Hassabis, the CEO of DeepMind. Supremacy sharply alerts readers to the real threat of artificial intelligence that its top creators are ignoring: the profit-driven spread of flawed and biased technology into industries, education, media and more. With exclusive access to a network of high-ranking sources, Parmy Olson uses her 13 years of experience covering technology to bring to light the exploitation of the greatest invention in human history, and how it will impact us all"--
Author: Lisel, Sammy, author, editor. Newlevant, Hazel, editor, artist. Petrucha, Stefan, editor. Carlsson, Pete, designer. Sturges, Lilah, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: JB BECOMING
Format: Books
Summary: A collection of stories by members of the trans community about their childhoods, specifically their life goals and how they achieved them, including musicians, actors, teachers, scientists, forest rangers, and activists.--
Author: Fox, Sarah (Mystery writer).
Published: 2024 2023
Call Number: LP F FOX
Format: Large print
Summary: "Winter has arrived in Larch Haven, Vermont, bringing with it holiday cheer, lots of snow, and freezing temperatures. Becca Ransom is squeezing in time to skate on the frozen canals and drink hot chocolate by a roaring fire while also whipping up new creations for her family's chocolate shop and experimenting with holiday flavors like eggnog, gingerbread, and peppermint. At the same time, Becca is preparing for the Baking Spirits Bright holiday baking competition, a popular annual event. She's planning to enter an edible model of Larch Haven, with a mountain backdrop made of cake, gingerbread cottages, and chocolate gondolas on sugar-glass canals. Professional bakers and a local food blogger are also participating in the event and they aren't about to go down without a fight. The competition quickly heats to a boiling point, with flaring tempers and mysterious happenings. When one of the entrants is found dead, stabbed with Becca's chocolate chipper, Becca tries to salvage the season"--
Author: Gray, Shelley Shepard, author.
Published: 2024 2022
Call Number: LP F GRAY
Format: Large print
Summary: "Wesley is so busy running his family's Amish market at the holidays, he barely has time for Liesl, the young woman he's been courting for years. When she suggests her aunt Jenny could help Wesley out, he agrees to the plan. Jenny, still healing after a painful breakup, welcomes the distraction of working at the market. She soon realizes Wesley is everything she ever dreamed a man could be. But how can Jenny even think about romance with the man Liesl expects to marry?"--
Author: Graham, Heather, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: PB GRAHAM
Format: Books
Summary: "In the streets of Paris, someone wants to paint the town red... When Special Agent Jeannette LaFarge is called in to investigate a vineyard in the Reims region of France, the last thing she expects to find is multiple bodies with every vein bled dry. It's yet another case tailor-made for Blackbird. Joining her is recent recruit Detective Daniel Murray, eager to use his newfound abilities to track down whoever is terrorizing Paris and its surrounding areas. With each ashen victim grows the realization that those responsible weren't inspired by vampiric creatures of the night but by Elizabeth Báthory herself. The Hungarian noblewoman's unspeakable crimes against her people are being reenacted in both the City of Lights and across the French countryside. Unless the two of them act quickly, the upcoming harvest promises to yield blood instead of wine" --
Author: Walker, Martin, 1947 January 23- author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: F WALKER
Format: Books
Summary: "Another entertaining and enlightening entry in the Bruno, Chief of Police series, featuring an archaeological dig in the French countryside that unearths World War II-era mysteries-all while Bruno dishes up more culinary magic When Abby, an American archaeologist, arrives in St. Denis on the heels of her divorce, she hopes to make a new life for herself as a specialist guide for visiting tourists. So when a local British couple discover a grave from World War II on their property, Abby is able to put her training to good use. As it turns out, in the grave are the remains of two German women and an Italian submarine officer who had a big secret to hide. The women are suspected of having had links to the German garrison in Bordeaux during the war. It's up to Bruno, just recovered from a gunshot wound earlier in the year, to unravel the mystery-and its contemporary relevance. His task is made more difficult by the horrible heat-dome summer, which is raising the temperature for miles around, as unprecedented amounts of rain drench the Massif Central and threaten increasingly dramatic floods. As Bruno drills to the heart of the case, matters get even more complicated when both Abby's financially distressed ex-husband and a mysterious dashing Italian naval officer arrive, with very different ideas in mind. Once again, Bruno is left to serve the guilty their just rewards, and his friends, some sumptuous Perigordian cuisine"--
Author: Graham, Elyse, 1985- author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: 940.5486 GRAHAM
Format: Books
Summary: "The untold story of the academics who became OSS spies, invented modern spycraft, and helped turn the tide of the war At the start of WWII, the US found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today's CIA, was quickly formed--and, in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work--and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts. In Book and Dagger, Elyse Graham draws on personal histories, diaries, and declassified OSS files to tell the story of a small but connected group of humanities scholars turned unlikely spies. Among them are Joseph Curtiss, a literature professor who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents; Sherman Kent, a smart-mouthed history professor who rose to become the head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa; and Adele Kibre, an archivist who was sent to Stockholm to secretly acquire documents for the OSS. These unforgettable characters would ultimately help lay the foundations of modern intelligence and transform American higher education when they returned after the war. Thrillingly paced and rigorously researched, Book and Dagger is an inspiring and gripping true story about a group of academics who helped beat the Nazis--a tale that reveals the indelible power of humanities to change the world"--
Author: King, Crystal, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: F KING
Format: Books
Summary: Julia Lombardi agrees to accompany artist Salvador Dalí to the Sacro Bosco, Italy's "Garden of Monsters," in Bomarzo. There, she is his muse, posing as the goddess Persephone for him. The garden is unsettling and as Dalí becomes more and more fanatic, Julia becomes drawn to their host, Ignazio, whom she finds both alluring and terrifying. Julia is soon on the verge of unraveling, and Dalí's persistence is so intense that she begins to wonder if she really is becoming Persephone, queen of the Underworld. "Julia Lombardi is a mystery even to herself. The beautiful model can?t remember where she?s from, where she?s been or how she came to live in Rome. When she receives an offer to accompany celebrated eccentric artist Salvadore Dali to the Sarco Bosco--Italy's Garden of Monsters-- as his muse, she's strangely compelled to accect. It could be a chance to unlock the truth about her past... Shrouded in shadow, the garden ful of giant statues that sometimes seem alive is far from welcoming. Still, from the moment of their arrival at the palazzo, Julia is inexplicably drawn to their darkly enigmatic host, Ignazio. He's alluring yet terrfying--and he seems to know her..."--
Author: Osman, Richard, 1970- author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: F OSMAN
Format: Books
Summary: "Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy's business now. Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn't stay still long enough for habits or routines. She's currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D'Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job... Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?"--
Author: Makary, Marty, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: 362.1
Format: Books
Summary: Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Marty Makary examines erroneous health recommendations that the medical establishment in the past, and how these beliefs have harmed patients and negatively impacted research. He explores current research on promient topics, pointing out medical professionals' "blind spots" so that consumers can learn how to think critically about medical advice and protect their health.
Author: Morgan, Sarah (Romance fiction writer), author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: F MORGAN
Format: Books
Summary: To the outside world, Imogen is a marketing dynamo. Her colleagues don't know that while her high-achieving professional image is real, the happy childhood stories she spins are as fake as her pretend enthusiasm for Christmas. Working 24/7 has always been her solution to surviving the festive season--until burnout leads to a catastrophic blunder. "To the outside world, Imogen is a marketing dynamo. Her colleagues don't know that while her high-achieving professional image is real, the happy childhood stories she spins are as fake as her pretend enthusiasm for Christmas. Working 24/7 has always been her solution to surviving the festive season--until burnout leads to a catastrophic blunder. Suddenly, Imogen is handed a holiday gift she definitely doesn't want: enforced time off work to recuperate. Then an invitation arrives from her favorite client, Dorothy, to stay at her guest cottage in the Cotswolds. From the thatched roof to the cozy open fireplace, Holly Cottage is a picture-perfect haven? Can it provide the fresh start Imogen so desperately needs?" --Amazon.com
Author: Hahn, Taylor, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: F HAHN
Format: Books
Summary: "For wedding singer Mel Hart, the holidays have always retained a certain magic. Her mother, Connie, always managed to pull off spectacular Santa hijinx that convinced Mel to keep believing in Santa way longer than other kids. Those moments meant everything to Mel because the rest of the year, life was unpredictable because of her mother's alcohol use. But two weeks before Christmas, Mel gets a call from the hospital: her mother has died. Then a woman shows up on Mel's doorstep, claiming to be Connie's estranged best friend, promising to tell Mel a different narrative - one in which Connie was almost a famous country music star, if only a man hadn't gotten in the way. Instead of spending Christmas alone in her dead mother's lonely house, Mel agrees to stay with Barb for the holidays, finding herself in the middle of Barb's lovely but complicated family, uncovering secrets from the present and the past, while fighting an attraction to Barb's handsome but in-the-middle-of-a-divorce son. As the countdown to Christmas Eve ensues, Mel reckons with how little she knew about her mother's past while re-examining her own future. A Home for the Holidays is a moving exploration of complicated grief, mother-daughter relationships, loving someone with addiction, and the redemptive power of opening one's heart to love in all its forms"--
Author: Lester, Natasha, 1973- author.
Published: 2024 2023
Call Number: LP F LESTER
Format: Large print
Summary: "Everyone remembers her daringly short, silver lamé dress. It was an iconic photo capturing an electric moment, where emerging American designer Astrid Bricard is young, uninhibited, and on the cusp of fashion and feminism's changing landscape. She and fellow designer Hawk Jones are all over Vogue magazine and New York City's disco scene. Yet she can't escape the shadow of her mother, Mizza Bricard, infamous "muse" for Christian Dior. Astrid would give anything to take her place among the great houses of couture--on her own terms. I won't inspire it when I can create it. But then Astrid disappeared ... Now Astrid's daughter, Blythe, holds what remains of her mother and grandmother's legacies. Of all the Bricard women, she can gather the torn, painfully beautiful fabrics of three generations of heartbreak to create something that will shake the foundations of fashion. The only piece missing is the one question no one's been able to answer: What really happened to Astrid?"--
Author: White, Sophie (Journalist), author. Erewhon (Firm : New York (N.Y.))
Published: 2024 2022
Call Number: F WHITE
Format: Books
Summary: "My Mother. At night my mother creaks, the house creaks along with her. Sometimes in the morning we find her in places. We never see her move. We just come upon her. Aoileann is cursed. She has no friends, never gone to school. She has never left the windswept craggy isle off the coast of Ireland. Her mother is cursed: a silent wreck Aoileann calls the "bed-thing"."--
Author: Major, Cesca, author.
Published: 2024
Call Number: F MAJOR
Format: Books
Summary: From the author of Maybe Next Time comes a funny and emotional read about a couple struggling in their relationship who accidentally swap bodies on their way to a family wedding weekend. Amy and Flynn have been dating for two years. And they love each other. Don't they? Only Amy can't read Flynn's mind and Flynn can't read Amy's. Little do they know this weekend is make or break. Amy's nervous older sister is getting married at the world's swankiest wedding venue in rural Devon and is relying on her younger sister to be the perfect Chief Bridesmaid. Frustrations on the way to the wedding escalate until both Amy and Flynn are shouting at each other in a country lane during a thunderstorm. Why can't they see things from the other's point of view? When lightning strikes, Flynn and Amy are thrown to the ground, and when stand back up they realize-- they've switched bodies..."--
Pages