Staff Recommendations
Daryl M.
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The southern book club's guide to slaying vampires
by Hendrix, Grady
October 18, 2021
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At the end of the Author’s Note for The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix tells you everything you need to know before diving in to his new novel: “I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom. As you’ll see, it’s not a fair fight.”Patricia Campbell is living the “American Dream”. She is married to an ambitious psychiatrist, has two children, a girl and a boy, and lives in a somewhat exclusive neighborhood near Charleston, South Carolina. She keeps house, runs the necessary errands, ferries her kids to their various meetings and practices. And she attends her... Read Full Review
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In Five Years: A Novel
by Serle, Rebecca
August 31, 2021
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“Where do you see yourself in five years?” This is a question that almost everyone has been asked at some point in their life. It may give us pause. We may think we know. But the answer we give is always a guess because no one really knows what the future holds. Rebecca Serle’s novel plays with that question as she explores just how wrong we can be with our answer, and the fact that it may not necessarily be a bad thing. Dannie Kohan is a young woman who knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. Her life is progressing exactly as she has planned. She has the perfect boyfriend,... Read Full Review
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Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way
by Gaines, Caseen
August 24, 2021
Call Number: 812.09 G1422
From its off-Broadway premiere, Hamilton was a hit. When it moved to Broadway in August, 2015, it became a world-wide sensation. It was nominated for a record-breaking 16, and won 11, Tony Awards. It was also awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The show chronicles the life of Alexander Hamilton and his role in the creation and development of the newly formed United States of America. The show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, cast actors of color in the roles of the historical figures portrayed and used hip-hop, R&B, and a few more typical musical “show tunes” to tell the... Read Full Review
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Razorblade Tears
by Cosby, S. A.
August 2, 2021
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Two young men, who are deeply in love, married, and fathers to a young girl. Two fathers, who cannot accept their sons as they are nor the life they are creating. Two senseless murders that remove any possibility of reconciliation or the chance to say what should have been said. Two unlikely partners, intent on discovering who killed their sons, and why both of them will stop at nothing to secure vengeance.In Razorblade Tears, S.A. Crosby follows Ike and Buddy Lee, both ex-convicts and proudly “conventional” men, as they seek the identity of their sons’ killer. The murder took place... Read Full Review
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A Psalm for the Wild-Built
by Chambers, Becky
July 26, 2021
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Centuries ago, on the moon of Panga, the robot workers, who filled the factories and other industrial pursuits of the human civilization, gained consciousness. Rather than be integrated into Pangan culture, as they were offered, the robots chose to leave, en-masse, into the surrounding wilderness. They were never heard from again.Sibling Dex, a monk at the Meadow Den Monastery, chooses to pursue providing tea-service to the people of the surrounding villages. They make the necessary arrangements and begin learning, self-taught, how to provide tea-service. In a short time Dex becomes the best... Read Full Review
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The Album of Dr. Moreau
by Gregory, Daryl
July 19, 2021
Call Number: M
The Island of Dr. Moreau was H.G. Wells’ third novel and was first published in 1896. It recounts the experiences of a shipwreck victim who finds himself on an island populated by animals that have been modified by the titular Dr. Moreau, using scientific means, to become human/animal hybrids who resemble humans with residual animal traits and nearly have human intelligence and sentience. The novel was quite a sensation at the time of its publication,... Read Full Review
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Mother May I
by Jackson, Joshilyn
June 14, 2021
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It happens in an instant. While Bree Cabbat watches her eldest daughter rehearse a school production of Grease, her infant son, Robert, sleeps in the seat next to her in the balcony of the school’s theatre. One moment he is there, the next he is gone. In his place is a note which demands that Bree head directly home, that she is not to contact the police, and to wait for a call. She is being watched and any deviation will result in Robert’s death.Bree complies and is contacted. Robert is safe, for now, but for him to be returned, she must do exactly as she is told. She is given... Read Full Review
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A Master of Djinn
by Clark, P. Djèli
June 2, 2021
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In Cairo in the 1870’s, an inventor and investigator of mysticism named al-Jahiz made a literal breakthrough unlike any other. He pierced the boundaries between our world and other worlds, allowing magic to bleed into ours. In the process, al-Jahiz was lost to another dimension before the rupture between worlds was sealed. For the intervening four decades the world has had to learn how to live with, or attempt to ignore, the magical beings that now populate our world.The Egyptian government, as the locus of the magical in the world, set up the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and... Read Full Review
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The Dictionary of Lost Words
by Williams, Pip
May 25, 2021
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According to their website, the Oxford English Dictionary “is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.” Serially published in portions, or fascicles, the first fascicle, covering “A to Ant,” was published in 1884, 27 years after the project had begun. The first complete edition was finished in 1928. It took 71 years to complete the initial edition. To celebrate the... Read Full Review
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Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder
by Willberg, T. A.
April 20, 2021
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Imagine the following: A chilling murder, a secret detective agency with offices located in a myriad of tunnels located beneath London, and a young apprentice determined to find the killer in order to clear one of her closest friends of the murder. In her debut novel, which is the beginning of a new series, T.A. Willberg puts a decidedly fantastic spin on the mystery novel.Marion Lane has had a few challenging years. When her mother died, she was forced to move in with her grandmother, who wants nothing more than for Marion to find a well-off young man, and get married. Marion, however... Read Full Review
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The Narrowboat Summer
by Youngson, Anne
March 30, 2021
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Eve has spent the last 30 years working for an engineering/manufacturing company managing various projects and climbing the corporate ladder. Suddenly, she has been “released” from her position. She is a corporate scapegoat for systemic problems within her company and, as the only woman at her management level, the seemingly obvious choice for where to place the blame. While she is excellent at her job, and planning/execution is her specialty, she has no idea how to deal with this unexpected development in her ordered life.Sally has decided that she can no longer live the life she has been... Read Full Review
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Good Neighbors: A Novel
by Langan, Sarah
March 22, 2021
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The first season of The Twilight Zone in 1960 included an episode written by show creator Rod Serling entitled “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” Serling presented a block of homes, filled with “typical” American families, on a summer evening. There is a bright flash of light, whose origin is unknown. Then various utilities, the foremost of which is their electricity, begin to behave unreliably. As the residents’ questions grow, panic begins to develop and overtake them resulting in wild accusations, and, ultimately death. Sterling’s closing narration for the episode includes... Read Full Review