FICTION
Still Life by Katherine Packert Burke
Edith was a bumbling “boy” pre-transition, in love with Tessa, enamored by Val, and drowning in Boston. She and Tessa called each other Joni and Joan, an homage to the musical backdrop of their fledgling adulthood. When Edith decides to leave behind the East Coast for graduate school, she begins a years long journey away from the person she loves most and toward a hazy new understanding of who she will become. In the present, Edith visits Boston feeling like a failure of a writer, a failure of a girl, and wracked with guilt over Val’s death. Home alone in Texas, she is left loveless and exhausted as the state slowly chips away at trans rights. Was Val’s fatal car crash Edith’s fault? Would she have stayed put if Edith had loved her better?
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. But almost all passengers will be forever changed. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future — age 103! — and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all. Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable. A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one thought this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party. If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently?
So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison
Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life. Her husband surprises her with a birthday-weekend getaway with Sloane’s longtime best friend, Naomi. Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings and cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront. But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to stop letting things happen to her, for Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever.
Lucy Undying by Kiersten White
Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula’s first victims. But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula’s clutches. Her undead life takes an unexpected turn in 21st-century London, when she meets another woman, Iris, who is also yearning to break free from her past. Lucy has long believed she would never love again. Yet she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris while Iris is equally mesmerized by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by outside forces. Iris’s mother won’t let go of her without a fight, and Lucy’s past still has fangs: Dracula is on the prowl once more.
NONFICTION
Magically Black and Other Essays by Jerald Walker
In Magically Black and Other Essays Jerald Walker elegantly blends personal revelation and cultural critique to create a bracing and often humorous examination of Black American life. He thoughtfully addresses the inherent complexities of topics as eclectic as incarceration, home renovations, gentrification, the crip walk, pimping, and the rise of the MAGA movement, approaching them through various Black perspectives, including husband, father, teacher, and writer. The collection’s overarching theme is captured in the titular essay, which examines the culture of heroic action African Americans created in response to their enslavement and oppression.
Shrink the City: The 15-minute Urban Experiment and the Cities of the Future by Natalie Whittle
Cities define the lives of all those who call them home: where we go, how we get there, how we spend our time. But what if we rethink the ways we plan, live in, and move around our cities? What if we didn’t need a car to reach the grocery store? What if we could get back the time we would have spent commuting and put it to other uses? In this fascinating, carefully researched and reported book, longtime Financial Times journalist Natalie Whittle investigates the 15-minute city idea―its pros, cons, and its potential to revolutionize modern living.
The Glow Code: A Cheat Sheet for Feeling, Looking and Being Your Best at any Age by Michelle McIvor
When I was 41, I learned how to wash my face. Turns out I’d been doing it wrong. (Hint: ditch cleansing wipes!) This made me wonder what else I didn’t know. Like: Cardio or weights? Why can’t I sleep? Is there a trick to ordering good wine? Or buying art? I figured if I still had questions about how to adult and age like a superwoman, maybe you did too. The Glow Code provides all the answers you need to feel, look, and live better in midlife and beyond. Rich in advice from top scientists, psychologists, makeup artists, fitness and nutrition authorities, and others, this book offers strategies and tips for better fitness, friendships, sex, creative practices, and more. And to make sure it works, I’ve tested it all.
Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths About Disability by Melissa Blake
In the summer of 2019, journalist Melissa Blake penned an op-ed for CNN Opinion. A conservative pundit caught wind of it, mentioning Blake’s work in a YouTube video. What happened next is equal parts a searing view into society, how we collectively view and treat disabled people, and the making of an advocate. After a troll said that Blake should be banned from posting pictures of herself, she took to Twitter and defiantly posted three smiling selfies, all taken during a lovely vacation in the Big Apple. Her tweet went viral, attracting worldwide media attention and interviews with the BBC, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, PEOPLE magazine, Good Morning America and E! News.
CHILDREN’S
Diggers Love to Go to School! by Brianna Caplan Sayres
Start your engines and accelerate your child’s imagination with this automotive easy read. Diggers Love to Go to School teaches fundamental concepts like counting numbers and the alphabet, all with fun rhymes. With this book, your child will drive through their first day of school easy as a breeze!
Ages Baby-3
LIBRARY OPEN
Lima Public Library is open to the public six days a week. Hours for the Main Library in Lima are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Our Cairo, Elida and Spencerville branch libraries are open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Our Lafayette branch is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
