Author: Pirsig, Robert M. Published: 1974 Call Number: B PIRSIG Format: Books Summary: Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning and the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism. Resonant with the confusions of existence, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a touching and transcendent book of life.
Author: Putney, Mary Jo, author. Published: 2023 1988 Call Number: PB PUTNEY Format: Books Summary: Forced to escape the French Revolution, Comtesse Marie-Christine D'Estelle flees to London where she, hiding her aristocratic background, is hired by Captain Lord Alexander Kingsley as a lady's maid to his sister and must reveal the truth about her background when they are targeted by fortune hunters. "A countess turned servant...Forced to escape the French Revolution, resilient young Comtesse Marie-Christine D'Estelle flees to London. But when she finds herself unexpectedly penniless, Christa hides her aristocratic background to become a lady's maid...Until rebuffing advances from both her tyrannical mistress's husband and her lover gets Christa cast into the street--directly into a hero's arms... A Royal Navy commander...After a long absence, Captain Lord Alexander Kingsley has returned to England on medical leave. Now head of his family, he must take charge of his younger siblings. He feels a special duty to his sister Annabelle, a shy debutante in need of a maid. So Alex is delighted to discover that the intriguing, outspoken, and lovely young woman who serendipitously landed in his arms is in need of just such a position... The heart of a household... With her warmth, charm, and surprisingly refined intellect, Christa soon wins the hearts of all the Kingsleys--especially Alex. And while their mutual attraction deepens to something more, the gap in their social stations seems an impossible obstacle. Only when Alex and Annabelle become the targets of fortune hunters, will the truth about Christa have a chance to be revealed. But will it mean a chance for true love to triumph?" --
Author: Lorret, Vivienne, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: PB LORRET Format: Books Summary: Mistaken for a notorious thief known for seducing men to distraction while on holiday, Margaret Stredwick, longing for adventure, eagerly plays along until she returns to her ordinary life, soon discovering that her grand flirtation with the Duke of Merleton won't be secret for long.
Author: Kelly, Diane, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: PB KELLY Format: Books Summary: "Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are looking once again to rehab and resell a house, only this particular house is made of fiberglass, floats, and has been dubbed the Skinny Dipper. The old houseboat sure could use some work, but the unusual project has Whitney bubbling with excitement. The charming and handsome Grant Hardisty lives on the cabin cruiser in the adjacent slip, but the cousins soon learn he's left a half dozen angry ex-wives in his wake and made enemies of all sorts of unsavory folks. The man is clearly caught in an increasingly dangerous current with no life preserver in sight. Whitney and Buck are spraying primer on their houseboat when--KABOOM!--Grant's boat blows sky high with the man himself inside. Detective Collin Flynn has no shortage of suspects, but the waters become muddied when several of them confess to the crime. Is one of those who confessed truly guilty, or are they taking a dive for someone else? When anonymous threats are made against the cousins, Whitney must quickly determine who killed their neighbor at the lake, or she and Buck might also be sunk."--Back cover.
Author: Loftis, Larry, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: B TENBOOM Format: Books Summary: The ten Booms, who had recently celebrated the one-hundred-year anniversary of their Haarlem watch shop, lived a quiet life. That changed in 1940 when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands and Jewish citizens began to disappear. Corrie and her family, devout Christians, joined the Dutch Resistance and built a secret room in their house to hide Jews and refugees. The Gestapo applied unrelenting pressure on Haarlem, continually raiding homes to snatch Jews and Resistance members. When Corrie and her family were ultimately arrested in the winter of 1944, they faced interrogation, beatings, and possible execution. Before long, she and her sister Betsie were sent to the notorious Ravensbrück camp. In the face of the horrors around her, Corrie found solace in her faith, and she ministered to other prisoners, providing comfort and hope. Miraculously, she survived, though by the time she returned home, she had lost many loved ones, including her father and Betsie. For Corrie, though, her journey was only beginning. Eschewing bitterness and embracing forgiveness, she provided free housing to hundreds of survivors who had been wounded by war, physically or emotionally. For the rest of her life, she traveled the globe as an evangelist, sharing her story of faith, hope, and love at churches, clubs, and prisons-even a leper colony. --
Author: Colgan, Jenny, author. Published: 2023 2009 Call Number: F COLGAN Format: Books Summary: "School is out, following a bit of saucy scandal at Downey House... Beloved high school teacher Maggie Adair had been comfortably, if somewhat ambivalently, engaged to her dependable long-distance boyfriend Stan. But in the heat of summer, Maggie's attraction to her colleague David McDonald has caught fire. Now both are facing an uncertain future as they try to figure out how to stay committed to their careers--and each other. Meanwhile, the girls of Downey House--mercurial Fliss, glamorous Alice, and shy, hard-working Simone--have had long summers at home, which weren't quite the respite they had been hoping for. But the new school year is thankfully here, and it will bring new pupils and lots of fresh challenges for students and teachers alike at the school by the sea."--
Author: Moyes, Jojo, 1969- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: LP F MOYES Format: Large print Summary: "Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope--she doesn't even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in. That's because Sam Kemp--in the bleakest point of her life--has accidentally taken Nisha's gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag--she's struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha's six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence that makes her realize something must change--and that thing is herself" --
Author: Bentley, Don, author. Clancy, Tom, 1947-2013, creator. Published: 2023 2022 Call Number: PB BENTLEY Format: Books Summary: When the leader of North Korea is catastrophically injured, his incapacitation inadvertently triggers a "dead-man's switch," activating an army of sleeper agents in South Korea and precipitating a struggle for succession. Jack Ryan, Jr. is in Seoul to interview a potential addition to the Campus. But his benign trip takes a deadly turn when a wave of violence perpetrated by North Korean operatives grips South Korea's capital. A mysterious voice from North Korea offers Jack a way to stop the peninsula's rush to war, but her price may be more than he can afford to pay.
Author: Finlay, Alex, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F FINLAY Format: Books Summary: "In one of the year's most anticipated thrillers #1 New York Times bestseller Sarah Pekkanen calls "Alex Finlay's best yet," What Have We Done is a tale about the lives we leave behind and the secrets we carry with us forever. A stay-at-home mom with a past. A has-been rock star with a habit. A reality TV producer with a debt. Three disparate lives. One deadly secret. Twenty five years ago, Jenna, Donnie, and Nico were the best of friends, a bond forged as residents of Savior House, an abusive group home for parent-less teens. When the home was shut down-after the disappearance of several kids-the three were split up. Though the trauma of their childhood has never left them, each went on to live successful, if troubled, lives. They haven't seen one another since they were teens but now are reunited for a single haunting reason: someone is trying to kill them. To save their lives, the group will have to revisit the nightmares of their childhoods and confront their past-a past that holds the secret to why someone wants them dead. It's a reunion none of them asked for...or wanted. But it may be the only way to save all their lives. What Have We Done is both an edge-of-your seat thriller and a gut-wrenching coming-of-age story. And it cements Alex Finlay as one of the new leading voices in thrillers today"--
Author: Landay, William, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F LANDAY Format: Books Summary: "Three grown siblings confront their father's role in their mother's disappearance in this arresting novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob. Jane Larkin disappeared without a trace in November 1976. When ten-year-old Miranda arrives home from school that autumn afternoon, finding her mother's pocketbook in its usual spot in the front hall, she assumes her mother will be back any minute. But as the hours tick by, alone in the house, Miranda becomes filled with a steady certainty that her mother will never come home again. In the absence of other leads, detectives quickly turn their suspicions toward Jane's husband, Daniel. A criminal defense attorney, Dan would know a thing or two about how to stay one step ahead of investigators. Indeed, no evidence is ever found. But nor is any real possible motive. And so Miranda and her two older brothers, Jeff and Alex, are left in limbo, to be raised by the man who may or may not have murdered their mother. Over the years, as the case grows colder, each makes their own uneasy peace with the situation. Until one day, when they are all grown-and a body is found. Suddenly, the investigation is reinvigorated, and everyone has to choose a side in a confrontation they have long avoided. Once lines are drawn, there is no going back. Untangling a web of family secrets, compelling motives, and long-held grudges, William Landay masterfully grapples with a tantalizing case, calling into question the most basic of morals: How deep should family loyalty run? What do we owe to the dead? And what happens when the search for the truth could cost everything?"--
Author: Baker, Lacey, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: PB BAKER Format: Books Summary: Covering the human-interest story of an astrology-based matchmaker with a one hundred per cent success rate, cynical writer Allie Sparks, arriving in the quirky small town of Crescent Island, Maine, is sure she'll debunk the mythical woman until an unexpected encounter makes her a believer.
Author: Schaeffer, Rebecca, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: Y SCHAEFFE Format: Books Summary: "After a con goes wrong, nineteen-year-old Ness finds herself at the center of a criminal syndicate conspiracy, in a city where dreaming means waking up as your worst nightmare"-- Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town, nineteen-year-old Ness has been terrified--terrified of some other Nightmare murdering her, and terrified of ending up like her sister. Because in Newham, the city that never sleeps, dreaming means waking up as your worst fear. Whether that means becoming a Nightmare that's monstrous only in appearance, to transforming into a twisted, unrecognizable creature that terrorizes the city, no one is safe. Ness will do anything to avoid becoming another victim, even if that means lying low among the Friends of the Restful Soul, a questionable organization that may or may not be a cult. But being a member of maybe-cult has a price. In order to prove herself, Ness cons her way into what's supposed to be a simple job for the organization--only for it to blow up in her face. Literally. Tangled up in the aftermath of an explosive assassination, now Ness and the only other survivor--a Nightmare boy who Ness suspects is planning to eat her--must find their way back to Newham and uncover the sinister truth behind the attack, even as the horrors of her past loom ominously near.
Author: Penner, Sarah, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F PENNER Format: Books Summary: "1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D'Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike. Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister's death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London's exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves..."--
Author: Carpenter, Kerri, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: PB CARPENTE Format: Books Summary: When a one-night stand with bar owner Ethan MacAllister results in an accidental pregnancy, social media strategist Lauren Wallace lays down some ground rules but discovers that breaking them may be the best way to figure out her feelings and what comes next.
Author: Mallery, Susan, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F MALLERY Format: Books Summary: Finley McGowan is determined that the niece she's raising will always feel loved and wanted. Unlike how she felt after her mom left to pursue a dream of stardom, and when the grandfather who was left to raise them abandoned her and her sister, Sloane, when they needed him most. Finley McGowan is determined that the niece she's raising will always feel loved and wanted. Unlike how she felt after her mom left to pursue a dream of stardom, and when the grandfather who was left to raise them abandoned her and her sister, Sloane, when they needed him most. Finley reacted to her chaotic childhood by walking the straight and narrow--nose down, work hard, follow the rules. Sloane went the other way. Now Sloane is back, as beautiful and as damaged as ever...and she wants a relationship with her daughter. She says she's changed, but Finley's heart has been burned once too often for her to trust easily. But is her reluctance to forgive really about Sloane or worry over losing what she loves the most? With the help of a man who knows all too well how messy families can be, Finley will learn there's joy in surrendering and peace in letting go.
Author: Mazzucato, Mariana, 1968- author. Collington, Rosie, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 650.13 Format: Books Summary: "A vital and timely investigation into the opaque and powerful consulting industry--and what to do about it There is an entrenched relationship between the consulting industry and the way business and government are managed today that must change. Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington show that our economies' reliance on companies such as McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY stunts innovation, obfuscates corporate and political accountability, and impedes our collective mission of halting climate breakdown. The "Big Con" describes the confidence trick the consulting industry performs in contracts with hollowed-out and risk-averse governments and shareholder value-maximizing firms. It grew from the 1980s and 1990s in the wake of reforms by the neoliberal right and Third Way progressives, and it thrives on the ills of modern capitalism, from financialization and privatization to the climate crisis. It is possible because of the unique power that big consultancies wield through extensive contracts and networks--as advisors, legitimators, and outsourcers--and the illusion that they are objective sources of expertise and capacity. In the end, the Big Con weakens our businesses, infantilizes our governments, and warps our economies. In The Big Con, Mazzucato and Collington throw back the curtain on the consulting industry. They dive deep into important case studies of consultants taking the reins with disastrous results, such as the debacle of the roll out of HealthCare.gov and the tragic failures of governments to respond adequately to the COVID-19 pandemic. The result is an important and exhilarating intellectual journey into the modern economy's beating heart. With peerless scholarship, and a wealth of original research, Mazzucato and Collington argue brilliantly for building a new system in which public and private sectors work innovatively for the common good"--
Author: Atwood, Margaret, 1939- author. Atwood, Margaret, 1939- First aid. Atwood, Margaret, 1939- Two scorched men. Atwood, Margaret, 1939- Morte de Smudgie. Atwood, Margaret, 1939- My evil mother. Published: 2023 Call Number: F ATWOOD Format: Books Summary: "Margaret Atwood has established herself as a beloved cultural icon and one of the most visionary and canonical authors of her generation. In this collection comprised of fifteen extraordinary stories--some of which have appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine--Atwood speaks to our times with her characteristic wit and intellect. Of special significance are the seven works revolving around the long-term married couple Tig and Nell. Acting as bookends for the collection, these stories look deeply in the heart of what it means to spend a life together, with the four stories in Part I relating tales from their married life, and the three stories at the end showing Nell's reality in the aftermath of Tig's death. In other works, two sisters grapple with loss and memory in "Old Babes in the Wood"; "Impatient Griselda" reprises the folkloric role of Griselda in Bocaccio's The Decameron, exploring alienation and miscommunication; and "Evil Mother" touching on the fantastical, examining a mother-daughter relationship in which the mother purports to be a witch. Returning to short fiction for the first time since her 2014 collection, Stone Mattress, Atwood's storytelling gifts and unmistakable style are on full display"--
Author: Catton, Eleanor, 1985- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F CATTON Format: Books Summary: "The Booker-winning author of The Luminaries delivers a gripping thriller of high drama and kaleidoscopic insight into what drives us to survive"-- Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening group: Birnam Wood. An undeclared, unregulated, sometimes-criminal, sometimes-philanthropic gathering of friends, this activist collective plants crops wherever no one will notice: on the sides of roads, in forgotten parks, and neglected backyards. For years, the group has struggled to break even. Then Mira stumbles on an answer, a way to finally set the group up for the long term: a landslide has closed the Korowai Pass, cutting off the town of Thorndike. Natural disaster has created an opportunity, a sizable farm seemingly abandoned. But Mira is not the only one interested in Thorndike. Robert Lemoine, the enigmatic American billionaire, has snatched it up to build his end-times bunker--or so he tells Mira when he catches her on the property. Intrigued by Mira, Birnam Wood, and their entrepreneurial spirit, he suggests they work this land. But can they trust him? And, as their ideals and ideologies are tested, can they trust each other?
Author: Egan, Dan, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 577.14 Format: Books Summary: "The story of phosphorus spans the globe and vast tracts of human history. The race to mine phosphorus took people from the battlefields of Waterloo, which were looted for the bones of fallen soldiers, to the fabled guano islands off Peru, the Bone Valley of Florida, and the sand dunes of the Western Sahara. Over the past century, phosphorus has made farming vastly more productive, feeding the enormous increase in the human population. Yet, as Egan harrowingly reports, our over-reliance on this vital crop nutrient is today causing toxic algae blooms and "dead zones" in waterways from the coasts of Florida to the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes and beyond. Egan also explores the alarming reality that diminishing access to phosphorus poses a threat to the food system worldwide--which risks rising conflict and even war"--
Author: Murphy, Frank D., 1921-2007, author. Melas, Chloe, writer of foreword. Murphy-Melas, Elizabeth, writer of foreword. Published: 2023 2001 Call Number: 940.54 Format: Books Summary: ""In the pursuit of authenticity, of accurate history and undeniable courage, no words matter more than, 'I was there.' Read Luck of the Draw and the life of Frank Murphy and ponder this: how did those boys do such things?" -Tom Hanks The epic true story of an American hero who flew during WWII, soon to be featured in the upcoming Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks TV Series, Masters of the Air. Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return; nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice. Luck of the Draw is more than a war story. It's the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp after being shot out of his B-17 Flying Fortress. Now with a new foreword written by his granddaughter Chloe Melas, of CNN, and daughter Elizabeth Murphy. "A gripping, inspirational account of incredible bravery, resilience, and sheer will to survive. A truly extraordinary story!" -General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (Ret.)"--