Author: McGill, C. E., author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F MCGILL Format: Books Summary: "Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the Arctic, but she doesn't know why or how... The 1850s are a time of discovery, and London is ablaze with the latest scientific theories and debates, especially when a spectacular new exhibition of dinosaur sculptures opens at the Crystal Palace. Mary is keen to make her name in this world of science alongside her geologist husband, Henry--but despite her sharp mind and sharper tongue, without wealth and connections their options are limited. When Mary discovers some old family papers that allude to the shocking truth behind her great-uncle's past, she thinks she may have found the key to securing her and Henry's professional and financial future. Their quest takes them to the wilds of Scotland; to Henry's intriguing but reclusive sister, Maisie; and to a deadly chase with a rival who is out to steal their secret"--
Author: Vance, Ashlee, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 621.4356 Format: Books Summary: "With the launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first private company to build a low-cost rocket that could reach orbit. And that milestone carried major implications: Silicon Valley, not NASA, was suddenly cemented as the epicenter of the new Space Age. Start-ups and the wealthy investors behind them began to realize that the universe-ungoverned and infinite-was open for business. Welcome to the wild west of aerospace engineering. When the Heavens Went on Sale tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab. Through his trademark immersive reporting, Ashlee Vance follows four pioneering companies-Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab-as they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets into orbit. While the public fixated on the space tourism being driven by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, these new companies arrived with a different set of goals: to make rocket and satellite launches fast and cheap, thereby opening Earth's lower orbit for business-and setting it up as the next playing field for humankind's technological evolution, where we can connect, analyze, and monitor everything on Earth. Vance has had a front row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in history. When the Heavens Went on Sale travels through private company headquarters, labs, and top-secret launch locations around the world, including California, Texas, Alaska, New Zealand, Ukraine, India, and French Guiana. Vance chronicles it all in full color: the private jets, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, hallucinogens, espionage investigations, and multi-millionaires guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear. With the most detailed and intimate reporting of Vance's career, When the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space, and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the most pressing and controversial technology story of our times, a tale of fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes as they race to space"--
Author: Stern, Seth, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: NJC 974.9 STERN Format: Books Summary: "Most of the roughly 140,000 Holocaust survivors who came to the United States in the first decade after World War II settled in big cities such as New York. But a few thousand chose an alternative way of life on American farms. More of these accidental farmers wound up raising chickens in southern New Jersey than anywhere else. Speaking Yiddish to Chickens is the first book to chronicle this little-known chapter in American Jewish history when these mostly Eastern European refugees - including the author's grandparents - found an unlikely refuge and gateway to new lives in the US on poultry farms. They gravitated to a section of south Jersey anchored by Vineland, a small rural city where previous waves of Jewish immigrants had built a rich network of cultural and religious institutions. This book relies on interviews with dozens of these refugee farmers and their children, as well as oral histories and archival records to tell how they learned to farm while coping with unimaginable grief. They built small synagogues within walking distances of their farms and hosted Yiddish cultural events more frequently found on the Lower East Side than perhaps anywhere else in rural America at the time. Like refugees today, they embraced their new American identities and enriched the community where they settled, working hard in unfamiliar jobs for often meager returns. Within a decade, falling egg prices and the rise of industrial-scale agriculture in the South would drive almost all of these novice poultry farmers out of business, many into bankruptcy. Some hated every minute here; others would remember their time on south Jersey farms as their best years in America. They enjoyed a quieter way of life and more space for themselves and their children than in the crowded New York City apartments where so many displaced persons settled. This is their remarkable story of loss, renewal, and perseverance in the most unexpected of settings"--
Author: James, Aurora, 1984- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: B JAMES Format: Books Summary: "This extraordinary memoir of struggle and perseverance offers new ways of envisioning economic equality for everyone--from a leading activist and fashion pioneer. Aurora James's story is not a "success story." Or at least, it shouldn't be told that way. Having dropped out of high school, struggled with body image, and dabbled in street racing, her eventual arrest might have been her rock bottom. But as a visionary and optimist, that experience became one of many that reshaped her way of thinking about the world. After a brief modeling stint, James discovered the real power in creating for the runway and started her own business in a flea market, a sustainable fashion line showcasing traditional African design that would become an award-winning international brand. Then she founded one of the fastest-growing social justice nonprofits, the Fifteen Percent Pledge. But none of this came from a desire to "succeed." It came from a desire to forge a new creative path--and to lift others up alongside her..."--
Author: Olia, Maria T., author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 917.4404 Format: Books Summary: Discover some of Massachusetts' unique offerings with this guide: Visit a wooden-boat shop that has been in business since 1793; admire the pressed-glass galleries at the Sandwich Glass Museum, or travel back in time at the nineteenth-century Old Sturbridge Village.
Author: Harris, Joanne, 1964- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F HARRIS Format: Books Summary: Bernie Moon's ambitions and dreams have been forgotten by everyone else--including Bernie herself. At 19 she was full of promise, but now facing 50 and going through menopause, she's a fading light. Until the murder of a woman in a local park unlocks a series of childhood memories, and with them, a talent that she has hidden all her adult life. What happens when the frustrations and power of an older woman are finally given their chance to be revealed?
Author: Smith, Martin Cruz, 1942- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F SMITH Format: Books Summary: It's June 2021, and Arkady knows that Russia is preparing to invade and subsequently annex Ukraine as it did Crimea in 2014. He is, however, preoccupied with other grievances. His longtime lover, Tatiana Petrovna, has deserted him for her work as an investigative reporter. His corrupt boss has relegated him to a desk job. And he is having trouble with his dexterity and balance. A visit to his doctor reveals that these are symptoms for Parkinson's Disease. This is an ingenious autobiographical conceit, as Martin Cruz Smith has Parkinson's, and is able through Arkady to movingly describe his own experience with the disease. Parkinson's hasn't stopped Smith from his work, and neither does it stop Arkady. Rather than dwell on his diagnosis, he throws himself into another case. An acquaintance has asked him to find his daughter, Karina, an anti-Putin activist who has disappeared. In the course of the investigation, Arkady falls for Karina's roommate, Elena, a Tatar from Ukraine. The search leads them to Kyiv, where rumblings of an armed conflict grow louder. Later, in Crimea, Tatiana reemerges to complicate Arkady's new romance. And as he gets closer to locating Karina, Arkady discovers something that threatens his life as well as the lives of both Elena and Tatiana.
Author: Hakes, Jasmin 'Iolani, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: F HAKES Format: Books Summary: "Hi'i is proud to be a Naupaka, a family renowned for its contributions to hula and her hometown of Hilo, Hawaii, but there's a lot she doesn't understand. She's never met her legendary grandmother and her mother has never revealed the identity of her father. Worse, unspoken divides within her tight-knit community have started to grow, creating fractures whose origins are somehow entangled with her own family history. In hula, Hi'i sees a chance to live up to her name and solidify her place within her family legacy. But in order to win the next Miss Aloha Hula competition, she will have to turn her back on everything she had ever been taught, and maybe even lose the very thing she was fighting for. Told in part in the collective voice of a community fighting for its survival, Hula is a spellbinding debut that offers a rare glimpse into a forgotten kingdom that still exists in the heart of its people." --Amazon.com.
Author: Richardson, Tanya Carroll, 1974- author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 158 RICHARDS Format: Books Summary: "Empaths are highly sensitive people whose energetic needs in this world are unique, which means that their relationship strategies--not just in love, but in all areas of life--must be navigated thoughtfully. Friends, coworkers, and even family relationships can present opportunities for uncommonly intimate connections, but also make empaths more vulnerable to stress and emotional injury. Healer Tanya Carroll Richardson presents a guide to relationships of all kinds for the empath, complete with quizzes and interactive exercises that make this book a valuable way to connect with yourself as well as a fantastic resource for improving the ways in which you interact with the world"--
Author: Alford, Mary, author. Container of (work): Alford, Mary (Romance fiction writer). Shielding the Amish witness. Container of (work): Stone, Alison, 1969- Seeking Amish shelter. Published: 2023 2022 Call Number: LP F AMISH Format: Large print Summary: Two stories of women seeking shelter in their Amish family's communities, one from a relentless killer, and one from a violent criminal involved in the illegal drug trade. "In Shielding the Amish Witness by Mary Alford, after discovering her brother-in-law was behind her husband's murder, Faith Cooper can think of only one safe place--her Amish grandmother's home. But when danger follows Faith to the quiet Amish community, her survival depends on outlasting a relentless killer who has nothing left to lose. In Seeking Amish Shelter by Alison Stone, stumbling upon illegal drug activity thrusts Bridget Miller into the crosshairs of a violent criminal. Now, she has no choice but to hide in her family's Amish community. Reentering the life she abandoned to chase her dreams isn't easy, but it may be the only way to stay alive." --Back cover
Author: Parikh, Amita, author. Published: 2023 2022 Call Number: LP F PARIKH Format: Large print Summary: "When all is lost, how do you find the courage to keep moving forward? 1938. Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo. Brilliant and curious, Lena--who uses a wheelchair after a childhood bout with polio--yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, her mind stronger than the limitations placed on her by society. Then her unconventional life takes an exciting turn when she rescues Alexandre, an orphan with his own secrets and a mysterious past. As World War II escalates around them, their friendship blossoms into something deeper while Alexandre trains as the illusionists apprentice. But when Theo and Alexandre are arrested and made to perform in a town for Jews set up by the Nazis, Lena is separated from everything she knows. Forced to make her own way, Lena must confront her doubts and dare to believe in the impossible--herself"--
Author: Duffy, Kimberly, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: LP F DUFFY Format: Large print Summary: "In 1911, Mabel MacGinnis is Europe's strongest woman and has performed beside her father in the Manzo Brothers Circus her entire life. But at his unexpected death, she loses everything she's ever known and sets off in the company of acrobat Jake Cunningham for America in hope of finding the mother she's just discovered is still alive. Isabella Moreau, the nation's most feted aerialist, has given everything to the circus. But age and injury now threaten her security, and Isabella, stalked by old fears, makes a choice that risks everything. When her daughter Mabel appears alongside the man who never wanted to see Isabella again, Isabella is forced to face the truth of where, and in what, she derives her worth. In this evocative novel from Kimberly Duffy, the meaning of strength takes center stage as the lives of three circus performers become entangled beneath the glittering lights and flying trapeze of Madison Square Garden"--
Author: Beauvoisin, Charlotte, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 916.04 Format: Books Summary: "Ready to go away? The experts at Fodor's are here to help. We're bringing you the very best of Africa, including Kenya's Masai Mara, Tanzania's Serengeti, Botswana's Kwando Reserve, and more. Our local experts vet every recommendation to ensure that you have all the essential information to plan a perfect trip and make the most of your time"--Back cover.
Author: Eagle Heart, Sarah, author. Eagle Heart-White, Emma, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: B EAGLEHEA Format: Books Summary: "In Warrior Princesses Strike Back, Lakota twin sisters Sarah Eagle Heart and Emma Eagle Heart-White recount growing up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and overcoming odds throughout their personal and professional lives. Woven throughout are self-help strategies centering women of color, that combine marginalized histories, psychological research on trauma, perspectives on "decolonial therapy," and explorations on the possibility of healing intergenerational and personal trauma"--
Author: Richardson, Tati, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: PB RICHARDS Format: Books Summary: "Rumpled and ragged was not how architect Ari James envisioned kicking off her first day at a new firm. And few things can top the horror of her new--and extremely hot--colleague walking in on her at the worst moment ever. Learning that she'll be working with him on the project that's supposed to get her career back on top makes it harder than ever to focus on her big comeback. With a partnership at his firm on the line, nothing is going to stand in the way of Porter Harrison absolutely killing it on his new project: not his obnoxious rival, not his unpredictable brother and definitely not his new coworker whose gorgeous curves he accidentally saw and now can't get out of his head. Though neither of them is looking for love, once their creative juices get flowing, Ari and Porter's connection is obvious. But when their shared goal has always been winning at work, building a solid foundation for a relationship might end up costing them everything..." --publisher marketing.
Author: Buruma, Ian, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 940.53 BURMA Format: Books Summary: "An exploration of the nature of collaboration, and all the gray areas between heroism and abject opportunism, through the interwoven stories of three World War II-era collaborators under Nazi and Japanese rule-Kawashima Yoshiko, Felix Kersten, and Friedrich Weinreb"-- "On the face of it, the three characters in this book seem to have little in common--aside from the fact that each committed wartime acts that led some to see them as national heroes, and others as villains. All three were mythmakers, larger-than-life storytellers, for whom the truth was beside the point. Felix Kersten was a plump Finnish pleasure-seeker who became Heinrich Himmler's indispensable personal masseur--Himmler calling him his "magic Buddha." Kersten presented himself after the war as a resistance hero who convinced Himmler to save countless people from mass murder. Kawashima Yoshiko, a gender-fluid Manchu princess, spied for the Japanese secret police in China, and was mythologized by the Japanese as a heroic combination of Mata Hari and Joan of Arc. Friedrich Weinreb was a Hasidic Jew in Holland who took large amounts of money from fellow Jews in an imaginary scheme to save them from deportation, while in fact betraying some of them to the German secret police. Sentenced after the war as a con artist, he was regarded by supporters as the "Dutch Dreyfus." All three figures have been vilified and mythologized, out of a never-ending need, Ian Buruma argues, to see history, and particularly war, and above all World War II, as a neat story of angels and devils. The Collaborators is a fascinating reconstruction of what in fact we can know about these incredible figures and what will always remain out of reach. What emerges is all the more mesmerizing for being painted in chiaroscuro. In times of life-and-death stakes, the truth quickly gets buried under lies and self-deception. Now, when demagogues abroad and at home are assaulting the truth once more, the stories of the collaborators and their lessons are indispensable." -- Amazon.com.
Author: Keller, Julia, author. Published: 2023 Call Number: 650.14 Format: Books Summary: "Grit isn't always great. Perseverance doesn't always pay off. In Quitting: A Life Strategy, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Julia Keller dives into "the neuroscience of nope," and the cultural messaging that drives our reluctance to throw in the towel, to dismantle the myth of perseverance once and for all. Combining reportage from the front lines of scientific research, pop culture, with conversations with people who have made profound change in their own lives and "Permission Slips" to guide readers in their own embrace of quitting, Keller gives readers the rationale and confidence they need to pull the plug and shape their own lives without fear--at work, at home, in our relationships, and beyond"--
Author: Wilborn, Tammy L., author. Published: 2022 Call Number: 331.4 WILBORN Format: Books Summary: "Black and brown women have been making profound strides in leadership and professional achievement, despite facing the added hurdles of both sexism and racism in the workplace. But so often, excelling at work comes at the expense of their wellness: the chronic stressors and demands on Black women can result in negative physical health outcomes such as sleep disturbance, hypertension, and diabetes, and negative mental health outcomes including anxiety and depression. We cannot talk about career advancement for Black and brown women without talking about strategies that promote their total wellbeing. Playing a New Game offers women a new way forward, in which ambition and wellness can not only coexist, but bolster each other. With insights from her 20 years of professional counseling experience and extensive research, mental health expert Dr. Tammy Wilborn expands the dialogue on BIPOC women's experiences of race and gender stereotypes at work, exploring them as a wellness issue. Through her evidence-based best practices that promote self-care and self-empowerment as necessary tools for professional success, Black and brown women can flip the script by prioritizing their wellness even as they advance professionally"--
