book talk for june 18 2024

Book Talk

Book talk for June 18, 2024

First Father First Daughter
by Maureen Reagan

"Mermie," as she was affectionately called by her father writes about growing up with the former president and about realizing her own political ambitions. Maureen's admiration for her father shows throughout the book as she writes about her childhood in Hollywood, a string of uninspiring jobs, several marriages, and her involvement with the Republican party.
DB29628
Four blue stars in the window: one family's story of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the duty of a generation
by Barbara Eymann mohrman

Fifty years ago, a young girl opened a cardboard box in her basement. Long forgotten, it contained her father's World War II uniform, vintage photos, semaphore flags, and other WWII keepsakes. The box opened up a world of pain and joy to author Barbara Eymann Mohrman as she set out on a personal journey to trace her family history and inadvertently, unspoken Eymann family secrets. This is the story of hard-scrabble life in rural Oakdale, Nebraska (population 851) starting in the heyday of the 1920s. Chriss Eymann, a newly arrived Swiss immigrant and his wife, Hattie Mae, raised ten children on the Dust Bowl-ravaged plains during the 1930s in the depths of the Great Depression. But their greatest sacrifice was yet to come when they sent four young sons off to war in the South Pacific and Europe. The mother's flag with its four blue stars proudly displayed the family's precious contribution to the war effort. The story traces in detail and vintage photos from 1930 to 1947 the anguish, danger, and their everlasting hope with some surprising family news that brings the story full circle. Adult. Some strong language. Some violence.
DBC02027

The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig

After she attempts suicide, Nora wakes up in a mysterious library. The shelves are full of books, each the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with other books for the other lives you could have lived. Strong language. Bestseller. 2020.
BR23507 DB100906

The Gilded Hour
by Sara Donati

New York, 1883. Anna Savard and her cousin Sophie, both doctors, run afoul of Anthony Comstock and his New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Romance, missing children, and death investigations further complicate their lives. Some violence and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2015.
DB84079

The Sweet Blue Distance
by Sara Donati

"In 1857 a young midwife braves the perilous journey west from New York City to Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory in this captivating epic from Sara Donati, the international bestselling author of Where the Light Enters. Carrie Ballentyne's life was upended in 1845 when she had to leave the only home she'd ever known in the mountains of upstate New York. With her are her widowed mother and younger brother Nathan, but the separation from Bonner, Ballentyne, and Savard relatives weighs heavily. In time Carrie finds footing as a midwife and nurse, but she never feels at ease in the city. So when, a decade later, she receives an invitation from a doctor in Santa Fe to join him at his practice, she readily accepts. The trip across the country is long and often dangerous, but she travels the last leg on horseback with men who have been hired to see her safely through the Native nations fighting the westward flood of colonizers. On that journey she makes friends who will be with her for all her life: Eva, a young widow; and Eli, an experienced surveyor. Once Carrie is established in Santa Fe, it becomes clear that her employer is not everything she was led to believe, and she is forced to face far more challenges and responsibilities than she anticipated. But she dedicates herself to the work and the women, providing health care, delivering babies, and earning the trust of her patients. In the course of that first summer in New Mexico, determined to make a life for herself in a new kind of wilderness far beyond her imagination, Carrie finds friendship, support, and even love where she least expected"-- Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
DB121002

Where The Light Enters
by Sara Donati

1884. After the loss of her husband, Dr. Sophie Savard, from The Gilded Hour (DB 84079), returns home to New York to rebuild her life. She and her cousin and fellow doctor, Anna, are consulted by Anna's husband, Detective Sergeant Jack Mezzanotte, on mysterious deaths of young women. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.
DB96743

To Have and To Kill
Mary Jane Behrends Clark

When out-of-work actress Piper Donovan returns to her parents' home and begins helping out at the family bakery, her mother Terri tries to hide the fact that she has macular degeneration. Meanwhile, the wedding engagement of Piper's friend is soured first by a threatening note--and then by a murder. 2011.
DB77651

Charley Hustle the Rise and Fall of Pete Rose
by Keith OBrien

Outsider: A Kate Burkholder novel
by Linda Castillo

An Amish man discovers a car stuck in a snowdrift with an unconscious woman inside. When Chief of Police Kate Burkholder arrives, she is shocked to discover the driver is fellow cop Gina Colorosa, whom she hasn't seen in ten years----and to learn Gina is wanted for killing an undercover officer. Violence and strong language. 2020.
Br23624 DB99580

A Circle of Wives
by Alice LaPlante

A sixty-two-year-old plastic surgeon is found dead in his Palo Alto hotel room of what looks like a heart attack--except for his bruises and injection puncture. Then detective Samantha Adams learns that he was married to three women simultaneously, which provides plenty of motive for murder. Descriptions of sex. 2014.
DB78346

Lucky penny
by Catherine Anderson

1891. Learning Brianna O'Keefe has claimed that he is her husband, Colorado sheriff David Paxton tracks her down. But Brianna, who is raising her niece Daphne, says he is the wrong David. Companion to Early Dawn (BR 19860). Some violence, some strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2012.
BR19883

Sadie
by Courtney Summers

Ever since their mother abandoned them, Sadie has been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated Colorado town. When Mattie is found dead, and the police botch the investigation, Sadie is determined to bring the killer to justice. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. For senior high and older readers. 2018.
DB93288

The best American Mystery stories 2000
by Donald Westlake and Otto Pensler

Anthology of twenty contemporary mystery short stories. In "Motel 66" by Barbara D'Amato a couple makes the mistake of returning to their honeymoon site. "The Guilty Party" by Shel Silverstein tells of a judge who gives a rapist an unusual choice. Violence, strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2000.
DB52419