On the shelves - March 10

The following are available for checkout at:

Clovis-Carver Public Library

“India Lately” by Ginger L. Franklin explores the experience of the modern nation of India through travel narrative, poetry and the author’s academic thesis. Franklin recounts her journey of personal discovery through this foreign land as she walks with gods, beggars and geniuses, discovering sights from the divinely inspired to crushingly destitute.

“Homespun” by Lorilee Craker eavesdrops as Amish and Plain Mennonite women swap stories and spin yarns. From one woman who struggles with feeling inferior to her sister, another who longs for a baby, to a third who accidentally bought stretchy material to sew her husband’s pants, their accounts of hospitality, home, grief and joy are a testament to the grace of God and the blessings of community.

“Designer Dogs” by Madeline Bernstein reveals our culture’s obsession with new types of dogs such as labradoodles and puggles — engineering puppies that keep getting smaller or sillier looking — and the horrifying health consequences of this on those we claim as our best friends. This has led to a world of “disposable pets,” adding to the 6.5 million animals entering shelters each year and threatening the extinction of many familiar pure breeds.

“The Cottages on Silver Beach” by RaeAnne Thayne returns to Haven Point where years after betraying Megan Hamilton, author Elliot Bailey has returned to work on his most personal book yet. Seeing Meghan again has unburied feelings he’d thought were long gone, leaving him longing for much more. Megan agrees to rent him a cottage, but is determined that’s where it ends, no matter how gorgeous Elliot has become.

“The Safe House” by Christophe Boltanski offers an ingeniously structured, lightly fictionalized account of Boltanski's grandparents and extended family. When the Nazis came, Etienne Boltanski divorced his wife, walked out the front door, then sneaked back to live in a crawl space of the house for the duration of the war. After the Liberation, he emerged, but the family was changed forever, living like hobos amid Bohemian disarray and lingering fears, even sometimes packed comically into the protective cocoon of a Fiat.

“Summoned to Thirteenth Grave” by Darynda Jones presents an epic showdown between good and evil as it shadows Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper extraordinaire, who’s furious after being kicked off the earthly plane for eternity. Unexpectedly allowed to return after a mere hundred years in exile, she finds much has changed and it’s time to put to rest burning questions that need answers. What happened to her mother? How did she really die? Who killed her? And are cupcakes or coffee the best medicine for a broken heart?

— Summaries by library staff