On the shelves - Dec. 8

These books are available at the Clovis-Carver Public Library:

“Eye Spy” by Mercedes Lackey: Mags, Herald Spy of Valdemar, and his wife, Amily, the King’s Own Herald, are happily married with three kids. Their daughter, Abidela, dreams of building on her parents’ legacy by joining her father’s network of spies, hoping to offset her seeming lack of a Gift. But when Abi senses the imminent collapse of a bridge only moments before it happens, she saves countless lives, including that of her best friend, Princess Katiana.

“The Coldest Winter Ever” by Sister Souljah: I came busting into the world during one of New York’s worst snowstorms, so my mother named me Winter. Although ghetto-born, this young, wealthy daughter of a prominent Brooklyn drug-dealing family is quick-witted, sexy, and business-minded. When a cold wind blows her life in a direction she doesn’t want to go, Winter’s street smarts and seductive skills are put to the test of a lifetime. Unwilling to lose, this ghetto girl will do anything to stay on top.

“The Oysterville Sewing Circle” by Susan Wings: At the break of dawn, Caroline Shelby rolls into Oysterville, Washington, a tiny hamlet at the edge of the raging Pacific. She’s come home. Home to a place she thought she’d left forever, home of her heart and memories, but not her future. Ten years ago, Caroline launched a career in the glamorous fashion world of Manhattan, then her success in New York imploded on a wave of scandal and tragedy. Forced to flee to the only safe place she knows, Caroline finds the Oysterville she left behind has changed.

“Fashion” by The Smithsonian: From the extravagance of Ancient Egypt, through the legendary houses of Chanel and Dior, to today’s catwalk sensations, this gorgeous, carefully curated collection shows how fashion reflects people and places, and captures the times in which they lived.

“The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini” by Joe Posnanski. Harry Houdini. Say his name and a number of things come to mind. Escapes. Illusions. Magic. Chains. Safes. Live burials. Close to a century after his death, nearly every person in America knows his name from a young age, capturing their imaginations with his death-defying stunts and daring acts. This is a book about a man and his extraordinary life, but it is also about the people who he has inspired in death.

“Goodness and the Literary Imagination” by Toni Morrison. What exactly is goodness? Where is it found in the literary imagination? Toni Morrison, one of American letters’ greatest voices, pondered these perplexing questions in her celebrated Ingersoll Lecture, delivered at Harvard University in 2012 and published now for the first time in book form. Perhaps because it is overshadowed by the more easily defined evil, goodness often escapes our attention. Morrison’s notions of goodness and mercy also reflect her understanding of the sacred and the human spirit.

These books are available at the Portales Public Library:

“A Mrs. Miracle Christmas” by Debbie Macomber: In Debbie Macomber’s newest novel, Mrs. Miracle returns in her fourth book to spread hope and holiday cheer to those who need her most. This year, Laurel McCullough isn’t looking forward to Christmas, feeling discouraged that she and her husband Zach still haven’t been able to have a baby, and having the added weight of moving in with her grandmother Helen, who can no longer live by herself. Now trying to care for Helen, Laurel calls a local home-care organization for some extra help, only to find that there are no available caregivers. However, Mrs. Miracle appears at their door and gets right to work for the McCulloughs, giving much-needed companionship to Helen, who becomes convinced that Mrs. Miracle is an angel. Laurel too notices the positive, and even magical, effect Mrs. Miracle has on the house and on Helen, who is happier than ever, and Laurel and Zach repeatedly come across signs that hint that a miracle might happen, and the baby they’ve longed for may indeed be coming. With Mrs. Miracle’s special touch, Laurel, Zach, and Helen are about to have their best Christmas yet.

“Dear Evan Hansen” by Val Emmich with Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul: Based on the Tony award-winning Broadway musical, Dear Evan Hansen is the story of two isolated teenagers who become linked after a letter mistakenly winds up in the wrong hands. Evan Hansen starts his senior year with a broken arm after falling out of a tree over the summer and dreads having to endure one last school year struggling with his crippling social anxiety, unable to fully interact with the other students, including his crush, Zoe Murphy. Connor Murphy, Zoe’s brother, is a stoner, loner, and misfit in his family who signs Evan’s cast on a whim and steals a letter written by Evan for therapy out of spite, purely because Evan mentions Zoe in the letter. When Connor commits suicide the next day and his parents find the letter in Connor’s pocket, which begins “Dear Evan Hansen”, the Murphys believe that Evan and Connor must have been friends. Terrified to disappoint a grieving family, Evan goes along with the assumption, convincing his friend Jared to create fake emails between Evan and Connor, turning Evan into a heroic friend and Connor into a martyr for the rest of the student body, while also burying Evan deeper and deeper in a lie that could end up hurting everyone around him.

“Different Seasons” by Stephen King: In this renowned collection of four novellas by best-selling author Stephen King, each of the four stories-none of which fit within King’s often revisited genre of horror-offer a dramatic tale set in the four different seasons of the year: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Starting with spring, “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” (which inspired the critically acclaimed film The Shawshank Redemption) records the life story of Andy Dufresne, who was wrongfully convicted of his wife’s murder and sent to prison for nearly 30 years. Summer comes in the form of “Apt Pupil”, in which high school student Todd Bowden learns that his elderly neighbor is a former Nazi and becomes obsessed with his dark past. In the “fall from innocence”, King’s beloved story “The Body” tells of a Labor Day weekend spent by four best friends looking to find the dead body of a boy their own age, the story that was adapted into the classic coming-of-age movie “Stand By Me”. Finally, the collection ends with winter’s tale in “The Breathing Method”, the story of Sandra Stansfield’s mastery over breathing during the birth of her child, no matter what.

— Summaries provided by library staff