On the shelves - March 6

The books listed below are now available for checkout at the Clovis-Carver Public Library. The library is open to the public, but patrons can still visit the online catalog at cloviscarverpl.booksys.net/opac/ccpl or call 575-769-7840 to request a specific item for curbside pickup.

“West of the Big River: The Dime Novelist” by Clay More. Adventurer, showman, charlatan, best-selling author, Ned Buntline was all of these things and more. Buntline, whose real name was Edward Zane Carroll Judson, produced hundreds of dime novels during the second half of the 19th Century and was the leading author of popular fiction during this period. Acclaimed Western author Clay More has painted a vivid portrait of this larger-than-life figure in THE DIME NOVELIST, the latest historical novel in the popular West of the Big River series from Western Fictioneers.

“Landline” by Rainbow Rowell. Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, but that almost seems beside the point now. Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s ruined everything. That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts. Is that what she’s supposed to do? Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

“The Simple Wild” by K.A. Tucker. Calla Fletcher was two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, leaving behind Calla’s father in the process. But when Calla’s father reaches out to inform her that his days are numbered, Calla knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born. While she struggles to adjust to this new subarctic environment, Jonah—Alaskan pilot who keeps her father’s charter plane company operational—can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. And he’s clearly waiting with one hand on the throttle to fly this city girl back to where she belongs. As time passes, she unexpectedly finds herself forming a bond with the burly pilot. As his undercurrent of disapproval dwindles, it’s replaced by friendship—or perhaps something deeper?

“What Happened to Paula” by Katherine Dykstra. In July 1970, 18-year-old Paula Oberbroeckling left her house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and never returned. A cold case for 50 years, Paula’s story had been largely forgotten when Katherine Dykstra began looking for answers. A woman was dead. Why had no one been held responsible? How could a community give up and move on? Could there ever be justice for Paula? Captivating and expertly crafted, What Happened to Paula is a timely, powerful look at gender, autonomy, and the cost of being a woman.

“Going There” by Katie Couric. For more than 40 years, Katie Couric has been an iconic presence in the media world. In her brutally honest, hilarious, heartbreaking memoir, she reveals what was going on behind the scenes of her sometimes tumultuous personal and professional life - a story she’s never shared, until now.

“The Auschwitz Photographer” by Luca Crippa & Maurizio Onnis. Poland, 1939. Professional photographer Wilhelm Brasse is deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and finds himself in a deadly race to survive, assigned to work as the camp’s intake photographer and take “identity pictures” of prisoners as they arrive by the trainload. Brasse soon discovers his photography skills are in demand from Nazi guards as well, who ask him to take personal portraits for them to send to their families and girlfriends. Behind the camera, Brasse is safe from the terrible fate that so many of his fellow prisoners meet. But over the course of five years, the horrifying scenes his lens capture, including inhumane medical “experiments” led by Josef Mengele, change Brasse forever.

— Summaries provided by library staff