On the shelves - Feb. 12

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.

“The Crime That Binds” by Laurie Cass. Late March is prime reading weather in the small northern Michigan town of Chilson. Though snowfall and cloudy skies deter outdoor activities, life inside the bookmobile is warm and cheerful. But as Minnie and Eddie are making the rounds to deliver comforting reads, they see something strange: loyal bookmobile patron Ryan Anderson making a sudden U-turn and speeding away. When Minnie discovers the police want to question Ryan about a bank robbery and the death of a security guard, she realizes she’s one of the only people who thinks Ryan isn’t morally bankrupt. Minnie and Eddie will have to fight tooth and claw to prove his innocence.

“House of a Thousand Lies” by Cody Luke Davis. Diana Wolf likes to think she has it all: a rock god husband, an empty nest, a wine cellar, and a dream home in the woods. But when she hires a cartographer, Kerry Perkins, to survey and map her estate in rural Tennessee, she pulls back a frayed corner of the lie that is her fairytale life. On his first night at Wolf Hollow, Kerry stumbles across a young girl’s skeleton buried in the woods. But what really scares Diana is a familiar symbol carved into the girl’s skull: two wolves. Diana begins to question how good her life really is. How good of a man is her husband and how good a father? She’s not the only one with questions.

“Daughter of the Moon Goddess” by Sue Lynn Tan. Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic. To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream.

“Quilt of Souls” by Phyllis Biffle Elmore. At age four, Phyllis Biffle Elmore was plucked off her front porch in Detroit and dropped on her grandmother Lula Horn’s doorstep in rural Alabama. Phyllis felt utterly abandoned until Grandma Lula showed her both all-encompassing love and her intricate “Quilts of Souls.” Grandma Lula’s generosity of spirit, strong will, and creative soul animate every page and through the quilts, she paints portraits of extraordinary Black women born before and after the Civil War.

“Side Effects: How Left-Brain Right-Brain Differences Shape Everyday Behavior” by Lorin J. Elias, Ph.D. Understanding how right-brain and left-brain differences influence our habits, thoughts, and actions. Human behavior is lopsided. Why is our behavior so lopsided and what does this teach us about our brains? Can knowing how left-brain right-brain differences shape our opinions, tendencies, and attitudes help us make better choices in art, architecture, advertising, or even athletics?

“Girls Can Kiss Now” by Jill Gutowitz’s life has always been on a collision course with pop culture. There’s the time the FBI showed up at her door because of something she tweeted about Game of Thrones. The pop songs that have been the soundtrack to the worst moments of her life. And of course, the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill’s own sexuality. Dusting off her own personal traumas and artifacts of her not-so-distant youth she examines how pop culture acts as a fun house mirror reflecting and refracting our values—always teaching, distracting, disappointing, and revealing us.

— Summaries provided library staff