On the shelves - Nov. 10

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 Sawmill Book Club” by Carolyn Brown. Unsure of the future but ready for risks, Libby O’Dell trades big-city life for whatever the back roads hold. In this case it’s the small community of Sawmill, Texas, where Libby’s taken a temporary job putting an antique store in order. Her new boss, Benny Taylor, a handsome charmer with a three-legged dog named Elvis, isn’t a bad change of scenery, either. Across the street Benny’s surrogate grandmothers―the widows Minilee and Opal―are ready with homemade corn bread, sweet tea, and an invitation for Libby to join their book club. Even if it is mostly a gathering for local gossip and meddling. The ladies’ main agenda: find Benny a wife. Except Benny’s not looking, and Libby’s only passing through until she decides what direction she’s headed next. Truth is, Sawmill is starting to feel pretty nice. Benny, even nicer. Time will tell if this meantime job in a stopover town is just what Libby’s been looking for―and where she belongs.

“The Night We Lost Him” by Laura Dave. Liam Noone was many things to many people. To the public, he was an exacting, self-made hotel magnate fleeing his past. To his three ex-wives, he was a loving albeit distant family man who kept his finances flush and his families carefully separated. To Nora, he was a father who often loved her from afar—notably, a cliffside cottage perched on the California coast from which he fell to his death. The authorities rule the death accidental, but Nora and her estranged brother Sam have other ideas. As Nora and Sam form an uneasy alliance to unravel the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.

“What Does It Feel Like?” by Sophie Kinsella. Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains that she has had an operation to remove the large, malignant tumor growing in her brain. As Eve learns to walk, talk, and write again—and as she wrestles with her diagnosis, and how and when to explain it to her beloved children—she begins to recall what’s most important to her: long walks with her husband’s hand clasped firmly around her own, family game nights, and always buying that dress when she sees it. Recounted in brief anecdotes, each one is an attempt to answer the type of impossible questions recognizable to anyone navigating the labyrinth of grief. This short, extraordinary novel is a celebration of life, shot through with warmth and humor—it will both break your heart and put it back together again.

“The Green Ages: Medieval Innovations in Sustainability” by Annette Kehnel. Premodern history is full of inspiring examples and concepts ripe for rediscovery, and we urgently need them as today’s challenges threaten what we have come to think of as a modern way of living sustainably. This is a stimulating and revelatory look at a past that has the power to change our future.

“Ten Birds That Changed the World” by Stephen Moss. For the whole of human history, we have lived alongside birds. In Ten Birds That Changed the World, naturalist and author Stephen Moss tells the gripping story of this long and intimate relationship through key species from all seven of the world’s continents. From Odin’s faithful raven companions to Darwin’s finches, this is a fascinating, eye-opening, and endlessly engaging work of natural history.

“Monet: The Restless Vision” by Jackie Wullschlager. Drawing on thousands of never-before-translated letters and unpublished sources, this biography reveals dramatic new information about the life and work of one of the late nineteenth century’s most important painters.

— Summaries provided by library staff