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Cumberland Public Library Staff Picks August 2017
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Check out some of these great reads that members of the staff at the library think you might enjoy because, well, we really enjoyed them. Copies of Book Discussion titles are available to be checked out at the Circulation Desk, Reference Desk, or Children's Desk
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I will always write back : how one letter changed two lives
by Caitlin Alifirenka
Traces the friendship between an American girl and her pen pal from an impoverished region of Zimbabwe, describing how 12-year-old Caitlin wrote to an unknown student for a class assignment and shared a life-changing six-year correspondence.
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The burning page
by Genevieve Cogman
Placed on probation for her role in a dispute between the dragons and the fae, Librarian spy Irene, assisted by her dragon prince apprentice, are confronted by longtime nemesis Alberich, who would destroy the entire Library.
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Once and for all : a novel
by Sarah Dessen
Gaining considerable experience while working for her cynical mother's successful wedding-planner business throughout her high school years, Louna holds her own wary beliefs about love before charming playboy Ambrose joins the company and dares her to date while he attempts a long-term relationship with one woman.
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It ain't so awful, falafel
by Firoozeh Dumas
When her family once again moves and lands in California's Newport Beach in the late 1970s, Zomorod Yousefzadeh takes a new name in the hope of fitting in as tensions rise between America and her native Iran.
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Wolf by wolf
by Ryan Graudin
In a tale set in an alternate-history mid-20th century where the Axis powers have won World War II, Yael, a death camp escapee, aspires to win a high-profile motorcycle race so that she can assassinate Hitler.
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Conclave
by Robert Harris
After the demise of the Pope, 118 cardinals converge on the Sistine Chapel to cast their votes in the world's most secretive election, where ambition and rivalry play out over the course of 72 hours.
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Into the water
by Paula Hawkins
When a single mom and a teen girl are found murdered at the bottom of a river in a small town weeks apart, an ensuing investigation dredges up a complicated local history involving human instincts and the damage they can inflict.
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Basket case
by Carl Hiaasen
Former investigative reporter Jack Tagger gets his chance to escape the doldrums of obituary writing as he investigates the suspicious "accidental" death of rock star Jimmy Stoma, the infamous leader of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies.
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Forgotten voices of the Blitz and the Battle for Britain
by Joshua Levine
With first-hand testimonies from those involved in Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, Black Saturday on 7th September 1940 when the Luftwaffe began the Blitz, to its climax on the 10th May 1941, this work present the oral history of a period when Britain came closer to being overwhelmed by the enemy than at any other time in modern history.
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Precious and Grace
by Alexander McCall Smith
Helping Mr. Polopetsi with an entanglement in a pyramid scheme and Charlie with a dubious romance, an unassisted Precious Ramotswe tackles the case of a young Canadian woman who would find a long-lost acquaintance from her Botswana childhood.
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Better late than never
by Jenn McKinlay
When the Briar Creek Public Library holds its first overdue amnesty day to collect numerous unreturned books, director Lindsey Norris is shocked by the appearance of a long-missing book checked out 20 years earlier to a murdered teacher whose killer was never found.
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From Notting Hill with love-actually
by Ali McNamara
Scarlett O'Brien takes a housesitting job in iconic Notting Hill where her life soon takes on the qualities of the romantic comedy films she is an avid fan of, but life as a movie character is more complex than she thought
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The black book
by James Patterson
A devoted Chicago cop from a family of career detectives miraculously survives an attack that kills his partner but that he cannot remember himself, an event that causes him to be charged with double murder and tasked with uncovering what really happened to clear his name.
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Two from the heart
by James Patterson
Present two tales about the power of a good story to show life's possibilities, including "Tell Me Your Best Story," in which Anne sets off on a road trip to ask people, "What's your best story?," in an effort find what she's been missing in life.
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Bones to ashes
by Kathy Reichs
Discovering the skeleton of a young girl in the neighborhood of a childhood best friend who had gone missing thirty years earlier, Tempe Brennan investigates suspicions that victim and her friend are one and the same and that the case is related to two other unsolved deaths.
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Ghost
by Jason Reynolds
Aspiring to be the fasted sprinter on his elite middle school's track team, a gifted runner finds his goal challenged by a tragic past with a violence-prone father, in a debut entry of a series about four teammates from very different backgrounds.
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The terror : a novel
by Dan Simmons
Captain Crozier must find a way for his crew to survive the deadly attacks of a mysterious and insatiable sea monster that is stalking the men trapped in the Arctic ice, in a novel loosely based on the mid-nineteenth-century Arctic expedition originally led by Sir John Franklin.
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A head full of ghosts
by Paul Tremblay
The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when 14-year-old Marjorie begins to display signs of what at first seems to be acute schizophrenia, a condition which only gets worse, leading them to believe it's actually demonic possession, as they become the center of a reality TV show.
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Black gods of the asphalt : religion, hip-hop, and street basketball
by Onaje X. O. Woodbine
J-Rod moves like a small battle tank on the court, his face mean, staring down his opponents. 'I play just like my father,' he says. 'Before my father died, he was a problem on the court. I'm a problem.' Playing basketball for him fuses past and present, conjuring his father's memory into a force that opponents can feel in every bone-snapping drive to the basket. On the street every ballplayer has a story. Onaje X. O. Woodbine, a former streetball player who became an All-Star Ivy Leaguer, brings the sights and sounds, hopes and dreams of street basketball to life. Big games have a trickster figure and a master of black talk whose commentary interprets the game for audiences. The beats of hip-hop and reggae make up the soundtrack, and the ball players are half-men, half-heroes, defying the ghetto's limitations with their flights to the basket. Streetball is rhythm and flow, and during its peak moments, the three rings of the asphalt collapse into a singular band, every head and toe pressed against the sidelines, caught up in the spectacle. Basketball is popular among young black American men, but not because, as many claim, they are 'pushed by poverty' or 'pulled' by white institutions to play it. Black men choose to participate in basketball because of the transcendent experience of the game. Through interviews with and observations of urban basketball players, Onaje X. O. Woodbine composes a rare portrait of a passionate, committed, and resilient group of athletes who use the court to mine what urban life cannot corrupt. If people turn to religion to reimagine their place in the world, then black streetball players are indeed the adepts of the asphalt.
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Save me a seat
by Sarah Weeks
Two boys, one white, one Indian-American, gain strength from each other from afar as they struggle to navigate middle school, family relationships and friendships.
The Bookworms Book Club (Entering Grades 3-5) will be talking about this title on Wednesday, August 2 at 6:00 pm.
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The hummingbird
by Stephen P Kiernan
The skills and experience of a seasoned hospice nurse are tested by her soldier husband's battle with PTSD, whose difficulties are helped by the advice of a scandal-tainted history professor.
The Daytime Book Discussion Group will be talking about this title on Thursday, August 17 at 10:00 am.
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After this
by Alice McDermott
A vivid portrait of an American family during the middle decades of the twentieth century evokes the social, spiritual, and political turmoil of the era as seen through the experiences of a middle-class couple and their children, as they cope with the changing world around them.
The Evening Book Discussion Group will be talking about this title on Monday, August 21 at 6:30 pm.
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