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Fiction A to Z January 2019
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New and Recently Released |
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| The Dakota Winters by Tom Barbash It’s the fall of 1979 in New York City when twenty-three-year-old Anton Winter, back from the Peace Corps, returns to his childhood home in the Dakota. Anton’s father, the famous late-night host Buddy Winter, is himself recovering from a breakdown. Before long, Anton is swept up in an effort to reignite Buddy’s stalled career, a mission that takes him from the gritty streets of New York, to the slopes of the Lake Placid Olympics, to the Hollywood Hills, to the blue waters of the Bermuda Triangle, and brings him into close quarters with the likes of Johnny Carson, Ted and Joan Kennedy, and a seagoing John Lennon. By turns hilarious and poignant, The Dakota Winters is a family saga, a page-turning social novel, and a tale of a critical moment in the history of New York City and the country at large. |
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| The Museum of Modern Love by Heather RoseArky Levin has unexpectedly separated from his wife. As he wanders the city, guilty and restless, it’s almost by chance that he stumbles upon an exhibition that will change his life. The installation the fictional Arky discovers—which is based on a real piece of performance art that took place in 2010—is inexplicably powerful. Visitors to the Museum of Modern Art sit across a table from the performance artist Marina Abramović, for as short or long a period as they choose. Although some go in skeptical, almost all leave moved. And the participants are not the only ones to find themselves changed by this unusual experience: Arky finds himself drawn to the exhibit. He returns day after day to watch other people sit with Abramović—and as he does, he begins to understand what might be missing in his life and what he must do. |
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| Come With Me by Helen SchulmanFor breadwinning mom Amy, it's a real option when her boss enlists her to try out cutting-edge software that will allow her to experience what her life might have been had she made different choices. With a faltering marriage and three challenging kids, Amy finds herself unable to resist the lure of the road(s) not taken. Who would she be if she had made different choices, loved different people? Where would she be now? Amy’s husband, Dan—an unemployed, perhaps unemployable, print journalist—accepts a dare of his own, accompanying a seductive, award-winning photographer named Maryam on a trip to Fukushima, Japan. Collaborating with Maryam, Dan feels a renewed sense of excitement and possibility he hasn’t felt with his wife in a long time. But when crisis hits at home, the extent of Dan’s betrayal is exposed and, as Amy contemplates alternative lives, the couple must confront whether the distances between them in the here and now are irreconcilable. |
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Virgil Wander by Leif EngerMidwestern movie house owner Virgil Wander is “cruising along at medium altitude” when his car flies off the road into icy Lake Superior. Virgil survives but his language and memory are altered and he emerges into a world no longer familiar to him. Awakening in this new life, Virgil begins to piece together his personal history and the lore of his broken town, with the help of a cast of affable and curious locals. Into this community returns a shimmering prodigal son who may hold the key to reviving their town. With intelligent humor and captivating whimsy, Leif Enger conjures a remarkable portrait of a region and its residents, who, for reasons of choice or circumstance, never made it out of their defunct industrial district. Virgil Wander is a swift, full journey into the heart and heartache of an often overlooked American Upper Midwest.
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Hippie by Paulo CoelhoPaulo, a young, skinny Brazilian man with a goatee and long, flowing hair, sets off on a journey in search of a deeper meaning for his life. He meets Karla, a Dutch woman in her twenties who has been waiting to find the ideal companion to accompany her on the fabled hippie trail to Nepal. They embark on the journey in the company of fascinating fellow travelers, each of whom has a story to tell, and each of whom will undergo a personal transformation, changing their priorities and values along the way. As they travel together, Paulo and Karla explore their own relationship: a life-defining love story that awakens them on every level and leads to choices and decisions that will set the course for their lives thereafter.
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The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain When Carly Sears, a young woman widowed by the Vietnam war, receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970, and she is told that nothing can be done to help her child. But her brother-in-law, a physicist with a mysterious past, tells her that perhaps there is a way to save her baby. What he suggests is something that will shatter every preconceived notion that Carly has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage she never knew existed. Something that will mean an unimaginable leap of faith on Carly's part. And all for the love of her unborn child.The Dream Daughter is a rich, genre-spanning, breathtaking novel about one mother's quest to save her child, unite her family, and believe in the unbelievable.
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| The Summer List by Amy Mason DoanLaura and Casey were once inseparable: as they floated on their backs in the sunlit lake, as they dreamed about the future. Until one summer night, when a shocking betrayal sent Laura running through the pines, down the dock, and into a new life, leaving Casey and a first love in her wake. But the past is impossible to escape, and now, after seventeen years away, Laura is pulled home and into a reunion with Casey she can’t resist—one last scavenger hunt. With a twist: this time, the list of clues leads to the settings of their most cherished summer memories. From glistening Jade Cove to the vintage skating rink, each step they take becomes a bittersweet reminder of the friendship they once shared. But just as the game brings Laura and Casey back together, the clues unravel a stunning secret that threatens to tear them apart. |
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| Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas ContrerasSeven-year-old Chula and her older sister Cassandra enjoy carefree lives thanks to their gated community in Bogotá, but the threat of kidnappings, car bombs, and assassinations hover just outside the neighborhood walls, where the godlike drug lord Pablo Escobar continues to elude authorities and capture the attention of the nation. When their mother hires Petrona, a live-in-maid from the city's guerrilla-occupied slum, Chula makes it her mission to understand Petrona's mysterious ways. But Petrona's unusual behavior belies more than shyness. She is a young woman crumbling under the burden of providing for her family as the rip tide of first love pulls her in the opposite direction. As both girls' families scramble to maintain stability amidst the rapidly escalating conflict, Petrona and Chula find themselves entangled in a web of secrecy that will force them both to choose between sacrifice and betrayal. |
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| Cherry by Nico WalkerIt's 2003, and as a college freshman in Cleveland, our narrator is adrift until he meets Emily. The two of them experience an instant, life-changing connection. But when he almost loses her, he chooses to make an indelible statement: he joins the Army. The outcome will not be good for either of them. As a medic in Iraq, he is unprepared for the realties that await him. He and his fellow soldiers huff computer duster, abuse painkillers, and watch porn. Many of them die. When he comes home, his PTSD is profound. As the opioid crisis sweeps through the Midwest, it drags both him and Emily along with it. As their addictions worsen, and with their money drying up, he stumbles onto what seems like the only possible solution—robbing banks. |
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| Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson In Denmark, Professor Anders Larsen, an urbane man of facts, has lost his wife and his hopes for the future. On an isolated English farm, Tina Hopgood is trapped in a life she doesn’t remember choosing. Both believe their love stories are over. Brought together by a shared fascination with the Tollund Man, subject of Seamus Heaney’s famous poem, they begin writing letters to one another. And from their vastly different worlds, they find they have more in common than they could have imagined. As they open up to one another about their lives, an unexpected friendship blooms. But then Tina’s letters stop coming, and Anders is thrown into despair. How far are they willing to go to write a new story for themselves? |
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Tuesday, January 29 Stealing the Body of Abraham Lincoln 6:30 p.m. Years after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, in the 1870's, a band of criminals failed in an attempt to steal Lincoln's body from his tomb in Springfield, IL. Historical lecturer Michael Jesberger will present a program on this strange and often overlooked story of our 16th President. Enroll online or at the library. Saturday, February 2 Backyard Birds 11:00 a.m. Learn how you can participate in the Audubon Society's Great Backyard Bird Count in your own backyard. Kathy Easton will have her scope to help you identify local birds. This program is for all ages. Enroll online or at the library.
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Monday, February 11 Tech Talk with Jay 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 12 Make a Card for Valentine's Day 1:00 p.m. Learn the basics of greeting card making using rubber stamped images and interesting folding and layering techniques to create Valentine's Day cards. This is a hands-on class. Enroll online or at the library. Tuesday, February 12 Great Decisions Discussions 7:00 p.m. Discuss the most critical issues facing America today. The first topic is "Refugees and Global Migration." Copies of the 2019 Briefing Book will be available to borrow in early January. Enroll online or at the library.
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Cranbury Public Library
23 North Main Street ~
Cranbury, NJ 08512 ~ Phone: 609-655-0555 ~ Contact Us
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