A biweekly selection from our shelves, as curated by your favorite SPL librarians!
For the week of August 31, 2021: Fiction | Nonfiction | Graphic Novels | Movies/TV, Music & More
Fiction
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The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey
India's only female lawyer, Perveen Mistry, is compelled to bring justice to the family of a murdered female Parsi student just as Bombay's streets erupt in riots to protest British colonial rule. Sujata Massey is back with this third instalment to the Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning series set in 1920s Bombay. |
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Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick
A Korean adoptee living in the middle of Indiana, Hara Wilson has never felt a true sense of belonging - until a data breach from a DNA matching service reveals the name of her biological father. Hara knows that this is something that she can't ignore. As much as she loves her adoptive parents, this is a chance to finally discover her roots and know more about where she came from, so she does the only logical thing: she books a one-way ticket to South Korea. |
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Heaven by Mieko Kawakami
A bold foray into new literary territory, Kawakami's novel is told in the voice of a 14-year-old student subjected to relentless torment for having a lazy eye. The only person who understands what he is going through is a female classmate who suffers similar treatment at the hands of her tormentors. These raw and realistic portrayals of bullying are counterbalanced by textured exposition of the philosophical and religious debates concerning violence to which the weak are subjected. |
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Talk Bookish to Me by Kate Bromley
Kara Sullivan's life is full of love--albeit fictional. But right now? Not only is Kara's best friend getting married next week--which means big wedding stress--but the deadline for her next novel is looming, and she hasn't written a single word. The last thing she needs is for her infuriating first love, Ryan Thompson, to suddenly appear in the wedding party. |
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The Quiet Boy by Ben H. Winters
From the bestselling author of Underground Airlines and Golden State, this sweeping legal thriller follows a sixteen-year-old who suffers from a neurological condition that has frozen him in time--and the team of lawyers, doctors, and detectives who are desperate to wake him up. |
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With Teeth by Kristen Arnett
From the author of the New York Times-bestselling sensation Mostly Dead Things: a surprising and moving story of two mothers, one difficult son, and the limitations of marriage, parenthood, and love. |
Nonfiction
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A Fatal Thing happened on the way to the forum : murder in ancient Rome by Emma Southon
An entertaining and informative look at the unique culture of crime, punishment, and killing in Ancient Rome. |
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Journal Me Organized: The Complete Guide to Practical and Creative Planning by Rebecca Spooner
Need to get organized? Blogging star Rebecca Spooner shows you how to create a great journal that will put your life in order. |
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The Pepper Thai Cookbook: Family Recipes from Everyone's Favorite Thai Mom by Pepper Teigen
In her debut cookbook, the author shares more that 80 fun and flavorful recipes, along with stories about her early days in the U.S., learning how to cook Thai dishes with American ingredients and substitutes and what it's like to raise and live with a famous daughter. |
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Sumac: Recipes and Stories from Syria by Anas Atassi
The Syrian kitchen, shaped by influences from neighboring countries, has deep historical roots and evolved to perfection over thousands of years. Sumac is filled with traditional and contemporary Syrian recipes that were inspired by personal stories. The gorgeous photography illustrates how beautiful this country was and still is, and family photographs add depth to the author's history. |
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Three Dreamers: A Memoir of Family by Lorenzo Carcaterra
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sleepers offers a heartfelt homage to the women who taught him courage, kindness, and the power of storytelling: his mother, his grandmother, and his late wife. |
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Why Didn't You Just Do What You Were Told?: Essays by Jenny Diski
Jenny Diski was a fearless writer, for whom no subject was too difficult, even her own diagnosis with cancer. Her columns in the London Review of Books -- selected here by her editor and friend Mary-Kay Wilmers, ranged from subjects as various as happiness, social psychology, self-absorption and cats -- have been described as 'virtuoso performances', and 'small masterpieces'. |
Graphic Novels
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Catalogue Baby: A Memoir of Infertility by Myriam Steinberg
A deeply moving tragicomic graphic memoir about a single woman's efforts to conceive in her forties. |
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Dragman by Steven Appleby
From "Britain's most loved comics artist" comes a superhero epic like no other--an ordinary man gains superpowers by donning women's clothing, saving London and maybe even himself. |
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Muhammad Ali, Kinshasa 1974 by Jean-David Morvan
Award-winning writer JD Morvan and renowned photographer Abbas' stunning graphic novel masterpiece which uses iconic photos to uniquely illustrate the historical 'Rumble in the Jungle' boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. |
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My Life in Transition: A Super Late Bloomer Collection by Julia Kaye
The follow-up to the critically acclaimed autobiographical comics collection Super Late Bloomer, documenting transgender artist Julia Kaye's life post-transition. |
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Run Home if You Don't Want to be Killed: The Detroit Uprising of 1943 by Rachel Marie-Crane Williams
With Run Home If You Don't Want to Be Killed, Rachel Marie-Crane Williams delivers a graphic retelling of the racism and tension leading up to the violence of those summer days. By incorporating firsthand accounts collected by the NAACP and telling them through a combination of hand-drawn images, historical dialogue, and narration, Williams makes the history and impact of these events immediate, and in showing us what happened, she reminds us that many issues of the time--police brutality, state-sponsored oppression, economic disparity, white supremacy--plague our country to this day. |
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Steeple by John Allison
Two women with wildly different worldviews become unlikely friends as they navigate the supernatural happenings in a sleepy coastal parish--and soon find themselves forced to choose sides in the war between good and evil, facing demons, curses, and a miniature Rapture! |
Movies/TV, Music & More
Movies/TV
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Far Western by James D. Payne Format: DVD Through these modern-day portraits, this film illuminates this lost chapter of music as the musicians journey from Japan to the heart of American music culture. Over seventy years later this American music tradition has been transformed into something distinctly Japanese. |
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Harley Quinn. The Complete First Season by Director Format: DVD The series focuses on a single Harley Quinn, who sets off to make it on her own in Gotham City. Harley Quinn has finally broken things off once and for all with the Joker and attempts to make it on her own as the criminal Queenpin of Gotham City in this half-hour adult animated action-comedy series.. |
Music
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Bear's Sonic Journals: That Which Colors the Mind by Ali Akbar Khan Format: CD The Beatles helped to popularize Indian music in the West in the 1960s. But on this influential night in 1970, Ali Akbar Khan, the greatest sarod master of the century, crossed over to a rapt audience of psychedelic pilgrims, spawning a generation of followers. Captured by the Grateful Dead's legendary soundman, Owsley 'Bear' Stanley, the infamous LSD chemist, this release is a mind-expanding journey. |
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Every Which Way by Dan Reeder Format: CD Musician and visual artist Dan Reeder releases a new album that includes the track Stay Down, Man. His past work has been highlighted on NPR, American Songwriter, and more. |
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When You See Yourself by Kings of Leon Format: CD When You See Yourself is best seen as a continuation of Walls, the 2016 album Kings of Leon made with Markus Dravs, a producer best known for his Grammy-winning work with Arcade Fire and Coldplay. |
& More
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The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton Format: Spoken CD A kaleidoscopic fictional oral history of the beloved rock 'n' roll duo who shot to fame in 1970s New York, and the dark, fraught secret that lies at the peak of their stardom. |