New Materials - June 7, 2022

A biweekly selection from our shelves, as curated by your favorite SPL librarians!


For the week of June 7, 2022:  Fiction | Nonfiction | Graphic Novels | Movies/TV, Music & More


Fiction

Jameela Green Ruins Everything Jameela Green Ruins Everything by Zarqa Nawaz

A no-holds-barred satire about the international cost of the American Dream, Jameela Green Ruins Everything is a compulsively readable, darkly comedic, yet unexpectedly touching story of one woman's search for meaning and connection.

On the Line: Notes from a Factory On the Line: Notes from a Factory by Joseph Ponthus

A celebrated French bestseller, this novel in verse that captures the mundane and the beautiful, the blood and sweat, of working on the factory floor in the processing plants and abattoirs of Brittany.

The Romantic Agenda The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann

Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she's never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he's met the love of his life--and no, it's not Joy--she's heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it's her last chance to show him exactly what he's overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something...or someone...and his name is Fox.

Sari, Not Sari Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh

This delightful debut rom-com follows the adventures of a woman trying to connect with her South Asian roots and introduces readers to a memorable cast of characters in a veritable feast of food, family traditions, and fun.

Vagabonds! Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde

In the bustling streets and cloistered homes of Lagos, a cast of vivid characters--some haunted, some defiant--navigate danger, demons, and love in a quest to lead true lives. Blending unvarnished realism with myth and fantasy, Vagabonds! is a vital work of imagination that takes us deep inside the hearts, minds, and bodies of a people in duress--and in triumph.

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories

From an award-winning team of authors, editors, and translators comes a groundbreaking short story collection that explores the expanse of Chinese science fiction and fantasy. Written, edited, and translated by a female and nonbinary team, these stories have never before been published in English and represent both the richly complicated past and the vivid future of Chinese science fiction and fantasy.

Return to Top


Nonfiction

Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation
Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation by Kris Manjapra

Timely, lucid, and crucial to our understanding of the ongoing "anti-mattering" of Black people, Black Ghost of Empire shines a light into the deep gap between the idea of slavery's end and its actual perpetuation in various forms--exposing the shadows that linger to this day.

Easy Beauty: A Memoir
Easy Beauty: A Memoir by Chloé Cooper Jones

From Chloé Cooper Jones--Pulitzer Prize finalist, philosophy professor, Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant recipient--a groundbreaking memoir about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen.

Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe by Keith O'Brien

The staggering story of an unlikely band of mothers in the 1970s who discovered Hooker Chemical's deadly secret of Love Canal-exposing one of America's most devastating toxic waste disasters and sparking the modern environmental movement as we know it today.

Persians: The Age of the Great Kings Persians: The Age of the Great Kings by Lloyd Llewellyn Jones

In Persians, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the epic story of this dynasty and the world it ruled. Drawing on Iranian inscriptions, cuneiform tablets, art, and archaeology, he shows how the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the world's first superpower--one built, despite its imperial ambition, on cooperation and tolerance. This is the definitive history of the Achaemenid dynasty and its legacies in modern-day Iran, a book that completely reshapes our understanding of the ancient world.

The Religious Revolution: The Birth of Modern Spirituality, 1848-1898 The Religious Revolution: The Birth of Modern Spirituality, 1848-1898 by Dominic Green

Dominic Green's The Religious Revolution is a sweeping cultural and intellectual history of the birth of modern spirituality in the late nineeenth century.

Sisters of Mokama: The Pioneering Women Who Brought Hope and Healing to India Sisters of Mokama: The Pioneering Women Who Brought Hope and Healing to India by Jyoti Thottam

The never-before-told story of six intrepid Kentucky nuns, their journey to build a hospital in the poorest state in India, and the Indian nurses whose lives would never be the same.

Return to Top


Graphic Novels

After After by Anna Todd

Anna Todd's original story comes to life with breathtaking illustrations by Pablo Andres. Featuring twelve pages of behind-the-scenes and character profile bonus content, After: The Graphic Novel is a great introduction to the bestselling series for new readers and the ultimate collector's item for fans everywhere!

Astro City. Metrobook Astro City. Metrobook by Kurt Busiek

A hero dreams of flight. An alien spy prepares for invasion. A young man is mentored by a hero with dark secrets. A street criminal discovers a hero's identity. And much, much more. Step into a world of heroes and see them from a whole different perspective. These are the multiple-award-winning stories that began the epic series and changed how we think about superheroes.

Crema: A Haunted Romance in Three Chapters Crema: A Haunted Romance in Three Chapters by Johnnie Christmas

Esme, a barista, feels invisible, like a ghost... also, when Esme drinks too much coffee she actually sees ghosts. Yara, the elegant heir to a coffee plantation, is always seen, but only has eyes for Esme. Their world is turned upside down when the strange ghost of an old-world nobleman begs Esme to take his letter from New York City to a haunted coffee farm in Brazil, to reunite him with his lost love of a century ago. Bringing sinister tidings of unrequited love.

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia O'Keeffe by María Herreros

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), the American artist known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes, was one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. Drawing mainly from O'Keeffe's letters that are depicted in this biography, artist María Herreros delves into O'Keeffe's deepest self: a tireless traveller, a nature lover, a strong and emancipated woman who carved her own determined path through life and did it her way.

The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery The House of Lost Horizons: A Sarah Jewell Mystery by Mike Mignola

A locked-room murder mystery puzzles paranormal detective Sarah Jewell and her associate Marie Therése when a weekend trip on a private island off the coast of Washington goes awry. Trapped by a storm and surrounded by myriad suspects who have gathered for an auction of occult items, the intrepid duo must unravel the supernatural mysteries surrounding the guests in the hopes of uncovering the murderer! But all the while bodies keep piling up, and at any moment Sarah or Marie Therése could be next!

Jane Foster: the Saga of the Mighty Thor Jane Foster: the Saga of the Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron

When the Son of Odin is rendered unworthy of lifting Mjolnir, the hammer is claimed... by a Goddess of Thunder! But this new hero is secretly Dr. Jane Foster - and each time she transforms, it worsens the cancer that is killing her. As the Odinson comes to terms with the loss of his hammer, the new Thor defines her independence when she battles Odin himself. But will she prevail when she is caught between Roxxon and S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Return to Top


Movies/TV, Music & More

Movies/TV

A Day in Rome A Day in Rome by Valerio Ciraci
Format: DVD

It chronicles a day in the life of the contemporary Jewish community of Rome, which for centuries has lived in limbo between persecution and integration. As the only cultural group in the city that can claim an uninterrupted line of descent from the times of the empire, Roman Jews have fostered rituals and traditions that are unique in the world. From dawn to dusk, through the voices of several characters living and working in the historic Ghetto quarter, it tells the story of a community both fiercely independent and distinctly Roman.

Dead Pixels. Seasons One & Two Dead Pixels. Seasons One & Two by Al Campbell and Jamie Jay Johnson
Format: DVD

Follows three friends, whose lives revolve around a fictional massive multiplayer online role-playing game called Kingdom scrolls.

Moonfall Moonfall by Roland Emmerich
Format: DVD

A mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurdling on a collision course with life, as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler is convinced she has the key to saving us all, but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman believe her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find that they might have prepared for the wrong mission.

Music

Divine Tides Divine Tides by Stewart Copeland & Ricky Kej
Format: CD

Divine Tides by Stewart Copeland and Ricky Kej features artists from all over the world. Soundscapes and melodies meet pulsating rhythms amidst lush ambient textures, which elevate the senses into a realm of spiritual solitude, where the soul is free.

Ghost Song Ghost Song by Cécile McLorin Salvant
Format: CD

Ghost Song features a diverse mix of seven originals and five interpretations on the themes of ghosts, nostalgia, and yearning. Salvant says, “It’s unlike anything I’ve done before—it’s getting closer to reflecting my personality as an eclectic curator. I’m embracing my weirdness!”

& More

When You are Mine When You are Mine by Michael Robotham
Format: Spoken CD

In this page-turning psychological thriller a young female police officer faces danger on all fronts—from a clever victim of abuse, her colleagues on the force, and even her own mobster father.

Fiction | Nonfiction | Movies, Music & More | Return to Top