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Post by Kristin S.
After what seemed like a long January, February is here and Punxsutawney Phil has declared six more weeks of winter, so we might as well settle in with a brand new book or DVD! Follow the links for each format to find any of these new releases or best sellers at your neighborhood Aurora Public Library.
Recent New York Times Bestsellers:
New Fiction
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The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
Borrow: [Print] [eAudiobook]
A recluse who drinks heavily and takes prescription drugs may have witnessed a crime across from her Harlem townhouse.
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The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks
Borrow: [Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
The connections linking a hedge fund manager, his ex-wife and his fiancée are explored from several points of view.
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Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Borrow: [Print] [Audiobook] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
A 13-year-old boy comes of age in Mississippi while his black mother takes him and his toddler sister to pick up their white father, who is getting released from the state penitentiary.
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The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
Borrow: [Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
Four adolescents learn the dates of their deaths from a psychic and their lives go on different courses.
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Blood Fury by J. R. Ward
Borrow: [Print]
The third book in the Black Dagger Legacy series.
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Robicheaux by James Lee Burke
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
A bereaved detective confronts his past and works to clear his name when he becomes a suspect during an investigation into the murder of the man who killed his wife.
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Unbound by Stuart Woods
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
The 44th book in the Stone Barrington series.
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The Wanted by Robert Crais
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [eBook]
A single mother hires Elvis Cole to investigate her teenage son who is on the run after a deadly crime spree.
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Operator Down by Brad Taylor
Borrow: [Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
Pike Logan's team uncovers a plot to bring down a country in Africa when they track an American arms dealer.
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Promise Not to Tell by Jayne Ann Krentz
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [eBook]
A Seattle gallery owner and a private investigator, both of whom spent time in a cult during childhood, team up when an artist takes her own life.
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Twisted by Helen Hardt
Borrow: [Print]
The eighth book in the Steel Brothers Saga series.
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The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Borrow: [Print] [eBook]
A pregnant American college student and a French spy join together on a mission in London in 1947.
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The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
The lawyer Charlotte Quinn is challenged when violence returns to her hometown of Pikesville.
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New Nonfiction
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Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff
Borrow: [Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
A journalist offers an inside account of the first year of the Trump White House.
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When by Daniel H. Pink
Borrow: [Print]
Research from several fields reveals the ideal time to make small decisions and big life changes.
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Tell Me More by Kelly Corrigan
Borrow: [Print] [eBook]
A dozen essays based on short phrases that have defined some of the memoir writer's close relationships.
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Women & Power by Mary Beard
Borrow: [Print] [eBook]
A look at the roots of misogyny and its manifestations today.
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Single State of Mind by Andi Dorfman
Borrow: [Print] [eBook]
Real-life tales of dating and other mishaps by the former assistant district attorney from Georgia and star of "The Bachelorette."
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Thanks, Obama by David Litt
Borrow: [Print] [eBook]
A comic memoir from a young presidential speechwriter who served in the Obama White House.
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Home Sweet Murder by James Patterson
Borrow: [Print]
A true-crime story involving a lawyer, his wife and a man claiming to be a Securities and Exchange Commission agent.
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Murder, Interrupted by James Patterson
Borrow: [Print]
The real-life story of the fight between two men after one botches the murder of the other's wife.
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DVD New Releases (Dec-Jan):
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Wonder
Borrow: [DVD]
A boy with a facial deformity, who enters a middle school after being homeschooled for his whole life, struggles to fit in and get accepted by his classmates.
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Blade of the Immortal
Borrow: [DVD]
Samurai Manji has taken a lot of lives, both innocent and guilty, and now lives life in feudal Japan as a criminal. After being cursed with immortality until he kills enough evil men, Manji meets a young girl who enlists him to be her body-guard. Swearing loyalty, protection and vengeance against the group of sword fighters who slaughtered her family, the unlikely duo set on a remarkable quest to make right against those who did them wrong.
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The Florida Project
Borrow: [DVD]
The Florida Project tells the story of a precocious six year-old and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure while the adults around them struggle with hard times.
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Professor Marston & the Wonder Women
Borrow: [DVD]
Details the unconventional life of Dr. William Marston, the Harvard psychologist and inventor who helped invent the modern lie detector test and created Wonder Woman in 1941. Marston was in a polyamorous relationship with his wife Elizabeth, a psychologist and inventor in her own right, and Olive Byrne, a former student who became an academic.
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The Last Flag Flying
Borrow: [DVD]
A Vietnam veteran visits two of his fellow Marines to ask them with help in bringing the body of his son, a fallen soldier in Iraq, to Arlington. As they learn the truth about his death, they bond over the sore memories of their own troubled pasts.
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Only the Brave
Borrow: [DVD]
Based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a team of local firefighters train together to become one of the most elite firefighting teams in the nation and are tested when an historic wildfire threatens their town.
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Geostorm
Borrow: [DVD]
Something's wrong with the satellites that control climate and prevent devastating natural disasters. It's a race to uncover the threat before a worldwide geostorm engulfs the planet.
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Jigsaw
Borrow: [DVD]
When several people die in ways that resemble those of the Jigsaw Killer, detectives struggle with the possibility that he has come back from the dead to continue his killing spree.
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The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Borrow: [DVD]
Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman star in this heart-stopping thriller about a surgeon whose family is terrorized by a depraved teenager determined to take revenge on the doctor for a fatal past mistake.
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Goodbye Christopher Robin
Borrow: [DVD]
Get a rare glimpse into the relationship between author A.A. Milne, creator of the beloved Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and his son, in this moving story about success and family.
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Suburbicon
Borrow: [DVD]
Suburbicon is the perfect place to raise a family, and in 1959, Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon) is doing just that. But the tranquil surface masks a disturbing reality, as Gardner must navigate the town's dark underbelly of betrayal, deceit and violence.
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Thank You for Your Service
Borrow: [DVD]
Soldiers returning from Iraq struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life while living with the memory of war that threatens to destroy them long after.
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My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea
Borrow: [DVD]
From cartoonist Dash Shaw comes an audacious, critically acclaimed comedy debut that blends disaster movies, teen dramas and blockbuster clichés into a dazzling tale about how high school shapes who we become, even in the most unusual of circumstance.
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Chasing the Dragon
Borrow: [DVD]
Donnie Yen stars as infamous real-life drug kingpin Crippled Ho, who came to Hong Kong an illegal immigrant in 1963 and ruthlessly carved an empire from the chaotic underworld of drug dealers and corrupt police that ruled the city under notorious detective Lee Rock (Andy Lau).
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Earth: One Amazing Day
Borrow: [DVD]
Narrated by Robert Redford Earth: One Amazing Day is an astonishing journey into the awesome power of the natural world.
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Blade Runner 2049
Borrow: [DVD]
When a young blade runner discovers a shocking secret, he sets out to find former blade runner, Rick Deckard, who disappeared thirty years ago.
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Happy Death Day
Borrow: [DVD]
A college student relives the day of her murder with both its unexceptional details and terrifying end until she discovers her killer's identity.
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The Snowman
Borrow: [DVD]
When an elite crime squad's lead detective investigates the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of winter, he fears an elusive serial killer may be active again. With the help of a brilliant recruit, the cop must connect decades-old cold cases to the brutal new one if he hopes to outwit this unthinkable evil before the next snowfall.
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I, Daniel Blake
Borrow: [DVD]
When a carpenter has a heart attack and goes on state welfare, he is joined by a single mother who is in a similar situation.
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Loving Vincent
Borrow: [DVD]
The life and controversial death of Vincent Van Gogh told by his paintings and by the characters that inhabit them. The intrigue unfolds through dramatic reconstructions of the events leading up to his death.
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All I See is You
Borrow: [DVD]
When a blind woman suddenly regains her eyesight, she and her husband discover disturbing details about each other.
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9/11
Borrow: [DVD]
When five people find themselves trapped in an elevator after a plane hits the World Trade Center, they work together to try to survive.
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Beyond Skyline
Borrow: [DVD]
When the population of Los Angeles is sucked off the face of the earth, Detective Mark Corley (Frank Grillo) storms his way onto an alien ship to rescue his estranged son. After the ship crashes in Southeast Asia, Mark must forge an alliance with a band of survivors to discover the key to saving his son and taking back the planet once and for all.
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My Little Pony: The Movie
Borrow: [DVD]
A dark force threatens Ponyville, and the Mane six embark on an unforgettable journey beyond Equestria where they meet new friends and exciting challenges on a quest to use the magic of friendship to save their home.
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We hope you enjoy our newest and most popular selections! Stop on in to your Aurora Public Library for more great recommendations or materials.
Sources: The New York Times, Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon, Goodreads, EarlyWord, Novelist
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Post by Tessy W.
A sudden throbbing at your temples. Shivering until your bones seemed to jolt and creak beneath your skin, even as your fever spikes. The sweating starts. Sweating first through clothes and then blankets. And within a day, sometimes even hours,1 death.
The English sweating sickness killed between 30 to 50 percent2 of all who contracted it at the turn of the 16th century. Appearing and retreating in five epidemics2, it sent the English upper class into hysterics as it struck not only the poor, but also ravaged the young, healthy, and more importantly, the rich.1
What caused the virulent ailment? Where did it go? The sweating sickness is an epidemiological mystery that leaves even modern experts guessing.
That's why my reading list is littered with medical non-fiction. From gripping tales of disease running rampart, to in-depth histories detailing medical breakthroughs, the world of medicine is as fascinating as it is terrifying.
Death rates from infectious diseases in the United States have plummeted from around 800 deaths per 100,000 people in 1900 to just 46 deaths per 100,000 people in 2014.3 Thus transforming the specter of violent and imminent death by disease into vague plans to schedule that annual physical, at least for patricular areas of the world like the United States.
However, the phantom of disease still has the power to inspire prickles of nervous fear, and in some cases, outright panic. During the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the four cases4 that were diagnosed in the United States sent the country into a frenzy, making it impossible to turn around without catching another Ebola news headline.
In fact, "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston was one of the first books of the genre I ever read. A classic New York Times bestseller,Preston plotted the emergence of the Ebola virus from the jungles of Central Africa and described the virus' hyperbolic lethality in gruesome detail. More is known about the terrifying virus since the book's publication date, but the air of terror around the then mysterious virus is near tangible in this fast-paced, scientific thriller and it is still well worth the read.
Furthermore, if you're the sort to grumble about your annual flu shot, you might want to give "The Great Influenza" by John Barry a glance. Barry narrates the vicious onset and devastation of the 1918 flu pandemic in plentiful detail. Not only does he track the ravaging virus, but Barry, in exploring the question of why the virus was so monstrous, scrutinizes the history around the Spanish flu. From the setting of World War I to the emerging adeptness of the American medical community, the book chronicles one of the deadliest pandemics in human history with amazing scope and detail. Blinking up from its pages, you might be a little less reluctant next October when your doctor asks you whether you would like a flu shot.
Presently, the average American doesn't have to worry about a sweeping epidemic of Ebola or the flu. Instead, our illnesses come quietly, creeping forward through our bones, blood and flesh with ruthless intent. The leading cause of death in the United States is heart disease, but right on its heels, menacing on the edge of sight, is cancer.5
Dubbed "The Emperor of All Maladies" by Siddhartha Mukherjee in his book thus titled, cancer is disease at its worse. “Indeed, cancer’s emergence in the world is the product of a double negative: it becomes common only when all other killers themselves have been killed," according to Murkherjee.6 His sweeping epic of humanity's fight against cancer is an interweaving of narrative and lucid prose. Explaining the devastation of how our own bodies can turn against us and the successive ways we have attempted to battle against cancer, he illuminates an illness that up until modern times, we'd been afraid to even speak of.
With a dramatic cast of characters, the genre of medical nonfiction can narrate like your standard novel, with the heroes garbed in white lab coats or hazmat suits. Until recently, we'd appeared to be marching past the climax in our perpetual struggle between sickness and health into a neat, healthful resolution. But perhaps disease is a timeless villain after all.
According to the World Health Organization, "antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today".7 Illnesses previously controlled by antibiotics such as bacterial pneumonia and tuberculosis, are now contributing to an estimated 23,000 deaths per year in the United States8; a surging tide of lethality caused by the misuse of one of humanity's greatest epiphanies.
Antibiotics are overused and inapplicably applied. Instead of prescribing antibiotics for legitimate bacterial infections, they are prescribed for illnesses such the flu, which are caused by viruses not bacteria, or given as a health supplement to livestock instead of strictly to sick animals. This confluence of misuse has driven the evolution of bacterial strains that are resistant to most of the antibiotics we have, and the discovery of new antibiotics is a slow process due to poor investment and regulations.9
Unfortunately, antibiotic resistance is only one of many looming threats of the medical variety. If you're in the market for a doomsday directory, you might want to give "The Coming Plague" by Laurie Garrett a thorough read. Published in 1994, it has since proven its predictive power; the Ebola outbreak a few years ago being one of its many dire portents that has since become reality. In addition to foreshadowing 21st century health crises, Garrett also takes the time to detail the emergence and history behind many of the modern world's more villainous diseases such as HIV/AIDS. A hefty book packed with a decade of research, each chapter is crafted to keep you up at night.
Ultimately, the genre of medical nonfiction recounts an enduring battle of wits against humanity's greatest nemeses - and who can resist a plot like that?
Interested in more medical nonfiction?
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug by Thomas Hager
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
References
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The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. Sweating sickness. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/sweating-sickness. Published July 5, 2017. Accessed December 12, 2017.
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Heyman P, Simons L, Cochez C. Were the English Sweating Sickness and the Picardy Sweat Caused by Hantaviruses? Viruses. 2014;6(1):151-171. doi:10.3390/v6010151.
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Rettner, R. (2017). 100 Years of Infectious Disease Deaths in US: Study Shows What's Changed. [online] Live Science. Available at: https://www.livescience.com/56968-infectious-disease-deaths-united-states-100-years.html [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
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World Health Organization. (2017). Ebola virus disease. [online] Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/ [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
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Cdc.gov. (2017). Leading Causes of Death. [online] Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
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Mukherjee, S. (2012). Emperor of all maladies. Thorndike Press.
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World Health Organization. (2017). Antibiotic resistance. [online] Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/antibiotic-resistance/en/ [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
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Antibiotic / Antimicrobial Resistance. About Antimicrobial Resistance. https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/about.html. Published September 19, 2017. Accessed December 13, 2017.
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Ventola CL. The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis: Part 1: Causes and Threats. Pharmacy and Therapeutics. 2015;40(4):277-283.
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Post by Kristin S.
January New Releases and Bestsellers!
The cold has set in and our resolutions have begun! Those annual goals will undoubtedly include additions to your reading list which is where this post comes in to play. Check out the selections in fiction, non-fiction, DVDs and recommendations below!
Recent New York Times Bestsellers:
New Fiction
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The People vs Alex Cross by James Patterson
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
Charged with gunning down followers of his nemesis Gary Soneji in cold blood, Alex Cross is wrongly portrayed as a trigger-happy corrupt cop while he struggles to prove to a skeptical jury and dwindling supporters that his actions were in self defense.
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The Whispering Room by Dean Koontz
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [eBook]
Former F.B.I. agent and wanted fugitive Jane Hawk tracks down a group that is brainwashing people into committing suicide.
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Year One by Nora Roberts
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [eBook]
When a pandemic strikes and the world spins into chaos, several travelers head west to find a new life.
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Tom Clancy Power and Empire by Marc Cameron
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
President Jack Ryan seeks to identify the hidden forces escalating the tensions between China and the United States.
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Past Perfect by Danielle Stelle
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [Audiobook] [eBook]
A Manhattan family moves into a mansion in San Francisco and encounters the ghosts of its original inhabitants.
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Darker by E L James
Borrow: [eBook]
Christian Grey's tormented and difficult pursuit of Anastasia Steele is told from his perspective.
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New Nonfiction
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Let Trump Be Trump by Corey R Lewandowski
Borrow: [Print] [eBook]
A former campaign manager for Donald Trump's successful 2016 presidential run offers an insider's look at the ups and downs on the campaign trail.
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Gold Dust Woman by Steven Davis
Borrow: [Print] [eBook]
An in-depth portrait of the classic-rock artist Stevie Nicks covers her role in the stardom of Fleetwood Mac, the affairs that inspired her greatest songs, her struggles with addiction, and her successful solo career.
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The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
Borrow: [Print] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
From stand-up comedian, actress, and breakout star of Girls Trip, Tiffany Haddish, comes The Last Black Unicorn, a sidesplitting, hysterical, edgy, and unflinching collection of (extremely) personal essays, as fearless as the author herself.
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Natural Disaster by Ginger Zee
Borrow: [Print]
The ABC News meteorologist discusses her career, relationships and struggles with depression.
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DVD New Releases (Dec. - Jan.)
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Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Borrow: [DVD]
In this action-filled installment of the Kingsman series, two top-secret spy organizations - one from the UK and one in the US - join forces to defeat a ruthless common enemy.
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Home Again
Borrow: [DVD]
Recently separated from her husband, Alice (Reese Witherspoon) finds an unlikely new family and a budding new romance when three young filmmakers move into her guest house. A story of love, friendship, the families we create, Home Again is a modern romantic comedy with one very big life lesson: starting over is not for beginners!
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All Saints
Borrow: [DVD]
Based on the true story of salesman-turned-pastor Michael Spurlock, who with a group of Southeast Asian refugees risked everything to save their church and their lives.
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The Unknown Girl
Borrow: [DVD]
After a mysterious young woman dies on her doorstep, a guilt-ridden doctor embarks on an obsessive quest to learn the truth about what happened.
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Once Upon a Time at Christmas
Borrow: [DVD]
When a serial-killer couple dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus terrorizes a small town, a teen girl and a young cop must solve the pattern behind the seemingly random homicides.
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Despicable Me 3
Borrow: [DVD]
Gru, Lucy, their adorable daughters, and the Minions are back in the comedy blockbuster where one former super-villain will rediscover just how good it feels to be bad.
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American Assassin
Borrow: [DVD]
American Assassin follows CIA black ops recruit Mitch Rapp and Cold War veteran Stan Hurley as the pair is enlisted to stop a mysterious operative intent on starting a World War.
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Better Watch Out
Borrow: [DVD]
On a quiet suburban street, a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from intruders, only to discover it's far from a normal home invasion.
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The Osiris Child
Borrow: [DVD]
When a dangerous outbreak threatens to destroy everyone living on a newly colonized planet, Lt. Kane Sommerville goes against orders and leaves his station to rescue his young daughter before it's too late.
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The Women's Balcony
Borrow: [DVD]
An accident during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a gender rift in a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem, in this rousing, good-hearted tale about women speaking truth to patriarchal power.
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Crown Heights
Borrow: [DVD]
In 1980, a young man named Marvin Grant was gunned down in Flatbush Brooklyn. Clarence Lewis, a fifteen-year-old with a penchant for lying, told the police he saw what happened and was pressured to identify a suspect. This set into motion a series of events that led to the arrest of Colin Warner, an innocent teenager who lived in nearby Crown Heights.
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Dunkirk
Borrow: [DVD]
Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea, British and Allied troops are surrounded by enemy forces facing a fierce battle in World War II.
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Stronger
Borrow: [DVD]
Based on real life events, tells the story of a 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing survivor.
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Mayhem
Borrow: [DVD]
Just after being fired, Derek's office is put into quarantine for a virus that causes people to act out their wildest impulses. As chaos erupts, he makes his way to the top-floor executives to settle the score once and for all.
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It
Borrow: [DVD]
When children in town begin to disappear, a group of young kids is faced with their biggest fears as they square off against evil clown, Pennywise. Based on the Stephen King novel.
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Brawl in Cell Block 99
Borrow: [DVD]
When Bradley (Vince Vaughn) is sent to prison, he is forced to commit acts of violence that turn the place into a savage battleground.
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Want to settle in for some cozy reading during the cold weather?
Check out these recommendations:
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Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Series: Miss Marple, book #1
Total books in series: 12
Borrow: [Book]
The Murder at the Vicarage is Agatha Christie's first mystery to feature the beloved investigator Miss Marple—as a dead body in a clergyman's study proves to the indomitable sleuth that no place, holy or otherwise, is a sanctuary from homicide.
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Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke
Series: Hannah Swenson, book #1
Total books in series: 22
Borrow: [Audiobook] [eBook]
Take one amateur sleuth. Mix in some eccentric Minnesota locals. Add a generous dollop of crackling suspense, and you've got the recipe for this delicious new mystery series featuring Hannah Swensen, the red-haired, cookie-baking heroine whose gingersnaps are almost as tart as her mouth and whose penchant for solving crime is definitely stirring things up.
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The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini
Series: Elm Creek Quilts, book #1
Total books in series: 20
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [Audiobook]
Sarah, struggling to find a job and a sense of place in her new town, finds herself learning how to quilt from a cantankerous old woman who also teaches her about the deep love that can exist between friends.
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Still Life by Louise Penny
Series: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, book #1
Total books in series: 13
Borrow: [Print] [Audiobook] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal.
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Death of a Gossip by M. C. Beaton
Series: Hamish Macbeth, book #1
Total books in series: 33
Borrow: [eBook]
When society widow and gossip columnist Lady Jane Winters joined the fishing class, she wasted no time in ruffling the feathers-or was it the fins?-of those around her. Among the victims of her sharp tongue and unladylike manner was Lochdubh Constable Hamish Macbeth. Yet not even Hamish thought someone would permanently silence Lady Jane's shrills-until her strangled body is fished out of the river.
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The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Series: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, book #1
Total books in series: 18
Borrow: [Print] [Audiobook] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
Mma "Precious" Ramotswe sets up a detective agency in Botswana on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, making her the only female detective in the country. At first, cases are hard to come by. But eventually, troubled people come to Precious with a variety of concerns.
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Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson
Series: A Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery, book #1
Total books in series: 17
Borrow: [Print] [Audiobook] [eAudiobook]
Goldy Bear, recently divorced, has made a home for herself and her young son in scenic Aspen Valley, Colorado. There, calls for Goldilock's Catering have been steady enough to pay the bills. But when a mourner is felled by rat poison during a funeral buffet Goldy is serving, the police quickly close her business. Now it's up to Goldy to find the rat who has tainted her food and her reputation.
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The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun
Series: The Cat Who, book #1
Total books in series: 29
Borrow: [Print] [Audiobook] [eBook]
Journalist Jim Qwilleran and his feline companion Koko begin their investigative career when Jim finds murder and mischief while covering the art beat for the Daily Fluxion.
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The Hunt for Sonya Dufrette by R. T. Raichev
Series: Country House Crime Mysteries, book #1
Total books in series: 9
Borrow: [Print]
At a house party on the day of the royal wedding in 1981, a little girl named Sonya Dufrette wanders off and is never seen again. Twenty years on, divorcee and librarian Antonia Darcy sets out to solve the mystery.
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At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
Series: The Mitford Years, book #1
Total books in series: 14
Borrow: [Print] [Audiobook] [eBook]
It's easy to feel at home in Mitford. In these high, green hills, the air is pure, the village is charming, and the people are generally lovable. Yet, Father Tim, the bachelor rector, wants something more. Enter a dog the size of a sofa who moves in and won't go away. Add an attractive neighbor who begins wearing a path through the hedge. Now, stir in a lovable but unloved boy, a mystifying jewel theft, and a secret that's sixty years old. Suddenly, Father Tim gets more than he bargained for. And readers get a rich comedy about ordinary people and their ordinary lives.
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The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber
Series: Rose Harbor, book #1
Total books in series: 5
Borrow: [Normal Print] [Large Print] [Audiobook] [eBook] [eAudiobook]
Set in the Pacific Northwest, in the picturesque small town of Cedar Cove, these heartwarming gentle reads feature the cozy Rose Harbor Inn, its young, widowed proprietor, Jo Marie Rose, and a large cast of lovable secondary characters. The beautiful setting and the wise, understanding protagonist make second chances possible for all of her troubled guests.
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Happy New Year! Enjoy these books and movies to start 2018 off right!
Sources: The New York Times, Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon, Goodreads, EarlyWord, Novelist
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