New Additions to the English Book Library Catalog

The books featured below have all been added to the LCS English Book Library in the last 30 days. Click on the cover images for more information. Donations are always welcome.

Title: A Traveler's Notebook
On the Road Again

Author: Moulder, Liz

Pub Year: 2020
Publisher: Ajijic Books

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Geography and Travel:
Location: LOC AUTH MOUL

Description:

Liz Moulder's story begins with a summer job between college semesters that quickly becomes a life-long obsession with travel, exotic people, and interesting cultures. She takes us on an unusual journey as she finds herself sleeping in a mortuary, living on a sinking boat, and befriending a murderer on a bus.Curious about the people she meets, Liz shares with readers some of her more colorful experiences of living and traveling the world. Journey with Liz on safari in Africa, live in a peculiar complex in Guatemala with a band of off-beat residents - one who never leaves home without her axe. Meet the Hawaiian hitch-hiking dog, and evade the police with Liz during Francisco Franco's rule in Spain.Liz's inherent infatuation of people, coupled with an eye for the unconventional, offbeat and at times outlandish personalities, opens the door for unusual experiences which she weaves into stories with compassion, humor, and thoughtful reflection.
A Traveler's Notebook
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Title: Belshazzar's Daughter
A Felony and Mayhem Mystery

Author: Nadel, Barbara

Pub Year: 1999
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Mystery/Suspense:
Location: NADE

Description:

Barbara Nadel introduces Inspector Cetin Ikmen for the first time in her debut novel, Belshazzar's Daughter. Perfect for fans of Jason Goodwin and Donna Leon. Leonid Meyer is found murdered in his flat in Balat, Istanbul's decrepit Jewish quarter, a swastika daubed on the wall in the old man's blood. But Inspector Cetin Ikmen is quick to eschew the obvious conclusion that this is a racist attack. The evidence leads Ikmen and his young lieutenant, Suleyman, to two people: Robert Cornelius, a teacher observed outside Meyer's flat shortly after the murder, and a retired businessman, Reinhold Smits, known to have had Nazi sympathies. But another link connects these two: a ninety-year-old Russian émigré, Maria Gulcu, a widow who thinks she possesses a secret worth killing for...
Belshazzar's Daughter
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Title: Benediction


Author: Haruf, Kent

Pub Year: 2013
Publisher: Vintage Contemporaries

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :General Fiction:
Location: HARU

Description:

From the beloved and best-selling author of Plainsong and Eventide comes a story of life and death, and the ties that bind, once again set out on the High Plains in Holt, Colorado. When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him; her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them. Next door, a young girl named Alice moves in with her grandmother and contends with the painful memories that Dad's condition stirs up of her own mother's death. Meanwhile, the town’s newly arrived preacher attempts to mend his strained relationships with his wife and teenaged son, a task that proves all the more challenging when he faces the disdain of his congregation after offering more than they are accustomed to getting on a Sunday morning. And throughout, an elderly widow and her middle-aged daughter do everything they can to ease the pain of their friends and neighbors. Despite the travails that each of these families faces, together they form bonds strong enough to carry them through the most difficult of times. Bracing, sad and deeply illuminating, Benediction captures the fullness of life by representing every stage of it, including its extinction, as well as the hopes and dreams that sustain us along the way. Here Kent Haruf gives us his most indelible portrait yet of this small town and reveals, with grace and insight, the compassion, the suffering and, above all, the humanity of its inhabitants.
Benediction
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Title: Dead Heat


Author: Rosenberg, Joel

Pub Year: 2008
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Mystery/Suspense:
Location: ROSE

Description:

The stage is set for war: Oil prices are surging to record highs A new dictator is rising in Iraq China is threatening Taiwan North Korean forces are ready to strike south Israel is feverishly trying to complete the Third Temple And in the midst of a world ready to explode, American president James MacPherson’s second term is ending. The battle to succeed him is heating up into the most fiercely contested presidential election in American history. Who will lead a bitterly divided country over the next four years? And just what role—if any—does the US play in history’s last days? As the presidential campaign narrows to a dead heat, the Secret Service learns of a catastrophic terrorist plot to assassinate one of the candidates—but which one? Whom do they want dead? And can US forces stop the terrorists before millions lose their lives?
Dead Heat
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Title: Eva Moves the Furniture


Author: Livesey, Margot

Pub Year: 2001
Publisher: Picador USA

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :General Fiction:
Location: LIVE

Description:

On the morning of Eva McEwen's birth, six magpies congregate in the apple tree outside the window-a bad omen, according to Scottish legend. That night Eva's mother dies, leaving her to be raised by her aunt and heartsick father in the small town of Troon, Scotland. As a child, Eva is often visited by two companions: a woman and a girl. Invisible to everyone else, they seem benevolent at first, helping her to tidy her room and collect the hens' eggs. But as she grows older, their intentions become increasingly unclear: Do they wish to protect or harm her? Is their meddling in her best interest or prompted by darker motivations? In the shadow of World War II, Eva studies nursing in Glasgow, tending to the wounded soldiers. But when she falls in love with a young plastic surgeon, the companions seem to have a very different idea as to her fate, and once again she finds herself unable to resist their pull. A magical novel about loneliness, love, and the profound connection between mother and daughter, Eva Moves the Furniture fuses the simplicity of a fairy tale with the complexity of adult passions.
Eva Moves the Furniture
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Title: Justice Betrayed
A Memphis Cold Case Novel

Author: Bradley, Patricia

Pub Year: 2018
Publisher: Revell

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Mystery/Suspense:
Location: BRAD

Description:

It's Elvis Week in Memphis, and homicide detective Rachel Sloan isn't sure her day could get any stranger when aging Elvis impersonator Vic Vegas asks to see her. But when he produces a photo of her murdered mother with four Elvis impersonators - one of whom had also been murdered soon after the photo was taken - she's forced to reevaluate. Is there some connection between the two unsolved cases? And could the recent break-in at Vic's home be tied to his obsession with finding his friend's killer? When yet another person in the photo is murdered, Rachel suddenly has her hands full investigating three cases. Lieutenant Boone Callahan offers his help, but their checkered romantic past threatens to get in the way. Can they solve the cases before the murderer makes Rachel victim number four?
Justice Betrayed
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Title: Labor Day


Author: Maynard, Joyce

Pub Year: 2009
Publisher: HarperCollins

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :General Fiction:
Location: MAYN

Description:

With the end of summer closing in and a steamy Labor Day weekend looming in the town of Holton Mills, New Hampshire, thirteen-year-old Henry—lonely, friendless, not too good at sports—spends most of his time watching television, reading, and daydreaming about the soft skin and budding bodies of his female classmates. For company Henry has his long-divorced mother, Adele—a onetime dancer whose summer project was to teach him how to foxtrot; his hamster, Joe; and awkward Saturday-night outings to Friendly's with his estranged father and new stepfamily. As much as he tries, Henry knows that even with his jokes and his "Husband for a Day" coupon, he still can't make his emotionally fragile mother happy. Adele has a secret that makes it hard for her to leave their house, and seems to possess an irreparably broken heart. But all that changes on the Thursday before Labor Day, when a mysterious bleeding man named Frank approaches Henry and asks for a hand. Over the next five days, Henry will learn some of life's most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to perfect piecrust, the breathless pain of jealousy, the power of betrayal, and the importance of putting others—especially those we love—above ourselves. And the knowledge that real love is worth waiting for.
Labor Day
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Title: One Fifth Avenue


Author: Bushnell, Candace

Pub Year: 2008
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :General Fiction:
Location: BUSH

Description:

One Fifth Avenue, the Art Deco beauty towering over Manhattan's hippest neighbourhood, is a one-of-a-kind address, the sort of building you have to earn your way into - one way or another. For the women in Candace Bushnell's stellar new novel, One Fifth Avenue is at the heart of the lives they've carefully established, or hope to establish. There is Schiffer Diamond, a forty-something actress busily proving that women of style are truly ageless. There is spoiled, self-assured Lola, who is determined to launch herself into society and the arms of the right man by clawing a way into the building. Annalisa is the wife of a hedge fund manager and reluctant socialite, while bitter Mindy is married to an under-published writer and has been the family breadwinner for too long. And then there is Enid, the glamorous grande dame and gossip columnist, who has lived at One Fifth Avenue for decades, and sees everything there is to see from her penthouse view . . .
One Fifth Avenue
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Title: Target Alex Cross


Author: Patterson, James

Pub Year: 2018
Publisher: Vision Hachette Group

Media: Paperback
Genre: :Mystery/Suspense:
Location: PATT

Description:

When a ring of six elite assassins strikes D. C., Alex Cross teams up with the Secret Service and the FBI to take down a dangerous threat that could destroy America. A leader has fallen, and Alex Cross joins the procession of mourners from Capitol Hill to the White House. Then a sniper's bullet strikes a target in the heart of D.C. Alex Cross's wife, Bree Stone, must either solve the case or lose her position as the city's newly elevated chief of detectives. The Secret Service and the FBI deploy as well in the race to find the shooter. Alex is tasked by the new President to lead an investigation unprecedented in scale and scope. But is the sniper's strike only the beginning of a larger attack on the nation?
Target Alex Cross
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Title: The Bronze Horseman


Author: Simons, Paullina

Pub Year: 2009
Publisher: HarperCollins

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Romance:
Location: SIMO

Description:

Called “a Russian Thorn Birds,” The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons is a sweeping saga of love and war that has been a monumental bestseller all over the world. The acclaimed author of Tully, Simons has written a stirring tale of devotion, passion, secrets, betray, and sacrifice. “A love story both tender and fierce” (Publishers Weekly ) that “Recalls Dr. Zhivago” (People Magazine), The Bronze Horseman is rich and vivid historical fiction at its finest. The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler's armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.
The Bronze Horseman
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Title: The Cuckoo's Calling


Author: Galbraith, Robert

Pub Year: 2013
Publisher: Mulholland Books

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Mystery/Suspense:
Location: GALB

Description:

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, creditors are calling, and after a breakup with his longtime girlfriend, he's living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with a shocking story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry -- known to her friends as the Cuckoo -- famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man. You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.
The Cuckoo's Calling
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Title: The Hindi-Bindi Club


Author: Pradhan, Monica

Pub Year: 2007
Publisher: Bantam Books

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Family Relationships: :General Fiction:
Location: PRAD

Description:

For decades they have remained close, sharing treasured recipes, honored customs, and the challenges of women shaped by ancient ways yet living modern lives. They are the Hindi-Bindi Club, a nickname given by their American daughters to the mothers who left India to start anew—daughters now grown and facing struggles of their own. For Kiran, Preity, and Rani, adulthood bears the indelible stamp of their upbringing, from the ways they tweak their mothers’ cooking to suit their Western lifestyles to the ways they reject their mothers’ most fervent beliefs. Now, bearing the disappointments and successes of their chosen paths, these daughters are drawn inexorably home. Kiran, divorced, will seek a new beginning—this time requesting the aid of an ancient tradition she once dismissed. Preity will confront an old heartbreak—and a hidden shame. And Rani will face her demons as an artist and a wife. All will question whether they have the courage of the Hindi-Bindi Club, to hold on to their dreams—or to create new ones. An elegant tapestry of East and West, peppered with food and ceremony, wisdom and sensuality, this luminous novel breathes new life into timeless themes.
The Hindi-Bindi Club
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Title: The Last Theorem


Author: Clarke, Arthur C. and Pohl, Frederik

Pub Year: 2009
Publisher: Del Ray Trade Paperback

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Science Fiction:
Location: CLAR

Description:

Two of science fiction’s most renowned writers join forces for a storytelling sensation. The historic collaboration between Frederik Pohl and his fellow founding father of the genre, Arthur C. Clarke, is both a momentous literary event and a fittingly grand farewell from the late, great visionary author of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Last Theorem is a story of one man’s mathematical obsession, and a celebration of the human spirit and the scientific method. It is also a gripping intellectual thriller in which humanity, facing extermination from all-but-omnipotent aliens, the Grand Galactics, must overcome differences of politics and religion and come together . . . or perish. In 1637, the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat scrawled a note in the margin of a book about an enigmatic theorem: “I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.” He also neglected to record his proof elsewhere. Thus began a search for the Holy Grail of mathematics–a search that didn’t end until 1994, when Andrew Wiles published a 150-page proof. But the proof was burdensome, overlong, and utilized mathematical techniques undreamed of in Fermat’s time, and so it left many critics unsatisfied–including young Ranjit Subramanian, a Sri Lankan with a special gift for mathematics and a passion for the famous “Last Theorem.” When Ranjit writes a three-page proof of the theorem that relies exclusively on knowledge available to Fermat, his achievement is hailed as a work of genius, bringing him fame and fortune. But it also brings him to the attention of the National Security Agency and a shadowy United Nations outfit called Pax per Fidem, or Peace Through Transparency, whose secretive workings belie its name. Suddenly Ranjit–together with his wife, Myra de Soyza, an expert in artificial intelligence, and their burgeoning family–finds himself swept up in world-shaking events, his genius for abstract mathematical thought put to uses that are both concrete and potentially deadly. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to anyone on Earth, an alien fleet is approaching the planet at a significant percentage of the speed of light. Their mission: to exterminate the dangerous species of primates known as homo sapiens.
The Last Theorem
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Title: The Lost Garden


Author: Stanley, Mary

Pub Year: 2006
Publisher: Headline Publishing

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :General Fiction:
Location: STAN

Description:

The face Esme Waters presents to the world is not the face she sees in the mirror. Even her three daughters, Lily, Rose, and Jasmine, don't know the truth behind her careful smile. But a chance Parisian meeting with a fascinating psychiatrist opens the first crack in Esme's mind, and suddenly the past is pursuing her. And once again, she is running, just as she has always run from lovers, friends, and the truth of what she lost in Dublin more than 20 years ago. While her children are rebelling against the rules, falling in love, and learning about loyalty, Esme discovers the sometimes the walls you build for protection need to come tumbling down...
The Lost Garden
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Title: The Stone Raft


Author: Saramago, Jose

Pub Year: 1995
Publisher: Harcourt Brace

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :General Fiction:
Location: SARA

Description:

A Nobel Prize winner who has been called “the García Márquez of Portugal” (New Statesman) chronicles world events on a human scale in this exhilarating allegorical novel. One day, quite inexplicably, the Iberian Peninsula simply breaks free from the European continent and begins to drift as if it were a sort of stone raft. Panic ensues as residents and tourists attempt to escape, while crowds gather on cliffs to watch the newly formed island sail off into the sea. Meanwhile, five people on the island are drawn together—first by a string of surreal events and then by love. Taking to the road to explore the limits of their now finite land, they find themselves adrift in a world made new by this radical shift in perspective. As bureaucrats ponder what to do about their unusual predicament, the intertwined lives of these five strangers are clarified and forever changed by a physical, spiritual, and sexual voyage to an unknown destination. At once an epic adventure and a profound fable about the state of the European project, The Stone Raft is a “hauntingly lyrical narrative with political, social, and moral underpinnings” (Booklist) that “may be Saramago’s finest work” (Los Angeles Times).
The Stone Raft
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Title: The Sympathizer


Author: Nguyen, Viet Thanh

Pub Year: 2015
Publisher: Grove Press

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Thriller/Intrigue:
Location: NGUY

Description:

The winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as seven other awards, The Sympathizer is the breakthrough novel of the year. With the pace and suspense of a thriller and prose that has been compared to Graham Greene and Saul Bellow, The Sympathizer is a sweeping epic of love and betrayal. The narrator, a communist double agent, is a “man of two minds,” a half-French, half-Vietnamese army captain who arranges to come to America after the Fall of Saigon, and while building a new life with other Vietnamese refugees in Los Angeles is secretly reporting back to his communist superiors in Vietnam. The Sympathizer is a blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping espionage novel, and a powerful story of love and friendship.
The Sympathizer
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Title: The Woman Next Door


Author: Omotoso, Yewande

Pub Year: 2016
Publisher: Picador

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :General Fiction:
Location: OMOT

Description:

Hortensia James and Marion Agostino are neighbors. One is black, the other white. Both are successful women with impressive careers. Both have recently been widowed, and are living with questions, disappointments, and secrets that have brought them shame. And each has something that the woman next door deeply desires. Sworn enemies, the two share a hedge and a deliberate hostility, which they maintain with a zeal that belies their age. But, one day, an unexpected event forces Hortensia and Marion together. As the physical barriers between them collapse, their bickering gradually softens into conversation and, gradually, the two discover common ground. But are these sparks of connection enough to ignite a friendship, or is it too late to expect these women to change?
The Woman Next Door
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Title: Then She Was Gone


Author: Jewell, Lisa

Pub Year: 2017
Publisher: Atria

Media: TradePaper
Genre: :Mystery/Suspense:
Location: JEWE

Description:

Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. Beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers, and half of a teenaged golden couple. Ellie was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her. And then she was gone. Now, her mother Laurel Mack is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her daughter disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a café, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters—and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away. Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie. And now, the unanswered questions she’s tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Where did Ellie go? Did she really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?
Then She Was Gone
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