FICTION
The Ash family by Molly Dektar. When a young woman leaves her family – and the civilized world – to join an off-the-grid community headed by an enigmatic leader, she discovers that belonging comes with a deadly cost.
Beyond the Point by Claire Gibson. An inspiring tribute to female friendship and female courage. Three women are brought together in an enthralling story of friendship, heartbreak, resilience in a novel set at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Boy swallows universe by Trent Dalton. A story of brotherhood, true love, family, and the most unlikely of friendships, this is the tale of an adolescent boy on the cusp of discovering the man he will be.
Death in Provence by Serena Kent. This is a clever, light-hearted mystery set in modern Provence featuring the irrepressible Penelope Kite, a young-at-heart divorcee with a knack for stumbling across dead bodies.
Fame adjacent by Sarah Skilton. The child star that was left behind is about to get her moment to shine in this swoony romantic comedy inspired by a unique, beloved facet of pop culture history: The Mickey Mouse Club.
The hunting party by Lucy Foley. Psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge…and murder and mayhem ensue.
Infinite detail by Tim Maughan. A timely and uncanny portrait of a world in the wake of fake news, diminished privacy, and a total shutdown of the internet.
An Irish immigrant story by Jack Cashman. This historical novel brings the reader through the story of a family that overcomes adversity to thrive in America.
The island of sea women by Lisa See. The friendship over many decades of two female divers from the Korean island of Jeju is pushed to a breaking point.
Kaddish.com by Nathan Englander. An excellent comic dissection of Jewish-American life. This novel reads like Chaim Potok filtered through the sensibility of Mel Brooks.
The last act by Brad Parks. An out of work actor takes a job for the FBI – using a false name and backstory, he enters a low-security prison and begins to befriend a fellow prisoner who knows the location of documents that can bring down a ruthless drug cartel. But the cartel is also looking….
The last year of the war by Susan Meissner. A German American teenager’s life changes forever when her immigrant family is sent to an internment camp during WW II and she becomes friends with another girl at the camp – a Japanese American teenager.
Little faith by Nickolas Butler. A Wisconsin family grapples with the power and limitations of faith when one of their own falls under the influence of a radical church.
Lost and wanted by Nell Freudenberger. A physicist at MIT receives a text from her dead best friend.
A puzzle for fools by Patrick Quentin. A wave of murders rocks a sanitarium – and it’s up to the patients to stop them.
Silent night by Danielle Steel. After tragedy strikes, a child TV star loses her memory and ability to speak.
Tomorrow there will be sun by Dana Reinhardt. A private Mexican villa in a tropical paradise is the backdrop of this story of a milestone vacation gone wrong, wrong, wrong as a family falls apart.
When all is said by Anne Griffin. If you had to pick 5 people to sum up your life, who would they be? If you were to raise a glass to each of them, what would you say? And what would you learn about yourself, when all is said?
Wild card by Stuart Woods. Stone Barrington clashes with a determined adversary.
Wolf pack by C.J. Box. Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett encounters bad behavior on his own turf – only to have the FBI and the DOJ ask him to stand down.
NEW DVDs
Aquaman (2018) starring Jason Momoa
If Beale Street could talk (2018) starring Stephen James and Regina King
The bookshop (2018) starring Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, and Patricia Clarkson
Vice (2018) starring Christian Bale and Amy Adams
NONFICTION
Biased by Jennifer Eberhardt. From one of the world’s leading experts on unconscious racial bias, a personal examination of one of the central controversies and culturally powerful issues of our time, and its influence on contemporary race relations and criminal justice.
The end of absence by Michael Harris. Soon enough, nobody will remember life before the internet. This is about reclaiming what we’ve lost in a world of constant connections.
Girl, stop apologizing by Rachel Hollis. A shame-free plan for embracing and achieving your goals.
Holy envy by Barbara Taylor. The author recounts her moving discoveries of finding the sacred in unexpected places while teaching the world’s religions to undergrads in rural Georgia, revealing how God delights in confounding our expectations.
It ended badly by Jennifer Wright. 13 of the worst breakups in history – replete with beheadings, uprisings, creepy sex dolls, and celebrity gossip – and its disastrously bad consequences throughout time.
K by Tyler Kepner. A history of baseball in 10 pitches.
The league of wives by Heath Lee. The story of a group of women who mobilized and organized in an attempt to bring their POW husbands home from Vietnam.
Mama’s last hug by Frans de Waal. A captivating survey of animal and human emotions.
The Seventies: a photographic journey by Ira Resnick. The Seventies in America were a time of social and cultural ferment, and Resnick was there with his camera to capture it all.
The threat by Andrew McCabe. How the FBI protects America in the age of terror and Trump.
Under red skies by Karoline Kan. A deeply personal and shocking look at how China is coming to terms with its conflicted past as it emerges into a modern, cutting-edge superpower, seen though the stories of three generations of women.
Women warriors by Pamela Toler. Who says women don’t go to war? From Vikings and African queens to cross-dressing military doctors and WW II Russian fighter pilots, these are the stories of women for whom battle was not a metaphor.
New Children’s Books for May 2019
PICTURE BOOKS
Africville by Shauntay Grant
Baby day by Jane Godwin
A day in the life of Marlon Bundo by Marlon Bundo
Kite for the moon by Jane Yolen
Little Fox and the missing moon by Ekaterina Trukhan
Music for Mister Moon by Philip C. Stead
Peg + Cat: math in the bath by Jennifer Oxley
A piglet named Mercy by Kate DiCamillo
The sun shines everywhere by Mary Ann Hoberman
Sweet dreamers by Isabelle Simler
There’s a dinosaur on the 13th floor by Wade Bradford
GRAPHIC NOVELS
5 worlds: the Cobalt Prince by Mark Siegel
Baby-Sitters Club: Mary Anne saves the day by Raina Telgemeier
Baby-Sitters Club: the truth about Stacey by Raina Telgemeier
Endgames by Ru Xu
Science comics solar system: our place in space by Rosemary Mosco
Super Potato #1: the epic origin of Super Potato by Artur Laperla
CHAPTER BOOKS
Freya & Zoose by Emily Butler
Judy Moody and friends: searching for stinkodon by Megan McDonald
Max and the Midknights by Lincoln Peirce
Merci Suarez changes gears by Meg Medina
Owl diaries: Eva and Baby Mo by Rebecca Elliott
Owl diaries: Eva and the lost pony by Rebecca Elliott
Owl diaries: Eva’s big sleepover by Rebecca Elliott
Pay attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt
The Princess in black and the hungry bunny horde by Shannon Hale
The Princess in black takes a vacation by Shannon Hale
The remarkable journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
What the wind can tell you by Sarah Marie A. Jette
NON-FICTION
Astronaut, aquanaut by Jennifer Swanson
Knowledge genius by Peter Chrisp
LEGO Star Wars visual dictionary by Simon Beecroft
The magic & mystery of trees by Jen Green
Nature play at home by Nancy Striniste
Ocean emporium: a compilation of creatures by Susie Brooks
Rotten! : vultures, beetles, slime, and nature’s other decomposers by Anita Sanchez
Time to parent: organizing your life to bring out the best in your child and you by Julie Morgenstern
MOVIES
Arthur’s music jamboree a PBS Kids
Arthur’s travel adventures a PBS Kids
Dragons : race to the edge seasons 1 & 2 by Dreamworks
Kiki’s delivery service with Kirsten Dunst
Paddington 2 with Ben Wishaw
Tangled : before ever after with Mandy Moore
Notes from Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, and New York Times Book Review.