Last week I talked about my current project of weeding out old, damaged or underused books to make room for new materials. Since then, I’ve finished the weeding, and spent a good amount of time ordering new books for all five branches. There are some great new titles coming out, so be sure and watch for them at your local library.
Kinsey Millhone is back in her 24th adventure, X. Now, every other title in the series has been a letter of the alphabet and what it stands for: A is for Alibi, N is for Noose, and so on. I spent more time than you would guess trying to decide what the X would stand for – but this time, the title is simply X. (All those great guesses – wasted.) Anyway, Kinsey has two mysteries to delve into in this outing, plus a third subplot that twists through it all. Each book in this series is a solid entry, and X is no exception.
Lee Child has brought Jack Reacher back in a new book called Make Me. A small town with a strange name (Mother’s Rest) that no one will explain. A worried private investigator (Michelle Chang) who has a missing partner and an open case. A determined Jack Reacher, who will help with this investigation in spite of obvious signs to stop; his response? Make me.
See Me is the newest novel by Nicholas Sparks (what is with these short titles?) and is true to form: two unlikely people meet, fall in love and face the challenges that inevitably ensue. Colin is trying to leave his history of violence and bad decisions behind him, and work toward a teaching degree. Maria, daughter of immigrants, has earned her law degree and works in a prestigious law firm. A chance encounter between these two changes their lives, but also endangers them both.
Homer Hickam is back with a new novel called Carrying Albert Home: the somewhat true story of a man, his wife, and her alligator.
How can you go wrong with a title like that?
This is the story of Homer’s parents, Elsie Lavender and Homer Hickam, Sr. They are high school sweethearts in Depression-era West Virginia. But when Homer proposes to Elise, she heads to Orlando and becomes involved with Buddy Ebsen. (That Buddy Ebsen!) This romance is doomed, and she eventually returns home to West Virginia and marries Homer. The alligator? A wedding present from Buddy. But can an alligator live happily in the coal country of West Virginia.? No, of course not; hence the tale of carrying Albert the Alligator home.
Other new installments in popular series include A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George (Inspector Lynley series); The Girl in the Spider’s Web, a new Lisbeth Salander novel, continuing the series started by Stieg Larsson and written by David Lagercrantz; Foreign Affairs by Stuart Woods (Stone Barrington series); and Corrupted by Lisa Scottoline (a Rosato and DiNunzio novel).
