Fiction
Real Life by Brandon Taylor. Almost everything about Wallace, an introverted African-American transplant from Alabama, is at odds with the lakeside Midwestern university town where he is working toward a biochem degree. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even within his own circle of friends – some dating each other, some dating women, some feigning straightness. But a series of confrontations with colleagues, and an unexpected encounter with a young straight man, conspire to fracture his defenses, while revealing hidden currents of resentment and desire that threaten the equilibrium of their community.
Non-Fiction
The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story by Kate Summerscale. London, 1938. In Alma Fielding's modest home, china flies off the shelves and eggs fly through the air; stolen jewellery appears on her fingers, white mice crawl out of her handbag, beetles appear from under her gloves; in the middle of a car journey, a turtle materializes on her lap. The culprit is incorporeal. As Alma cannot call the police, she calls the papers instead. After the sensational story headlines the news, Nandor Fodor, a Hungarian ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical Research, arrives to investigate the poltergeist. ... he discovers that the case is even stranger than it seems.
Memoir
Can You See My Scars? My Unexpected Journey with Trauma, Burns and Recovery by Samuel Moore-Sobel. Samuel, about to begin his sophomore year of high school, accepts a job that culminates in a chemical explosion leaving Samuel with severe burns on his face, neck, and arms. In the wake of the accident, Samuel endures grief, pain, and numerous surgical procedures for the scars on his body. He grapples with his appearance, faith, and the loss of friends. Through it all, he comes to view his scars as an unavoidable part of the human experience. Whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, we all carry scars and it is simply what we choose to do with them that defines us.
Inspirational
A Distant Shore by Karen Kingsbury. She was a child caught in a riptide, he was a teenager on vacation with his family. He dove in to save her, and that single terrifying moment changed both their lives forever. Ten years later Jack Ryder is a secret agent with the FBI and Eliza Lawrence still lives on that island, an untainted princess in a kingdom of evil, on the brink of a forced marriage with a neighboring drug lord. When Jack and Eliza meet, there’s a connection neither of them can explain. Both their lives are on the line, the stakes are deadly high again. Also available as an audio book.
Junior Easy
The Grumpy Fairies by Bethan Stevens. Deep in the darkest forests, under rustling leaves, live the fairies. You probably think that fairies are good, kind, and sweet. Well, a lot of them are. These helpful fairies take care of the forest and they're happy to do it. But I'm sorry to tell you that some of the fairies, particularly the littlest ones, are GRUMPY. I mean super grumpy. I mean foot-stompy, frowny, bottom-lip-sticking-outy kind of grumpy. I mean "it’s just one of those days" grumpy. But these grumpy fairies better watch out. There's a goblin about, and grumpy fairies happen to be his favourite food…
Submitted by Senior Librarian Laranda Bailey
