Each month Reference Librarian Aurora highlights a few of her most anticipated non-fiction new releases.
Northeaster: A Story of Courage and Survival in the Blizzard of 1952 by Cathie Pelletier
Remember when it used to snow in Maine? Reading Cathie Pelletier’s bracing account of the calamities that befell Mainers during the infamous Blizzard of 1952 ought to jog your memory. Pelletier, a novelist born and raised in Allagash, lays out the story of the storm through the lives of the ordinary people who survived it, including a young mother and a firefighter from Bath. Both a fascinating window into local history and a riveting adventure tale of human resilience in the face of extreme weather, Northeaster is this winter’s Maine must-read, preferably paired with a cup of hot cocoa. Author Cathie Pelletier will be at PFL Friday, February 17 at 3 p.m.
For local history buffs, armchair storm chasers, and fans of action-packed narrative nonfiction.
The Vegan Baking Bible by Karolina Tegelaar
I spend more time than I’d like to turning down baked goods, watching other people eat baked goods whilst I sit alongside maybe nibbling a carrot (nothing against carrots), and generally not eating all of the cakes, cookies, brownies, and extravagant pastries that I would very much like to eat. What possible reason could there be for such abstinence? The fact is that an alarming proportion of the world’s baked goods are not vegan. Shocking, I know, especially when Karolina Tegelaar has proven the joys of vegan baking by “veganizing” over 300 treats in this hefty compendium of cruelty-free deliciousness. And since The Vegan Baking Bible was named Sweden’s Best Baking Cookbook of 2020, you can trust that it’s first-rate—as my mother would tell you, Swedes don’t mess around when it comes to baking.
For fans of cinnamon buns, gingerbread, snickerdoodles, and Princess Cake.
Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire
Squirrels, pigeons, and bears—oh my! Humans have a complicated, often strained relationship with the furry and feathered creatures who have learned to live with us. And I don’t mean the critters with whom we share our homes, affectionately called “pets,” but the ones who reside in our backyards, back alleys, and creepy basements. These animals we deem “pests,” with no affection implied. But what is it about rats, coyotes, snakes, squirrels, and sparrows that gets people so pestered? Brookshire’s book promises to answer that question, and with any luck, show the way to a truce between the species.
For fans of popular science, animal-human relations, and urban wildlife.
This anthology features twenty-four contemporary horror stories that center on marginalized or othered characters. Themes include, but are not limited to: generational trauma, xenophobia, gender identity, and the objectification of women. Standouts for me involved an unusual form of peer pressure coming from a water aerobics class and a grocery delivery driver with an extremely loyal customer base. A creepy and provocative book!
–Sarah, Reference and Children’s Room
A beautiful story that centers around the ballet scene in New York City in the 80’s and up to 2016. Carlisle’s mother was a Balanchine ballerina and her father taught at a dance school.
This is a story of acceptance and forgiveness that beautifully intertwines issues of the AIDS epidemic and how we reckon with our parents choices when we grow up and become adults ourselves. The writing was absolutely gorgeous and the story was perfectly paced. It was the first novel of 2023 and it was already five stars for me!
–Gia, Children’s Room
Fiction:
The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell by Brian Evenson
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Ice by Anna Kavan
What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher
Shit Cassandra Saw by Gwen Kirby
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The Night Eaters Book 1: She Eats the Night by Marjorie Liu
Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Nobody Gets Out Alive by Leigh Newman
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Liberation Day by George Saunders
Lucy By the Sea Elizabeth Strout
Gast by Carol Swain
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke
The Black Maybe by Attila Veres
Non-Fiction:
Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flynn
Bringing Back the Beaver by Derek Gow
Beasts at Bedtime: Revealing the Environmental Wisdom in Children’s Literature by Liam Heneghan
House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films by Kier-La Janisse
Still Points North by Leigh Newman
Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran
Picture Books:
Coffee, Rabbit, Snowdrop, Lost by Betina Birkjær; illustrated by Anna Margrethe Kjærgaard
Dear Mr. Dickens by Nancy Churnin; illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe
Red House, Tree House, Little Bitty Brown Mouse by Jane Godwin; illustrated by Blanca Gómez
Noodle and the No Bones Day by Jonathan Graziano; illustrated by Dan Tavis
Ten Owies by Tony Johnston; illustrated by Annabel Tempest
Bathe the Cat by Alice McGinty; illustrated by David Roberts
Middle Grade and Chapter Books:
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Show Us Who You Are by Elle McNicoll
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
YA:
Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron
Bluebird by Sharon Cameron
The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
They Went Left by Monica Hesse
The Honeys by Ryan La Sala
I Must Betray You by Ruta
The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe
From the writer/illustrator team that has given us Monstress comes the first book in the new trilogy, The Night Eaters.
Unreachable, chain-smoking, and all-around unpleasant Ipo is living for a few months in Hawaii with her laid-back husband, Keon. They are staying with their twins, Milly and Billy, who are both in their early twenties and are running a restaurant. Ipo has a way with plants and has grown an incredible lawn that stands in stark contrast to the creepy, empty house that sits across the street.
The character dynamics are frustrating at first but as we learn more about each member of the family, and Ipo’s connection to the house across the street, we start to see how complicated and nuanced family life can be, particularly if it involves demons.
She Eats the Night is intriguing, gory, and surprisingly funny. I can’t wait for Book 2 and I’m excited that I’ll be able to alternate these books with Monstress while I wait for the next volume in each series!
Set on a small Scottish island during and after World War II, this debut by Emma Seckel is wise and eerie at the same time. The sluagh are the blackbirds of Gaelic legend that hold the souls of the unforgiven. They mass on the island when the heroine, Leigh, arrives home after her father’s fall from the cliffs. Reminiscent of Hitchcock’s The Birds with the aura of Tim Burton in the writing, the book has much to recommend it.
-Mary Ellen, Interlibrary Loan
Benji has a lot going on in his life. The trans teen has just escaped from a destructive cult and is hiding out so that they can’t get him, or the weapon they planted within him, back. Can his new friends from a local LGBTQ+ group help keep him safe while he learns to control his weaponized body?
-Sarah, Reference and Children’s Room
PFL staff love to read, and holiday weekends are no exception! Read on for a list of what we have on our shelves for Thanksgiving and beyond.
Sirens and Muses by Antonia Angress
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
The Husbands by Chandler Baker
Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell
The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror edited by Toni Bovalino
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
Mother Brain by Chelsea Conaboy
Goldilocks and the Three Engineers by Sue Fliess
The Revivalists by Christopher M. Hood
all about love by bell hooks
The Mammoth Book of Werewolves by Stephen Jones
Mastering Genealogical Proof by Dr. Thomas Jones
All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh, about a teenager in Syria who is torn between staying in her homeland and fleeing the borders to safety.
Lessons by Ian McEwan
The Black Slide by J.W. Ocker
Liberation Day by George Saunders
Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz
Love In The Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Murder in the Smithsonian by Margaret Truman
Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
When Mara joins the cast of Civilization, she thinks she is well prepared. On this new survival reality show contestants must work together to last six weeks in the wilderness. Anyone who makes it to the end will win a cash prize, and Mara, a Wilderness Survival Instructor, really needs the money. Sure, her companions and fellow contestants have varying levels of outdoor experience and being on camera does not come naturally, but she is sure she has all the skills needed to make it out in the wild. But something goes wrong, and halfway through the challenge the survivors are left on their own, wondering what happened and forced to use their skills for real.
Written by real life adventurer and dogsled racer Blair Braverman (who has also been a contestant on a survival reality show), the world of Small Game felt so real I could hardly bear to leave it for a minute, and thought about it constantly over the three days it took me to finish the book. Small Game is a tautly plotted thriller, a fascinating adventure, an education in wilderness skills, and a thoughtful examination on the true meaning of survival.
Hannah, Programs and Outreach
