The Librarians' Bedside Table by Oscar Grady Public Library

OSCAR GRADY PUBLIC LIBRARY

THE LIBRARIANS’

BEDSIDE TABLE

What your friendly librarians have been listening, reading, watching & MUCH MORE!

Oscar Grady Public Library Mission Statement:

The mission of the Oscar Grady Public Library is to provide high interest, high demand materials and make them readily available from the Library’s collection or through interlibrary loan. The Library supports lifelong learning, information and recreational needs for people of all ages and abilities. Special emphasis is placed on stimulating children’s interests and appreciation for reading and learning. The integration of new technology with traditional library resources is used to expand service beyond the Library’s physical walls.

On this new issue of our “Librarians’ Bedside Table”, we compiled a list of really good titles recommended by your library friends. Each title can be accessed in electronic format for your convenience. Click or tap in the hyperlinks attached to each title that will take you right to them

in the Monarch Catalog. We hope you enjoy this selection of books from your

librarians at the Oscar Grady Public Library!

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Jen Gerber, our Library Director, would like to recommend the following titles:

The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths Are Solving America’s Coldest Cases by Deborah Halber In America today, upwards of forty thousand people are dead and unaccounted for. These murder, suicide, and accident victims, separated from their names, are being adopted by the bizarre online world of amateur sleuths. It's DIY CSI. The web sleuths pore over facial reconstructions (a sort of Facebook for the dead) and other online clues as they vie to solve cold cases and tally up personal scorecards of dead bodies. The Skeleton Crew delves into the macabre underside of the Internet, the fleeting nature of identity, and how even the most ordinary citizen with a laptop and a knack for puzzles can reinvent herself as a web sleuth. Provided by publisher.

Debra Jo, Library Assistant and ILL Specialist would like to recommend the following titles:

The Color Purple by Alice Walker Celie has grown up in 1930s rural Georgia, navigating a childhood of ceaseless abuse. Not only is she poor and despised by the society around her, she's badly treated by her family. As a teenager she begins writing letters directly to God in an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear. Her letters span twenty years and record a journey of self -discovery and empowerment through the guiding light of a few strong women and her own implacable will to find harmony with herself and her home. Beautifully imagined and deeply compassionate, this is the story of two sisters--one a missionary in Africa and the other a child wife living in the South--who sustain their loyalty to and trust in each other across time, distance, and silence. This classic novel of American literature is rich with passion, pain, inspiration, and an indomitable love of life. Provided by publisher.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple (CD Album) Fetch the Bolt Cutters is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple. It was released on April 17, 2020, Apple's first release since The Idler Wheel... in 2012. The album was recorded from 2015 to 2020, largely at Apple's home in Venice Beach. It was produced and performed by Apple alongside Amy Aileen Wood, Sebastian Steinberg and Davíd Garza; recording consisted of long, often improvised takes with unconventional percussive sounds. GarageBand was used for much of this recording, and Apple credited the album's unedited vocals and long takes to her lack of expertise with the program. Provided by publisher.

Oscar Grady Public Library

Outdoor Book Discussion (Di sc ussi on w i ll be outside, w ea ther permi tti ng. I n the event of rai n, w e w i ll meet via Z oom.)

All are welcome! Registration is required!

Wednesday, August 25, 2021 @ 11:00 a.m. All Creatures Great and Small By James Herriot Limited copies of this book will be available at the circulation desk.

www.oscargradylibrary.org Oscar Grady Public Library 151 S. Main Street Saukville, WI 53080 (262) 284-6022

Delve into the magical, unforgettable world of the world's most beloved veterinarian.

For decades, Herriot roamed the remote, beautiful Yorkshire Dales, treating every patient that came his way from smallest to largest, and observing animals and humans alike with his keen, loving eye. Meet young Herriot as he takes up his calling and discovers that the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire are very different from the sterile setting of veterinary school. Some visits are heart-wrenchingly difficult, some are lighthearted and fun, and yet others are inspirational and enlightening. From seeing to his patients in the depths of winter on the remotest homesteads, to dealing with uncooperative owners

Other titles you may want to consider if you liked the title “All Creatures Great & Small” BILOXI by Mary Miller "Mary Miller seizes the mantle of southern literature with this wry tale of middle age and the unexpected turns a life can take. Like her predecessors Ann Beattie and Raymond Carver, Mary Miller brings an essential voice to her generation. Building on her critically acclaimed novel, The Last Days of California, and her biting collection, Always Happy Hour, Miller slyly transports readers to her unapologetic corner of the South--this time, Biloxi, Mississippi, home to sixty-three-year-old Louis McDonald Jr. Mining the absurdities of life with her signature "droll minimalist's-eye view of America" (Joyce Carol Oates), Mary Miller's Biloxi affirms her place in contemporary literature"-Provided by publisher.

The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery An ardent nature lover and author of Journey of the Pink Dolphins describes her unique friendship with a pig named Christopher Hogwood, a once sickly piglet who helped her develop a new relationship with neighbors in her small-town community that gave her an anchor to family and home. Sy reveals what she and others learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig--lessons about selfacceptance, the meaning of family, the value of community, and the pleasures of the sweet green Earth.--Provided by publisher.

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun The world of modern art is a mystery to many. But for Jim Qwilleran, it turns into a mystery of another sort when his assignment for The Daily Fluxion leads down the path to murder. A stabbing in an art gallery, vandalized paintings, a fatal fall from a scaffolding—this is not at all what Qwilleran expects when he turns his reporter talents to art. But Qwilleran and his newly found partner, Koko the brilliant Siamese cat, are in their element—sniffing out clues and confounding criminals intent on mayhem and murder. This riveting beginning to the Cat Who series is the perfect cozy mystery for cat lovers to start sleuthing! Provided by publisher.

H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald As a child Helen Macdonald was determined to become a falconer. She learned the arcane terminology and read all the classic books, including T.H. White's tortured masterpiece, The Goshawk, which describes White's struggle to train a hawk as a spiritual contest. When her father dies and she is knocked sideways by grief, she becomes obsessed with the idea of training her own goshawk. She buys Mabel ... on a Scottish quayside and takes her home to Cambridge. Then she fills the freezer with hawk food and unplugs the phone, ready to embark on the long, strange business of trying to train this wildest of animals"- Provided by publisher.

FOX 8 by George Saunders From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo, a darkly comic short story about the unintended consequences unleashed by our quest to tame the natural world—featuring gorgeous black-and-white illustrations by Chelsea Cardinal. Told with his distinctive blend of humor and pathos, Fox 8 showcases the extraordinary imaginative talents of George Saunders, whom The New York Times called “the writer for our time.” Provided by publisher.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell Anna Sewell's 'Black Beauty' was an immediate success on its publication in 1877, and has gone on to sell an estimated 50 million copies. Black Beauty is a horse with a fine black coat, a white foot and a silver star on his forehead. Seen through his eyes, the story tells of his idyllic upbringing and the hardship and cruelty he suffers subsequently, before finding security and happiness in a new home. Provided by publisher.

Hope, our Collection Developer would like to recommend these titles:

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter 1916: The Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong and the wind in the leaves. Where have the mud, blood, and blasted landscape of no-man's-land gone? For that matter, where has Percy gone? 2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Police officer Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive--some say mad, others allege dangerous--scientist who seems to have vanished. Sifting through the wreckage, Jansson find a curious gadget: a box containing some rudimentary wiring, a three-way switch, and a potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way humankind views the world forever. The "stepper" enables a person using it to step sideways into another America, another wherever that person happened to be, another Earth. And if the person using it keeps on stepping, they keep on entering even more Earths. This is the Long Earth. And the further away a stepper travels, the stranger -- and sometimes more dangerous -- the Earths become. Provided by publisher.

The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

Return to the Hundred Acre Wood in A.A. Milne’s second collection of Pooh stories, The House at Pooh Corner. Here you will rediscover all the characters you met in Winnie-thePooh: Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Owl, Piglet, Kanga, tiny Roo, and, of course, Pooh himself. Joining them is the 2 Tickets to into BEYOND VAN GOGH : thoroughly bouncy and lovable Tigger, who leads the rest unforgettable adventures.

The Immersive Experience (*)

Since 1926, Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends have endured as (*) Tickets are reserved for the unforgettable creations of A.A. Milne, who wrote these stories for his son, Christopher Robin, and Ernest H. Shepard, Saturday, 8/28 at 6PM who lovingly gave Pooh and his companions shape. Continues on next page.

VISIT

These characters and their stories are timeless treasures of childhood that continue to speak to all of us with the kind of freshness and heart that distinguishes true storytelling.

The adventures of Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh, and all their friends in the storied Forest around Pooh Corner. "This is an example of a sequel in which there seems to be no letdown, and from all sides I catch echoes of most joyous reaction to it." - New York Herald Tribune, 1928

Hope would like to recommend this title:

Neighbors by Danielle Steel Danielle Steel’s books are always an easy read. Her stories seem to follow a general pattern, but are still interesting. This book is no exception. The plot centers around Meredith White, a one-time famous Hollywood actress. Due to tragedies in her life, she has become a recluse. She has two caretakers that she trusts completely. She is wholly unaware of their criminal past and the fact that they are actually stealing from her. And 8.2 earthquake occurs causing much damage to the area in which she lives. Her house is extremely well-built of sturdy material and does not receive extensive damage. Suddenly, she decides that she should open her home to her neighbors whose homes were much more extensively damaged. Of course, her two caretakers are very upset about her open your home to these people. This is where the true story begins.

Meredith finds she really enjoys getting to know her neighbors. She loves the fact that they are all temporarily living in her house. Each of the neighbors that she has come to know has an interesting story themselves. The one family in particular has a dark secret that eventually is revealed. Meredith even finds herself going to volunteer to help at the centers for the displaced people. Even though the ending is very predictable, I still enjoyed reading another of Daniel Steel’s books.

MISS JULIE’S BOOKSHELF Miss Julie has added some new books to our shelves and she wants to share them with you all.

Click on the word BOOKSHELF below to access & request them directly through the Monarch Library System catalog from the comfort of your home.

BOOKSHELF

Lynn, our Cataloging and Circulation Services Specialist, would like to recommend this title:

The Ugly Cry, a Memoir by Danielle Henderson "A sharp, hilarious memoir about a nontraditional upbringing and growing up Black in a predominantly white community" Abandoned at ten years old by a mother who chose her drugaddicted, abusive boyfriend, Danielle was raised by grandparents who thought their child-rearing days had ended in the 1960s. She grew up Black, weird, and overwhelmingly uncool in a mostly white neighborhood in upstate New York, which created its own identity crises. -- Provided by publisher.

Martin, our Collection Developing and Adult Services Coordinator would like to recommend these titles:

The Portrait by Ilaria Bernardini "An internationally renowned writer, Valeria Costas has dedicated her life to her work and to her secret lover, Martìn Acla, a prominent businessman. When his sudden stroke makes headlines, her world implodes; the idea of losing him is terrifying. Desperate to find a way to be present during her lover's final days, Valeria commissions his artist wife, Isla, to paint her portrait insinuating herself into Martìn's family home and life. In the grand, chaotic London mansion where the man they share - husband, father, lover - lies in a coma, Valeria and Isla remain poised on the brink, transfixed by one another. Amidst their own private turmoil, the stories of their lives are exchanged - and as the portrait takes shape, we watch these complex and extraordinary women struggle while the love of their lives departs, in an unforgettable, breathless tale of deception and mystery that captivates until the very end."--Publisher description.

At the End of the World Turn Left

by Zhana Slor "A riveting debut novel from an unforgettable new voice that is literary, suspenseful, and a compelling story about identity and how you define "home". Masha remembers her childhood in the former USSR, but found her life and heart in Israel. Anna was just an infant when her family fled, but yearns to find her roots. When Anna is contacted by a stranger from their homeland and then disappears, Masha is called home to Milwaukee to find her. In 2008, college student Anna feels stuck in Milwaukee, with no real connections and parents who stifle her artistic talents. She is eager to have a life beyond the heartland. When she's contacted online by a stranger from their homeland--a girl claiming to be her long lost sister--Anna suspects a ruse or an attempt at extortion. But her desperate need to connect with her homeland convinces her to pursue the connection. At the same time, a handsome grifter comes into her life, luring her with the prospect of a nomadic lifestyle. Masha lives in Israel, where she went on Birthright and unexpectedly found home. When Anna disappears without a trace, Masha's father calls her back to Milwaukee to help find Anna. In her former home, Masha immerses herself in her sister's life--which forces her to recall the life she, too, had left behind, and to confront her own demons. What she finds in her search for Anna will change her life, and her family, forever."-- Provided by publisher.

GROOVY! NOW PLAYING! More and more albums are being added to our collection of vinyls for you to check out. Artists in a great variety of genres await for you and your needle to enjoy music at 33 1⁄3 rpm!

Oscar Grady Public Library

Make & Take: Perler Patterns

S a t u r d a y, A u g u s t 1 4 t h 11am

Join us for Make & Take: Summer Saturday Edition Oscar Grady Public Library’s Crafting Program for teens (ages 12+).

Stop by Oscar Grady on Saturday, August 14th and make your own perler pattern! Choose from dozens of character designs or make your own! Program will be held outside, weather permitting.

www.oscargradylibrary.org

Rita would like to recommend these titles:

False Start (2014) by Barbara Valentin

is a light romance. Mattie Ross has been jilted at the altar by Eddie DeRosa and is now consumed by wedding debt, bitterness, unhealthy habits, and selfdoubt. She writes a very popular advice column for working moms for the Chicago Gazette, and has led her readers to believe she is a married, working mom herself. At the same time, the twin brother of her one-time fiancée, Nick DeRosa, is trying to get back on his feet after Eddie stole his identity, implicated him in a financial swindle and landed him in jail for a month while he cleared his name.

When Mattie wants a raise, her editor, a friend of Nick’s, proposes a challenge: If Mattie allows Nick, a former Olympic athlete, to train her and permits the Gazette to provide ongoing features of her progress, she will receive substantial financial compensation, contingent on completing the Chicago Marathon ten months later. Mattie, who believed Nick was partially responsible for her being left at the altar, is not pleased with the deal, but her financial situation compels her to agree to it. Will Mattie trust and cooperate with Nick? Will readers discover her married life is fabricated? Will Nick’s reputation be restored? Will Mattie ever be fit enough to run the marathon? Where is the evil twin now?

False Start is available through Monarch and Libby.

The Last Letter from Your Lover (2011) by JoJo Moyes is a romance that may remind readers of certain classic movies (no spoilers here!). The two plot lines, one that takes place in the 1960s and another that takes place in the 2000s, intersect near the end of the book. Jennifer Stirling is an unhappy, wealthy, wife who is chafing under all the societal expectations for a woman in her position in the 1960s. She has been involved in a car accident and has yet to recover her entire memory. When she discovers passionate love letters written to her by a lover she cannot remember, she embarks on a quest to find him and more pieces of her past. Ellie Haworth writes lifestyle features for a large publication. She is involved in a relationship with a married man, and her resulting distraction and poor performance at work is about to cost her job. When Ellie discovers passionate, forty-year-old love letters, she embarks on a quest of her own to find the story behind them, hoping her research will result in an article that will save her career.

The Last Letter from Your Lover is available through Monarch and Libby and is on Netflix.

Tyler, our Library Services Assistant would like to recommend these titles:

BOMBING HITLER’S SUPERGUN PBS’ NOVA (DVD), 2016 In 1943, Hitler hatches a diabolical weapon: a bank of "superguns" housed in a massive underground complex in Nazi-occupied northern France. Together, the guns would be able to pump 600 high explosive shells 100 miles to London each hour, spelling doom for the Allies. Engineers, archaeologists, and WWII historians investigate this fearsome weapon and two audacious missions designed to destroy it. Publisher description.

Now around town! Books for everyone. The Oscar Grady Library with the support of The Friends of the Oscar Grady Library has purchased three Little Free Libraries, which have been installed at three convenient locations: Quade Park, The Oscar Grady Library, and Village Hall. Check them out! Love them, enjoy them, treasure them.