Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson and The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion are sweet (sometimes bittersweet) stories about fresh starts and second chances. In Evvie Drake, a widow and a ball player with the yips strike up an unlikely friendship. The same goes for the museum curator and the farmer’s wife in Meet Me. And in Result, Don Tillman’s oddball marriage faces a new challenged when son Hudson struggles at school.
There are two new biographies of note. Oliver Wendell Holmes by Stephen Budiansky profiles the judge whose opinions influenced thinking on freedom of speech, rights of defendants, and social reform. Precious and Adored recounts the relationship of President Cleveland’s sister and her companion Evangeline Whipple through their letters. Jean Edward Smith has written engaging and insightful lives of Eisenhower, Grant, Roosevelt and
Weather is dicey and not many beach goers. No dragons today. Join us next week for stories and ice cream and hoodies!
The British are Coming by Rick Atkinson recounts the first 20 months of the American revolution, in which the initial revolt was nearly crushed by the weight of the British empire. Atkinson won a Pulitzer Prize for Army at Dawn, which chronicles the little known but savage 1942 North African campaign, in which an unprepared American Army was first tested. As in Army at Dawn, this new book tells how citizen army learned to stand against professional soldiers and officers like George Washington learned to effectively lead men into battle. Atkinson stays true to academic standards but writes a vividly account infused with human pathos.
Shelves at the James E. Nichols Memorial Library are nearly collapsing under the weight of too many great books! In order to lessen the load and make room for new releases, the Library will hold a “Summer Clearance Book Sale” on Friday, August 16 from 10am to 6:30pm and Saturday, August 17 from 10am to 1pm on the Library lawn. All books must go!
Gently worn books, audiobooks and DVDs will be offered at bargain basement, clearance “prices” (otherwise known as “donations appreciated!”). Replenish your seasonal camp collection. Find a copy of a classic you’ve been meaning to read. Spruce up your coffeetable with a colorful picture book. Most are in good to very good condition. And you can’t beat the “price!”
For additional information or to volunteer please call the Library at 603-253-6950. In the event of rain, the book sale will not be held. All donations from the “Summer Clearance Book Sale” will be used to purchase new books and other materials for the Nichols Library collection.
In Chances are by Richard Russo, a woman disappears after a farewell weekend on Martha’s Vineyard; forty plus years later, her three male friends are still haunted by her memory. A reunion on Martha’s Vineyard reopens old mysteries and wounds for these three Vietnam-era college friends.
“The precise role of the artist [author] is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through vast forests, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.” James Baldwin
