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“'Impracticable Cape! You may approach it from this direction or that – in any way you please – from the east or from the west; with the wind astern, or abeam, or on the quarter; and still Cape Horn is Cape Horn … Heaven help the sailors, their wives and their little ones.'”

- Herman Melville, as quoted in The Wager by David Grann

Beach Reads Perfect for Summer 2023

13 Most Anticipated Fall Books of 2023

See all of our new materials this month!

Non Fiction

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon, spins the tale of The Wager, one in a squadron of ships Britain sent out in 1740 during "The War of Jenkins' Ear." Its mission: to capture a Spanish galleon. England’s mission: to capture a share of South American trade, the most lucrative part of which was the slave trade. Its route involved rounding Cape Horn. The misfortunes that beset the ship & crew before it even set out were only a minor prelude to the storms, currents, & mountainous waves of that Cape's seas. Even though they had been decimated by scurvy, the only way out for the crew was to fight for each forward inch.

In this riveting story, Grann limns the crew's ongoing struggle for survival against the callousness & indifference of Empire. It was Empire that had frivolously launched its sailors on what might have seemed a quixotic quest had it not had such deadly consequences.

Kids or Teen Book of Interest

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

A page-turning heist grounded in a nuanced exploration of critical issues of cultural integrity. Working with the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe’s summer internship program, two 16-year old girls with a shared passion for their heritage and outrage over acts of desecration by greedy individuals and institutions lead them, some fellow interns who are dealing with varied life circumstances, and even some elders to carry out a daring, dangerous plan to right a terrible wrong. (Joan Nagy)

Book Club Corner

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Determined to leave a mark on the world even though they are in the hospital and their days are dwindling, unlikely friends, seventeen-year-old Lenni and eighty-three-year-old Margot, devise a plan to create one hundred paintings showcasing the stories of the century they have lived.

Listen Up (Audiobook recommendation)

The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks
Narrated by a full cast
Length: 16 hours

A fictional account of the agony and ecstasy of making a movie, from someone who’d know. The novel reflects the sunny stick-to-it-iveness of many of Hanks’ roles, and his central thesis is that every movie’s true hero is anybody who reduces friction. A wonderful story!

Spotlight: Mystery

Harlem Sunset by Nekesa Afia

There’s no rest for Harlem’s Hero as another killer disrupts the high times of the Harlem Renaissance. Feeling compelled to find the killer of an acquaintance, Louise Lloyd turns reluctant sleuth again. Afia’s second Harlem Renaissance mystery continues the personal stories of her compelling cast and deepens her atmospheric depiction of the Jazz Age in Harlem. A vivid crime story and an engrossing depiction of an era.

Midnight Library by Matt Haig

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

My Sister the serial killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Satire meets slasher in this short, darkly funny hand grenade of a novel about a Nigerian woman whose younger sister has a very inconvenient habit of killing her boyfriends. "Femi makes three, you know. Three and they label you a serial killer." Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite has written a deliciously deadly debut that's as fun as it is frightening.