The Librarians' Bedside Table

OSCAR GRADY PUBLIC LIBRARY

THE LIBRARIANS’

BEDSIDE TABLE

It’s time to read said the fox!

What your friendly librarians have been reading and 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:

REBECCA by Dauphne du Maurier The unassuming young heroine of Rebecca finds her life changed overnight when she meets Maxim de Winter, a handsome and wealthy widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. Rescuing her from an overbearing employer, de Winter whisks her off to Manderley, his isolated estate on the windswept Cornish coast --but there things take a chilling turn. Max seems haunted by the memory of his glamorous first wife, Rebecca, whose legacy is lovingly tended by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers. As the second Mrs. de Winter finds herself increasingly burdened by the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, she becomes determined to uncover the dark secrets that threaten her happiness, no matter the cost.

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follet "It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns. In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined: A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when the only home he's ever known is raided by Vikings, forcing him and his family to move and start their lives anew in a small hamlet where he does not fit in. . . . A Norman noblewoman marries for love, following her husband across the sea to a new land. But the customs of her husband's homeland are shockingly different, and as she begins to realize that everyone around her is engaged in a constant, brutal battle for power, it becomes clear that a single misstep could be catastrophic. . . . A monk dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a center of learning that will be admired throughout Europe.

And each in turn comes into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his wealth and power. Thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, Follett's masterful new prequel The Evening and the Morning takes us on an epic journey into a historical past rich with ambition and rivalry, death and birth, love and hate, that will end where The Pillars of the Earth begins"-

Some of the titles listed in these pages are available in electronic format through the Libby app

Check it out!

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

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger Summary from publisher: Imagine an America very similar to our own. It’s got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream.

There are some differences. This America been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day.

Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered, in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect facade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family.

RBDigital Magazines Built by Recorded Books, RBdigital is a state-of-the-art platform and app providing access to magazines simply using your library card.

Need help setting up the app?

Click/tap here to access the slide presentation we have on how to download, set up and use this great app.

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

All Creatures Great and Small

By James Herriot

Description from publisher: Delve into the magical, unforgettable world of James Herriot, the world's most beloved veterinarian, and his menagerie of heartwarming, funny, and tragic animal patients.

For over forty years, generations of readers have thrilled to Herriot's marvelous tales, deep love of life, and extraordinary storytelling abilities. 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.

In All Creatures Great and Small, we meet the 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, such as one to an old man in the village whose very ill dog is his only friend and companion, some are lighthearted and fun, such as Herriot's periodic visits to the overfed and pampered Pekinese Tricki Woo who throws parties and has his own stationery, and yet others are inspirational and enlightening, such as Herriot's recollections of poor farmers who will scrape their meager earnings together to be able to get proper care for their working animals. From seeing to his patients in the depths of winter on the remotest homesteads to dealing with uncooperative owners and critically ill animals, Herriot discovers the wondrous variety and never-ending challenges of veterinary practice as his humor, compassion, and love of the animal world shine forth.

Martin, our Collection Developing and Adult Services Coordinator would like to recommend this title:

CITY PARKS: Public Places, Private Thoughts Various contributors. Edited by Catie Marron, with photographs by Oberto Gili

City parks, those green lungs that every city needs. Loosing yourself in this book calls for your imagination to take you on a walk to some of the world’s most renowned city parks, following beautifully crafted photographs and short essays written from the heart by many different figures of the arts, letters, politics and more, whose personal insight and connection to the places they describe (and treasure) makes you want to visit them if you have not already, and even so, if you have, they make you look at those city parks in a complete new and more intimate way.

Visit Hyde Park (London) with Amanda Foreman, or Dumbarton Oaks (Washington DC) with Bill Clinton, Goose Tiergarten (Berlin) with Norman Foster, or Iveagh Gardens (Dublin) with John Banville, and many others parks from the comfort of your house.

To Be A Man, Short Stories by Nicole Krauss In the latest from Nicole Krauss, ten short stories turn us into witness to the lives of several figures including husbands, sons, lovers, and their existential quests as they navigate modern life in places as varied as Switzerland, Japan, the U.S. and South America.

Told by a very observant writer, the stories depicted in this compact book create a mirror in which you can sometimes find either a reflected image of your whole self or simply a fragment of who you are. Impossible not to relate to in one way or another and worth reading.

Rita would like to recommend these titles:

Shadow Divers (2004) by Robert Kurson is an exciting nonfiction account of the 1991 discovery of a World War II German U-boat sunk 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey.

A group of elite weekend divers discovered the vessel 230’ under the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Over a period of six years of dangerous explorations of the wreck, the divers risk their lives to solve the mysteries surrounding the identification of the U-boat and the circumstances of its demise. Neither U.S. nor German naval records show a Uboat sunk near that location.

Kurson gives readers an insight into the divers’ lives and motivations, and that makes his detail of the divers’ risky underwater explorations heart-pounding to read. The two main divers, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, start as adversaries, but over time begin to admire and respect each other’s diving skill and knowledge. Through extensive research and interviews, both Chatterton and Kohler not only learn the identity of the U-boat, but also begin to understand of the lives of its doomed sailors.

For scuba divers and non-scuba divers alike, this adventurous truth-is-stranger-than-fiction book is a pageturner you will not soon forget.

WWW.OSCARGRADYLIBRARY.ORG MOVIES, BOOKS, MUSIC, INTERNET, COMPUTERS, and much more!

Paul Simon: The Life (2020) was written by Robert Hilburn. Hilburn was the chief pop music critic for the Los Angeles Times for more than three decades. He interviewed Simon for over three years and accumulated more than 100 hours of interview tapes in his research.

This book includes many of Simon’s lyrics and is a comprehensive, flattering depiction of Simon’s life and music. Many people in Simon’s life contributed interviews to this book, including ex-wife Carrie Fisher and his brother Eddie. Art Garfunkel did not cooperate with Hilburn, and perhaps as a result, coverage of Garfunkel is less kind than that given to Simon.

Hilburn explores various aspects of Simon’s life, beginning with his father’s influence. Lou Simon was a bandleader and upright bass player who played Thursday afternoons for years at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan. Lou gave his son sage advice on the business side of the music industry.

Other topics covered are loves (including his lifelong loves of baseball and New York City), failures, the series of breakups with Garfunkel, music theory and Simon’s composition process. Paul Simon: The Life gives readers detailed insight into Simon’s life and his extraordinary

FREE WI-FI (inside or outside the building)

Computer labs (with social distancing applied).

Brand new printer Fax services.

NOVEMBER is Native American Heritage Month.

Join us in celebrating the culture, traditions and history of indigenous people as we share some Native American authors to consider for your next read.

There There, a novel by Tommy Orange One of The New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year and winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, Tommy Orange’s wondrous and shattering bestselling novel follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. Together, this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism. Hailed as an instant classic, There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.

Tommy Orange is a recent graduate from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is a 2014 MacDowell Fellow, and a 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Oakland, California, and currently lives in Angels Camp, California.

ROBOCOPALYPSE by Daniel H. Wilson They are in your house. They are in your car. They are in the skies‌ Now they’re coming for you.

In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication.

Daniel H. Wilson earned a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of such nonfiction works as How to Survive a Robot Uprising. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and daughter.

HEART BERRIES by Terese Marie Mailhot "Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder; Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father-an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist-who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.

TERESE MARIE MAILHOT is from Seabird Island Band. Her book was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for English-Language Nonfiction, and was selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick for March/April 2018. Her book was also the January 2020 pick for Now Read This, a book club from PBS Newshour and The New York Times. She is the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award, and she is also the recipient of the Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature.

She teaches creative writing at Purdue University.

GIRL GONE MISSING, by Marcie R. Rendon "Her name is Renee Blackbear, but what most people call the 19year-old Ojibwe woman is Cash. She lived all her life in Fargo, sister city to Minnesota's Moorhead, just downriver from the Cities.

She has one friend, the sheriff Wheaton. He pulled her from her mother's wrecked car when she was three. Since then, Cash navigated through foster homes, and at 13 was working farms, driving truck. Wheaton wants her to take hold of her life, signs her up for college. She gets an education there at Moorhead State all right: sees that people talk a lot but mostly about nothing, not like the men in the fields she's known all her life who hold the rich topsoil in their hands, talk fertilizer and weather and prices on the Grain Exchange. In between classes and hauling beets, drinking beer and shooting pool, a man who claims he's her brother shows up, and she begins to dream the Cities and blonde Scandinavian girls calling for help."--Provided by publisher.

Marcie Rendon (born 1952)[1] is a Native American playwright, poet, author, and community arts activist based in Minneapolis. She is an enrolled member of the White Earth Anishinabe Nation. She is the founder of Raving Native Productions (theatre),[2] and along with various plays, screenplays, poems and short stories,[1] has written 2 non-fiction books for children,[1] and 2 crime fiction novels. Her first novel "Murder on the Red River" won the 2018 Pinckley Prize for Debut Crime Fiction. [3]

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Wieden "Winter Counts is a marvel. It's a thriller with a beating heart and jagged teeth. This book is a brilliant meditation on power and violence, and a testament to just how much a crime novel can achieve. A groundbreaking thriller about a vigilante on a Native American reservation who embarks on a dangerous mission to track down the source of a heroin influx.

Winter Counts is a tour-de-force of crime fiction, a bracingly honest look at a long-ignored part of American life, and a twisting, turning story that's as deeply rendered as it is thrilling.

David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota nation, is author of the novel WINTER COUNTS (Ecco/ HarperCollins, 2020). WINTER COUNTS is a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice, and was named one of the Best Books of 2020

by Publishers Weekly.

COMING

SOON!

Enjoy the pleasure of crafting at home with our TAKE & MAKE PROJECTS, soon to be available at your Oscar Grady Library.

Want to know what's new on titles from our Children's Department?

Check Miss Julie's shelf of new additions to our collection with titles released between October

27 and November 17th.

Click on the word BOOKSHELF below to access this selection built by Miss Julie.

BOOKSHELF

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten

Early literacy starts with you!

This new and ongoing early literacy program encourages families and caregivers to read 1,000 books aloud with their young children before they enter Kindergarten. Any child from birth until he/she starts Kindergarten is eligible to register. Reading together helps your child develop important prereading skills that provide a solid reading foundation – a key to scholastic and learning success.

Stop by our Children’s Department and sign up your child today!

Welcome to Gale Courses!

The Monarch Library System is thrilled to be able to provide all patrons in every member library the opportunity to engage in meaningful learning through Gale Courses. This robust online resource provides access to exceptional classes on multiple topics of interest, including career training programs. If you seek deeper knowledge of areas from A (Accounting) to W (Writing), Gale Courses has something for you. We hope you consider exploring the offerings for personal and professional development. Please let us know about your experience so we can continue to streamline our services to benefit your needs! Enjoy your journey.

How to Enroll: 1. Find courses by browsing through the categories on the left of your screen or by using the search bar above. Click “Enroll Now” next to the course of your choice.

2. Select your course start date and click “Continue.”

3. Create a free Gale Courses account, or sign in to an existing ed2go account.

New Students – Enter your email address in the New Student area and click “Create Account.”

Complete the “Account and Student Information” page and then click “Continue.”

Returning Students – Enter your account email and password and then click “Sign In.”

You will use your Gale Courses account email and password to log in to the My Classroom area to view your lessons once your session begins.

4. Enter your library barcode in the box labeled Submit. Then click “Use Library Card” to complete your enrollment.

IMPORTANT! Students who have enrolled in a course must log in and view lessons one and two within 13 days after the start date of the course, or they will be automatically dropped.

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.

The Digital Media Conversion Lab The equipment & training necessary to view and digitally preserve family photographs, slides, and film.

The Oscar Grady Public Library’s Digital Media Conversion Lab is a highfunctioning digital space and work room. The room is equipped with the necessary digital mechanics to process aging photographic formats.

Click/Tap HERE to learn more.

www.oscargradylibrary.org