All Staff Picks

The Emerald Atlas
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Fans of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter can jump head first into this tale of mystery, magic, intrigue and dark shadows. Remember to watch your back…and beware of the Schreechers! (And watch out for book two – coming soon!)
The Kingdom
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This is another fine adventure with the husband and wife team Sam and Remi Fargo which involves a Texas oil baron who wants them to search for his missing father. To do this they end up traveling through Tibet, Nepal, Bulgaria, India and China. During their search an ancient chest becomes a clue and puts them in the arena of a black market for fossils. There seems to be a mystery inside another historical mystery full of exciting events that become clear over the course of the teams travels.
Your Medical Mind
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Why we make the kinds of medical treatment decisions that we do can be understood better by knowing whether we are doubters or technology embracers, minimalists or maximalists. Numerous anecdotes allow us to see the factors that influence decisions including statistics, rapport with the doctor, knowing someone with the same health issue, deep rooted beliefs, and gut feelings. Autonomy, coping, regret, and satisfaction are covered in a fascinating look at why there often is no one best treatment option for every person.
Hope for Hashimoto’s
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What is interesting about the book is how the author describes the patient lifestyle for an autoimmune disease. Comparing it to a set of scale that balances between healthy and unhealthy areas and what may cause an upset in equilibrium makes this more understandable. In 2005 over 100 autoimmune diseases were recognized by the National Institute of Health affecting over 23.5 million people and many of them got through 6 to 8 doctors before getting diagnosed. Environmental versus genetically caused conditions are also discussed and what might be triggers for some of them.
Miss New India
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The main character in this tale of Modern India is Anjali Bose who lives in a small Northern town called Gauripur with her parents. She has almost exhausted the educational opportunities in the area with one American teacher Peter Champion as her mentor. Now is the time to take a matchmaking picture in order to meet with a prospective marriage partner with her parent’s approval. Or should she travel far away to the south to Bangladore and become a professional in a call center business opportunity? Much about the transition from Old to New India is interesting though not always a positive thing for this bright young woman.
Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey
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This is a story told from a young cartoonist point of view of discovering his ancestral roots and stories from Vietnam. His father was an artist during the Vietnamese War and the perspective of people living fleeing and relocating during this conflict from the Vietnamese point of view is illuminating. Many hard decisions were made dividing family through time and lack of communication channels both external and internal with beautifully done illustrations.
Art Of The Chicken Coop
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Delightful ideas for coops for your feathered flock including Materials Lists and the capacity and design tips with photos of each step make this a practical book. Interesting and fun facts are of the bottom of the pages with recipe ideas. Profiles of chicken raising people and their experience are shared to make this an effective tool for people who are contemplating adding poultry to their lives. The one that I most enjoyed was the Gypsy Hen Caravan style coop the author designed and plans are included.
The Time in Between
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The main character Sira has been raised by a single mother while learning the skills of a seamstress in Madrid. The political climate changes moving through the end of the Spanish Civil War into World War II as she falls in love then ends up in Morocco. New friendships and dangers in her life multiply making this an exciting time. Well-heeled espionage becomes a necessary survival skill as challenges complicate her life.
It Was A Wonderful Life
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This documentary was filmed in Los Angeles sharing the stories of six women who became homeless. These are women who are not on welfare were working and will work whenever possible. One is a retired teacher who fell and broke her hip, now living in a broken-windowed old car. With music by Melissa Etheridge and narration by actress Jodie Foster the women portrayed are mothers, hard workers and just people with a bad run of luck that offer an honest awareness, bringing compassion and understanding to the problem instead of enforcing negative misconceptions of what becoming homeless means.
The Night Circus
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This is a wonderful magical tale with two main characters Marco and Celia who were raised by magicians to offer resolution of a game showcasing the strength of their magical skills. The arena is Le Cirque des Rives a circus that appears randomly throughout the world and only takes place in the nighttime. The author involves the reader in a sensory description that walks you through the black and white tents experiencing treats and wonderful smells as you travel through the books pages.
Love in a Nutshell
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Kate Appleton has moved into an old house formerly owned by her parents to open a B & B in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan. To keep up with repairs who invents a job for herself at a local brewery. Strange and dangerous acts of sabotage are happening there and she plans to get to the bottom of this as well as hopefully get her poodle Stella back in her life. This is a fun and romantic book to read including a set of interesting locals in the town to investigate.
Drawing American Pop Culture
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During the 1950s some of the well known cartoons and advertisements came from the talented pen of this artist essentially a cartoonist extraordinaire. Follow his life in pictures through stints with comics, Mad magazine and TV Guide, album covers and movie posters including It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and a select group of scary tale covers. It’s a walk through the past following popular iconic culture.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
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Using odd photos from vintage collections the author has woven a unique narrative of a young man’s voyage to discover more about the death of his grandfather who left him with some peculiar last words. These send him far from home on a quest to unravel their meaning to a remote island off the coast of Wales. Going into the ruins of a large house he finds that appearances may be deceiving as well as his memories of bedtime tales.
The Ballad of Tom Dooley: A Ballad Novel
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Do you ever wonder where some of the old-time folk song lyrics came from in history? The author proceeds to combine historical research and her own account of what may have transpired behind the words to “Hang down your head Tom Dooley…” and it makes a compelling tale told partly from the personal story of Pauline Foster an unwed and unhappy young woman in 1866 around Wilkes County, North Carolina following the Civil War.
Oz : around Australia on a Triumph
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This is an amusing adventure with the motorcycle riding team of Colin a journalist and Geoff an award winning UK travel writer traveling along a road that is over 15,000 miles long circumventing the country of Australia. They write in the tone of their own accents so provide a glossary that aids in interpreting such words as dunny, ridgi-didge and drongo just to name a few. For folks that would enjoy traveling along Down Under this is a delightful and exciting romp through the Outback and more as the team travels.
Killed at the Whim of a Hat
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The ironically inclined main character is Jimm Juree a former big city crime reporter in Thailand who unexpectedly moves with most of her family down to the southern coast when her mother purchases a remote and rundown resort. There are mysterious skeletons found buried in a Volkswagen van, the murder of a Buddhist monk and things gets funnier and stranger in this complex adventure. The characters in the local community, roaming dogs and people in her family are colorful and unpredictable as well as the introduction per chapter of a quote from George W. Bush to set the mood.
Madame Xanadu: Disenchanted
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The main character in this tale of Modern India is Nimue Inwadu a sacred keeper of the forest who becomes a paramour of the wizard Merlin during the days of Camelot. This ends badly and begins a magically destructive pattern when a mysterious stranger appears to give her advice. Her life becomes complicated when having the potion based power of immortality she moves through time becoming acquainted with Genghis Khan, Marco Polo, Marie Antoinette and brushing shoulders with Jack the Ripper and historic London ending up finally in New York.
Goliath
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This book is a new take on the historic victim in the Bibles Old Testament. We end up having great sympathy for him whose skill is in being an administrator. Without revealing the ending of this humorous tome, I advise you to keep your eye on his nine year old shield bearer.

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