New Additions to our Adult Non-Fiction

We have a wide range of topics in our New Adult Non-Fiction - here are a few examples :

The Wonders: The Extraordinary Performers Who Transformed the Victorian Age by John Woolf

In this richly evocative account, John Woolf uses a wealth of recently discovered material to bring to life the sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant, always extraordinary stories of people who used their (dis)abilities and difference to become some of the first international celebrities. 

Through their lives we discover afresh some of the great transformations of the age: the birth of show business, of celebrity, of advertising, and of “alternative facts” while also exploring the tensions between the power of fame, the impact of exploitation, and our fascination with “otherness.”

Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church by Megan Phelps-Roper

At the age of five, Megan Phelps-Roper began protesting homosexuality and other alleged vices alongside fellow members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Founded by her grandfather and consisting almost entirely of her extended family, the tiny group would gain worldwide notoriety for its pickets at military funerals and celebrations of death and tragedy.

A gripping memoir of escaping extremism and falling in love, Unfollow relates Phelps-Roper’s moral awakening, her departure from the church, and how she exchanged the absolutes she grew up with for new forms of warmth and community. Rich with suspense and thoughtful reflection, Phelps-Roper’s life story exposes the dangers of black-and-white thinking and the need for true humility in a time of angry polarization.

Disgraceland: Musicians Getting Away with Murder and Behaving Very Badly by Jake Brennan

Real rock stars do truly insane thing and invite truly insane things to happen to them; murder, drug trafficking, rape, cannibalism and the occult. We allow this behavior. We are complicit because a rock star behaving badly is what's expected. It's baked into the cake. Deep down, way down, past all of our self-righteous notions of justice and right and wrong, when it comes down to it, we want our rock stars to be bad. We know the music industry is full of demons, ones that drove Elvis Presley, Phil Spector, Sid Vicious and that consumed the Norwegian Black Metal scene. Using figures we already recognize, Disgraceland shines a light into the dark corners of their fame revealing the fine line that separates heroes and villains as well as the danger Americans seek out in their news cycles, tabloids, reality shows and soap operas. At the center of this collection of stories is the ever-fascinating music industry--a glittery stage populated by gangsters, drug dealers, pimps, groupies with violence, scandal and pure unadulterated rock 'n' roll entertainment.

Memorable Memoirs

“The Choice: Embrace the Possible” is a memoir by internationally renowned psychologist Dr. Edith Eger. As one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors, Edith Eger tells her incredible story of resilience and survival in one of the darkest chapters of human history. At sixteen, Edith, a trained ballet dancer and gymnast, was sent to Auschwitz where she was forced to dance for the amusement of Josef Mengele. He rewarded her with a loaf of bread which she shared with her fellow prisoners—a choice that would later save her life. Along with her sister, Edith survived multiple death camps and the Death March. In 1945, when American troops liberated the camps, Edith was found barely alive in a pile of corpses. She spent decades struggling with flashbacks, nightmares, and survivor’s guilt. She remained silent about her experiences even as she raised a family and practiced psychology. Thirty-five years after the war, Edith returned to Auschwitz and was finally able to forgive the one person she blamed the most for her tragic history—herself.

“A Speck in the Sea: A Story of Survival and Rescue” is the story of the harrowing ordeal of being lost at sea written by John Aldridge and Anthony Sosinski. In the dead of night on July 24, 2013, John Aldridge was thrown off the back of the Anna Mary—the fishing boat he co-owns with Anthony Sosinski. Anthony was fast asleep down below at the time and could not here his partner’s cries for help. Hours ticked by as Anthony, their families, the local fishing community, and the US Coast Guard in three states mobilized an unparalleled search effort that ended with an unlikely and thrilling success. Interwoven with the narrative of the massive rescue effort are the harrowing details of John’s struggle to survive. This is a story of survival and perseverance, but also one of community and cooperation among strangers.

“Sin Bravely: A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience” is by Maggie Rowe. Maggie grew up in a moderately religious household, but she took the idea of salvation very seriously. This obsession with salvation eventually turned into a childhood terror and, at nineteen, Maggie checked herself into an Evangelical psychiatric facility—and, so begins her story. She finds herself surrounded by a group of rabble that includes a former biker meth-head, a set of identical twins obsessed with their mother, and a chronic depressive who becomes Maggie’s greatest confidante. Told with both humor and reverence, Maggie decides to make the most of her treatment and, thus begins a crusade to live by the words of Martin Luther, “Sin bravely in order to know the forgiveness of God.”

“Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery” is the memoir of Astronaut Scott Kelly. As a veteran of four spaceflights and the American record holder of the most consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly relays his record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station. This is also the story of the brash young man who became a Navy pilot and, along with his twin brother, Mark, became an astronaut. Kelly describes how he navigates the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight, the devastating effects on the body and psyche, how colliding with space junk can be catastrophic, and how helpless you feel when tragedy strikes at home. Kelly’s remarkable compassion, humor, and determination shine through as he describes his New Jersey childhood, his inspirations for walking the path to becoming an astronaut, and his genuine wonder about our universe.

Two Beautiful & Atmospheric Movies on DVD

I've had some time off recently and I've been able to watch some of our newest movies--two of which stand out more than the others. Calvary from Fox Searchlight Pictures and The Calling from Sony Entertainment Networks. Both of these haunting films have the element of mystery to them, but they are very much character driven stories.

Calvary begins with Father James--played by Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter Series)--listening to confession of the congregants of his small Irish town. Father James is a widower and former alcoholic who joined the priesthood after the death of his beloved wife. A man enters the confessional and tells Father James that in a week's time, he is going to kill the priest. The mysterious man gives the Father one week to get his affairs in order and tells him that the reason he is to die is because the would-be murderer was sexually abused by a priest when he was a boy. The murderer goes on to say that no one cares if a bad priest is killed, so he has chosen Father James precisely because he is a good man and priest. Even with this threat over his head, the priest must take care of his congregation as well as his emotionally fragile daughter who has come from London for a visit. Father James deduces who this man is, but the audience doesn't get to know until the next-to-last scene of the movie. Will the murderer go through with his plan? Will Father James flee or will he stay to take care of his flock? Some of the scenes and characters in this movie are hard to watch, but if you can stand a bit of cursing, some grit and gore (not too much), then you may just enjoy this darkly comedic tale of religion and faith and what it means to face your own Calvary.

The Calling stars Susan Sarandon as Hazel Micallef. She is a detective in a small Canadian town who has a drug and alcohol problem stemming from an accident that left her with severe back pain. The same accident took the life of her unborn baby, so, understandably, she is not the most religious or faithful person. When she goes to check on an elderly citizen, she finds the woman murdered in an unusual fashion. Soon, another murder takes place; this one looks like suicide, but there are a few similarities. Micallef's long suffering partner--played by Gil Bellows--and a rookie cop (Topher Grace), who has transferred from the city, are finding victims of a serial killer who is crossing Canada and whose modus operandi includes elements of a Christian mystical prayer that is supposed to raise the dead. The audience learns who the killer is about halfway through, but the reasons for the killings remains a mystery. This movie is beautifully rendered. The bleak landscape of the Canadian winter is an apropos backdrop for this atmospheric mystery/thriller.

If you are a fan of atmospheric mysteries, then you may enjoy both of these movies as much as I did.

Download Audio Books to Your Personal Device or Computer.

Our library patrons can now download audio books to their personal devices and computers through OneClickdigital. The OneClickdigital app can be found for both Apple and Android devices.

Just click on the link and sign up for your account using your library card number for access to thousands of books, both new and classics - http://warrenms.oneclickdigital.com/

Need help getting started? There is as step-by-step tutorial at http://warrenms.oneclickdigital.com/#help

Once in, you can choose titles from twenty-seven different genres, listed below :

1. Arts and Entertainment
2. Biographies, Autobiographies and Memoirs
3. Business and Economics
4. Classics
5. Comics and Graphic Novels
6. Fantasy
7. General Fiction
8. General Non-Fiction
9. Historical Fiction
10. History
11. Humor
12. Juvenile Fiction
13. Language
14. Literary Fiction
15. Mystery
16. Poetry
17. Politics and Current Events
18. Religion
19. Romanace
20. Science
21. Sci-Fi
22. Self-Help
23. Short Stories
24. Sports
25. Suspense and Thrillers
26. Western
27. Women's Fiction

Heaven Is For Real

My pastor and several other friends recently read Todd Burpo's Heaven is for Real and suggested that I should read it. The book is a quiet, unassuming story that has lots of power. The book is "a little boy's astounding story of his trip to heaven and back." Todd Burpo is a minister with a wife and three kids, in a small town in the mid-west. Burpo goes through several boughts of sickness himself and his life seems to be evening out when his four-year old son Colton has to have an emergency appendectormy. Colton spends a week in the hospital and no one is sure he will live, until a miracle occurs and he wakes up, alert and almost back to his old self. It is not until several weeks later, during a family road trip, that Todd Burpo and his wife realize that something unusual happened to Colton during his hospital stay. Colton mentions that while he was having his emergency surgery, he "saw his dad praying and his mom talking on the phone in another room." Slowly, Todd and his wife begin to question Coton and they realize that even though Colton did not die, he did visit heaven when he was hospitalized. The writing in this book is beautiful and the message is powerful. Whether you believe in heaven or not, this story will touch you. This story is as much about a family and their quest for healing as it is a story about the power of God. If you like this book, try also reading Don Piper's 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life.