Old Frontiers--Historical Fiction for Your Enjoyment

The Mannequin Makers is a novel by Craig Cliff. It's 1903 in the small town of Marumaru, New Zealand as the train pulls up and a young Maori man steps off and announces the imminent visit of a famous strongman. The entire town turns out to greet him, save one, Colton Kemp, a department store window dresser. Kemp is at home watching his beloved wife die during the premature birth of their twins. The grief torments Kemp and he often leaves the twins in the care of his wife's younger sister. As the grief he feels turns into an irrational obsession with thwarting his rival--the silent and gifted Carpenter--Colton Kemp allows his demons to spill out onto his family causing irreparable harm.

For something with a little more romance, why not try Out of the Ashes: The Heart of Alaska Book Two by Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse? With the death of their father, Collette and Jean-Michel Langelier are no longer tied to post-war France. Collette is dreaming of adventure, but her brother just wishes he could forget the horror of the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925. An unexpected invitation to visit Alaska and the Curry Hotel located at the foot of Mt. Denali seems like the ideal opportunity for the siblings, so they make their way west. Katherine Demarchis has agreed to accompany her beloved grandmother on one last adventure into the Alaska wilderness. She is still nursing wounds from a painfully abusive forced marriage. When Katherine and Jean-Michel come face to face, their past together is revealed and their plans for the future are thrown into chaos.

Only Killers and Thieves is a novel of colonial Australia by Paul Howarth. In 1895 the McBride family is in danger of losing everything they hold dear. A crippling drought has their land parched and their cattle are starving, but the rains do come and things start to look up. After spending the afternoon swimming in a replenished water hole, fourteen-year-old Tommy and sixteen-year-old Billy return home to a shocking tragedy. As the thirst for vengeance falls upon the brothers, they turn to the ruthless and cunning John Sullivan--their father's former employer and the wealthiest landowner in the region. Sullivan gathers a posse to go after the man thought to have commited the horrific crime the boys came home to, however, the posse takes on a larger roll to "disperse" the Aboriginal people and "protect" the rights of the white settlers. The impact of these actions will haunt Tommy for the rest of his life and put a stain on the young country struggling to come into its own.

Many people are familiar with the tragic events that befell the Donner Party on their travel west in the late 1800s. Alma Katsu fictionalizes their story and gives it a supernatural twist in The Hunger. With their rations depleted and bitter quarrels breaking out between their members, the Donner Party is driven closer to the brink of madness by the mysterious death of a little boy. Even with the promise of what awaits them in the West, the long-buried secrets of these isolated travelers breeds dissent that leads to murder and chaos. Is it a curse from the beautiful Tamsen Donner who thinks she's a witch, their ill-advised choice of route, or just plain bad luck that plagues their adventure? Members of the group begin to disappear and survivors wonder if there really is something disturbing, and hungry, for them in the mountains.

New Graphic Novels

Our collection of graphic novels is growing!  Here are a few of the newest ones that we've added.

Mycroft Holmes and the Apocalypse Handbook by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The diffident, brilliant Mycroft pulled into a globe-spanning adventure at the behest of Queen Victoria and a secret organization at the heart of the British government. A madman is on the loose with civilization-destroying weapons, each two hundred years in advance of the status quo. Can the smartest man in England set aside his idle, womanizing ways for long enough to track down the foe that may be his match?





Verax by Pratap Chatterjee
From a prize-winning journalist and the co-author of the best-selling Zahra’s Paradise, a sweeping graphic history of electronic surveillance from 9/11 to the latest drone strike.

9/11 not only marked the worst domestic terror attack in U.S. history, but also unleashed electronic spying by the government on a massive worldwide scale. In a wholly original and engaging telling, Verax (“truth-teller” and one of Edward Snowden’s code names) recounts the full story of American electronic surveillance post 9/11, in comics form.




I, Parrot by Deb Olin Unferth
When Daphne loses custody of her son, she is willing to do whatever it takes to get him back―even if it means enlisting the help of the wayward love of her life, a trio of housepainters, a flock of passenger pigeons, a landlady from hell, a super-sized bag of mite-killing powder, and more parrots than she knows what to do with.

New YA Fiction For Everyone

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe (translated by Lilit Thwaites) is based on the experiences of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus. This incredible story tells how Dita risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust. At fourteen, Dita is one of the many Jews and other "undesirables" imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz in Poland. First, she and her parents were removed from their home in Prague and moved to the ghetto. Then, they were moved northward to the Terezin settlement. Finally, they were brought to Poland and Dita is trying to adjust to the constant terror that makes up the life in the camp. When a Jewish leader, Fredy Hirsch, asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious books the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees and becomes the librarian of Auschwitz even though her life would be forfeit if the Nazis found her out.

If You're Gone is a novel by Brittany Goodwin. When her boyfriend, Brad, disappears, Lillian White's perfect plans for the summer are shattered. Brad didn't go home after his graduation ceremony. That also happens to be the night he told Lillian that he loves her for the the first time. Law enforcement insist that Brad is voluntarily missing and they are not pursuing his disappearance as related to foul play. Lillian believes otherwise and sets out to prove that he would not just walk away from his friends, family, and especially not from her. As she digs deeper, however, she comes to the realization that there is a lot that she doesn't know about the love of her life. Soon, she is questioning everything she thought she knew about Brad, their relationship, as well as her own faith.

In the novel, Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp, Corey and Kyra don't fit in with the other kids in their small Alaska town, but they do fit together. They become inseparable, so when Corey's family has to move away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter until Corey is able to come back and visit. Only, just days before Corey is to return, Kyra dies and Corey is devastated and more than a little confused. The entire community seems to speak in whispers about Kyra, call her a lost daughter and saying her death was meant to be. To add insult to injury, they push Corey away like she's a stranger. She knows something is wrong, but what can you do when the whole town is keeping secrets and you are determined to find out what happened to your best friend?

This is Not a Love Letter is a novel by Kim Purcell. Jessie thought that a one week break to get some perspective before graduation and before she and her boyfriend, Chris, had to make all the big, scary decisions about their future was a perfectly logical idea. Only, those decisions had them fighting for weeks. When Chris vanishes, the police think he has just run away, but Jessie isn't buying it. Chris is popular and good-looking, not to mention, he's about to head off to college with a full baseball scholarship. He disappeared while going for a run along the river--the same place where he was jumped by some boys from a rival school a few weeks earlier. Chis is one of the only black kids in their depressed paper mill town, and Jessie is afraid something unthinkable has happened. As Jessie searches for answers, she will face her fears, her guilt, and the frightening threats of an unknown evil.

Looking Forward to Summer!

It might be hard to believe, but summer will be here before we know it!  This year, our Summer Library Program's theme is Libraries Rock!

Join us for a summer filled with music and music related reading.  We'll kick-off with an opening party featuring Magic Man Dorian LaChance and that's just the start!  There will be contests, performances and it will all be topped off with a Sock Hop.

Don't miss out - register online starting Friday, June 1 or register in-person at the library starting on Monday, June 4.

Science and Medical Non-Fiction

What happens when institutional racism and junk forensic science come together? Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington explore this scenario in their book, The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: a True Story of Injustice in the American South. After two three-year-old girls were raped and murdered in rural Mississippi, law enforcement agents arrested and convicted two innocent men--Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks. By the time they were exonerated in 2008, they had spent a combined thirty years in prison based largely on the testimony of two men--Dr. Steven Hayne and Dr. Michael West. For nearly twenty years, Hayne, a medical examiner, performed the vast majority of Mississippi's autopsies, while his friend, West, a local dentist, touted his skill as a forensic jack-of-all-trades. They became the go-to experts for prosecutors all over the state and helped to convict many Mississippians, however, some of those convictions began to fall apart.

Lindsy Fitzharris writes about surgical innovations in The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine. Nineteenth-century surgery was brutal. Surgeons, working before anesthesia, were lauded for their speed and brute strength. Surgical theaters were no place for the squeamish, either. The most baffling outcome of these surgeries was the extremely high mortality rates of post-operative infections. Into the fray steps and unassuming Quaker surgeon by the name of Joseph Lister, who worked tirelessly to solve the mystery of these infection deaths and whose efforts would revolutionize science and medicine forever.

The History of Medicine in 50 Discoveries is by Marguerite Vigliani, MD and Gale Eaton. This book, arranged in chronological order, lists 50 medical discoveries that helped mankind leap forward in our evolution. For instance, a 5,000 year old mummy was found to have 61 tattoos--most of which matched acupuncture points--and walnut-sized pieces of medicinal fungus. Neolithic surgeons bored holes in patients' brains to relieve pressure at least 10,000 years ago. From Mesopotamian pharmaceuticals and ancient Greek sleep therapy to germs, X-rays, and modern prosthetics and organ transplants, this book traces all of the inspirations, accidents, and dogged determination that has helped humanity's ability to heal itself.

National Library Week - April 8-14

To celebration National Library Week, we will be featuring quotes about libraries and reading on our Facebook page daily.  Take a look to see if one of your favorite authors is among those featured.

This year's National Library Week theme is 'Libraries Lead'.  Are you taking advantage of all the things our library has to offer?

Here are some of the things you might be missing :

• Current best selling books (both print and eBooks)
• Magazines (both print and eMagazines)
• Weekly storytime for preschoolers and toddlers
• Movies and television shows on DVDs
• Audio books on CDs and on MP3 players
• Up to three hours of free computer usage for patrons
• Daily local newspapers
• Sitting areas for reading and tables for work or writing
• Reference books for assisting with school projects
• Information on college programs and scholarships
• Books on home improvement and repairs
• Local history information
• Newspaper archives for the Vicksburg paper
• Graphic novels for both children and adults
• Manga novels
• Large print books for those with vision impairment 
• Bilingual books in Spanish/English
• Summer Library Reading Program with various activities

That is only part of what we have to offer,  We also provide meeting places for groups as well as sponsor book signings and other events!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay informed - don't miss out on what's going on.

New Editions of Classic Literature

Jack London's two most famous and beloved tales of survival in Alaska were inspired by his experiences in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. In The Call of the Wild, Buck is a pampered pet in California who is stolen and forced to become a sled dog in the Alaskan wilderness. There, he suffers both the brutality of nature as well as the savage treatment by a series of masters causing him to heed his long-buried instincts and turn his back on civilisation. White Fang is a reverse journey of sorts. White Fang is adopted by a group of Native Alaskans, but when the dogs of the village reject him, he is traded to a man who stages merciless fights with other dogs, wolves, and even lynxes. This life makes him violent, defensive, and dangerous, but a benevolent gold miner sets out to earn his trust and show him the meaning of love and family.

Lolita was first published by the Olympia Press, Paris on September 15, 1955. It quickly became Vladimir Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel. Humbert Humbert is feeling his age when he meets the nymphet Dolores Haze. He quickly falls into an obsessive, devouring, and, eventually, doomed passion for her. Many believe this work is a meditation on love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation. Does the story live up to its controversial past or is it tame by today's standards?

The mid twentieth century saw the rise of a counterculture icon by the name of Jack Kerouac. On the Road was a landmark work of fiction when it was published in 1957. His restless, questioning characters mimicked the changes in society at the time. The ardent relationship between writer Sal Paradise and his outrageous,vexing, and incomparable friend Dean Moriarty is one of the great friendships in American literature. Included with this classic work are four other autobiographical works about his life on the road--The Dharma Bums, The Subterraneans, Tristessa, and Lonesome Traveler--as well as a selection from his journals that illustrates his unique and dazzling career.

Only Four AARP Tax Assistance Sessions Remain!

AARP will be here in our Meeting Room for four more sessions to assist senior citizens and low-income taxpayers with their tax preparation for the 2017 tax year 

These are the final four Wednesdays :

March 21—March 28

April 4—April 11

On each of the scheduled days, the doors will open to begin tax assistance at 9 am. First come, first served.  The volunteers will only be able to assist 10 individuals per day - no appointments.  AARP membership is not required for this assistance.

Documents and Helpful Information that you will need to provide:

· A copy of your 2016 Income Tax Return

· All income documents for 2017 (W2 - 1099 - Retirement - Pensions - Social Security - Unemployment - etc) . 

· 2017 Mortgage statement showing interest and property taxes paid

· All 2017 Tax Receipts from Tax Collector's Office (Home, Land & Tags)

· All Social Security Cards (Taxpayers & Dependents)

· Driver's License or other valid picture ID

Women in the Spotlight--Fiction

In Miss Jane--a novel by Brad Watson--Miss Jane Chisolm is born into a rural area of early twentieth-century Mississippi. She is born with a genital birth defect that will surely exclude her from the roles traditional for a woman of her time and place; however, it frees her to live her life on her own terms. Unlike others with similar afflictions, Miss Jane isn’t melancholy or bitter about her situation. She is affable with an exuberance and generosity of spirit that is contagious and eternal.

When We Were Worthy is a novel by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen. The small town of Worthy, Georgia is just like most southern towns on a fall night—full of young people and football. On this night, however, the sound of sirens pierce the cool night air just a few hours after the Wildcats scored a winning touchdown. Two cars collided and three cheerleaders are dead. The only survivor is a boy in the other car and he is believed to be at fault, so naturally, rumors, allegations, and secrets begin to churn in this close-knit community. At the center are four women: Marglyn, a grieving mother; Darcy, whose son was behind the wheel; Ava, a substitute teacher with a time-bomb of a secret; and Leah, a cheerleader who should have been in the car with her friends, but wasn’t. When the truth is finally let loose, it will either bring redemption or destruction.

John Banville continues the saga of one of Henry James's characters in his novel Mrs. Osmond. Isabel Archer is the young protagonist in James's novel The Portrait of a Lady who was brought to Europe in the late nineteenth century by an aunt who thought that the trip would round out the girl's eager, yet naive view of the world. Isabel comes into a large, unexpected fortune and is lured into a marriage with the charming, penniless--and as she later learns--cruel and lying Gilbert Osmond. As married life grows more intolerable each day, Isabel defiantly takes a solo trip to England where she is confronted with the opportunity to free herself from the loveless union she is bound to, however, she inexplicably chooses to return to her husband in Italy. Mrs. Osmond picks up where James's novel ends and furthers Isabel's journey with an intensity and dark humor that would make the author proud.

Enchantress of Numbers is a novelization of the life of Ada Lovelace by Jennifer Chiaverini. The only legitimate child of the brilliant and infamous Lord Byron, Ada was destined for greatness from birth. Her mathematician mother is determined to save her child from the destructive and passionate behavior that seems to be the Byron legacy. Ada's education is a rigorous one founded in mathematics and the sciences. Fairytales and anything that sparks the imagination have long been banned from the nursery--or so her mother thinks. Ada is introduced into London society as a highly eligible young heiress and she soon discovers the intellectual and social circles she has longed for. An exciting new friendship with the brilliant, charming, and occasionally grouchy inventor Charles Babbage and his invention, the Difference Engine will most certainly define her destiny.

March is Women's History Month

This month, we saluted the women - both past and present - who have helped to form history.  Follow our page on Facebook as we present a selection of quotes from famous women over the years.

Is there a quote that you find particularly inspiring or witty?  Let us know on Facebook this month.