Book on Harvard women is among new arrivals
The Fresno County Library’s Bookshelf column shares suggestions for books, music, and other items, and provides information about library programs.
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All Fresno County Public Library branches close at noon on Dec. 24 through Dec. 26.
Top 5 Most Requested Books
▪ “The Wrong Side of Goodbye,” by Michael Connelly.
▪ “The Whistler: A Novel,” by John Grisham.
▪ “Night School: A Jack Reacher Novel,” by Lee Child.
▪ “Turbo Twenty Three,” by Janet Evanovich.
▪ “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” by J.D. Vance.
New Arrivals
▪ “Revelation: A Thriller,” by Carter Wilson. In this psychological thriller, the lives of a group of college students are altered forever when they unwittingly befriend Coyote, a highly intelligent psychopath bent on creating his own religion. The suspenseful narrative centers on the fraught efforts of one of the students, held captive by Coyote and forced to record the dark history of Coyote’s “Revelation.”
▪ “Beyond the Truth: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel,” by Anne Holt. Hanne Wilhelmsen returns for a seventh adventure, this time investigating a Christmas-season multiple-homicide at the home of the Stahlbergs, one of Oslo’s wealthiest merchant families. This proves a difficult crime to untangle, when it is discovered that each surviving member of the Stahlberg family had ample motive for the murders.
▪ “The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars,” by Dava Sobel. In this new release, New York Times best-selling author Dava Sobel illuminates the hidden history of the mid-nineteenth century female corps of “human computers” that interpreted the observations made by astronomers in the Harvard College Observatory. Through study of the “glass universe” of stars captured on photographic plates, these women ultimately made extraordinary contributions to our understanding of stars and distances across space, and Sobel’s new book showcases these unsung achievements.
Best-Sellers
▪ “The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain,” by Bill Bryson. In this travelogue, Iowa native Bill Bryson recounts his travels across his adopted country, England, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, showing us every quaint pub, village, and charming idiosyncrasy he encountered.
▪ “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” by Michelle Alexander. A law professor challenges the popular belief that President Barack Obama’s terms in office have ushered in an era of “colorblindness,” instead showing how the “War on Drugs” has resulted in disproportionate incarceration of black men and lasting disenfranchisement of African Americans and other communities of color.
▪ “Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan,” by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. This latest installment of the multimillion-selling Killing series details critical exchanges between the United States and Japan in the Pacific theatre of World War II, culminating with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Events
▪ Veterans Resource Center: Did you know that Fresno County Public Library offers resources specifically for veterans? In addition to a wide-ranging collection of books on topics of interest to veterans, Central Library hosts several Veterans Resource Center sessions throughout the month regarding state and federal education, employment, housing, health, disability, and other benefits. This week, former service members and their families can stop by the Veterans Resource Center Monday, Dec. 19 and Tuesday, Dec. 20, from 1:00-3:00 pm, and Friday, Dec. 23, from 10:00 am-3:00 pm, to speak with a trained volunteer. Many of these volunteers are veterans themselves.
▪ Tea and Poetry: A Winter Solstice with Lee Herrick: Join us at Fig Garden Regional Library, at 7 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 21, for a special winter evening of hot tea and selected readings by Lee Herrick, from his poetry collections Gardening Secrets of the Dead and This Many Miles from Desire. Seating is limited, so arrive early! Details: 559-600-4071
▪ Woodward Shakespeare Festival Performs “Macbeth”: From 7:00-8:45 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 21, Fresno’s premier Shakespeare festival will perform a dramatic reading of “Macbeth” at Woodward Park Regional Library. Details: 559-600-3135
This is a weekly column written by the Fresno County Public Library staff. Events are usually free. Visit fresnolibrary.org, or call 559-600-6227 for details.
This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Book on Harvard women is among new arrivals."