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Recommended for Adults

Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy

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In the small frontier town of Woodsburgh, during the Klondike Goldrush, an enthralling stranger appears. She wants to purchase the demolished mineshaft on the outskirts of town. Meanwhile, when the streets are cloaked in darkness, something abhorrent and violent is targeting the unwary townspeople, leaving a bloody trail in its wake. There are monsters in this town, human and otherwise, and the strange new visitor might know something about it.

Mirka Andolfo’s Mercy is Victorian gothic meets sci-fi horror with equal parts gore, romance, and tragedy. The plot could be considered obscure and so the reader is left to interpret what exactly is going on all one their own. I didn’t mind being repeatedly confused because the art is gorgeous! How often can you call a parasitic entity beautiful? If you like carriage rides, tragic love stories and interdimensional realms, I suggest you find Mercy in the Library’s catalog or for instant download on Hoopla.

Something is Killing the Children

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Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV
Format: Graphic Novel and eBook on Hoopla
Who’s it for?: Adults & Young Adults

Do you remember when you were a kid and that monster was hiding in your closet? Remember how your mind would run wild with thoughts of the most forbidding and insidious creature imaginable? Maybe it had sharp claws, long fangs, and garish yellow eyes. Now, imagine if this creature were real?

The children of Archer’s Peak, WI are being preyed upon by something brought to life by their most terrifying fears. The worst part? This is an evil only the children can see. The people of this small town can’t be expected to defeat an enemy they can’t even see. But the mysterious Erica Slaughter can see them and she kills monsters. Is there hope?

I recommend this enthralling and gruesome horror story to anyone who loves a good monster tale and doesn’t mind the carnage that comes with it. You can find Something is Killing the Children in the Library’s catalog or for instant download on Hoopla Digital.

Dragonfly

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Title: Dragonfly by Leila Meacham
Format: Book, Book on CD, Large Print
Who’s It For: Adults

During the Nazi occupation of Paris, five Americans went undercover to ferret out German top secrets. In short, they were spies. Samuel Barton was a civil engineer who would gather intel on German blueprints. Christoph Brandt was a track-and-field coach.  He would teach sports in a private school to children of top German officials.  Brad Hudson would use his fly-fishing skills to befriend Nazis. Victoria Grayson’s fencing skills would open avenues with German elite.  And Bridgette Loring, fashion designer, would secrete knowledge through fashionable wives and girlfriends.  

Together, their team was known as “Dragonfly.”  Although they were all trained stateside by the Office of Secret Services, their true identities were  concealed from each other.  They each had a code name and an assumed name while in France: Samuel/Lodestar/Stephane, Christoph/Lapwing/Claus, Brad/Limpet/Barnard, Victoria/Limpet/Veronique, and Bridgette/Labrador/Bernadette.  Bridgette resided at a convent.  On the wall of the convent, she painted a mural through which she could relay secret messages to the others through changes to the art.  And team members weekly submitted intel to Bridgette through a mail drop.  Bridgette in turn transmitted messages back to their OSS case officer, Alistair Renault, via a hidden radio at the convent.

What could go wrong?  What could happen if team members bumped into each other in their assumed life?  If an American turned Nazi ran into his best friend in Paris, would he turn in his countryman?  What if a Nazi fell in love with one of the women?  Would any of the five survive this dangerous mission?

My son first read this story and recommended it to me.  And I loved it!  The narration switches from one team member to another and then to Alistair, their case officer, who is very concerned for these young people.  The timeline alternates from the past to 20 years later.  All of these elements contribute to the tension and drama of the story.  It was a page-turner!

If you enjoy being immersed in another place and time in history, I recommend this book to you.

Find Dragonfly in the catalog.

Hamilton: The Revolution

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Hamilton: the Revolution: Being the Complete Libretto of the Broadway Musical, with a True Account of its Creation, and Concise Remarks on Hip-Hop, the Power of Stories, and the New America by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Stories have the power to move us, whether we read them in a book or see them on a screen or a stage. The smash-hit musical Hamilton, composed and written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is no exception. The show illustrates the real-life story of Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father who was the United States’ first Secretary of the Treasury.

What fans of the musical may not know, though, is the inside scoop on the work that went into the show, from casting to writing lyrics. For instance, did you know that Leslie Odom Jr., who originated the role of Aaron Burr, made the choice to perform in Hamilton over playing a lead role in the NBC show State of Affairs? If you’re intrigued and want to learn more facts such as this, you may want to read Hamilton: The Revolution, which provides a behind-the-scenes look at the show. Written by the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as author Jeremy McCarter, this book includes comments on the show’s lyrics, creation, and actors, as well as photographs from its original Broadway run.

Through illustrating the creation of a musical, this book may be of particular interest to readers who are artists of any kind—writers, painters, musicians, actors, etc.—because it shows the creative process of a composer and lyricist, which may inform the creative process of others.

Happy reading!

Find Hamilton: The Revolution in the catalog.

Snotgirl

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Snotgirl by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Format: Graphic Novel & eBook on Hoopla
Who’s it for?: Adults and Young Adults

Lottie Person is a self-infatuated, attention-seeking, LA fashion blogger and social media influencer. On the surface, she’s perfect. She’s glamorous. She’s the woman all her fans aspire to be, but on the inside…she’s kind of a mess. She’s actually super insecure and her so-called friends rival her vanity. She’s called “Snotgirl” not because of her outrageous hair, but because of her raging allergies. #rude. When Lottie meets Caroline, she’s super happy to try out her new, in-clinical-trials allergy medication. I mean, she doesn’t want to be known as “Snottie Lottie” by the coolest girl she’s ever met. I mean, Caroline could be her first IRL bestie in, like, forever. But when a night out turns odd, Lottie witnesses something strange…or maybe she imagined it? Are her new allergy meds playing with her head? #cliffhanger

The art is gorgeous! The fluorescent color scheme and dry humor teeter-totter with the dark moods and sinister themes. With characters you love to hate and a plot with more twists than the Pacific Coastal Highway, I highly recommend Snotigirl by Bryan Lee O’Malley. There are currently three volumes to the series with hopefully more to come. #fingerscrossed

Find Snotgirl in the library’s Catalog or for instant download on Hoopla Digital.

 

Entangled Life

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Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

It turns out that fungi are fun!  This book takes the reader on an unexpected journey and turns conventional thinking somewhat on its head. Although fungi have their own kingdom and are often lumped in with plants, they are actually more closely related to animals. They even take the prize for the largest and perhaps the oldest organism on the planet. There is a patch of honey fungi that covers 10 square kilometers in Oregon.  It is believed to be somewhere between two thousand and eight thousand years old. Some species of fungi launch their spores so explosively that they accelerate ten thousand times faster than a space shuttle directly after launch. Other species are responsible for “zombie” carpenter ants and provide nature with its very own internet, the wood wide web.

This book was a delight. Each page was full of new and interesting details that led me to search for more information, pictures, or videos of the events described. While the book itself is short, it may take you a bit longer to finish because you’ve fallen down a mycological rabbit hole.

Find Entangled Life in the catalog here!