On the Shelf

Header Right Social

FacebookInstagramMeetupOn the Shelf Blog

Header Right Search

Humor

The Accidental Beauty Queen

by Leave a Comment

The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Even though she is an identical twin, Charlotte Gorman has always been considered the sister with the “great personality,” not that it has ever really made much difference to her. Nerdy, book-loving Charlotte is more than happy with her job as an elementary school librarian and keeps far out of the limelight cast by her pageant crown-seeking sister, Ginny. However, the night before the Miss American Treasure competition, Ginny has a severe allergic reaction and Charlotte is her only hope. Reluctantly, Charlotte agrees to secretly swap places with her sister and quickly discovers that there is more to the pageant world than she ever assumed.

The Accidental Beauty Queen is a delightfully fluffy romantic comedy—like the movie Miss Congeniality, if Sandra Bullock’s character majored in English literature instead of law enforcement.

Find it in the catalog.

There Are No Bears In This Bakery

by Leave a Comment

There Are No Bears in This Bakery by Julia Sarcone-Roach

Publication Date: January 8, 2019
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Muffin the Cat takes her job providing security for her human owner’s bakery very seriously. Each night, while the baker sleeps, Muffin listens for sounds to alert her to trouble, like the rustle and squeak of mice, or the rattle and clang of raccoons. But one night, she hears a new sound. Is it rumbling? Is it growling? What could it be? Certainly not a BEAR in the bakery?! Read on to see what Muffin finds, what she does about it, and what becomes of the bakery’s stock of treats and sweets in this sweet and funny sequel to A Bear Ate Your Sandwich.

Find it in the catalog

Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence

by Leave a Comment

Title: Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence by Michael Marshall Smith
Format: Book
Who It’s For: Adults

Hannah Green is eleven years old and her parents are separating. Her mother is working in London and Hannah is home in Santa Cruz with her father. She misses her mother, but finds herself missing her father more as, though he is right in front of her, he seems to be lost. She goes through her daily routine – school, homework, food, bed. Her life becomes “horribly, unfeasibly mundane.” Until her father sends her to stay with her world-traveling grandfather for a while in a cabin in the Pacific Northwest and the Devil shows up. The Devil has discovered that he is no longer benefitting from the dark power usually transferred to him when humans commit bad deeds. This might have something to do with a machine Hannah’s grandfather built.

Hannah, her grandfather, the Devil, and an accident imp named Vaneclaw travel to the Behind (a version of Hell you can get to without dying) via Siberia to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Meanwhile, Hannah’s father has disappeared and a man with bad intentions sets out toward Santa Cruz to fulfill an unknown mission. All these individuals come together at a roller coaster on the Santa Cruz boardwalk where the fate of humanity will be decided.

Reminiscent of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, and Jasper Fforde, Smith has produced a story and characters that stick with you and leave you wanting more.

Find it in the catalog.

The Adventure Zone

by Leave a Comment

The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Travis McElroy
Publication Date: July 17, 2018
Format: Graphic Novel
Who’s it for: Teens, Adults

A story of three brothers and their dad playing dungeons and dragons is a tale as old as time. If that time also included irreverent humor, wanton violence, and one overly dramatic elf. The hit podcast turned New York Time’s best seller has hit your local library shelf. If fantasy, bad jokes, magical jellyfish, and goblin slaying sound like your kind of fun, welcome to The Adventure Zone! 

Here There Be Gerblins starts off with our three heroes bungling their way into a rescue of their employer from a lair of goblins, and they only make things worse from there. Our champions will encounter perils such as giant spiders, the Zone of Truth, and even tea with a bugbear (heavens!) Magnus the fighter is brash and will charge into any situation, Merle is the cleric who never knew he could heal, and the Wizard Taako who’s more interested in looking good than saving the day. But don’t forget Griffin, our dungeon master as he makes things harder for our heroes, and maybe make a few puns along the way.

Featuring the charming art of artist Carey Pietsch bringing to life these larger than life characters. They even have a section at the end of the comic dedicated to fanart to show off all the different fan perceptions of the characters from when they were a podcast. If you’re looking for a new graphic novel series to invest in, volume 2, Murder on the Rockport Limited, is already announced for next year. So roll for initiative and prepare for goofs, it’s the Adventure Zone!

Find it in the catalog

The Bucket List

by Leave a Comment

The Bucket List by Georgia Clark
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

For the most part, Lacey Whitman’s life is going the way she wants it. She has a job she mostly likes and friends she can sometimes count on. However, everything she knows comes crashing down around her when she learns that she has inherited the breast cancer gene. Now she must make the life-altering decision of whether or not to have a double mastectomy at the young age of twenty-five. Lacey knows this is not a decision to be made lightly and, like any good Type-A millennial, enlists the help of her friends in making a pro-con list. Their verdict? Make a “boob bucket list” and give herself one year to complete everything she wants to do with and for her breasts before her possible surgery. Thus begins a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance you won’t want to miss.

Find it in our catalog

Calypso

by Leave a Comment

Calypso by David Sedaris
Format: Audiobook, Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Calypso might just be David Sedaris at his best. It’s a bit darker than some of the author’s previous works (included are stories about his sister’s suicide and his mother’s alcoholism), but his wry humor comes through at every turn.  

A collection of stories dealing with middle age, family, snapping turtles, and trash collecting while wearing a Fitbit, Calypso is filled with observations and interactions that range from the mundane yet oddly humorous, to the wildly absurd. The stories take place in various locations, from the West Sussex home he shares with his partner, Hugh (and, for a time, a fox named Carol), to the family beach house on Emerald Isle nicknamed the Sea Section, to various US cities and towns visited on speaking tours (including El Paso, TX, where a doctor in the audience offers to remove the benign lipoma from his abdomen and give it to him so he can feed it to a snapping turtle).

Sedaris narrates the audiobook and it is highly recommended. For fans of Augusten Burroughs, Sarah Vowell, and Dave Eggers.

Find it in the catalog.