Lima Public Library Book Reviews

FICTION

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook.

The Potrero Complex by Amy L. Bernstein

Journalist Rags Goldner is battle-scarred and heartbroken after covering a devastating pandemic that rages in Baltimore for five years. She leaves the city with her partner in search of a simpler life in small-town Maryland — only to discover nothing in Canary is simple. A teenager is missing, and it falls to Rags to fight the forces of apathy, paranoia, and creeping fascism to learn the shocking truth about Effie Rutter’s fate — and the fate of thousands like her.

Book of Extraordinary Tragedies by Joe Meno

Aleksandar and Isobel are siblings and former classical music prodigies, once destined for greatness. As the only Eastern European family growing up on their block on the far southside of Chicago, the pair were inseparable until each was forced to confront the absurdity of tragedy at an early age and abandon their musical ambitions. Now in their 20s, they find themselves encountering ridiculous jobs, unfulfilling romantic relationships, and the outrageousness of ordinary life.

The Foulest Things by Amy Tector

Junior archivist Jess Kendall is struggling to find her footing in her new role. Her colleagues undermine her, her boss hates her, and her only romantic prospect hides a whiskey bottle in his desk. Desperate to make a good impression, Jess’s luck begins to change when she discovers a series of mysterious letters chronicling life in Paris at the start of the Great War. Thinking she has landed her ticket to career advancement, Jess dives into research in Dominion’s art vault, where she stumbles upon the body of one of her colleagues.

NONFICTION

Cheating the Ferryman: The Revolutionary Science of Life After Death by Anthony Peake

In this mind-expanding book, Anthony Peake reveals an extraordinary model of life after death — one that brings together ideas from ancient philosophy, neuroscience, quantum physics and consciousness studies — and manages to explain a number of seemingly mysterious experiences such as precognition, déjà vu, synchronicity, near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences. It is called Cheating the Ferryman.

The Watchmakers: A Powerful WW2 Story of Brotherhood, Survival, and Hope Amid the Holocaust by Harry Lenga

Harry Lenga was born to a family of Jews in Poland. The proud sons of a watchmaker, Harry and his two brothers studied their father’s trade at a young age. Upon the German invasion of Poland, when the Lenga family was upended, Harry and his brothers never anticipated that the tools acquired from their father would be the key to their survival. Under the most devastating conditions imaginable, fixing watches for the Germans in the ghettos and brutal slave labor camps of occupied Poland and Austria bought their lives over and over again.

New Rome: The Empire in the East by Paul Stephenson

As modern empires rise and fall, ancient Rome becomes ever more significant. We yearn for Rome’s power but fear Rome’s ruin―will we turn out like the Romans, we wonder, or can we escape their fate? That question has obsessed centuries of historians and leaders, who have explored diverse political, religious, and economic forces to explain Roman decline. Yet the decisive factor remains elusive.

No One Crosses the Wolf: A Memoir by Lisa Nikolidakis

Growing up, Lisa Nikolidakis tried to make sense of her childhood, which was scarred by abuse, violence, and psychological terrors so extreme that her relationship with her father was cleaved beyond repair. Having finally been able to leave that relationship behind, surviving meant forgetting. Then, on her 27th birthday, Nikolidakis’s father murdered his girlfriend and her daughter, and turned the gun on himself.

CHILDREN’S

Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart by Candace Fleming

On May 21, 1937, America’s most famous female pilot, Amelia Earhart, set off with her navigator, Fred Noonan, to attempt to fly around the world — some 27,000 miles, most of it over water. Six weeks later, on July 2, 1937, the Coast Guard cutter Itasca, standing by to refuel Amelia’s plane off tiny Howland Island in the South Pacific where Amelia was to land, lost radio contact with her. To this day, no trace of Amelia, Fred or their plane has ever been found. This award-winning biography filled with photographs and documents follows Amelia’s tempestuous early life, her training as a pilot and the events leading up to the fateful flight that would make her a legend. Even though Amelia’s final flight never made it, in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, a good friend of Amelia’s, “She helped the cause of women by giving them a feeling that there was nothing they could not do.”

Ages: 9-14

LIBRARY OPEN

• Lima Public Library is open to the public six days a week. Hours for the Main Library in Lima are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Our Cairo, Elida and Spencerville branch libraries are open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Our Lafayette branch is open from 12 noon to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday.

• Curbside pickup is available at the Main Library from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Arrangements can be made by calling 567-712-5239, contacting the library through Facebook Messenger, or putting a hold on a book through the online catalog. 24 hour notice is required. Call us when you arrive (park near the main entrance) and your items will be brought to you.