FICTION
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, 4-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her 6-year-old brother, Joe. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come. In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. She will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret.
The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
In the year 4 BCE, an ambitious courtier is called upon to seduce the young emperor. In 1740, a lonely innkeeper agrees to help a mysterious visitor procure a rare medicine. And in present-day Los Angeles, a college student meets a beautiful stranger and cannot shake the feeling they’ve met before. Across these seemingly unrelated timelines woven together only by the twists and turns of fate, two men are reborn, lifetime after lifetime. Within the treacherous walls of an ancient palace and the boundless forests of the Asian wilderness to the heart-pounding cement floors of underground rave scenes, our lovers are inexplicably drawn to each other, constantly tested by the worlds around them.
Sleeping Giants by Rene Denfeld
For most of her life, Amanda Dufresne had no idea she had an older brother named Dennis Owens. Adopted as a baby, she learned about him while looking into her late birth mother, and is curious to know more about this lost sibling. Amanda has always felt distanced from the world around her. Her brain works differently from others. Her one true companion is the orphaned polar bear she cares for working at the zoo. Retired police officer Larry Palmer is a widower with nothing but time. He offers to help Amanda find answers. Dennis Owen had been a forgotten foster child abandoned to a home for disturbed boys off the coast. As Amanda and Larry dig deeper into the past, the two stumble upon decades of cruelty and hidden crimes—including a barbaric treatment still used today.
Monsters We Have Made by Lindsay Starck
Thirteen years ago, Sylvia Gray’s young daughter, Faye, attacked her babysitter in order to impress the Kingman, a monster she and her best friend had encountered on the Internet. When the now 23-year-old Faye goes missing, leaving her toddler behind, Sylvia launches a search that propels her back into the past and back into the Kingman’s orbit. With the help of her estranged husband and a sister, Sylvia draws dangerously closer not only to Faye, but also to the truth about the monster that once inspired her. Will Sylvia be able to reach her daughter before history repeats itself? Or will it be Sylvia who loses her grip on reality and succumbs to the dark powers of this monstrous fiction?
NONFICTION
American Mother by Colum McCann with Diane Foley
In late 2021, Diane Foley sat at a table across from her son’s killer, Alexanda Kotey, a member of the ISIS group known as “The Beatles” who plead guilty to the kidnapping, torture, and murder of her son seven years before. Kotey was about to go serve life imprisonment and this was Diane’s chance to talk to the man who had been involved with brutally taking her son’s last breath. What would she say to his killer? What would he reveal to her? Might she even be able to summon forgiveness for him? She guides us through her family history and the difficulties they faced when Jim was captured. And she also charts the tenacity it takes to turn her grief into grace as she seeks to give voice to those who are still being kidnapped and wrongfully detained around the world.
I Did a New Thing: 30 Days of Living Free by Tabitha Brown
Years ago, Tabitha Brown started a 30-day personal challenge that she called “I Did a New Thing!” The challenge was simple. Every day she would do something she’d never done before. Sometimes it was something small like trying a new food. Other times, she’d step it up a bit and speak to someone she’d never spoken to before. Still other times, she’d do the hard thing. No matter what it was, the point was that she was going to take a leap of faith and watch God open up a new lane for her. In “I Did a New Thing,” Tab shares her own stories and those of others, alongside gentle guidance and encouragement to create these incredible changes for yourself and see what good can come from them.
Mafia Miami: FBI Politics and How an Investigation was Nearly Sabotaged by Jerry Hester
This remarkable and entertaining story takes readers through the challenges, twists and turns, and inevitable administrative roadblocks one encounters while running a high-profile and complex FBI investigation. Interwoven throughout the story are highlights of key bureaucratic changes driven by culture and policy that took place within the FBI at the time. Jerry Hester explains how those changes had a negative impact on not only the Paesan Blues investigation but also the entire future of the FBI’s effectiveness and reputation.
Afraid: Understanding the Purpose of Fear and Harnessing the Power of Anxiety by Arash Javanbakht
How does fear work in our brains? Why does our body react the way it does when we are scared? What is the evolutionary purpose of fear? Why do we enjoy watching horror movies? How does the brain of a brave person work differently than others? In this book, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist answers these questions. It is a comprehensive review of fear and anxiety in tangible aspects of the modern life. Arash Javanbakht explores how our childhood experiences define the role fear plays in us as adults, how fear may or may not affect our genes, and what excessive fear and anxiety can do to our brains and bodies. Readers will come away with a better understanding of fear and how we can tamp its negative effects.
CHILDREN’S
Disney Enchanted Recipes by Thibaud Villanova
Once upon a time … there were recipes from the Magical Kingdom of Mouse! This book features 40 recipes inspired by Disney and Pixar’s most popular films. Immerse your tastebuds in the world of Disney as you relive your favorite characters’ most delicious moments. Dine like a princess on Cinderella’s Stroke of Midnight soup, Belle’s Royal Souffle, Tiana’s Gumbo, Merida’s Scottish Bear Cub Buns, Grumpy’s Plum Pie and more! These recipes require an adult’s help in the kitchen, but when you are done, you will have a feast to remember.
Ages: 8 and up
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.
