Press Release: Baldwin Library Recommends Best Books of 2017

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• 
  

  Rebekah Craft <rebekah.craft@baldwinlib.org>

  Bcc:markekapel@yahoo.com

  Dec 27 at 5:34 PM

  
  

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
  

  Contact: Rebekah Craft, Baldwin Public Library

  Phone: 248-554-4682

  Email: rebekah.craft@baldwinli b.org
  

  
  

  Baldwin Library Recommends Best Books of 2017 

  BIRMINGHAM, MI (December 27, 2017) – If you’re looking for a great read this winter, check out favorite titles of 2017 recommended by members of the Baldwin Library staff, Library Board and Friends of the Library. 

  For Adults

  Fiction

  Beartown by Fredrick Bäckman

  Beartown was riveting and quite timely for me. The book focuses on high school hockey and the quest to be the best no matter what. When a violent act occurs and those involved must face the angst of covering it up. –recommended by Melissa Mark, Library Board

  Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

  Eleanor struggles with her damaging past, an inability to connect with even well-meaning acquaintances, and trouble dealing with anything outside of her daily routine. But she is also a complex and sympathetic heroine. Her transformation doesn't happen overnight, but her dark humor and survivor spirit make for a character that is easy to care for and a book that is hard to put down.  –recommended by Sarah and Denise, adult librarians

  A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 

  Despite Count Rostov’s confinement in Moscow's Metropol Hotel, his life is as rich and full as life can be.  The novel is smart, funny, tender, romantic, historical, relevant, wise, and more. –recommended by Liz, circulation assistant

  The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal

  Lyrically written with intensely emotional portrayals of grief and hope simultaneously, this translated-from-French novel describes the story surrounding teenagers on a road trip and a Parisian woman who needs a medical miracle to stay alive.  The book inspired the 2017 French film Reparer les Vivants (Heal the Living). –recommended by Susan, adult librarian

  I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid 

  You won't solve the mystery until it's too late in this psychological horror thriller. –recommended by Dan, adult librarian

  Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

  This book opens and closes as firefighters are managing an assumed arson at the Richardson’s stately home in the wealthy suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio. Throughout the course of this mesmerizing, character-driven novel, the author reveals how the lives of three, very different, families are intertwined. --recommended by Rebekah, Associate Director

  A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas     

  An original and inventive re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes and Watson as women in Victorian England, this mystery introduces Charlotte Holmes, a keenly intelligent and surprisingly vain woman who purposely ruins her good name as so to not be eligible for marriage, and instead is assisted by her new employer Mrs. Watson in becoming a private detective. –recommended by Kristen, Head of Circulation

  The Underground Railroad by Colin Whitehead

  This book is a beautifully written page turner. It is an historical novel about a slave escaping and traveling north, full of interesting characters and an imaginative twist on the Underground Railroad. –recommended by Pam DeWeese, Friends of the Baldwin Public Library President

  Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

  Told in five parts from the perspectives of various women affected by 20-something Aviva Grossman's affair with a married Congressman from Florida, Zevin’s riff on the Monica Lewinsky scandal is authentic, insightful, clever and laugh-out-loud funny. –recommended by Maria, Head of Adult Services

  Non-Fiction

  Being Mortal: medicine and what matters in the end by Atul Gawande

  A sensitively written, riveting book on what it means to age, become infirm, and deal with life's end, whenever it comes, Gawande uses personal stories to lend immediacy to his well-researched, thought-provoking book on a topic most put off discussing; this book will get the conversation started. –recommended by Donna, youth librarian

  Birdmen by Lawrence Goldstone 

  This great sequel to McCullough’s The Wright Brothers describes the decade-long battle in the air and in the courts between the Wright Brothers and Glenn Curtis to control the future of flight.  It’s a thrill ride through the early days of manned flight, which includes the daring men and women pilots who pushed their aircraft to and beyond their limits and often paid for it with their lives.  –recommended by Jim Suhay, Library Board President

  Darwin's Backyard:  How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory by James T. Costa

  This engaging biography uses anecdotes and personal correspondence to document how Darwin enlisted his wife Emma, their children, various maids and butlers, extended family, friends, and houseguests to help conduct backyard research to support (or sometimes shoot down) various theories. Every heavily-documented chapter ends with a replicable experiment. –recommended by Kathleen, adult librarian

  
  

  For Children and Teens

  The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

  This powerful YA book looks at racially-motivated police brutality through the eyes of a 16-year-old black girl named Starr, who sees her unarmed best friend get shot by a cop, and then has to decide if she should stand up for what is right.  –recommended by Elisabeth, teen librarian

  The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

  This is a gripping, fast-paced fantasy novel for teens with an ending that will leave the reader breathless with anticipation for the next in the series. Maxwell's fantasized version of New York pulls the reader in with realistic details and cleverly crafted magical elements that blend seamlessly to create an alternate world.  –recommended by Stephanie, Head of Youth Services

  Nightlights by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer, illustrated by Alice Brereton 

  I thought the story was cute, but I fell in love with the illustrations! The family in the book looks exactly like mine! –recommended by H, adult librarian

  Stella Diaz Has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez 

  This entertaining middle grade chapter book will leave readers cheering for Stella as she learns to ride a bike, make new friends, react to bullies, and start talking a lot more. –recommended by Caroline, youth librarian 

  The Baldwin Public Library is located in downtown Birmingham at 300 W. Merrill Street. The Library’s hours are 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. The Library’s website www.baldwinlib.org has information on how to register for a Library Card and access all of the Library’s services.

  
  

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  --

  Rebekah Craft
  Associate Director
  

  Baldwin Public Library

  300 W. Merrill St.

  Birmingham, MI  48009

  www.baldwinlib.org

  248-554-4682

  
  

  Download all attachments as a zip file

DVD'S/BLU-RAYS

Dunkirk

A World War II thriller about the evacuation of Allied troops from the French city of Dunkirk before Nazi forces can take hold.

 Editors note : To be sure the jerries took a nap after the official fall of France  but had the no planes as good as the English Sptfire or skilled pilots  the Poles and other nationals who flew with the RAF  and the rest as they say is History.

Mother!

A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.

Victoria and Abdul

The extraordinary true story of an unexpected friendship in the later years of Queen Victoria's remarkable rule. When Abdul Karim, a young clerk, travels from India to participate in the Queen's Golden Jubilee, he is surprised to find favor with the Queen herself. As the Queen questions the constrictions of her long-held position, the two forge an unlikely and devoted alliance with a loyalty to one another that her household and inner circle all attempt to destroy. As the friendship deepens, the Queen begins to see a changing world through new eyes and joyfully reclaims her humanity.

-- 

Josh

____________________

Josh Rouan
Baldwin Public Library
300 W. Merrill St.
Birmingham, MI  48009
248-554-4655
josh.rouan@baldwinlib.org

Last Minute, grab and go Christmas Shopping that will leave money in your pocket.

Electronics is big year. What else is new ?  Somebody on your list wants an  Monster  (the biggest one they make) I -pad. Figure around five or six hundred  dollars plus the money you have to shell out  to get your car out of troy impound  if you double park to do that ? It wouldn't be so galling if you didn't have to  have to listen to a seres of lectures at various tables in the apple store about the companies theory of every which should be quite simple. You want their product ? You give them money. Any deviation from said is why our economy  barely teeters above that of China  as number 1 economy a position it has held for more than a century. However this year
the  Monster Apple pad. however has a competitor in the range of $100.
It is the Kindle 80 which  Screen rivals the that of the  monster Apple. Ask a clerk to help you if you to try this for yourself lest you set off an alarm which would really put you in dutch on Christmas eve.
for now regardless of  size The Monster Apple is the superior tablet. For the cost difference it should be. I will tell you that that edge will evaporate as time goes on. Both  companies introduce products at two year intervals or so it seems. The difference is  Kindle up grades are  are more significant quantum leaps so much so that you you'll keep your old ones or hand them down to other family members as the years go by. Kindle  also offers book reading, movies, television, and game playing, with better integration than Apple. Currently the  Kindle  40 as last upgrade  before the current 80  is selling a deep discount prices. One Troy electronic retailer was selling it in the mid forties. It is slimmer and lighter the newer one and much more intuitive. Great for entertainment. The retailer in question has a parking lot so you won't even have to think about about double  parking.Merry Christmas. 

NEW TITLES FROM BALDWIN LIBRARY TO START THE NEW YEAR

BOOKS

Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini

The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth. Estranged from Ada’s father, who was infamously “mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” Ada’s mathematician mother is determined to save her only child from her perilous Byron heritage. When Ada is introduced into London society as a highly eligible young heiress, she at last discovers the intellectual and social circles she has craved all her life. Little does she realize that her delightful new friendship with inventor Charles Babbage—brilliant, charming, and occasionally curmudgeonly—will shape her destiny. 

Year One by Nora Roberts

It began on New Year's Eve. The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed--and more than half of the world's population was decimated. Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river--or in the ones you know and love the most...

DVD'S/BLU-RAYS

American Assassin

After the death of his girlfriend at the hands of Islamic terrorists, Mitch Rapp is drawn into the world of counterterrorism, mentored by tough-as-nails former U.S. Navy SEAL Stan Hurley.