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The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource
We’ve been conditioned to embrace these goods and services to enhance our lives, that they’re a positive force in society. Instead, it might be time to consider them as adversaries.
Posted by Alex C. on April 1, 2025
What Does It Feel Like
“Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains...
Posted by Stephanie L. on February 1, 2025
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins
In P. Djèlí Clark’s book, The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, those sworn to the Matron of Assassins are resurrected from the dead, are absolutely deadly, and are completely devoid of...
Posted by Natalie D. on January 1, 2025
WPL Adult Services – Best of 2024
Westmont Public Library's Adult Services Department highlights their favorite books of the year!
Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch
Horror for Weenies is a perfect mix of informative and entertaining, making it an excellent choice for anyone looking to dive deeper into horror films without having to sit through...
Posted by Alex C. on December 1, 2024
Baking for the Holidays
Cranberries and cream danish anyone?
Posted by Adult Services on November 1, 2024
The Book of Doors
What if you could be instantly transported to any place in the world by opening up a door? Where would you want to go?
Posted by Kimberly M. on October 1, 2024
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
Frederick Fife is a down on his luck widower. He hasn’t been able to pay his rent and is being evicted from his apartment. Before packing away his things, Fred...
Posted by Stephanie L. on September 1, 2024
The Husbands
For fans of books like Oona out of Order by Margarita Montimore and Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale or the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, The Husbands by...
Posted by Stephanie L. on August 1, 2024
The Night Eaters
The Night Eaters is the first volume in a graphic novel horror trilogy by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takada, best known for their work on graphic novel fantasy/horror series Monstress.
Posted by Natalie D. on July 1, 2024
Cascade Failure
Cascade Failure is a thought-provoking read that combines some of the best elements of the science fiction and thriller genres.
Posted by Alex C. on June 1, 2024
Good Night, Irene
Good Night, Irene is a story of survival, camaraderie and courage that leaves readers cheering until the end.
Posted by Sheila R. on May 1, 2024
Charm City Rocks
What would you do if your son set you up with your celebrity crush?
Posted by Adult Services on April 1, 2024
Nervosa
Meet author, cartoonist, and passionate crossword puzzler, Hayley Gold, in her memoir Nervosa.
Posted by Kimberly M. on March 1, 2024
Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call For Change in Hollywood
Have you ever worked somewhere so toxic or had a boss that was so awful that you dreaded work and felt driven away, even if it was a career that...
Posted by Stephanie L. on February 1, 2024
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is the first book in a new trilogy by Shannon Chakraborty. It’s a tale of the high seas featuring pirates and sorcerers, ancient mysteries, magical...
Posted by Natalie D. on January 1, 2024
The Night House
Prolific in crime novels, The Night House marks Nesbø’s foray into horror and it does not disappoint.
Posted by Kimberly M. on December 1, 2023
The Book of Witches
The Book of Witches, edited by Jonathan Strahan, is an anthology of stories focused on, as you have probably guessed, witches. Witches have long been a popular topic for novels...
Posted by Natalie D. on November 1, 2023
Who’s Raising the Kids?: Big Tech, Big Business, and the Lives of Children
Kids are having fewer and fewer experiences that are unmediated by corporations. Big business and big tech are training kids (and perhaps us all) to believe we need endless products...
Posted by Sarah A. on September 28, 2023
Dark Sky Initiative
DarkSky International’s mission is to restore the nighttime environment and protect communities and wildlife from light pollution. The movement is designed to bring together individuals, organizations, and policymakers to work...
Posted by Natalie D. on September 27, 2023
Fourth Wing
From the very first page, "Fourth Wing" grabs your attention and doesn't let go
Gun Violence: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics surrounding gun violence. This list includes titles to support difficult emotions triggered by gun violence with themes...
The Library of the Dead
The Library of the Dead is T.L. Huchu’s fiction debut and is the first book in the Edinburgh Nights series. Book two, Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments, was published in...
Posted by Natalie D. on July 5, 2023
LGBTQ+ Voices and Experiences: A Reading List for Adults
Celebrate Pride Month with books highlighting LGBTQ+ characters, experiences, histories, and voices. We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of gender and sexuality from...
The Last Beekeeper
With the perfect amount of mystery, worldbuilding, and character building, The Last Beekeeper, is very compelling.
Posted by Kimberly M. on June 1, 2023
The House in the Cerulean Sea
Linus Baker is a very ordinary man with a very plain life. He goes to work, he comes home, his cat hisses at him and the whole pattern repeats the...
The Only Survivors
Megan Miranda's writing is tense and atmospheric, creating a sense of unease that permeates the entire book. The pacing is excellent, with just enough suspense to keep the reader guessing...
Posted by Alex C. on May 1, 2023
Remarkably Bright Creatures
A delightful book full of heart, humor and acceptance of things we cannot change.
Posted by Adult Services on April 1, 2023
Women’s Rights: A Reading List for Adults
In honor of Women's History Month, we've selected titles focusing on the lives of women and girls throughout the past and into the present day. We hope these selections serve...
Posted by Alex C. on March 15, 2023
Dark Knights of Steel: Vol 1.
Dark Knights of Steel is a fun spin off that will engage those familiar and unfamiliar with DC characters.
The LEGO Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World’s Imagination
Celebrating 90 years of bricks and mini figs!
Posted by Adult Services on February 1, 2023
License to Parent: How My Career as a Spy Helped Me Raise Resourceful, Self-Sufficient Kids
Analytical mom + operational dad = the CIA way of parenting
Posted by Adult Services on January 15, 2023
Under Lock & Skeleton Key
Gigi Pandian’s newest series kicks off with Under Lock & Skeleton Key, a locked room mystery featuring disgraced stage magician Tempest Raj. Set in the San Francisco Bay Area, Tempest...
Posted by Natalie D. on January 2, 2023
Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club
Sophie Go has an incredible gift. She has the ability to see red threads connected to people. When matched with the right person, she is able to witness those red...
Posted by Kimberly M. on December 1, 2022
The Passenger
Bobby Western, son of a nuclear physicist who worked with Robert Oppenheimer on the atomic bomb, is a salvage diver based in New Orleans tasked with investigating a private plane...
Posted by Alex C. on November 7, 2022
Right to Read: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of centering around education and persons right to read.
Posted by Alex C. on September 2, 2022
The Woman in the Library
It’s a fine day like any other at the Boston Public Library. Until a scream breaks the silence of the library and irrevocably changes the lives of four people sharing...
Posted by Adult Services on September 1, 2022
Comeuppance Served Cold
Set in 1929 in an alternate Seattle filled with magic, violence, and deceit, Comeuppance Served Cold mixes gaslamp fantasy with a noir caper to create a fast-moving novella with a...
Posted by Natalie D. on August 3, 2022
Kaiju Preservation Society
When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end food delivery driver. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom. Tom...
Posted by Natalie D. on August 1, 2022
Own Voices: A Reading List for Adults
The #ownvoices hashtag was created by author Corinne Duyvis to spotlight books about characters with marginalized identities created by authors who share the same marginalized identity (or identities). The character...
Posted by Alex C. on July 1, 2022
We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story
From Canadian kiddo to Marvel Universe superhero, this is the story of Simu Liu in his own words.
Posted by Adult Services on June 15, 2022
LGBTQ+ Voices & Experiences: An Adult Reading List
Celebrate Pride Month with this collection of stories from and about LGBTQ+ community members.
Posted by Adult Services on June 1, 2022
Social Justice in Poetry and Verse: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections of poetry and books in verse serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of social justice. Terraform: Building a Better World by Propaganda In...
Posted by Aaron H. on April 2, 2022
The Once and Future Witches
James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna Eastwood thought they would never be parted. But that was then and this is now. Their bond has been irrevocably broken and now...
Posted by Adult Services on April 2, 2022
Deaf History Month List
March 13th - April 15th is Deaf History Month, and these books highlight what life is like for those with deafness. From well known historical figures to modern, every day...
Posted by Adult Services on February 22, 2022
Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You
If your household has been recently obsessed with “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s Encanto or has learned all the words to “Satisfied” from Hamilton before that, you have...
Posted by Adult Services on February 15, 2022
Black Voices & Experiences: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of centering around Black voices, characters, and communities. The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr. “A singular and...
Posted by Alex C. on February 4, 2022
The Conductors
Once conductors on the Underground Railroad, Hetty Rhodes and her husband, Benjy, now seek to find a new use for their cunning skills and their magic. Living in Philadelphia, everyone...
Posted by Natalie D. on February 1, 2022
While We Were Dating
An easy read where the stakes are low, While We Were Dating is recommended for veteran romance readers and those discovering the genre for the first time.
All Systems Red
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.
Posted by Natalie D. on December 28, 2021
Book List of Magical Realism Novels
Readers who enjoy the rich creations of magical realism often also appreciate themes of invention storytelling forms like folklore, ghost stories, and fairy tales.
Posted by Adult Services on December 16, 2021
Access to Healthcare: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue around the biases and inequalities that affect access to healthcare and preventative care. These books highlight people and communities...
Posted by Alex C. on December 3, 2021
Happily Ever Afters
One of my favorite genres to read is romance, especially during the winter. With a guaranteed happily ever after, romance novels are the perfect pick-me-up for dreary days. With so...
Posted by Natalie D. on December 2, 2021
The Jane Austen Book Society
A group of Jane Austen fans come together in the sleepy town of Chawton to help save what is left of their beloved heroines legacy.
Posted by Adult Services on November 30, 2021
2021 Best Suspense Novels
Below are a few of the top selling 2021 suspense novels. The Survivors by Jane Harper Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating...
Posted by Adult Services on November 25, 2021
The Book of Lymph: Self-Care Practices to Enhance Immunity, Health, and Beauty
Lymphatic massage and self-care are important to creating a balanced, healthy life, and this book details how to achieve amazing results.
Posted by Adult Services on November 23, 2021
Celebrating 100 Years: 1921
The Village of Westmont is celebrating its 100th birthday! Wonder what folks were reading before the library was even founded? These titles, now available in electronic formats, were the most...
Posted by Adult Services on November 18, 2021
Fangs
Elsie is a vampire. Jimmy is a werewolf. They meet and begin dating. And have a series of charming little encounters as they learn each other’s foibles. Fangs is a...
Posted by Adult Services on November 17, 2021
Uzumaki
The inhabitants of a small Japanese village start to become obsessed with spirals. Sounds a little silly right? Well, in the hands of Junji Ito, this premise becomes a nightmarish...
Posted by Adult Services on November 17, 2021
Balthazar Series 1
Rapheal Balthazar is a gifted but eccentric forensic pathologist who is constantly smiling and joking and eating, but underneath that is a deep pain stemming from his wife’s murder fifteen...
Posted by Adult Services on November 15, 2021
Arsenic and Adobo
Lila Macapagal has just moved back home to Shady Palms, IL to recover from a breakup with her boyfriend and to help save her Tita Rosie’s failing Filipino restaurant. When...
Posted by Natalie D. on November 9, 2021
Superb Science Fiction
Dune by Frank Herbert “Science fiction’s supreme masterpiece, Dune will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, it is the story of the...
Posted by Alex C. on November 4, 2021
In the Tall Grass
In the Tall Grass is a novella by Stephen King and his son Joe Hill. It was first published in two parts in the Esquire in 2012 and later turned...
Posted by Adult Services on November 2, 2021
Cozy Mystery
As the weather changes from greens to golds, snuggle up with these cozy mysteries from our collection.
Posted by Adult Services on October 28, 2021
Dead Girls and Other Stories
A haunting collection of short stories with an engaging insight on life and death.
Posted by Adult Services on October 26, 2021
12 True Crime Books Worth Checking Out
Have you listened to every true crime podcast on the market, but are still looking to learn more about the darker side of humanity? Check out these 12 True Crime...
Posted by Adult Services on October 21, 2021
The Kill Lock
Four robot criminals, an addict, a solider, a murderer and a child; are bound together with the Kill Lock. If one of them dies, the rest die as well. Their...
Posted by Adult Services on October 19, 2021
Curse Words
An evil wizard (named Wizord) is sent from an awful neighboring dimension to destroy our world. But once he gets here, he kinda likes the place so he decides to...
Posted by Adult Services on October 19, 2021
Fantastic Fantasy Novels
Lose yourself in a new world in one of these fantastic fantasy novels from our collection.
Posted by Natalie D. on October 14, 2021
A Psalm for the Wild-Built
It’s been centuries since anyone has seen a robot, but when Sibling Dex travels to a remote hermitage on a quest they end up meeting Splendid Speckled Mosscap, a “wild-built”...
Posted by Adult Services on October 12, 2021
The Best of Stephen King
Assistant Director Brittany Smith picks her Stephen King favorites to celebrate the master of horror this Halloween Season.
Posted by Adult Services on October 7, 2021
PIGLET: The Unexpected Story of a Deaf Blind Pink Puppy and His Family
Dr. Melisa Shapiro knew one thing from an early age. That her purpose in life was to care for animals. During the first few chapters of the book, Dr. Shapiro...
Posted by Adult Services on October 5, 2021
Worker Rights: A Reading List for Adults
This October, we celebrate and highlight stories of fundamental principles and rights at work.
Posted by Alex C. on October 1, 2021
Cookbooks: Celebrity Edition
Ever wonder what your favorite celebrities like to eat at home? Or at least what they want you to think they eat! Here are some of the most popular cookbooks...
Posted by Adult Services on September 30, 2021
A Slow Fire Burning
When a young man is found gruesomely murdered in a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women who knew him. Laura is the troubled one-night-stand last seen in the...
Posted by Alex C. on September 28, 2021
Manga Essentials
Enjoy this selection of essential manga by Westmont Public Library Librarian, Gil!
Posted by Adult Services on September 23, 2021
The Unbroken
Touraine was kidnapped as a child by the Balladaire Empire and forced to become a soldier. Now, years later, she and her company are returning to her homeland Qazal to...
Posted by Natalie D. on September 21, 2021
Essential Graphic Novels
Enjoy this selection of some of the best graphic novels available with your Westmont Library card!
Posted by Alex C. on September 16, 2021
Monarch Festival 2021: Resource Guide
Use this resource guide as a starting out point to learn more about monarchs, butterflies, and pollinators. Watch a WPL librarian talk about some of these resources here. And ask...
Posted by Adult Services on September 1, 2021
National Sewing Month: A Resource List for Adults
Celebrate National Sewing Month with some of our great craft books. Whether you're just getting started or an expert looking for new ideas, we have you covered. We can even...
Posted by Natalie D. on September 1, 2021
Advocacy & Activists: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue around advocacy, activism and allyship in relation to social justice issues.
Posted by Alex C. on August 6, 2021
Acclaimed Foreign Language TV Series
Babylon Berlin Police commissioner Gereon Rath is transferred from Cologne to Berlin, the epicenter of political and social change in the Golden Twenties. Shellshocked from his service during World War...
Posted by Adult Services on August 4, 2021
A Century of Reading: The 2010s
Social media has evolved rapidly in the last decade, giving us new and innovative ways to communicate, learn, and entertain. Think Before You Like : Social Media’s Effect on...
Posted by Adult Services on July 31, 2021
A Century of Reading: The 2000s
Veronica Mars by Rob Thomas After her best friend is murdered, and her father is removed as county Sheriff, Veronica Mars dedicates her life to cracking the toughest mysteries in...
Posted by Adult Services on July 26, 2021
Redline
In the anime movie Redline, a giant whale monster that is biologically fused with a space army general fights an enormous glowing uncontrollable biological weapon named Funky Boy. That’s not...
Posted by Adult Services on July 13, 2021
A Century of Reading: The 1980s
It was rad to be a kid in the 80s! Take a trip down memory lane with some books, movies, and music from the 1980s. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly...
Posted by Adult Services on July 12, 2021
Invincible Vol 1: Family Matters
Invincible follows teenage hero Mark Grayson as he develops his powers at the age of seventeen. Son of the Viltrumite (but human-passing) superhero Omni-man and unpowered human woman, Deborah, Mark...
A Century of Reading: The 1970s
From Disco to Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, the 1970s saw an explosion of musical creativity.
Posted by Alex C. on July 5, 2021
A Century of Reading: The 1960s
The 1960s are known as one of the most tumultuous decades in world history, which included Black American’s struggle for social justice and equal rights in the United States. Malcolm...
Posted by Adult Services on June 25, 2021
A Century of Reading: The 1950s
Experience the classic science fiction and notable films of the 1950s, all with your library card!
Posted by Adult Services on June 21, 2021
Juneteenth: A Collection of Films Available in Kanopy
Enjoy this selection of films made available by our partner, Kanopy, as we observe Juneteenth.
Posted by Alex C. on June 19, 2021
A Century of Reading: The 1940s
The defining event of the 1940s was, undoubtedly, World War II. These books offer insights into the lives, struggles, and triumphs of various people who lived through the war, both...
Posted by Adult Services on June 14, 2021
A Century of Reading: The 1930s
For the 1930s, we've highlighted a selection of titles to highlight the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution otherwise known as the repeal to Prohibition!
Posted by Adult Services on June 5, 2021
A Century of Reading: The 1920s
Enjoy this selection of titles to highlight the breadth of work produced in the Roaring Twenties!
Posted by Alex C. on June 1, 2021
Pride Month – 2021
For June, we celebrate Pride Month with a selection of books featuring LGBTQ characters and by LGBTQ authors.
Posted by Alex C. on June 1, 2021
One Cut of the Dead
The movie, One Cut of the Dead, is a Japanese Horror-Comedy zombie movie. Sort of. The promotional material suggests that it’s about the crew of a low budget zombie film...
Posted by Adult Services on May 25, 2021
Environment Justice: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of environmental justice, including access to a clean and healthy environment for all people, the disproportionate impact...
Posted by Alex C. on April 22, 2021
Celebrate Gardening Week: A Resource List for Adults
Gardening Your Front Yard: Projects and Ideas for Big & Small Spaces by Tara Nolan “Gardening Your Front Yard is an active, inspiring resource that shows you how to treat...
Posted by Adult Services on April 19, 2021
Asian and Pacific Islander Voices: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to spotlight #ownvoices stories by authors of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage, introduce readers to diverse writers and perspectives, and educate and encourage a dialogue...
Posted by Alex C. on April 2, 2021
Women’s History Month: A Reading List for Adults
In honor of Women's History Month, we've selected titles focusing on the lives of women and girls throughout the past and into the present day. We hope these selections serve...
Posted by Alex C. on March 8, 2021
Black History Month: A Reading List for Adults
Celebrate Black History Month with books by Black authors and writing focusing on Black characters, history, and culture. We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on...
Posted by Alex C. on February 8, 2021
The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel
Howard Reich, the son of two Holocaust survivors and a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, was assigned by the paper in 2012 to interview one of the world’s most well-known...
Posted by Adult Services on January 21, 2021
Human Rights: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on human rights, which are needs and freedoms considered essential to human flourishing, such as the right to education...
Posted by Alex C. on January 18, 2021
Disability & Neurodiversity: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate, entertain, amplify disabled voices, and encourage a dialogue on topics of disability and neurodiversity.
One Community, Many Voices: A Reading List for Adults
This list is a great way to start your Westmont Reads experience. WPL Librarians have selected titles for all ages by authors from a wide range of communities, backgrounds, experiences,...
Posted by Alex C. on December 13, 2020
cloudLibrary: Things To Do While Stuck at Home
Stuck at home and looking for something to do? Check out these resources, and many more, from CloudLibrary to get some ideas!
Posted by Adult Services on December 1, 2020
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds
Stephen Leeds is not insane. How do you know that? Well, he tells you that repeatedly. It’s his hallucinations that are crazy. Stephen Leeds is a genius, but his genius...
Posted by Adult Services on November 24, 2020
Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict
As a beautiful debutante in British society, 19 year old Clementine Hozier was reserved in the company of others. Often disliked due to the notoriety of her aristocratic parents, she...
Posted by Adult Services on November 17, 2020
Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
Killers of the Flower Moon is the tragic, and mostly untold, history of the killing of many Osage Indians in the early 20th century. During this time, the Osage were...
Posted by Adult Services on November 10, 2020
Native Nations: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate, celebrate, and encourage dialogue on the diverse nations, cultures, and experiences of Native peoples throughout North America. Celebrate Native American Heritage Month—and continue...
Posted by Alex C. on November 6, 2020
The Cuckoo’s Egg
The year is 1986 and Cliff Stoll’s grant money has just run out. One day he was an astronomer, working in the Keck Observatory of the Lawrence Berkeley Labs, the...
Posted by Adult Services on November 3, 2020
Voting and Elections: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of voting in the US, from ongoing fights for equal voting rights and fair elections to the...
Posted by Alex C. on November 2, 2020
The Last Flight by Julie Clark
If you had the chance to alter your future by switching identities with a total stranger – would you do it? Claire, married into a powerful political family, is desperate...
Posted by Adult Services on October 27, 2020
Mass Incarceration: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of incarceration and the impact of mass incarceration on individuals, families, and communities.
Posted by Alex C. on September 8, 2020
Ready or Not: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Uncertain and Rapidly Changing World
Published in 2020, but before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, this book is remarkably timely. Our world is truly unpredictable, and even the near future is uncertain. The author, a...
Posted by Adrian L. on August 13, 2020
Immigrant and Refugee Experiences: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate, and encourage a dialogue on topics of immigration and displacement, as well as spotlight immigrant and refugee experiences from a variety of places,...
Posted by Alex C. on August 10, 2020
Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery
Let me admit from the beginning that I am a dedicated and enthusiastic fan of Louise Penny, Three Pines, all its quirky residents and Armand Gamache. I have the people...
Own Voices: A Reading List for Adults
The #ownvoices hashtag was created by author Corinne Duyvis to spotlight books about characters with marginalized identities created by authors who share the same marginalized identity (or identities). The character and creator...
Posted by Alex C. on July 2, 2020
Still Life
During our library closure, I began to explore our digital offerings. One that was easy for me to navigate was Kanopy. So, I selected a film to watch on my...
Posted by Susan O. on June 18, 2020
Race, Racism, and Black Lives: A Fiction Reading List for Adults
Red at The Bone by Jacqueline Woodson An unexpected teenage pregnancy pulls together two families from different social classes, and exposes the private hopes, disappointments, and longings that can bind...
Posted by Book Rex on June 12, 2020
Race, Racism, and Black Lives: A Reading List for Adults
We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of racial justice, especially centering Black lives, voices, and communities.
The Girl from Widow Hills
Waking up – from the middle of a dream – you wonder, what just happened? Where am I? Are you in a dream state or sleepwalking? Your thoughts freeze you...
Posted by Adult Services on June 8, 2020
Resource Guide: Amelia Earhart
Enjoy some of these digital resources on Amelia Earhart to go along with our virtual portrayal by Leslie Goddard!
Posted by Adult Services on June 1, 2020
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
The Galvins were a family of 14, living in rural middle america after the end of World War II. They believed that a hard working Christian family that aspired to...
Arm of the Law
One day in a corrupt, backwater town on Mars, a large crate shows up at the local police station. Inside? An experimental police robot. Initially the cops there use the...
Posted by Adult Services on May 29, 2020
The Engineer’s Wife
The Engineer’s Wife is a historical fiction novel that opens up at the end of the Civil War. It follows the life of the suffragist, Emily Warren Roebling, and her...
Posted by Adult Services on May 14, 2020
Celebrating The Beatles
Our May 13th program of Beatlemania! had to be cancelled due to the library being closed. Please enjoy these Beatles resources available through our Digital Branch. How the Beatles Changed...
Posted by Alex C. on May 13, 2020
Resource Guide: Birdwatching
With our May 2nd program of Birdwatching cancelled, please enjoy these digital resources available with your library card! eBooks Hoopla Easy-to-Build Bird Feeders Easy-to-Build Birdhouses Easy-to-Build Birdbathes The Field Guide...
Roadside Picnic
There was an extraterrestrial event known as the Visitation. In it’s aftermath, six “zones” have come into being on Earth – dangerous areas where unexplained phenomena occur and there are...
Posted by Adult Services on April 30, 2020
The Devotion of Suspect X
Even though the answer to “whodunit” comes in the first 20 pages of The Devotion of Suspect X, what keeps you reading is what happens next. When an argument with...
Kiln People
Imagine if you could make temporary copies of yourself. These copies could then be assigned to run errands or do research or just have novel experiences. And at the end...
Posted by Adult Services on April 9, 2020
Sheila’s Picks for OverDrive
eBooks Sweet Spot: An Ice Cream Binge Across America by Amy Ettinger For Amy Ettinger, ice cream is not just a delicious snack but a circumstance and a time of...
Posted by Adult Services on April 7, 2020
Hoopla Picks by LaRaie
Hello beloved library patrons! We have missed you while we are all hunkered down inside. Here are some Hoopla titles to help fill the void of not being able to...
The Call of the Wild + Free
Part memoir and part handbook, The Call of the Wild + Free focuses on inspiring and encouraging families to keep a sense of wonder and curiosity alive in their children....
Posted by Adrian L. on March 31, 2020
A Well-Behaved Woman : a Novel of the Vanderbilts
This is a story of one woman’s struggle to overcome infidelity, chauvinism, and crippling loss in the midst of New York’s Gilded Age. It is a story of fortune lost...
Posted by Adult Services on March 24, 2020
Loyal: 38 Inspiring Tales by Rebecca Ascher-Walsh
Trustworthy. Compassionate. Brave. Unrelenting. These are the words which describe the four-footed helpers in the book Loyal: 38 Inspiring Tales of Bravery, Heroism, and the Devotion of Dogs by Rebecca...
Posted by Adult Services on March 22, 2020
Adult Services: Best of 2019
Enjoy Westmont Public Library’s Adult Services Librarians favorite books we read in 2019! Full Throttle by Joe Hill My favorite story out of the anthology was “Late Returns”. In it,...
Diary of a Murderer
South Korean author Young-ha Kim makes you feel like you’re walking on eggshells through his stories that seer with uncertainty, delirium, humor and the mundane. Of the four stories that...
Posted by Book Rex on February 25, 2020
Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You
A completely unknown band releases a track on Bandcamp. Our hipster music blogger narrator hears it and is compelled to listen again and again, stopping only to finally take a...
Posted by Adult Services on February 18, 2020
Everything is Figureoutable
Marie Forleo, an award-winning TV and podcast host, wrote this no-nonsense guide to getting motivated into creating the life you’ve always hoped for. Marie learned this saying, “everything is figureoutable”...
Posted by Adult Services on February 11, 2020
The Witcher Omnibus
The various artists involved pencil and ink a dangerous world, but include colors and strokes which concurrently imbue a fairy tale aesthetic.
The Glass Key
Dashiell Hammett is the godfather of hard-boiled detective fiction. A former real-life Pinkerton detective, he wrote Red Harvest, The Maltese Falcon, and The Thin Man over a span of 5...
Posted by Adult Services on January 30, 2020
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead
Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is an odd book. On the one hand, it’s grounded in a grimy, desperate post-Katrina New Orleans. Almost every character in the...
Posted by Adult Services on January 28, 2020
Bats: an illustrated guide to all species
Do bats drink blood? How do they communicate? Do bats hibernate? A beautiful, highly readable non-fiction book with exquisitely detailed photographs of all species of bats. This book has everything...
Posted by Book Rex on January 22, 2020
Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
Vivian Forest, a single mother with a busy career in social work, has the chance of a lifetime – a trip overseas to the Sandringham Estate in England with her...
Posted by Adult Services on January 21, 2020
The Shape of Night
Ava Collete is a food writer from Boston, looking to get away for the summer to finish her new book of historical New England recipes. It might be more fitting...
Snapshot
In the near future, the police of New Clipperton have new tool for fighting crime: they can recreate a facsimile of the entire city for a given 24 hour block...
Posted by Adult Services on January 7, 2020
Where To Go When: Unforgettable Trips for Every Month
We all have our dream destinations to visit on our bucket lists. But a good question most people ask is “when is the best time to go?” Part of the...
Posted by Adult Services on December 31, 2019
Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen
Yasmin Khan, a human rights campaigner who likes to immerse herself in different world cuisines, has recently introduced her cookbook “Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen.” Her visit to Israel...
Posted by Adult Services on December 24, 2019
Educated: A Memoir
“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where the madness lies?” Tara Westover grew up the youngest of a devout Mormon family, home bound in the rural mountains of Idaho....
Posted by Book Rex on December 17, 2019
The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories
A woman takes up bodybuilding on a whim, starts getting huge but her husband doesn’t notice. A sales clerk at a clothing store waits on someone who cannot find anything...
Posted by Adult Services on December 10, 2019
The Castle on Sunset : Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont
The Sunset Strip is famous in Los Angeles, but how much do we really know about one of its most iconic and storied buildings? From Jean Harlow’s taking of lovers,...
Posted by Adult Services on December 3, 2019
Titans: The Complete First Season
The first season of Titans is a superhero story is the spiritual successor to that violent, gritty blend of comic book film-making which began with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight...
Out of the Silence: After the Crash by Eduardo Strauch
It was the stillness of the mountain that invaded Eduardo Strauch’s mind, body and soul, making him unable to talk about his survival of the 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air...
Posted by Adult Services on November 19, 2019
Such a Fun Age
Alix Chamberlain is a white, successful Manhattan mom with two kids, a loving husband, and an amazing babysitter her daughter adores. She started as a blogger and has built her...
Posted by Book Rex on November 19, 2019
A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder
After a year spent “mourning” the sudden death of her philandering husband (who died in bed with his mistress no less) American born countess Francis Wynn is ready to move...
Posted by Adult Services on November 12, 2019
The World That We Knew
This novel begins in Berlin in 1941 and follows the life of a young Jewish girl, Lea, whose mother, Hanni, will do anything to keep her safe. She consults a...
Posted by Adult Services on November 5, 2019
How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals
Imagine crouching before a creature’s silk-lined burrow where a furry Tarantula (nicknamed Claribel) will emerge, to catch a glimpse of its pink tipped feet – this just part of the...
Posted by Adult Services on October 28, 2019
The Institute
Readers familiar with Stephen King’s work will not be disappointed by the delightfully plodding, character driven narrative given to us in his newest book.
Posted by Book Rex on October 22, 2019
A Beginner’s Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations
A Beginner’s Guide to Japan is not really a travel book. Since the author, Pico Iyer, is a renowned travel writer, you could be forgiven for thinking it would be....
Posted by Adult Services on October 18, 2019
Opioid, Indiana
This is an insightful, gritty, tender story of an orphaned teen, living in rural Indiana with his meth-addicted uncle when his uncle goes missing. Riggle gets suspended from high school,...
Posted by Book Rex on October 17, 2019
D.O.A.
After a night on the town in San Francisco, account Frank Bigelow wakes up to discover he’s been poisoned. There’s no cure, he has no idea who did it, and...
Posted by Adult Services on September 9, 2019
How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills
Written in a serious but over-the-top tone, readers will visit classic horror film tropes and get more than a few laughs along the way.
Posted by Book Rex on September 9, 2019
Where Reasons End
“One can and must live with loss and grief and sorrow and bereavement. Together they frame this life, as solid as the ceiling and the floor and the walls and...
Posted by Adult Services on August 30, 2019
The Devil’s Equinox
Austin is relatable and his initial relationship with Regina seems genuine and warm. That fuzzy feeling will not last long, though, as Everson draws the unsuspecting reader in and turns...
Posted by Book Rex on August 25, 2019
The Lady From the Black Lagoon
In her debut written work, film producer Mallory O’Meara dives into the lost legend of the woman behind the infamous Creature From the Black Lagoon: Millicent Patrick. The biography begins...
Posted by Book Rex on August 20, 2019
Middle-Earth: Journeys in Myth and Legend
Any fan of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, or art in general should flip through this book. The substantial size of the novel allows the reader...
Posted by Book Rex on July 2, 2019
Johnny Mnemonic
Johnny Mnemonic is a camp masterpiece, though it’s somewhat unclear if the makers were in on the joke. The year is 2021 and things are bad. The opening text crawl...
Posted by Adult Services on June 22, 2019
They Shall Not Grow Old
The viewer watches as the British army march through the muck and stare at the camera as if it were some alien object, the likes of which they truly had...
Posted by Book Rex on June 18, 2019
Kings of the Wyld
Anyone who picks up this book, however, will find a tale full of heart, laughter, bloodsoaked mayhem, and music references sprinkled throughout...Kings of the Wyld is a white-knuckled ride. Each...
I’ve Been Thinking . . .: Reflections, Prayers, and Meditations for a Meaningful Life
Maria Shriver, journalist, NBC anchorwoman, and author of several books, has shared her most private, in depth thoughts in her recent book I‘ve Been Thinking . . .: Reflections, Prayers,...
Posted by Adult Services on April 2, 2019
Into the Drowning Deep
Seven years ago the Atargatis was lost at sea with all hands. Their original mission was to film a mockumentary on mermaids for Imagine Entertainment. The shaky footage that was...
Posted by Alex C. on March 27, 2019
The Big Sick
Kumail uses humor constantly to confront uncomfortable or difficult situations, including his girlfriend's mysterious illness and his family's expectations for him.
Kill the Farm Boy
The story opens on a boy named Worstley mucking out the stalls on his family’s farm. He laments about the drudgery of his daily life until a pixie shows up...
Ancillary Justice
Breq is the only surviving part of Justice of Toren, the sentient AI within a ship of the Radchaai empire. As an ancillary—a human body remodeled, reprogrammed, and then connected...
Posted by Kerry B. on March 14, 2019
The Pisces
The love story of Lucy and Theo is unconventional, to say the least, and full of highly-detailed intimacy, but feels oddly refreshing, if not dark.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway
Hal is a young woman hard on her luck. The debt collectors come knocking with threats of violence if she doesn’t pay off her mounting loan and she surely isn’t...
Loose Parts 2 : Inspiring Play with Infants and Toddlers
Loose Parts 2 offers numerous ideas for ways caregivers of infants and toddlers can support their child's development using materials that are readily available and often free or inexpensive. The...
Posted by Adrian L. on February 19, 2019
WPL Adult Services – Best of 2018
Enjoy some of our favorite items that released in 2018! Florida by Lauren Groff Florida’s dense landscapes, damp climate, energy and its history come together to form a stunning collection...
A Man Called Ove
At first glance, a man called Ove is a grouchy, mean-spirited, private person. He completes his daily morning inspection of the neighborhood, alerts the proper authorities when the 24 hour...
Posted by Book Rex on December 6, 2018
The Lido
Kate Matthews, a shy, pretty young woman, is making her start as a reporter for a newspaper in Brixton, a small neighborhood in London. Tasked with interviewing the locals about...
Posted by Adult Services on December 4, 2018
Yes Please
In this autobiographical audiobook, Amy Poehler talks directly to you, the listener. She speaks honestly and openly of her life, time travels us back to her youth, discusses how she...
Posted by Book Rex on December 4, 2018
God of War (PS4)
The story...will keep even the most distracted players focused more often-than-not as Kratos and Atreus journey to distant mountains and learn how important the bond between father and son can...
The Sea Queen
Fans of A Song of Ice and Fire and those interested in Norse history and culture will all find this historical fiction highly enjoyable, though liberal in its characterizations of...
Posted by Book Rex on November 13, 2018
Dreamer’s Pool
Blackthorn is the epitome of a strong, independent woman. Unfortunately, she is being unduly imprisoned under the ruler Mathuin of Laios for a crime she did not commit. After a...
The Woman Left Behind
It was sheer madness for Jina Modell, who shouldered her pack and used her compass to “find” her team leader Levi in the wilderness. She kept telling herself that the...
Posted by Adult Services on November 10, 2018
Wake of Vultures
Nettie Lonesome has had a hard childhood. She was found abandoned in the desert by Mam and Pap, the two residents of Gloomy Bluebird that took her in. She is...
Season of Storms
Though worth reading, A Season of Storms would have benefited by being made a short story collection, rather than a standalone novel. That said, this book is an excellent jumping...
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Dr. James Shepard had an unusual day. It began with the suicide of Mrs. Farrows, a patient of his whom he suspects murdered her husband a year prior, and ended with...
Posted by Adult Services on October 29, 2018
NPCs by Drew Hayes
While playing video games or role playing games, how much thought have you put toward the NPCs, non-player characters? Drew Hayes addresses this group of individuals in this series called...
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Told in bits and pieces of flashbacks and the present, We Need to Talk About Kevin is a moody, creepy film about tragedy and its aftermath.
Posted by Book Rex on October 20, 2018
The Woman in Cabin 10
Travel journalist Lo Blacklock leaves for the assignment of a lifetime: a one week luxury cruise with only ten cabins. What she hoped would be a week of relaxation, turns...
Posted by Adult Services on October 15, 2018
Jughead: The Hunger, Vol. 1
What should truly be celebrated here are the blood soaked, gore spattered pages of what have always been slice of apple pie, Americana comic books about teenagers and their problems....
Posted by Book Rex on October 15, 2018
Dare to Be Wild
While Mary Reynolds admits that filmmakers took artistic liberties with her story, she feels that the movie gets all the important parts right and is very happy with the result.
Posted by Book Rex on September 26, 2018
Black Hammer Vol. 2: The Event
Marooned in a small country farm town, Abraham Slam and his family of strange heroes cannot leave. Their adventures in Spiral City woking as unlikely heroes seem like another life...
Lincoln in the Bardo
Amidst the rising tensions of the Civil War, President Lincoln is dealing with more than the state of the country; his son Willie caught something akin to typhoid fever and...
Posted by Book Rex on August 25, 2018
Neuromancer
Neuromancer is the cyberpunk novel. Published in 1984, it both popularized the genre and is the genre’s most essential work. It tells the story of a cyberspace cowboy named Case,...
Posted by Adult Services on August 21, 2018
Giada’s Italy: My Recipes for La Dolce Vita
Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis is familiar to many from her appearances on The Today Show and Food Network’s Giada at Home. Her new cookbook, Giada’s Italy: My Recipes for...
Posted by Adult Services on August 18, 2018
Learning to Drive
Learning to Drive is a leisurely, character-driven movie billed as a "comedy drama" but its overall tone is more hopeful and reflective than hilarious.
Posted by Book Rex on August 18, 2018
Listful Thinking
When reviewing a book about lists, one is compelled to write a list or two....
Posted by Book Rex on July 31, 2018
Going Rogue
Going Rogue is the third book in Drew Hayes’s series “Spells, Swords, and Stealth.” Our story continues to follow the two groups from “Split the Party.” Thistle, Grumph, Gabrielle, Eric,...
The Boiling River
While the author touches on the science, this is not the book's main focus. Instead, he examines how many different groups influence and are influenced by the boiling river.
Posted by Book Rex on July 26, 2018
The Big Book of 30-Day Challenges
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to improve your life across a spectrum of personal levels in just one month – where you can prioritize the changes to fit your schedule? Rosanna...
Posted by Adult Services on July 24, 2018
The Postmortal
The Postmortal is set in an America not too far in the future,where a man has discovered the cure for aging. While at first this is outlawed, and is only...
Posted by Book Rex on July 21, 2018
The Demolished Man
The year is 2301. Telepaths are common, including within the police department. Consequently, there hasn’t been a murder perpetrated in over 70 years. Ben Reich aims to change that fact....
Posted by Adult Services on July 13, 2018
The Butterfly Garden
Everyone has a fascination with something, be it mechanisms, cars, animals, food; the Butterfly Garden is the story about a man’s fascination with butterflies. As normal of a concept as...
A Quiet Place
The concept of an angry invading alien force has always been a terrifying concept, I mean hello, War of the Worlds? But an angry invading alien force that kills everything...
The Great Wall
Viewers who want period accuracy and believable tales can skip this one. For the rest, the story is entertaining, but not particularly surprising.
Posted by Book Rex on July 11, 2018
Split the Party
In this sequel to “NPCs” by Drew Hayes, the story continues for our characters, both in the Spells, Swords, and Stealth world and out. Thistle, Grumph, Gabrielle, and Eric have...
Herding Cats: A Sarah’s Scribbles Collection
This book is a collection of comics by the artist Sarah Andersen (better known as Sarah’s Scribbles to her online followers.) The book can really be split into two sections:...
The Perfect Roommate
Welcome to the world of Meadow Rain Cupples, a young college girl who’s life is utterly garbage. Kicked out of her apartment for needing to fix her vehicle, so she...
Bossypants
Tina Fey is a powerhouse of the writer/actor/comedian/producer variety, and now her deadpan snark finds itself on the page in her memoir, Bossypants.
Posted by Book Rex on June 30, 2018
Smooth-Talking Cowboy
Olivia wants her ex back; Luke wants to buy land from Olivia’s father. So they make a deal: Luke will play Olivia’s new flame to make her ex jealous, if...
Shadow Woman
Readers should be prepared to suspend their disbelief as Lizette deals with the ramifications of some shady science, which is no longer performing as planned.
Jessica Jones Season 1
Jessica Jones sometimes recalls the gritty glamour of film noir from the ‘40s and ‘50s, but with less glamour and more grit. Lots more grit.
Fight and Flight
After the near-death experience the wizards experienced in the third book of Scott Meyer’s Magic 2.o series, Jeff has decided they all need to start practicing their combat abilities. The...
An Unwelcome Quest
In this third installment of Scott Meyer’s Magic 2.o series the infamous Todd Douglas has come to get his revenge on the wizards for exiling him. Todd was the first...
Spell or High Water
In this second book of Scott Meyer’s Magic 2.0 series: Martin passed his trials, the wizards have exiled Jimmy, and Phillip has been named the new chairman of the wizards....
Off to be the Wizard
There are lots of beliefs and ideas about how the world came into being, whether or not there is some higher power that controls the universe and everything that happens...
The Right Side
Army Sergeant LeAnne Hogan knows that there is something important that she must remember about her last mission in Afghanistan, called “Operation Midnight Special” but finds past events too elusive...
Posted by Adult Services on June 12, 2018
How to Change Your Mind
How to Change Your Mind is a methodical, straight-laced dive into psychedelic research without the “counterculture baggage”. In his newest book, Michael Pollan takes a historical and experiential approach to...
Posted by Book Rex on June 12, 2018
Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness
Journalist Rachel Kelly, formerly of The Times (UK), has made significant strides to overcome her debilitating depression that was chronicled in her first book “Black Rainbows.” Through her journey to...
Posted by Adult Services on May 23, 2018
Here and Gone
Audra Kinney is trying to escape her abusive husband. While driving through Arizona, an unsettling small town sheriff pulls her over. Audra thinks things cannot get any worse when she...
Posted by Adult Services on May 7, 2018
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is a sweeping, carefully plotted novel of politics and trade in Japan when the island nation closed its borders to all others. There...
Posted by Book Rex on May 1, 2018
Lonely Planet Iceland (10th Edition)
According to the author...one popular cafe offers a good assortment of baked goods as well as the occasional “viking hipster” drinking a hot cup of coffee.
Posted by Book Rex on April 28, 2018
Echo (Vol. 1): Moon Lake
An explosion over Moon Lake catches photographer Julie Martin by surprise. Liquid metal rains from the sky, sticking to her skin and her truck. The metal seems… alive. The pellets...
Posted by Book Rex on April 13, 2018
The Rooster Bar
Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school for the same reasons as many people. The work will be hard and the hours long but when you’re through you’ll be...
Posted by Alex C. on April 3, 2018
Natural Disasters: I Cover Them. I Am One.
The weather around us can cause horrific disasters – tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, and so much more. For television meteorologists like Ginger Zee, all these situations are a challenge: to present...
Posted by Adult Services on March 23, 2018
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women pictures the life of William Marston, psychologist and creator of the Wonder Woman superhero comic books. In 1928, Professor Marston taught Psychology at Radcliffe...
Posted by Book Rex on March 23, 2018
The Apparitionists
Peter Manseau weaves an expert tale about the original spirit photographer William Mumler and his exploits in mid-19th century New York and Boston. The reader follows Mumler from his early...
Posted by Book Rex on February 28, 2018
Ugly Girls
Baby Girl and Perry are passing their time cutting class, shoplifting, stealing cars, etc., when both are simultaneously contacted by an alleged high school student from a neighboring town, Jamey....
Posted by Book Rex on February 21, 2018
Real Artists Have Day Jobs (And Other Awesome Things They Didn’t Teach You in School)
A collection of 52 essays from comedian Sara Benincasa about some lessons she’s learned the hard way. Some of the essays she writes are things we know about already: life...
Posted by Book Rex on February 21, 2018
Wonder Woman (Rebirth, Vol. 2): Year One
After returning Steve Trevor to Man’s World, Diana finds herself detained in a military base. She’s alone, scared, and she can’t make anyone understand her. But then, she’s visited by...
The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook
If you are a fan of PBS and have been able to view even one episode of America’s Test Kitchen, you probably realize how seriously the chefs and staff take...
Posted by Adult Services on February 21, 2018
Obama: An Intimate Portrait
As Chief Official White House photographer, Pete Souza accompanied President Obama every step of the way from inauguration day until the final moments when the president left the Oval Office...
Sleeping Beauties
As women everywhere are falling asleep and growing a cocoon-like gauze over their bodies, Eve Black emerges in Dooling, a small Appalachian town. In another Dooling, the women awake and...
Posted by Adult Services on January 15, 2018
Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ’70s and ’80s Horror Fiction
Horror in print has been plagued with the obscene for decades. From Satanic cults to Nazi leprechauns to a killer Santa Claus, no other genre has seen such fun filth...
Make Your Bed
Will making your bed every morning help you change the world? Perhaps not, but it does have the potential to improve your life. In this little book, Retired Admiral William...
Posted by on December 19, 2017
Hot Books December 2017!
Fiction Year One by Nora Roberts A mysterious ailment has decimated the globe. Half of the world’s population, gone in a matter of weeks. Government, law, order, all gone as...
Posted by Alex C. on December 13, 2017
Assassin’s Creed: Origins (PS4 and Xbox One)
Longtime-fans and those new to the series are once again dazzled by the new Assassin’s Creed:Origins. Blending historical fiction with a sci-fi twist in the present time, players travel back...
Posted by Book Rex on December 13, 2017
Batman/The Flash: The Button Deluxe Edition
The story begins with Batman finding a bloodstained smiley-face button in the Bat Cave. What does it mean and where did it come from? The Dark Knight can’t even begin...
Mother Panic, Vol. 1: A Work in Progress
Batman isn’t the only hero in Gotham, anymore. Violet Page is on the scene now and she’s not happy. A celebrity of every gossip magazine in Gotham, there’s something boiling...
Posted by Book Rex on November 9, 2017
The Hopefuls
Beth finds herself hating Washington, D.C. after she moves there for her husband Matt's career. In the middle of figuring things out, Matt and Beth become best friends with Matt's...
Posted by Adult Services on November 9, 2017
Batgirl and The Birds of Prey (Rebirth, Vol. 1): Who is Oracle?
The name “Oracle” has been haunting Babs – no, literally. The criminals she takes down seem to be getting their information from Oracle, and what’s worse, it looks like they’re...
Are You Being Served? A BBC Comedy Series
Brace yourself for a hilarious mix of characters in the BBC classic comedy series “Are You Being Served?” Set in London from 1972-1985, the comedy’s premiere episode was at first...
Posted by Adult Services on November 9, 2017
In Want of a Wife
Goodman hits upon many of the genre’s clichés, including the spunky female, brooding male, dangerous past, and romantic impediment(s), but executes them well enough that readers will find it difficult...
Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale
The author of this book, Belle Yang, writes the story of her father’s family here. She returned home after college, and again after spending three years in China, her ancestral...
Posted by Book Rex on October 14, 2017
Lion
From the first scenes, Lion draws you in with its gorgeous cinematography and musical score. The story is captivating and unique, starting out in India and then moving to Australia...
Posted by on October 14, 2017
The Lost Boys Vol. 1
The Lost Boys Vol. 1 is a true sequel to the 1987 cult classic horror-comedy by the same name. Just weeks after Sam, Mike and the Frog brothers defeat Max...
Posted by Book Rex on October 14, 2017
The Switch
The security line was in a tangle at the Los Angeles airport, so Michael Tanner was relieved when a TSA agent handed him his MacBook Air – or what he...
Posted by Adult Services on October 14, 2017
Hot Books for October 2017!
Fiction Origin by Dan Brown Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology and frequent saver of the world, arrives at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to hear a major...
Posted by Alex C. on October 10, 2017
Hot Books for September 2017!
Haunted by James Patterson & James O. Born Michael Bennett is ready for a break. A New York City detective by trade, he and his family escape to an idyllic...
Posted by Alex C. on September 25, 2017
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams is a compilation of 20 short stories by Stephen King. While many of these stories have been previously published, he adds never before seen, unpublished...
Posted by Adult Services on September 9, 2017
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
A body is discovered in the garden at the Buckshaw estate by the very grown-up, eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, and she is not the least bit horrified. She’s actually quite...
Wired
Beautiful Allison Trent loves searching for the puzzles in her computer hacking. It’s all for the good, she rationalizes, as she finds the money trail of missing funds at a...
Posted by Adult Services on September 7, 2017
Dark Matter
Jason is a college physics professor with a wife, and a 15 year old son. "Are you happy with your life" are the last words he hears before he wakes up...
Posted by Adult Services on August 23, 2017
My Best Friend’s Exorcism
Abby and Gretchen are typical 80’s high school girls preoccupied with boys, parties, make-up and rock music. Wanting to be the first “normal” people in their school to trip, they decide...
Posted by Book Rex on August 23, 2017
Supergirl (Rebirth, Vol. 1): Reign of the Cyborg Supermen
Supergirl’s certainly got her work cut out for her. She needs to get Cameron Chase, the formidable director of the D.E.O., to trust her, her foster parents to hone their...
La-La Land
Stone and Gosling give excellent performances of characters torn between doing what they want and what logic tells them they should do. Mia and Seb come across as sympathetic people...
Posted by Book Rex on August 23, 2017
Gyo: Complete Deluxe Edition
The horror of this seinen manga begins when Tadashi, a young Japanese man, and Kaori, his girlfriend with an ultra-sensitive nose, begin to smell the creeping stench of death as...
Posted by Book Rex on August 9, 2017
Hot Books for August 2017!
Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton Sue Grafton’s 25th book in the long-running Kinsey Millhone series is one of Grafton’s darkest and most sinister novels to date. This penultimate novel...
The Brides of Rollrock Island
Misskaella gets her revenge for years of rejection by giving the men what they ask her for, sea-wives so beautiful that none wants a land-wife. The results transform Rollrock Island...
Four Nights With the Duke
Four Nights With the Duke is a Regency-era romance that tries for sensuous, but doesn’t quite make it. Mia and Evander spend so much of the book fighting their physical...
The Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus illuminates Florentine history through the eyes of a precocious young woman who, more than anything, wishes to decide her own fate.
Posted by Book Rex on July 31, 2017
The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband
The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband is a mildly sensuous romance with a plot made almost as clunky as its title by Cecilia’s deceptions, but which is entertaining enough to...
The Women’s Health Big Book of Smoothies & Soups
This colorful 100+ recipe cookbook edited by Women’s Health is well laid out with plentiful images of appetizingly arranged recipes in front of fun and trendy backdrops. There is a...
Posted by Book Rex on July 29, 2017
The Last Mortal Bond
This is the third and final book in Brian Staveley’s series “The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne.” The threat of war from the nomadic Urghul people draws closer to the...
The Providence of Fire
Brothers Valyn and Kaden have been reunited and have now gone again in their separate ways. Kaden has gone with Triste and his teacher from the monastery Rampuri Tan through...
The Emperor’s Blades
The Emperor of the Annurian Empire has been killed, leaving the empire in turmoil and his three children separated in different sections of Annur, fighting to stay alive and save...
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
Roland Deschain, better known as the Gunslinger, became that legend at the age of fourteen. He defeated his teacher and earned his guns, two years younger than his own father...
Ready Player One
Wade Watts lives in “the stacks”, a trailer park where homes are stacked one atop another in high-rise slums. Set in the near-future where an energy crisis has rendered the...
Posted by Book Rex on July 19, 2017
The Brain Defense
The PET scan shows a dramatic, black void eclipsing the left side of Herbert Weinstein’s frontal lobe. Weinstein’s lawyer argues that the void, representing a large cyst on his client’s...
Posted by Kerry B. on July 19, 2017
Gizelle’s Bucket List: My Life with a Very Large Dog
Trying to find an affordable apartment in Manhattan can be a challenge, even for a resident New Yorker. For 25 year old Lauren Watt, relocating from Nashville to the Big...
Posted by Adult Services on July 19, 2017
The Unbelievable Gwenpool Volume 1: Believe It
What if you suddenly found yourself in the Marvel Comic Universe? Gwen Poole, a normal, comic-book-loving girl from our universe found herself in just such a predicament. So what’s a...
Posted by Book Rex on July 18, 2017
Gwendy’s Button Box
Gwendy knows not to talk to strangers, but something draws her to the mysterious man in black jeans, a black coat, and a black hat. Mr. Farris gives Gwendy a...
Posted by Adult Services on July 18, 2017
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 1)
Wilhelmina Murray has been tasked with an intriguing adventure. She is to find and recruit gentlemen of certain talents for espionage work for the British Empire, as per her superior,...
A Conjuring of Light
When Osaron, a magical being crosses over from White London to Red London, he must be stopped before he can destroy everything in his tracks. It is up to Prince...
Posted by Adult Services on July 3, 2017
Red Sister (First Book of the Ancestor)
The world Nona Grey lives in is a brutal one. The dying sun has left the whole of the world in ice, save for the Corridor: the mere miles-wide span...
I Let You Go
As the story progresses and the characters take shape the reader begins to question their earlier assumptions. The true magnitude of Jenna's trauma emerges, and we are joined by the...
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Falling prey once again to the DC comics bug after seeing Wonder Woman, I picked up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Opening with a Bruce Wayne seemingly at the end...
Posted by Book Rex on June 26, 2017
The Art of Tinkering
The Art of Tinkering is a comprehensive introduction to the practice and philosophy of making: create rather than consume, experiment fearlessly, and play with whatever you have on hand. It’s...
Posted by Kerry B. on June 23, 2017
Death on Nantucket
With summer not far away, it’s nice to think about selecting a few good books for your “to-read pile” that you can take the time to enjoy, especially if it...
Posted by Adult Services on June 12, 2017
Batwoman: Elegy
Thirteen covens that Gotham thought were sleeping have woken, their criminal activity spiking. They’re after Batwoman, but no one, Kate least of all, knows why. She infiltrates one to meet...
Black Canary (New 52; Vol. 2): New Killer Star
Dinah’s left Black Canary in the hands of Bo Maeve, their new lead singer, and gone to find out the truth about her mother. She falls in with a ninja...
Spirited Away
Little Chihiro is moving to a new city with her parents. On the way the family takes a detour, and happens upon what appears to be a run-down, out-of-business amusement...
Posted by on May 29, 2017
Norse Mythology
Come along on a journey to distant lands. From Jotunheim, the realm of the Giants, to Midgard, the realm of Man, to Asgard, the realm of the Gods of the...
Posted by Alex C. on May 22, 2017
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Dystopias and grimdark grittiness got you down? The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is the cozy-yet-farflung, hopeful antidote to gloomy (science) fiction. Rosemary Harper is the latest addition...
Posted by Kerry B. on May 15, 2017
The Iron Ship
The Kressind siblings are quite the bunch. Engineer Trassan is building the world’s first iron ship, powered by both magic and technology, in order to reach the southern icelands, excavate an...
A New Way To Bake
With all the wonderful colors of spring outside that delight the senses, it can make us think of new things—perhaps trying a new recipe! Martha Stewart, known for her expertise...
Posted by Adult Services on April 25, 2017
Universal Harvester
Jeremy’s job at the Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa just got a whole lot more interesting. One of the regular customers has returned complaining of weird footage in the...
Posted by Alex C. on April 17, 2017
The Bear and the Nightingale
Medieval Russia is a place where forest spirits still roam, water spirits lurk in rivers waiting for their next victims, and benevolent house spirits crouch in fireplaces. A girl named...
Arthur & George
“Who do you think you are, Sherlock Holmes?” As Arthur and his loyal assistant Woodie investigate the sinister case of animal “rippings” that sent an innocent man to prison, people...
The Passenger
When I found my husband at the bottom of the stairs, I tried to resuscitate him before I ever considered disposing of the body…I pretended to be weighing my options....
Posted by Adult Services on March 22, 2017
Dark Matter
Dark matter is a fast-paced scifi thriller that riffs on the idea of multiple universes, exploring the unknown territory of choices not made and roads not taken. In this world,...
Posted by Kerry B. on March 20, 2017
Dishonored 2
In the first Dishonored the queen is assassinated and her heir princess Emily is kidnapped. It is up to her right hand man Corvo a cunning and stealthy fighter to rescue...
Shadowed Souls
The world is not black and white, rather it is a multitude of shades of gray. Heroes can often be found in surprising places, defying our expectations of what is...
Posted by Alex C. on March 11, 2017
A Promise of Fire
“Cats don’t cry,” Cat tells herself constantly. The oracle is done with crying. She’s escaped a terrible life and has started a new one in the circus. War is brewing, territories...
The 24-Hour Wine Expert
From the title, it seems hard to believe that this slim volume can impart enough wine sense to place you as a “wine expert” in such a short time frame!...
Posted by Adult Services on February 14, 2017
The Arrival of Missives
Wedding science fiction with literary fiction in a post-WWI setting, The Arrival of Missives is a unique and enjoyable coming of age story. Shirley Fearn is seventeen and has it...
Posted by Kerry B. on January 25, 2017
The Flash: Season 2
***There are spoilers for the end of Flash Season 1 ahead*** The singularity that opened when Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, was defeated, has been closed. It came at a...
A Man Called Ove
Ove doesn’t think he is ill-tempered, grumpy, or terse when conversing with other people, or dealing with a stray cat that thinks it should belong to him. However, when significant...
Posted by Adult Services on January 3, 2017
Company Town
New Arcadia is a city in transition. Perched atop a ruined oil rig in the Atlantic, the city has just been acquired by the wealthy industrialist Zacharias Lynch, who plans...
Posted by Kerry B. on December 20, 2016
The Aeronaut’s Windlass
Captain Francis Grimm, commander of the merchant ship Predator, is running out of options. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, one of the large, floating sanctuaries of humanity, he has taken...
Table Manners: How To Behave In The Modern World And Why Bother
Have you caught yourself texting or posting a photo while attending a dinner party when the meal is underway? Or informing your host (or hostess) of meal restrictions or allergies...
Posted by Adult Services on December 7, 2016
My Man Godfrey
I remember the night I first watched this movie years ago. I had come home and turned on the television, and My Man Godfrey was on a public station. I...
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusader
Do you miss a Batman that had a sense of humor, a Batman who does not growl when he talks, or a Batman who knew how to obey traffic laws?...
Cross Kill
Gary Soneji is dead. Or, at least, that’s what everyone thought. Alex Cross would know best, he was there when Soneji died. So when Soneji appears and shoots both Cross...
Posted by Alex C. on November 14, 2016
Behind Closed Doors
I often like to try new authors to see how their stories come to life from the brief summary given in a book release or promotion. When I read Behind Closed...
Posted by Adult Services on November 1, 2016
Slade House
Not everything—or everyone—is what it seems in this trippy treat of a horror novel by David Mitchell, also known for Cloud Atlas and The Bone Clocks. True to form, Mitchell...
Posted by Kerry B. on October 25, 2016
The Wolf Among Us
Once upon a time, in a land called New York City, there was a secret community in the village of Brooklyn. This community was called Fabletown, and it was populated...
The Buried Giant
I think The Buried Giant can be described as a novel-length fairy tale, or maybe a better way to describe it is a novel featuring fairy tale elements? I’ll let...
Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner
Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? is a fervent, feminist critique of Western economic thinking. Marçal argues that the ideas which animate popular understanding about the economy—the primacy of competition rather...
Posted by Kerry B. on October 11, 2016
The Autumnlands (Vol. 1): Tooth and Claw
The magic is disappearing from a world which cities float in the sky, populated by anthropomorphic animals. In the city of Keneil, a conclave of wizards gather in a last-ditch...
Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition
Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Do you miss the idea of make believe and pretend, do you need something like a video game but something that has a larger sandbox...
Posted by Book Rex on September 27, 2016
Black Canary Vol. 1: Kicking and Screaming
Dinah is the new lead singer of a rock band called Black Canary – and, by the way, she goes by D.D. now. Trouble follows Black Canary everywhere they go...
The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living
Famed pastry chef Olivia Rawlings seems to have it all— until she accidentally sets a Manhattan restaurant on fire with her flaming dessert! Asked “to take a break” from work,...
Posted by Adult Services on September 22, 2016
DC Bombshells Vol. 1: Enlisted
DC Bombshells started off as a figurine line, but grew so popular it’s now a comic! Set in an alternate universe World War II, this comic centers on DC’s superheroines...
Aquaman: The Trench
Something stirs in the Mariana Trench. Something old, mysterious, and… hungry. Aquaman will face a menacing new threat, the carnivorous race known as The Trench. Aquaman has retreated from Atlantean...
Posted by Alex C. on September 16, 2016
Ordinarily Well
Are antidepressants important, lifesaving drugs or nothing more than puffed up placebos? If you're curious to dig into the science behind this question, Ordinarily Well provides a methodical, accessible defense...
Posted by Kerry B. on September 8, 2016
Southern Cross
An enjoyable and evocative sci-fi comic that blends mystery with a touch of horror. Alex Braith has booked passage on the Southern Cross, a space freighter bound for Titan, where...
Posted by Kerry B. on September 6, 2016
Six must-listen 2016 releases on Hoopla
Treat your ears to these female-driven albums from the first half of 2016. Chapters – Yuna A delicious, pop-y swirl of genres from Malaysian artist Yuna, with guest appearances from...
Infectious Madness
Harriet Washington’s latest book is a fascinating jaunt through current and historical research into the infectious origins of mental illness. From the link between schizophrenia and Toxoplasma gondii (a parasite...
Posted by Kerry B. on October 29, 2015
Bad Pharma
Bad Pharma provides insight into the cycle of developing, testing, and regulating drugs—and where that process can break down, a sort of meta-knowledge necessary to being a savvy and skeptical...
Posted by Kerry B. on August 28, 2013
Building Stories by Chris Ware
When Building Stories landed in circulation, fresh from processing, it certainly got my attention—not least because its heft seemed more suitable for constructing a library than being shelved in one. With...
Posted by Kerry B. on August 5, 2013
The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8
Thomas Ott creates picture books for grown-ups. Twisted, visually compelling, sometimes-nightmarish picture books. His stories are articulated solely through image, without dialogue or exposition. Ott’s beautifully textured art stands out...
Posted by Kerry B. on July 21, 2013