Library staff recommend books from our collection.
by Boo Walker
Unable to catch a break in life or love as she approaches thirty, Charli Thurman sees red lights at every crossroads. And given the Thurman family’s tumultuous history, she knows things will only get worse, unless she can break the cycle and figure out where-and when-it all went wrong. Charli is skeptical when her best friend introduces her to a “soul reader” who specializes in generational trauma. But during family constellation therapy with the guru, Charli experiences an inexplicable memory of terrible violence. Whatever happened in the past, it created an imbalance that’s still in the Thurman blood. When Charli’s research leads her to Winchester, England, she meets a charming pub owner named Noah, whose own family history is similarly twisted. As the mystery deepens around a damaged inheritance and a tragic death, Charli is resolved to find the truth-and create the fresh start she has been hoping for her whole life”–Provided by publisher.
Available in New Adult Fiction.
The language puzzle : piecing together the six-million-year story of how words evolved by Steven Mithen
In this fascinating analysis, archaeologist Mithen (The Singing Neanderthals) chronicles human ancestors’ progress from grunts and screams to jokes and poetry. Primate studies offer insight into the origins of language, Mithen contends, suggesting that chimpanzees’ combination of grunts, barks, and other noises in predictable sequences might indicate primitive syntax. Tracing how the physical evolution of the brain, tongue, throat, and ears gave hominins more intelligence and articulate vocal tracts, Mithen argues that by one million years ago homo erectus was likely uttering “iconic words,” whose sounds mimic features of the objects they describe (“Languages throughout the world use hard consonants for father, as in dad and pa, and soft, vowel-like consonants… for mother, as in mommy”). The Neanderthals developed bigger vocabularies and sentences governed by grammar, and were followed by homo sapiens, whose more sophisticated brains invented abstract words and metaphors that made language a font of cognitive creativity. In down-to-earth prose, Mithen weaves a wealth of genetic, linguistic, and paleoanthropological research into a coherent tapestry, with surprising revelations about Stone Age communication as well as present-day language. (Babies automatically process the frequency with which certain syllables follow each other to pick discrete words out of speech.) The result is a stimulating inquiry into the origins of language. Agent: George Lucas, InkWell Management. (Publisher’s Weekly Review, June)
Available as an ebook and a book in nonfiction.
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel
In this masterful true crime account, Finkel (The Stranger in the Woods) traces the fascinating exploits of Stéphane Breitwieser, a French art thief who stole more than 200 artworks from across Europe between 1995 and 2001, turning his mother’s attic into a glittering trove of oil paintings, silver vessels, and antique weaponry. Mining extensive interviews with Breitwieser himself, and several with those who detected and prosecuted him, Finkel meticulously restages the crimes, describing the castles and museums that attracted Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, his accomplice and romantic partner; the luminous oils and sculptures that caught Breitwieser’s eye; and the swift, methodical actions he took to liberate his prizes. According to Breitwieser, his sole motive was aesthetic: to possess great beauty, to “gorge on it.” Drawing on art theory and Breitwieser’s psychology reports, Finkel speculates on his subject’s addiction to beauty and on Anne-Catherine’s acquiescence to the crimes. The account is at its best when it revels in the audacity of the escapades, including feats of misdirection in broad daylight, and the slow, inexorable pace of the law. It’s a riveting ride. (Publisher’s Weekly Journal, June)
Available as an eaudiobook, ebook, and a book in nonfiction.