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Hello again, and welcome to this edition of Campbell Unclassified! 

It’s a brand new year, full of new horizons to explore, new challenges to overcome, new books to read! Have you made a reading goal for yourself this year? Maybe you want to try revisiting all your old favorites. Or head off on wild adventures with some epic fantasy. You could try some new skills with some how to books and our Library of Things. Read every James Patterson novel? Check out our new travel guides and plan your dream vacation? Try one of those “100 books to read before you die” challenges? 

Whatever your fancy, one of the first decisions many people make is whether or not they are going to read fiction or nonfiction. Me? I say, “why not both?!”

With that in mind, I would like to share some great book pairings with you; books that go together like Doc and Marty, peanut butter and jelly, Kirk and Spock, like wine and cheese!

Fans of Bridgerton Unite!

Whether you first met Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton family on Netflix or in the novels, you may be interested in The Time Traveler’s Guide to Regency Britain: a handbook for visitors to 1789-1830 (for other novels set in Regency Britain, try authors Mary Balogh or Georgette Heyer).

American Tragedy

I highly recommend The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. Then check out The White House Boys by Roger Dean Kiser--on which it was based--and We Carry Their Bones: the search for justice at the Dozier School for Boys, a new book detailing the recent forensic work done on the ground of the old reformatory school.

Journey to the Red Planet

There is a lot of great science fiction out there about space travel. For adventures on our planetary neighbor, try The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury or The Martian by Andy Weir. Then pick up Packing for Mars (comes in a children’s edition, too!) or Dinner on Mars if you’d like to know about the science behind making a visit to Mars possible.

Digging Up Dinosaurs!

Who DOESN’T love dinosaurs?! We have so many books about dinosaurs, you’re sure to find something you like, but have you read about Mary Anning? Check out Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures for a tale of female friendship and fossils, and The Fossil Hunter: dinosaurs, evolution and the woman whose discoveries changed the world by Shelley Emling. Share her story with the kids with these children’s books: Mary Anning’s Curiosity, Dragon Bones, or Fossil Hunter!

Crime on the American Frontier

The infamous Bloody Benders are thought to be responsible for the gruesome murders of over a dozen men and one infant in Kansas between 1872 and 1873. The excellently researched Hell’s Half-Acre by Susan Jonusas is thoroughly engrossing. I can’t wait to check out the novel All the Blood We Share by Camilla Bruce!

You can check out more fiction/nonfiction pairings online!

Happy reading!

1/3/2023

Come learn how to borrow e-books and e-audiobooks for free from the library on the Libby app! Join us Sunday, January 8 @ 1pm. More information...

Platonic by Marisa G. Franco, PhD

How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends // This book provides a clear and actionable blueprint for forging strong, lasting connections with others--and for becoming our happiest, most fulfilled selves in the process.

302.34 FRANCO

Strange Gods by Annamaria Alfieri

A Vera & Tolliver mystery // In early 20th century British East Africa, there are rules for the British and different ones for the Africans. Vera McIntosh, the daughter of Scottish missionaries, doesn't feel she belongs to either group. More than anything she dreams of seeing again the handsome police officer she's danced with. But more grisly circumstances bring Justin Tolliver to her family's home. The body of Vera's uncle, Dr. Josiah Pennyman, is found with a tribesman's spear in his back.

Mystery ALFIERI Vera v.1

Souls Speak by John Wingate

Missing children reveal their serial killer from beyond // Details the astonishing paranormal investigation into the fate of three boys believed lost in the vast caves beneath historic Hannibal, Missouri. A year-long investigation involving three evidential clairvoyants independently identified the boys as the earliest victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, many years before the madman's Chicago murder spree claimed the lives of thirty-three young men and boys.

977.8 WINGATE

The Spiritglass Charade by Colleen Gleason

a Stoker & Holmes novel // Evaline Stoker and Mina Holmes never meant to get into the family business. But when you're the sister of Bram and the niece of Sherlock, vampire hunting and mystery solving are in your blood, so to speak. In 1889 Evaline, Mina, and their time traveler friend, Dylan are asked by the Princess of Wales Willa to find out what happened to Robby Ashton, who may have drowned--but the reappearance of vampires in the heart of London threatens to become a more urgent problem.

Young Adult GLEASON

If you need help accessing any of these titles or using front door pickup, email or call us and we will be happy to assist you!

8/22/2022

Stop by the library to visit the Justice Bus for free civil legal information Monday, August 29 @ 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. No appointment needed.

Life on the Mississippi by Rinker Buck

An Epic American Adventure // This book is an epic, enchanting blend of history and adventure in which Buck builds a wooden flatboat from the grand "flatboat era" of the 1800s and sails it down the Mississippi River, illuminating the forgotten past of America's first western frontier.

977 BUCK

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

This is a story of motherhood, sacrifice, and hope; of queer identity and learning to accept who you are; of gilded lies and the danger of believing the narratives others create for you.

DEAN

Slenderman by Kathleen Hale

Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls //  //The first full account of the Slenderman stabbing, a true crime narrative of mental illness, the American judicial system, the trials of adolescence, and the power of the internet.

364.152 HALE

The Arc of a Covenant by Walter Russell Mead

The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People // A groundbreaking work that overturns the conventional understanding of the Israeli-American relationship and, in doing so, explores how fundamental debates about American identity drive our country's foreign policy.

327.73056 MEAD

If you need help accessing any of these titles or using front door pickup, email or call us and we will be happy to assist you!

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