Check out what’s happening at the Library
County Library is open from 9 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday, the computer room closes at 5:30 PM. You may reach us at (432) 264-2260 and our fax number is (432) 264-2263. Please visit our website at http://howard-county.ploud.net and our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ Howardcolibrary for more information about our services and any updates.
Learn about the solar eclipse with the State Park Ranger Wednesday, April 3 from 4:30-5:30PM. Solar eclipse glasses giveaway one per person. While supplies last. Also, join us for this week's children's programs; Monday Chess Club at 4:30PM, Tuesday and Thursday Storytimes at the library at 10:30 AM, Wednesday afternoon for Code Club at 4:30 PM will be canceled due to solar eclipse presentation and Thursday for Color Me Healthy at 4:30PM.
This week's reviews are large-print fiction, western and nonfiction titles.
Two sisters navigate the thrilling, euphoric early days of California surf culture in this dazzling saga of ambition, sacrifice, and the tangled ties between mothers and daughters in California Golden (LP F BEN M) by Melanie Benjamin. Southern California, 1960 endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky a Go Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donnelly breaks the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a maledominated sport and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of Carol's unconventional lifestyle. The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother's absence physically, when she's at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she's at home. To escape questions about Carol's whereabouts and to chase her elusive affection they cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy is a natural, but
Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water. As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger's relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and a USO tour in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger, desperate for a community of her own, is tugged into the dangerous counterculture of drugs and cults. But through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood. A gripping, emotional story set at a time when mothers were expected to be Donna Reed, not Gidget, California Golden is an unforgettable novel about three women living in a society that was shifting as tempestuously as the breaking waves.
In the midst of World War II, an English musician, Norah Chambers, places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army as they move down through the Pacific in Sisters Under the Rising Sun (LP F MOR H) by Heather Morris. Norah remains to care for her husband and elderly parents, knowing she may never see her child again. Sister Nesta James, a Welsh Australian nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as Singapore falls to the Japanese, she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia, and in a matter of hours, the Vyner Brooke lies broken on the seabed. After surviving a brutal 24 hours in the sea, Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of a remote island, only to be captured by the Japanese and held in one of their notorious POW camps. The camps are places of starvation and brutality, where disease runs rampant. Sisters in arms, Norah and Nesta fight side by side every day, helping whoever they can, and discovering in themselves and each other extraordinary reserves of courage, resourcefulness and determination.
Texas Ranger Lieutenant Luke Caldwell is at home with his family, having just recovered from near-fatal wounds he received during his last assignment in Trouble Times Two-texas Ranger Luke Caldwell series #2 (LP W GRI J) by James J. Griffin. He expects to be assigned to rejoin his former Ranger company. But Major Frank B. Jones, Commander of the Frontier Battalion, has other plans. He orders Luke to go undercover, one man against the hordes of outlaws plaguing the vast Presidio County.
A masterful ode to a countdown of 50 of the most memorable moments in baseball's history, to make you fall in love with the sport all over again in Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments (796.357 POS J) by Joe Posnanski. Posnanski writes of major moments that created legends, and of forgotten moments almost lost to time. It's Willie Mays's catch, Babe Ruth's called shot, and Kirk Gibson's limping home run; the slickest steals; the biggest bombs; and the most triumphant no-hitters. But these are also moments raw with the humanity of the game, the unheralded heroes, the mesmerizing mistakes drenched in pine tar, and every story, from the immortal to the obscure, is told from a unique perspective. Whether of a real fan who witnessed it, or the pitcher who gave up the home run, the umpire, the coach, the opposing player these are fresh takes on moments so powerful they almost feel like myth. Posnanski's previous book, The Baseball 100, portrayed the heroes and pioneers of the sport, and now, with his trademark wit, encyclopedic knowledge, and acute observations, he gets at the real heart of the game. From nineteenth-century pitchers' duels to breaking the sport's color line in the '40s, all the way to the greatest trick play of the last decade and the slide home that became a meme, Posnanski's illuminating take allows us to rediscover the sport we love and thought we knew. Why We Love Baseball is an epic that ends too soon, a one-of-a-kind love letter to the sport that has us thrilled, torn, inspired, and always wanting more.