Get ‘em while they’re hot
There’s no better way to start the new year than by laying in a supply of new books, and the Mendocino Community Library has done just that. We have awardwinning fiction, gripping mysteries and thrillers, and serious and humorous nonfiction, many of them New York Times notable books of 2022. Through the generosity of our book donors, we have also acquired some not-so-new books that are nonetheless worth reading and some vintage British crime whodunits that are less known on this side of the pond but beloved by connoisseurs of the genre. Space doesn’t permit annotating all the new books here, but this list will pique your interest.
FICTION
Quan Barry, When I’m Gone, Look for Me in the East, 2022. Across a windswept Mongolia, estranged twin brothers make a journey of duty, conflict, and renewed understanding.
Marie Benedict, The Mitford Affair, 2023. This biographical novel tells the story of the influential British Mitford sisters and the roles they played for and against the Nazis in the leadup to, and during World War II.
John Boyne, All the Broken Places, 2022
Katherine Chen, Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc, 2022. Not your grandmother’s St. Joan, this one is an ass-kicking, avenging angel fighting simply for the right to fight.
Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch, 2022
Elin Hilderbrand, Hotel Nantucket, 2022
Clare Keegan, Foster, 2022. Don’t let the length of this beautifully subtle novella by an accomplished Irish writer make you think it won’t move you more than a 400page tome.
Kerri Maher, The Paris Bookseller, 2022
Cormac McCarthy, Stella Maris, 2022
Joanna Quinn, The Whalebone Theatre, 2022. Follows a trio of British youngsters from childhood idylls on the beach to service and spycraft in WWII.
MYSTERIES
From the Golden Age of British crime detective fiction, we have four new-to-us classics: George Bellairs, Death of a Busybody, 1942;
John Bude, Death Makes a Prophet, 1947; Mavis Hay, Death on the Cherwell, 1935; and Anthony Wynne, Murder of a Lady, 1931.
Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, 1985. While not a mystery, this is Atkinson’s debut novel and her fans will want to read it.
Rhys Bowen, Peril in Paris, 2022
Janet Evanovich, Game On: Tempting TwentyEight, 2021. Stephanie Plum returns to hunt down a new kind of criminal operating out of Trenton in the 28th book in the popular series.
Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library, 2022. How can you go wrong with a murder mystery that starts off in a crowded library full of book lovers?
Catriona McPherson, Dandy Gilver and a Bothersome Number of Corpses, 2013. A mystery writer perfect for fans of “Upstairs Downstairs” and “Downton Abbey,” McPherson charms readers with her clever series set in 1920s Scotland.
Mystery Writers of America, Odd Partners: An Anthology, 2019. Unlikely pairs join forces to crack a slew of intriguing cases in an anthology edited by Anne Perry, with original stories by Jacqueline Winspear, Jeffery Deaver, Allison Brennan, Charles Todd, and Perry herself.
James Patterson, Shattered, 2022.
Thomas Perry, The Left-Handed Twin, 2021, and The Murder Book, 2023.
Karin Slaughter, False Witness, 2021. A master of the no-holds-barred law enforcement thriller turns to legal intrigue, with sobering results.
Martin Walker, To Kill a Troubadour, 2022.
NONFICTION
Iain Boall, West of Eden: Communes and Utopia in Northern California, 2012. Describes the remarkable flowering of communalism in the 1960s and ’70s in northern California, with vivid portraits of life on the rural communes of Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
Andy Borowitz, Profiles in Ignorance, 2022.
Kerri Greenidge, The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family, 2022.
Pico Iyer, The HalfKnown Life, 2023.
Joseph Ledoux, The Deep History of Ourselves, 2019. A leading neuroscientist’s history of the evolution of the brain from unicellular organisms to the complexity of animals and human beings today.
Adam Nicolson, Life Between the Tides, 2022. Everyone who lives on the coast will enjoy this beautifully illustrated exploration of the marine life that lives where the sea meets the land.
Imani Perry, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon. Winner of the 2022 National Book Award and an elegant meditation on the complexities of the American South by a daughter of the South and one of our most provocative thinkers.
In addition to all these terrific hardbound books, don’t forget to browse our “PopUp” fiction collection. We’re always adding new and almost new thrillers, historical novels, and cozy reads in convenient paperback format.
On February 18th, the library will hold one of its acclaimed book sales, offering all kinds of reading material at irresistible prices. Also puzzles, CDs and DVDs. Drop by and check it out; leave with some great stuff; benefit the library and feel good about yourself. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. outside the library at Little Lake and William Street.
The Mendocino Community Library is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Come in or take a look at our collection on the library webpage: https://www.mendocinocommunitylibrary. org/