Lost in the Stacks

July 30th is International Day of Friendship, a special occasion to celebrate the relationships and bonds that tie us together. Accessible through the Library’s OverDrive collection, these reads highlight the beauty of nurturing community, the joys and challenges of friendship, and how to nurture deeper connections.

July is Wild About Wildlife Month! As we soak in the sun’s warmth and explore the outdoors, why not take the opportunity to expand our knowledge about the incredible natural world we live in? Whether hiking through forests of towering trees or taking a dip in ocean waters, it becomes clear how interconnected we are with the living world surrounding us. Discover captivating, and sometimes hilarious, stories of the intricate, complex relationships and behaviors that shape the natural environments we know and love.

Are you someone who enjoys horror no matter the season? Well you’re in luck - Summerween is officially upon us! Popularized by the animated show Gravity Falls, Summerween invites those brave enough to indulge in all things eerie and spooky, perfect for those hot summer nights. If you’re in the mood for a scare, be warned of these chilling reads available digitally from the Library’s OverDrive collection.

June is Pride Month! Check out some LGBTQ+ memoirs available digitally from the Library’s Overdrive collection. If you are on campus, check out physical items selected for display on the first floor of the Shapiro Library.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice is an outstanding mystery novel set in 1915-1919, featuring Sherlock Holmes and his new partner in crime-solving, the brilliant teenager Mary Russell. In this first novel in a long-running series, they are faced with a criminal mastermind who is targeting Holmes and everyone associated with him. This year marks the 30th anniversary of this novel, which is one of my favorite books of all time.

This is a biography of the famous scientist Marie Curie that focuses on her relationship with her two daughters, Irène and Ève, who led fascinating lives in their own right. Irène followed in her mother's footsteps as a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, and Ève became a pianist, author, and humanitarian. It is a perfect read for Women's History month.

This is a charming, heartwarming mystery novel about Vera Wong, a widowed Chinese woman in her sixties who finds a dead body in her tea shop in San Francisco's Chinatown and decides she will do a better job than the police at solving the crime. She rounds up four suspects, and then makes friends with them, cooking them delicious Chinese meals. Which one of her four new friends is a murderer?

This is a wonderful historical mystery and thrilling courtroom drama, inspired by actual events, about Martha Ballard, a midwife in 18th century Maine. When a dead body is found in a frozen river, Martha identifies the dead man as a prominent resident of the town, who was accused of rape. She defies the court system to find justice for the rape victim.

The Appeal is a brilliant mystery novel, told in emails and text messages, about a community theater group in a small town in the UK. They launch a fundraising appeal for cancer treatment for their leader's granddaughter, and tensions arise, leading to murder. Two law students sift through the correspondence to discover the truth of what happened.

This is the first part of an immense 2800-page novel which continues the adventures of the four musketeers--Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d'Artagnan. As the young French king, Louis XIV, comes of age, the musketeers help restore Charles II to the English throne and become involved in the intrigues of the French court.