Lost in the Stacks

Mistress of the Sun is a historical novel about Louise de la Vallière, the first mistress of Louis XIV. The daughter of an impoverished nobleman, Louise is an excellent horsewoman who, at the age of six, tames a wild stallion no one else has been able to tame. Later, she becomes lady-in-waiting to Louis XIV's sister-in-law, and finds herself drawn to the king, who shares her love of horses, and of reading. They keep their relationship a secret at first, then, when it comes out into the open, Louise becomes the object of intrigue at court. It is also during his relationship with Louise that Louis XIV transforms Versailles from a hunting lodge into a grand palace.

September 15-October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. In celebration, I have highlighted various Latinx authors and books from amidst our collection that you can check out.

The Last Mona Lisa is a multi-layered thriller inspired by an actual event. In 1911, Vincent Peruggia, a former employee of the Louvre, stole the Mona Lisa and ransomed it to the Italian government. Ever since then, there have been rumors that the painting returned to the Louvre was a forgery. Santlofer invents a great-grandson of Peruggia, Luke Perrone, who finds his great-grandfather's diary and searches for the truth behind the theft. But danger awaits as a killer stalks him, and everyone who has touched the diary turns up dead. Will Luke discover the truth before he becomes the next victim?

In this mystery novel set in a seaside town in England, Harbinder Kaur, a gay Sikh police detective, investigates the murder of a ninety-year-old woman who had served as a "murder consultant" to mystery authors: helping them come up with ways to murder people. As Harbinder and three friends of the victim try to solve the crime, Harbinder discovers the victim may have been involved in espionage in Russia. Did someone take revenge? The plot takes many twists and turns. Griffiths also paints a vivid portrait of the world of crime fiction and the publishing industry. Harbinder is a strong character who faces prejudice in the police and elsewhere.

Enjoy some summer rest and relaxation reading with these recently acquired titles for the Library's OverDrive Collection.

July 30th is International Day of Friendship. Check out these OverDrive titles on friendship: works that share the joys and challenges of staying connected, nurturing friendships, and creating community.

Enjoy some summer rest and relaxation reading with these newly acquired titles in OverDrive.

Directed by a master of the Yugoslov Black Wave movement, Marble Ass explores LGBTQ experience—in a part of Eastern Europe, moreover, often very hostile to non-normative identities and lifestyles—with an empathy and dignity rather ahead of its time. The film is also just a boisterous, darkly funny, and very satisfying watch.

In Blood Sisters, historian Marilyn Yalom tells the story of the French Revolution through the perspective of women’s memoirs. She studied the memoirs of over eighty women, of various ages and social classes, who lived through the French Revolution. Many of them were aristocratic or upper-class women, because they were more likely to be literate, but she also writes about memoirs by poor or working-class women that were dictated to someone else. All of the memoirs make for compelling stories.

Over the next couple of months, I’m going to post some new additions to the Library’s OverDrive Collection. Enjoy some summer rest and relaxation reading with the following books.