March 14\, 2024: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
\n"An audacio us\, darkly glittering novel about art\, fame\, and ambition set in the ee rie days of civilization's collapse\, from the author of three highly accl aimed previous novels. One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps ove r and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later\, the wor ld as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from th e actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future\, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of wh at remains-this suspenseful\, elegiac\, spellbinding novel charts the stra nge twists of fate that connect five people: the actor\, the man who tried to save him\, the actor's first wife\, his oldest friend\, and a young ac tress with the Traveling Symphony\, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerou s self-proclaimed prophet. Sometimes terrifying\, sometimes tender\, Stati on Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us\, the ephe meral nature of fame\, and the beauty of the world as we know it." -- Prov ided by publisher.
\nApril 11\, 2024: My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon
\n"Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around t he corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home\, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call. Mavis\, Alison's est ranged mother\, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter\, son-in-law\, an d two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother's alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still\ , she eventually agrees to take in Mavis\, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she's always dreamed of. But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis's arriv al\, Alison begins to suspect her mother is not quite who she seems. And a s the holiday festivities turn into a nightmare\, she must confront just h ow far she is willing to go to protect her family." -- Provided by publish er.
\nMay 9\, 2024: Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
\n"Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked..." To his customers and neighbors on 125th street\, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonabl y-priced furniture\, making a life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child\, and if her parents on St river's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from th e subway tracks\, it's still home. Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks\, and that his faç\;ade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger al l the time. See\, cash is tight\, especially with all those installment pl an sofas\, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store\, Ray doesn't see the need to ask where i t comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who also doesn't ask qu estions. Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel There sa -- the "Waldorf of Harlem" -- and volunteers Ray's services as the fenc e. The heist doesn't go as planned\; they rarely do\, after all. Now Ray h as to cater to a new clientele\, one made up of shady cops on the take\, v icious minions of the local crime lord\, and numerous other Harlem lowlife s. Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the cro ok. As Ray navigates this double life\, he starts to see the truth about w ho actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed\, sa ve his cousin\, and grab his share of the big score\, all while maintainin g his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture n eeds?" -- Provided by publisher.
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