August 17: \; Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
\nArea X has been cut off from t he rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestig es of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine\, Edenic landscape\; the second expedition ended in mass suicide\ ; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one a nother. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of thei r former selves\, and within weeks\, all had died of cancer. In Annihilati on\, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy\, we joi n the twelfth expedition. The group is made up of four women: an anthropol ogist\; a surveyor\; a psychologist\, the de facto leader\; and our narrat or\, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain\, record all observa tions of their surroundings and of one another\, and\, above all\, avoid b eing contaminated by Area X itself. \;
\nSeptember 21: \;Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (film < a href="https://jkpl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/results?qu= hidden+figures+melfi&\;te=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here)
\nThe phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America&rsquo\;s greatest achievem ents in space&mdash\;a powerful\, revelatory history essential to our unde rstanding of race\, discrimination\, and achievement in modern America. Be fore John Glenn orbited the earth\, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon\, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as &ldquo\;human compute rs&rdquo\; used pencils\, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets\, and astronauts\, into space. Among th ese problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African America n women\, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally rele gated to teaching math in the South&rsquo\;s segregated public schools\, t hey were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II\, when America&rsquo\;s aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly\, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot a t jobs worthy of their skills\, and they answered Uncle Sam&rsquo\;s call\ , moving to Hampton\, Virginia and the fascinating\, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. \;
\nOctob er 19: \;Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
\nIn the land of Ingary\, such things as spells\, invisible cloaks\, an d seven-league boots were everyday things. The Witch of the Waste was anot her matter. After fifty years of quiet\, it was rumored that the Witch was about to terrorize the country again. So when a moving black castle\, blo wing dark smoke from its four thin turrets\, appeared on the horizon\, eve ryone thought it was the Witch. The castle\, however\, belonged to Wizard Howl\, who\, it was said\, liked to suck the souls of young girls. The Hat ter sisters--Sophie\, Lettie\, and Martha--and all the other girls were wa rned not to venture into the streets alone. But that was only the beginnin g. In this giant jigsaw puzzle of a fantasy\, people and things are never quite what they seem. Destinies are intertwined\, identities exchanged\, l overs confused. The Witch has placed a spell on Howl. Does the clue to bre aking it lie in a famous poem? And what will happen to Sophie Hatter when she enters Howl's castle? \;
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