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Week of November 23, 2020

New in Paperback

Week of November 23, 2020

Paperback releases for the week of November 23rd include SWORD OF KINGS, the 12th installment in Bernard Cornwell’s series chronicling the epic saga of the making of England; CARRIE FISHER: A Life on the Edge, in which Sheila Weller traces Carrie Fisher’s life from her Hollywood royalty roots to her untimely and shattering death after Christmas 2016; LITTLE WEIRDS, actress and stand-up comedian Jenny Slate’s quirky collection about love, heartbreak and being alive; and 36 RIGHTEOUS MEN by Steven Pressfield, a futuristic noir thriller that finds the fate of the world hanging in the balance, as two New York homicide detectives join forces with a rabbinical scholar and a renowned anthropologist to confront a murderer who won’t stop until he has killed everyone.

36 Righteous Men by Steven Pressfield - Apocalyptic Thriller

November 24, 2020

New York homicide detectives James Manning and Covina “Dewey” Duwai have been called in to investigate a string of brutal and bizarre murders with apocalyptic warnings carved in blood. Their NYPD bosses dismiss this stuff as preposterous. But when Manning and Dewey apprehend a defrocked rabbinical scholar fleeing one of the crime scenes, they are brought face-to-face with the shocking truth: the Jewish legend of the hidden Righteous Men, the 36 who protect the world from destruction, is no legend at all. They are real, and they are being murdered one by one. Manning and Dewey must save the last of the Righteous Men from a killer who may or may not be supernatural and who won’t stop until he has brought about the End Times for the entire human race.

A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen - Postapocalyptic Science Fiction

November 24, 2020

Six years after a virus wiped out most of the planet’s population, former pop star Moira is living under a new identity to escape her past --- until her father launches a sweeping public search for her. Desperate for a fresh start herself, jaded event planner Krista navigates the world for those still too traumatized to go outside. Rob has tried to protect his daughter, Sunny, by keeping a heartbreaking secret, but when strict government rules threaten to separate parent and child, Rob needs to prove himself worthy in the city’s eyes by connecting with people again. The lives of Krista, Moira, Rob and Sunny begin to twine together. When reports of another outbreak throw the fragile society into panic, the friends are forced to finally face everything that came before --- and everything they still stand to lose.

Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge by Sheila Weller - Biography

November 24, 2020

Sheila Weller traces Carrie Fisher’s life from her Hollywood royalty roots to her untimely and shattering death after Christmas 2016. Her mother was the spunky and adorable Debbie Reynolds; her father, the heartthrob crooner Eddie Fisher. When Eddie ran off with Elizabeth Taylor, the scandal thrust little Carrie Frances into a bizarre spotlight, gifting her with an irony and an aplomb that would resonate throughout her life. Weller sympathetically reveals the conditions that Fisher lived with: serious bipolar disorder and an inherited drug addiction. Still, despite crises and overdoses, her life’s work --- as an actor, a novelist and memoirist, a script doctor, a hostess and a friend --- was prodigious and unique.

Great Society: A New History by Amity Shlaes - History/Politics

November 24, 2020

Many Americans are attracted to socialism and economic redistribution, while opponents of those ideas argue for purer capitalism. In the 1960s, Americans sought the same goals many seek now: an end to poverty, higher standards of living for the middle class, a better environment, and more access to health care and education. Then, too, we debated socialism and capitalism, public sector reform versus private sector advancement. Ironically, Amity Shlaes argues, the costs of entitlement commitments made a half century ago preclude the very reforms that Americans will need in coming decades. In GREAT SOCIETY, Shlaes shows that in fact there was scant difference between two presidents we consider opposites: Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

Ice Cold Heart: A Monkeewrench Novel by P. J. Tracy - Mystery/Thriller

November 24, 2020

Detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are called to the gruesome homicide of Kelly Ramage. Found in a friend's vacant house, this was no random attack, and clues reveal that she was living a very dangerous secret life. Magozzi and Gino trace her steps back to an art gallery where she was last seen alive. The gallery seems like a dead end, but the art is disturbing and exploitative. It may very well be inspiring a sadistic killer. Tipped off about a year-old murder that is a mirror-image of Kelly's crime scene, Gino and Magozzi enlist the aid of Grace MacBride and her eccentric, tech genius partners in Monkeewrench Software to help them decipher the digital trail that might connect the cases.

The Kennedy Heirs: John, Caroline, and the New Generation - A Legacy of Triumph and Tragedy by J. Randy Taraborrelli - Biography

November 24, 2020

A unique burden was inherited by the children of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his celebrated siblings, Senators Robert and Ted Kennedy. Raised in a world of enormous privilege against the backdrop of American history, this third generation of Kennedys often veered between towering accomplishment and devastating defeat. In his revelatory book, acclaimed Kennedy historian J. Randy Taraborrelli draws back the curtain on the next generation of America’s most famous family.

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate - Essays

November 24, 2020

You may "know" Jenny Slate from her Netflix special, "Stage Fright," or as the creator of Marcel the Shell, or as the star of Obvious Child. But you don't really know Jenny Slate until you get bonked on the head by her absolutely singular writing style. To see the world through Jenny's eyes is to see it as though for the first time, shimmering with strangeness and possibility. As she will remind you, we live on an ancient ball that rotates around a bigger ball made up of lights and gasses that are science gasses, not farts (don't be immature). Heartbreak, confusion and misogyny stalk this blue-green sphere, yes, but it is also a place of wild delight and unconstrained vitality, a place where we can start living as soon as we are born, and we can be born at any time.

Sword of Kings by Bernard Cornwell - Historical Fiction

November 24, 2020

It is a time of political turmoil once more as the fading King Edward begins to lose control over his successors and their supporters. Uhtred of Bebbanburg cares solely about his beloved Northumbria and its continuing independence from southern control. But an oath is a strong, almost sacred commitment, and such a promise had been exchanged between Uhtred and Aethelstan, his one-time companion in arms and now a potential king. Uhtred was tempted to ignore the demands of the oath and stay in his northern fastness, leaving the quarrelling Anglo-Saxons to sort out their own issues. But an attack on him by a leading supporter of one of the candidates and an unexpected appeal for help from another drives Uhtred south into the battle for kingship --- and England’s fate.