The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Weller Public Library

212 Main Street, Waitsburg

Hours: Mon. and Thurs. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (closed noon -1 p.m.)

Sat. 10 a.m. - noon

Storytime: Mon. 10:30 a.m.

“Hardcore Twenty-Four,” by Janet Evanovich (mystery/thriller) – Brain-eating zombies, headless corpses, and a wayward fifty-pound boa constrictor named Ethel. Yeah, it’s been a pretty routine week for Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. As usual, Jersey’s favorite bounty hunter is stuck in the middle with more questions than answers. What’s the deal with Grandma Mazur’s latest online paramour? Who is behind the startling epidemic of mutilated corpses? And is the enigmatic Diesel’s sudden appearance a coincidence or the cause of recent deadly events?

“We Were the Lucky Ones,” by Georgia Hunter (historical fiction) – It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety.  

Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere. 

“The Runaway Children,” by Sandy Taylor (historical fiction) – London, 1942: Thirteen-year-old Nell and five-year-old Olive are being sent away from the devastation of the East End. They are leaving the terror of the Blitz and nights spent shivering in air raid shelters behind them, but will the strangers they are placed with be kind and loving, or are there different hardships ahead?

When little Olive’s safety is threatened by a boy at Hackers Farm, Nell has to make a decision that will change their lives forever… they must run from danger and try to find their way home. Together the two girls hold each other’s hands as they begin their perilous journey across bombed-out Britain. But when Nell falls ill, can she still protect her little sister from the war raging around them? And will they ever be reunited from the family they’ve been torn from?

Dayton Memorial Library

111 S. 3rd Street, Dayton

Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri., 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.;

Tues. & Thurs., 12-8 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Storytime: Wed., 10 a.m.

“An Unkindness of Ghosts,” by Rivers Solomon (science fiction/fantasy) – Aster has little to offer folks in the way of rebuttal when they call her ogre and freak. She’s used to the names; she only wishes there was more truth to them. If she were truly a monster, she’d be powerful enough to tear down the walls around her until nothing remains of her world. Aster lives in the lowdeck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer, Aster learns there may be a way to improve her lot--if she’s willing to sow the seeds of civil war.

“Access All Areas: Stories From a Hard Rock Life,” by Scott Ian (memoir) – Access All Areas divulges all the zany, bizarre, funny, and captivating tales of what went on when the band Anthrax wasn’t busy crafting chart-topping albums. With humor, candor, hindsight, and writing chops that would make Stephen King jealous, Scott Ian takes his fans along for the ride at all the parties, hot spots, and behind-the-scenes shenanigans they will never hear about from anyone else. Best of all, Scott seemingly lacks the ability to be embarrassed, making “Access All Areas” howlingly funny, self-deprecating, and every bit as brash and brazen as one would expect from one of the original architects of speed metal.

“Food Atlas: Discover all the Delicious Foods of the World,” by Giulia Malerba and Febe Sillani (nonfiction) - An exciting visual journey around the world of foods and flavors. Food Atlas takes readers on a global discovery tour of the ingredients, dishes, and culinary curiosities that characterize the world›s continents. The book features appealing illustrations and concise captions organized into 39 regional maps that focus on one country. The book closes with a world map that shows how explorers carried some of the world’s most widely eaten foods from their land of origin to new lands, where they now fill grocery stores and markets around the world; e.g. rice and citrus came from China; coffee from Ethiopia; black pepper from Vietnam; and so on for all 23 world-traveling foods. Country by country around the globe, readers will discover the gastronomical wonders of the globe in all their delicious variety.