Adult Services Newsletter
Vol. 12 05/01/2023
It's June Already!
A Warm Weather Welcome!
With the warm weather brings summer, and we have a ton of new and exciting things to offer our patrons at the library. First, we are so excited to finally introduce to you, Dani the Dinosaur, our new library mascot. She is excited to get to meet all of you at our events this summer! If you haven't done so already, please register for our adult summer reading program, and if you haven't done so already, you can pick up your passport at the adult services reference desk. We have so many fun programs planned this summer so don't forget to register!
Finally, we are proud to provide all of our patrons with Kanopy streaming service. I used to use Kanopy all of the time when I taught in grad school, and the students loved it, and I know you will too! It offers a wide selection of movies (from world cinema to classics), Documentaries on the arts, politics and current affairs, history, science, health, and tons of stuff for kids!
We hope you have a great summer,
Brittany
Adult Services Manager
The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende
Goodreads rating 4.13Stars
Chilean author Isabel Allende (The House of Spirits) is one of the world’s foremost practitioners of the Serious Novel. She’s written more than 20 of them, many incorporating elements of magical realism. Allende’s latest story folds time and space in the parallel stories of two children caught up in historical crises—one in Nazi-occupied Vienna of 1938, the other on Arizona’s border in 2019. Their ultimate fate will depend on humanity’s capacity for compassion.
Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See
Goodreads 4.45 Stars
Adventurous fans of historical fiction will want to consider this one, which transports readers 600 years back in time to the elite circles of China’s Ming dynasty. Based on a true story, the new novel from Lisa See (Snow Flower and the Secret Fan) follows the fortunes of Tan Yunxian, one of a handful of female doctors in 15th-century China. Incredibly, despite historical China’s restrictive patriarchal structures, some of Yunxian’s remedies survive to the present day.
The Paris Daughter by Kristin Harmel
Goodreads 4.55 Stars
Historical fiction devotees will want to track this one. Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette dread the shadows of war advancing on the city—and their young daughters. When the Germans begin their brutal occupation, Elise entrusts Juliette with the most valuable thing a mother can give. Author Kristin Harmel (The Book of Lost Names) leads readers from a quiet bookstore in Paris, through the hell of war, and finally to a possible reunion in New York City.
In Memoriam by Alice Wnn
Goodreads 4.57 Stars
A haunting, virtuosic debut novel about two young men who fall in love during a time of war.
It's 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. News of the heroic deaths of their friends only makes the war more exciting.
Gaunt, half German, is busy fighting his own private battle--an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the glamorous, charming Ellwood--without a clue that Ellwood is pining for him in return. When Gaunt's family asks him to enlist to forestall the anti-German sentiment they face, Gaunt does so immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. To Gaunt's horror, Ellwood rushes to join him at the front, and the rest of their classmates soon follow. Now death surrounds them in all its grim reality, often inches away, and no one knows who will be next.
An epic tale of both the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, In Memoriam is a breathtaking debut.
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Goodreads 3.97 Stars
In this gripping debut tinged with supernatural horror, a young Cree woman's dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home.
When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears.
Night after night, Mackenzie's dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina's untimely death: a weekend at the family's lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But when the waking world starts closing in, too--a murder of crows stalks her every move around the city, she wakes up from a dream of drowning throwing up water, and gets threatening text messages from someone claiming to be Sabrina--Mackenzie knows this is more than she can handle alone.
Traveling north to her rural hometown in Alberta, she finds her family still steeped in the same grief that she ran away to Vancouver to escape. They welcome her back, but their shaky reunion only seems to intensify her dreams--and make them more dangerous.
What really happened that night at the lake, and what did it have to do with Sabrina's death? Only a bad Cree would put their family at risk, but what if whatever has been calling Mackenzie home was already inside?
The Fake by Zoe Whittal
Goodreads 3.53 Stars
A con artist can make you feel like the luckiest person on earth just to be in their presence. But when the jig is up, they ghost, and you’re left wondering if you ever mattered
After the death of her wife, Shelby feels more alone than ever—until she meets Cammie, a charismatic woman unafraid of what anyone else thinks and whose own history of trauma draws Shelby close. When Cammie is fired from her job and admits she is in treatment for kidney cancer, Shelby devotes all her time to helping Cammie thrive. But Shelby’s intuition tells her there are things about Cammie’s past that don’t add up. Could the realest thing about Cammie be that she’s actually a scammer?
Gibson is almost forty, fresh from a divorce and deeply depressed. Then he meets and falls in love with Cammie. Suddenly, he’s having the best sex of his life with a woman so attractive he’s stunned she even glanced his way, and for the first time ever he feels truly known. This is the kind of desire and passion that musicians have been writing love songs about for centuries. But Gibson’s friends are wary of Cammie, and eventually he too has to admit that Cammie’s dramatic life can feel a bit over the top.
When Shelby and Gibson find out Cammie is a pathological liar, they struggle to understand what they really want from her—sometimes they want to help her heal from whatever causes her to invent reality, and sometimes they want revenge. But the biggest question of all is: how honest can Shelby and Gibson be about their own characters?
Fresh Strawberry Pie
Since I'm sure a lot of us will be attending the many strawberry festivals offered throughout the area this summer, here is a good recipe in case you need to do something with all of those strawberries!
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust*: Homemade Pie Crust, purchased pastry crust, or Vegan Pie Crust
- 2 pounds fresh strawberries
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 1/4 cup cornstarch**
- 1/4 cup water
- Homemade whipped cream, to serve
Method
- Make the crust: Follow the directions in the Homemade Quiche Crust recipe to make the dough and shape it into a 9-inch pie plate. You can do either a fork pressed edge or a fluted edge. Then freeze the crust in the pie pan for 30 minutes (this helps to avoid shrinkage; you can skip the freezing portion for a purchased pastry crust).
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Blind bake*: Remove the dough from the freezer. Crumble a sheet of parchment paper, then place it gently on top of the crust. Fill the dough with pie weights (we used two sets of these), dry beans, or dry rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then carefully remove the parchment and weights and bake an additional 14 to 15 minutes until the bottom is golden brown (note that the timing may vary if you use store-bought pastry dough). Remove from the oven and allow the crust to cool completely before adding the strawberry filling. To cool it quickly, you can very gently slide it into another pie pan of the same size and place it on a cooling rack; this should cool it in about 10 to 15 minutes while you make the filling. (Or, the baked crust can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the refrigerator for 2 days.)
- Make strawberry filling: Clean, destem and quarter the strawberries lengthwise, cutting very large berries into smaller pieces. Take 1 cup of the quartered strawberries (reserve the rest), place them in a bowl, and smash them with a fork until each one is mashed. Add the smashed berries and their juices to a large saucepan. Add the sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbling, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Then in a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with 1/4 cup water and whisk until dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly while it bubbles, for 2 to 3 minutes until very thick and glossy. The texture at the end should be incredibly sticky and thick (if not, keep cooking). Turn off the heat. Add the remaining fresh strawberries to the pan and turn with spatula until they are fully coated with the thick sauce.
- Immediately scoop the strawberry filling into the cooled pie crust. Use clean fingers to arrange the strawberries in the top layer (you may need to flip some over to make it look nice). Allow to cool in the refrigerator for 2 hours before serving until it sets. Serve topped with homemade whipped cream. Lasts up to 3 days refrigerated.
- source: https://www.acouplecooks.com/strawberry-pie/
Friends of the Library
All of our events are made possible through the generosity of the Friends of the Library. The Friends of the Library was founded to support the Danville Public Library in various ways. They sponsor all library programs as well as help buy the supplies/equipment needed for programs through membership dues and fundraising activities. We are always looking for more members! If you are interested in becoming a member of the Friends of the Library, please visit our website here for more information. You may also click here to download a printable brochure and membership form.
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