Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

On the shelves - Dec. 4

The following books are available for checkout at:

Clovis-Carver Public Library

Leaving Lucy Pear by Anna Solomon follows Beatrice Haven, an unwed Jewish girl who leaves her baby at the foot of a pear tree, and watches as headstrong Emma Murphy claims the infant as her own. Years later Prohibition is in full swing, post-WWI America is in the grips of rampant xenophobia, and Bea's hopes for her future remain unfulfilled. Returning home, she meets Emma and her daughter, now a bright, bold, cross-dressing girl named Lucy Pear.

Bone to be Wild by Carolyn Haines teams up Sarah Booth Delaney and her old flame Scott Hampton to investigate a mysterious message threatening him and his bandmates. The threat becomes reality when the bartender from Scott's club is gunned down in a drive-by and Sarah is caught in a race against the clock as she tries to stop a killer from striking again.

The Christmas Angel Project by Melody Carlson conveys the warm and emotional story of the four remaining friends from a book club after the leader of the group suddenly passes away. The unexpected and very personal gifts she had previously made for each of them changes their lives forever, inspiring them to become angels on earth in their own special ways, demonstrating that sometimes it takes a rough patch to get your attention.

Cakewalk by Rita Mae Brown is set against the backdrop of America emerging from World War I, providing an entertaining look at a small town straddling the Mason Dixon line. Townsfolk remain split between good and bad, or love and sex, or male and female, or politics and sobriety, and the inimitable, irrepressible, distinctly free-thinking sisters, known as Wheezie and Jutz, and their wide circle of equally indelible friends.

The CIA World Factbook 2016 by the Central Intelligence Agency offers complete and up-to-date information on each of the world's nations, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. This comprehensive guide is packed with fascinating maps and information on the politics, populations, economics, military expenditures, and much more on each nation — a must-have resource for students and armchair travelers with a desire to know more about their world.

Alive, Alive Oh! by Diana Athill sparkles with luminous, wise, and joyful insight into what really matters at the end of a long life, to live life fully and without regrets. On the eve of her ninety-eighth birthday, Athill reflects on experiences and memories that have risen to the surface and sustain her in her very old age. Accounts such as the bucolic pleasures of her grandmother's garden, the wonders of traveling as a young woman in Europe, and life as an expectant mother in her forties, remind us of the joy and richness of every stage of life.

Coyota in the Kitchen by Anita Rodriguez shows how food reflects the complicated family histories that shape our lives, introducing two eccentric families that would never have eaten together, let alone exchanged recipes, but for the improbable marriage of the author's parents. Navigating a safe path among contradictory cultural perspectives, she takes us on a prolonged pilgrimage to Mexico and back again to New Mexico, and from 1940s New Mexico mountain villages to sipping mint juleps on the porch of a mansion in the South.

— Summaries by library staff