On the shelves —

The following books are available at:

Clovis-Carver Public Library

“Remembering Ritalin: A Doctor and Generation Rx Reflect on Life and Psychiatric Drugs” by Lawrence Diller provides a revealing look at the long-term outcomes of drugs prescribed to treat ADHD and offers insights into one of the most controversial treatment methods of our time.

“Sixkill” by Robert Parker is the thirty-ninth and last novel in the Spenser series in which the Boston private investigator forms an unlikely alliance with Zebulon Sixkill, a young man whose lack of discipline is matched by his quick way with a gun, as they find that they need each other in order to solve a crime.

“Mastermind: The Many Faces of the 9/11 Architect Khalid Shaikh Mohammed” by Richard Miniter combines investigations from three continents, thousands of documents, and eyewitness accounts to reveal the story of the Islamic terrorist behind the attacks on America and the conditions that led him to embark on a career of mass murder.

“Those in Peril” by Wilbur Smith begins as Somali pirates hijack the yacht of Hazel Bannock, heiress to the Bannock Oil Corporation, and kidnap her 19-year-old daughter for ransom, but when the major powers refuse to intervene, Hazel recruits Hector Cross to take the law into their own hands.

“Lost in Shangri-La” by Mitchell Zuckoff is a true story of survival, adventure, and the most incredible rescue mission or World War II when a plane crashed within the jungle-covered mountains of Dutch New Guinea and three injured survivors found themselves among spear-carrying tribesmen rumored to be cannibals.

“Buried Prey” by John Sandford centers on a cold case after the bodies of two girls are discovered underneath an old house, and Detective Lucas Davenport who had investigated their disappearance years earlier, has another chance to find out what happened.

“The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery” by Eric Foner illuminates the interactions of race, slavery, public opinion, politics, and Lincoln’s own character that led to the wholly improbable uncompensated emancipation of some four million slaves.

Portales Public Library

“Next to Love” by Ellen Feldman

Next to Love follows the lives of three young women and their men during the years of World War II and its aftermath, beginning with the men going off to war and ending a generation later, when their children are on the cusp of their own adulthood. The novel follows three childhood friends, Grace, Millie, and Babe whose lives are forever changed when their men are called to duty. The changes that are thrust upon them move them in directions they never dreamed possible. The three friends lose their innocence, struggle to raise their children, and find meaning and love in unexpected places in the decades that follow. As the women change, so does America and yet Babe, Millie, and Grace remain bonded by their past, even as their children grow up and away and a new society rises from the ashes of the war.

“Day of Fools” by James Lee Burke

With a deep and abiding respect for the citizens in his care, Sheriff Hackberry Holland patrols a small Southwest Texas border town. Hackberry feeds off the deeds of evil men to keep his own demons at bay while still mourning the loss of his cherished wife and locked in a perilous almost-romance with his deputy, Pam Tibbs. When a man witnesses a man tortured to death in the desert, Hack's investigation leads to the home of Anton Ling, a regal, mysterious Chinese woman who is known for sheltering illegals. There is something in her steely demeanor and aristocratic beauty that compels Hackberry to return to her home again and again as the investigation unfolds even though Ling denies having seen the victim or the perpetrators. Is it possible that the sheriff is so taken by this creature who reminds him of his deceased wife that he would ignore the possibility that she is just as dangerous as the men she harbors? The danger in the desert increases with the return of serial murderer Preacher Jack Collins. Preacher Jack has reemerged with a calm, single-minded zeal for killing that is more terrifying than the muzzle flash of his signature machine gun, but this time he and Sherriff Holland have a common enemy.

“Throwing Like a Girl” by Weezie Kerr Mackey

Ella ends up in Texas anyway even though no one asked how she would feel about moving halfway across the country and now here she is without plans for the weekend or friends to guide her through the alien campus of her new school. Ella decides to try out for the softball team and makes it! Now if only she knew how to hit, throw, and field the ball. For better and for worse, softball changes Ella's life and she discovers a confidence she never knew she had and makes new friends and enemies. In order to survive this year, Ella will have to set some ground rules and learn to stand up for herself not only in the game, but in her life too.