On the shelves - Jan. 13

The following are available for checkout at:

Clovis-Carver Public Library

In conjunction with the City of Clovis Floodplain Management Program, the library maintains a collection of materials on National Flood Insurance Programs including manuals for designing or retrofitting structures, handbooks on residential repair, guidelines for erosion control and similar topics. Librarians can assist users in locating these materials.

“Saving Mona Lisa” by Gerri Chanel reveals the efforts to protect the world's most famous painting during WWII, as curators at the Louvre nestle the Mona Lisa into a special red velvet-lined case and spirit her away to the Loire Valley. Throughout the German occupation, the French fight to keep her and the other priceless treasures out of enemy hands, often risking their lives to protect the country's artistic heritage. This is their tale.

“Junk Beautiful She Sheds” by Sue Whitney introduces the “rustoration” philosophy through 15 she sheds, including small wooden structures, a dolled-up camper, vintage horse trailer, tree house and other unique spaces. Hundreds of inspired projects and hacks cover light construction, accessories and repurposed furnishings to turn spaces usually reserved for old tools and greasy car parts into a woman’s special backyard retreat.

“Atomic Habits” by James Clear imparts practical strategies that teach how to form good habits, break bad ones and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. Clear draws on proven ideas from biology, psychology and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible.

“A Forgotten Place” by Charles Todd has a distinctly gothic feel to it: remote locale, harsh landscape, stormy weather, mysterious villagers and the sense that something truly evil is hiding, perhaps in plain sight. After Bess travels to an isolated Welsh village to check on a former patient, she discovers that bodies wash ashore but are spirited off to the church graveyard without a service, men are brutally beaten by an unknown assailant and she feels constantly watched by the hostile and suspicious villagers.

“The Way of All Flesh” by Ambrose Parry dives headlong into the darkest shadows of 1847 Edinburgh. When young women are found dead, all having suffered similarly gruesome ends, medical student Will Raven and housemaid Sara Fisher, each with their own motives, overcome their differences and unite to look deeper into the deaths.

“Chariot on the Mountain” by Jack Ford portrays a Civil War era story when Mary, a slave owner, embarks to free Kitty and her children, while evading a pro-slave nephew and his friends. Racing to reach freedom at the Pennsylvania border, they must rely on good samaritans and the Underground Railroad. But when dragged back to Virginia, Kitty takes a defiant step, resulting in a sensational trial that will decide the fate of her family.

— Summaries by library staff