Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

On the shelves - Sept. 1

The following books are available for checkout:

Clovis-Carver Public Library

“Destinations of a Lifetime” by National Geographic has been donated in memory of Helen Drake. This photographic tour of the world’s most spectacular destinations will inspire tangible ideas for your next trip. Stunning images, coupled with evocative text, feature a plethora of visual wonders: ancient monoliths, classic and innovative architecture, scenic islands, stunning artwork, electric cityscapes, rain forests, and much, much more.

“The Eighth Sister” by Robert Dugoni finds former CIA officer Charles Jenkins at a crossroads: in his early sixties, he has a family, a new baby on the way, and is on the brink of bankruptcy. When his former bureau chief offers him a risky new assignment to locate a Russian agent believed to be killing members of a U.S. spy cell called the seven sisters, Jenkins agrees to the mission. Yet when he tracks down the mastermind agent behind the assassinations — the so-called eighth sister — she is not who or what he was led to believe.

“Home for Erring and Outcast Girls” by Julie Kibler plunges into an emotionally raw and resonant story of love, loss, and the enduring power of friendship, through the lives of two young women from a home for “fallen girls.” A century later, Cate Sutton uncovers the hidden histories of the two women as she stumbles upon the cemetery on the home’s former grounds and begins to comb through its archives in her library. Cate’s discoveries lead her to confront her own past, and to reclaim the life she thought was gone forever.

“Young Castro: The Making of a Revolutionary” by Jonathan M. Hansen will change how you think about Fidel Castro. Until now, biographers have treated Castro’s life like prosecutors, scouring his past for evidence to convict a person they don’t like or don’t understand. Hansen however, challenges readers to put aside the caricature of a bearded, cigar-munching, anti-American hot head to discover how Castro became the dictator who acted as a thorn in the side of U.S. presidents for nearly half a century.

“Second-Chance Dogs” by Callie Smith Grant delightfully shares more than thirty contemporary, true, feel-good stories that spotlight the beauty of being rescued — dogs rescued by people, people rescued by dogs, and even dogs who rescue other animals. It's the perfect companion--well, besides the four-legged, tail-wagging kind--for your morning cup of coffee or an evening curled up on the couch.

“Icing on the Cake” by Tessa Huff dives deep into the art of dessert decoration and presentation of layer cakes and other show stopping treats, providing the confidence home bakers need to get creative. Guiding from cake pan to presentation to dessert plate, each dessert shows a different decorative element, artistic pastry technique, or presentation idea.

Portales Public Library

“Labyrinth” by Catherine Coulter: In Coulter’s latest novel in her Savich and Sherlock series, Agent Sherlock is driving in downtown Washington one day when her car is T-boned abruptly at an intersection, and before she loses consciousness, she witnesses a man slam up against her windshield as her car is spinning. When she wakes up later in the hospital, she finds out that the man she hit took off and can’t be found, but based on the DNA evidence from Sherlock’s Volvo, the man has been identified as Justice Cummings, an analyst for the CIA who has gone missing. Meanwhile, Special Agent Griffin Hammersmith rescues a kidnapped woman named Carson DaSilva in the small Virginia town of Gaffer’s Ridge, and Carson claims that her captor is more than likely the same man who murdered three previously missing teenage girls in the area. Unfortunately, the man in question just so happens to be not only the local sheriff’s nephew but also a member of one of the most powerful families in town, as well as a man who supposedly has psychic powers. When Griffin and Carson are both arrested by the sheriff for accusing his nephew of kidnapping and murder, Griffin calls Savich for help, and as Savich navigates through the mess of lies to find the truth, Sherlock searches for Justice Cummings.

“Chances Are…” by Richard Russo: Lincoln, Teddy, and Mickey have been best friends for decades since meeting each other back in college in the sixties, all three different but nonetheless loyal and strong in their bond. Lincoln is a married commercial real estate broker with six children, Mickey is a rock and roll musician, and Teddy is the publisher of a tiny-press magazine, and one day in September they meet up at Lincoln’s home in Martha’s Vineyard for a reunion, each with their own secrets, but also all three sharing a secret that none of them have been able to solve, the mystery of Jacy Calloway’s disappearance forty years earlier in 1971. Jacy, a good friend of theirs during college and the woman that all of them were in love with at the time, went missing during a Memorial Day weekend after graduation at none other than Martha’s Vineyard, and no one, including her friends, ever found out where she went or what happened to her. Now 66 years old, Lincoln, Teddy, and Mickey discuss the details of their lives thus far and what the present looks like for each of them, while the past, and what may have happened to Jacy, still haunts them.

“One Good Deed” by David Baldacci: In 1949, war veteran Aloysius Archer is released from Carderock Prison, sent by his parole officer to Poca City with strict instructions to stay out of trouble. Although he is told not to go to bars, not to drink alcohol, and not to associate — ever — with loose women, Archer finds, after only one day, how dangerous and difficult it is for an ex-convict to get a job in Poca, and he ends up at the local bar. Knowing he must find some sort of employment per his parole, Archer agrees to take what should be a simple job of collecting a debt owed to Hank Pittleman, a powerful businessman in town. However, Archer also finds that collecting the debt won’t be as simple as he thought, because the man who owes Hank money refuses to pay the debt due to a fierce grudge he holds against Hank, Hank’s mistress decides she wants Archer, and Miss Crabtree, Archer’s parole officer, turns out to be Hank’s parole officer as well, and she is keeping eyes on both men and their activities. Then when a murder takes place, Archer realizes that he is the first suspect, and he must do everything he can to discover who the real killer is before he is sent back to jail.

— Summaries compiled by library staff