New Materials - December 6, 2022

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A biweekly selection from our shelves, as curated by your favorite SPL librarians!


For the week of December 6, 2022:  Fiction | Nonfiction | Graphic Novels | Movies/TV, Music & More


Fiction

Battle of the Linguist Mages Battle of the Linguist Mages by Scotto Moore

In modern day Los Angeles, a shadowy faction led by the Governor of California develops the arcane art of combat linguistics, planting the seeds of a future totalitarian empire in Scotto Moore's Battle of the Linguist Mages.

A Map for the Missing A Map for the Missing by Belinda Huijuan Tang

An epic, mesmerizing debut novel set against a rapidly changing post-Cultural Revolution China, A Map for the Missing reckons with the costs of pursuing one's dreams and the lives we leave behind.

Small Town, Big Magic Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck

For fans of THE EX HEX and PAYBACK'S A WITCH, a fun, witchy rom-com in which a bookstore owner who is fighting to revitalize a small midwestern town clashes with her rival, the mayor, and uncovers not only a clandestine group that wields a dark magic to control the idyllic river hamlet, but hidden powers she never knew she possessed.

The Storyteller's Death The Storyteller's Death by Ann Dávila Cardinal

From International Latino Book Award-winning author Ann Dávila Cardinal comes a gorgeously written family saga about a Puerto Rican woman who finds herself gifted (or cursed?) with a strange ability.

Violets Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin

In Violets, best-selling author Kyung-Sook Shin explores misogyny, erasure, and repressed desire, as San desperately searches for both autonomy and attachment in the unforgiving reality of contemporary Korean society.

The Witch and the Tsar The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

In this stunning debut novel, the maligned and immortal witch of legend known as Baba Yaga will risk all to save her country and her people from Tsar Ivan the Terrible--and the dangerous gods who seek to drive the twisted hearts of men.

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Nonfiction

American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics by Kevin Hazzard

The extraordinary story of an unjustly forgotten group of Black men in Pittsburgh who became the first paramedics in America, saving lives and changing the course of emergency medicine around the world.

Brujas: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color Brujas: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color by Lorraine Monteagut

Witchcraft has made a comeback in popular culture, especially among feminists. A growing subculture of BIPOC witches, led by Afro-Caribbean immigrants, Indigenous Americans, and other witches of color, is reclaiming their ancestral traditions and contributing their voices to the feminist witchcraft of today. Brujas chronicles the magical lives of these practitioners as they develop their healing arts, express their progressive politics, and extend their personal rituals into community activism.

Furniture Makeovers: Simple Techniques for Transforming Furniture with Paint, Stains, Paper, Stencils, and More Furniture Makeovers: Simple Techniques for Transforming Furniture with Paint, Stains, Paper, Stencils, and More by Barb Blair

Furniture Makeovers shows how to transform tired furniture into stunning showpieces. You'll never look at a hand-me-down dresser the same way again! The book offers 26 easy-to-follow techniques that can be applied to all different types of pieces, from bookshelves to desks: painting, applying gold leaf, wallpapering, distressing, dip dyeing, and more.

In the Houses of Their Dead: The Lincolns, the Booths, and the Spirits In the Houses of Their Dead: The Lincolns, the Booths, and the Spirits by Terry Alford

In the Houses of Their Dead is the first book of the many thousands written about Lincoln to focus on the president’s fascination with Spiritualism, and to demonstrate how it linked him, uncannily, to the man who would kill him.

Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell

In a sparkling, beautifully illustrated social history, Skirts traces the shifting roles of women over the twentieth century through the era’s most iconic and influential dresses.

Take up Space: The Unprecedented AOC Take up Space: The Unprecedented AOC by the editors of New York Magazine

A stunning four-color biography of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the bestselling tradition of Notorious RBG and Pelosi that explores her explosive rise and impact on the future of American culture and politics.

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Graphic Novels

All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End: The Cartoons of Charles Johnson All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End: The Cartoons of Charles Johnson by Charles Johnson

Years before he wrote his National Book Award-winning novel Middle Passage, Charles Johnson created these sidesplitting and subversive gag comics about Black life in America, now collected for the first time in nearly half a century.

Creepy Creepy by Lee Sensenbrenner & Keiler Roberts

In this picture book for grown-ups, sibling duo Keiler Roberts and Lee Sensenbrenner render a compelling--and downright creepy--modern fable about kids who are hooked on their digital devices.

Demon in the Wood Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardugo & Dani Pendergast

A prequel to the "Grisha Trilogy" takes the reader into Ravka's mysterious past, when Grisha lived as fugitives and the Darkling took his first steps on the path to power.

The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere by James Spooner

A formative coming-of-age graphic memoir by the creator of Afro-punk: a young man's immersive reckoning with identity, racism, clumsy teen love and belonging in an isolated California desert, and a search for salvation and community through punk.

Saga. Vol. 10 Saga. Vol. 10 by Brian K. Vaughan

At long last, Hazel and her star-crossed family are finally back, and they’ve made some new...friends? This collection features the latest six chapters of the most epic adventure in comics, including the series' double-sized first issue back from hiatus.

Thieves Thieves by Lucie Bryon

Ella and Madeleine don't know it yet, but they're about to embark on the strangest romantic adventure of their lives, and it's not just their hearts that are getting stolen in this laugh-out-loud, capering graphic novel.

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Movies/TV, Music & More

Movies/TV

The Great. Season Two The Great. Season Two
Format: DVD

The Great returns in Season Two from Golden Globe and Academy Award nominee Tony McNamara (The Favourite). Catherine finally takes the Russian throne for her own- but if she thought coup-ing her husband was difficult, it's nothing compared to the realities of liberating a country that doesn't want to be. She'll battle her court, her team, even her own mother in a bid to bring the Enlightenment to Russia.

I'm Your Man I'm Your Man by Benedict Neuenfels
Format: BluRay

In order to obtain funds for her research, Alma is persuaded to participate in an extraordinary study. For three weeks she is required to live with Tom, a humanoid robot designed to be the perfect life partner for her, trailored to her character and needs.

Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop by Brad Watson
Format: DVD

A University professor with an insatiable appetite for investigation is asked by some old family friends to investigate a series of hauntings at their antique bookstore.

Music

Keep Me in Mind Keep Me in Mind by Miriam Makeba
Format: CD

This new reissue of the album is presented in its original artwork and features rare photos and new extensive liner notes by Francis Gooding of The Wire. Remastered from the original tapes by The Carvery.

A Well-tempered Conversation: J.S. Bach & Beyond A Well-tempered Conversation: J.S. Bach & Beyond by Julien Libeer
Format: CD

To mark the 300th Anniversary of the publication of Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Julien Libeer had the idea of presenting it in an unusual light: here he initiates a dialogue in which Bach's major- key prelude-and-fugue pairs 'converse' with later pieces (in the corresponding minor keys) by composers who, in their own way, have built upon the advances Johann Sebastian made in his foundational undertaking. Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Ligeti and Schoenberg are all part of the conversation with the Leipzig Cantor in this intricate play of mirrors.

& More

Will Will by Will Smith
Format: Spoken CD

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.

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