Women in Translation Month

Looking for a new perspective? Try one of these translated titles written by women this month. #WITMonth

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada

Welcome to the not-too-distant future: Japan, having vanished from the face of the earth, is now remembered as “the land of sushi.” Hiruko, its former citizen and a climate refugee herself, has a job teaching immigrant children in Denmark with her invented language Panska (Pan-Scandinavian): “homemade language. no country to stay in. three countries I experienced. insufficient space in brain. so made new language. homemade language.” As she searches for anyone who can still speak her mother tongue, Hiruko soon makes new friends.


The Fawn by Magda Szabó

From the author of The Door and Abigail and for fans of Elena Ferrante and Clarice Lispector, a newly translated novel about a theater star who is forced to reckon with her painful and tragic past. In The Door, in Iza’s Ballad, and in Abigail, Magda Szabó describes the complex relationships between women of different ages and backgrounds with an astute and unsparing eye. Eszter, the narrator and protagonist of The Fawn, may well be Szabó’s most fascinating creation.


Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector

Near to the Wild Heart, published in Rio de Janeiro in 1943, introduced Brazil to what one writer called “Hurricane Clarice”: a twenty-three-year-old girl who wrote her first book in a tiny rented room and then baptized it with a title taken from Joyce: “He was alone, unheeded, near to the wild heart of life.”


Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

From the incomparably original Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk, Flights interweaves reflections on travel with an in-depth exploration of the human body, broaching life, death, motion, and migration. Chopin’s heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear.


All our Yesterdays by Natalia Ginzburg

This powerful novel is set against the background of Italy from 1939 to 1944, from the anxious months before the country entered the war, through the war years, to the allied victory with its trailing wake of anxiety, disappointment, and grief. In the foreground are the members of two families. One is rich, the other is not. In All Our Yesterdays, as in all of Ms. Ginzburg’s novels, terrible things happen–suicide, murder, air raids, and bombings. But seemingly less overwhelming events, like a family quarrel, adultery, or a deception, are given equal space, as if to say that, to a victim, adultery and air raids can be equally maiming. All Our Yesterdays gives a sharp portrait of a society hungry for change, but betrayed by war.


Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes

Valeria Cossati never suspected how unhappy she had become with the shabby gentility of her bourgeois life–until she begins to jot down her thoughts and feelings in a little black book she keeps hidden in a closet. This new secret activity leads her to scrutinize herself and her life more closely, and she soon realizes that her individuality is being stifled by her devotion and sense of duty toward her husband, daughter, and son. As the conflicts between parents and children, husband and wife, and friends and lovers intensify, what goes on behind the Cossatis’ facade of middle-class respectability gradually comes to light, tearing the family’s fragile fabric apart.


 

For Fans of the Movie Oppenheimer

Learn more about the history of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird

The inspiration for the major motion picture Oppenheimer, this is the definitive biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific progress.

Get it NOW with NO WAIT on hoopla!

 

Brotherhood of the Bomb: the Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller by Gregg Herken

The story of these three men, builders of the bombs, is fundamentally about loyalty-to country, to science, and to each other-and about the wrenching choices that had to be made when these allegiances came into conflict. Gregg Herken gives us the behind-the-scenes account based upon a decade of research, interviews, and newly released Freedom of Information Act and Russian documents.

 

Trinity: a Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

Trinity , the debut graphic book by the gifted illustrator Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, depicts in vivid detail the dramatic history of the race to build and the decision to drop the first atomic bomb. This sweeping historical narrative traces the spark of invention from the laboratories of nineteenth-century Europe to the massive industrial and scientific efforts of the Manhattan Project.

 

Bomb: the Race to Build– and Steal– the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

Recounts the scientific discoveries that enabled atom splitting, the military intelligence operations that occurred in rival countries, and the work of brilliant scientists hidden at Los Alamos.

 

The First War of Physics: the Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939-1949 by J. E. Baggott

The First War of Physics is a grand and frightening story of scientific ambition, intrigue, and genius: a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact. Rich in personality, action, confrontation, and deception, The First War of Physics is the first fully realized popular account of the race to build humankind’s most destructive weapon.

 

Fallout: the Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the Worldby Lesley M. M. Blume

New York Times bestselling author Lesley M.M. Blume reveals how one courageous American reporter uncovered one of the deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century–the true effects of the atom bomb–potentially saving millions of lives. Fallout is an engrossing detective story, as well as an important piece of hidden history that shows how one heroic scoop saved–and can still save–the world.

 

The Manhattan Project by Daniel Cohen

Discusses the personalities and events involved in the research, development and detonation of the atomic bombs built by the United States in the 1940s.

 

 

: the Secret Story of America’s Unknown Atomic Spy Conspiracy by Joseph

In a book that will force the revision of fifty years of scholarship and reporting on the Cold War, award-winning journalists Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel reveal for the first time a devastatingly effective Soviet spy network that infiltrated the Manhattan Project and ferried America’s top atomic secrets to Stalin.  At the heart of the network was Ted Hall, who was so secret an operative that even Klaus Fuchs, his fellow Manhattan Project scientist and Soviet agent, had no idea they were comrades. For forty years only a few Russians knew what Ted Hall really did.  Now Joseph Albright and Marcia Kunstel reveal the astonishing true story of the atomic spies who got away.  Bombshell is history at its most explosive.

If You are Waiting for the Fourth Wing…

If You are Waiting for the Fourth Wing…

Try out some of these other fantasy titles while you wait for a copy of Fourth Wing.

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.

 


The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always – always – guard your heart.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.


King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

In order to end a years-long war between vampires and mortals, Isolde must wed vampire king Adrian Aleksandr Vasiliev. But surviving the vampire court doesn’t prove to be nearly as difficult as resisting the intense attraction between her and Adrian.

St. Clair (When Stars Come Out) breathes new life into an old trope as a princess and a vampire king wed to end a years long war in this outstanding series opener. – Publisher’s Weekly


A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand

New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn, Claire Legrand, makes her stunning adult debut with A Crown of Ivy and Glass, a lush, sweeping, steamy fantasy romance series starter that’s perfect for fans of Bridgerton and A Court of Thorns and Roses.


by Jennifer Armentrout

Captivating and action-packed, From Blood and Ash is a sexy, addictive, and unexpected fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Laura Thalassa.

 


One Dark Window by Rachel Gilig

For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark, lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom–but the monster in her head isn’t the only threat lurking.

 


A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin — one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world. As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin and his world, forever.


A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

The story of a school for the magically gifted when failure means certain death–until one girl begins to unlock its many secrets.

 

New Books – 1928 Edition

For decades the Sewickley Herald featured columns with information about new books the library had added to the collection.  This article from January 1928, less than five years after our current building opened, features seven books added to the collection. So what ever happened to these books? Does the library still have any of them? Can you still get them today?

We start with China Today Through Chinese Eyes. A New York Times review from the time mentions an article that delves into the Literary Revolution in China, a movement of books beginning to be published in the popular Chinese language away from the traditional Chinese.  The book is no longer part of Sewickley’s collection.  In fact, it can’t be found at any library in Allegheny County.  The closest place to find a printed copy of the book today would be Carlow University’s library in Pittsburgh:  https://www.worldcat.org/title/874929035.

My Lady of the India Pudah by Elizabeth Cooper  can no longer be checked out at the Sewickley Public Library.  However, if you get a public library card in Cleveland you can place a hold on this book today.  Of course, they will have the retrieve it from their offsite storage first!  Who has time for that?  If you really want to read about the Hindu princess Natara you can read it for free on Google Books right now.

Care and Feeding of Children by  L.E. Holt is a republication of Holt’s original 1894 publication.  Luther Emmett Holt was the head physian at New York’s Babies Hospital and this book was later “selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it,” according to a 2015 republication.  This book can’t be found at Sewickley or in our system either, but you can find another book by L.E. Holt called Food, Health and Growth from 1922 if you want to venture into Oakland and check out the Carnegie Library’s closed reference collection.

George Washington by Rupert Hughes is a two volume set on our first US president.  The first volume is subtitled The Human Being & The Hero, 1732-1762, the second volume is The Savior of the States 1777-1781. One would think that a library is sure to hold onto a biography of our first president, right? Sadly, no libraries have held onto this one either! You can access the full text for free thanks to archive.org and Trent University.  Don’t worry you can still find close to 20 George Washington biographies at SPL.

The Meadows by J.C. Van Dyke explores the natural beauty of the Raritan Valley in…New Jersey.  John Charles Van Dyke was an art historian, critic, and nature writer who was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Although no libraries around kept this 95 year old book there has been at least one positive Good Reads review from a fellow New Jersian.

At last we come to Best Plays of 1926-1927.  The book surely featured the play Show Boat, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein (pre-Richard Rodgers).  Although we can’t see a scanned, digital version of the book to confirm Show Boat’s inclusion we can request the book with a library card.  That’s right, this is the one book from 1928 that remains at a library in Allegheny County.  You can request the book from the Wilkinsburg Public Library and pretend it’s predepression (1928) Sewickley once again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Popular 2023 Books

Popular 2023 Books

What are people reading this year (so far…)?

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

A deliciously funny, sharply observed debut of family, love, and class, this zeitgeisty novel follows three women in one wealthy Brooklyn clan.

 


Hello Beautiful by Ann Naplintano

William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him–so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. With the Padavanos, William experiences a newfound contentment; every moment in their house is filled with loving chaos.


The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

“A triumph of historical fiction” ( The Washington Post ), an instant New York Times bestseller, and a Reese’s Book Club pick, set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal.


The House is on Fire by Rachel Beanland

Told from the perspectives of four people whose actions changed the course of history, this masterful work of historical fiction takes readers back to 1811 Richmond, Virginia, where, on the night after Christmas, the city’s only theater burned to the ground, tearing apart a community.


The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Five years ago, Geeta lost her no-good husband. As in, she actually lost him–he walked out on her and she has no idea where he is. But in her remote village in India, rumor has it that Geeta killed him. And it’s a rumor that just won’t die.


Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros. Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda–because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die


The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

Proctor Bennet works for the Department of Social Contracts as a ferryman, gently shepherding people through the “retirement” process — and, when necessary, enforcing it.  He receives a disturbing and cryptic message from his father, who is himself about to be retired, that causes Proctor to question everything he once believed.


Lone Woman by Victor LaValle

In 1915, Adelaide Henry, after her secret sin killed her parents, sets out for Montana, dragging an enormous steamer trunk that’s locked at all times, to become one of the “lone women” taking advantage of the government’s offer of free land where she hopes to bury her past.


 

Literal Beach Reads

Literal Beach Reads

These books will literally whisk you away to the beach!

Five Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hotel Nantucket : After tragedy strikes, Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages in her life to spend an unforgettable weekend on Nantucket.

 


Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum

Emma Rosenblum’s Bad Summer People is a whip-smart, propulsive debut about infidelity, backstabbing, and murderous intrigue, set against an exclusive summer haven on Fire Island.

 


The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton

New York heiress Catherine Dohan seemingly has it all. There’s only one problem. It’s a lie. As soon as the Morro Castle leaves port, Catherine’s past returns with a vengeance and threatens her life. Joining forces with a charismatic jewel thief, Catherine must discover who wants her dead – and why.


The Celebrants by Steven Rowley

A Big Chill for our times, celebrating decades-long friendships and promises–especially to ourselves–by the bestselling and beloved author of The Guncle.

 


Summer Reading by Jenn McKinlay

When a woman who’d rather do anything than read meets a swoon-worthy bookworm, sparks fly, making for one hot-summer fling in New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay’s new rom-com.

 

Quick Read Classics

Are you thinking of tackling a classic book this summer?  Not quite ready for War and Peace or Middlemarch?  How about a short classic?  Check out one of those well-known books you’ve always meant to read!  And all are under 200 pages!

The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

This best-selling sensation when first published in 1934, is still one of the best, most important, and most interesting crime novels in the canon.

 

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression — and a gateway into the work of  Steinbeck.

 

 

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

Set among the bohemian bars and nightclubs of 1950s Paris, this groundbreaking novel about love and the fear of love is “a book that belongs in the top rank of fiction.”

 

 

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

The novel that first made Willa Cather famous–a powerfully mythic tale of the American frontier told through the life of one extraordinary woman.

 

 

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany’s. In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape–her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.

 

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

The most widely read book in modern African literature tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a fearless Igbo warrior in Nigeria.

 

 

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

One of the most important and enduring works of the twentieth century.  A southern love story told with wit and pathos — perhaps one of the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the cannon of African-American literature.

 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers.

 

Page 1The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark

The girls of Spark’s novel live in the May of Teck Club in London, disturbed but not destroyed by WWII—both the Club, that is, and the girls.

Upcoming Spring Mysteries & Thrillers

APRIL

City of Dreams by Don Winslow – April 18

Following the epic, ambitious, instant New York Times bestseller City on Fire, “The Godfather for our generation” (Adrian McKinty), comes the dramatic second novel in an epic crime trilogy from Don Winslow, #1 internationally bestselling author of the Cartel trilogy (The Power of the Dog, The Cartel and The Border).


Where are the Children Now? by Mary Higgins Clark – April 18

The legacy of the “Queen of Suspense” continues with the highly anticipated follow-up to Mary Higgins Clark’s iconic novel Where Are The Children? , featuring the children of Nancy Harmon, facing peril once again as adults.


The Tip Line by Vanessa Cuti – April 18

Eager to get married, thirty-year-old Virginia Carey lands a job as an operator at a police tip line, where she thinks finding a husband will be easy. There’s Charlie Ford, a surprisingly sweet homicide detective, and charming police chief Declan “Deck” Brady. But just as Virginia’s plans begin to fall into place and she can almost picture a ring on her finger, she answers a call from Verona-a mysterious woman who provides a tip about four bodies on a remote local beach.


Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane – April 25

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling writer returns with a masterpiece to rival Mystic River–an all-consuming tale of revenge, family love, festering hate, and insidious power, set against one of the most tumultuous episodes in Boston’s history.


The Eden Test by Adam Sternbergh – April 25

From Edgar Award-finalist Adam Sternbergh, an electrifying domestic suspense novel for fans of The Perfect Marriage and Rock Paper Scissors , about a couple who are forced to the ultimate extremes to save their marriage–and themselves.


MAY

The 23rd Midnight by James Patterson – May 1

The latest in this “successful and suspenseful” ( Entertainment Weekly ) series: an attention-seeking copycat is recreating murders by a famous killer from the Women’s Murder Club’s past–with devastating new twists.

 


The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis – May 23

A dream girls trip to a luxurious French chateau devolves into a deadly nightmare of secrets and murder in this stylish, twisty thriller for fans of Lucy Foley, Ruth Ware, and Lisa Jewell.

 


Beware the Woman by Megan Abbot – May 30

By the “master of thinly veiled secrets often kept by women who rage underneath their delicate exteriors” (Kirkus Reviews), Beware the Woman is Megan Abbott at the height of her game.

 


Drowning by T. J. Newman – May 30

Flight attendant turned New York Times bestselling author T. J. Newman–whose first book Falling was an instant #1 national bestseller and the biggest thriller debut of 2021–returns for her second book, an edge-of-your-seat thriller about a commercial jetliner that crashes into the ocean, and sinks to the bottom with passengers trapped inside, and the extraordinary rescue operation to save them.


Killing Moon by Joe Nesbo – May 30

This killer will get inside your head. * Brilliant rogue police investigator Harry Hole is back, this time as an outsider assembling his own team to help find a serial killer who is murdering young women in Oslo in the next novel in the New York Times best-selling series.

 

 

Novels Set in Western PA

Novels Set in Western PA

Pittsburgh Novels interactive map example

Example of the interactive map feature

We are excited to announce that the Penn State University Libraries’ Open Publishing program has launched “The Pittsburgh Novel: Western Pennsylvania in Fiction and Drama, 1792–2022.” This online annotated bibliography compiled by Peter Oresick and Jake Oresick includes all known fiction with a significant geographical setting in any of Pennsylvania’s 26 westernmost counties published between 1792 and 2022 – more than 1,500 works.

The searchable bibliography organizes content using keywords, genres and place settings and includes abstracts and notes for each entry. Places are nested in each entry by county, municipality, neighborhood, sub-neighborhood and landmark. A unique feature of the bibliography is the interactive map. Clicking on a region in the map provides a list of titles associated with that region or zone with links to that title in the bibliography.

The bibliography includes national bestsellers, award-winning films and screenplays of popular motion pictures, children’s and young adult works, scripts of plays and television series, and obscure and self-published titles.

Read more about this project here:  Penn State University Libraries launches online bibliography of western Pa. fiction (PSU News – January 31, 2023)

Search the database here.

Library Lovers Book Picks

Love Your LibraryWhat do Sewickley Public Library users love to read?  During Love Your Library month we asked you, and received about 100 responses on our display.  Here is a highlight of some of the responses, maybe you can find something new that would spark your interest!

 

Where’d You Go Bernadette / Maria Semple

When her notorious, hilarious, volatile, talented, troubled and agoraphobic mother goes missing, teenage Bee begins a trip that takes her to the ends of the earth to find her.

Where the Crawdads Sing / Delia Owens

Viewed with suspicion in the aftermath of a tragedy, a beautiful hermit who has survived for years in a marsh becomes targeted by unthinkable forces.

The Handmaid’s Tale / Margaret Atwood

Offred, a Handmaid, describes life in what was once the United States, now the Republic of Gilead, a shockingly repressive and intolerant monotheocracy, in a satirical tour de force set in the near future.

100 Years of Solitude / Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The evolution and eventual decadence of a small South American town is mirrored in the family history of the Buendias.

The Godfather / Mario Puzo

The Godfather is an extraordinary novel which has become a modern day classic. Puzo pulls us inside the violent society of the Mafia and its gang wars. The leader, Vito Corleone, is the Godfather. He is a benevolent despot who stops at nothing to gain and hold power. His command post is a fortress on Long Island from which he presides over a vast underground empire that includes the rackets, gambling, bookmaking, and unions. His influence runs through all levels of American society, from the cop on the beat to the nation’s mighty.

Ten Thousand Doors of January / Alix Harrow

A woman navigating the out-of-place artifacts in her caretaker’s sprawling early 20th-century mansion discovers a mysterious book that reveals impossible truths about the world and her own past.

And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie

Ten houseguests, trapped on an isolated island, are the prey of a diabolical killer. A famous nursery rhyme is framed and hung in every room of the mansion: Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine–When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale?

The Thursday Murder Club / Richard Osman

Meeting weekly in their retirement village’s Jigsaw Room to exchange theories about unsolved crimes, four savvy septuagenarians propose a daring but unorthodox plan to help a woman rookie cop solve her first big murder case.

7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle / Stuart Turton

Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden Bishop must solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle in order to escape the curse in a world filled with enemies where nothing and no one are quite what they seem

Cloud Cuckoo Land / Anthony Doerr

Follows four young dreamers and outcasts through time and space, from 1453 Constantinople to the future, as they discover resourcefulness and hope amidst peril in the new novel by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author All the Light We Cannot See.

Running with Scissors / Augusten Burroughs

The author describes his bizarre coming-of-age years after his adoption by his mother’s psychiatrist, during which he witnessed such misadventures as a fake suicide attempt and front-lawn family/patient sleepovers.

President’s Club / Nancy Gibbs

Traces the history of the presidential fraternity conceived by Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover during Eisenhower’s inauguration, exploring the ways in which the nation’s presidents depended on, sabotaged, and formed alliances that had world-changing impacts.