OSL Library – The Intercom, November 2017

Monthly Book Club for Adults
The Book Club for Adults meets at 7:00 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month in the OSL Library to discuss that month’s novel. The November 16 selection will be Swing Time by Zadie Smith, an ambitious, exuberant new novel moving from north west London to West Africa, by the award-winning author of White Teeth and On Beauty.

Two brown girls dream of being dancers—but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It’s a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early 20s, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either.

Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighborhood behind, traveling the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live.

When Aimee develops grand philanthropic ambitions, the story moves from London to West Africa, where displaced tourists travel back in time to find their roots, young men risk their lives to escape into a different future, the women dance just like Tracey—the same twists, the same shakes—and the origins of a profound inequality are not a matter of distant history, but a present dance to the music of time.

Join this exciting community of readers! A list of the remaining 2017 selections is available in the OSL Library.

New Books for Adults
Though I Stumble by Kim Cash Tate. Four women, one weekend, and their lives will never be the same. Four women in different seasons of life converge at a women’s conference—with a theme that charges them to run “in hot pursuit” for Christ. But how do they run when challenges seem insurmountable? Can they help one another navigate the difficult terrain?

Stephanie London thought she’d heard from God when she moved to Hope Springs, N.C. But a tragedy in that small town left her soul desolate. Bereft of hope, she travels home to St. Louis as the women’s ministry conference kicks off. Though less than enthused to attend, new friendships offer strength and light. But what happens when the weekend ends and real life begins again?

Treva Langston still grieves the loss of her husband of 22 years. Now, two years later, her heart is breaking again as her oldest daughter’s travails come to light. Traveling from D.C. to St. Louis for a women’s conference seems the last thing she should do, given the circumstances. But in St. Louis her path crosses with someone new—and her world turns upside-down. Will it only lead to more heartbreak?

Jillian Mason can’t wait to attend the Living Word women’s conference. She’s done their Bible studies for years and expects God to show up in an amazing way, but the weekend delivers something unexpected—a discovery about her husband. As the state of her marriage hangs in the balance, Jillian is suddenly anxious about returning home.

Faith Langston has always been a girl after God’s heart. She loves Living Word studies and registered early for the conference. At the end of her college sophomore year, however, she finds herself in circumstances she never imagined—with a heart that has strayed from God. She makes it to St. Louis nonetheless, with her boyfriend in tow—but how will she find her way back to God?

Additional New Titles
• Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World by Max Lucado
• Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World by Eric Metaxas
• Another Woman’s Daughter by Fiona Sussman

New for Middle- and
High-School Youth
Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen. In her most incisive and insightful book yet, the author of The Running Dream and Flipped offers a remarkable portrait of a girl who has hit rock bottom but begins a climb back to herself at a wilderness survival camp in the desert.

At 3:47 a.m. they come for Wren Clemmens. She’s hustled out of her house and into a waiting car, then a plane, and then taken on a forced march into the desert. This is what happens to kids who’ve gone so far off the rails, and their parents don’t know what to do with them anymore. This is wilderness therapy camp. Eight weeks of survivalist camping in the desert. Eight weeks to turn your life around. Yeah, right.

The Wren who arrives in the Utah desert is angry and bitter and blames everyone but herself. However, angry can’t put up a tent, and bitter won’t start a fire. Wren’s going to have to admit she needs help if she’s going to survive.

Additional New Titles
• Hidden Figures: Young Reader’s Edition by Margot Lee Shetterly
• The Witches by Ronald Dahl

OSL Library Online Catalog
Anyone may access the OSL Library’s online catalog, OPAC, to search for items, see a carousel of new books, read snapshots of featured books, access tutorials for using OPAC, view Library news and messages, and more. If you’ve provided your e-mail address, you may view your personal OPAC account to reserve and renew items, develop watch lists, and more. See Library staff for log-in details.