Looking for something to read over your long weekend, but the library is closed (We’re open on Friday and Saturday from 10-3, closed Sunday and Monday)? Hoopla has you covered! Check out a short audiobook to read on your phone in an afternoon as you enjoy the late Spring sunshine.
An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good/ Helene Tursten
read by Suzanne Toren
Maud is an irascible eighty-eight-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and . . . no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss Investigation series, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.
Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father’s ancient armchair. It’s a solitary existence, and she likes it that way.
Over the course of her adventures-or misadventures-this little bold lady will handle a crisis with a local celebrity who has her eyes on Maud’s apartment, foil the engagement of her long-ago lover, and dispose of some pesky neighbors. But when the local authorities are called to investigate a dead body found in Maud’s apartment, will Maud finally become a suspect?
Part 1 of the Hercule Poirot series
A set textbook at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since publication, Newt Scamander’s masterpiece has entertained wizarding families through the generations. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an indispensable introduction to the magical beasts of the wizarding world. Scamander’s years of travel and research have created a tome of unparalleled importance. Some of the beasts will be familiar to readers of the Harry Potter books – the Hippogriff, the Basilisk, the Hungarian Horntail…Others will surprise even the most ardent amateur Magizoologist. Narrated by Eddie Redmayne, this is the first audio book edition of Scamander’s textbook ever to be released. Having starred as Newt Scamander himself in the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, who better to narrate this Hogwarts Library book from one of the wizarding world’s most famous Magizoologists?
Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman’s coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder; Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot’s mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father-an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist-who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame. Mailhot trusts us to understand that memory isn’t exact, but melded to imagination, pain, and what we can bring ourselves to accept. Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story, and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people, and to her place in the world.
read by Sy Montgomery
A Memoir in Thirteen AnimalsUnderstanding someone who belongs to another species can be transformative. No one knows this better than author, naturalist, and adventurer Sy Montgomery. To research her books, Sy has traveled the world and encountered some of the planet’s rarest and most beautiful animals. From tarantulas to tigers, Sy’s life continually intersects with and is informed by the creatures she meets.
This restorative memoir reflects on the personalities and quirks of thirteen animals-Sy’s friends-and the truths revealed by their grace. It also explores vast themes: the otherness and sameness of people and animals; the various ways we learn to love and become empathetic; how we find our passion; how we create our families; coping with loss and despair; gratitude; forgiveness; and most of all, how to be a good creature in the world.
THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!!
Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame) has already released four books in a series about British detective Cormoran Strike. The primary case in the first book, called “The Cuckoo’s Calling”, concerns the death of a super model. At first it appears to be a suicide. Is it? If not, who did it? There is real danger in the pursuit of the answers. Cormoran is not a “regular private investigator” but one with a difficult and varied history. He’s a war veteran who suffered physical and psychological trauma. That led to career, financial, and relationship difficulties. Out of necessity, he hired a supposedly temporary assistant-secretary. She has secretly harbored a desire to become an investigator. Does the association turn permanent? What about her fiancée?
I will try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.