Library News: November 3rd, 2023

This week, two new fiction books are in focus at the Marcellus Township Library.
A couple of authors have weighed in on why we read fiction. Michael Scott,
author of The Warlock, wrote “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For
knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces
the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." Quoting
David Foster Wallace, “good fiction's job is to comfort the disturbed and disturb
the comfortable.”

Sisters Under the Rising Sun: A Novel by Heather Morris. During World War II,
Norah Chambers, an English Musician, places Sally, her eight-year-old daughter
on a ship leaving Singapore in a desperate attempt to keep the child safe as the
island falls to the Japanese Army. In the meantime, Nesta James, an Australian
Nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as the Japanese Army overruns
the island, Nesta joins the terrified cargo of people, including heartbroken Norah,
crammed onto the Vyner Brooke, a merchant ship. Just two days later, the Vyner
Brooke is bombed from the air off the coast of Indonesia and sinks in a matter of
hours. Norah and Nesta survive twenty-four hours in the sea and reach the
beach of a remote island, only to be captured and held in one of the Japanese
POW camps notorious for being places of starvation, brutality, and disease. Even
in this place though, joy can be found in music. Norah's 'voice orchestra' has the
power to transport the internees out of the squalor and into the light. Together,
Norah and Nesta devote themselves to the women's survival while discovering
their own extraordinary reserves of courage, love, and strength. This is a story of
women in war: a novel of sisterhood, bravery, and friendship in the darkest of
circumstances. Heather Morris is the best selling author of The Tattooist of
Auschwitz, Cilka’s Journey, and Three Sisters.

The River We Remember: A Novel by William Kent Krueger. On Memorial Day
in Jewel, Minnesota, the body of Jimmy Quinn, a wealthy landowner, is found
floating in the Alabaster River. He was killed by a shotgun blast. Sheriff Brody
Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional
scars from his military service, will need to investigate Quinn's murder. Even
before the autopsy results are in, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer
has to be Noah Bluestone, a Native American World War II Veteran who has
recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations
mount and with the town teetering on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles
not only to find the truth about Quinn's murder but also to put his own demons
from the past to rest. Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through the
town are a war widow and her teenage son, the fearless publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom
struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn's death
threatens to expose. This book looks at the wounds left by wars we fight abroad
and at home and is a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal.

Upcoming events:
Yoga with Dave Sivley, October 9 - Nov 27, Mondays at 6:30 PM. Bring your
mat, water and a towel along with $5.00 per session payable to Dave.

Preschool Story Hour, Wednesdays 10:15 AM. Stories, music, movement &
crafts for ages 0-5 and their parents/caregivers.

Game Night AND Movies & Popcorn, November 29th, the last Wednesday of
each month at 6:00 PM. We'll have fresh popcorn and a movie during game
night! All ages are welcome!

First Thursday Book Club 2023, November 2, 2023, 12 NOON-1 PM. Join
others to chat about what you have been reading or to get suggestions from
others.

Crochet Class, instructed by Korinne New. Bring 1 skein #4 medium weight yarn
(lighter color is recommended for visibility), crochet hook size 5 or 5.5 mm,
scissors. Thursdays, October 19th-November 9th at 6:00 PM.

Stitch Together, Thursdays, November 16-December 21 at 6:00 PM. Join us to
socialize while crocheting or knitting! No formal instruction is provided, but peer-
to-peer support & troubleshooting is encouraged!

Lego at the Library, Fridays 3:00-4:30 PM. Build & create with our Lego &
Duplo collections! All ages are welcome (but parents are responsible for
preventing choking risks for small children)! Donations of gently-used Legos will
be greatly appreciated!