Adult Services Newsletter
Vol. 20 02/01/2024
Welcoming Winter and Sweater Weather
What do you do on those cold, dreary days of winter? Visit us at the library to get a good book, entertaining movie or a craft to take and make at home. Another option to beat the winter blues is to take part in one of our programs. Learn card making, create a fabric bookmark, meet an author...we have lots of opportunities listed on our website and in this newsletter.
Brittany, Melody, and Beth
Adult Services
House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
Goodreads rating 4.51
The stunning third book in the sexy, action-packed Crescent City series, following the global bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath.
Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.
Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.
In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
Goodreads rating 4.26
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Historical Fiction (2023)From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring and redemptive novel 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.
1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright.
Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his parents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done.
With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Goodreads rating 4.06
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood--where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned--Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor--engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.
Like the protagonist of Gulliver's Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey--hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
Goodreads 4.11 stars
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Goodreads 4.18 Stars
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65678550-the-heaven-earth-grocery-store
Let Us Descend by Jasmyn Ward
Nominated for a Goodreads Choice award in 2023 for Best Historical Fiction
Goodreads 3.76 Stars
Red Velvet Cheesecake
For the cheesecake layer:
- cream cheese
- sugar
- vanilla extract
- sour cream or Greek yogurt
- heavy cream
- eggs
For the red velvet cake layers:
- flour
- salt (I like to use Pink Himalayan salt)
- cocoa powder
- baking soda
- eggs
- vanilla
- buttermilk
- vegetable oil
- liquid red food coloring
For the cream cheese frosting:
- butter
- cream cheese
- vanilla extract
- powder sugar
TO MAKE THE CHEESECAKE LAYER:
Prepare a 9″ spring form pan (or a cake pan with removable bottom), line parchment paper on the bottom, and spray it with oil.
With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and mix for 3-4 minutes, until combined. Scrape gown the sides of bowl, to make sure all cream cheese is incorporated. Then add sour cream, heavy cream and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beat until incorporated. Pour batter into the cheesecake pan.
Place pan on the upper rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is set. Transfer cheesecake to a cooling rack and let it cool down completely, without opening the sides of the springform. When completely cool, freeze for at least 2 hours or overnight. The frozen cheesecake layer is easier to use when assembling the cake.
RED VELVET CAKE LAYERS:
PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 F.
Prepare 2 9″ cake pans and spray them with baking spray. In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder and baking soda and give mixture a stir.
Add eggs, buttermilk, oil and food coloring and mix for 2-3 minutes on medium speed until blended. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula if needed. Spread batter into cake pans, dividing the amount equally. Bake for 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Take out of the oven and let them cool for 15 minutes. Remove cake layers from pans and set on a cooling rack to cool down completely.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
All ingredients should be at room temperature. Combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Mix until creamy and smooth, but do not overheat.
TO ASSEMBLE AND FROST THE CAKE:
Place 1 red velvet cake layer onto the bottom of a cake stand (cake plate) and add frozen cheesecake over it. If cheesecake layer is slightly larger, shave off some of the sides of it to make them the same size. Add the other cake layer on top. Using a long and thin spatula apply a thin coat of frosting to the cake. Make sure you wipe off cake crumbs of the spatula, so they don’t transfer to the bowl of icing. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Then add a second, thicker layer of cream cheese frosting to the cake, spreading it evenly. Decorate cake with a piping bag or some chocolate shavings. I used white chocolate shavings for mine. Keep cake in the fridge.
If cheesecake layer is slightly larger, shave off some of the sides of it to make them the same size.
Add the other cake layer on top. Using a long and thin spatula apply a thin coat of frosting to the cake. Make sure you wipe off cake crumbs of the spatula, so they don’t transfer to the bowl of icing. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Then add a second, thicker layer of cream cheese frosting to the cake, spreading it evenly. Decorate cake with a piping bag , fresh berries or some chocolate shavings. I used to decorate mine with white chocolate shavings. Now I only added strawberries. Keep cake in the fridge.
Friends of the Library
All of our events are made possible through the generosity of the Friends of the Library. The Friends of the Library was founded to support the Danville Public Library in various ways. They sponsor all library programs as well as help buy the supplies/equipment needed for programs through membership dues and fundraising activities. We are always looking for more members! If you are interested in becoming a member of the Friends of the Library, please visit our website here for more information. You may also click here to download a printable brochure and membership form.
