Adult Services Newsletter
Vol. 18 12/01/2023
Welcoming Winter and Sweater Weather
We hope everyone had a fabulous Holiday and a Happy New Year. With the new year comes a new reading goal! Have you set your reading goal for 2024? This time of year also brings colder, snowy days, just perfect for reading a good book. Take part in our Sweater Weather Reading Challenge and you can enjoy a book while earning prizes too. Check out the details later in this newsletter.
Brittany, Melody, and Beth
Adult Services
The Little Liar by Mitch Albom
Goodreads rating 4.64
Beloved bestselling author Mitch Albom returns with a powerful novel that moves from a coastal Greek city during the Holocaust, to America, where the intertwined lives of three survivors are forever changed by the perils of deception and the grace of redemption. Eleven-year-old Nico Krispis never told a lie. When the Nazi’s invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading to “new homes” where they are promised jobs and safety. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy goes to the station platform every day and reassures the passengers that the journey is safe. But when the final train is at the station, Nico sees his family being loaded into a large boxcar crowded with other neighbors. Only after it is too late does Nico discover that he helped send the people he loved—and all the others—to their doom at Auschwitz. Nico never tells the truth again. In The Little Liar, his first novel set during the Holocaust, Mitch Albom interweaves the stories of Nico, his brother Sebastian, and their schoolmate Fanni, who miraculously survive the death camps and spend years searching for Nico, who has become a pathological liar, and the Nazi officer who radically changed their lives. As the decades pass, Albom reveals the consequences of what they said, did, and endured. A moving parable that explores honesty, survival, revenge and devotion, The Little Liar is Mitch Albom at his very best. Narrated by the voice of Truth itself, it is a timeless story about the harm we inflict with our deceits, and the power of love to ultimately redeem us.
Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco
Goodreads rating 4.20
Sinner. Villain. Wicked.
The Prince of Envy has never claimed to be a saint. But when a cryptic note arrives, signaling the beginning of a deadly game, he knows it will take more than a hint of sin to win and save his falling demon court. Riddles, hexed objects, anonymous players, nothing will stand in his way, though none of his meticulous plans prepare him for her, the frustrating artist who ignites his sin like no other…
Virtuous. Darling. Liar.
The trouble with scoundrels and blackguards is that they haven’t a modicum of honor, a fact Miss Camilla Antonius learns after one desperate mistake allows Waverly Green’s most notorious rake to blackmail her. To avoid a ruinous scandal, Camilla is forced to enter a devil’s bargain with Envy, little expecting his game will awaken her true nature . . .
Together, Envy and Camilla must embark on a perilous journey through the Underworld—from glittering demon courts to the sultry vampire realm and beyond—while trying to avoid the most dangerous trap of all: falling in love.
really good, actually by Monica Heisey
Goodreads rating 3.17
A hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one woman’s messy search for joy and meaning in the wake of an unexpected breakup, from comedian, essayist, and award-winning screenwriter Monica Heisey
Maggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days, but at the ripe old age of twenty-nine, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™.
Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4 am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.
Laugh-out-loud funny and filled with sharp observations, Really Good, Actually is a tender and bittersweet comedy that lays bare the uncertainties of modern love, friendship, and our search for that thing we like to call “happiness”. This is a remarkable debut from an unforgettable new voice in fiction.
Hot Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- ▢12 Tablespoons (170 g) unsalted butter softened
- ▢1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
- ▢½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- ▢4 large eggs room temperature preferred
- ▢2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ▢2 ½ cups (313 g) all-purpose flour
- ▢1 cup (100 g) natural cocoa powder
- ▢1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ▢¾ teaspoon salt
- ▢½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar for rolling
- ▢18 marshmallows cut in half
Chocolate topping
- ▢1 cup (170 g) milk chocolate chips
- ▢¼ cup (60 ml) heavy cream
Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until completely combined.
In a separate medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring until completely combined.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (I usually chill mine overnight).
After the dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Scoop dough into 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized balls and roll into a smooth ball with the palms of your hands, then roll through granulated sugar until completely coated. Transfer to a baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 2” apart and bake in center rack of 350F (175C) oven for 10-12 minutes. Meanwhile, ensure your marshmallows are prepared (cut in half)
Immediately after removing cookies from the oven, carefully press half a marshmallow directly into the center of the cookie (sticky side down). Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for several minutes before carefully transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely before topping with chocolate.
Chocolate topping
Combine chocolate and heavy cream in a small microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave for 25 seconds, stir well, and heat again for 25 seconds longer, if needed. Whisk well until mixture is completely smooth. Let cool slightly at room temperature.
Drizzle chocolate topping over the tops of the cookies. Allow ganache to set before serving.
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.
