Sunday Salon ~ Library Loot

LIBRARY

This week's loot from the library includes one I got because it's about twins whose hometown is St. Louis, where I plan to move in a few weeks.  Yesterday, I learned from Joy's Book Blog that St. Louis is celebrating its 250th birthday.

Sisterland ~ by Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld, 2013, fiction (Missouri)

From an early age, Kate and her identical twin sister, Violet, knew that they were unlike everyone else.  Kate and Vi were born with peculiar "senses" — innate psychic abilities concerning future events and other people’s secrets.  Though Vi embraced her visions, Kate did her best to hide them.  Now, years later, their different paths have led them both back to their hometown of St. Louis.  Vi has pursued an eccentric career as a psychic medium, while Kate, a devoted wife and mother, has settled down in the suburbs to raise her two young children.  But when a minor earthquake hits in the middle of the night, the normal life Kate has always wished for begins to shift.  After Vi goes on television to share a premonition that another, more devastating earthquake will soon hit the St. Louis area, Kate is mortified.  Equally troubling, however, is her fear that Vi may be right.  As the date of the predicted earthquake quickly approaches, Kate is forced to reconcile her fraught relationship with her sister and to face truths about herself she’s long tried to deny.

The other book was recommended by Nancy, the Bookfool ~ I tried to get the second in the series (of three) by Ben H. Winters, but it's a new book and was not yet on the shelves.  It's on hold for me, and I hope it is available by the time I finish reading this first one.  I don't often read mysteries, but Nancy recommends these books.  Even though this book was acquired "SEP 2012," it has that new book smell and has never been read.

The Last Policeman ~ by Ben H. Winters, 2012, mystery (New Hampshire)

What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway?  Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view.  There’s no chance left.  No hope.  Just six precious months until impact.  Winters presents a fascinating portrait of a pre-apocalyptic United States.  The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields.  Churches and synagogues are packed.  People all over the world are walking off the job — but not Hank Palace.  He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week — except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.  As Palace’s investigation plays out under the shadow of 2011GV1, we’re confronted by hard questions way beyond "whodunit."  What basis does civilization rest upon?  What is life worth?  What would any of us do, what would we really do, if our days were numbered?

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire @ The Captive Reader and Linda @ Silly Little Mischief that encourages us to name the books we checked out of the library.  Click here to see what others got this week.

Bloggers gather in the Sunday Salon — at separate computers in different time zones — to talk about our lives and our reading.