The Glade Dixieland Band has been canceled for tomorrow, Wednesday, May 15.
However, come join us at noon the following Wednesday, May 22, in the Cumberland Room for the Dulcimores of Fairfield Glade as they play a selection of songs celebrating Appalachia in springtime on the most American of instruments, the dulcimer.
Great New Books
Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum
The author returns with a gossipy murder mystery set in a luxe Miami resort. The ensemble cast comes together under the direction of John Shiller, a typical tech bro and the owner of Aurora. Top execs include new events manager Caitlin; head of HR Debra, who is secretly pregnant; and communications officer Olive, who’s having an affair with the company president.
The management team is on a retreat to discuss their common goals, but no one wants to talk about work. Caitlin doesn’t even know her job description. After a boozy night out, one of Aurora’s founders turns up dead, having overdosed on cocaine laced with fentanyl. John insists the death was an accident, but the execs know better.
Yet they’re all lying and backstabbing — and at Aurora, no one is innocent. Each person at the company gets at least one chance to tell their story, and Rosenblum is a deft storyteller, juggling these points of view with ease. Readers will delight in knowing every secret while waiting for the explosive ending.
The Situation Room by George Stephanopoulos
Journalist Stephanopoulos, who was senior adviser to the president for policy and strategy during the Clinton administration, has collaborated with Lisa Dickey to pen a history of the White House Situation Room.
The Situation Room was built for the Kennedy administration in 1961, after the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Today, it’s a meeting complex (not a singular room) from which national security principals, including the president, manage crises.
The book covers the Situation Room’s role in crises (like Kennedy’s assassination) and military operations (like U.S. forces’ 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan).
The book is based on interviews (including with President Biden). There are accounts of the stalwart role of women in the room’s decision-making and the changing capabilities of communications technology, plus personal stories about emotional Situation Room moments like 9/11 and the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The book also reveals new information about events like the Obama administration’s painstaking planning surrounding the assassination of Osama bin Laden.
Think Twice by Harlan Coben
Best-selling mystery and thriller writer Coben brings back longtime series hero Myron Bolitar (last seen in Home, 2016) in a rewardingly action-packed mystery.
In this, the twelfth Bolitar title, Coben quickly brings readers up to speed on Bolitar, a former college basketball star with a single, very brief, ended-by-injury pre-season in the NBA, who then set up a sports agency.
This time, a former NBA star and coach — one of Bolitar’s longtime friends, rivals, and clients — is wanted by the FBI for murder. There are two kickers: Myron attended this friend’s funeral three years before, and this friend’s DNA was found at a recent crime scene.
Bolitar and his sidekick, financial adviser Win Lockwood, investigate, careening from New York to Las Vegas as they hunt and are hunted by the Mob. Plenty of action and suspense throughout for fans of the series.
Library Laugh I
What would the Terminator be called in his retirement?
The Exterminator.
Stingy Schobel Says
Want to save money on your next desktop or laptop computer? Look for refurbished models available directly from the manufacturer.
At Apple, models that were demonstration units or returned under their return and refund policy are completely refurbished using new parts, thoroughly cleaned, given upgraded software and repackaged with new accessories and cables.
They also come with a one-year warranty and are sold for hundreds of dollars less than new.
It’s a great way to save money and keep electronic waste out of landfills.
Library Laugh II
Why did the invisible man turn down the job offer?
He couldn’t see himself doing it.
Libraries=Information
Here’s a produce item you can eat lots of and still be a conscious eater, too: mushrooms.
Because mushrooms are a crop that can be grown nearly anywhere and also can be grown using byproducts from other crops, their environmental impact is very low.
They’re drought-tolerant as well, needing just 2 gallons of water to grow from start to finish. (Other produce demands around 50 gallons.)
And mushrooms are loaded with protein and fiber, making them a great addition to salads or any meal.
Spring Fling Bonus
What does a CIA agent do when it’s time to go to bed?
He goes undercover.