Book Talk for February 27 2024

Book Talk

Booktalk for February 27, 2024

The Good old boys Hewey Calloway No. 1
by Elmer Kelton

Will easy-riding, old-time cowboy Hewey Calloway finally settle down? He realizes that a new era is coming to Texas in the early 1900s, but at the age of thirty-eight, he doesn't want to change with the times. Prequel to The Smiling Country (DB 48506).
DB48505

Preacher's Fire
by William W Johnstone and A J. Johnstone

Mountain man Preacher goes undercover in the big city of St. Louis to stop a man who is trying to take over the fur trade. Violence and strong language. 2010.
DB76722
Tumbleweeds: A Novel
by Lela Meacham

"Recently orphaned, eleven-year-old Cathy Benson feels she has been dropped into a cultural and intellectual wasteland when she is forced to move from her academically privileged life in California to the small town of Kersey in the Texas Panhandle where the sport of football reigns supreme. She is quickly taken under the unlikely wings of up-and-coming gridiron stars and classmates John Caldwell and Trey Don Hall, orphans like herself, with whom she forms a friendship and eventual love triangle that will determine the course of the rest of their lives. Taking the three friends through their growing up years until their high school graduations when several tragic events uproot and break them apart, the novel expands to follow their careers and futures until they reunite in Kersey at forty years of age. Told with all of Meacham's signature drama, unforgettable characters, and plot twists, readers will be turning the pages, desperate to learn how it all plays out." -- Publisher description. Commercial audiobook. Adult. Some descriptions of sex. Some violence. Strong language.
DBC28910

Old Cowboys Never Die
by William W Johnstone

"JOHNSTONE COUNTRY. THE GOLDEN YEARS. From the bestselling masters of the classic Western comes a blazing new series that proves that old cowboys only get wiser, bolder—and crazier—with age ... They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But old cowboys? That's a different story— especially when those cowboys are trail-hardened cattlemen like Casey Tubbs and Eli Doolin. When these longtime buddies learn that their bosses are getting out of the beef business, they figure it's probably time to retire anyway. Nothing left to do now but deliver the last two thousand cows to Abilene and collect their pay. There's just one problem. There's no money. The company's lawyer is skipping town with all the workers' cash—which means Casey and Levi have one last job to do ... Steal it back. Sure, pulling off a robbery is a new challenge for these old boys. But they've learned a lot of tricks over the years—and they're one hell of a team. Casey is strictly no-nonsense, a let's-get-it-done kind of guy. Eli is more devil-may-care, a let's-have-some-fun troublemaker. Between the two of them, they devise a scheme to hold up the lawyer on the noon train and deliver the money to the men who earned it. There's just one catch: once they pull off the perfect crime—and get away with it—Casey and Eli start thinking they may have missed their calling in life. This could be the start of a whole new career ... as outlaws. So begins the wild, wild story of Casey and Eli, two old cowboys who are one step ahead of the law—and the young deputy marshal who's determined to catch them." -- Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
DB118045

Scary smart: the future of artificial intelligence and how you can save our world
by Mo Gawdat

"Artificial intelligence is smarter than humans. It can process information at lightning speed and remain focused on specific tasks without distraction. AI can see into the future, predicting outcomes and even use sensors to see around physical and virtual corners. So why does AI frequently get it so wrong? The answer is us. Humans design the algorithms that define the way that AI works, and the processed information reflects an imperfect world. Does that mean we are doomed? In Scary Smart, Mo Gawdat, the internationally bestselling author of Solve for Happy, draws on his considerable expertise to answer this question and to show what we can all do now to teach ourselves and our machines how to live better. With more than thirty years' experience working at the cutting-edge of technology and his former role as chief business officer of Google [X], no one is better placed than Mo Gawdat to explain how the Artificial Intelligence of the future works. By 2049 AI will be a billion times more intelligent than humans. Scary Smart explains how to fix the current trajectory now, to make sure that the AI of the future can preserve our species. This book offers a blueprint, pointing the way to what we can do to safeguard ourselves, those we love and the planet itself." -- Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.
DB116251

Locked In Time
by Lois Duncan

When seventeen-year-old Nore Robbins arrives at her father's plantation near the New Orleans Cajun country, she is intrigued by the youthful beauty of her stepmother and the wisdom of the teenage boy living there. Nore is not prepared for the turn of events when she discovers the mysterious secrets surrounding that beauty and wisdom. For junior and senior high readers.
DB24713

Morgan Dane books 1-3
by Melinda Leigh

Three novels, written between 2017 and 2018, feature widowed attorney Morgan Dane, who has returned to Scarlet Falls with her three young children. She partners with PI Lance Kruger to solve crimes in Say You're Sorry, Her Last Goodbye, and Bones Don't Lie. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2018.
DB91395

The Housmaid's Secret
by Frieda McFadden

Killing England: The Brutal struggle for American Independence
by Bill O'Reilly

An account of the American Revolutionary War, told from the perspectives of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and King George III. Describes events that took place on both sides of the conflict, landmark battles, and the brutal conditions for soldiers. Violence. Commercial audiobook. 2017.
DB89045

Bed-Knob and Broomstick
Mary Norton

The three Wilson children are delighted to discover
Miss Price, a lonely spinster and student witch who rides a broomstick, though somewhat uncertainly. In exchange for the children's keeping quiet about her witch activities, Miss Price casts a spell that creates a magical flying bed. A combined edition of "The Magic Bed-Knob" and "Bonfires and Broomsticks." For grades 3-6.
DB42845

Switching Well
by R Peni Griffin

In this time-travel fantasy, two girls from different centuries inadvertently trade places. Sitting by an old well near her San Antonio home in 1891, twelve-year-old Ada wishes herself 100 years into the future. Simultaneously, in 1991, Amber, another discontented twelve-year- old seated at the same well, wishes herself back in time when, she believes, life was easy. Both girls learn that each century has its problems. For grades 5-8.
DB38302

Tunnel In The Sky
by Robert A Heinlein

Adventures of a graduating class of survivalists in a future time when, through a hyperspace tunnel, humans from Earth can be dumped on any one of the countless planets of the universe. 1955.
DB13216

Churchill's Ministry of ungentlemanly Warfare: the mavericks who plotted Hitler's defeat
by Giles Milton

In 1939, a top-secret British organization plotted Hitler's destruction through spectacular acts of sabotage. Strong language.
DBC16045