Library Greeting: Books to get through the pandemic

Fannie Flagg’s book “The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop” tries to answer the question, “Can you go home again?”. “Bud Threadgoode grew up in the bustling little railroad town of Whistle Stop, Alabama, with his mother Ruth, church going and proper, and the fun-loving hell-raiser, his Aunt Idgie. Together, they ran the town’s popular Whistle Stop Café, known far and wide for its famous ‘Fried Green Tomatoes.’ And as Bud often said of his childhood, ‘How lucky can you get?’ But sadly, the railroad yards began to shut down and the town became a ghost town, with nothing left but boardedup buildings and memories of a happier time. Then one day, Bud decides to take one last trip, just to see where his beloved Whistle Stop used to be. In so doing, he discovers new surprises about Idgie’s life and the town itself. He also sets off a series of events, both touching and inspiring, which changes his life and the lives of his daughter and others.

In Karen Kingsbury’s newest “Truly, Madly, Deeply” we visit the Baxter family. “When eighteen-year-old Tommy Baxter declares to his family that he wants to be a police officer after graduation, his mother, Reagan, won’t hear of it. After all, she’s still mourning the death of her own father on September 11 and she’s determined to keep her son safe from danger. But Tommy’s father, Luke, is proud of Tommy’s decision. He would make a kind and compassionate cop. Meanwhile, Tommy is in love for the first time. His sweet relationship with Annalee Miller is almost too good to be true begins seriously thinking about the faroff day when he can ask her to marry him but she hasn’t been feeling well. Tests reveal the unthinkable. While his girlfriend begins the fight of her life, Tommy is driven to learn more about the circumstances surrounding his birth and the grandfather he never knew. Secrets come to light that rock Tommy’s world, and he becomes determined to spend his future fighting crime and bringing peace to the streets. Or is this just his way to fight a battle he cannot win--the one facing Annalee?” -

John Connolly takes us back to the very beginning of private investigator Charlie Parker’s career with his new book “The Dirty South.” Someone is slaughtering young women in Burdon County, Arkansas in 1997. No one in the Dirty South wants to admit it. A former NYPD detective, stricken by grief sits in an Arkansas jail cell. He is mourning the death of his wife and child and searching in vain for their killer, he is obsessed with avenging his lost family and his life is about to take a shocking turn.