Holding: A Memoir About Mothers, Drugs, and Other Comforts

Frisbie Brogan, Karleigh. Holding: A Memoir About Mothers, Drugs, and Other Comforts. 2025. 304p. ISBN 9781586424121.

Always seeking her mother's love and never finding it, Karleigh felt that something was missing. One of six children in a reconstituted family, Karleigh attempts to escape her familial bonds through unsafe activities, culminating in becoming a junkie. Desperate for attention and care and resenting herself for it, Karleigh still finds herself drawn back to her mother. Holding is Karleigh's memoir that explores her painful journey through heroin addiction and the complex mother-daughter relationships that shaped her life. It offers a raw and honest look at her experiences, including the two years she spent living with her boyfriend's parents, Wayne and Glorianne, while hiding her addiction. During this time, Karleigh formed a deep but troubled bond with Glorianne, who became a surrogate mother figure. Simultaneously, Glorianne, an adoptee, was on her own quest to find her birth mother, creating a shared sense of longing and connection between the two women.

Ultimately, Karleigh's story is a powerful account of her struggle to break free from the cycle of addiction and deceit. It chronicles her path to sobriety, her efforts to mend the broken trust with her own mother, and her search for self-acceptance. The memoir is a deeply personal and universal story, offering insights into the complexities of family, addiction, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Not the Worst Friend in the World

Reillihan, Anne. Not the Worst Friend in the World. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9780823454792.

It's the thirty-fourth day of sixth grade, and Lou (only her grandmother calls her Louise) is desperate to rewind time. She deeply regrets the terrible things she said to her best friend, Francie, on the ninth day of school, and wishes she could go back to a time when their friendship was still intact. Lou's guilt and longing for redemption are suddenly interrupted when a new girl, Cece Clark-Duncan, passes her a mysterious note. The note claims that Cece has been kidnapped, and Lou sees this as an opportunity to prove she's not a bad friend by helping the new girl.

As Lou digs into the strange situation, she quickly realizes that Cece's family life is more complicated than a simple kidnapping. Lou becomes increasingly anxious, facing a moral dilemma: how can she help Cece without causing more harm? How can she be a better friend than she was to Francie? The situation forces Lou to confront the possibility that her attempt to be a good friend to Cece could result in her losing yet another friend in the process.

A light and fast read involving a mystery, investigations, and relationships, Not the Worst Friend in the World delivers realistic characters who are growing up and learning that the world can feel very lonely if you don't have friends. The theme of evolving friendship is explored and reaches a satisfactory solution. Fans of sleuthing adventures will appreciate this book.

The Forest of a Thousand Eyes

Hardinge, Francis. The Forest of a Thousand Eyes. 2024. 128p. ISBN 9781529090802.

The human community living on and within a deteriorating Wall faces a constant threat from a relentless, advancing Forest. Eleven-year-old Feather, accompanied by her scaled ferret, Sleek, must accomplish a crucial mission: she must navigate the dangers of the encroaching Forest and its creatures to return a precious spyglass to its proper location after she removed it and unwittingly gave it away to a thief. Her journey is a perilous one, as she must evade the Forest's grasping "tentacles" and the mysterious beasts that lurk within its depths.

As Feather makes her way, she not only develops her own resilience but also encounters a variety of people living in different parts of the Wall, and she realizes there is life outside the Wall, and other human settlements exist. Humans may be able to combine their resources together to better survive the threats of the forest beyond the wall.

Their unique stories and experiences begin to change her perspective. Through these interactions, she starts to open her own mind, and by extension, the minds of her community, to new possibilities and horizons that exist beyond the limited world they have always known.

Vampire Knight, Vol. 1

Matsuri, Hino. Vampire Knight, Vol. 1. 2007. 192p. ISBN 9781421508221. Available in the graphic novels sections of the Library.

Ten years ago, Yuki Cross was saved from a vampire attack, but the trauma left her with no memory of her life before that moment. Adopted by the headmaster of Cross Academy, she now serves as one of the school's Guardians, working alongside her troubled companion, Zero. Cross Academy operates under a unique and secretive system, educating two distinct groups of students: the Day Class and the Night Class.

The school's delicate balance is most apparent at twilight, when the Day Class returns to their dorms and crosses paths with the Night Class on their way to school. Yuki Cross and her partner, Zero Kiryu, are tasked with maintaining order and silence during this transition, serving as the school's Guardians. Their primary and most critical duty is to shield the human students of the Day Class from the Academy's dangerous, dark secret: the entire Night Class is composed of vampires! Yuki must protect the humans while navigating her own complicated relationship with the secretive, beautiful students of the Night Class and uncovering the truth of her lost past ...

Manga readers will enjoy classic tropes such as the love triangle, secret societies, and the forbidden romance between humans and supernatural beings. Its appeal lies in its dark, romantic atmosphere, the intense mystery surrounding the protagonist's lost memory, and the constant tension between the dangerous Night Class and the protected Day Class.

The story continues in Vampire Knight, Vol. 2.

This Is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web

Berners-Lee, Tim. This Is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web. 2025. 400p. ISBN 9780374612467.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is often considered the most influential inventor of the modern world. He stands apart from his contemporaries like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs because he chose to give his groundbreaking creation, the World Wide Web, away for free. This decision fueled its global adoption, transforming humanity into the first fully digital species that uses the web for everything from work and connection to quarreling and dreaming. In This is for Everyone, Berners-Lee recounts the origins of this iconic invention, tracing his journey from a young engineer at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, where he conceived the astonishing idea of adding hyperlinks to the nascent Internet.

This is for Everyone not only tells the story of how the web launched an era of creativity and collaboration but also confronts the powerful, negative forces it unleashed, such as the imperilment of truth, threats to privacy, and the polarization of public discourse. Humor and candor to provide a gripping, insider's view of the digital world's rise. Furthermore, the book offers a vital guide for the future, presenting a crucial perspective on the risks and possibilities brought by artificial intelligence and showing how our digital lives can be reengineered for human flourishing rather than simply for profit or power.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in technology history and the origins of the Internet, offering a candid, first-hand account from the person who actually built the World Wide Web. Entrepreneurs and computer science students will find inspiration in his story of invention and his radical choice to forgo personal commercial gain for the greater good. Finally, readers who are concerned about digital ethics, privacy, and the impact of AI on society will appreciate Berners-Lee's vision for reforming the digital world.

DONE - Wankernomics: A Deep-Dive Into Workplace Bullsh*ttery

Schloeffel, James and Charles Firth. Wankernomics: A Deep-Dive Into Workplace Bullsh*ttery. 2025. 256p. ISBN 9781399828482.

Wankernomics is a satirical guide to surviving modern corporate culture, aimed at anyone who feels lost in a sea of business jargon. The book mocks the use of buzzwords like "synergies" and "end-to-end solutions," highlighting how these phrases often obscure rather than clarify meaning. It's for employees who find themselves questioning the purpose of endless meetings and the confusing, jargon-filled language used by their colleagues.

Wankernomics promises to equip readers with the tools they need to navigate this perplexing world. Through humor, it teaches how to master passive-aggressive emails, use catchphrases like "circle back" and "moving forward" effectively, and even leverage a ridiculous LinkedIn profile to get ahead. Designed for those who want to outwit their coworkers and succeed in an office environment without actually understanding the corporate lingo, Wankernomics delivers a not so subtle critique of our current work culture and its propensity to expand the amount of pointless tasks and meetings to justify its own existence. 

Exit Strategy

Wells, Martha. Exit Strategy. Book 4 of the Murderbot Diaries. 2018. 172p. ISBN 9781250191854.

Murderbot is a highly efficient security unit, or SecUnit, that was never programmed with the capacity for empathy or care. Despite this inherent lack of feeling, the SecUnit makes a crucial and deeply problematic decision to help the only human who ever treated it with respect, Dr. Mensah—a choice it suspects must be a significant "system glitch." After traversing the vast expanse of the galaxy to unearth the truth about both its own forgotten murderous history and the illegal activities of the monolithic GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is now heading back to its base of operations.

Murderbot's critical mission is to assist Dr. Mensah in submitting the damning evidence it collected, which is crucial to preventing the GrayCris Corporation from destroying additional colonial settlements in its relentless, profitable pursuit of resources. However, this high-stakes endeavor is fraught with peril as Dr. Mensah is kidnapped by GrayCris and finds herself trapped on a space station. Despite its misgivings, Murderbot decides to rescue the doctor, while knowing that being captured will mean death or, even worse, analysis in a lab to figure out how it escaped its original programming. With the stake this high, Murderbot is one mistake away from losing the independence it savors!

Readers who enjoy fast-paced, action-packed science fiction and space operas will find Exit Strategy highly entertaining. It is perfectly suited for those who appreciate a unique, snarky, and self-aware AI protagonist whose inner monologue drives the narrative. Fans of stories involving corporate espionage, battles against ruthless megacorporations, and themes of identity, humanity, and found family will be drawn to Murderbot’s reluctant and dangerous mission to do the right thing. The mix of thrilling adventure and deep internal character development offers a satisfying read!