Posts from Epiphany Library

... because it's time for some binge-reading. Start some series that you might want to race through the same way you raced through Making a Murderer.

What’s making us happy in the realms of TV, cooking, art and design, libraries, and online thingamabobs, and then happinesses that defy categorization.

Fox's new television series, Empire, is a family drama set in the hip-hop world. For fans of the show left wanting more, here is a list of fiction and nonfiction titles that you might enjoy.

The Epiphany Library is offering two workshops in April on making beauty products at home. While in the class we are specifically only making two items, lip balm and body scrub (both of which are surprisingly easy), there is also a section in which we discuss why someone would want to do this. Below is the presentation, some handy recipes and also books and websites for the budding beauty alchemist.

If you want a YA book with demon lovers, fairy tale-Greek mythology mashups, wicked heroines, a castle full of shadowy secrets, and a passionate romance that begins with a murder attempt, look no further.

Jewish history is quite extensive and encompasses a wide range of stories. For the month of July the group continued to focus on this history, as we did in the previous month's selection, by reading the novel I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits. This sweeping tale brings to life the story of a Satmar family (a very strict Hasidic sect), focusing specifically on two young women within the family and their roles as they grow within 

Continuing with a theme of reading historical fiction the book group read The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. This novel is a sprawling tale based on another event in history. It was our largest book to date at 500 pages but almost every member managed to finish it in time for our meeting. Perhaps this is a testament to Hoffman's storytelling.

The Dovekeepers takes place during the early 70s AD in ancient Judea. At 

The month of May found the Epiphany Book Club tackling a writer beloved by its members. Geraldine Brooks has written several novels, the book club previously read People of the Book. This time around we read her most recent work Caleb's Crossing. Like all of her stories this one is a historical tale which uses a real individual/event as the 

For the month of April, the Epiphany book discussion group discussed the novel Home by Toni Morrison. It is the story of Frank Money, a poor man from the South who goes to fight in the Korean War as a way of escaping his rural town. In the process he leaves behind his fragile sister Cee who has to learn to navigate her world without her big brother/protector. When Frank returns home from the war he 

You have not crossed the bridges I have crossed. You have not listened to the music I have listened to. You have not been in the top of the World Trade Center the way I have been there. You have not seen the waves I have seen. You have not fallen from horses the way I have fallen. You have not felt the guns on your neck the way I have felt them. You have not been in the sea with a big storm in a little boat the way I have been.

—Excerpt from "Don’t Give Me Advice," by Luis Marin, Tompkins Square CRW

This month is

June and Day are part of the same nation: The Republic of America. They’re in the same city: Los Angeles, California. Their lives could not be more different.

Born into an elite family, June lives in a wealthy sector with her brother, Metias, and every luxury the Republic has to offer. A prodigy who passed her Trial with more than flying colors, June is training to join the Republic military and take her rightful position among the country’s leaders in their continuing war against the Patriots.

Day is not elite or wealthy, and he’s 

Pearl is like a lot of 16-year-old girls. She likes to steal cars and drive too fast with her handsome, dangerous boyfriend Jadrien. She wears a lot of black. She is extremely flammable in direct sunlight.

Okay. Maybe Pearl isn’t exactly an average teenage girl. But she is an average vampire. Completely ordinary and almost completely evil, Pearl is the perfect predator at the top of the food chain in her Connecticut town. And she is fine with that.

With the vampire king of New England coming soon for the annual fealty ceremony that marks the start of a 

Anya Balanchine lives in a world where chocolate is illegal, water is scarce and New York City is a ghost of what it once was. Central Park is no longer a park. The Metropolitan Museum is a night club.

Anya’s life has been touched by tragedy, if not hardship, as the daughter of an infamous (and dead) crime boss. With her parents gone, it falls to Anya to take care of her siblings and protect them from the family business.

But when the family business is illegal chocolate, it’s hard to stay on the sidelines–especially when the new boy at 

When Brynn was four years old, her life changed forever when a rogue werewolf killed her parents. Rescued by the Stone River Pack and Marked by the pack’s alpha, Callum, Brynn’s safety is a matter of pack law.

The only problem is Brynn is human. Even as a member of the pack, living with a bunch of werewolves is dangerous. Weres can smell fear. They are faster. They are stronger. Most of them are older and more experienced. One lapse in control could leave a human very dead.

Even if that human is a 15-year-old girl named Brynn who knows almost 

Sometimes Brooke just knows things, partly thanks to her excellent memory. But sometimes she just knows for reasons that have nothing to do with that.

That’s the way it is with Scott Abrams. Brooke is certain that they are meant to be together. The only problem is Scott doesn’t know it yet. He doesn’t really even know Brooke. And moving away to New York City the summer before senior year doesn’t really help either.

It’s risky and kind of crazy, but Brooke knows that this is her chance. She can follow him, and she can tell him 

Kit Corrigan has a lot of hopes and dreams when she gets to New York City in the autumn of 1950. What she doesn’t have is a steady job, a room of her own, or any surety that she has what it takes to make it. Back in Providence, Rhode Island, Kit left behind her family. She hasn’t heard from her boyfriend Billy, or her brother, since they enlisted.

It seemed like such a good idea to drop out of high school and move to New York and make her way in the theater. But maybe she wasn’t ready. Maybe she can’t do it all on her own.

Help, however, comes from 

Lily Carter’s future is at Princeton University. Her grandfather went to Princeton. Going to Princeton would allow Lily to move away from home without feeling guilt about not taking care of her mother. It’s the perfect school. Most importantly, Lily desperately wants to follow in Grandpa’s footsteps to make him and her mother proud.

Turns out her chance at Princeton might come sooner than she thinks when Lily accompanies her grandfather and mother to Princeton Reunions weekend where, thanks to Grandpa’s connections, Lily has a chance to take 

Elodie comes to the town of Two Castles with one goal: to become a mansioner. Her greatest hope, her only actual plan upon arriving in town, is to apprentice herself to a mansioner that she might become an accomplished performer in her own right.

When Elodie’s hope is dashed she is forced to look for another plan or starve in Two Castles with none of her family at home even knowing about her plight.

Help comes in the unusual form of a dragon named Meenore.

Mysteries (and cats) abound in Two Castles, which makes the town an ideal place for a 

Thomas Finch Mackee is many things to many people: musician, friend, and most recently, complete jerk.

Five years ago, his world seemed certain. He was friends with the girls from school. He wanted to be something more to Tara Finke. He would follow his charming father anywhere, as most people would — Dom has always been a pied piper. That was before London.

That was before his family had to bury another empty coffin, this time for Tom’s uncle, lost in the London bombing.

After London, everything is uncertain. Tom’s