Fiction

Books Soon to be Movies in 2014

Emily Miller

“I’m glad I read the book first,” is a phrase I often hear people say after seeing a film based off a book. Books as inspiration for movies are more popular than ever, and 2014 is set to be a good one if you enjoy literary films.

BuzzFeed recently posted a list of “16 Books to Read Before They Hit Theaters This Year.” Here are a few that can be found at Sewickley Public Library. Click the titles to request them through the library catalog:

 

LABOR DAY by Joyce Maynard – Booklist Review: Stranger danger is a concept unfamiliar to 13-year-old Henry, who befriends an injured man during one of his and his agoraphobic mother’s rare shopping excursions in town with disastrous results for all. To be fair, neither mother nor son have much worldly experience, thanks to Adele’s emotional fragility following her divorce. Yet their willingness to assist a strange man has less to do with their collective lack of judgment than it does with Frank’s infectious charm, a quality that will escalate over the coming days as the escaped convict and murderer holds the pair hostage in their own home. With remarkable ease, Adele falls in love with Frank. As she helps him plan a second escape to Canada, Henry fears losing the little stability he has ever known. Told from Henry’s point of view, Maynard’s inventive coming-of-age tale indelibly captures the anxiety and confusion inherent in adolescence, while the addition of a menacing element of suspense makes this emotionally fraught journey that much more harrowing.–Haggas, Carol Copyright 2009 Booklist

 

THE MONUMENTS MEN: ALLIED HEROES, NAZI THIEVES, AND THE GREATEST TREASURE HUNT IN HISTORY by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter – Booklist Review: This is a chronicle of an unusual and largely unknown aspect of World War II. The heroes here aren’t flamboyant generals or grizzled GIs in combat. In civilian life these men and women had been architects, museum directors, sculptors, and patrons of the arts. They were drawn from thirteen nations, although most were American or British citizens. Beginning in 1943, they were recruited into a special unit formed to protect and recover cultural treasure that had been looted by top Nazis, especially Hitler and Goring. As Allied armies liberated areas of northern Europe after D-Day, these monuments men moved into the front lines. Since they had little advance knowledge of the location of the looted art, their efforts often resembled treasure hunts. In addition to recovering stolen art, they worked tirelessly, often at personal risk, to protect and restore art damaged by the ravages of war. Edsel describes the exploits of these men and women in a fast-moving narrative that effectively captures the excitement and dangers of their mission.–Freeman, Jay Copyright 2009 Booklist

 

A LONG WAY DOWN by Nick Hornby – Booklist Review: In his trademark warm and witty prose, Hornby follows four depressed people from their aborted suicide attempts on New Years Eve through the surprising developments that occur over the following three months. Middle-aged Maureen has been caring for her profoundly disabled son for decades; Martin is a celebrity-turned-has-been after sleeping with a 15-year-old girl; teenage Jess, trash-talker extraordinaire, is still haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her older sister years before; and JJ is upset by the collapse of his band and his breakup with his longtime girlfriend. The four meet while scoping out a tower rooftop looking for the best exit point. Inhibited by the idea of having an audience, they agree instead to form a support group of sorts. But rather than indulging in sappy therapy-speak, they frequently direct lacerating, bitingly funny comments at each other–and the bracing mix of complete candor and endless complaining seems to work as a kind of tonic. Hornby funnels the perceptive music and cultural references he is known for through the character of JJ, but he also expands far beyond his usual territory, exploring the changes in perspective that can suddenly make a life seem worth living and adroitly shifting the tone from sad to happy and back again. The true revelation of this funny and moving novel is its realistic, all-too-human characters, who stumble frequently, moving along their redemptive path only by increments. –Joanne Wilkinson Copyright 2005 Booklist

 

THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU by Jonathan Tropper – Booklist Review: Judd Foxman is in his late thirties when he finds himself living in a damp, moldy basement apartment, without a job and separated from his wife, who is having an affair with his now ex-boss. To make matters worse, Judd finds out his wife is pregnant with his child and that his father has just died, leaving a dying wish to have all four of his children sit shivah for seven days. What transpires over the course of that week is a Foxman family reunion like no other; filled with fistfights, arguments, sex, and a parade of characters offering their sympathies and copious amounts of food. This is a story that could be told by your best guy friend: laugh-out-loud funny, intimate, honest, raunchy, and thoroughly enjoyable. Tropper is spot-on with his observations of family relationships as each member deals with new grief, old resentments, and life’s funny twists of fate. Tropper’s characters are real, flawed, and very likable, making for a great summer read.–Kubisz, Carolyn Copyright 2009 Booklist

 

Happy New Year! We hope you enjoy reading and watching along with us here at Do Something @ Sewickley Public Library!

NPR Book Concierge 2013

Emily Miller

The folks over at NPR Books usually write a variety of end-of-year ‘Best Of’ lists to highlight the outstanding literary offerings of the past year. However due to the number of lists ballooning from 13 in 2008 to 20 in 2012, they decided to try a different format.

And so, NPR’s Book Concierge was born! It’s billed as ‘Our Guide to 2013’s Great Reads,’ and I encourage you to go check it out. The site allows you to choose what you’d like to read along the left-hand side (in categories such as ‘Eye Opening’ or ‘ It’s All Geek To Me’) and displays a collage of books recommended by NPR Staff that fit you chosen category or genre.

Of course, not all of the books will be available at Sewickley Public Library, but if one grabs your attention, it never hurts to give us a call or stop in to ask a librarian whether it can be requested from another library in Allegheny County.

Here are a few from the site you may not have heard a lot of buzz about that can be found at Sewickley Public Library, to get you started:

FICTION

LexiconLEXICON by Max Barry – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – Words have power to persuade, to coerce, even to kill. And so they have since the days when wordsmiths were called sorcerers. Streetwise teenager Emily knows nothing of this until she is recruited to join a clandestine international organization that seems bent on taking over the world through the power of language—the reason, perhaps, that its members call themselves poets. In the meantime, a young man, Wil, is kidnapped from an airport by two mysterious men determined to unlock a secret buried deep in his brain. Yes, Wil and Emily will be brought together in due course, but in the meantime, there is a great deal, some of it abstruse, about language in this fast-paced, cerebral thriller that borders on speculative fiction, but none of it slows the nonstop action that takes readers from Washington, D.C., to a small town in the Australian desert, a town whose 3,300 residents have all died mysteriously and violently. Could the cause have been the power of words at work? The poets sometimes seem a bit too omnipotent, and the book’s chronology is occasionally a bit confusing, but otherwise this is an absolutely first-rate, suspenseful thriller with convincing characters who invite readers’ empathy and keep them turning pages until the satisfying conclusion.–Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist

Night FilmNIGHT FILM by Marisha Pessl – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – When the daughter of a notorious film director is found dead in New York, an apparent suicide, investigative reporter Scott McGrath throws himself back into a story that almost ended his career. But now McGrath has his Rosebud, and like Jedediah Leland in Citizen Kane, who hoped to make sense of media mogul Charles Foster Kane by understanding his last word, so the reporter sets out to determine how Ashley Cordova died and, in so doing, penetrate the heart of darkness that engulfs her reclusive father, Stanislas. Like Pessl’s first novel, the acclaimed Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2006), this one expands from a seemingly straightforward mystery into a multifaceted, densely byzantine exploration of much larger issues, in this case, the nature of truth and illusion as reflected by the elusive Cordova, whose transcend-the-genre horror films are cult favorites and about whom rumors of black magic and child abuse continue to swirl. His daughter, piano prodigy Ashley (her notes weren’t played; they were poured from a Grecian urn ), is almost as mysterious as her father, her life and death equally clouded in secrecy and colored with possibly supernatural shadings. Into this mazelike world of dead ends and false leads, McGrath ventures with his two, much younger helpers, Nora and Hopper, brilliantly portrayed Holmesian irregulars who may finally understand more about Ashley than their mentor, whose linear approach to fact finding might miss the point entirely. Pessl’s first novel, while undeniably impressive, possessed some of the overindulgence one might expect from a talented and precocious young writer. All evidence of that is gone here; the book is every bit as complex as Calamity Physics, but the writing is always under control, and the characters never fail to draw us further into the maelstrom of the story.–Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist

NONFICTION

Lawrence in ArabiaLAWRENCE IN ARABIA: WAR, DECEIT, IMPERIAL FOLLY AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST by Scott Anderson – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – To historians, the real T. E. Lawrence is as fascinating as the cinematic version in Lawrence of Arabia is to movie fans. The many reasons interlock and tighten author Anderson’s narrative, yielding a work that can absorb scholarly and popular interest like. Start with Lawrence’s WWI memoir, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922). A rare-book collectible, it inspired many of the scenes in David Lean’s film and is also subject to cross-referencing interpretations of Lawrence’s veracity. For lyrical though Lawrence could be about Arab leaders and desert landscapes, he could also be enigmatically opaque about the truth of his role in events. Accordingly, Anderson embeds Lawrence and Seven Pillars in the wider context of the Arab revolt against Turkey, and that context is the British, French, German, and American diplomacy and espionage intended to influence the postwar disposition of the territories of the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence was Britain’s agent in this game, and the other powers’ agents, although none enjoy his historical celebrity, assume prominence in Anderson’s presentation. Its thorough research clothed in smoothly written prose, Anderson’s history strikes a perfect balance between scope and detail about a remarkable and mysterious character.–Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist

To the End of JuneTO THE END OF JUNE: THE INTIMATE LIFE OF AMERICAN FOSTER CARE by Cris Beam – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – Whenever newspaper headlines scream about the abuse of foster children, the public is outraged, child protection agencies radically change their policies, and poor children go on living in a hodgepodge of foster care and suffering myriad unintended consequences, according to Beam, whose background includes a fractured childhood and experience as a foster mother. Here she offers a very intimate look at a system little known to most people. Beam spent five years talking to foster children, parents and foster parents, and social workers, mostly in New York. Her profiles include Bruce and Allyson, with three children of their own, taking in as many as five foster children, and Steve and Erin, fostering a child they want to adopt, whose mother signed away her rights on a napkin. Beam also writes about teens who’ve been bounced from home to home, some longing for adoption, others sabotaging their chances out of fear, many hoping for promised aging-out bonuses. Beam offers historical background and keen analysis of the social, political, racial, and economic factors that drive foster-care policies, noting the recent swing from massive removals to support for keeping families together. A very moving, powerful look at a system charged with caring for nearly half a million children across the U.S.–Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2010 Booklist

Sources:

Best Books of 2013: NPR(http://apps.npr.org/best-books-2013/)

Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association (http://www.booklistonline.com/)

The 10 Best Books of 2013 from the New York Times

Richelle

The New York Times just released their top 10 Books of 2013. Check out the article here first, then come back and place them on hold in the catalog!

FICTION

AMERICANAH By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Booklist Review *Starred Review* To the women in the hair-braiding salon, Ifemelu seems to have everything a Nigerian immigrant in America could desire, but the culture shock, hardships, and racism she’s endured have left her feeling like she has cement in her soul. Smart, irreverent, and outspoken, she reluctantly left Nigeria on a college scholarship. Her aunty Uju, the pampered mistress of a general in Lagos, is now struggling on her own in the U.S., trying to secure her medical license. Ifemelu’s discouraging job search brings on desperation and depression until a babysitting gig leads to a cashmere-and-champagne romance with a wealthy white man. Astonished at the labyrinthine racial strictures she’s confronted with, Ifemelu, defining herself as a Non-American Black, launches an audacious, provocative, and instantly popular blog in which she explores what she calls Racial Disorder Syndrome. Meanwhile, her abandoned true love, Obinze, is suffering his own cold miseries as an unwanted African in London. MacArthur fellow Adichie (The Thing around Your Neck, 2009) is a word-by-word virtuoso with a sure grasp of social conundrums in Nigeria, East Coast America, and England; an omnivorous eye for resonant detail; a gift for authentic characters; pyrotechnic wit; and deep humanitarianism. Americanah is a courageous, world-class novel about independence, integrity, community, and love and what it takes to become a full human being. –Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

The flamethrowers : a novel Kushner, RachelTHE FLAMETHROWERS By Rachel Kushner – Booklist Review *Starred Review* In her smash-hit debut, Telex from Cuba (2008), Kushner took on corporate imperialism and revolution, themes that also stoke this knowing and imaginative saga of a gutsy yet naive artist from Nevada. Called Reno when she arrives in New York in 1977, she believes that her art has to involve risk, but she’s unprepared for just how treacherous her entanglements with other artists will be. Reno’s trial-by-fire story alternates provocatively with the gripping tale of Valera, an Italian who serves in a motorcycle battalion in WWI, manufactures motorcycles, including the coveted Moto Valera, and makes a fortune in the rubber industry by oppressing Indian tappers in Brazil. These worlds collide when Reno moves in with Sandro Valera, a sculptor estranged from his wealthy family, and tries to make art by racing a Moto Valera on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Ultimately, Reno ends up in Italy, where militant workers protest against the Valeras. As Reno navigates a minefield of perfidy, Kushner, with searing insights, contrasts the obliteration of the line between life and art in hothouse New York with life-or-death street battles in Rome. Adroitly balancing astringent social critique with deep soundings of the complex psyches of her intriguing, often appalling characters, Kushner has forged an incandescently detailed, cosmopolitan, and propulsively dramatic tale of creativity and destruction.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

The goldfinch Tartt, DonnaTHE GOLDFINCH By Donna Tartt – Booklist Review *Starred Review* Cataclysmic loss and rupture with criminal intent visited upon the young have been Tartt’s epic subjects as she creates one captivating and capacious novel a decade, from The Secret History (1992) to The Little Friend (2002) to this feverish saga. In the wake of his nefarious father’s abandonment, Theo, a smart, 13-year-old Manhattanite, is extremely close to his vivacious mother until an act of terrorism catapults him into a dizzying world bereft of gravity, certainty, or love. Tartt writes from Theo’s point of view with fierce exactitude and magnetic emotion as, stricken with grief and post-traumatic stress syndrome, he seeks sanctuary with a troubled Park Avenue family and, in Greenwich Village, with a kind and gifted restorer of antique furniture. Fate then delivers Theo to utterly alien Las Vegas, where he meets young outlaw Boris. As Theo becomes a complexly damaged adult, Tartt, in a boa constrictor-like plot, pulls him deeply into the shadow lands of art, lashed to seventeenth-century Dutch artist Carel Fabritius and his exquisite if sinister painting, The Goldfinch. Drenched in sensory detail, infused with Theo’s churning thoughts and feelings, sparked by nimble dialogue, and propelled by escalating cosmic angst and thriller action, Tartt’s trenchant, defiant, engrossing, and rocketing novel conducts a grand inquiry into the mystery and sorrow of survival, beauty and obsession, and the promise of art. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Word of best-selling Tartt’s eagerly awaited third novel will travel fast and far via an author tour, interviews, and intense print, media, and online publicity.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

Life after life : a novel Atkinson, KateLIFE AFTER LIFE By Kate Atkinson – Booklist Review *Starred Review* In a radical departure from her Jackson Brodie mystery series, Atkinson delivers a wildly inventive novel about Ursula Todd, born in 1910 and doomed to die and be reborn over and over again. She drowns, falls off a roof, and is beaten to death by an abusive husband but is always reborn back into the same loving family, sometimes with the knowledge that allows her to escape past poor decisions, sometimes not. As Atkinson subtly delineates all the pathways a life or a country might take, she also delivers a harrowing set piece on the Blitz as Ursula, working as a warden on a rescue team, encounters horrifying tableaux encompassing mangled bodies and whole families covered in ash, preserved just like the victims of Pompeii. Alternately mournful and celebratory, deeply empathic and scathingly funny, Atkinson shows what it is like to face the horrors of war and yet still find the determination to go on, with her wholly British characters often reducing the Third Reich to a fuss. From her deeply human characters to her comical dialogue to her meticulous plotting, Atkinson is working at the very top of her game. An audacious, thought-provoking novel from one of our most talented writers. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Atkinson’s publisher is pulling out all the stops in marketing her latest, which will no doubt draw in many new readers in addition to her Jackson Brodie fans.–Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2010 Booklist

Tenth of December : stories Saunders, GeorgeTENTH OF DECEMBER: Stories By George Saunders – Booklist Review *Starred Review* Saunders, a self-identified disciple of Twain and Vonnegut, is hailed for the topsy-turvy, gouging satire in his three previous, keenly inventive short story collections. In the fourth, he dials the bizarreness down a notch to tune into the fantasies of his beleaguered characters, ambushing readers with waves of intense, unforeseen emotion. Saunders drills down to secret aquifers of anger beneath ordinary family life as he portrays parents anxious to defang their children but also to be better, more loving parents than their own. The title story is an absolute heart-wringer, as a pudgy, misfit boy on an imaginary mission meets up with a dying man on a frozen pond. In Victory Lap, a young-teen ballerina is princess-happy until calamity strikes, an emergency that liberates her tyrannized neighbor, Kyle, the palest kid in all the land. In Home, family friction and financial crises combine with the trauma of a court-martialed Iraq War veteran, to whom foe and ally alike murmur inanely, Thank you for your service. Saunders doesn’t neglect his gift for surreal situations. There are the inmates subjected to sadistic neurological drug experiments in Escape from Spiderhead and the living lawn ornaments in The Semplica Girl Diaries. These are unpredictable, stealthily funny, and complexly affecting stories of ludicrousness, fear, and rescue.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

NONFICTION

After the music stopped : the financial crisis, the response, and the work ahead Blinder, Alan SAFTER THE MUSIC STOPPED: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead By Alan S. Blinder – Booklist Review Blinder, a corporate executive and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, sets out to tell the American people what happened during the financial crisis of 2007-09. He explains the events that are still reverberating in the U.S. and globally and will challenge public policy for years. With public policy as his focus, he considers how we got into that mess and how we got out to the extent we have gotten out. The author considers the future what have we learned both economically and politically, and will we handle future crises better? What vulnerabilities do we still have? What future problems have we accidently created? Finally, Blinder offers a host of recommendations, which include his Ten Financial Commandments, including Thou Shalt Remember That People Forget (people forget when the good times roll) and Thou Shalt Not Rely on Self-Regulation (Self-regulation in financial markets is an oxymoron). This excellent book in understandable language offers valuable insight and important ideas for a wide range of library patrons.–Whaley, Mary Copyright 2010 Booklist

Days of fire : Bush and Cheney in the White House Baker, PeterDAYS OF FIRE: Bush and Cheney in the White House By Peter Baker – Booklist Review *Starred Review* Baker, the senior White House correspondent for the New York Times, has written an ambitious, engrossing, and often disturbing study of the inner workings, conflicts, and critical policy decisions made during the eight years of Bush and Cheney governance. It is no accident that Baker consistently refers to Bush-Cheney, since Cheney was undoubtedly the most influential and powerful vice president in recent years. Baker’s portrait of him is not flattering. Cheney prided himself as a hard-nosed tough guy, to the point of ruthlessness. He fought constantly with other cabinet members, showing little respect or tolerance for their views. He was a conservative true believer with a tendency to ignore facts that got in the way of his view of reality. By the end of their eight years together, even Bush stopped listening to him. Bush is a more sympathetic figure, and Baker sees him as a man trapped by events, whose hopes for a more modest foreign policy and a compassionate conservatism domestic affairs were frustrated by the vast shadows cast by 9/11. This is a superbly researched, masterful account of eight critical, history-changing years.–Freeman, Jay Copyright 2010 Booklist

Five days at Memorial : life and death in a storm-ravaged hospital Fink, SheriFIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital By Sheri Fink – Booklist Review *Starred Review* As the floodwaters rose after Hurricane Katrina, patients, staff, and families who sheltered in New Orleans’ Memorial Hospital faced a crisis far worse than the storm itself. Without power, an evacuation plan, or strong leadership, caregiving became chaotic, and exhausted doctors and nurses found it difficult to make even the simplest decisions. And, when it came to making the hardest decisions, some of them seem to have failed. A number of the patients deemed least likely to survive were injected with lethal combinations of drugs even as the evacuation finally began in earnest. Fink, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her reporting on Memorial in the New York Times Magazine, offers a stunning re-creation of the storm, its aftermath, and the investigation that followed (one doctor and two nurses were charged with second-degree murder but acquitted by a grand jury). She evenhandedly compels readers to consider larger questions, not just of ethics but race, resources, history, and what constitutes the greater good, while humanizing the countless smaller tragedies that make up the whole. And, crucially, she provides context, relating how other hospitals fared in similar situations. Both a breathtaking read and an essential book for understanding how people behave in times of crisis.–Graff, Keir Copyright 2010 Booklist

The sleepwalkers : how Europe went to war in 1914 Clark, Christopher MTHE SLEEPWALKERS: How Europe Went to War in 1914 By Christopher Clark – Booklist Review The immense documentation of the origin of WWI, remarks historian Clark, can be marshaled to support a range of theses, and it but weakly sustains, in the tenor of his intricate analysis, the temptation to assign exclusive blame for the cataclysm to a particular country. Dispensing with a thesis, Clark interprets evidence in terms of the character, internal political heft, and external geopolitical perception and intention of a political actor. In other words, Clark centralizes human agency and, especially, human foibles of misperception, illogic, and emotion in his narrative. Touching on every significant figure in European diplomacy in the decade leading to August 1914, Clark underscores an entanglement of an official’s fluctuating domestic power with a foreign interlocutor’s appreciation, accurate or not, of that official’s ability to make something stick in foreign policy. As narrative background, Clark choreographs the alliances and series of crises that preceded the one provoked by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, but he focuses on the men whose risk-taking mistakes detonated WWI. Emphasizing the human element, Clark bestows a tragic sensibility on a magisterial work of scholarship.–Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist

Wave Deraniyagala, SonaliWAVE By Sonali Deraniyagala – Booklist Review It was a festive time. Economist Deraniyagala, her economist husband (they met at Cambridge), and their two young sons flew from London to Sri Lanka to spend the winter holidays with her parents. They were all staying in a hotel near their favorite national park on December 26, 2004, the day of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. Deraniyagala describes their bewilderment as they flee the hotel and her terror as they are swept up by the 30-foot-high, racing wave that brutally changed everything. Only Deraniyagal survived. In rinsed-clear language, she describes her ordeal, surreal rescue, and deep shock, attaining a Didionesque clarity and power. We hold tight to every exquisite sentence as, with astounding candor and precision, she tracks subsequent waves of grief, from suicidal despair to persistent fear, attempts to drown her pain in drink, helpless rage, guilt and shame, and paralyzing depression. But here, too, are sustaining tides of memories that enable her to vividly, even joyfully, portray her loved ones. An indelible and unique story of loss and resolution written with breathtaking refinement and courage.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

 

Sources:

The 10 Best Books of 2013: The year’s best books, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/books/review/the-10-best-books-of-2013.html?smid=pl-share)

Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association (http://www.booklistonline.com/)

10 Books for Twentysomethings

Richelle

A List by Robin Marantz Henig and Samantha Henig, Appeared in Publisher’s Weekly on Dec 14, 2012. (article)

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris1. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris – One thing about the twenties is how much you want to be part of a group, even when the group consists of a random hodgepodge of the people you work with. This smart office tragicomedy is narrated in first person plural throughout, and yet Ferris manages not to make it feel like a gimmick. The result is a richer understanding of the culture of work.

The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe2. The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe – If Ferris’s novel is the precursor to “The Office,” then Jaffe’s is the forerunner of “Mad Men” — with a hint of “Sex and the City” thrown in. Three young women (an Ivy Leaguer, a country beauty, and a troubled actress) try to make it in New York in 1958, struggling with the typical twentysomething woes of heartache and career laments as well as the oppressive glass ceiling of the era.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath3. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – And speaking of work, this autobiographical novel about Plath’s summer as a magazine intern is almost a cliché to mention here — except that it perfectly captures the feeling of being young and at a crossroads. So perfectly, in fact, that we actually used an excerpt from The Bell Jar as the epigraph for our book Twentysomething. In that passage, Plath writes about imagining herself sitting in the crotch of a fig tree, surrounded by juicy figs that represent all her options as writer, traveler, wife, mother, athlete, lover, dozens of different paths her life could take. Leave it to Plath to capture the essential quandary: “choosing one meant losing all the rest.”

Free food for millionaires by Min Jin Lee4. Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee – Choices about work, school, and romance are at the heart of this juicy novel about a group of young people in Manhattan and their families, many of whom are Korean immigrants. Lee (who happens to be a close friend of ours) captures their struggles, uncertainty, and heartache in vivid detail; sometimes the characters feel so real you want to shake them to make them realize how badly they’re screwing up.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen5. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen – This is a sprawling family novel, dealing with crises across the age range, but the turmoil of one character in particular, the younger sister Denise, are worth the price of admission. Franzen details Denise’s evolution from slacker to restaurateur, from straight to bi, in a way that captures all the struggles inherent in the “quarterlife crisis” of someone who worries that she’s made all the wrong choices and is living someone else’s life.

Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler6. Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler – And speaking of living someone else’s life, Delia Grinstead thinks that’s what she’s doing, and one day at the beach she simply walks away from it. Delia is well past her twenties, but in trying to recreate a new identity, she goes through the same turmoil that twentysomethings do. The most poignant moments, to us, are the evenings she spends in her room in a boardinghouse after coming home from a lackluster job and a solitary meal: she gets into bed, reads for a while, and then switches off the lamp to “sit weeping in the dark — the very last step in her daily routine.” Change is hard.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed7. Wild by Cheryl Strayed – OK, we have to admit here that we haven’t read this one, a memoir about Strayed’s decision to hike the Pacific Trail solo at the age of 26. But everyone says we should. They say it’s a guide for life, a “just do it” for young people who are struggling with fears and uncertainty the way Strayed was after her mother died and her marriage dissolved. It’s on our to-do list for 2013.

Alice in Bed by Cathleen Schine8. Alice in Bed by Cathleen Schine – Alice is a college student whose body fails her, landing her in a hospital for a year as doctors, nurses, and a bizarrely distracted mother swirl around her. Her feelings of helplessness and confusion, combined with some weird hallucinations and paranoid fantasies, are like youth writ large; Alice is literally paralyzed, a stand-in for young people who feel metaphorically so. And she gets through it the way so many people do — by improvising.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides9. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides – The genetically ambiguous character at the heart of this novel is Calliope, who grows up as girl but ends up, sort of, as a man. The situation a perfect analogy for the confusion of young people who see every path as equally alluring and can’t decide which is right for them. Many of the quandaries will feel familiar, as Callie-then-Cal struggles with choices that touch on matters of identity, sexuality, predestination, and free will. In addition, the book is hilarious.

Hateship, friendship, courtship, loveship, marriage : stories by Alice Munro.10. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro – Or any collection of Alice Munro stories, really. Her stories are generally about young women choosing between two extremes: independence versus domesticity, acquiescence versus rebellion, staying put versus setting out. Since so many of the stories also bounce back and forth in time, the decisions of youth are often revisited, and their consequences over the life course are revealed.

Click on the titles to visit the catalog and order or call the Reference Desk at 412-741-6920 x3

It’s Cold Outside…Warm up with these Books!

Richelle

To see if the item is available, click on the title.
eBook Titles are RED, eAudio Book Titles are Green

1225 Christmas Tree Lane By Debbie Macomber – Beth Morehouse expects this Christmas to be one of her best. Her small Christmas-tree farm is prospering, her daughters and her dogs are happy and well, and her new relationship with local vet Ted Reynolds is showing plenty of romantic promise. But someone left a basket filled with puppies on her doorstep, that’s complication number one. Number two is that her daughters have invited their dad, Beth’s ex-husband, Kent, to Cedar Cove for Christmas.

An Amish Christmas: A Novel By Cynthia Keller – Celebrating life’s simplest but most essential values, packed with laughter and tears, this is a story of forgiveness and the power of love. You will never forget the special moment in time that is An Amish Christmas.

Anne Perry’s Silent Nights: Two Victorian Christmas Mysteries by Anne Perry – Here are two holiday mysteries set in remote, snow-covered regions of Victorian Britain–where the nights are indeed silent but all is not calm, and where some will sleep in eternal peace.

A Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber – Mother-to-be Mary Jo Wyse arrives in Cedar Cove on Christmas Eve, searching for her baby’s father. David Rhodes had said he’d be in town. But he isn’t. Which leaves Mary Jo stranded, pregnant and alone. And there’s no room at the local inn…

A Chesapeake Shores Christmas by Sherryl Woods – After years apart, Mick and Megan O’Brien are finally ready to make it official…again. Most of their grown children couldn’t be happier about their rekindled love and impending marriage this holiday season. Only Connor is a holdout. Driven to become a divorce attorney after what he views as his mother’s abandonment of their family, Connor’s not about to give his blessing to this reunion romance.

The Christmas Box By Richard Paul Evans – Richard, a busy and preoccupied father, discovers a Christmas box full of love letters from an old woman to her dead daughter and, with the help of an angel, begins to learn the true meaning of Christmas.

The Christmas Brides by Linda Lael Miller – Lizzie McKettrick is homebound with a Christmas Eve surprise for her family—Whitley Carson. He might seem too interested in the McKettrick money, but she’s certain Whitley cares for her. But fate has a surprise for Lizzie—Morgan Shane. When their train is stranded by an avalanche the handsome doctor takes charge with Lizzie by his side. With faith, hard work and some unexpected help, it might be a joyous McKettrick family Christmas after all.

A Christmas Grace by Anne Perry – With Christmas just around the corner, Thomas Pitt’s sister-in-law, Emily Radley, is suddenly called from London to be with her dying aunt. Leaving her husband and two children behind, she makes the long journey to her aunt’s home in Connemara, an all-but-forgotten town on the coast of Western Ireland. Emily soon discovers that a tragic legacy is haunting the once close-knit community.

Christmas Letters By Debbie Macomber – When Catherine O’Connor, who writes Christmas letters for other people, meets Dr. Wynn Jeffries, a child psychologist, at the French cafe on Blossom Street, their opposing viewpoints on raising children ruins Catherine’s Christmas cheer.

The Christmas List By Richard Paul Evans – A successful but heartless businessman sees his own obituary in the newspaper after a case of mistaken identity, setting in motion a series of events that profoundly changes the lives of several people who have suffered due to his ruthless business practices.

A Christmas Carol: in prose being a ghost story of Christmas by Charles Dickens – Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly businessman, learns the true meaning of Christmas after he is visited by the ghosts of Christmases past, present, and future.

The Christmas Pearl By Dorothea Benton Frank – The matriarch of a family of belligerent idiots, Theodora finds her efforts at bringing them together for a South Carolina Christmas reunion have gone badly awry, until a very special someone uses Gullah magic and common sense to bring about a miracle.

Christmas, Present By Jacquelyn Mitchard – When Eliot and Laura Banner learn that Laura has a terminal condition, they gather their children and family around themselves during the holiday season to convey her blessings to them for the future and remember their shared history.

The Christmas Quilt: an Elm Creek Quilts Novel By Jennifer Chiaverini – While decorating Elm Creek Manor on Christmas Eve, Sarah McClure discovers an incomplete Christmas quilt and sets out to uncover its history with the help of Sylvia Bergstrom Compson, who reveals why the quilt had never been finished.

The Christmas Sweater By Glenn Beck – A holiday tale relates the story of a thirteen-year-old boy whose final gift from his mother, a sweater, is scorned in favor of more expensive gifts before a tragic car accident ends the mother’s life.

The Christmas Thief By Mary Higgins Clark – Lottery winner-turned-amateur sleuth Alvirah Meehan joins with private detective Regan Reilly to track down the ninety-foot tree, destined for display in Rockefeller Center, that vanished en route to the city.

The Christmas Train by David Baldacci – On a train ride to Los Angeles, cash-strapped journalist Tom Langdon encounters a ridiculous cast of characters, unexpected romance, and an avalanche that changes everyone’s Christmas plans.

The Christmas Wedding By James Patterson – Relates the story of Gaby Summerhill, a widow planning a holiday wedding to a groom whose identity remains a surprise to her four children.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen – What appears as a typical Midwestern family is anything but as preparations are made for an ideal family holiday. Alfred, the father is losing his fight to control Parkinson’s disease and dementia. His wife, Enid is no longer in control of her household and feels her choices slipping away. Their three grown children are struggling with their own lives. But for this Christmas, Enid is determined to bring them together for the perfect family holiday.

Dashing Through the Snow By Mary Higgins Clark – In Branscombe, N.H., novelist Nora Regan Reilly and her PI daughter, Regan Reilly, and their close friends Alvirah and Will Meehan, track down a missing employee of Conklin’s Market who is connected with a $160 million lottery and the winnings.

Handknit Holidays: Knitting Year-round for Christmas, Hannukah, and Winter Solstice By Melanie Falick with Betty Christiansen – For many people, the best part of the winter holidays is the anticipation: planning the perfect gifts, decorating the house, looking forward to seeing family and friends. Holidays can be particularly special for knitters, whose preparations often start months in advance and involve their own creations.

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas By Agatha Christie – The cerebral Belgian detective uses impeccable logic to locate the murderer of a millionaire in the dreary English Midlands.

Holidays on Ice By David Sedaris – An anthology of humorous Christmas tales and essays features excerpts from the author’s “Barrel Fever” and “Naked,” as well as “The Santaland Diaries,” “Season’s Greetings to Our Friends and Family,” and a new tale of holiday mayhem.

Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook by Joan Nathan – Jewish holidays are defined by food. Yet Jewish cooking is always changing, encompassing the flavors of the world, embracing local culinary traditions of every place in which Jews have lived and adapting them to Jewish observance. This collection, the culmination of Joan Nathan’s decades of gathering Jewish recipes from around the world, is a tour through the Jewish holidays as told in food.

Kwanzaa: a Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture By Maulana Karenga – Written by the creator of the holiday, this book presents the continental African and African-American origins of the celebration, a chapter on each of the Seven Principles, explanations of the meaning of related symbols, suggested activities, and a wrap-up section in which Karenga answers frequently asked questions.

Lakeshore Christmas By Susan Wiggs – Prim librarian Maureen Davenport lives for Christmas–and there’s nothing more magical than Christmas on Willow Lake. Finally getting her chance to direct Avalon’s annual holiday pageant, she’s determined to make it truly spectacular.

Lost December By Richard Paul Evans – Presents a story inspired by the biblical tale of the prodigal son in which Luke, a recent MBA graduate, refuses to take over the family business and instead cashes out his trust funds to pursue a life of wanton pleasure.

The Mitford Snowmen: A Christmas Story By Jan Karon – The inhabitants of the small town of Mitford join together at Christmastime for a fun-filled snowman-building contest, complete with hot chocolate, doughnuts, and the joy of the holiday season.

O, Ghostly Night by Tennant Redbank – This 32-page early reader re-tells part of the Walt Disney Studio feature film, A Christmas Carol, the timeless tale of an old miser who must face Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come.

The Perfect Christmas By Debbie Macomber – Thirty-three-year-old Cassie wants a husband and kids, and she turns to Simon Dodson, a professional matchmaker for help. Dodson assigns her three tasks to complete, and despite a number of comical mishaps, Cassie completes them all. Her Christmas match turns out to be a wonderful surprise.

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg – A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa Claus.

Promise Me By Richard Paul Evans – Beth Cardall’s life was falling apart: her six-year-old daughter, Charlotte, was suffering from an unidentifiable illness; her marriage transformed from a seemingly happy and loving relationship to one full of betrayal and pain; her job was increasingly at risk; and she had lost her ability to trust, to hope, or to believe in herself. Then, on Christmas day, Beth encountered Matthew.

A Redbird Christmas By Fannie Flagg – In a tiny and remote Alabama town, an unexpected, unusual, and life-transforming event that occurs on one Christmas morning changes a family and a town forever, in a heartwarming holiday novel by the author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.

Santa Cruise: a Holiday Mystery at Sea By Mary Higgins Clark – Embarking on a mystery seminar cruise during the holiday season, amateur sleuth Alvirah, private detective Regan, and their family members find their voyage overshadowed by a ghost spotting, the disappearance of a fan, and an unexpected storm.

Shakespeare’s Christmas By Charlaine Harris – While attending her sister’s wedding the cleaning lady and karate expert, Lily Bard of Arkansas, investigates an unsolved kidnapping which occurred eight years earlier. It seems both the child and the kidnapper are in town.

Skipping Christmas By John Grisham – Luther and Nora Krank have decided to set sail on a Caribbean cruise on December 25th and skip Christmas. They are about to discover that their decision brings enormous consequences–and isn’t half as easy as they imagined.

The Stupidest Angel: a Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror By Christopher Moore – A humorous tale of what happens when a none-too-clever angel overhears a little boy, who, having witnessed Santa taking a shovel to the head, prays for Santa to return from the dead.

The Thanksgiving Visitor; One Christmas; & A Christmas Memory By Truman Capote – Three stories describe a boy’s relationship with his elderly cousin and alcoholic father and the indelible holiday memories they provided him.

White Christmas Pie By Wanda E. Brunstetter – In this bittersweet holiday romance set in Amish country, Will Henderson, a young man tortured by his past, meets Karen Yoder, a young woman looking for answers as they both become involved with a desperate father searching for his son.

Wishin’ and Hopin: A Christmas Story By Wally Lamb – It’s 1964 and ten-year-old Felix is sure of a few things: the birds and the bees are puzzling, television is magical, and this is one Christmas he’ll never forget.

 

To see even more Holiday Books, Click Here.

New Mysteries-September 2011

Lynne

Back of Beyond
C.J. Box
M BOX
Where do you go when there’s no turning back? Cody Hoyt is about to find out.

A Bad Day for Scandal
Sophie Littlefield
M LIT
A small-town mystery with a “funny and endearing heroine — with just a hint of Dirty Harry thrown in.”

Bad Intentions
Karin Fossum
M FOS
Inspector Konrad Sejer must face down his own memories and fears as he investigates the deaths of two troubled young men.

A Bali conspiracy most foul : Inspector Singh investigates
Shamini Flint
M FLI
Inspector Singh is sent to Bali to help with the investigation of a skull fragment of man who was killed before a bomb went off.

Betrayal of Trust
J.A. Jance
M JAN
Seattle investigator J.P. Beaumont uncovers a dark conspiracy that reaches deep into the halls of state government.

Camouflage
Bill Pronzini
M PRO
The Nameless Detective has a job that seems simple enough: find David Virden’s ex-wife and deliver some papers to her. Of course, it really isn’t simple enough.

Close Your Eyes
Amanda Eyre Ward
M WAR
For most of her life, Lauren Mahdian has been certain of two things: that her mother is dead, and that her father is a murderer.
The Craigslist Murders
Brenda Cullerton
M CUL
When interior decorator, Charlotte Wolfe, discovers that New York trophy wives are selling off possessions from their husbands’ first wives, her rage provokes her to bite the well-manicured hands that feed her.

A Death in Summer
Benjamin Black
M BLA
One of Dublin’s most powerful men meets a violent end and Detective Inspector Hackett calls in his old friend Quirke to help in unraveling a dark web of intrigue.

The Durham Deception
Philip Gooden
M GOO
Newlyweds Tom and Helen Ansell are drawn into the world of Victorian spiritualism and stage magic when they embark on a double mission to the cathedral city of Durham.

Escape Artist
Ed Ifkovic
M IFK
Edna Ferber and Harry Houdini are involved in solving the mystery of a young woman who disappears from a high school in 1904 Appleton, Wisconsin. Good reviews.

Flash and Bones
Kathy Reichs
M REI
After a body is found near the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a NASCAR crew member shares a devastating story with forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan.

Fly Me to the Morgue
Robert J. Randisi
M RAN
The Rat Pack, as in Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, are in on a mystery, along with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

The Good Thief’s Guide to Venice
Chris Ewan
M EWA
Charlie Howard, part-time crime writer and part-time thief, retreats to Venice, vowing to give up a life of crime to write mysteries, full–time.
Hideout
Kathleen George
M GEO
Nominated for an Edgar Award for her last novel, the Pittsburgh author returns with another police procedural featuring Detective Colleen Greer. Great reviews.

The Hypnotist
Lars Kepler
M KEP
In the frigid climate of Tumba, Sweden, a gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna. Scandinavian crime is hot.

Infernal Angels 
Loren D. Estleman
M EST
P.I. Amos Walker knows where to find people who fence hot merchandise, but when he stumbles onto a dead body, he thinks that something more than stolen merchandise is involved.

Long Gone
Alafair Burke
M BUR
Working at an art gallery, Alice Humphrey arrives at work one morning and finds the whole place stripped bare and the man who had hired her, dead on the floor.

Monument to Murder
Margaret Truman
M TRU
Times are tough in Savannah for former cop and current PI Robert Brixton, so when he takes on a twenty-year-old murder case, he figures he’s got nothing to lose.

The Nightmare Thief
Meg Gardiner
M GAR
Forensic psychologist Jo Beckett finds herself involved in a “ultimate urban reality” game that turns into a deadly nightmare.

No Rest for the Dead
M NO
Twenty-six name-brand mystery authors hand off a great mystery chapter by chapter.

Shut Your Eyes Tight
John Verdon
M VER
As NYPD’s top homicide investigator, Dave Gurney was never comfortable with the label the press gave him: super detective. He just always knew that there was always a trace left behind by a murderer. But what if one day there wasn’t?

The Silent Girl
Tess Gerritsen
M GER
“Every crime scene tells a story. Some keep you awake at night. Others haunt your dreams.” For homicide cop Jane Rizzoli a murder in Boston’s Chinatown will do both.

Turn of Mind
Alice LaPlante M LAP
Dr. Jennifer White is entering the beginning stages of dementia when her life-long friend, Amanda, is murdered.

Watch Me Die
Erica Spindler
M SPI
Before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Mira Gallier had it all: work she loved and an idyllic marriage. What comes afterward is a worse nightmare than a hurricane.

White Heat
M.J. McGrath
M MCG
Half Inuit and half outsider, Edie Kiglatuk is a hunting guide on the brutal, yet beautiful island of Ellesmere. While leading two men on an expedition, one man is shot and killed. An accident, or murder?

The Woodcutter
Reginald Hill
M HIL
Outstanding reviews accompany this mystery by a noted master of the genre.

New Fiction – June 2011

Lynne

The Adults
Alison Espach
F ESP
Emily Vidal, a smart and snarky teenager, is the center of this tale of an affluent suburban universe where neighbors commit suicide and high school teachers have suspect relationships with students.  A world where an adult and a child can be mistaken for the same thing.

All the Time in the World
E.L. Doctorow
F DOC
The noted author presents a new collection of short fiction featuring characters who are “distinct from their surroundings — people in some sort of contest with the prevailing world.”

Bel-Air Dead
Stuart Woods
F WOO
In the wealthy Bel-Air district of Los Angeles, Stone Barrington comes face-to-face with his past when he is recruited by a beautiful widow.

Binocular Vision
Edith Pearlman
F PEA
A collection of short stories by an author who has received numerous rave reviews.

Breaking the Rules
Suzanne Brockmann
F BRO
A new entry in the author’s Troubleshooters series, features Izzy Zanella and his Navy SEAL teammate’s beautiful younger sister, Eden.

Butterfly’s Child
Angela Davis-Gardner
F DAV
What happened after the ending of the story from the famous opera Madame Butterfly?

Elizabeth I
Margaret George
F GEO
The legendary and enigmatic Queen Elizabeth is depicted by a noted historical novelist who presents an answer to the question “but what was she really like?”

Emily Alone
Stewart O’Nan
F ONA
A sequel to Wish You Were Here follows Emily Maxwell, a widow whose grown children have moved away from Pittsburgh.  From an award-winning Pittsburgh author.

A Heartbeat Away
Michael Palmer
F PAL
On the night of the State of the Union address, President Allaire is forced to quarantine everyone in the Capitol building after a terrorist group unleashes a highly contagious virus.

Heartwood
Belva Plain
F PLA
The beloved author’s last novel returns to the world of Evergreen.

Learning to Swim
Sara J. Henry
F HEN
When she witnesses a small child tumbling from a ferry into Lake Champlain, Troy Chance dives in without thinking.

Live Wire
Harlan Coben
F COB
Myron Bolitar is always quick to defend his clients’ interests no matter what the cost.  When former tennis star Suzze T and her rock star husband, Lex, encounter an anonymous posting on Facebook, Lex runs off and Suzze turns to Myron for help.

The Love of My Youth
|Mary Gordon
F GOR
Miranda and Adam, high-school sweethearts, happen to meet again after more than thirty years and re-immerse themselves in their shared past.

The Mozart Conspiracy
Scott Mariani
F MAR
As the cover states: “James Bond meets Jason Bourne meets The Da Vinci Code.”

My New American Life
Francine Prose
F PRO
Lula, a 26-year-old Albanian woman living in New York City on an expiring tourist visa, hopes to make a better life for herself in America. By a noted author.

Night Road
Kristin Hannah
F HAN
For eighteen years, Jude Farraday has put her twins, Mia and Zach, ahead of herself and they are bright and happy teenagers.  Their life becomes much more difficult, however, when Lexi moves into their small-knit community.

Pacific Glory
P.T. Deutermann
F DEU
An old-fashioned military adventure that features three inseparable friends during their Naval Academy years and whose lives are forever changed by the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.

The Peach Keeper
Sarah Addison Allen
F ALL
The author of The Girl Who Chased the Moon welcomes you to a new locale: Walls of Water, North Carolina, where the secrets are as thick as the fog from the town’s famous waterfalls.

Please Look After Mom
Kyung-Sook Shin
F SIN
A Korean bestseller, a moving story of a family’s search for their mother, who goes missing one afternoon amid the crowds of the Seoul Station subway.

The Silver Boat
Luanne Rice
F RIC
A heartwarming portrait of three far-flung sisters who come to Martha’s Vineyard one last time to say good-bye to the family beach house.

Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier
Lisa Dale
F DAL
Fifteen yeas ago, Garret Sorensen’s family, trust, and heart were destroyed when Thea Celik married his brother.  Now that her marriage is ending in divorce, perhaps Garret can put the past behind him.

This Vacant Paradise
Victoria Patterson
F PAT
The 1990’s—Newport Beach, California.  Esther Wilson has the looks to marry well, but things aren’t going as planned.

Tiger Hills
Sarita Mandanna
F MAN
As the first girl to be born into the Nachimanda family in over sixty years, the beautiful Devi is the object of adoration of her entire family.  This is her story.  Starred reviews accompany this first novel.

The Trinity Six
Charles Cumming
F CUM
The 1930’s five-member Cambridge spy ring comprised the most notorious Russian spies in history.  But what if there were a sixth man, a member of the ring whose identity was never revealed?

The Uncoupling
Meg Wolitzer
F WOL
The author of The Ten-Year Nap returns with a story of the strange consequences that occur to a high school community  after a new drama teacher chooses Lysistrata as the school play.

The Watery Part of the World
Michael Parker
F PAR
A haunting story that spans over one hundred years of life on a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina.  It all begins in 1813 when Theodosia Burr, en route to New York to meet her father, Aaron Burr, disappears.

New Fiction – April 2011

Lynne

Agent X 
Noah Boyd
F BOY
FBI-agent-turned-bricklayer Steve Vail once helped solve a brilliant extortion plot.  But now the FBI has another unsolvable problem and it has Vail’s name written all over it.

Cleaning Nabokov’s House
Leslie Daniels
F DAN
When Barb Barrett walks out of her loveless marriage she doesn’t realize she will lose everything.  As she begins to collect the scattered pieces of her life, she moves into a house once occupied by Vladimir Nabokov.

Destiny and Desire
Carlos Fuentes
F FUE
Passion, magic and desire in modern Mexico from an acclaimed author.

A Discovery of Witches
Deborah Harkness
F HAR
A centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch and a mysterious manuscript found in Oxford’s Bodleian Library are bound together in this intriguing novel.

Emily and Einstein
Linda Francis Lee
F LEE
After her husband is killed in a tragic accident, Emily is forced to find out who her husband really was.  She finds comfort in a scruffy dog named Einstein.

The Fates Will Find Their Way
Hannah Pittard
F PIT
Sixteen-year-old Nora Lindell is missing.  And the neighborhood boys she’s left behind are caught forever in the mystery of her absence.

Gideon’s Sword    
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
F PRE
A thriller introducing Gideon Crew: trickster, prodigy, and master thief,  from a pair of well-known authors.

Gideon’s War     
Howard Gordon
F GOR
Gideon Davis has just 48 hours to bring his rogue agent brother in — before a twisted global conspiracy turns deadly.  A fiction debut by the producer of the TV series 24.

I Think I Love You
Allison Pearson
F PEA
The author of I Don’t Know How She Does It returns with a story of first love and how that ardor of youth can ignite an adult life. What happens when your 13-year-old fan obsession is realized when you’re pushing forty?

In Office Hours
Lucy Kellaway
F KEL
Stella and Bella are two intelligent working women who each fall for impossible lovers—at work.  The excitement and absurdity of office romance.

The Informationist
Taylor Stevens
F STE
Vanessa Munroe deals in information—expensive information—for corporations, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise.   Starred reviews for a debut author.  Thriller, anyone?

Journal of a UFO Investigator
David Halperin
F HAL
Danny Shapiro is an isolated teenager who creates a reality of his own that blends seamlessly with his day-to-day life.  What is real? What is imagined?  A heartfelt debut from a promising author.

The Matchmaker of Kenmare
Frank Delaney
F DEL
An Irish story of friendship and sacrifice during the years of World War II.

Minding Frankie
Maeve Binchy
F MIN
Joy, heartbreak and hope abound in this tale of a motherless girl who is being raised by a close-knit Dublin community.

Night Vision
Randy Wayne White
F WHI
Doc Ford finds himself on another suspenseful ride when he discovers that a lot is going on in the Red Citrus trailer park.  Vintage suspense from a master of the genre.

Now You See Her
Joy Fielding
F FIE
Fifty-year-old Marcy Taggart is newly divorced, following the presumed death of her daughter Devon.  Attempting to heal her heartache, she finds herself on a desperate search hoping that her daughter is still alive.

The Old Romantic
Louise Dean
F DEA
Nick and his long-estranged family discover that blood is indeed thicker than water in a hilarious, yet moving, domestic comedy. British humor, anyone?

The Paris Wife
Paula McLain
F MCL
A remarkable place and time features Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richardson as they are swept up with the “lost generation” of Paris in the 1920’s.

Portraits of a Marriage
Sándor Márai
F MAR
A rediscovered novel by the noted Hungarian author of Embers is an exploration of a triangle of entanglement during the years between the two World Wars.

Three Stages of Amazement
Carol Edgarian
F EDG
Charlie and Lena grew up in San Francisco believing they could have it all, but now, in early middle age, life has delivered surprises and tests.

The Tiger’s Wife
Téa Obreht
F OBR
In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage.  Soon she has a feeling that age-old superstitions and secrets are gathering  around her.

The Weird Sisters
Eleanor Brown
F BRO
Unlucky in work, love, and life, the Andreas sisters return to their childhood home.  And each has a secret she’s unwilling to share.  Starred reviews.

When the Killing’s Done
T.C. Boyle
F BOY
Alma Boyd Takesue is a National Park Service biologist who is hoping to save the native species of the Channel Islands from invasive species, such as rats and feral pigs.  Her antagonist, Dave LaJoy, is fiercely opposed to the killing of any species.  An engrossing story with great reviews.

The Whisperers
John Connolly
F CON
Charlie Parker is faced with sinister events in the vast Great North Woods along the border of Maine and Canada. A dangerous smuggling operation is being run by disenchanted former soldiers and is more terrifying than anyone can imagine.

The Year of the Hare
Arto Paasilinna
F PAA
A comic novel by a Finnish author who has been amusing Finns for thirty years and world-wide readers in twenty-five languages.