For the latest recommendations and new materials, go to the Parkland Library website.

The Gin Closet by Leslie Jamison

November Staff Selection by Pat

Jamison's beautifully written debut follows independent young New Yorker Stella and her estranged aunt Tilly as they form some version of a family. Stella is disenchanted with her life and job as a journalist's personal assistant; Tilly is a professional lost soul, a former prostitute, and an unsuccessful recovering alcoholic. To all appearances, Stella is the savior, finding Tilly, who's been shunned by the family, to rescue her; but through alternating first-person accounts, the reader grows to view the two women as equals. Their experiences with men especially mirror one another's; Tilly has merely had worse luck. Stella describes wanting a man, "any man, who could offer his face as a label for my loneliness"; later, recalling men she's been with, Tilly says, "most of them I didn't even like that much, but they seemed like the easiest way to change my own life." The relationship between Stella and Tilly is compelling, as are their relationships with auxiliary characters, like Stella's brother and Tilly's son, but what truly drives the novel is Jamison's gorgeous prose. -Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

The Amulet of Smarkand by Jonathan Stroud

November Staff Selection from Julie

Presenting a thrilling new voice in children's literature-a witty, gripping adventure story featuring a boy and his not-so-tame djinni. Nathaniel is a young magician's apprentice, taking his first lessons in the arts of magic. But when a devious hotshot wizard named Simon Lovelace ruthlessly humiliates Nathaniel in front of everyone he knows, Nathaniel decides to kick up his education a few notches and show Lovelace who's boss. With revenge on his mind, he masters one of the toughest spells of all: summoning the all-powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand, Nathaniel finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, blackmail, and revolt. Set in a modern-day London spiced with magicians and mayhem, this extraordinary, funny, pitch-perfect thriller will dazzle the myriad fans of Artemis Fowl and the His Dark Materials trilogy. -distributed by Syndetic Solutions, LLC.

The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle

September Staff Selection from Suzi

Peter Mayle's newest and most delightful novel of France. Filled with mouthwatering food, sumptuous wines, colorful characters, and lots of fun. The story begins in Hollywood, at the expensive home and impressive wine cellar of lawyer, Danny Roth. Roth finds himself the victim of a world-class wine heist and the story moves to France. Most anyone will learn a thing or two in this vintage work from a beloved author.

A Darker Justice by Sallie Bissell

September Staff Selection from Cecil

Someone appears to be killing federal judges. The FBI asks Mary Crow, an assistant district attorney, to protect Judge Irene Hannah, who they fear will be the next victim. This takes her into the Appalachian woods, the arms of her former lover, and eventually into underground caverns. Bissell's tale gathers a full head of narrative steam that keeps the pages turning. A great read for realistic thriller fans. - excerpt from Booklist, Copyright American Library Association

Eye of Vengeance by Jonathon King

July Staff Selection from Jan

Veteran journalist Jonathon King sets this edgy, brooding novel in a milieu he knows well, the world of the professional crime reporter. Nick Mullins, who covers the crime beat for the South Florida Daily News, is still shattered two years later by the deaths of his wife and one of his twin daughters in an auto accident with a drunk driver. Obsessed with revenge, Mullins spends his off hours stalking the driver. Mullins' reputation for honesty and integrity endears him to a devoted cadre of readers, including an ex-cop and former military sniper who begins assassinating criminals Mullins has profiled. King's crisp writing and insight into loss and grief give this novel a depth and poignancy unusal for a thriller. -excerpt from Publishers Weekly

Low Country by Anne Rivers Siddons

July Staff Selection from Selma

Caro Venable is a captivating mix of beauty queen, drunk, artist, dutiful corporate wife, and mother. Her love of Peacock's Island clashes with her developer husband's plans to subdivide her grandfather's land and turn its native tribal settlement into a "theme park." Caro is also tempted by a wild, rebellious Cuban botanist who shares he love for the unspoiled island. Readers of Siddon's other books will not be disappointed. -excerpt from Library Journal

Stargirld by Jerry Spinelli

May Staff Selection from Julie

From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of "Stargirl, Stargirl." She captures Leo Borlock's heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students and Mica High are enchanted. At first. Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly stunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newberry Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love.

Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian

May Staff Selection from Pat

Haunted by the final words of a newly baptized congregation member who was subsequently murdered by her husband, the Reverend Stephen Drew abandons his pulpit to spend time with an author who writes best-selling books about angels. Secrets of Eden is both a haunting literary thriller and a deeply evocative testament to the inner complexities that mark all of our lives. Once again Chris Bohjalian, best selling author of Midwives, has given us a riveting page-turner in which nothing is precisely what it seems.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

March Staff Selection from Selma

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Velâ da Hivâ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Velâ dâ Hiva's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins toquestion her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

March Staff Selection from Jan

Still Alice is a compelling debut novel about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease, written by first-time author Lisa Genova, who holds a Ph. D in neuroscience from Harvard University.
Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what's it's like to literally lose your mind...

Triple Cross by Mark T. Sullivan

January Staff Selection from Cecil

New Year's Eve finds half a dozen of the richest men in the world celebrating at the Jefferson Club, a spectacularly exclusive private club in the mountains of Montana. But the celebration is halted by a helicopter assault by the Third Position Army, a group that says it is revolting against corporate tyranny. Triple Cross is crisply written, breathlessly paced, suspenseful, and simultaneously fanciful yet nearly plausible.

The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner

January Staff Selection from Pat

When a young wife and mother disappears from her suburban home, it's not long before the cops have their first suspect: the missing woman's husband, whose behavior is distinctly suspicious.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

November Staff Selection from Julie

The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery. -excerpt from amazon.com

Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich

November Staff Selection from Elsie

Christopher Reich, in his first Jonathan Ransom thriller, keeps the action coming. Following the death of his wife in a mountaineering accident, Dr. Jonathan Ransom receives a mysterious message that makes him the subject of an international manhunt as he struggles to unravel the truth behind his wife's secrets.

Bait by Karen Robards

September Staff Selection from Michele

FBI agent Sam McCabe is on the hunt for a killer who taunts him by calling him on his cell phone to give him clues that lead Sam and his team to the crime scene mere moments too late. A break in the case finally happens in New Orleans, when the killer strikes twice at the same hotel. He attacks two women with the name Maddie Fitzgerald but only kills one. The surviving Maddie wants only to be left alone. After a mysterious event in her life seven years ago, Maddie reinvented herself and doesn't want anyone delving into her past, especially the FBI. She now owns a struggling advertising agency, and she is after a dog-food account that will save her business. Sam knows that although she is unable to identify the assassin, he will come back to finish the job, so he tails Maddie back to St. Louis. There the killer tries again, and Sam must contend with the interference born of a mutual attraction between him and Maddie, and with Zelda, a psycho, junk-food-loving dog.