Recommendations and New Materials

2010-11-03T14:35:00.006-04:00

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

The Gin Closet by Leslie Jamison

2010-10-28T10:55:00.003-04:00

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

2010-10-28T10:40:00.004-04:00

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

2010-08-27T15:26:00.007-04:00

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

2010-08-27T14:53:00.006-04:00

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

2010-06-29T18:00:00.003-04:00

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

2010-06-29T17:43:00.006-04:00

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

2010-05-04T12:58:00.003-04:00

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

2010-04-29T16:14:00.003-04:00

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

2010-02-27T15:06:00.005-05:00

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

2010-02-27T14:47:00.005-05:00

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

2009-12-30T12:03:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-30T11:57:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-23T12:30:00.002-04:00

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

2009-10-23T12:01:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-02T14:37:00.002-04:00

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.

Murder at the Pentagon by Margaret Truman

2009-09-02T14:30:00.003-04:00

September Staff Selection from Suzi

When a genius doctor is murdered and a desert madman gains the means to kill millions, Major Margit Falk, a helicopter pilot and Pentagon lawyer, is drawn into Project Safekeep--an antimissile scheme under congressional investigation. The alleged murderer has his share of secrets, but Falk smells conspiracy in the air. And although she turns to her mentor, law professor Mackenzie Smith for help, she's got to beat a cunning madman and a nuclear blast

Beach Music by Pat Conroy

2009-07-02T14:51:00.003-04:00

July Staff Selection from Jan

A sweeping novel of lyric intensity and searing truth–the story of Jack McCall, an American expatriate in Rome, scarred by tragedy and betrayal. His desperate desire to find peace after his wife’s suicide draws him into a painful, intimate search for the one haunting secret in his family’s past that can heal his anguished heart.Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life’s pain and glory.

The Last Child by John Hart

2009-07-02T12:51:00.004-04:00

July Staff Selection from Pat

An intricate, powerful story of loss, hope, and courage in the face of evil. Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: a warm home and loving parents; a twin sister, Alyssa, with whom he shared an irreplaceable bond. He knew nothing of loss, until the day Alyssa vanished from the side of a lonely street. Traveling the wilderness between innocence and hard wisdom, between hopelessness and faith,The Last Child leaves all categories behind and establishes John Hart as a writer of unique power.

First Warning: Acorna's Children by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth A. Scarborough

2009-05-11T13:45:00.003-04:00

May Staff Selection from Suzi

On a journey, Khorii's trip is delayed when her ship encounters a derelict spacecraft floating aimlessly among the stars, its crew dead in their seats. Suddenly a planned visit by her parents has turned into a terrifying race against time as a deadly plague spreads relentlessly across the universe. Even the healing powers of the Linyaari cannot slow its horrific advance. And now Khorii, one of the few unaffected by the outbreak, must find an antidote -- before the scourge consumes everyone and everything in its path . . . including those she loves above all others.

A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett

2009-05-11T13:39:00.005-04:00

May Staff Selection from Jan

Sentenced to a life of misery in the Scottish coal mines, twenty-one-year-old Mack McAsh hungers for escape. His only ally: beautiful high-born Lizzie Hallim, who is trapped in her own kind of hell.In 1766, from the teeming streets of London to the infernal hold of a slave ship headed for the American colonies to a sprawling Virginia plantation, two restless young people, separated by politics and position, are bound by their search for a place called freedom....

Orbit by John J. Nance

2009-03-09T16:21:00.006-04:00

March Staff Selection from Suzi

It's 2009, and the protagonist, Kip Dawson, has won a seat on an American Space Adventure spacecraft, Intrepid, which will orbit the earth. There are problems: a rock smashes into the craft, killing the pilot and the radios, leaving Dawson to fly it back to Earth. He writes his epitaph on the craft's laptop computer, not knowing that thousands of people have received it on the Internet, triggering a vast struggle to rescue him. - Excerpt from Booklist.

A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith

2009-03-09T16:16:00.003-04:00

March Staff Selection from Jan

The story of three generations of the MacIveys, a Florida family who battle the hardships of the frontier to rise from a dirt-poor Cracker life to the wealth and standing of real estate tycoons. The story opens in 1858, when Tobias MacIvey arrives in the Florida wilderness to start a new life with his wife and infant son, and ends two generations later in 1968 with Solomon MacIvey, who realizes that the land has been exploited far beyond human need. The sweeping story that emerges is a rich, rugged Florida history featuring a memorable cast of crusty, indomitable Crackers battling wild animals, rustlers, Confederate deserters, mosquitoes, starvation, hurricanes, and freezes to carve a kingdom out of the swamp.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

2009-01-02T13:59:00.006-05:00

January Staff Selection from Michele

The Southern Vampire Mysteries features small-town waitress-turned-paranormal sleuth Sookie Stackhouse. In this first book in the series having an affair with a vampire has one main benefit for Sookie. Her predilection for reading minds doesn't seem to work with him. But as is common with vampires, violence follows in his wake, and she becomes afraid that she might be more than just a spectator.

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

2008-12-31T17:26:00.004-05:00

January Staff Selection from Louie

Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. -Excerpt from amazon.com

Evening Class by Maeve Binchy

2008-11-06T11:56:00.005-05:00

November Staff Selection from Jan

Eight people come together to study Italian in an evening class in Dublin. The story of their lives unfolds. I enjoyed being along for the ride as the author brings each character to life through some difficult and many happy times.

Black and White and Dead All Over by John Darnton

2008-11-06T11:32:00.006-05:00

November Staff Selection from Suzi

This is a humorous murder mystery. Yes, really! It takes place at a fictionalized New York Times newspaper. The names of the characters, in particular, tickled my funny

bone. Many plot twists.

Souvenir by Therese Fowler

2008-09-10T11:22:00.004-04:00

September Staff Selection from Pat

Fowler's debut is the heartbreaking story of a woman who made what she thought was a responsible decision, only to have to live with the consequences...When Meg discovers she has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), she knows she has only one chance to make peace with the past and give her daughter hope for the future. -Excerpt from Library Journal

In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

2008-09-10T11:17:00.004-04:00

September Staff Selection from Jan

Rose and Maggie, the brain and the beauty, make journeys of discovery that take them from the streets of Philadelphia to Ivy League libraries to a "retirement community for active seniors" in Boca Raton. Along the way, they'll encounter a wild cast of characters -- from a stepmother who's into recreational Botox to a small, disdainful pug with no name. They'll borrow shoes and clothes and boyfriends, and make peace with their most intimate enemies -- each other. Funny and poignant, richly detailed and wrenchingly real, In Her Shoes will speak to anyone who has endured the bonds of big -- or little -- sisterhood, or longed for a life different from the one the world has dictated, and dreamed of trying something else on for size.

Golden Country by Jennifer Gilmore

2008-07-01T17:55:00.004-04:00

July Staff Selection from Selma

The story follows the lives of three immigrants from the 1920s to the '60s in New York: Joseph Brodsky, a door-to-door salesman; Seymour, a salesman who trades in his cases for guns and glamour; and Frances, unsinkable, not too beautiful, but determined to know success. These three people live the story of America at that time: the impact of Kristallnacht and the camps on the Jewish population, World War II, depression and new prosperity, airplane travel, and television. It's a time of enormous change and growth, great sadness, and undreamed of wealth. -Excerpt from amazon.com

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

2008-07-01T17:40:00.004-04:00

July Staff Selection from Pat

Twenty-five years after her entire family vanishes without a trace, Cynthia Archer is struggling to live a normal life with her husband and daughter, until sinister clues, all pointing to her missing family, begin to reveal the dark secrets of the past.

Marrying Mom by Olivia Goldsmith

2008-04-29T19:05:00.003-04:00

May Staff Selection from Jan

Mom is a transplated New Yorker living in Florida. Her three grown children try to snag an elderly bachelor for her when she ditches her Florida retirement home and returns to New York.

The Gods of Newport by John Jakes

2008-04-29T18:54:00.003-04:00

May Staff Selection from Selma

In late-19th-century Newport, Rhode Island, infamous railroad mogul and robber baron Sam Driver wants his beautiful daughter to have the best Newport has to offer--even if that means breaking all the rules.

Murder Unleashed by Elaine Viets

2008-03-08T15:26:00.003-05:00

March Staff Selection from Louie

Summary: Helen Hawthorne has no choice but to take on a series of dead-end jobs to make ends meet. Unfortunately, they're exposing her to a lot of people who end up dead. Her latest gig at the Pampered Pet Boutique in Ft. Lauderdale isn't proving to be a warm and furry exception-and now she's got a murder to solve and a kidnapped pup to find, all before a Category 3 hurricane hits.

The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff

2008-03-08T15:13:00.002-05:00

March Staff Selection from Selma

Summary: Nineteen-year-old Emma Bau has been married only three weeks when Nazi tanks thunder into her native Poland. Within days Emma's husband, Jacob, is forced to disappear underground, leaving her imprisoned within the city's decrepit, moldering Jewish ghetto. But then, in the dead of night, the resistance smuggles her out. Taken to Krakow to live with Jacob's Catholic cousin, Krysia, Emma takes on a new identity as Anna Lipowski, a gentile.
Emma's already precarious situation is complicated by her introduction to Kommandant Richwalder, a high-ranking Nazi official who hires her to work as his assistant. As the atrocities of war intensify, so does Emma's relationship with the Kommandant, building to a climax that will risk not only her double life, but also the lives of those she loves.

Blind Submission by Debra Ginsberg

2007-12-28T13:06:00.000-05:00

January Staff Selection by Jan

Summary: Angel Robinson lands a job as the assistant to literary agent Lucy Fiamma, and soon discovers that working for Lucy is no picnic, particularly when she's ordered to whip a mysterious manuscript into shape. But when the chapters take a disturbing turn, Angel finds her sanity in danger.

The Red Dress by Sarah Harrison

2007-12-28T12:19:00.001-05:00

January Staff Selection from Selma

Summary: Its a dress in a million... - Hand-made in sleek, scarlet satin, its a dress for seduction. Its journey begins with Carolyn, who plans to wear it at her silver wedding party to remind Oliver that he is the luckiest man he knows. But by the time Carolyn collects it from the seamstress her world has been shaken. She opts instead for the safety of black, and gives the red dress to a friend... So the dress journey continues; the repository of hopes, dreams, fantasies and aspirations.

Beachcomber by Karen Robards

2007-11-08T12:55:00.000-05:00

November Staff Selection from Michele

This story kept me on the edge of my seat. It is different from Karen Robards other books in that it does not follow her standard plot. I liked the combination of romance with mystery.

Along Comes a Stranger by Lorie McCullough Lawson

2007-09-11T14:41:00.000-04:00

September Staff Selection from Pat

Hayden, Wyoming, is such an insignificant, isolated community that the arrival of a new person in town is a cause either for celebration or concern. When Kate Colter's widowed mother-in-law introduces her new beau, Tom Baxter, Kate, a native New Englander, is overjoyed. Despite her satisfying marriage and the rewards and concerns of motherhood, Kate has never felt totally at home in the West, and she finds in Tom a kindred spirit, due to their mutual East Coast roots as well as their love for more stimulating, intellectual conversations than the locals can provide. But when elements of Tom's story fail to add up, Kate unwittingly puts herself and her family at risk. The daughter of historian David McCullough, Lawson's accomplished debut novel is an agile blend of keenly perceptive domestic drama and sharply escalating suspense. -Excerpt from Booklist

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichi

2007-09-11T14:27:00.000-04:00

September Staff Selection from Molly

Ruth Reichl's account of her experience undercover in her position as food critic for The New York Times. She throws back the curtain on the sumptuously appointed stages of the epicurean world to reveal the comic absurdity, artifice and excellence there, giving us (along with some of her favorite recipes and reviews) her remarkable reflections on role playing and identity.

Snow in August by Pete Hamill

2007-09-08T16:49:00.002-04:00

September Staff Selection from Selma

In Brooklyn in the late 1940s, adolescent Michael Devlin is a dutiful son to his widowed mother and a conscientious altar boy at the parish church. One day, he meets Rabbi Judah Hirsch, a chance encounter that inaugurates a friendship with vast consequences, good and bad, for both of them. Michael lost his father in the war, and the rabbi, a recent immigrant to this country, lost his wife. The threads of their connection widen and strengthen as the rabbi endeavors to teach Michael about his native Prague and Jewish customs and lore, and the boy, in turn, instructs the rabbi about things American, including baseball. But Michael's awakening does not stop there; sadly, he learns hard lessons, to the point of bodily harm, about anti-Semitism. In fact, Michael must turn to extreme measures to effect a resolution to the problem of hatemongering; using his new storehouse of knowledge, he summons a golem! An intelligent, heartfelt, and ironically charming novel that will certainly enhance the reputation of this popular writer. - from Booklist

River's End by Nora Roberts

2007-06-01T15:28:00.000-04:00

June staff pick from Michele

Olivia McBride was only four the night she followed a scream and discovered her father standing over her mother's body, a pair of bloody scissors in his hand. In one short night, Hollywood's golden couple had ceased to exist. Olivia's testimony put actor Sam Tanner in prison for 20 years. Her grandparents then whisked her away to the Pacific Northwest, where her parents were never mentioned. Twenty years later, Sam wants to tell his story, his truth, and he wants Noah Brady, the son of the cop who arrested him, to write it. Noah agrees because pictures of the traumatized four-year-old have always haunted him. Noah and Olivia strike sparks off one another that quickly ignite a conflagration of emotions. Roberts keeps you guessing until the end.

Watch your back! by Donald E. Westlake

2007-06-01T15:10:00.000-04:00

June staff pick from Molly

Westlake is in fine form in this twelfth comic caper featuring hapless burglar John Dortmunder and his crew of irrepressible ex-cons. This time around, the bumbling lawbreakers (including mildly offensive fence Arnie Albright and fireplug of a thug Tiny) plan to rob the Manhattan penthouse of billionaire reprobate Preston Fareweather (the smug financier is hiding out at Club Med in the Caribbean, bedding young lovelies and desperately trying to forget about his five ex-wives).

How Language Works by David Crystal

2007-05-25T10:55:00.000-04:00

In this fascinating survey of everything from how sounds become speech to how names work, David Crystal answers every question you might ever have had about the nuts and bolts of language in his usual highly illuminating way. Along the way we find out about eyebrow flashes, whistling languages, how parents teach their children to speak, how politeness travels across languages and how the way we talk show not just how old we are but where we're from and even who we want to be.

Simple Genius by David Baldacci

2007-05-25T10:14:00.000-04:00

Former Secret Service agents Sean King and Michelle Maxwell have reached a crisis in their relationship in this less than compelling Washington political thriller from bestseller Baldacci. When Maxwell instigates a fight with the most intimidating bruiser she could find at a local bar and lets herself be beaten unconscious, despite her superior fighting skills, her partner suggests she voluntarily commit herself to a psychiatric facility. While Maxwell reluctantly undergoes treatment to find the childhood roots of her death wish, King probes the suicide of a scientist found on the grounds of Virginia's Camp Peary, a mysterious CIA facility. Both mysteries are fairly run of the mill, lacking the sharp twists and expert pacing that characterize Baldacci's fiction at its best.

A Painted House: John Grisham

2007-05-10T12:25:00.000-04:00

Lucas Chandler is a seven-year-old boy who lives in an unpainted house on an Arkansas farm with his parents and grandparents in the early 1950s. He loves Coca-Cola, baseball, and the St. Louis Cardinals, and he plans on using the money he earns picking cotton to buy a shiny baseball jacket from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Soon after the hired crews of Mexicans and "hill people" arrive to help pick the Chandler family's 80 acres of cotton, Lucas sees things that cause him to lose his innocence much earlier than he should.

For One More Day: Mitch Albom

2007-05-10T12:24:00.000-04:00

Charlie's been drunk so often and disappointed his daughter so many times that she doesn't invite him to her wedding. He even fails at his suicide. Or does he? When his deceased mother returns to love him unconditionally for one more day, he's not quite sure what's going on. Charlie reflects on his mother's past support, his own failings, and the events of a confusing present in which he relishes his mother's care and sees his own life clearly for the first time.

Digging to America: Anne Tyler

2007-05-10T12:22:00.000-04:00

A story about what it is to be an American, and about Maryam Yazdan, who after thirty-five years in this country must finally come to terms with her "outsiderness." Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport - the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam's fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian American wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. The two families become deeply intertwined.

Sullivan's Law: Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

2007-05-09T14:40:00.000-04:00

This taut thriller by the "New York Times" bestselling author features Carolyn Sullivan, mother of two, law student, and probation officer. Carolyn becomes embroiled in a dangerous, high-profile case when she's assigned to supervise a convicted killer.

Red Leaves: Thomas H. Cook

2007-05-09T14:38:00.000-04:00

Eric Moore has a prosperous business, a comfortable home, a stable family life in a quiet town. Then, on an ordinary night, his teenage son Keith is asked to babysit the daughter of a neighboring family. Red Leaves is a story of broken trust and one man's heroic effort to hold fast the ties that bind him to everything he loves.

The Lonely Silver Rain: John D. MacDonald

2007-05-09T14:36:00.000-04:00

Searching for a wealthy friend's yacht, “Fort Lauderdale resident” Travis McGee puts himself square in the center of the international cocaine trade, and finds himself the target of some of the most ruthless villains he's ever met.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Louise Rennison

2007-05-09T14:33:00.000-04:00

Welcome to a rollicking year in the life of 14-year-old Georgia Nicolson, the most raunchy, irreverent, and irrepressible British heroine since Bridget Jones.

Gone with the Wind: Margaret Mitchell

2007-05-09T14:31:00.000-04:00

A monumental classic considered by many to be not only the greatest love story ever written, but also the greatest Civil War saga.

The Color of Law: Mark Giminez

2007-05-09T14:27:00.000-04:00

The story of a good guy who's gone down the wrong path only to be confronted by a new crossroads-one that offers him a final chance at redemption, but at a terrible cost. With echoes of "To Kill a Mockingbird” as well as early John Grisham, this book is a provocative page-turner and marks the stunning debut of a major new talent.

The Gingerbread Girl: Lisa Campbell Ernst

2007-05-09T14:26:00.000-04:00

Children’s book. Like her older brother, the Gingerbread Boy, who was eventually devoured by a fox, the Gingerbread Girl eludes the many people who would like to eat her but also has a plan to escape her sibling's fate.

Twilight: Stephenie Meyer

2007-05-09T14:24:00.000-04:00

Young adult book. When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.

Carolina Moon: Nora Roberts

2007-05-09T14:22:00.000-04:00

With its blend of evil killers, handsome heroes, and feisty, sensitive heroines, this Nora Robert's thriller meets the same standards of terror and romance that made River's End a bestseller. This time, our heroine Tory Bodeen has returned to her hometown of Progress, South Carolina, to face the fearsome memories of her childhood friend Hope's death and rebuild her life in a town that once betrayed her.

The Lincoln Lawyer: Michael Connelly

2007-05-09T14:21:00.000-04:00

Mickey Haller defends low-life criminals who seem to offend habitually. With no actual office in which to hang his law degree, he works out of the backseat of his car. When a wealthy client lands in Mickey's lap, he thinks he has found a dream case. The evidence indicates a frame, and Mickey believes he might actually be defending his first truly innocent client. While he manipulates the system to his advantage, Mickey discovers that he is being maneuvered as well.

The Mermaid Chair: Sue Monk Kidd

2007-05-09T14:20:00.000-04:00

This is a soulful tale of Jessie Sullivan, a middle-aged woman whose stifled dreams and desires take shape during an extended stay on Egret Island, where she is caring for her troubled mother, Nelle. Like Kidd's stunning debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, her highly anticipated follow up evokes the same magical sense of whimsy and poignancy.

Plainsong: Kent Haruf

2007-05-09T14:17:00.000-04:00

A heartstrong story of family and romance, tribulation and tenacity, set on the High Plains east of Denver. From unsettled lives emerges a vision of life, and of the town and landscape that bind them together -- their fates somehow overcoming the powerful circumstances of place and station, their confusion, curiosity, dignity and humor intact and resonant. As the milieu widens to embrace fully four generations, Kent Haruf displays an emotional and aesthetic authority to rival the past masters of a classic American tradition. Utterly true to the rhythms and patterns of life, Plainsong is a novel to care about, believe in, and learn from.

The Queen of the Big Time: Adriana Trigiani

2007-05-09T14:16:00.000-04:00

There's a lush loveliness at the core of this sweeping tale of America's multicultural heartland. A first-generation Italian-American family in small-town Pennsylvania is depicted against a backdrop of four decades of the past century. The central character, Nella Castelluca, is a farmer's middle daughter whose aspirations are boundless, but her dreams are dashed, and then reborn. Swirling around her are those timeless components of drama--young love, tragic death, and renewed hope.

Henry and the Paper Route: Beverly Cleary

2007-05-09T14:13:00.000-04:00

"Being homeless is an adventure," Walls’s mom used to say. In her extraordinary memoir, Walls recalls her nomadic life with surprising affection—though she would not want to relive it. Instead of condemning her parents’ foibles, she unblinkingly examines how they transformed hardship into family romance and adventure.

Can You Keep A Secret: Sophie Kinsella

2007-05-09T14:09:00.000-04:00

Emma Corrigan spills a few little secrets to a handsome stranger on a plane. Come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from the plane all her secrets.

One for the Money: Janet Evanovich

2007-05-09T13:58:00.000-04:00

Spontaneity and financial desperation push Stephanie Plum into the life of a bounty hunter, a job that pits her inexperience against the charming wiles of her one-time high school seducer, who is now a purported murderer.

Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr

2007-05-01T11:10:00.000-04:00

Nim is a modern-day Robinson Crusoe and is not afraid when her scientist dad sails off to study plankton for three days, leaving her alone on their island. She's being looked after by her sea lion and iguana friends. She also has an interesting new e-mail pal. But when her father's cell-phone calls stop coming and disaster seems near, Nim has to be stronger and braver than she's ever been before.

The Get Rich Quick Club by Dan Gutman

2007-05-01T11:06:00.000-04:00

From the award-winning author of the popular Baseball Card Adventures come the laugh-out-loud tail of five kids who scheme to make a million dollars. This is the dazzling tale of five kids who make a pact to earn a million dollars by the end of the summer, led by the clever and daring Gina Tumolo. They come up with a fantastic scheme that involves a photograph of a UFO. Before they are through, they will have their photos in newspapers across the country and even meet face to face with . . . well, you don't think we'll give the story away right here, do you? Look inside and see for yourself what happens!

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wall

2007-04-30T18:41:00.000-04:00

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict." Cooking a meal that would be consumed in fifteen minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever." "Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town - and the family - Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home." "What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms

Water For Elephants by Sarah Gruen

2007-04-30T18:38:00.000-04:00

Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell." "Jacob was there because his luck had run out - orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act - in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

Chasing Jordan by Heidi Boehringer

2007-04-30T18:37:00.001-04:00

Driving home one day Meg spots her husband eyeing up their neighbor, who is gardening in her provocatively tight shorts, and feels all her suspicions about him having an affair are true. At this very moment, her young son Jordan comes running in front of the car and is killed." "Meg's fierce struggle for forgiveness leads her down an absurd path, seeking to save others and spying on the bereaved in the hope of learning how to manage her grief. As her marriage slowly unravels, Meg recalls her own childhood, dominated by an alcoholic and promiscuous mother, and an earlier accident that changed her life forever

Virgin of the Small Plains by Nancy Pickard

2007-04-30T18:31:00.000-04:00

Book Synopsis: Small Plains, Kansas, January 23, 1987: In the midst of a deadly blizzard, eighteen-year-old Rex Shellenberger scours his father’s pasture, looking for helpless newborn calves. Then he makes a shocking discovery: the naked, frozen body of a teenage girl, her skin as white as the snow around her. Even dead, she is the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. It is a moment that will forever change his life and the lives of everyone around him. The mysterious dead girl–the “Virgin of Small Plains”–inspires local reverence. But what really happened in that snow-covered field? “The Virgin of Small Plains will keep you up all night. Nancy Pickard’s intelligent, suspenseful storytelling never disappoints.”

The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan

2007-04-30T18:23:00.000-04:00

Fans of Tan's Joy Luck Club (Putnam, 1989) will love her powerful second novel. Here she creates an absorbing story about the lives of a Chinese mother and her adult American-born daughter. Pressured to reveal to the young woman her secret past in war-torn China in the 1940s, Winnie weaves an unbelievable account of a childhood of loneliness and abandonment and a young adulthood marred by a nightmarish arranged marriage. Winnie survives her many ordeals because of the friendship and strength of her female friends, the love of her second husband, and her own steadfast courage and endurance. At the conclusion, her secrets are uncovered and she shares a trust/love relationship with her daughter, Pearl, that was missing from both their lives. Some YAs may find the beginning a bit slow, but this beautifully written, heartrending, sometimes violent story with strong characterzation will captivate their interest to the very last page.

Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

2007-04-30T18:20:00.000-04:00

Twelve American tourists join an art expedition that begins in the Himalayan foothills of China - dubbed the true Shangri-La - and heads south into the jungles of Burma. But after the mysterious death of their tour leaders, the carefully laid plans fall apart, and disharmony breaks out among the pleasure-seekers as they come to discover that the Burma Road is paved with less-than-honorable intentions, questionable food, and tribal curses." "And then, on Christmas morning, eleven of the travelers boat across a misty lake for a sunrise cruise - and disappear." "Drawing from the current political reality in Burma and woven with pure confabulation, Amy Tan's picaresque novel poses the question: How can we discern what is real and what is fiction, in everything we see? How do we know what to believe? Saving Fish from Drowning finds sly truth in the absurd: a reality TV show called Darwin's Fittest, a repressive regime known as SLORC, two cheroot-smoking twin children hailed as divinities, and a ragtag tribe hiding in the jungle - where the sprites of disaster known as Nats lurk, as do the specters of the fabled Younger White Brother and a British illusionist who was not who he was worshipped to be.