STAFF PICKS for March

At our staff meetings we take a few minutes to talk about the books we are reading. This is a list of recent favorites.

Running Away with the Circus Water for Elephants is the talk of the town, but before you catch the star-studded film adaptation on the silver screen (opening in theaters April 22), make sure you've read Sara Gruen's moving novel. This Depression-era circus story reverberates with love and tension, as the circus performers and animals are pushed to their limits. Gruen's research on the traveling circuses of the 1930s gives the novel an unmistakenly authentic feel. While you read, you can ponder the movie's casting choices, with Robert Pattinson starring as young Jacob Jankowski, a veterinary student who runs away with the circus, and Reece Witherspoon as Marlena, the sequined star who wins his heart.

Water for Elephants By Gruen, Sara 2007-05 - Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 9781565125605 Check Our Catalog An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of "Riding Lessons. Gritty, sensual and charged with dark secrets involving love, murder and a majestic, mute heroine. …More

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery By Bradley, Alan 2010-01 - Bantam 9780385343497 Check Our Catalog It is the summer of 1950, and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events. For Flavia, life begins in earnest when murder comes to Buckshaw. …More

The Red Garden By Hoffman, Alice 2011-01 - Crown Publishing Group (NY) 9780307393876 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title From the bestselling author of "The Third Angel" and "The Story Sisters" comes a shimmering, unforgettable new book. Hoffman offers a transforming glimpse into small-town America, presenting readers with 300 years of passion, dark secrets, loyalty, and redemption in a web of tales where characters' lives are intertwined by fate and by their own actions. …More

Japan's Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945 By Drea, Edward J. 2009-09 - University Press of Kansas 9780700616633 Check Our Catalog …More

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal By Hornfischer, James D. 2011-01 - Bantam 9780553806700 Check Our Catalog The acclaimed, bestselling author of "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" now delivers a riveting, character-focused narrative of the United States Navy's bloodiest, most pivotal campaign of World War II. …More

Dirty Little Secrets By Omololu, C. J. 2011-03 - Walker & Company 9780802722331 Check Our Catalog Everyone has a secret. But Lucy's is bigger and dirtier than most. It's one she's been hiding for years—that her mom's out-of-control hoarding has turned their lives into a world of garbage and shame. Tackling an increasingly discussed topic that is both fascinating and disturbing, C. J. Omololu weaves an hour-by-hour account of Lucy's desperate attempt to save her family. Readers join Lucy on a path from which there is no return, and the impact of hoarding on one teen's life will have them completely hooked. …More

How to Mellify a Corpse: And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition By Leon, Vicki 2010-07 - Walker & Company 9780802717023 Check Our Catalog Leon brings her particular hybrid of history and humor to the entwined subjects of science and superstition in the ancient world. Leon covers subjects as diverse as astronomy and astrology, and philosophy and practicalities of life and death. …More