Staff Picks

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

A Book in a Month November is National Novel Writing Month, or "NaNoWriMo." This national writing project challenges authors and aspiring authors to write a novel--50,000 words--in just one month. Other than participating in the project, the only better way to celebrate the occasion is by reading a success story, such as The Night Circus. Erin Morgenstern's epic debut novel began as a manuscript after a month of writing and became one of the biggest fiction titles published this fall. It's a captivating, fantastical tale of a traveling circus and two magicians pitted against one another. With forbidden love and imaginative descriptions, The Night Circus could just be the book to inspire you to write your own best-selling story.

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The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945 By Kershaw, Ian 2011-09 - Penguin Press 9781594203145 Check Our Catalog "Kershaw's comprehensive research, measured prose, and commonsense insight combine in a mesmerizing explanation of how and why Nazi Germany chose self-annihilation." -- Publishers Weekly …More

Bring Me Home for Christmas By Carr, Robyn 2011-10 - Mira Books 9780778312710 Check Our Catalog New York Times"-bestselling author Carr brings fans home to Virgin River in a Christmas story about reuniting with the one person who's hard to forget. Original. …More

Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years By Maguire, Gregory 2011-11 - William Morrow & Company 9780060548940 Check Our Catalog Maguire returns with the final installment in his transformative work, a thrilling and compulsively readable saga in which the fate of Oz is decided at last. The stirring, long-awaited conclusion to the extraordinary bestselling series begun with "Wicked", "Out of Oz" is a magical journey rife with revelations and reversals, reprisals and surprises--the hallmarks of the brilliant and unique imagination of Maguire. 592 pp. (General Fiction) …More

Left Neglected By Genova, Lisa 2011-01 - Gallery Press 9781439164631 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title Genova delivers a poignant novel about a busy, vibrant woman in her 30s who has a car accident, leaving her to deal with a crippling disorder called left neglect. …More

The Oak Leaves By Lang, Maureen 2007-04 - Tyndale House Publishers 9781414313450 Check Our Catalog Talie Ingram has an ideal life: a successful, devoted husband; a beautiful one-year-old son; and another child on the way. But her world is shattered when she discovers a shocking family secret in the nineteenth-century journal of one of her ancestors, Cosima Escott. Only in reading Cosima's words can Talie make peace with the legacy she's inherited and the one she's passed on to her son. …More

The Host By Meyer, Stephenie 2010-04 - Back Bay Books 9780316068055 Check Our Catalog The author of the bestselling Twilight series delivers her brilliant first novel for adults that's also suitable for teen readers: a gripping story of love and betrayal with the fate of humanity at stake, featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies. HPL patron:  This novel addresses an interesting question:  "What if aliens came to Earth, not to destroy us, but to save us from ourselves?  What if they could take over our bodies, our personalities?  Could we survive the invasion?  Would we even know?" …More

Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War By Vaughan, Hal 2011-08 - Knopf Publishing Group 9780307592637 Check Our Catalog For more than half a century, Chanel's life from 1941 to 1954 has been shrouded in vagueness and rumor, mystery and myth. Neither Chanel nor her many biographers have ever told the full story of these years. Now Hal Vaughan, in this explosive narrative--part suspense thriller, part wartime portrait--fully pieces together the hidden years of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel's life, from the Nazi occupation of Paris to the aftermath of World War II. …More

The Tehran Initiative By Rosenberg, Joel C. 2011-10 - Tyndale House Publishers 9781414319353 Check Our Catalog With the stakes high and few viable options left, the president of the United States orders CIA operative David Shirazi and his team to track down and sabotage Iran's nuclear warheads before Iran or Israel can launch a devastating first strike. 350 pp. (Espionage/Thriller) …More

The Cheapskate Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of Americans Living Happily Below Their Means By Yeager, Jeff 2010-06 - Broadway Books 9780767931328 Check Our Catalog He's at it again, but this time he's not alone. America's Ultimate Cheapskate is back with all new secrets for how to live happily "below" your means, a la cheapskate. …More

Prime Time: Love, Health, Sex, Fitness, Friendship, Spirit--Making the Most of All of Your Life By Fonda, Jane 2011-08 - Random House 9781400066971 Check Our Catalog In this inspiring and candid book, Jane Fonda, #1 bestselling author, actress, and workout pioneer, gives us a blueprint for living well and for making the most of life, especially the second half of it. Covering sex, love, food, fitness, self-understanding, spiritual and social growth, and your brain. In "Prime Time, " she offers a vision for successful living and maturing, A to Z. …More

Lighten Up: Love What You Have, Have What You Need, Be Happier with Less By Walsh, Peter 2010-12 - Free Press 9781439155141 Check Our Catalog "Lighten Up" offers a road map to creating a less-is-more life, and teaches readers how a life of less can actually be a life of great abundance. …More

Faithful Place By French, Tana 2010-07 - Viking Books 9780670021871 Check Our Catalog Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was 19, growing up poor in Dublin's inner city, and he and Rosie Daly were all ready to run away to London together. But on the night when they were supposed to leave, Rosie vanished. Twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not. …More

The Informationist By Stevens, Taylor 2011-03 - Crown Publishing Group (NY) 9780307717092 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title Stevens debuts with a tightly written thriller woven around an uncommon heroine with a knack for putting facts together and coming up with the right answers. HPL patron: Thrilling, intense and hard to put down. …More

The Tiger's Wife By Obreht, Tea 2011-03 - Random House 9780385343831 Check Our Catalog Weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love, Obreht, the youngest of "The New Yorker's" 20 best American fiction writers under 40, spins a timeless novel about a young doctor who confronts the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather's recent death. …More