Staff Picks

The smart card Two-thirds of Americans have a library card, and this month, we want to see that number climb even higher. September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month, an effort spearheaded by the American Library Association. The emphasis this year is on making sure that school-age children have library cards. Do all the children in your family have a library card? If not, bring them to the library today, where getting a library card is easy. Remember, a library card is the most important school supply of all!

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 for September

The Right Words at the Right Time: Volume 2: Your Turn! By Thomas, Marlo 2006-04 - Atria Books 9780743497435 Check Our Catalog From big cities to farm communities, from office cubicles to hospital wards, from Normandy Beach to Boston's Fenway Park, the contributors to this remarkable volume -- selected from among thousands in a nationwide search --- tell riveting stories about the words that changed their lives forever. …More

The Fountain of Age By Friedan, Betty 1993-09 - Simon & Schuster 9780671400279 Check Our Catalog Friedan's The Feminine Mystique changed forever the way women thought about themselves and the way society thought about women. Today, she changes forever the way all of us, men and women, think about ourselves growing older and the way society thinks about aging. First serial to Time magazine. (Sociology/Anthropology/Archaeology) …More

The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya By Tanigawa, Nagaru 2010-07 - Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 9780316038867 Check Our Catalog This third volume in the Haruhi Suzumiya series is a collection of four exciting short stories that cover everything from baseball and time travel to alternate dimensions. It even includes an intriguing murder mystery. …More

Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift, June 1948-May 1949 By Reeves, Richard 2010-01 - Simon & Schuster 9781416541196 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title The author of the bestsellers "President Nixon" and "President Kennedy" details the harrowing journey of two men who risked their lives to defy the Soviet blockade intended to drive Western powers out of Berlin. …More

Play Dirty By Brown, Sandra 2007-08 - Simon & Schuster 9780743289351 Check Our Catalog From the "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Chill Factor" and "Ricochet" comes this gripping story of obsessive love and its deadly consequences. Now available in a tall Premium Edition. …More

The Red Queen By Gregory, Philippa 2010-08 - Touchstone Books 9781416563723 Check Our Catalog In her second book of the Cousins' War series, #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author Gregory moves to the Lancaster side, and the story of a determined woman who believes she is destined to shape the course of history. …More

Twilight at the World of Tomorrow: Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World's Fair on the Brink of War By Mauro, James 2010-06 - Ballantine Books 9780345512147 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title Former "Cosmopolitan" executive editor Mauro tries to underscore the irony of the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair, with its theme of world unity, opening on the brink of world war. …More

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets By Springer, Nancy 2008-01 - Philomel Books 9780399245183 Check Our Catalog In her third mystery, Enola Holmes is intrigued after a bizarre bouquet full of convolvulus, hawthorn, and white poppies shows up at the Watson residence. She dons her most discerning disguise yet to find the sender--and quickly, for Enola knows the blossoms symbolize death. …More

Smile By Telgemeier, Raina Illustrator Yue, Stephanie 2010-02 - Graphix 9780545132053 Check Our Catalog 2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth, and what follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly. This coming-of-age true story is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever been in middle school, and especially those who have ever had a bit of their own dental drama. …More

The Things We Do for Love By Hannah, Kristin 2004-06 - Random House Large Print Publishing 9780375433665 Check Our Catalog "New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah "touches the deepest, most tender corner of our hearts" (Tami Hoag). Her last novel, "Between Sisters, was chosen by CBS's "The Early Show as one of the best books of the summer. Now she returns with "The Things We Do for Love--a poignant, evocative story that celebrates the magic of motherhood, the joys of coming home, and the price we so willingly pay for love. The youngest of three daughters, Angela DeSaria Malone was always "the princess" of the family, a girl who thought she knew how her life would unfold. High School. College. Marriage. Motherhood. That was how it had gone for her sisters, her cousins, her friends. But it didn't work out that way for Angie. She and her husband tried desperately to have a child; year after year, their perfectly decorated nursery remained empty. Finally, their marriage collapsed under the weight of lost dreams. After the divorce, Angie moved back to her hometown and rejoined her loud, loving, slightly crazy family. In West End, a place where life rises and falls in time with the tides, she will find the man who once again will open her heart to love . . . and meet the girl who will change Angie's life. Lauren Ribido lives in a rundown apartment in a bad part of town with a mother who cares more about her next drink than about her daughter. At seventeen, Lauren knows that her aspirations in life may never come to pass. From the moment they meet, Angie sees something special in Lauren. They form a quick connection, this woman who is desperate for a daughter and the girl who has never known a mother's love. When Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie doesn't hesitate to offer the girl aplace to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. In a dramatic turn of events, she and Lauren will be tested in a way that mothers and daughters seldom are. Together they will embark on an intensely moving, deeply emotional journey to the very heart of what it means to be a family. …More

Days of Gold By Deveraux, Jude 2009-12 - Atria Books 9781439107942 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title From the "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Return to Summerhouse, Someone to Love," and "Temptation" comes the second book in the multi-generational Edilean series--a sweeping romance set in 1766. …More

Scarlet Nights By Deveraux, Jude 2010-08 - Atria Books 9781439107973 Check Our Catalog The third book in the multigenerational Edilean series from "New York Times"-bestselling author Deveraux, "Scarlet Nights" is about a woman who learns that her fianc is not who he appears to be. …More

Sarah's Key By De Rosnay, Tatiana 2007-11 - Thorndike Press 9780786299232 Check Our Catalog Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' 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 Vel' d'Hiv'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 to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life. Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode. …More

Garden Spells By Allen, Sarah Addison 2007-08 - Bantam 9780553805482 Check Our Catalog 2008 ALA Reading List Council Genre List- Women's Fiction BookPage Notable Title A successful caterer in Bascomb, North Carolina, Claire has always remained tied to the long and magical legacy of the Waverly family, until her peaceful life is transformed by Tyler Hughes, an art teacher and new next-door neighbor, and by the return of her prodigal sister, Sydney, who has arrived with her five-year-old daughter, Bay. …More

The Alexandria Link By Berry, Steve 2007-02 - Ballantine Books 9780345497123 Check Our Catalog Cotton Malone retired from the high-risk world of elite operatives for the U.S. Justice Department to lead the low-key life of a rare-book dealer. But his quiet existence is shattered when he receives an anonymous e-mail: "You have something I want. You're the only person on earth who knows where to find it. Go get it. You have 72 hours. If I don't hear from you, you will be childless." His horrified ex-wife confirms that the threat is real: Their teenage son has been kidnapped. When Malone's Copenhagen bookshop is burned to the ground, it becomes brutally clear that those responsible will stop at nothing to get what they want. And what they want is nothing less than the lost Library of Alexandria. A cradle of ideas-historical, philosophical, literary, scientific, and religious-the Library of Alexandria was unparalleled in the world. But fifteen hundred years ago, it vanished into the mists of myth and legend-its vast bounty of wisdom coveted ever since by scholars, fortune hunters, and those who believe its untold secrets hold the key to ultimate power. Now a cartel of wealthy international moguls, bent on altering the course of history, is desperate to breach the library's hallowed halls-and only Malone possesses the information they need to succeed. At stake is an explosive ancient document with the potential not only to change the destiny of the Middle East but to shake the world's three major religions to their very foundations. Pursued by a lethal mercenary, Malone crosses the globe in search of answers. His quest will lead him to England and Portugal, even to the highest levels of American government-and the shattering outcome, deep in the Sinai desert, will haveworldwide repercussions. …More