Staff Picks

d we like to share what we read! This is a list of recent favorites. STAFF PICKS

Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power By Kaplan, Robert D. 2010-10 - Random House 9781400067466 Check Our Catalog November 13: The bestselling author of "Imperial Grunts" explores the countries around the Indian Ocean, and discusses why this region will be crucial to American interests and power in the 21st century. …More

Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants By Mabey, Richard 2011-06 - Ecco Press 9780062065452 Check Our Catalog Britain's greatest living nature writer "(Times)" reveals the true story--andtrue glories!--of the plants we love to hate. …More

A Monster Calls By Ness, Patrick Illustrator Kay, Jim 2011-09 - Candlewick Press (MA) 9780763655594 Check Our Catalog Awards: Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens (2012), Charlotte Award (2014), Cybils (2011), Georgia Children's Book Award (2014), Indies Choice Book Awards (2012), Isinglass Teen Read Award (2013), Kentucky Bluegrass Award (2013), L.A. Times Book Prize (2011), Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award (2016), Rhode Island Teen Book Award (2014), Texas Lone Star Reading List (2012) An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd--whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself--Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined. Illustrations. …More

The Heart Goes Last By Atwood, Margaret 2015-09 - Nan A. Talese 9780385540353 Check Our Catalog Margaret Atwood puts the human heart to the ultimate test in an utterly brilliant new novel that is as visionary as"The Handmaid's Tale"and as richly imagined as"The Blind Assassin." Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car, leaving them vulnerable to roving gangs. They …More

Anansi Boys By Gaiman, Neil 2005-09 - William Morrow & Company 006051518X Check Our Catalog Alex Award Winner - 2006 BookPage Notable Title Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spirit of rebellion able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. When he dies on a karaoke stage, things get very interesting for Charlie. …More

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One & Two (Special Rehearsal Edition Script): The Official Script Book of the Original West End Production By Rowling, J. K. 2016-07 - Arthur A. Levine Books 9781338099133 Check Our Catalog The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later. Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne, a new play by Jack Thorne, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London's West End on July 30, 2016. …More

The Lightning Thief By Riordan, Rick 2006-03 - Hyperion Kids 9780786838653 Check Our Catalog Awards: Beehive Awards (2007), Nutmeg Book Award (2008), Young Hoosier Book Award (2009) Now in paperback--the first novel of a new series that mixes classic Greek mythology with modern adventure. After learning he is a demigod, Percy Jackson is sent to a summer camp on Long Island, where he meets the father he never knew--Poseidon, god of the sea. …More

Titans By Meacham, Leila 2016-04 - Grand Central Publishing 9781455533831 Check Our Catalog A sweeping new drama from the beloved, bestselling author of "Roses." Texas in the early 1900s, its inhabitants still traveling by horseback and barely familiar with the telephone, was on the cusp of an oil boom that, unbeknownst to its residents, would spark a period of dramatic changes and economic growth. In the midst of this transformative time in Southern history, two unforgettable …More

As the Pig Turns By Beaton, M. C. 2011-10 - Minotaur Books 9780312387020 Check Our Catalog The picturesque village of Winter Parva has decided to warm the winter months by roasting a pig in the town square. Agatha, always one for a good roasting, has arrived with her former protge and current rival in the private detection racket to enjoy the merriment. But as the rotary spit is placed over a bed of fiery charcoals, Agatha realizes that things are not as they seem. 288 pp. 75,000 print. …More

The Chessmen: The Lewis Trilogy By May, Peter 2015-02 - Quercus Books 9781623656041 Check Our Catalog Living again of the Isle of Lewis, ex-Detective Inspector Fin Macleod is working as a security officer for a local landowner. While investigating illegal activity on the estate Fin encounters the elusive poacher and former childhood friend, and bandmate, Whistler Macaskill. When Fin catches up with Whistler among the windswept hills of the estate, the two witness a freak natural …More

Something Borrowed, Someone Dead By Beaton, M. C. 2013-09 - Minotaur Books 9780312640132 Check Our Catalog Gloria French was a jolly widow with dyed blonde hair, a raucous laugh and rosy cheeks. When she first moved from London to the charming Cotswolds hills, she was heartily welcomed. She seemed a do-gooder par excellence, raising funds for the church and caring for the elderly. But she had a nasty habit of borrowing things and not giving them back, just small things, a teapot here, a set of …More

The Portable Veblen By McKenzie, Elizabeth 2016-01 - Penguin Press 9781594206856 Check Our Catalog An exuberant, one-of-a-kind novel about love and family, war and nature, new money and old values by a brilliant "New Yorker" contributor "The Portable Veblen" is a dazzlingly original novel that's as big-hearted as it is laugh-out-loud funny. Set in and around Palo Alto, amid the culture clash of new money and old (antiestablishment) values, and with the specter of our current wars …More

Hiss and Hers By Beaton, M. C. 2012-09 - Minotaur Books 9780312616250 Check Our Catalog If only the bossy, beloved Agatha Raisin were as lucky at finding the right man as she is at catching killers in Beaton's "New York Times"-bestselling mystery series. …More

The Fireman By Hill, Joe 2016-05 - William Morrow & Company 9780062200631 Check Our Catalog From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Heart-Shaped Box comes a chilling novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes and a band of improbable heroes who battle to save it, led by one powerful and enigmatic man known as the Fireman. The fireman is coming. Stay cool. No one knows exactly when it …More

Portrait of a Spy: More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks By Silva, Daniel 2011-07 - Harper 9780062072184 Check Our Catalog The #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author delivers his most spellbinding novel yet featuring Gabriel Allon, art restorer and assassin, in a story of true courage in the face of an unimaginable evil. …More

Our Kind of Traitor By Le Carre, John 2010-10 - Viking Books 9780670022243 Check Our Catalog The unrivaled master of spy fiction returns with a taut and suspenseful novel of dirty money and dirtier politics. Perry and Gail are idealistic and very much in love when they splurge on a tennis vacation at a posh beach resort in Antigua. But the charm begins to pall when a big-time Russian money launderer enlists their help to defect. …More