The December 2013 LibraryReads Top Ten List has been announced. A big thank you to all the librarians that participated this month and congratulations to all the winning authors, including:
By Roland Merullo
“…Merullo’s writing gives depth and breadth to this winning heroine and her spiritual quest. You can’t help but love her and cheer her on her way.”
—Jennifer Dayton, Darien Library, Darien, CT
My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind
By Scott Stossel
“Scott Stossel, editor of The Atlantic, has written an all-encompassing treatise on the condition of anxiety, one of the most pervasive yet most misunderstood human conditions…highly recommended for anyone who struggles with anxiety or who has loved ones who suffer.”
—Cristella Bond, Anderson Public Library, Anderson, IN
By Dean Koontz
“Dean Koontz’s new novel Innocence goes beyond anything he has written before…What seems to be more sci-fi than horror ends with a beautiful spiritual ending that puts Koontz in a whole new light!”
—Michele Coleman, Iredell County PL, Statesville, NC
For information on how to promote the December titles at your library, visit LibraryReads.org.
Not sure how to participate in LibraryReads? Check out our FAQ sheet or visit LibraryReads.org and Edelweiss to find out.
JANUARY STAFF FAVORITES
Vote by December 1st for January Reads titles. Below are a few of our favorites coming this January that you and your patrons will want to check out!
FLAVIA’S BACK!
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches: A Flavia de Luce Novel
By Alan Bradley
Flavia de Luce, is back in Bradley’s New York Times bestselling mystery series.
Bishop’s Lacey is never short of two things: Mysteries to solve and pre-adolescent detectives to solve them. A young chemist and aspiring detective Flavia de Luce once again brings her knowledge of poisons and her indefatigable spirit to solve the most dastardly crimes the English countryside has to offer and, in the process, comes closer than ever to solving her life’s greatest —her mother’s disappearance.
Sam Mendes, Oscar-winning director of American Beauty, has bought the rights to produce a mini-series based on the books.
“If ever there were a sleuth who’s bold, brilliant, and, yes, adorable, it’s Flavia de Luce.”—USA Today
Click to visit the author’s website.
HISTORICAL FICTION AND PECULIAR CHILDREN…
By Phillip Marguilies
A sweeping historical novel based on the extraordinary life and times of Belle Cora, the daughter of a New York merchant who went on to become a millworker, a prostitute, a notorious madam, a murderess, and eventually one of San Francisco’s richest and most revered dowagers.
The charm and self-invention that served Arabella throughout her life give voice to a story that will captivate historical fiction fans as they follow her exploits during a turbulent era.”—Library Journal
“Margulies strikes gold in his first novel… [his]writing never falters, and the reader will easily get lost in the world he’s built. Belle’s remarkable story mirrors that of her young country, on the verge of civil war, and her sharp, engaging voice brings her tale to vivid life.”—Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
By Rachel Joyce
From the author of the international bestseller, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, comes another exquisite and emotionally resonant novel about the search for the truth and unconditional love.
On a foggy spring morning in 1972, twelve-year-old Byron Hemming and his mother are driving to school in the English countryside. On the way, in a life-changing two seconds, an accident occurs. Or does it? It is a journey that will take a cloistered boy into the murkier, more difficult realities of the adult world, where adults lie, fathers and mothers fight without words, and even unwilling boys must become men.
“[Rachel] Joyce … brings both narrative strands together in a shocking, redemptive denouement.”—Publishers Weekly
Click to visit the author’s website.
Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Children
By Ransom Riggs
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was a surprise best seller of 2011. Publishers Weekly called it “an enjoyable, eccentric read, distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters.”
This second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises.
Complete with dozens of newly discovered vintage photographs, this new adventure will delight readers of all ages.
Click to visit the author’s website.
A Star for Mrs. Blake: A Novel
By April Smith
An emotionally charged, brilliantly realized novel set in the 1930s about five American women—Gold Star Mothers—who travel to France to visit the graves of their World War I soldier sons: a pilgrimage that will change their lives in unforeseeable and indelible ways.
When the women finally travel to Verdun to visit the battlegrounds where their sons fought as well as the cemeteries where they are buried, shocking events—a death, a scandal, a secret revealed—will guarantee that Cora’s life and those of her traveling companions will become inextricably intertwined.
For fans of Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, and Sarah’s Key.
Click to visit the author’s website.
Don’t’ forget to vote for your favorite LibraryReads title!