Staff Picks 2013 to 2015
A moving and amazing story about a blind French girl and her father escaping Paris during WWII and a brilliant German orphan who is sent to a Hitler military academy.
Carol
An exciting and breathtaking page-turner about a social media-steeped future seemingly only a minute away from now. I keep buying it for friends and family. A quick but provoking read.
Eva
The story picks up 15 years after a devastating virus. We follow a band of traveling actors, trying to bring art to the world again. Loved it! Carol
The explosive story of two twins' struggles after their mother dies. The language has its very own flavor, like nothing you've read before. And there is really no reason to keep I'll Give You the Sun on the young adult shelf in the store. It defies genre. One of my favorite reads in years. Eva
Intriguing historical fiction set in 1686 Amsterdam. A wealthy merchant gives his new wife a cabinet house, which a mysterious individual starts to fill with items with eerie parallels to their life. Carol
The first of a trilogy about the Langdon family of Iowa from 1920 to 2020. Each chapter is one year, narrated by different members of the family. I couldn’t wait to get back to the Langdons each night to see how their lives were evolving. Carol
You may be up all night reading this story of page-turning suspense.
Lisa, Denise, Carol
Smart, funny, can’t put it down! Story of kindergarten parents behaving badly. Everyone!
One of my favorite books! A funny and tearful read about a mother, her children, her boss, and their huge family dog on a road trip to find happiness. Denise
A haunting tale that takes the reader back and forth between two eras - filled with folklore, myths, and the secrets of a small town. Denise
A team of astronauts must abandon one of their own when he is killed during an emergency departure from Mars…except he isn’t dead. A heart-pounding story of how he lives alone on Mars in hopes of a rescue. Carol
Set in Las Vegas, these are the lives away from the lights of the strip. A collision of cultures among refugees & soldiers home from war has devastating results. Carol
A gothic tale of family secrets, ghosts, and one hundred years of a house. Carol
Everyone should read this book about how we can best live and die at the end of our lives.
Carol & Lisa
Fascinating look at how nutrients have been bred out of our foods and how we can choose fruits and vegetables to gain them back. Carol
This little treasure of a novel is big on heart. A.J. Fikry, bookshop owner, is transformed by an unexpected package left at his store. Lisa & Carol
We loved Heller’s Dog Stars, and his newest about a famous painter and the repercussions of his violent behavior does not disappoint.
Carol & Denise
Kidd’s very engaging novel follows the lives of 11 year old Sarah, a plantation owner’s daughter, and the slave girl, Hetty, she is given for her birthday.
Everyone at the store!
Erdrich won the National Book Award for this, which may be one of her best—about an Ojibwe boy seeking justice for his mother, who was brutally attacked. Carol
The author is from a small town outside Eau Claire, which is where his story of 5 childhood friends is set. A story of a place and of men coming home, or never leaving, and deciding if their lives so far have gone how they’d hoped.
Carol
A story about twin sisters who have a shared sense of ESP. When one predicts a massive earthquake, the story begins to unfold. Denise
Not available
An intriguing read about a Jane Doe victim of a hit & run in a coma and the doctor who cares for her. Carol
What a fun & funny read! Bee is piecing together her brilliant architect mother’s disappearance. Carol
Lorrie Moore never disappoints. In this short story collection she is as witty and sharp as ever. Her writing is incisive and beautiful and her stories make us reflect on our human nature. Eva
A story of a Vermont boarding school headmaster—it is a surprising roller-coaster ride and will take you places you had no idea you were going. Eva & Carol
I’ve come late to the superb Chief Inspector Gamache mysteries set in Quebec. Do yourself a favor and start at the beginning of this great series! (this is the 9th) Carol
I couldn’t put this down! It is told through the eyes of Rose, a typist at a local NYC precinct in the 1920’s. A captivating new typist named Odalie is hired, and soon Rose finds herself under her spell. Denise