Staff Picks - Page 7 of 9

Thanhhà Lại, author of National Book Award-winning and Newbery Honor Book Inside Out & Back Again, introduces readers to 12-year-old Mai in her new middle grade novel, Listen, Slowly. Mai, a California beach girl, is not happy when her parents tell her this summer she must travel to Vietnam with her grandmother, who is going… Read More

Suki Kim’s fascinating memoir, “Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite”, takes us through the author’s year spent in North Korea as an English teacher in 2011. Kim is a journalist who was interested in learning more about life in North Korea. She gets a job at… Read More

This winter the Library held a Cozy Blanket Bingo contest, which was a great hit with patrons and staff. It challenged participants to read something they might not normally read. My goal was to finish every square on the Bingo card, which I did and it helped me cross a number of books off my… Read More

Oh, to be stuck in a gigantic and creepy old hotel with a bunch of teenage musicians, a murderer, and the bloody legend of room 712. Sounds like a dream come true, right? For lovers of Ellen Raskin (The Westing Game), classic murder mystery scenarios, and basically any creepy horror movie, Bellweather Rhapsody by Kate Racculia… Read More

Ever since the explosion of Gone Girl in 2012, people have been searching for the next big thing- the next wild ride that will suck them in and keep them on their toes. Gillian Flynn introduced an unreliable narrator and a story that kept you guessing until the end. Each page was exciting and nerve… Read More

If you are turned off by The Martian because you have heard it has science-fiction tendencies, I urge you to reconsider. The Martian by Andy Weir is an amazing novel; I could not put it down and already have plans to re-read it. The story is pretty simple: Mark Watney, astronaut, botanist, and mechanical engineer,… Read More

Twelve-year-old Jaden was adopted from Russia when he was eight years old. He feels abandoned by his biological mother and blames his adoptive parents. Although his parents have shown nothing but unconditional love, Jaden doesn’t believe them. He steals, lights fires, hoards food, has anger issues and feels nothing toward those who love and want… Read More

If I had to make a list of the most influential movies of my childhood, The Princess Bride would be at least top three, if not number one. It had everything – to quote the posters: “Heroes. Giants. Villains. Wizards. True Love. Not just your basic, average, everyday, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, ho-hum fairy tale.” My sister… Read More

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage is the latest novel by Haruki Murakami. In Japan, when his books are released, fans wait for hours in line to get a copy. I had not read any of Murakami’s novels before, and as soon as I started to read it I understood why he is… Read More

I started reading Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven right at the height of the Ebola scare, which given its premise, probably wasn’t the best timing, but I quickly became immersed in this wonderful, multi-layered novel. Hollywood actor Arthur Leander is performing in King Lear one snowy night when he suddenly has a heart attack… Read More