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I got the opportunity to get to know the different sections and genres of the Adult Section of the library. I couldn’t decide on just one genre so here are multiple genres that I really enjoyed.  Historical 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake by Larry E. Morris On the night of August 17, 1959 a Magnitude 7.5 Earthquake hit the Montana portion of Yellowstone causing the mountain to slide into the madison River Canyon and on top of unsuspecting campers who were camping below. The Slide brought hurricane force winds down the canyon with the debris of the mountain and water from the river with it. Morris tells the stories of the survivors and how they helped each other to survive a night that would forever change their lives and the landscape of the Madison River in Yellowstone. 28 people died that night with most of the victims bodies being unrecoverable. Morries tells the stories of each family that survived from their point of view of the rush of the moment of not really knowing what had happened. It was at first thought that the dam above the campsites had broken but with all the debris and getting up to higher ground everyone in the canyon had known that the mountain had slide. People outside of the canyon didn’t know what had happened and was preparing for the worst of the dam being breached not knowing of what was happening to those people that were staying at the campgrounds. There is some gruesomeness of some limbs being almost severed and talk about blood and other medical issues that came from the debris field. Overall it’s a great read with lots of pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake.  True Crime The Evil Within By Darren Galsworthy In 2015 Dareen Galswothy’s daughter Becky Watts was brutally murdered and she wasn’t murdered by just anyone, she was murdered by her step brother. Darren had raised his step son as his own and he tells as he discovered the wickedness that Becky was living with that was coming from her step brother. Galswothy also tells about the struggle of the legal battle that he went through to get his step son put behind bars for the rest of his life. Galswothy starts the book by telling the background that he came from growing up as a child and why he raised his kids the way that he did. He didn’t want them to have to struggle like he did and then it turns to the horror of watching the story unfold of him finding out his daughter had been murdered and that it was his stepson who did it and the battle that followed.  Western Legend of the Tumbleweed by Kirby Jonas Westerns is a fun genre to look at and even though it doesn’t seem like there are authors outside of Louis L'amour there are! Local author Kirby Jonas started Legend of the Tumbleweed when he was in middle school and was published in 2005. Thomas Jefferson McLean is wanting to retire from being unknown outlaw and become a rancher when he and his partner decide to rob a bank in Buffalo, Wyoming Territory. The two join a band of cattle thieves to help protect themselves while they make their way to Montana border. With a manhunt going for Tom and Tom falling in love and trying to make a decision as to whether or not to escape with her the sheriff of Buffalo, Wyoming vowed to never stop looking for Tom until he is captured dead or alive.  Fantasy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame Did you somewhat enjoy Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice but needed a little more action? Then look no more and check out Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. You can’t go wrong with zombies right? A mysterious plague makes its presence known in the small English town of Meryton, the local residence that have passed on from this world are now coming back to life! Elizabeth Bennet is determined to get rid of this problem of the Zombies but she is quickly distracted by the handsome Mr. Darcy. Soon romance takes place on the living side of the battlefield and on the battlefield to defeat the Zombies. This comedic book with a twisted take on a classic book would make for a fun, yet gruesome, filled read that does deal with: comedy, romance, cannibalism, rotting corpses and I can’t leave out the sword fights.  The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
The Empire in which Rin lives in administered a test called the Keju. This test was administered to find the most academically inclined students in the empire. Everyone is surprised when Rin passed the test without cheating and more importantly she passed coming from the background of being a war orphan. Her guardians who are criminals were excited to be able to marry her off and so that they could continue their criminal activities. Rin however got into the most prestigious military school Sinegard. Things are not easy for Rin at Sinegard as she is targeted because of her skin color, gender and where she is from. She discovers that she has an unearthly power of shamanism. With the help of one of her teachers and psychoactive drugs she learns that the Gods that once were thought to be dead are very much alive and that gaining control of her powers is more important than her surviving school. Will Rin have to use her powers to save her people or will a third poppy war break out and risk all of their lives? You’ll have to read it to find out! -Missy
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 Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy (1877) This story follows the life of the Countess Anna Karenina after she has an affair with the Count Vronsky. This book was written in a Literary Realism style. Elenore and Park by Rainbow Rowell (2012) This is the story of a girl named Elenore as she deals with the struggles of a hard family life at home, and the young man Park and the friendship which grows between them. This is a tragic retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and is told in the Literary Realism style. Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott (2018) In this retelling of Romeo and Juliet there are two teen who are both diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, which means they can never get closer than 5 feet. This book to movie story is sure to pull at your heartstrings. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (2008) Set in the 1930's Miss Pettigrew is a strict nanny who gets sent to the wrong house. As soon as she arrives she realizes something is wrong. This is a delightful comedy which made the transition from book to movie really well. Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (1930) Miss Marple is sent on a case when Colonel Protheroe is found murdered in the local vicarage. Set in the 1930's the investigation of this man's death will keep you on your toes Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs (2008) This is a story following Anna and her new friend Charles who are werewolves sent on a mission by the head of the werewolves to investigate a man's death which was too out of control to be allowed to be continued. -MH  Karigan G'ladheon has been thinking about her future as she is traveling through the forest of Green Cloak. She is doing fine alone in the forest until she hears a horse approaching her at a fast pace. A man is slumped over on the horse as he approaches Karigan, he has two arrows in his back. Karigan finds out from the man before he dies that is the legendary Green Rider, one of the Kings messengers and he is carrying a message that must get to the king. Karigan accepts to take the message to the king after the rider begged her to take it and made her swear an oath on his sword to deliver the message for the sake of the country. He also gave her his gold winged horse brooch to show her new status as the Green Rider. On his dying breath he gives one more warning to her and it is to watch out for the shadow man. Karigan doesn’t realize how much her life will change until she is chased by assassins, deadly danger and magic, and is hounded by dark beings bent on not allowing her to deliver the message that she swore to deliver.  The 6th Extinction by James Rollins This is the 10th book in the Sigma series but trust me when I tell you that I have not read the other 9 books. What you need to know is that Commander Gray Peirce is part of the Sigma which is a covert part of the U.S. Government part of the special forces and trained in various fields of science. A distress call goes out from a remote military base in the Sierra Nevada Mountains stating that there had been a breach and that no matter what happens to kill them all. Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma arrive at the site they find out that every living thing humans, animals,plants, insects, the bacteria is dead within a fifty mile radius and the disease is spreading. Commander Gray and the Sigma are sent in to the lab and find out that the scientists were working on a deadly pathogen. The team then has to follow clues given through a book that includes the Nazis, ancient maps, alien life forms and deadly exoctic animals. It is discovered that a scientist named Cutter Elwes had built two living labs with this deadly bacteria one is a mountain in Brazil and another under Antarctica, Elwes’s plan is to cause the 6th extinction of the planet.  The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas Set in 1620s France that has a lot of different genres from espionage to vengeance. Dumas created characters that are iconic and strong in their own ways. d’Artagnan is young and just wants glory in his life but also finds himself in trouble when he leaves his home of Gascony and heads to Paris to become a musketeer. Along the way a man insults d’Artagnan’s horse, a fight ensues, and d, Artagnan meets the evil Comte De Rocherfort, Cardinal Richelieu’s agent. d’Artagnan continues on the Musketeer headquarters only to find out that they are not recruiting and he is told to go to a school for young men wanting to be a musketeer, but d’Artagnan sees De Rocherfort and runs to catch him but offends three musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis and has a duel scheduled with the three in the afternoon. Their duel is interrupted by De Rocherfort and he tries to arrest all four of the duelers but the three musketeers and d'Artagnan defeat De Rocherfort’s men, d’artagnan had wounded one of the best fighters. The King hears of the duel and how d’Artagnan wounded the dueler and appoints him to the King’s Guards. d’Artagnan becomes friends with the three musketeers and finds love but with it comes a lot of problems. He must save his love and the queen, and the queens love to prevent France from going to war and thwart the Cardinals plans. Long story with a few affairs going on but it’s packed full of adventure.  Raise the Titanic by Clive Cussler Book #4 of the Dirk Pitt series. The President's secret task force led by Dr. Seagram created a weapon that runs off of a rare radioactive element called byzanium. Dirk rescues Sid Koplin from a soviet guard after he was looking for the byzanium and found that it had already been mined. Seagram follows clues left by Koplin and determined that the chunk of byzanium was worth a quarter of a billion dollars in 1912 ( over 3 billion today) was mined by a group of miners hired by the French government. The U.S. Government thought talked them into bringing the mineral back to the united states and the group was pursued by French assassins. One member of the mining group was able to make it to Southampton and boards the Titanic. Dr. Seagram approaches Dirk Pitt and the option that they have is to raise the Titanic to get the byzanium. There is trouble ahead though when the process is started, and the CIA leaks information to the Russians in the hopes to capture the best KGB agent. Find out how the book will end by checking the book out today!  Origin by Dan Brown
Book number five of the Robert Langdon series takes us to Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Edmond Kirsch, is a billionaire philanthropist and futurist who met with three members of the Parliament of the World's Religions. Kirsch informs the Roman Catholic Bishop, Antonio Valdespino, Jewish moragi Yehuda Köves, and Muslim Imam Syed al-Fadl that he has made a discovery that will change the world and he plans on making the discovery public in a month. Kirsch had lied to the three and instead was making the information public in three days. Valdespino leaves Kirsch a voicemail demanding that he stop or risk being discredited. The presentation takes place at the Guggenheim Museum, with some of the attendees being Kirsch’s former teacher Robert Langdon, the museum curator and his fiancee and future king of Spain. During the presentation to the world Kirsch reveals his plans to rid the world of religion and usher in the age of science. Kirsch is killed by an assassin that has tanked web of murders and assassinations. Langon meets Ambra and with her must find the password to the presentation by following clues on Krisch’s phone and a line from his favorite poem as his password. Robert and Ambra must race against time and the police to follow the clues before the presentation ends with an apocalyptic ending. James the computer guy will now take a shot at blog post… I seem to have an odd taste in reading, and don’t get very much reading done. I was told that perhaps my tastes could give some insight into some of our more eclectic readers. I'm only writing on books I have actually finished, because if it was good enough for me to spend my very limited time on, then it must have been good... maybe. The first I would like to tell about is one that I have finished a while ago, but haven’t found anything quite like in a long time.  Mogworld by Yhatzee Croshaw This is the book that got me back to reading. It is written by a comedy video game reviewer and I would say he has done quite well. A young mage named Jim is disappointed by his lack of progress in Mage School, but when his college is destroyed by its neighbor, Jim comes back with a new lease on life. Or so he thought now Jim and his zombie compatriots are complaining to their necromancer about pension plans and dental insurance. Morale for zombies is something that was never considered until a certain undead lord had considered they might be sentient. Follow Jim in his adventure to figure out what is wrong with this new world, and hopefully, he can die in peace. Content warning: some profanity, used with class (mostly). Mention of rotting corpses but no descriptions of viscera. No sexual content Having not read since Mogworld, I was beginning to give up hope until I found this little gem. It is independently published, so it has a few errors, but I thought it was worth the read still. A bit odd, and a foray into a new genre calling itself LITrpg (for literary role play game). These are books where leveling up as a person and fighting monsters to do so is very much a thing. This book is self-published by the author and it shows. I forgive it because it is so full of humor, I haven’t laughed this hard since reading fool (Christopher Moore).  Dungeon born by Dakota Krout Our protagonist is CAL, as in calcium. He is a crystal, but he is sentient and can manipulate the world around him. That makes him a dungeon core. When Cal almost dies, he decides to take matters into his own metaphorical hands and become the strongest dungeon there ever was. This means Cal kills adventurers for fun. Oh and he eats them, definitely eats them. Content warning: very little if any profanity, no sexual content, geek humor Exploring further into this newfound LITrpg genre, I found this neat little story about a goblin and revenge. If you like video games you may just like this next one. It is a trilogy but comes together really well in the end.  Life Reset (New Era Online Book 1) by Shemer Kuznits Our protagonist starts out like any other high level character in a video game, bored and apathetic. That is until his entire guild turns on him and transforms him into a level 1 goblin. This is a story of revenge and leveling up. May not be for everyone but I enjoyed it so much I read through all three of them before picking up anything else. Content Warning: low profanity throughout, anything sexual is ‘fade to black’, ritual sacrifice and dismemberment amongst various battles. This is not available at the library currently, but can be read on Kindle Unlimited. The next one started out very interesting with a d list super person that finally found a use for his dumb power, but then something happened. The same tale seemed to be told over and over through the trilogy. I would definitely suggest the first as just the premise alone is worth a look. However, the author seems to retell the rise of power and the sudden attack of Felix more times than there are books in this series. I felt compelled to finish after I had realized this in the second book. If you do make it to the end of the trilogy there is a bit of a lackluster conclusion. Perhaps I'll just suggest reading the first one then.  Super sales on super heroes by William D. Argand (The blurb does it best so I’ll just leave that here) In a world full of super powers, Felix has a pretty crappy one. He has the ability to modify any item he owns. To upgrade anything. Sounds great on paper. Almost like a video game. Except that the amount of power it takes to actually change, modify, or upgrade anything worthwhile is beyond his abilities. With that in mind, Felix settled into a normal life. A normal job. His entire world changes when the city he lives in is taken over by a Super Villain. Becoming a country of one city. A city state. Surprisingly, not a whole lot changed. Politicians were still corrupt. Banks still held onto your money. And criminals still committed crime. Though the black market has become more readily available. And in that not so black market, Felix discovers he has a way to make his power useful after all, and grasps a hold of his chance with both hands. Content warning: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/partial harem (fade to black), unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Read at your own risk. The last one for me is a book that I wasn’t sure of after seeing the movie. I was assured and was not disappointed the audiobook of ready player one. If you have seen the movie (or even if you haven't) this is quite a ride. Many artistic liberties were taken with the movie, but the real meat of the whole story seemed to be taken out. I highly suggest going back and listening or reading this book. Especially if you like dungeons and dragons, board games, video games, the 1980s or anything my parents aren’t particularly fond of.  Ready player one by Ernest Cline Living in a fractured home in a dystopian future isn’t that tough, especially if you have a super awesome virtual reality to lose yourself in every day. Wade was one of the last holdouts of Gunters, one of the Easter egg hunters. Many promises were made to the person that could find all the eggs upon the creator’s death, but it has been five years and no person has even had an idea of how to find any of the eggs. Follow wade as he uses useless 1980s trivia knowledge and l33t nerd skills to find the eggs and leave his sorry life behind. Love and conflict will both be found. By the way, way more licensed properties were used in the book than the movie, making it by far the better media for obscure references. Content warning: violence and language throughout. Twitterpated relationships only, nerd refrences for the most advanced geeks possible. Bonus points, if you want to see any of the games mentioned in ready player one, come ask me on game day, I can pull most of them up for you to play :D
-James I have been trying to learn more of the genres in the adult reading section of the library and something that I did not realize was how many movies actually came from books. I knew of quite a few books to movies that had existed but there are many more like the Circle by Dave Eggers and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell which I will discuss in this post. I always love to read the book because there are always parts of the books that cannot be added to the movie. The following are books that you may want to read, and then check out the movie!  The Circle By David Eggers David Eggers is very good at getting you hooked with a storyline which flows really well, considering that there are no chapters in this book. This book details a dystopian world where Mae Holland lands a job at the Circle, a major internet company. Mae thinks that she has landed her dream job but then quickly finds out that the Circle wants nothing to be secret and that everything about everyone should be known. With cameras virtually everywhere in the world and the Circle wanting to complete "the circle" Mae must decide whether or not she wants to be a part of their work. This book does have sexual content in it and swearing. The movie has none of the sexual content in it but it kept the swearing.  The Help By Kathryn Stockett This hilarious yet serious telling of what life was like as an African American Maid in the 1960s also discusses maid life before the 1960s. Skeeter has just graduated from college with the dream of becoming a writer. She embarks on this journey by enlisting the help of Aibileen, a maid who just lost her son and is upset at the world for letting it happen, and Minny who is the best cook in all of Mississippi but has a knack for getting herself in trouble by speaking when she shouldn’t. With Aibileen and Minny’s help Skeeter is able to start writing her book about the help in Mississippi while also enlisting the help of other maids to tell their stories even though it could mean risking their lives. It is pretty funny to read about what happens after the book is published and the town of Jackson, Mississippi starts to talk about who might be who in the stories. The movie moves right along with the storyline of the book. I saw the movie first and then read the book and they are pretty close to each other.  Ready Player One By Ernest Cline Set in the year 2045 Wade Watts finds refuge in the virtual game world of the OASIS. Wade studies all of the puzzles within the game to try and find the creators hidden easter eggs within the game. These hidden clues will lead the player to a prize that will change someone’s life. When Wade finds the first clue he also finds himself in trouble with other players who try to kill him in real life so that they can beat him to the next clues and win the prize for themselves. If he wins the prize his life will change forever and he will have control over the OASIS. This movie is just as action packed as the book as Wade and his friends try to beat the professionals to the keys of the OASIS.  World War Z: An Oral History By Max Brooks If you like Zombies you need to read this book! The book of World War Z is so different from the movie and I am so glad that I read the book first. The book is about agent Max Brooks, from what I gathered, traveling throughout the world gathering as many accounts as he could of how people survived and what they are doing now to survive the Zombie Apocalypse and report it to the postwar commission. People went to the coldest of regions and to the southern regions to escape the zombie war. This book is listed under scary and gives details as to how the events happened. The movie is completely different with a storyline being put into place that is easier to follow.  Cloud Atlas By David Mitchell This book can get a little confusing while reading so it’s difficult trying to explain it. It’s multiple stories, within one story, that are all interconnected in someway. This story starts out in 1850 with Adam Ewing traveling the world, he befriends a doctor who treats him for a rare brain parasite. The story then flashes forward to 1931 Belgium where Robert Frobisher is a disinherited bisexual composer who creates a plan to get into the home of a maestro with a beautiful and wife and daughter. It then jumps to the West Coast in the 1970s to Lewisa Rey as she finds a corporate web of greed and murder and gets herself into so much trouble that her life is on the line. We finally end up in the present day in England. Korea is the super power with neocapitalism creating a mess. Things then flash forward to the future with a post apocalyptic Iron Age in Hawaii where history will end. Things then start flowing backward through history to the beginning of the story with Adam Ewing. It’s during this return back through history that we find out how all these characters are connected. There is swearing and violence in this book as well as sexual content. The movie is Rated R for the same content as the book. Missy
For anyone not quite ready to let go of the creepy, scary, monsters, and magic of Halloween just yet I have a few books that can help you hang on to it for a little while longer.  The Girl with all the Gifts by M. R. Carey This book is a really unique read. It’s fast paced and thrilling, following first a girl named Melanie and the rest of really interesting group of characters living on a military base after a big fungal infection wipes out a lot of the population. The blurb on the back is what caught me and it did not disappoint. “Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.”  The Collection by Bentley Little This book is a collection of short stories that will really fill the creepy and scary want. I originally read this one years ago and it was still the first one I thought of when I started looking for stories for this blog. *Some of the short stories can be disturbing, containing violence, assault, and graphic descriptions.  The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes. They don’t all have to be scary to fit into the theme and Fred the Vampire Accountant is really not scary but it is funny and filled with the supernatural. I listened to the audiobook on Hoopla and loved it. Fred was an uninteresting guy and found himself supremely disappointed when that didn’t change after he turned into a vampire. The book is written almost like a diary and goes through a series or adventures that Fred gets roped into by his growing collection of friends, starting with his high school reunion.  Hocus Pocus & the All New Sequel by A.W Jantha I had to mention this one. Hocus Pocus is a movie I’ve watched every year for Halloween. This is a two-part novel that starts with a retelling of the original movie and continues on to a sequel twenty five years later with Max and Allison’s daughter Poppy and her own encounter with the Sanderson Sisters.  Elsewhere by William Blatty I found a nice haunted house book to round out the list. The story follows Joan Freeboard a tough, New York, real estate agent that is set to sell a mansion for giant commission. The fact that it’s haunted is just another step in the process. She gets herself a plan and a ghost busting team. This book was a fun read with fast pace. Thanks for the read!
Crystal The weird fiction genre is the result you get when you throw books of fantasy, science fiction, and horror into a blender. Often including intense and/or graphic scenes and language, these titles are recommended for older teens and adults.  Perdido Street Station by China Mieville: Sentient, steam-powered robots? Check. A love affair between a scientist and a member of a half-woman, half-insect species? Check. Trans-dimensional spiders that only speak in telepathic, stream-of-consciousness free verse? Double check. Join the throngs of New Crobuzon, an overcrowded city full of mismatched people while this book sucks you into its vortex with a great story and even better world building. While working on his latest project, Isaac, a freelance research scientist, unwittingly unleashes a horror that feeds on dreams. Meanwhile his partner, Lin, is commissioned to sculpt a life-size statue of one of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous criminals.  Monstress by Marjorie Liu, Illustrated by Sana Takeda: What do you do when your inner monster keeps trying to eat your friends? Blending pieces of steampunk with anthropomorphic animals and Lovecraftian creatures, Monstress is a beautifully drawn graphic novel set in an alternate version of Asia. Here, a teenage girl is desperately trying to figure out the truth behind her past and how to control the thing that lives inside of her.  The Southern Reach Trilogy--Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer: In an undisclosed region on the southeast coast, behind a barrier that defies scientific explanation, lies Area X. The first expedition into Area X found ruins of the towns and houses of the people who once lived there, but no signs of the people themselves. Members of the third expedition died at each other’s hands in a free-for-all firefight. Members of the eleventh expedition suddenly returned home unseen with no memory of where they had been only to die months later from a particularly malignant form of cancer. Annihilation is the story of the 12th expedition, a group of 4 female scientists: a psychologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor, and a biologist. Unable to communicate with the outside world, these four women must try to find the secrets behind Area X and make it back alive. Area X, however, has other plans…  The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins: Think all librarians are quiet and mousey? Try this novel where they are all homicidal psychopaths. In the beginning was the head librarian, Adam Black, and his twelve student librarians—Father and his twelve children. Now Father has gone missing. Many of the librarians suspect David, librarian over the catalogue of war and Father’s once favorite son. Or was is Father’s right-hand general, the ancient tiger Nobununga? Regardless, Carolyn, librarian over the catalogue of languages, has a plan. If only her plan cared more about humans and less about countering attacks from immortal beings made of pure thought or girls that walk the lands of the dead.  Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor: Welcome to a town where time doesn’t exist and summoning the secret police is as simple as speaking into the microphone that’s (poorly) hidden above your fridge. Here, the mother of a shape changing boy first glimpses the boy’s father for the first time in years. Then she sees another one of him. Then another. Meanwhile, a girl who doesn’t age and can’t remember where her mother keeps the silverware (a trapdoor under the scalded milk drawer) is handed a slip of paper that she literally cannot put down. Welcome to Night Vale is a humorous addition to your reading list, managing to be both dark- and light-hearted at the same time.  Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft and others: No list of the weird can be complete without including one of the genre’s greatest and original author’s: H. P. Lovecraft. Cthulhu, the dreaded tentacled horror, has gone from little-known character to pop culture icon. This anthology of short tales includes Lovecraft’s original legend, The Call of Cthulhu, as well as new stories written by many different authors. Josh
For this month, with summer reading going on, I thought I’d recommend some bingo picks. Now, even though I have a specific bingo in mind, that doesn’t mean some books can’t be mixed and matched. A few, if not all of the books can fit into multiple categories. Also, I am a big believer in the story being the thing that counts, so even though the bingo is on the adult reading log, the books are a mix of juvenile, young adult, and adult fiction. GRAPHIC NOVEL  Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks Friends with Boys is a graphic novel about a girl named Maggie who is not only just starting high school, but is also going to public school for the first time. She has only ever been home schooled before. Her only classmates were her brothers. Now she is thrust into a world she doesn’t know how to navigate and is struggling to deal with her brothers having friends and activities that don’t include her. It is a nice coming of age story with budding friendships, the perils of fitting in, and even ghosts. The artwork is really detailed and done well enough that I don’t miss the inner monologue and descriptions that you would find in other novels. Other graphic novels you may consider are...
SPORTS FICTION  Playing For Pizza by John Grisham Okay, so this one was the square I was least looking forward to. Sports fiction is not usually my go-to genre, the bingo is definitely doing its job in making me branch out with this one. Playing for Pizza was a surprise. It was really interesting and it draws you in quickly. The character Rick Dockery is a third string quarterback (That’s right, I now know what a quarterback is!) who is in the hospital after what could be considered the single worst performance in NFL history. He took an almost guaranteed win and trip to the super bowl and destroyed it. He is cut from the team and no one else will take his agent's calls, let alone let him near their team. He is getting death threats and his agent is telling him to call it quits, but he won’t. He refuses to give up on his painful career and takes his only offer. He goes to Parma, Italy to play for the Panthers. Playing for Pizza is a light read filled with food and humor. Other sports fiction you might consider are...
Mystery  The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter The Kept Woman is a really intense read. It is a detective mystery with a few twists and turns that surprised and made it a new favorite of mine. I quickly got caught up in the characters with all their problems surrounding the case and their relationships. The Kept Woman follows GBI's investigator Will Trent while he investigates the murder of an ex-cop and the secrets that surround it. The Kept Woman is actually the eighth in a series that follows Will Trent, but it can be read alone. I started with The Kept Woman and liked it so much that I went back and read the rest. This book has violence, swearing, and abuse. So be careful. It is a darker book than I usually recommend, but if you don’t mind that, it really is worth it. Other Mystery you might consider are...
Suspense  The Good Guy by Dean Koontz The Good Guy is about a stone mason Timothy Carrier who is at the bar with friends after work when a nervous man sits beside him. He is passed an envelope filled with cash and picture. “Ten thousand now. You get the rest when she’s gone.” So he has a choice, ignore it or help the woman in the photo. With the title “The Good Guy” you can guess what he chose. The problem is the man who was actually hired for the job doesn’t give up that easily, and he does not appreciate someone interfering in his work. The Good Guy has some creepy, twisted, and violent bits when you’re in the point of view of the killer, but it is a mostly clean read. Other suspense novels you might consider are...
Made Into a Movie  Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine Ella Enchanted is one of my all-time favorite books and if you have only seen the movie you are missing out. The movie isn’t a bad movie by itself. However, it, like most movies, only scratches the surface of the book, and takes a few too many artistic licenses. The movie is fine and flashy and all that, but the book is so much better. Ella Enchanted, if you haven’t heard of it, is a story about a girl who was given the gift of obedience from a fairy named Lucinda. She has to do whatever she is told to do. When her mother dies and her father remarries Ella is put in a really difficult situation, because her step-mother and step-sisters don’t know about the curse. That doesn’t stop them from using her uncanny obedience though. So at first chance Ella sets out on a quest to find Lucinda the fairy and have her undo the curse. Other Books Made Into A Movie You Might Consider Are...
(Let’s just say that if you have seen a movie based on a book, the book deserves a read.) If you want more suggestions for a different bingo square let me know, and I’ll get back to you!
Crystal Romance is one of my favorite genres and I just wanted to share a few of my top picks.  I’ve Got Your Number By Sophie Kinsella I picked up I’ve got your Number By Sophie Kinsella as part of a dare I set for myself on a reading slump. I needed new books to read so I decided to go the thrift store and pick out a few books at random, without reading the back, the plainer they looked the better. The copy of I’ve Got Your Number I found was a hardback without its dust jacket. All I had to go on was the title on a black background (I didn’t have high hopes). When I started reading it I was pleasantly surprised. I loved it. I read it nonstop cover to cover and laughed all the way through. It is a funny story about a woman named Poppy that starts with desperate measures. Poppy’s phone is stolen and her engagement ring is lost. When she finds a phone in the trash can she figures finders keepers she can leave a number for the hotel to call her on when they find her ring, its perfect! Well the phones owner kind of disagrees… What comes after is a funny and surprising string of events. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone who likes a lot of humor with their stories.  At Any Price By Brenna Aubrey At Any Price is a book I found on one of those free ebook sites. Now if you get a lot of the free romance ebooks you’ll know to read them with a bit of acceptance. A lot of the free ebook romances you find can be a little slapdash and even disappointing in some cases. At Any Price is a brilliant exception to this trend. It is a trilogy about a woman named Mia and her manifesto. Mia has decided that woman’s virginities have been valued and used by men to gain money or influence throughout history and it is high time women have gotten something out of it. She decides to sell her virginity to the highest (thoroughly screened) bidder. She ignores her friend’s protests and when all the bids are in she could have enough to save her mother’s ranch and finish out her schooling. The problem is the winner’s reluctance to claim his prize. The book sounds like it could be a same old same old sort of story but Brenna Aubrey turned a romance trope of a down on her luck girl into an emotional rollercoaster series that is a must read. The first one was a free ebook because they know that after you read the first book you’re hooked. I not only got the other two in ebook, but I ordered them in print for my own collection, and to borrow out.  The Obsession By Nora Roberts I have always been a fan of Nora Roberts because of her wide range of topics. She can go from futuristic mystery to fantasy with witches, immortals, and mermaids, and most that’s in-between. The Obsession is one of my favorites of Nora Roberts’s vast collection because it is great at flirting with the line between romance and suspense. This was the first of her books that had a little bit of a Dean Koontz kind of vibe. Now don’t get me wrong, it is a romance book, but when you’re in the perspective of the killer it really is up there with bad guy factor. The Obsession follows a Girl named Naomi from when she is a little girl trying to outrun her daddy’s reputation, to when she grows up, now a successful photographer, and finds a place to settle down in Sunrise Cove. She finds friends and a love interest in Xander Keaten but her past and the sins of her father are never more than a nightmare away…  Charming the Prince by Teresa Medeiros Charming the prince is a great historical romance and fairytale retelling of Cinderella. Lord Bannor is the pride of the English and the Terror of the French until the war ends and he finds himself overrun with a dozen children he doesn’t know how to deal with let alone raise. It is a war he can’t win alone. He sends out his steward the find them a mother and him a bride. He wants a mother for his children and has no interest in the bride herself, until Lady Willow shows up. He never expected she would join forces with his mischievous kids. The story is filled with humor and hijinks, and is a must read for anyone who likes a good historical romance.  Jake By Leigh Greenwood Jake is another historical romance but this one is a western. Jake is a rancher who just came back from the civil war to find his family ranch in shambles. Isabelle is taking a wagon-load of orphan boys to Santa Fe to try and get them adopted. They pair up. Jake is a help and a protection on their travels and the boys help him in driving his cattle to market. You end up getting to know all the characters and really root for them. Jake can be read as a standalone but it is the first in the series that has a book for each of the boys. Crystal
 A Christie classic with the famous Hercule Poirot and the immaculate train the Orient Express. High rolling characters travel on this train and when a snowstorm traps the Orient Express these travelers are trapped on board for days. A man is murdered with the murderer trapped on board the train with the travelers. With 12 people on board there are 12 suspects for Poirot to investigate. With Poirot’s need for balance will he find the balance he needs to bring the murderer to light?
Bill Hodges Trilogy by Stephen King This series of books is not typical for Stephen King and he calls it his “first hard-boiled detective book”. Each book starts out very much like the opening scenes in many of Stephen King's books with the reader coming to sympathize with the characters. Then the carnage starts. The main character, Bill Hodges, is a very hardy type and finds purpose with solving the crimes committed by Mr. Mercedes, so named from the opening scene. He comes into contact with some very unconventional people that come together to form an unlikely group to chase a criminal. The suspense abounds as the series continues in Finders Keepers, the second book. Bill is back with Holly and a few others to continue crime fighting with a new detective agency of the same name. The crime to be solved this time is any book lovers nightmare, an author’s retirement and murder before he published the last two installations in a series of books called the Runner Trilogy. Also well known, is that the missing notebooks are still out there. Suspense builds as the events slip into the unnatural that we have come to love from Stephen King. He must have a touch of mythical added in there! The third novel finds Bill not as well as we hope, but he continues to impress as his drive keeps him on the path to find out what is behind the series of suicides happening around a familiar character, Mr. Mercedes. How will it all end? *As with all Stephen King books, especially these dealing with crime can be graphic, violent, disturbing, and of course scary!  This book is about a pediatrician whose wife was killed over a decade prior. One day, he receives a message which causes him to question whether or not his wife is really dead. This message spurs him on a search to discover the truth. With a bit of romance thrown in, this is an enjoyable book even for someone who doesn't read mysteries often. Though this is adult fiction, it is not explicit.  The Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear take place in England between WWI and WWII. The main character, Maisie Dobbs, is trained in psychology and solves mysteries using her knowledge of human behavior. The whole series is very well written and the characters are expertly developed.  This dark and edgy mystery series are thrillers set in England. Would you kill someone to save yourself?... -Various Staff Members
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AuthorsLooking for some inspiration on what to read next? Who better to ask then the people who work around books for a living!? Each month we will post a "staff picks" blog post written by one of our staff members. These posts will vary in genre, theme, age appropriateness, etc. If you have any requests on a genre or age category you would like to see, submit a comment here and we will get it on the list! Archives
February 2020
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