ICPL's Top Picks 2015

by Meredith

Every year ICPL staff vote on their top books of the year. Check out our favorites from 2015!

Also check out Top Picks from previous years: 2014 | 2013

Finders keepers : a novel

Stephen King

FICTION King Stephen

"Wake up, genius." So begins the story of a vengeful reader. The genius is John Rothstein, an iconic author who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but who hasn't published a book for decades. Morris Bellamy is livid, not just because Rothstein has stopped providing books, but because the nonconformist Jimmy Gold has sold out for a career in advertising. Morris kills Rothstein and empties his safe of cash, yes, but the real treasure is a trove of notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel. Morris hides the money and the notebooks, and then he is locked away for another crime. Decades later, a boy named Pete Saubers finds the treasure, and now it is Pete and his family that Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson must rescue from the ever-more deranged and vengeful Morris when he's released from prison after thirty-five years.

Kitchens of the great Midwest

J. Ryan Stradal

FICTION Stradal J. Ryan

A god in ruins : a novel

Kate Atkinson

FICTION Atkinson Kate

The royal we

Heather Cocks

FICTION Cocks Heather

"In their first adult novel, authors Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan take on a story of romance and rivalries inspired by today's most talked-about royal couple: Will and Kate. "If I'm Cinderella today, I dread who they'll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next." American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy-tales. Her twin sister Lacey was always the romantic, the one who daydreamed of being a princess. But it's adventure-seeking Bex who goes to Oxford and meets dreamy Nick across the hall - and thus Bex who accidentally finds herself in love with the eventual heir to the British throne. Nick is everything she could have imagined, but Prince Nicholas has unimaginable baggage: grasping friends, a thorny family, hysterical tabloids tracking his every move, and a public that expected its future king to marry a native. On the eve of the most talked-about wedding of the century, Bex reflects on what she's sacrificed for love -- and exactly whose heart she may yet have to break.""--

Fates and furies

Lauren Groff

FICTION Groff Lauren

"From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The Monsters of Templeton and Arcadia, an exhilarating novel about marriage, creativity, art, and perception. Fates and Furies is a literary masterpiece that defies expectation. A dazzling examination of a marriage, it is also a portrait of creative partnership written by one of the best writers of her generation. Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years. At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends, but with an electric thrill we understand that things are even more complicated and remarkable than they have seemed. With stunning revelations and multiple threads, and in prose that is vibrantly alive and original, Groff delivers a deeply satisfying novel about love, art, creativity, and power that is unlike anything that has come before it. Profound, surprising, propulsive, and emotionally riveting, it stirs both the mind and the heart"--

Our souls at night

Kent Haruf

FICTION Haruf Kent

The Turner house

Angela Flournoy

FICTION Flournoy Angela

"A powerful, timely debut, The Turner House marks a major new contribution to the story of the American family. The Turners have lived on Yarrow Street for over fifty years. Their house has seen thirteen children grown and gone--and some returned; it has seen the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit's East Side, and the loss of a father. The house still stands despite abandoned lots, an embattled city, and the inevitable shift outward to the suburbs. But now, as ailing matriarch Viola finds herself forced to leave her home and move in with her eldest son, the family discovers that the house is worth just a tenth of its mortgage. The Turner children are called home to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts haunts--and shapes--their family's future. Already praised by Ayana Mathis as "utterly moving" and "un-putdownable," The Turner House brings us a colorful, complicated brood full of love and pride, sacrifice and unlikely inheritances. It's a striking examination of the price we pay for our dreams and futures, and the ways in which our families bring us home"--

The whites

Harry Brandt

FICTION Brandt Harry

"Back in the bad old days, when Billy Graves worked for an anti-crime unit in Harlem known as the Wild Geese, the NYPD branded him as a cowboy. Now forty, he has somehow survived and become a sergeant in Manhattan Night Watch. Mostly, his team of detectives conducts a series of holding actions--and after years in police purgatory, Billy is content simply to do his job. But soon after he gets a 3:00 a.m. call about the fatal knifing of a drunk in a Third Avenue pub, his investigation moves beyond the usual handoff to the day shift. And when he discovers that the victim was once a suspect in the unsolved murder of a 13-year-old girl, he finds himself drawn back to the late 1990s when the Wild Geese were at their most wayward. Before the case can be closed, it will severely test Billy's new sense of purpose and force him to accept that his troubled past isn't past at all. Richard Price, one of America's most gifted novelists, has always written brilliantly about cops, criminals, and New York City. Now, writing as Harry Brandt, he is poised to win a huge following among all those who hunger for first-rate crime fiction"--

Last bus to wisdom

Ivan Doig

FICTION Doig Ivan

"In the spirit of The Bartender's Tale, a lively and poignant coming-of-age story about a boy and his great-uncle on a cross-country odyssey. Donal Cameron is being raised by his grandmother, the cook at the legendary Double W ranch in Doig's beloved Two Medicine Country of the Montana Rockies, a landscape that gives full rein to an eleven-year-old's imagination. But when Gram has to have surgery for "female trouble" in the summer of 1951, all she can think to do is to ship Donal off to her sister in faraway Manitowoc, Wisconsin. There Donal is in for a rude surprise: Aunt Kate-bossy, opinionated, argumentative, and tyrannical--is nothing like her sister. She henpecks her good-natured husband, Herman the German (as Donal discovers him to be), and Donal can't seem to get on her good side either. After one contretemps too many, Kate decides to pack him back to the authorities in Montana on the next Greyhound. But to Donal's surprise, he's not traveling solo: Herman the German has decided to fly the coop with him. In the immortal American tradition, the pair light out for the territory together, meeting a classic Doigian ensemble of characters and having rollicking misadventures along the way. Charming, wise, and slyly funny, Last Bus to Wisdom is another treasure of a novel from the best storyteller of the West"--

Descent : a novel

Tim Johnston

FICTION Johnston Tim

"Descent, the story of a family undone by the disappearance of a daughter who went out for a morning run and didn't come back, marks the adult fiction debut of a remarkable young writer. Stunning in its emotional impact, Descent is a compulsively readable page-turner with a strong literary sensibility. The girl's vanishing--on a sunny, late-summer vacation morning--all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning the family's harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths, until all that continues to bind them to each other are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point does a girl stop fighting for her life? In the weeks and months that follow, hope leads to disillusionment, and each of them--father, mother, son--withdraws into emotional isolation, individually assessing the blame and assuming the responsibility for their collective loss. Haunting and unforgettable, Descent is a novel that will grab the reader's heart and mind, and will linger there long after the last page is turned" --

Maybe in another life : a novel

Taylor Jenkins Reid

FICTION Reid Taylor

"Hannah Martin's life isn't shaping up into much of anything. Since graduating college eight years ago, she has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs. At the age of twenty-nine, she is starting to see crow's feet, and yet, she still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles to regroup. She takes up residence in her best friend Gabby's guest room. Along with Gabby and Gabby's husband Mark, the three of them go out to a bar where they meet up with some of Hannah and Gabby's old friends, including Hannah's high school boyfriend, Ethan. Shortly after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she's ready to go. But then Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan? MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE is told in two concurrent storylines following the consequences of each choice. Hannah's two parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences not just for Hannah, but for all of the people in her life. As Hannah's stories run their course, they raise questions about fate and true love. Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate? Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she's found him"--

Circling the sun : a novel

Paula McLain

FICTION Mclain Paula

Get in trouble : stories

Kelly Link

FICTION Link Kelly

The scorpion rules

Erin Bow

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Bow Erin

The teenage princess of a future-world Canadian superpower, where royal children are held hostage to keep their countries from waging war, falls in love with an American prince who rebels against the brutal rules governing their existences.

Dumplin'

Julie Murphy

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Murphy Julie

Sixteen-year-old Willowdean wants to prove to everyone in her small Texas town that she is more than just a fat girl, so, while grappling with her feelings for a co-worker who is clearly attracted to her, Will and some other misfits prepare to compete in the beauty pageant her mother runs.

Pretending to be Erica : a novel

Michelle Painchaud

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Painchau Michelle

"Violet has been preparing her entire life to step into the shoes of the missing heiress Erica Silverman, in order to pull off the biggest inside job in Las Vegas history. She doesn't count on having a conscience"--

In real life

Cory Doctorow

GRAPHIC NOVEL Doctorow

"Anda loves Coarsegold Online, the massively-multiplayer role playing game that she spends most of her free time on. It's a place where she can be a leader, a fighter, a hero. It's a place where she can meet people from all over the world, and make friends. But things become a lot more complicated when Anda befriends a gold farmer -- a poor Chinese kid whose avatar in the game illegally collects valuable objects and then sells them to players from developed countries with money to burn. This behavior is strictly against the rules in Coarsegold, but Anda soon comes to realize that questions of right and wrong are a lot less straightforward when a real person's real livelihood is at stake."--Cover flap.

An ember in the ashes

Sabaa Tahir

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Tahir Sabaa

"Laia is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution"--

The darkest part of the forest

Holly Black

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Black Holly

In the town of Fairfold, where humans and fae exist side by side, a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives awakes after generations of sleep in a glass coffin in the woods, causing Hazel to be swept up in new love, shift her loyalties, feel the fresh sting of betrayal, and to make a secret sacrifice to the faerie king.

Mosquitoland

David Arnold

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Arnold David

"When she learns that her mother is sick in Ohio, Mim confronts her demons on a thousand-mile odyssey from Mississippi that redefines her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane"--

A prince without a kingdom

Timothée de Fombelle

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Fombelle Timothee

Vango continues to flee from the demons of his past against the backdrop of World War Two Europe as he works to unravel the mystery of his identity.

Winter

Marissa Meyer

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Meyer Marissa

Cinder and her allies are joined in the plot to overthrow Queen Levana by the queen's stepdaughter, Winter, who has long been defying her evil stepmother's wishes by harboring feelings for her personal guard whom she is forbidden from marrying.

Six of crows

Leigh Bardugo

YOUNG ADULT FICTION Bardugo Leigh

"Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction--if they don't kill each other first"--

Simon's new bed

Christian Trimmer

jE Trimmer

"A humorous picture book about a dog's new bed being taken over by a cat"--

Black Day : the monster rock band

Marcus Sikora

jHOLIDAY E Sikora

"Brad is a paper boy who wants to be a rock star, so when he discovers the band Black Day playing in old Professor Hammer's garage, he really wants to join. The band's monsters have a different idea and send him away, ''No humans!'' Brad sets out to change their minds, but the monsters have bigger problems than finding a bass player. Halloween may never be the same again."--publisher.

When you were born

Emma Dodd

jE Dodd

Parents recall all the good things that happened when their babies were born.

The wonderful things you will be

Emily Winfield Martin

jE Martin

Illustrations and simple, rhyming text reveal a parent's musings about what a child will become, knowing that the child's kindness, cleverness, and boldness will shine through no matter what, as will the love they share.

Enormous smallness : a story of E.E. Cummings

Matthew Burgess

jE Burgess

Presents the life and work of the twentieth-century American writer, focusing on his fascination with words from a young age and highlighting his poetry's inspirational properties.

P. Zonka lays an egg

Julie Paschkis

jE Paschkis

"All of the chickens in the farmyard lay eggs regularly-- all except for P. Zonka, that is. She's too busy looking at the colors of the world around her. The other chickens think P. Zonka's just lazy...until she lays the most beautiful egg they've ever seen"--

Snoozefest

Samantha Berger

jE Berger

Snuggleford Cuddlebun, the sleepiest sloth in all of Snoozeville, attends the annual Snoozefest, where she gets free pajamas and other gifts, listens to bands and haiku, and, mostly, sleeps.

The princess and the pony

Kate Beaton

jE Beaton

Princess Pinecone would like a real war horse for her birthday, instead of which she gets a plump, cute pony--but sometimes cuteness can be a kind of weapon, especially in a fight with dodgeballs and spitballs and hairballs and squareballs.

Waiting

Kevin Henkes

jE Henkes

An owl, puppy, bear, bunny, and pig wait for marvelous things to happen.

Wolfie the bunny

Ame Dyckman

jE Dyckman

When her parents find a baby wolf on their doorstep and decide to raise him as their own, Dot is certain he will eat them all up until a surprising encounter with a bear brings them closer together.

Stella by starlight

Sharon M. (Sharon Mills) Draper

jFICTION Draper Sharon

When a burning cross set by the Klan causes panic and fear in 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina, fifth-grader Stella must face prejudice and find the strength to demand change in her segregated town.

The cottage in the woods

Katherine Coville

jFICTION Coville Katherin

Presents the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" as told by young Teddy's governess, who came to work at the Vaughn family "cottage" shortly before a golden-haired girl, ragged and dirty, entered the home and soon became a beloved foster child, until evil characters tried to take her away.

Fish in a tree

Lynda Mullaly Hunt

jFICTION Hunt Lynda

"Ally's greatest fear is that everyone will find out she is as dumb as they think she is because she still doesn't know how to read"--

Serafina and the black cloak

Robert Beatty

jFICTION Beatty Robert

In 1899, a twelve-year-old rat catcher on North Carolina's Biltmore estate teams up with the estate owner's young nephew to battle a great evil and, in the process, unlocks the puzzle of her past.

The story of Diva and Flea

Mo Willems

jFICTION Willems, Mo

In the bustling city of Paris, a small yet brave dog, Diva, and an adventurous cat named Flea become two unlikely friends.

Circus Mirandus

Cassie Beasley

jFICTION Beasley Cassie

"When he realizes that his grandfather's stories of an enchanted circus are true, Micah Tuttle sets out to find the mysterious Circus Mirandus--and to use its magic to save his grandfather's life"--

Crenshaw

Katherine Applegate

jFICTION Applegate, Katherine

When Jackson and his family face living in their minivan, Jackson's imaginary cat Crenshaw returns to help him.

Finding Serendipity

Angelica Banks

jFICTION Banks Angelica

"When Tuesday McGillycuddy and her beloved dog Baxterr discover that Tuesday's mother--the famous author Serendipity Smith--has gone missing, they set out on a magical adventure. In their quest to find Serendipity, they discover the mysterious and unpredictable place that stories come from"--

Baba Yaga's assistant

Marika McCoola

jGRAPHIC NOVEL McCoola

"Most children think twice before braving a haunted wood filled with terrifying beasties to match wits with a witch, but not Masha. Her beloved grandma taught her many things: that stories are useful, that magic is fickle, that nothing is too difficult or too dirty to clean. The fearsome witch of folklore needs an assistant, and Masha needs an adventure. She may be clever enough to enter Baba Yaga's house-on-chicken-legs, but within its walls, deceit is the rule. To earn her place, Masha must pass a series of tests, outfox a territorial bear, and make dinner for her host. No easy task, with children on the menu!"--

Beyond the Western Deep. Volume one

Alex Kain

jGRAPHIC NOVEL Kain

For over 100 years, the animal races of the Four Kingdoms have lived side-by-side in uneasy truce. But when conflict ignites in the north, old alliances threaten to send the world into chaos. Experience the beginnings of an epic all-ages fantasy in this first collected volume!

The case for loving : the fight for interracial marriage

Selina Alko

j306.846 Alko

The story of interracial couple Mildred and Richard Loving, who got married in Washington, D.C., and were arrested after they returned to Virginia, and took their legal case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Queen of the diamond : the Lizzie Murphy story

Emily Arnold McCully

jBIOGRAPHY Murphy, Lizzie

"A picture book biography about Lizzie Murphy, the first woman to play in a major league exhibition game and the first person to play on both the New England and American leagues' all-star teams"--

The story of life : a first book about evolution

Catherine Barr

j576.8 Barr

An exciting and dramatic story about how life began and developed on Planet Earth.

The only child

1983- author Guojing

jGRAPHIC NOVEL Guojing

In this wordless graphic novel, a young girl traveling from her city apartment to her grandmother's country home becomes lost and enters a fantastical world in the clouds.

Finding Winnie : the true story of the world's most famous bear

Lindsay Mattick

jE Mattick

A woman tells her young son the true story of how his great-great-grandfather, Captain Harry Colebourn, rescued and learned to love a bear cub in 1914 as he was on his way to take care of soldiers' horses during World War I, and the bear became the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

The nest

Kenneth Oppel

jFICTION Oppel Kenneth

"When wasps come to Steve in a dream offering to fix his sick baby brother, he thinks all he has to do is say yes. But yes may not mean what Steve thinks it means"--

I really like slop!

Mo Willems

jREADER Willems, Mo

"Piggie really likes slop. She likes it so much, she wants Gerald to try some! But can Gerald find the courage to do it? Or will the smell alone be too much to handle?"--

The bear ate your sandwich

Julia Sarcone-Roach

jE Sarcone-Roach

"When a sandwich goes missing, it seems that a bear is the unlikely culprit"--

Naptime with Theo & Beau

Jessica Shyba

jE Shyba

The friendship and trust between a boy and his puppy is celebrated through simple text and photographs of them sharing naptime.

The last ever after

Soman Chainani

jFICTION Chainani Soman

While the two former best friends are separated, villians from the past attempt to create a new realm with Sophie as their queen, leaving only Agatha and Tedros to fight against the forces of evil.

Moon rising

Tui Sutherland

jFICTION Sutherland, Tui

"When Moonwatcher, a young NightWing with secret powers, begins school at the academy started by the dragonets of destiny after the end of the war, she soon realizes that someone is attacking the students. Moon must choose whether to help or continue to hide her gifts"--

Winter turning

Tui Sutherland

jFICTION Sutherland, Tui

Winter has been a disappointment to his royal IceWing family, unlike his sister Icicle, who has been raised to challenge IceWing queen--but now that Icicle has broken the truce and escaped from Jade Mountain Academy, so Winter, accompanied by his new clawmates, Moon, Qibli, and Kinkajou, embarks on his own quest to free his brother from the clutches of Queen Scarlet, and win the respect of his family.

Stolen magic

Gail Carson Levine

jFICTION Levine Gail

Elodie and her companions return to her home island of Lahnt, where the theft of a protective statue has threatened the island with a deadly volcanic eruption.

City on fire

Garth Risk Hallberg

FICTION Hallberg Garth

The all-too-human individuals who live within this extraordinary first novel are: Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city's biggest fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Sam, two Long Island teenagers seduced by downtown's nascent punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter; his spunky, West Coast-transplant neighbor; and the detective trying to figure out what they all have to do with a shooting in Central Park. From post-Vietnam youth culture to the fiscal crisis, from a lushly appointed townhouse on Sutton Place to a derelict squat on East 3rd Street, this city on fire is at once recognizable and completely unexpected. And when the infamous blackout of July 13th, 1977 plunges it into darkness, each of these entangled lives will be changed, irrevocably.

The girl on the train : a novel

Paula Hawkins

FICTION Hawkins Paula

Badlands

C. J Box

MYSTERY Box C. J.

"Twenty miles across the North Dakota border, where the scenery goes from rolling grass prairie to pipeline fields, detective Cassie Dewell has been assigned as the new deputy sheriff of Grimstad-a place people used to be from, but were never headed to"--

Endangered

C. J. Box

MYSTERY Box C. J.

"New York Times-bestselling writer C. J. Box returns with a thrilling new novel, featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. She was gone. Joe Pickett had good reason to dislike Dallas Cates, even if he was a rodeo champion, and now he has even more-Joe's eighteen-year-old ward, April, has run off with him. And then comes even worse news: The body of a girl has been found in a ditch along the highway-alive, but just barely, the victim of blunt force trauma. It is April, and the doctors aren't sure if she'll recover. Cates denies having anything to do with it-says she ran away from him, too-and there's evidence that points to another man. But Joe knows in his gut who's responsible. What he doesn't know is the kind of danger he's about to encounter. Cates is bad enough, but Cates's family is like none Joe has ever met before. Joe's going to find out the truth, even if it kills him. But this time, it just might"--

Career of evil

Robert Galbraith

MYSTERY Galbrait Robert

Brush back

Sara Paretsky

MYSTERY Paretsky Sara

A fine summer's day : an Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery

Charles Todd

MYSTERY Todd Charles

"New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd takes readers on a trip to Ian Rutledge's past, with the story of the last case the Scotland Yard detective tackles before he goes off to fight in World War I"--

A dangerous place : a novel

Jacqueline Winspear

MYSTERY Winspear Jacqueli

The language of the dead : a World War II mystery

Stephen Kelly

MYSTERY Kelly Stephen

The nature of the beast

Louise Penny

MYSTERY Penny Louise

"Hardly a day goes by when nine year old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in the little Quebec village. But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true. And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet. And now it is now, writes Ruth Zardo. And the dark thing is here. A monster once visited Three Pines. And put down deep roots. And now, Ruth knows, it is back. Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, must face the possibility that, in not believing the boy, he himself played a terrible part in what happens next"--

A pattern of lies

Charles Todd

MYSTERY Todd Charles

Uprooted

Naomi Novik

SCIENCE FICTION Novik Naomi

"Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows--everyone knows--that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn't, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose"--

Welcome to Night Vale : a novel

Joseph Fink

SCIENCE FICTION Fink Joseph

Dead heat

Patricia Briggs

SCIENCE FICTION Briggs Patricia

Voyage of the basilisk : a memoir by Lady Trent

Marie Brennan

SCIENCE FICTION Brennan Marie

Of noble family

Mary Robinette Kowal

SCIENCE FICTION Kowal Mary

Furiously happy : a funny book about horrible things

Jenny Lawson

BIOGRAPHY Lawson, Jenny

"In Furiously Happy, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jenny Lawson explores her lifelong battle with mental illness. A hysterical, ridiculous book about crippling depression and anxiety? That sounds like a terrible idea. But terrible ideas are what Jenny does best.As Jenny says: "Some people might think that being 'furiously happy' is just an excuse to be stupid and irresponsible and invite a herd of kangaroos over to your house without telling your husband first because you suspect he would say no since he's never particularly liked kangaroos. And that would be ridiculous because no one would invite a herd of kangaroos into their house. Two is the limit. I speak from personal experience. My husband says that none is the new limit. I say he should have been clearer about that before I rented all those kangaroos. "Most of my favorite people are dangerously fucked-up but you'd never guess because we've learned to bare it so honestly that it becomes the new normal. Like John Hughes wrote in The Breakfast Club, 'We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it.' Except go back and cross out the word 'hiding.'"Furiously Happy is about "taking those moments when things are fine and making them amazing, because those moments are what make us who we are, and they're the same moments we take into battle with us when our brains declare war on our very existence. It's the difference between "surviving life" and "living life". It's the difference between "taking a shower" and "teaching your monkey butler how to shampoo your hair." It's the difference between being "sane" and being "furiously happy."Lawson is beloved around the world for her inimitable humor and honesty, and in Furiously Happy, she is at her snort-inducing funniest. This is a book about embracing everything that makes us who we are - the beautiful and the flawed - and then using it to find joy in fantastic and outrageous ways. Because as Jenny's mom says, "Maybe 'crazy' isn't so bad after all." Sometimes crazy is just right"--

Why not me?

Mindy Kaling

817.6 /Kaling

Kaling shares her ongoing journey to find contentment and excitement in her adult life, whether it's falling in love at work, seeking new friendships in lonely places, attempting to be the first person in history to lose weight without any behavior modification whatsoever, or most important, believing that you have a place in Hollywood when you're constantly reminded that no one looks like you. In "How to Look Spectacular: A Starlet's Confessions," Kaling gives her tongue-in-cheek secrets for surefire on-camera beauty, ("Your natural hair color may be appropriate for your skin tone, but this isn't the land of appropriate -- this is Hollywood, baby. Out here, a dark-skinned woman's traditional hair color is honey blonde.") "Player" tells the story of Kaling being seduced and dumped by a female friend in L.A. ("I had been replaced by a younger model. And now they had matching bangs.") In "Unlikely Leading Lady," she muses on America's fixation with the weight of actresses, ("Most women we see onscreen are either so thin that they're walking clavicles or so huge that their only scenes involve them breaking furniture.") And in "Soup Snakes," Kaling spills some secrets on her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and close friend, B.J. Novak ("I will freely admit: my relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell.") Mindy turns the anxieties, the glamour, and the celebrations of her second coming-of-age into a laugh-out-loud funny collection of essays that anyone who's ever been at a turning point in their life or career can relate to. And those who've never been at a turning point can skip to the parts where she talks about meeting Bradley Cooper.

You're never weird on the Internet (almost) : a memoir

Felicia Day

BIOGRAPHY Day, Felicia

"From the online entertainment pioneer, actress, and "queen of the geeks" Felicia Day, comes a funny, quirky, and inspiring memoir about her unusual upbringing, her rise to internet stardom, and embracing her weirdness to find her place in the world."

Wildflower

Drew Barrymore

BIOGRAPHY Barrymore, Drew

"Award-winning actress Drew Barrymore shares funny, insightful, and profound stories from her past and present told from the place of happiness she's achieved today. Wildflower is a portrait of Drew's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences of her earlier years. It includes tales of living on her own at 14 (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck in a gas station overhang on a cross country road trip, saying goodbye to her father in a way only he could have understood, and many more adventures and lessons that have led her to the successful, happy, and healthy place she is today. It is the first book Drew has written about her life since the age of 14. "--

Silver screen fiend : learning about life from an addiction to film

Patton Oswalt

792.23092 /Oswalt

"Between 1995 and 1999, Patton Oswalt lived with an unshakable addiction. It wasn't drugs, alcohol or sex: it was film. After moving to L.A., Oswalt became a huge film buff (or as he calls it, a sprocket fiend), absorbing classics, cult hits, and new releases at the New Beverly Cinema. Silver screen celluloid became Patton's life schoolbook, informing his notion of acting, writing, comedy, and relationships. Set in the nascent days of L.A.'s alternative comedy scene, Oswalt's memoir chronicles his journey from fledgling stand-up comedian to self-assured sitcom actor, with the colorful New Beverly collective and a cast of now-notable young comedians supporting him all along the way"--

Girl in a band

Kim Gordon

781.66092 /Gordon

A founding member of Sonic Youth, fashion icon and role model for a generation of women, now tells her story--a memoir of life as an artist, of music, marriage, motherhood, independence and as one of the first women of rock and roll.

Hunger makes me a modern girl : a memoir

Carrie Brownstein

781.66092 /Brownstein

A "narrative of [rock guitarist and actor Brownstein's] escape from a turbulent family life into a world where music was the means toward self-invention, community, and rescue. Along the way, Brownstein chronicles the excitement and contradictions within the era's flourishing and fiercely independent music subculture, including experiences that sowed the seeds for the observational satire of the popular television series Portlandia years later"--Dust jacket flap.

Hope : a memoir of survival in Cleveland

Amanda Berry

364.154 /Berry

Two victims of an infamous Cleveland kidnapper share the story of their abductions, their decade in captivity and their dramatic escape.

Unabrow : misadventures of a late bloomer

Una LaMarche

817.6 /LaMarche

"Una LaMarche has written a hilarious take on coming of age by doling out all the advice she wishes her own mother had given her about everything, from how to take care of her unibrow to how to avoid the most common faux pas in the Facebook age"--

I will always write back : how one letter changed two lives

Caitlin Alifirenka

305.235 /Alifirenka

It started as an assignment. Everyone in Caitlin's class wrote to an unknown student somewhere in a distant place. All the other kids picked countries like France or Germany, but when Caitlin saw Zimbabwe written on the board, it sounded like the most exotic place she had ever heard of -- so she chose it. Martin was lucky to even receive a pen pal letter. There were only ten letters, and forty kids in his class. But he was the top student, so he got the first one. That letter was the beginning of a correspondence that spanned six years and changed two lives.

Primates of Park Avenue : a memoir

Wednesday Martin

974.71 /Martin

The Argonauts.

Maggie Nelson

BIOGRAPHY Nelson, Maggie

On the move : a life

Oliver W Sacks

BIOGRAPHY Sacks, Oliver W.

Physician and writer Oliver Sacks recounts his experiences as a young neurologist; his physical passions--weight lifting and swimming; his love affairs, both romantic and intellectual; his guilt over leaving his family to come to America; his bond with his schizophrenic brother; and the writers and scientists--Thom Gunn, A. R. Luria, W. H. Auden, Gerald M. Edelman, Francis Crick--who influenced him.

Live like Line, love like Ellyn

Bill Hoeft

BIOGRAPHY Found, Caroline

During August, 2011, Ernie, Ellyn, Gregg, and Catharine Found are hit by heartbreak and tragedy. Seventeen-year-old Caroline Found, aka Line, doesn't survive a moped accident. Twelve days later Ellyn Found loses her battle with cancer...From losing Caroline and Ellyn, to an unforgettable state tournament, Live Like Line explores the full powers of community, family, team, love, faith, friendship, and life--Cover.

Modern romance

Aziz Ansari

306.73 /Ansari

The acclaimed comedian teams up with a New York University sociologist to explore the nature of modern relationships, evaluating how technology is shaping contemporary relationships and considering the differences between courtships of the past and present.

Gumption : relighting the torch of freedom with America's gutsiest troublemakers

Nick Offerman

817.54 /Offerman

The star of Parks and Recreation and author of the best-selling Paddle Your Own Canoe pays tribute to inspiring mischief makers, from George Washington to Willie Nelson, while expounding on such topics as religion, handcrafting and meat.

Our kids : the American Dream in crisis

Robert D Putnam

305.5 /Putnam

"The best-selling author of Bowling Alone offers a groundbreaking examination of the American Dream in crisis: how and why opportunities for upward mobility are diminishing, jeopardizing the prospects of an ever larger segment of Americans"--

Between the world and me

Ta-Nehisi Coates

BIOGRAPHY Coates, Ta-Nehisi

"For Ta-Nehisi Coates, history has always been personal. At every stage of his life, he's sought in his explorations of history answers to the mysteries that surrounded him--most urgently, why he, and other black people he knew, seemed to live in fear ... In [this book], Coates takes readers along on his journey through America's history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings--moments when he discovered some new truth about our long, tangled history of race, whether through his myth-busting professors at Howard University, a trip to a Civil War battlefield with a rogue historian, a journey to Chicago's South Side to visit aging survivors of 20th century America's 'long war on black people,' or a visit with the mother of a beloved friend who was shot down by the police"--

Humans of New York

Brandon Stanton

779.092 /Stanton

"In the summer of 2010, photographer Brandon Stanton set out on an ambitious project: to single-handedly create a photographic census of New York City. Armed with his camera, he began crisscrossing the city, covering thousands of miles on foot, all in his attempt to capture ordinary New Yorkers in the most extraordinary of moments"--

Dead wake : the last crossing of the Lusitania

Erik Larson

910.452 /Larson

The #1 New York Times best-selling author of In the Garden of Beasts presents a 100th-anniversary chronicle of the sinking of the Lusitania that discusses the factors that led to the tragedy and the contributions of such figures as President Wilson, bookseller Charles Lauriat and architect Theodate Pope Riddle.

The Oregon Trail : a new American journey

Rinker Buck

917.392 /Buck

Buck's epic account of traveling the length of the Oregon Trail the old-fashioned way-- in a covered wagon with a team of mules, an audacious journey that hasn't been attempted in a century-- tells the rich history of the trail, the people who made the migration, and its significance to the country.

The witches : Salem, 1692

Stacy Schiff

133.4309 /Schiff

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra analyzes the Salem Witch Trials to offer key insights into the role of women in its events while explaining how its tragedies became possible.

The man who wasn't there : investigations into the strange new science of the self

Anil Ananthaswamy

616.8 /Ananthaswamy

"In the tradition of Oliver Sacks, a tour of the latest neuroscience of schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimer's disease, ecstatic epilepsy, Cotard's syndrome, out-of-body experiences, and other disorders--revealing the awesome power of the human sense of self from a master of science journalism Anil Ananthaswamy's extensive in-depth interviews venture into the lives of individuals who offer perspectives that will change how you think about who you are. These individuals all lost some part of what we think of as our self, but they then offer remarkable, sometimes heart-wrenching insights into what remains. One man cut off his own leg. Another became one with the universe. We are learning about the self at a level of detail that Descartes ("I think therefore I am") could never have imagined. Recent research into Alzheimer's illuminates how memory creates your narrative self by using the same part of your brain for your past as for your future. But wait, those afflicted with Cotard's syndrome think they are already dead; in a way, they believe that "I think therefore I am not." Who--or what--can say that? Neuroscience has identified specific regions of the brain that, when they misfire, can cause the self to move back and forth between the body and a doppelganger, or to leave the body entirely. So where in the brain, or mind, or body, is the self actually located? As Ananthaswamy elegantly reports, neuroscientists themselves now see that the elusive sense of self is both everywhere and nowhere in the human brain"--

Daughters of the samurai : a journey from East to West and back

Janice P. Nimura

952.03 /Nimura

"In 1871, five young girls were sent by the Japanese government to the United States. Their mission: learn Western ways and return to help nurture a new generation of enlightened men to lead Japan. Raised in traditional samurai households during the turmoil of civil war, three of these unusual ambassadors-- Sutematsu Yamakawa, Shige Nagai, and Ume Tsuda-- grew up as typical American schoolgirls. Upon their arrival in San Francisco they became celebrities, their travels feted by newspapers across the nation. The passionate friendships they formed reveal an intimate world of cross-cultural fascination and connection. Ten years later, they returned to Japan-- a land grown foreign to them-- determined to revolutionize women's education. Based on in-depth archival research in Japan and in the United States, Daughters of the Samurai is beautifully, cinematically written, a fascinating lens through which to view an extraordinary historical moment"--Provided by publisher.

The millionaire and the bard : Henry Folger's obsessive hunt for Shakespeare's first folio

Andrea E. Mays

822.33 /Z/Mays

"Today it is the most valuable book in the world. Recently one sold for over five million dollars. It is the book that rescued the name of William Shakespeare and half of his plays from oblivion. The Millionaire and the Bard tells the miraculous and romantic story of the making of the First Folio, and of the American industrialist whose thrilling pursuit of the book became a lifelong obsession." --

Between you & me : confessions of a Comma Queen

Mary (Editor) Norris

428.2 /Norris

A New Yorker copy veteran presents laugh-out-loud descriptions of some of the most common and vexing errors in language and usage, drawing on examples from classic literature and pop culture while sharing anecdotes from her work with celebrated writers.

So you've been publicly shamed

Jon Ronson

152.44 /Ronson

"This is the perfect time for a modern-day Scarlet Letter--a radically empathetic book about public shaming, and about shaming as a form of social control. It has become such a big part of our lives it has begun to feel weird and empty when there isn't anyone to be furious about. Whole careers are being ruined by one mistake. A transgression is revealed. Our collective outrage at it has the force of a hurricane. Then we all quickly forget about it and move on to the next one, and it doesn't cross our minds to wonder if the shamed person is okay or in ruins. What's it doing to them? What's it doing to us?"--

Intro to alien invasion

Owen King

GRAPHIC NOVEL King

"Stacey, a brilliant, overachieving astrobiology major at Fenton College, had planned on just another lonely spring break on campus. But when a hurricane batters the small college town, downing power lines and knocking out cell phone reception, Stacey and her friends are stranded with no way to communicate with the outside world at the worst possible moment: in the midst of an alien invasion. As space insects begin to burrow into students and staff, transforming them into slobbering, babbling monsters, a conglomeration of misfits must band together to prevent the infestation from spreading. Meanwhile, Stacey's long-stifled romantic feelings for her friend Charlotte begin to surface, while the professor she had admired and respected becomes the students' worst enemy" --

Hawkeye

Matt Fraction

COMIC Hawkeye 2012

Clint Barton, a.k.a. the self-made hero Hawkeye, fights for justice and good rooftop BBQs! And with Young Avenger Kate Bishop by his side, he's out to get some downtime from being one of Earth's mightiest heroes. This is the ongoing tale of the Arrow-Avenger; Barton and Bishop mean double the Hawkeye and double the trouble!

Roller girl

Victoria Jamieson

jGRAPHIC NOVEL Jamieson

"A graphic novel adventure about a girl who discovers roller derby right as she and her best friend are growing apart"--

Sunny side up

Jennifer L. Holm

jGRAPHIC NOVEL Holm

Sunny Lewin is sent to live with her grandfather for the summer in Florida, where she befriends Buzz, a boy completely obsessed with comic books, and faces the secret behind why she is in Florida in the first place.

The sculptor

Scott McCloud

GRAPHIC NOVEL McCloud

"David Smith is giving his life for his art--literally. Thanks to a deal with Death, the young sculptor gets his childhood wish: to sculpt anything he can imagine with his bare hands. But now that he only has 200 days to live, deciding what to create is harder than he thought, and discovering the love of his life at the 11th hour isn't making it any easier! This is a story of desire taken to the edge of reason and beyond; of the frantic, clumsy dance steps of young love; and a gorgeous, street-level portrait of the world's greatest city. It's about the small, warm, human moments of everyday life...and the great surging forces that lie just under the surface. Scott McCloud wrote the book on how comics work; now he vaults into great fiction with a breathtaking, funny, and unforgettable new work"--

Space dumplins

Craig Thompson

jGRAPHIC NOVEL Thompson

"For Violet Marlocke, family is the most important thing in the whole galaxy. So when her father goes missing while on a hazardous job, she can't just sit around and do nothing. To get him back, Violet throws caution to the stars and sets out with a group of misfit friends on a quest to find him. But space is big and dangerous, and she soon discovers that her dad has been swallowed by a giant, planet-eating whale. With her father's life on the line, nothing is going to stop Violet from trying to rescue him and keep her family together"--Provided by publisher.

Killing and dying

Adrian Tomine

GRAPHIC NOVEL Tomine

Lumberjanes

Noelle Stevenson

COMIC Lumberjanes

"Five best friends spending the summer at Lumberjane scout camp...defeating yetis, three-eyed wolves, and giant falcons...what's not to love?! Friendship to the max! Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome summer together...and they're not gonna let any insane quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way!"--publisher.

Star Wars : Darth Vader

Kieron Gillen

COMIC Star Wars Darth 2015

Ever since Darth Vader's first on-screen appearance, he has become one of pop-culture's most popular villains. Now, follow Vader straight from the ending of A New Hope (and the pages of the new Star Wars comic book) into his own solo adventures - showing the Empire's war with the Rebel Alliance from the other side! But when a Dark Lord needs help, who can he turn to? As Vader pursues a very personal vengeance against the Rebels and investigates the Emperor's secret machinations, he clashes with weapons scavenger Aphra and deadly Battle Droids, and returns to Geonosis to build an army. But some very powerful people don't want him to learn the truths he seeks! Guest-starring Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett and more!

Through the woods

Emily Carroll

GRAPHIC NOVEL Carroll

"A collection of five spine-tingling short stories"--

Step aside, pops : a Hark! A vagrant collection

Kate Beaton

COMIC Hark

"Ida B. Wells, the Black Prince, and Benito Juárez burst off the pages of Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! A Vagrant Collection, armed with modern-sounding quips and amusingly on-point repartee. Kate Beaton's second D+Q book brings her hysterically funny gaze to bear on these and even more historical, literary, and contemporary figures. Irreverently funny and carefully researched, no target is safe from Beaton's incisive wit in these satirical strips" --

A silent voice

author Ōima,Yoshitoki

MANGA Oima Silent

"Shoya is a bully. When Shoko, a girl who can't hear, enters his elementary school class, she becomes their favorite target, and Shoya and his friends goad each other into devising new tortures for her. But the children's cruelty goes too far. Shoko is forced to leave the school, and Shoya ends up shouldering all the blame. Six years later, the two meet again. Can Shoya make up for his past mistakes, or is it too late?"--provided from Amazon.com.