ICPL's Top Picks 2016

by Meredith

Every year ICPL staff vote on their top books of the year. Check out our favorites from 2016!

Also check out Top Picks from previous years: 2015 | 2014 | 2013

A few of the girls

Maeve Binchy

A gathering of shadows

Victoria Schwab

"Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift, and into Black London. In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagent international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again-and so to keep magic's balance, another London must fall"--

A great reckoning

Louise Penny

"When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes. Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must. And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map. Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protégée of the murdered professor. The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets. For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning. #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny pulls back the layers to reveal a brilliant and emotionally powerful truth in her latest spellbinding novel. "--

A study in Charlotte : a Charlotte Holmes novel

Brittany Cavallaro

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson descendants, Charlotte and Jamie, students at a Connecticut boarding school, team up to solve a murder mystery.

Ada Twist, scientist

Andrea Beaty

Ada Twist is a very curious girl who shows perseverance by asking questions and performing experiments to find things out and understand the world.

Adulthood is a myth : a "Sarah's scribbles" collection

Sarah (Sarah C.) Andersen

Adulthood is a myth confronts head-on the horrors, anxiety, and awkwardness of modern adult life. From the agony of holding hands with a gorgeous guy to the yawning pit of hell that is the wifi gone down to the eye-watering pain of eating too-hot pizza because one cannot stand to wait for it to cool down, Sarah fearlessly documents it all. Like the work of fellow Millennial authors Allie Brosh, Grace Helbig, and Gemma Correll, Sarah's total frankness on extremely personal issues such as body image, self-consciousness, introversion, relationships, and bra-washing makes her comics highly relatable and consistently hilarious.

All things cease to appear

Elizabeth Brundage

American cake : from colonial gingerbread to classic layer, the stories and recipes behind more than 125 of our best-loved cakes from past to present

Anne Byrn

"Cakes in America aren't just about sugar, flour, and frosting. They have a deep, rich history that developed as our country grew. Cakes, more so than other desserts, are synonymous with celebration and coming together for happy times. They're an icon of American culture, reflecting heritage, region, season, occasion, and era. And they always have been, throughout history. In American Cake, Anne Byrn, creator of the New York Times bestselling series The Cake Mix Doctor, takes you on a journey through America's past to present with more than 125 authentic recipes for our best-loved and beautiful cakes and frostings. Tracing cakes chronologically from the dark, moist gingerbread of New England to the elegant pound cake, the hardscrabble Appalachian stack cake, war cakes, deep-South caramel, Hawaiian Chantilly, and the modern California cakes of orange and olive oil, Byrn shares recipes, stories, and a behind-the-scenes look into what cakes we were baking back in time. From the well-known Angel Food, Red Velvet, Pineapple Upside-Down, Gooey Butter, and Brownie to the lesser-known Burnt Leather, Wacky Cake, Lazy Daisy, and Cold Oven Pound Cake, this is a cookbook for the cook, the traveler, or anyone who loves a good story. And all recipes have been adapted to the modern kitchen,"--Amazon.com.

American heiress : the wild saga of the kidnapping, crimes and trial of Patty Hearst

Jeffrey Toobin

Examines the life of Patty Hearst who suffered an unimaginable trauma and then made the stunning decision to join her captors' crusade.

American philosophy : a love story

John J. Kaag

"John Kaag is a dispirited young philosopher at sea in his marriage and his career when he stumbles upon West Wind, a ruin of an estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that belonged to the eminent Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. Hocking was one of the last true giants of American philosophy and a direct intellectual descendent of William James, the father of American philosophy and psychology, with whom Kaag feels a deep kinship. It is Jamess question “Is life worth living?” that guides this remarkable book. The books Kaag discovers in the Hocking library are crawling with insects and full of mold. But he resolves to restore them, as he immediately recognizes their importance. Not only does the library at West Wind contain handwritten notes from Whitman and inscriptions from Frost, but there are startlingly rare first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. As Kaag begins to catalog and read through these priceless volumes, he embarks on a thrilling journey that leads him to the life-affirming tenets of American philosophyself-reliance, pragmatism, and transcendenceand to a brilliant young Kantian who joins him in the restoration of the Hocking books. Part intellectual history, part memoir, American Philosophy is ultimately about love, freedom, and the role that wisdom can play in turning ones life around,"--Amazon.com.

Another Brooklyn : a novel

Jacqueline Woodson

Apostle, or, Bones that shine like fire : travels among the tombs of the Twelve

Tom Bissell

"A profound and moving journey into the heart of Christianity that explores the mysterious and often paradoxical lives and legacies of the Twelve Apostles--a book both for those of the faith and for others who seek to understand Christianity from the outside in. Peter, Matthew, Thomas, John: Who were these men? What was their relationship to Jesus? Tom Bissell provides rich and surprising answers to these ancient, elusive questions. He examines not just who these men were (and weren't), but also how their identities have taken shape over the course of two millennia. Ultimately, Bissell finds that the story of the Apostles is the story of early Christianity: its competing versions of Jesus's ministry, its countless schisms, and its ultimate evolution from an obscure Jewish sect to the global faith we know today in all its forms and permutations. In his quest to understand the underpinnings of the world's largest religion, Bissell embarks on a years-long pilgrimage to the supposed tombs of the Twelve Apostles. He travels from Jerusalem and Rome to Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, India, and Kyrgyzstan, vividly capturing the rich diversity of Christianity's worldwide reach. Along the way, he engages with a host of characters--priests, paupers, a Vatican archaeologist, a Palestinian taxi driver, a Russian monk--posing sharp questions that range from the religious to the philosophical to the political. Written with warmth, empathy, and rare acumen, Apostle is a brilliant synthesis of travel writing, biblical history, and a deep, lifelong relationship with Christianity. The result is an unusual, erudite, and at times hilarious book--a religious, intellectual, and personal adventure fit for believers, scholars, and wanderers alike."--Jacket.

Bear & Hare, where's Bear?

Emily Gravett

Friends Bear and Hare play a game of hide and seek, counting from one to ten each round.

Being a beast : adventures across the species divide

Charles Foster

To test the limits of our ability to inhabit lives that are not our own, Charles Foster set out to know the ultimate other: the nonhumans. To do that, he chose five animals and lived alongside them, sleeping as they slept, eating what they ate, learning to sense the landscape through the senses they used. In this lyrical, intimate, and completely radical look at the lives of animals, Charles Foster mingles neuroscience and psychology, nature writing and memoir, and ultimately presents an inquiry into the human experience in our world, carried out by exploring the full range of the life around us.

Belgravia

Julian Fellowes

Big magic : creative living beyond fear

Elizabeth Gilbert

"Coming September 22nd From the worldwide bestselling author of Eat Pray Love: the path to the vibrant, fulfilling life you've dreamed of. Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert's books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the "strange jewels" that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work, embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy"--

Black Panther

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Written by MacArthur Genius and National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates (“Between the World and Me”) and illustrated by living legend Brian Stelfreeze, “A Nation Under Our Feet” is a story about dramatic upheaval in Wakanda and the Black Panther's struggle to do right by his people as their ruler. The indomitable will of Wakanda--the famed African nation known for its vast wealth, advanced technology, and warrior traditions--has long been reflected in the will of its monarchs, the Black Panthers. But now the current Black Panther, T'Challa, finds that will tested by a superhuman terrorist group called the People that has sparked a violent uprising among the citizens of Wakanda. T'Challa knows the country must change to survive--the question is, will the Black Panther survive the change?

Bobby Kennedy : the making of a liberal icon

Larry Tye

Draws on unpublished memoirs, unreleased government files, private papers, and interviews with Kennedy's close family and colleagues to chronicle his transformation from 1950s cold warrior to a liberal champion of the working class, the poor, and minorities.

Breaking cat news : cats reporting on the news that matters to cats

Georgia Dunn

Cynical, no-nonsense Elvis and shy, sweet, sensitive Puck, are the reporter kitties in the field, while the adventurous jokester Lupin serves as anachor cat. Togehter they break headlines on the food bowl, new plants, mysterious red dots, strange cats in the yard, and all the daily happenings in their home.

Buffering : unshared tales of a life fully loaded

Hannah Hart

As a professional Internet personality, Hannah Hart spends a lot of time walking the line between public and private. Here, she shares stories from her life that have taken her time to process, in the hope that it will help readers do some internal processing of their own.--

Cherry

Lindsey Rosin

"Four best friends make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate high school"--

Four points

Hope Larson

After escaping the Black Hook Gang in 1860 New York City, twelve-year-old twins Alexander and Cleopatra flee to New Orleans, become separated, and try to find each other in San Francisco, while being followed by pirates who think they hold the key to treasure.

Daredevils

Shawn Vestal

Dark matter : a novel

Blake Crouch

A mind-bending, relentlessly paced science-fiction thriller, in which an ordinary man is kidnapped, knocked unconscious--and awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew.

Dark night : a true Batman story

Paul Dini

In the 1990s, legendary writer Paul Dini had a flourishing career writing the hugely popular Batman: The Animated Series and Tiny Toon Adventures. Walking home one evening, he was jumped and viciously beaten within an inch of his life. His recovery process was arduous, hampered by the imagined antics of the villains he was writing for television including the Joker, Harley Quinn and the Penguin. But despite how bleak his circumstances were, or perhaps because of it, Dini also always imagined the Batman at his side, chivvying him along during his darkest moments. This is a Batman story like no otherthe harrowing and eloquent autobiographical tale of writer Paul Dinis courageous struggle to overcome a desperate situation.

Death's end

Cixin Liu

Designing your life : how to build a well-lived, joyful life

William (Consulting professor of design) Burnett

Burnett and Evans believe that in order to change, people need a process-- a design process-- to help them figure out what they want and how to create it. Rather than dreaming up a lot of fun fantasies that have no relationship to the real world-- or the real you-- they show us how to build a future brick by brick, how to approach our own life design challenges with curiosity and creativity. They give us the tools and show us certain simple "mind-sets," and how to use them to practice life design in your life.

Dragon was terrible

Kelly DiPucchio

When a dragon has a temper tantrum, no one can tame him, except for a little boy with a good book.

EEK! Halloween!

Sandra Boynton

"There's a big round moon in a dark, dark sky. The chickens are nervous. Witches, wizards, robots, and an alarmingly enormous mouse (eek!) are prowling around town tonight, and it's up to the chickens to get to the bottom of it -- that is, if they can uncover their eyes long enough!"--

Eligible : a novel

Curtis Sittenfeld

Flawed

Cecelia Ahern

"In a future society where 'flawed' people who have committed crimes are branded with an F, a young girl takes a stand"--

Flora and the peacocks

Molly Schaar Idle

In this wordless book with interactive flaps, a little girl named Flora forms a friendship with two peacocks as the three learn to dance together.

Furthermore

Tahereh Mafi

"Twelve-year-old Alice Queensmeadow, with the help of her friend Oliver, travels through the dangerous, magical land of Furthermore in order to rescue her missing father and prove her own magical abilities"--

Ghosts

Raina Telgemeier

Catrina and her family have moved to the coast of Northern California for the sake of her little sister, Maya, who has cystic fibrosis--and Cat is even less happy about the move when she is told that her new town is inhabited by ghosts, and Maya sets her heart on meeting one.

Girl in pieces

Kathleen Glasgow

As she struggles to recover and survive, seventeen-year-old homeless Charlotte "Charlie" Davis cuts herself to dull the pain of abandonment and abuse.

Grumpy pants

Claire Messer

"Have you ever had a grumpy day and not known why? Penguin is having a grumpy day like that. No matter what he does, he just can't shake it! Sometimes the only thing left to do is wash the grumpy day away and start over"--

Grunt : the curious science of humans at war

Mary Roach

"'Grunt' tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries-- panic, exhaustion, heat, noise-- and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them"--

Have you seen Elephant?

David (Illustrator) Barrow

A boy and his dog play hide-and-seek with Elephant.

Heartless

Marissa Meyer

In this prequel to Alice in Wonderland, Cath would rather open a bakery and marry for love than accept a proposal from the King of Hearts, especially after meeting the handsome and mysterious court jester.

Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race

Margot Lee Shetterly

Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South's segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America's aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam's call, moving to Hampton Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Even as Virginia's Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley's all-black "West Computing" group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens."--

Hillbilly elegy : a memoir of a family and culture in crisis

J. D. Vance

Shares the story of the author's family and upbringing, describing how they moved from poverty to an upwardly mobile clan that included the author, a Yale Law School graduate, while navigating the demands of middle class life and the collective demons of the past.

Homegoing

Yaa Gyasi

"Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into two different tribal villages in 18th century Ghana. Effia will be married off to an English colonial, and will live in comfort in the sprawling, palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising half-caste children who will be sent abroad to be educated in England before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the Empire. Her sister, Esi, will be imprisoned beneath Effia in the Castle's women's dungeon, and then shipped off on a boat bound for America, where she will be sold into slavery. Stretching from the tribal wars of Ghana to slavery and Civil War in America, from the coal mines in the north to the Great Migration to the streets of 20th century Harlem, Yaa Gyasi's has written a modern masterpiece, a novel that moves through histories and geographies and--with outstanding economy and force--captures the troubled spirit of our own nation"--

Hotel Bruce

Ryan T Higgins

A reluctant mother to four young geese, grumpy Bruce the bear loses his temper when he migrates home in the spring only to discover that mice have converted his den into a hotel.

I contain multitudes : the microbes within us and a grander view of life

Ed Yong

This book lets us peer into the world of microbes -- not as germs to be eradicated, but as invaluable parts of our lives -- allowing us to see how ubiquitous and vital microbes are: they sculpt our organs, defend us from disease, break down our food, educate our immune systems, guide our behavior, bombard our genomes with their genes, and grant us incredible abilities. While much of the prevailing discussion around the microbiome has focused on its implications for human health, Yong broadens this focus to the entire animal kingdom, prompting us to look at ourselves and our fellow animals in a new light: less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we are. I Contain Multitudes is the story of extraordinary partnerships between the familiar creatures of our world and those we never knew existed. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it. --

I dissent : Ruth Bader Ginsburg makes her mark

Debbie Levy

Traces the achievements of the celebrated Supreme Court justice through the lens of her many famous acts of civil disagreement against inequality, unfair treatment, and human rights injustice.

I'm just a person

Tig Notaro

In the span of four months in 2012, Tig Notaro was hospitalized for a debilitating intestinal disease called C-diff, her mother unexpectedly died, she went through a breakup, and she was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Days after her diagnosis, Tig took her grief onstage, opening an unvarnished set with, "Good evening. Hello. I have cancer." The set went viral instantly and was later released as an album, Live, and was nominated for a Grammy. This book takes stock of that no good, very bad year, with an inspired combination of deadpan silliness and open-hearted vulnerability. A moving and often hilarious look at Notaro's journey into the darkness and her thrilling return from it.

I'll see you in Paris

Michelle Gable

"Michelle Gable's I'll See You in Paris winds together the lives of three women born generations apart, but who face similar struggles of love and heartbreak. After losing her fiancé in the Vietnam War, nineteen-year-old Laurel Haley takes a job in England, hoping the distance will mend her shattered heart. Laurel expects the pain might lessen but does not foresee the beguiling man she meets or that they'll go to Paris, where the city's magic will take over and alter everything Laurel believes about love. Thirty years later, Laurel's daughter Annie is newly engaged and an old question resurfaces: who is Annie's father and what happened to him? Laurel has always been vague about the details and Annie's told herself it doesn't matter. But with her impending marriage, Annie has to know everything. Why won't Laurel tell her the truth? The key to unlocking Laurel's secrets starts with a mysterious book about an infamous woman known as the Duchess of Marlborough. Annie's quest to understand the Duchess, and therefore her own history, takes her from a charming hamlet in the English countryside, to a decaying estate kept behind barbed wire, and ultimately to Paris where answers will be found at last"--

Invasive

Chuck Wendig

It gets worse : a collection of essays

Shane Dawson

"New York Times bestselling author Shane Dawson returns with another highly entertaining and uproariously funny essay collection, chronicling a mix of real life moments both extraordinary and mortifying, yet always full of heart. Shane Dawson shared some of his best and worst experiences in I Hate Myselfie, the critically acclaimed book that secured his place as a gifted humorist and keen observer of millennial culture. Fans felt as though they knew him after devouring the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal bestseller."--

Join

Steve Toutonghi

"What if you could live multiple lives simultaneously, have constant, perfect companionship, and never die? That's the promise of Join, a revolutionary technology that allows small groups of minds to unite, forming a single consciousness that experiences the world through multiple bodies. But as two best friends discover, the light of that miracle may be blinding the world to its horrors. Chance and Leap are jolted out of their professional routines by a terrifying stranger--a remorseless killer who freely manipulates the networks that regulate life in the post-Join world. Their quest for answers--and survival--brings them from the networks and spire communities they've known to the scarred heart of an environmentally ravaged North American continent and an underground community of the "ferals" left behind by the rush of technology. In the storytelling tradition of classic speculative fiction from writers like David Mitchell and Michael Chabon, Join offers a pulse-pounding story that poses the largest possible questions: How long can human life be sustained on our planet in the face of environmental catastrophe? What does it mean to be human, and what happens when humanity takes the next step in its evolution? If the individual mind becomes obsolete, what have we lost and gained, and what is still worth fighting for?"--

Little Red

Bethan Woollvin

"On her way to Grandma's house, Little Red meets a wolf. Which might scare some little girls. But not this little girl. She knows just what the wolf is up to, and she's not going to let him get away with it"--

Love and ruin : tales of obsession, danger, and heartbreak from the Atavist magazine

"Extraordinary stories of crime, passion, and adventure from The Atavist magazine, the trailblazing leader in longform narrative writing. Since its founding in 2011, The Atavist has garnered an unprecedented eight National Magazine Award nominations and was the first all-digital publication to win in feature writing. This collection presents the finest examples of a new kind of nonfiction storytelling as practiced by a young generation of longform experts. The collection includes Leslie Jamison's landmark portrait of a lonely whale named "52 Blue," Matthew Shaer's harrowing account of a shipwreck during Hurricane Sandy, and James Verini's prize-winning tale of romance and courage in Afghanistan. The fascinating and original writing in Love and Ruin demonstrates why The Atavist has become the leader in publishing "remarkable . . . can't look away pieces of multimedia journalism" (New York Times)" --

Lumberjanes

Noelle Stevenson

"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.

Lust & wonder

Augusten Burroughs

"In chronicling the development and demise of the different relationships he's had while living in New York, Augusten Burroughs examines what it means to be in love, what it means to be in lust, and what it means to be figuring it all out. With Augusten's unique and singular observations and his own unabashed way of detailing both the horrific and the humorous, Lust and Wonder is an intimate and honest memoir that his legions of fans have been waiting for"--

March

John Lewis

Mary wept over the feet of Jesus : prostitution and religious obedience in the Bible : a "graphic novel" containing adaptations of certain Biblical stories

Chester Brown

The iconoclastic and bestselling cartoonist of Paying for It: A comic-strip memoir about being a john and Louis Riel returns and with a polemical interpretation of the Bible that will be one of the most controversial and talked-about graphic novels of 2016. Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus is the retelling in comics form of nine biblical stories that present Chester Brown's fascinating and startling thesis about biblical representations of prostitution. Brown weaves a connecting line between Bathsheba, Ruth, Rahab, Tamar, Mary of Bethany, and the Virgin Mother. He reassesses the Christian moral code by examining the cultural implications of the Bible's representations of sex work. Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus is a fitting follow-up to Brown's sui generis graphic memoir Paying for It, which was reviewed twice in The New York Times and hailed by sex workers for Brown's advocacy for the decriminalization and normalization of prostitution. Brown approaches the Bible as he did the life of Louis Riel, making these stories compellingly readable and utterly pertinent to a modern audience. In classic Chester Brown fashion, he provides extensive handwritten endnotes that delve into the biblical lore that informs Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus.

Miss Grief and other stories

Constance Fenimore Woolson

"To celebrate her forthcoming biography of Constance Fenimore Woolson, Anne Boyd Rioux has selected the best of this classic writer's stories. Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840-1894) was one of the few nineteenth-century women writers considered the equal of her male peers. Harper & Brothers was so enamored of her work that the firm agreed to publish whatever she could write. In this gathering, Rioux has chosen fiction over the course of Woolson's life, including "In Sloane Street," never published since it first appeared in Harper's Bazaar. Woolson's stories travel from the rural Midwest to the deep South and then across the Atlantic to Italy and England. Her strong characters and indelible settings provide continuity throughout this collection as do her concerns with passion, creativity, imagination, and the demands of society. Whether portraying the keeper of a Union soldiers' cemetery in the defeated South, a woman writer whose genius goes unrecognized, or the ex-pat denizens of Florence, Woolson's deft characterization and subtlety create a broad landscape of Americans and their ways no matter where they lived" --

Missing, presumed : a novel

Susie Steiner

"Detective Manon Bradshaw is 39, single, and miserable as sin. She has endured some of the worst dates in internet history. But she loves her job and performs it brilliantly; all she needs to rise up in the ranks is a big break. Edith Hind is a gorgeous, intrepid graduate student at Cambridge University who seems to have it all: a doting boyfriend, a devoted friend named Helena, a loving mother and a father who is a surgeon to the Royal Family. When Edith turns up missing from her apartment one evening, leaving only a single streak of blood along the front foyer wall, the case becomes a national media sensation. In the first frenzied 72 hours of being assigned to the case, Bradshaw will make a number of alarming discoveries: Edith's behavior had been erratic in the run-up to her disappearance, and her close friend Helena, the last person to see her, is clearly hiding something. A known sex offender appears in CCTV footage of Edith taken a short while before she goes missing. Then a body is discovered floating in a nearby river. Is Edith Hind alive or dead? Was her "complex love life" at the heart of her disappearance, as the tabloids are suggesting? Why is there reluctance, in the senior ranks, to press too hard on some elements of the story? Detective Bradshaw must use all her skill and resources to bring closure to the case for Edith's family, as she finds herself becoming ever more personally, and dangerously, invested"--

Morning star

Pierce Brown

"The conclusion of the Red Rising trilogy. Born a lowly Red in the mines of Mars, Darrow lost his beloved wife to the treacherous Gold overlords. Vowing to fight for the future that his wife believed in, Darrow joins a secret revolutionary group and is remade into a Gold so that he can infiltrate the ruling class and bring them down from the inside. Now, after years of hiding amongst the Golds, Darrow is finally ready to declare open revolution and throw off the chains of oppression. Nothing in Darrow's world has been easily won, and this final fight will be the most harrowing of all"--

News of the world

Paulette Jiles

"In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence.In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna's parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows.Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act "civilized." Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forming a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember--strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become--in the eyes of the law--a kidnapper himself"--

No better friend : one man, one dog, and their extraordinary story of courage and survival in WWII

Robert Weintraub

Flight technician Frank Williams and Judy, a purebred pointer, met in a World War II internment camp in the Pacific. Fiercely loyal, Judy had a keen sense for friend and foe, and the pair's relationship deepened throughout their captivity. Judy risked her life to intervene when the prisoners were beaten, and her survival became a beacon of hope for all the men. World War II's only official canine POW, Judy lived the rest of her life with Frank.

No shred of evidence : an inspector Ian Rutledge mystery

Charles Todd

"New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd brings back Scotland Yard's Ian Rutledge, who must unravel an unsolved, old case before he can bring a murderer to justice"--

Nobody : casualties of America's war on the vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and beyond

Marc Lamont Hill

"A leading intellect in America presents a powerful, thought-provoking analysis of deeper meaning behind the string of deaths of unarmed citizens like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Freddie Gray--providing important insights on the intersection of race and class in America today"--

One true loves : a novel

Taylor Jenkins Reid

P.S. I like you

Kasie West

Every day in chemistry class, high school student and aspiring songwriter Lily Abbott is finding notes left to her by a mystery boy, love letters really, and she hopes they are from Lucas, a boy she is attracted to--so when she finds out they are really from, she is shocked and unsure about how to respond.

Paper girls

Brian K. Vaughan

"In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and supernatural mysteries collide in this smash-hit series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood"--Page [4] of cover.

Pax

Sara Pennypacker

"After being forced to give up his pet fox Pax, a young boy named Peter decides to leave home and get his best friend back"--

Raymie nightingale

Kate DiCamillo

Hoping that if she wins a local beauty pageant her father will come home, Raymie practices twirling a baton and performing good deeds as she is drawn into an unlikely friendship with a drama queen and a saboteur.

Rise of the rocket girls : the women who propelled us, from missiles to the moon to Mars

Nathalia Holt

During World War Il, when the brand-new minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate jet velocities and plot missile trajectories, they recruited an elite group of young women--known as "computers"--who, with only pencil, paper, and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design and helped bring about America's first ballistic missiles. But they were never interested in developing weapons--their hearts lay in the dream of space exploration. So when JPL became part of a new agency called NASA, the computers worked on the first probes to the moon, Venus, Mars, and beyond. Later, as digital computers largely replaced human ones, JPL was unique in training and retaining its brilliant pool of women. They became the first computer programmers and engineers, and through their efforts, we launched the ships that showed us the contours of our solar system. For the first time, this book tells the stories of these women who charted a course not only for the future of space exploration but also for the prospects of female scientists. Based on extensive research and interviews with the living members of the team, Rise of the Rocket Girls offers a unique perspective on the role of women in science, illuminating both where we've been and the far reaches of where we're heading.--Adapted from dust jacket.

Rush oh! : a novel

Shirley Barrett

Salt to the sea : a novel

Ruta Sepetys

"As World War II draws to a close, refugees try to escape the war's final dangers, only to find themselves aboard a ship with a target on its hull"--

Samurai rising : the epic life of Minamoto Yoshitsune

Pamela S Turner

Documents the true story of the legendary samurai who was raised in the household of the enemies who killed his father before being sent to live in a monastery where, against the odds, he learned and perfected his fighting skills. --Publisher's description.

Scrappy little nobody

Anna Kendrick

"A collection of whimsical autobiographical essays by the Academy Award-nominated actress and star of Up in the Air recounts memorable milestones from her New England upbringing to the blockbuster films that have made her one of Hollywood's most popular actresses,"--Baker & Taylor.

Smoke : a novel

Dan Vyleta

Snow White

Matt Phelan

The scene: New York City. The dazzling lights cast shadows that grow ever darker as the glitzy prosperity of the Roaring Twenties screeches to a halt. Enter a cast of familiar characters: a young girl, Samantha White, returning after being sent away by her cruel stepmother, the Queen of the Follies, years earlier; her father, the King of Wall Street, who survives the stock market crash only to suffer a strange and sudden death; seven street urchins, brave protectors for a girl as pure as snow; and a mysterious stock ticker that holds the stepmother in its thrall, churning out ticker tape imprinted with the wicked words "Another . . . More Beautiful . . . KILL."

Something new : tales from a makeshift bride

Lucy Knisley

In 2010, Lucy and her long-term boyfriend John broke up. Three long, lonely years later, John returned to New York, walked into Lucy's apartment, and proposed. This is not that story. It is the story of what came after: The Wedding.

Spot, the cat

Henry Cole

In this wordless picture book, a cat named Spot ventures out an open window and through a city on a journey, while his owner tries to find him.

Sweetbitter

Stephanie Danler

"A year in the life of a young woman who comes to New York to discover herself"--

Terrible typhoid Mary : a true story of the deadliest cook in America

Susan Campbell. author Bartoletti

"What happens when a person's reputation has been forever damaged? With archival photographs and text among other primary sources, this riveting biography of Mary Mallon by the Sibert medalist and Newbery Honor winner Susan Bartoletti looks beyond the tabloid scandal of Mary's controversial life. How she was treated by medical and legal officials reveals a lesser-known story of human and constitutional rights, entangled with the science of pathology and enduring questions about who Mary Mallon really was. How did her name become synonymous with deadly disease? And who is really responsible for the lasting legacy of Typhoid Mary? This thorough exploration includes an author's note, timeline, annotated source notes, and bibliography" --

Thanks for the trouble

Tommy Wallach

"Parker hasn't spoken since he watched his father die five years ago. He communicates through writing on slips of paper and keeps track of his thoughts by journaling. A loner, Parker has little interest in school, his classmates, or his future. But everything changes when he meets Zelda, a mysterious young woman with an unusual request: 'treat me like a teenager'"--

The bad-ass librarians of Timbuktu : and their race to save the world's most precious manuscripts

Joshua Hammer

Describes how a group of Timbuktu librarians enacted a daring plan to smuggle the city's great collection of rare Islamic manuscripts away from the threat of desctuction at the hands of Al Quaeda militants to the safety of southern Mali.

The ballroom : a novel

Anna Hope

"1911: Inside an asylum on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, where men and women are kept apart by high walls and barred windows, there is a ballroom, vast and beautiful. For one bright evening every week, they come together and dance. When John and Ella meet, it is a dance that will change two lives forever. Set during the heat wave in the summer of 1911 at the end of the Edwardian era, this is a tale of unlikely love and dangerous obsession, of madness and sanity, and the delicate balance between the two"--

The bear and the piano

David Litchfield

"A bear finds a piano in the woods, learns to play it, and travels to the big city to become rich and famous, but ultimately discovers that his old friends in the forest back home are still the best audience of all"--

The bridge ladies : a memoir

Betsy Lerner

"A fifty-year-old Bridge game provides an unexpected way to cross the generational divide between a daughter and her mother. Betsy Lerner takes us on a powerfully personal literary journey, where we learn a little about Bridge and a lot about life. After a lifetime defining herself in contrast to her mother's "don't ask, don't tell" generation, Lerner finds herself back in her childhood home, not five miles from the mother she spent decades avoiding. When Roz needs help after surgery, it falls to Betsy to take care of her. She expected a week of tense civility; what she got instead were the Bridge Ladies. Impressed by their loyalty, she saw something her generation lacked. Facebook was great, but it wouldn't deliver a pot roast. Tentatively at first, Betsy becomes a regular at her mother's Monday Bridge club. Through her friendships with the ladies, she is finally able to face years of misunderstandings and family tragedy, the Bridge table becoming the common ground she and Roz never had. By turns darkly funny and deeply moving, The Bridge Ladies is the unforgettable story of a hard-won--but never-too-late--bond between mother and daughter"--

The darkest dark

Chris Hadfield

"Young Chris loves pretending he's a brave astronaut, exploiring the universe. Only one problem--at night, he's afraid of the dark. Only when he watches the moon landing on TV does he realize how exciting the unknown can be. Inspired by the childhood of real-life astronaut Chris Hadfield"--

The dream lover : a novel

Elizabeth Berg

"George Sand was a 19th century French novelist known not only for her novels but even more for her scandalous behavior. After leaving her estranged husband, Sand moved to Paris where she wrote, wore men's clothing, smoked cigars, and had love affairs with famous men and an actress named Marie. In an era of incredible artistic talent, Sand was the most famous female writer of her time. Her lovers and friends included Frederic Chopin, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Liszt, Eugene Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and more. In a major departure, Elizabeth Berg has created a gorgeous novel about the life of George Sand, written in luminous prose, with exquisite insight into the heart and mind of a woman who was considered the most passionate and gifted genius of her time"--

The forgetting moon

Brian Lee Durfee

The girl who drank the moon

Kelly Regan Barnhill

"An epic fantasy about a young girl raised by a witch, a swamp monster, and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, who must unlock the powerful magic buried deep inside her. Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule--but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her--even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she's always known. The acclaimed author of The Witch's Boy has created another epic coming-of-age fairy tale destined to become a modern classic"--

The goblin's puzzle : being the adventures of a boy with no name and two girls called Alice

Andrew S Chilton

A boy, a goblin, a scholar, and a princess join forces to defeat a dragon, outwit a scheming duke, and solve a logic puzzle.

The guns of empire

Django Wexler

"As the roar of guns subsides and the smoke of battle clears, the country of Vordan is offered a fragile peace.... After their shattering defeats at the hands of brilliant General Janus bet Vhalnich, the opposing powers have called all sides to the negotiating table in hopes of securing an end to the war. Queen Raesinia of Vordan is eager to see the return of peace, but Janus insists that any peace with the implacable Sworn Church of Elysium is doomed to fail. For their Priests of the Black, there can be no truce with the heretics and demons they seek to destroy, and the war is to the death. Soldiers Marcus d'Ivoire and Winter Ihernglass find themselves caught between their general and their queen. Now each must decide which leader truly commands their loyalty--and what price they might pay for final victory. And in the depths of Elysium, a malign force is rising--and defeating it could mean making sacrifices beyond anything they have ever imagined"--

The Night Gardener

Terry Fan

Everyone on Grimloch Lane enjoys the trees and shrubs clipped into animal masterpieces after dark by the Night Gardener, but William, a lonely boy, spots the artist, follows him, and helps with his special work.

The nine of us : growing up Kennedy

Jean Kennedy Smith

The last surviving child of Joe and Rose Kennedy presents an intimate portrait of her family's shared life that describes how her parents would encourage their children to discuss current events, forge a strong work ethic and appreciate the sacrifices of their ancestors.

The queen of the night

Alexander Chee

The readers of Broken Wheel recommend

Katarina Bivald

"Broken Wheel, Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara, who traveled all the way from Sweden just to meet her pen pal, Amy. When she arrives, however, she finds that Amy's funeral has just ended. Luckily, the townspeople are happy to look after their bewildered tourist--even if they don't understand her peculiar need for books. Marooned in a farm town that's almost beyond repair, Sara starts a bookstore in honor of her friend's memory. All she wants is to share the books she loves with the citizens of Broken Wheel and to convince them that reading is one of the great joys of life. But she makes some unconventional choices that could force a lot of secrets into the open and change things for everyone in town. Reminiscent of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, this is a warm, witty book about friendship, stories, and love" --

The sting of the wild

Justin O. Schmidt

"Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt is on a mission. Some say it's a brave exploration, other shake their heads in disbelief. His goal? To compare the impacts of stinging insects on humans, mainly using himself as the gauge. In The Sting of the Wild, the colorful Dr. Schmidt takes us on a journey inside the lives of stinging insects, seeing the world through their eyes as well as his own. He explains how and why they attack and reveals the powerful punch they can deliver with a small venom gland and a 'sting,' the name for the apparatus that delivers the venom. We learn which insects are the worst to encounter and why some are barely worth considering. The Sting of the Wild includes the complete Schmidt Sting Pain Index, published here for the first time." -- Amazon.com.

The trespasser

Tana French

The wild robot

Peter Brown

Roz the robot discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island with no memory of where she is from or why she is there, and her only hope of survival is to try to learn about her new environment from the island's hostile inhabitants.

The wonder : a novel

Emma Donoghue

The year of living Danishly : uncovering the secrets of the world's happiest country

Helen Russell

When she was suddenly given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, journalist and archetypal Londoner Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: the happiest place on earth isn't Disneyland, but Denmark, a land often thought of by foreigners as consisting entirely of long dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries. What is the secret to their success? Are happy Danes born, or made? Helen decides there is only one way to find out: she will give herself a year, trying to uncover the formula for Danish happiness. From childcare, education, food and interior design to SAD, taxes, sexism and an unfortunate predilection for burning witches, The Year of Living Danishly is a funny, poignant record of a journey that shows us where the Danes get it right, where they get it wrong, and how we might just benefit from living a little more Danishly ourselves.

Their great gift : courage, sacrifice, and hope in a new land

John Coy

Explores the experience of immigrants who came to America in the twenty-first century, celebrating the diversity of the country and hope for the future.

They all saw a cat

Brendan Wenzel

In simple, rhythmic prose and stylized pictures, a cat walks through the world, and all the other creatures see and acknowledge the cat.

Thunder Boy Jr.

Sherman Alexie

"Thunder Boy Jr. wants a normal name...one that's all his own. Dad is known as Big Thunder, but Little Thunder doesn't want to share a name"--

Together

Emma Dodd

A baby sea otter and its parent spend a special day observing, playing, and learning together.

Upstream : selected essays

Mary Oliver

"'In the beginning I was so young and such a stranger to myself I hardly existed. I had to go out into the world and see it and hear it and react to it, before I knew at all who I was, what I was, what I wanted to be.' So begins Upstream, a collection of essays in which beloved poet Mary Oliver reflects on her willingness, as a young child and as an adult, to lose herself within the beauty and mysteries of both the natural world and the world of literature. Emphasizing the significance of her childhood 'friend' Walt Whitman, through whose work she first understood that a poem is a temple, 'a place to enter, and in which to feel,' and who encouraged her to vanish into the world of her writing, Oliver meditates on the forces that allowed her to create a life for herself out of work and love. As she writes, 'I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.' Upstream follows Oliver as she contemplates the pleasure of artistic labor, her boundless curiosity for the flora and fauna that surround her, and the responsibility she has inherited from Shelley, Wordsworth, Emerson, Poe, and Frost, the great thinkers and writers of the past, to live thoughtfully, intelligently, and to observe with passion. Throughout this collection, Oliver positions not just herself upstream but us as well as she encourages us all to keep moving, to lose ourselves in the awe of the unknown, and to give power and time to the creative and whimsical urges that live within us"--

Valiant ambition : George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the fate of the American Revolution

Nathaniel Philbrick

An "account of the complicated middle years of the American Revolution that shares lesser-known insights into the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold."--NoveList.

We found a hat

Jon Klassen

Two turtles find a hat that looks good on both of them, but, with fairness in mind, they decide to leave it be, until night falls and one of the turtles changes its mind.

When breath becomes air

Paul Kalanithi

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor making a living treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. Just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air, which features a Foreword by Dr. Abraham Verghese and an Epilogue by Kalanithi's wife, Lucy, chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student 'possessed,' as he wrote, 'by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life' into a young neurosurgeon at Stanford, guiding patients toward a deeper understanding of death and illness, and finally into a patient and a new father to a baby girl, confronting his own mortality.

White trash : the 400-year untold history of class in America

Nancy Isenberg

"A history of the class system in America from the colonial era to the present illuminates the crucial legacy of the underprivileged white demographic, citing the pivotal contributions of lower-class white workers in wartime, social policy, and the rise of the Republican Party,"--NoveList.

Wolf Hollow : a novel

Lauren Wolk

"Twelve-year-old Annabelle must learn to stand up for what's right in the face of a manipulative and violent new bully who targets people Annabelle cares about, including a homeless World War I veteran"--

You'll grow out of it

Jessi Klein

"Hilariously, and candidly, explores the journey of the twenty-first century woman. As both a tomboy and a late bloomer, comedian Jessi Klein grew up feeling more like an outsider than a participant in the rites of modern femininity. In You'll grow out of it, Klein offers-through an incisive collection of real-life stories-a relentlessly funny yet poignant take on a variety of topics she has experienced along her strange journey to womanhood and beyond. These include her "transformation from Pippi Longstocking-esque tomboy to are-you-a-lesbian-or-what tom man," attempting to find watchable porn, and identifying the difference between being called "ma'am" and "miss" ("Miss sounds like you weigh ninety-nine pounds"). Raw, relatable, and consistently hilarious, You'll grow out of itis a one-of-a-kind book by a singular and irresistible comic voice"--