Reading Lists

Above All Things

By Tanis Rideout
This debut historical novel tells the story of George Mallory’s third attempt to try to reach the summit of Mount Everest from the point of view of his young wife, Ruth, who is raising three children while he husband responds to the strong pull of the mountain. Ruth has to have a much courage and perseverance as her husband in order to survive his climb and its aftermath. Check Our Catalog

Bear is Broken a Leo Maxwell Mystery

By Lachlan Smith
This author plans to write a series with the character Leo Maxwell as the hero. In this debut novel, we meet Leo Maxwell just as he has finally passed the bar exam. Within the first pages of the book, Leo’s brother, Teddy, a prominent criminal lawyer, is shot in the head, is in a coma and Leo has to immediately take over his practice, handle his cases, find our who shot his brother and figure out why his brother wants to get their father released from prison, where is serving a life sentence for killing their mother. Lots of action with satisfying plot twists with enough loose ends to see how there can be more books in this series-a good addition to the crime and suspense genre. Check Our Catalog

The Christmas Kid

By Pete Hamill
This collection of short stories, originally written in the 1980’s and never before published as a collection, are classic Pete Hamill-a great combination of optimism and toughness. Hamill writes about a past era in Brooklyn, and always writes with love. Check Our Catalog

Colour of Milk

By Neil Leyshon
This story is told in the form of a diary written by 15 year old English farm girl, Mary, who writes about what happened in her life from 1830 to 1831. Young Mary is sent to work in the local vicarage, to take care of the vicar’s wife, and Mary becomes a favorite of the ailing woman. For the first time in her life, Mary has her own bed and physical comforts she could never have even imagined before. But there is trouble on the horizon-the vicar’s son behaves inappropriately to her, and when the vicar discovers that Mary passionately wants to learn to read and write, he uses that desire to his own advantage. You will not soon forget the story of Mary, the farmgirl whose hair is the colour of milk. Check Our Catalog

Comfort of Lies

By Randy Susan Myers
Three women find their lives changed by lies-Tia, who, pregnant by a married lover, gives her baby girl up for adoption; Caroline, adopted the baby more to please her husband than herself; and Juliette, who discovers her husband’s affair with Tia, but stayed with him after he promised never again to stray. Five years pass, and the lies start to unravel again-Tia has contacted Juliette’s husband, Nathan, and now that Tia and now Juliette knows that he fathered a child with Tia, Caroline is not sure if she stills wants to be a mother, and Tia is still struggling with the ramifications of her affair. Juliette decides to find the child she never knew, and everything starts to all apart. Check Our Catalog

Mrs. Queen Takes the Train

By William Kuhn
Historian William Kuhn takes a more lighthearted look at history with a very funny novel about Queen Elizabeth, who, one day feeling blue sets out on an adventure. Although she only plans to visit a favorite horse, her plan expands when she decides to purchase the special cheese the horse loves and sets out wearing the horse master’s pink hoodie (with a skull and crossbones on its back), since she didn’t bring her raincoat. Once she decides to go to Edinburgh to visit her old yacht, the Britannia, which has been decommissioned and is now a tourist attraction, you just can’t help but smile. Her staff and commoners whom she has met unite to make sure that the Queen is protected and safe. A fun read. Check Our Catalog

Pompeii

By Robert Harris
This historical fiction reads like both a novel and a thriller. This deals with the four days leading up to and including the volcanic eruption that destroyed Pompeii. Attillius, a young engineer, takes over the operation of the aqueduct and immediately finds that strange things are happening to the water and to the whole area. It is a race against time as he tries to figure out just what is going on, and will it be too late for him to save himself? Check Our Catalog

Schroder, a novel

By Amity Gaige
Eric Schroder, a first generation immigrant from Germany, decides to establish a new identity when he is 14, calling himself Eric Kennedy, from a small town close to Hyannis Port. Eric’s life is full of secrets that even his wife does not know. His strongest relationship is with his daughter, Meadow, whom he kidnaps once his wife is pressing for a divorce. The book provides some clues with how the character became the confused soul that he is now. Check Our Catalog

Y, a novel

By Majorie Celona
Shannon is abandoned by her mother on the steps of a local YMCA when she is only a few hours old. For her entire life, as she goes from one foster home to another, Shannon wants to know “why?” Even after she finds a stable foster family, with a mother who loves her, she needs to know “why.” The book alternates chapters between Shannon’s life and the life of her birth mother, until the two lives intersect. You will want to know “why,” as much as Shannon does. Check Our Catalog