Reading Lists

Angel Makers

By Jessica Gregson
This novel, based on a true story, tells about a small town in which the women, after all the men go off to World War I, discover that their lives might just be better off without the men, who control them and often abuse them. What happens after one woman takes matters into her own hands and carefully rids herself of her abusive, murderous husband and then is forced into helping the other women start to do the same is stranger than fiction-but it really happened. Check Our Catalog

Emily Alone

By Stewart O'nan
This is story of Emily, an older woman, widowed, and what happens to her life from Thanksgiving until summer, as she lives her quiet life to the fullest. There are no major dramas or traumas here, just a very moving book that shows a woman treasuring her life as she knows that each day brings her closer to her last. Check Our Catalog

Faith

By Jennifer Haigh
It is 2002, and Sheila McGann’s brother, a beloved Catholic priest, is accused of child abuse. The Church immediately suspends him, and Sheila, not believing in his guilt, starts to try to find out the truth. She unearths family secrets that were buried long ago. The moral of this story is that the truth needs to come out, one way or another, and the tragedy is what happens to all of us when the truth is covered up. Check Our Catalog

I Remember Nothing

By Nora Ephron
Ephron, author of books and screen plays, is at her best when she talks about the good and the bad of becoming a woman “of a certain age.” You will recognize yourself or at least someone you know in her humorous take on all facets of life. If you want to smile about getting “older,” then this is the book for you. Check Our Catalog

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family

By Erik Larson
This is the story of the Dodd family, whose patriarch is appointed America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in 1933. The author has based this book on much research, as he reveals what happens as Dodd sees the growth of Hitler’s power. When Dodd tries to warn the American government, he is basically ignored. This is truth that reads like fiction, if only it was. Check Our Catalog

In the Woods

By Tana French
This is the debut novel of an Irish author who is someone to watch out for as a new name in murder and psychological suspense writing. A detective is assigned a case which mirrors an unsolved murder case that he was involved in as a child. With a sympathetic partner, our detective must start to probe into a murder that forces him to deal with the repressed traumas of his past. Check Our Catalog

Left Neglected

By Lisa Genova
A Type-A working mother, with not a second to spare in her day, has her life irrevocably changed when, while multi-tasking, she crashes her car. She wakes up in the hospital suffering from “left neglect,” a condition where she has no awareness of her entire left side. As she learns to live and deal with this, she starts to find out that she may have lost something, but as she learns to slow down and savor life, she has truly gained even more than she has lost. Check Our Catalog

Mudbound

By Hillary Jordan
This is a debut novel about 4 main characters living in the Mississippi Delta in 1946 and how the residents of their community all have to adjust to changes in their society which are brought about by the return of World War II soldiers, both black and white, whose attitude toward race white, has+ changed so much that it brings a real tension back to the Delta, forcing the community to start to change, for better or worse. Check Our Catalog

Nemesis

By Philip Roth
A brief period of time in the Newark, NJ of 1944 is recreated in this gentle novel by Philip Roth. It begins with a polio epidemic that seems to strike in the heart of the Jewish section of Newark. Bucky Cantor, an idealistic physical education teacher, tries to protect the children from gangs as well as the polio epidemic. When Bucky chooses to leave town for a safer environment at a summer camp, his choice has ramifications that change both his life and the lives of others. Check Our Catalog

The Night Circus

By Erin Morgenstern
This is the wonderful tale of a magical circus that appears and reappears all over the world-only at night. The best way to appreciate this book is to allow yourself to suspend your rational thinking, and really let yourself believe in magic. It really isn’t hard to accept the reality the author creates and then you can allow yourself to deeply enjoy this magical tale. Check Our Catalog