Staff Picks, Books
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Angelica
This novel interweaves conflicting interpretations of events from the perspectives of Joseph and Constance Barton, their daughter Angelica, and spiritualist Anne Montague, as the Bartons seek an explanation for a supernatural evil that may be threatening their household. Set in Victorian times, this novel will take you back to the days before scientific explanations were the norm, and the spirit world was more accepted. This book has just the right amount of creepiness to keep you up a little later at night.
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Handbags and Homicide
When Haley Randolph is suspected of murdering her boss at her current job at Holt's department store and is also accused of embezzling one hundred thousand dollars from her previous job, she must find a killer with impeccable taste in fashion. If you are looking for a lighthearted funny mystery and love fashion (even if you don't have the budget for it, like Haley), you will like this book.
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On the Island
Stranded on an uninhabited island after their private plane crashes, thirty-year-old Anna Emerson and sixteen-year-old T.J. Callahan, her tutee, struggle to survive and, as the months pass, slowly fall in love.
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Rules of Civility
A chance encounter with a handsome banker in a jazz bar on New Year's Eve 1938 catapults Wall Street secretary Katey Kontent into the upper echelons of New York society, where she befriends a shy multi-millionaire, an Upper East Side ne'er-do-well, and a single-minded widow.
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The Cure for Modern Life
Though Matthew and Amelia were once in love and planning to raise a family together, they are now professional "enemies." To Amelia, whose life has been dedicated to charity, Matthew's job as a high-powered executive has turned him into a heartless person who doesn't care about anything but money. And yet, on a frigid night, while walking to his upscale Philadelphia loft, Matthew finds himself on a desolate bridge, face to face with a homeless boy screaming for help. Ten-year-old Danny is as streetwise as he is world-weary, and his desperation to save his little sister makes him every bit the match for the cynical executive. Matthew's unwilling involvement with Danny will sent off a chain of events that draws in Amelia and even their old college friend Ben - changing all of their lives irrevocably.
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The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
While most thieves steal for profit, rare-book thief John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. With a mixture of suspense, insight, and humor, "The Man Who Loved Books Too Much" immerses the reader in the world of literary obsession and reveals how dangerous it can be.
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The Sugar Queen
Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother’s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night…. Until she finds her closet harboring Della Lee Baker, a local waitress who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey’s narrow existence quickly expands. She even bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who is hounded by books that inexplicably appear when she needs them—and who has a close connection to Josey’s longtime crush. Soon Josey is living in a world where the color red has startling powers, and passion can make eggs fry in their cartons. And that’s just for starters.
Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love—and the enchanting possibilities of every new day.
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Unaccustomed Earth
These eight beautifully written stories about the lives of Bengali families in America remained in my thoughts long after initially finishing the book. Several of the stories illustrate the difficulty that first and second generation Bengali-American family members have in understanding each other's lives. All of them effectively communicated what it feels like to be an outsider. The author's previous book of short stories, the Pulitzer Prize winning Interpreter of Maladies, was an equally rewarding read. Lahiri's stories are long enough to develop engaging characters and themes, but short enough to finish in one sitting.
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When Everything Changed : The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present
Chronicles the revolution of women's civil rights throughout the past half century, drawing on oral history and research in a variety of disciplines while celebrating Hillary Clinton's recent presidential campaign.
