Author: Alexander, Shannon Lee
Call #: YA FIC Alexander, S 2014
Summary: Charlie Hanson has a clear vision of his future. A senior at Brighton School of Mathematics and Science, he knows he'll graduate, go to MIT, and inevitably discover solutions to the universe's greatest unanswered questions. He's that smart. But Charlie's future blurs the moment he reaches out to touch the tattoo on a beautiful girl's neck. The future has never seemed very kind to Charlotte Finch, so she's counting on the present. She's not impressed by the strange boy at the donut shop--until she learns he's a student at Brighton where her sister has just taken a job as the English teacher. With her encouragement, Charlie orchestrates the most effective prank campaign in Brighton history. But, in doing so, he puts his own future in jeopardy. By the time he learns she's ill--and that the pranks were a way to distract Ms. Finch from Charlotte's illness--Charlotte' gravitational pull is too great to overcome. Soon he must choose between the familiar formulas he's always relied on or the girl he's falling for (at far more than 32 feet per second squared).
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: If you liked Fault in Our Stars you would enjoy this. The themes are very similar. High school seniors in a technical high school uphold the tradition of driving out the Senior English Literature teacher.The complication is that the leader is falling for the teacher's attractive young sister. (Medora, Adult and Teen Department)
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Author: Levitz, Paul
Call #: YA GN Legion 100 2010
Summary: Gathers comic books from the 1980s to tell the story of the Legion of Super-Heroes and their stuggle against the villain Darkseid and his campaign against their peaceful 30th century world, considered one of the best storylines of all.
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book:This was a good, fun read, and historically an interesting look at a time before the serialized comic books were fashioned into story arcs. It's a glimpse at a time when they planted the seed of a story into stand-alone comics, then climaxed in a glorious, devastating story. It is a "must read" for comic book fans of all ages. (Doug, Administration Department)
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Author: Hannah, Kristin
Call #: FIC Hannah, K 2015
Summary:
In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.
FRANCE, 1939
In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.
Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.
With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah takes her talented pen to the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book:I absolutely loved this book. It is a story of two sisters trying to survive in Nazi occupied France. One sister wants to fight the Nazis, the other merely wants to survive and protect her young daughter while her husband is away. Hannah's writing was beautiful and the novel was difficult to put down. There were times she had me on the edge of my seat waiting for the worst to happen. Loved it!(Melissa, South Branch)
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Author: Powell, Margaret
Call #: BIO Powell, M, 2012
Summary: This work is a kitchen-maid's through-the-key hole memoir of life in the great houses of England. At fifteen, she arrived at the servants' entrance to begin her life as a kitchen maid in 1920s England. The lowest of the low, her world was one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and even bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5:30 am and went on until after dark. In this memoir, the author tells her tales of service with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye. From the gentleman with a penchant for stroking housemaids' curlers, to raucous tea dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlourmaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress's nephew, this book evokes the long vanished world of masters and servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs. This is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman, who, though her position was lowly, never stopped aiming high.
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book:What was it really like to be a member of the household staff working for a wealthy family shortly after World War I? Read this memoir and find out. Margaret grew up in great poverty and, despite being an excellent student, left school and went to work as a young teen. Her stories of domestic service in England are eye-opening, heartbreaking, and at times hilarious. This book, with its inside view of the life of domestic staff, served as the basis for the Downton Abbey television series. (Faith, Administration Department)
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Author: McCullough, David G.
Call #: BIO Wright, 2015
Summary: As he did so brilliantly in THE GREAT BRIDGE and THE PATH BETWEEN THE SEAS, David McCullough once again tells a dramatic story of people and technology, this time about the courageous brothers who taught the world how to fly, Wilbur and Orville Wright.--Provided by publisher
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: Enjoyed the book a lot. I have not heard of the character or family of the Wright Brothers but now I know. They were very hard working and shy men. Their private life and their life concerning aviation were equally interesting. (DeEtta, Russiaville Branch)
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Author: Allen, Sarah Addison
Call #: FIC Allen, S 2015
Summary: Autumn has finally arrived in the small town of Bascom, North Carolina, heralded by a strange old man appearing with a beat-up suitcase. He has stories to tell, stories that could change the lives of the Waverley women forever. But the Waverleys have enough trouble on their hands. Quiet Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley's Candies, but it's nothing like she thought it would be, and it's slowly taking over her life. Claire's wild sister Sydney, still trying to leave her past behind, is about to combust with her desire for another new beginning. And Sydney's fifteen-year-old daughter Bay has given her heart away to the wrong boy and can't get it back.--Provided by publisher
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: I really liked this novel, but I wonder how other readers who haven't read Garden Spells will feel about it. While this isn't a true sequel, there are a lot of references to the events in Garden Spells, and maybe some things that might confuse readers who haven't read it. Setting that aside however, this was an entertaining book that I liked better as the story went on. It is a bit slow in the beginning, but picks up towards the end. If you have read Garden Spells the characters and their lives will be familiar to you and you will probably welcome the return to read more of their stories. If you haven't read Garden Spells you may not have the patience for the slow beginning. Ultimately it was entertaining, but slow to build interest. (Melissa, South Branch)
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Author: Lewis, Michael (Michael M.)
Call #: 332.6 Lewis, 2014
Summary: In Michael Lewis's game-changing bestseller, a small group of Wall Street iconoclasts realize that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders. They band together—some of them walking away from seven-figure salaries—to investigate, expose, and reform the insidious new ways that Wall Street generates profits. If you have any contact with the market, even a retirement account, this story is happening to you.--summary from Goodreads.com
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book:Lewis tells of how several out-of-the-box thinkers strived to make stock trading fair for all investors, not just High Frequency Traders. Fascinating tale of the importance of microseconds in trading! (Medora, Adult and Teen Department)
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Author: Vincent, Rachel
Call #: YA FIC Vincent, R 2015
Summary: In a world ruled by the brutally puritanical Church and its army of black-robed exorcists, sixteen-year-old Nina tries to save her pregnant younger sister from the Church's wrath and discovers that not only is the Church run by demons but that Nina herself is one of the very few who can genuinely exorcise them.
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: I was a big fan of Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers series {okay, mostly because of the awesome Reaper Tod but, whatever} and I was beyond ecstatic when I heard she was writing a new YA series.
I really liked Finn’s character, and I totally shared Nina’s opinion when she first found out what he could do. I thought “No, surely he’s lying to her…” and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, even though it had its slow parts. I can’t wait to see what happens to Nina and the rest of Anathema in the books to come. I have my ideas, and I really hope that I’m wrong, but we’ll see. (Kaitlynne, South Branch)
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Author: Stout, Katie M
Call #: YA FIC Stout, K 2015
Summary: Grace Wilde is hoping for a fresh start from her family, famous in the music industry, and escapes to the farthest place from home she can think of, a boarding school in Korea, but when her roommate Sophie's twin brother Jason turns out to be the newest Korean pop music superstar, Grace is thrust back into the world of fame and love.
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: This book was slightly reminiscent of Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, which is okay with me because I thought that book was fantastic.
The relationship between Jason and Grace was funny, sometimes sweet, but ridiculously frustrating at times. They spent the majority of the book fighting with each other, determined not to let the other know their true feelings. But I think all that tension is what made them getting together at the end much more satisfying.
There was a twist in the book, close to the ending, that kind of took me by surprise. And, looking back now, it really shouldn’t have. I guess I was just so focused on other things that were happening and I missed all the clues.
One thing I didn’t like about this book, was the way things were left between Grace and her Mother… I needed more closure on that, especially after finding out what really happen. But it seemed like the issues that they had were just swept under the rug, or pushed into the corner to be ignored…
Overall, I think this book is a cute, quick, summer read, though I wouldn’t suggest reading this if you are a die-hard K-Pop fan, because I’ve heard that it doesn’t represent the awesomeness that is K-Pop. (Kaitlynne, South Branch)
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Author: Simon, Scott
Call #: 070.92 Simon, 2015
Summary: When NPR's Scott Simon began tweeting from his mother's hospital room in July 2013, he didn't know that his missives would soon spread well beyond his 1.2 million Twitter followers. Squeezing the magnitude of his final days with her into 140-character updates, Simon's ... meditations spread virally. Over the course of a few days, Simon chronicled his mother's death and reminisced about her life, revealing her humor and strength, and celebrating familial love ... Spending their last days together in a hospital ICU, mother and son reflect on their lifetime's worth of memories, recounting stories laced with humor and exemplifying resilience.-- Provided by publisher
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: What a great story for mothers of sons. It tells a story of how we would all hope our sons would be in our last days. What a life these two shared. (DeEtta, Russiaville Branch)
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Author: deWitt, Patrick
Call #: WEST deWitt, P 2011
Summary: When a frontier baron known as the Commodore orders Charlie and Eli Sisters, his hired gunslingers, to track down and kill a prospector named Herman Kermit Warm, the brothers journey from Oregon to San Francisco, and eventually to Warm's claim in the Sierra foothills, running into a witch, a bear, a dead Indian, a parlor of drunken floozies, and a gang of murderous fur trappers.
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: Contract gunmen, yes, but the Sisters Brothers are also adventurers, and their exploits are hilarious! Eli and Charlie have very distinct personalities and big ideas.This title would make a fun movie with shades of O.Brother Where Art Thou? (Medora, Adult and Teen Department)
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Author: Wilson, G. Willow
Call #: YA GN Ms.Marvel 200.2 2015
Summary: Who is the Inventor, and what does he want with the all-new Ms. Marvel and all her friends? Maybe Wolverine can help! If Kamala can stop fan-girling out about meeting her favorite super hero, that is. Then, Kamala crosses paths with Inhumanity--by meeting the royal dog, Lockjaw! But why is Lockjaw really with Kamala? As Ms. Marvel discovers more about her past, the Inventor continues to threaten her future. Kamala bands together with some unlikely heroes to stop the maniacal villain before he does real damage, but has she taken on more than she can handle? And how much longer can Ms. Marvel's life take over Kamala Khan's? Kamala Khan continues to prove why she's the best (and most adorable) new super hero there is! -- Page [4] of cover
Staff Member's Thoughts on This Book: I will admit that I am not an avid graphic novel reader. When I do read graphic novels I tend to gravitate to the individual stand alone graphic novels especially biographies and nonfiction. I simply don't do superhero graphic novels. Well that changed for me when I picked up the first book in this series, No Normal. I really enjoyed reading about the new Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan. She is a smart 17 year-old girl who struggles with her family's expectations and her own desires. Then she discovers she has superpowers and winds up with a whole new set of problems. Her struggles as she learns about her powers and learns to accept who she is are interesting and well drawn. In this novel, she is still struggling for balance and trying to figure out why her powers work the way they do. I look forward to reading more about the new Ms. Marvel in the future. (Melissa, South Branch)
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