Book Buzz

Looking for a good book? Ask at the Reference Desk for a suggestion or two. Whether you are a reader who likes romance, mystery, fantasy, science fiction or historical books, our librarians can assist you in finding that next great read.

Leane’s Picks

“I wanted a little something for everyone- smart, funny women like Janet Evanovich, mysteries, spies, conspiracies, and relationship stories.”

Smart Funny Women (or Men)

  • Evanovich, Janet. Smokin’ seventeen (2011)
  • Littlefield, Sophie. A bad day for sorry (2009)
  • Larsen, K. J. Liar, liar : a Cat DeLuca mystery (2010)
  • DiSilverio, Laura A. H. Swift justice (2010) Continue »

    • Jeff’s Picks

    “I tried to make my selections a mix of current and recent fiction, mysteries, historicals, paranormals, and literary fiction. The common thread was that they are all novels with a strong sense of place, and in most cases, with one exception, that place was France.”

  • Harkness, Deborah E. A discovery of witches (2011)
    Historian (and reluctant witch) Diane Bishop stumbles across a strange manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. It’s enchanted, and clearly of interest to powerful individuals. She becomes involved with vampire Matthew Clairmont, and they attempt to unravel the mystery of the manuscript and the ancient conflicts that swirl around it between the four races: humans, witches, vampires, and daemons. This fast-paced, first novel has plenty of historical detail and a fascinating alternative history.
    Readalikes:
    Kostova, Elizabeth. The historian (2005)
    Setterfield, Diane. The thirteenth tale (2006)
    Neville, Katherine. The eight (1989)
    Barry, Brunonia. The lace reader (2008)
    Continue »

    • Catherine’s Picks

    “With long, hot days and fewer obligations, summertime may be the perfect time to pick up that old classic you’ve always wanted to read. Here are three of my favorites.”

  • Eliot, George, 1819-1880. Middlemarch (1994)
    This lush, densely-written, gorgeously complex saga of the inhabitants of Middlemarch, an English provincial town, amid the great changes of the early 19th century, centers upon the desire of Dorothea Brooke to give meaning to her life. The novel as a whole renders within the storyline Eliot’s reflection on social, psychological, and ethical issues.
    Readalikes:
    Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865. Cranford (2005)
    Shreve, Anita. Fortune’s rocks (1999)
    Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910. Anna Karenina (1965)
  • Fitzgerald, F. Scott. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (2004)
    The deceptively simple tale of Jay Gatsby’s desire for wealthy Daisy Buchanan is a meditation on obsession, greed, and the American Dream of the 1920s. Continue »

    • Maureen’s Picks

    “I chose my books based on the theme of baseball. Each book, whether adult fiction, nonfiction, young adult or children’s uses the game of baseball to frame their story. Choosing a common topic and having everyone in the family read on that topic at their own level can be a great way to start a family book group and encourage discussion.”

  • Kahn, Roger. The boys of summer (1972)
    A Non-fiction account of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s written in a journalistic and literary style. It is a memoir, historical account, and social commentary of the 1950s with baseball as the framework.
    Continue »

    • Beth’s Picks

    “I chose an eclectic mix of literary historical novels, nice reads, medical
    narratives and thrillers.”

    Readalikes for:
    Brooks, Geraldine. Caleb’s crossing (2011)

     

  • Diamant, Anita. The last days of Dogtown (2005)
    The small, dying 1814 settlement nicknamed Dogtown, on the shores of Gloucester provides the backdrop for these interrelated stories of its inhabitants. Diamant brings the period alive with domestic details and elegant prose.
  • Gunning, Sally. The widow’s war (2006)
    Set 100 years after Caleb’s Crossing in Cape Cod, Lyddie Berry’s world is turned upside down when her whaler husband drowns. By merging historical fact with Lyddie’s story reader get an intimate peak into the daily life pre-Revolutionary war, with its gender, race and class dynamics.

    • Readalikes for:
    Simonson, Helen. Major Pettigrew’s last stand (2010)
    Continue »


    Jackie’s Picks

    “I went with an motley assortment. My selections range from the very light, can-be-read-in-an-afternoon work of fiction to the more time consuming, denser, narrative non-fiction, with a variety of middleweights in between.”

  • Kim, Eugenia (Eugenia SunHee) The calligrapher’s daughter (2009)
    Set in early 20th century Korea, this is the story of Najin, the bright and brave daughter of a scholar and calligrapher. The story follows Najin from her early years into adulthood, from wealth to poverty and throughout the Japanese occupation. Readers who are interested in both historical and women’s fiction may enjoy Kim’s first novel.
    Readalikes:
    Anything by Lisa See
    Continue »

    • Readalikes for Kathryn Stockett’s The Help

    Appeal Factors: Sense of place: Jim Crow Era – Mississippi; Race relations/racism; Interracial friendships; Domestic fiction; The sixties; Domestic workers; Determination in women; Women’s fiction; Soap opera; Multiple narrators; First person narration; Page-turner pacing.

    The Secret Life of Bees
    Sue Monk Kidd Continue »


    Readalikes for William Martin

    Readalikes for that combination of history, intriguing characters, and suspense:

    Matthew Pearl’s The Dante Club
    In 1865, the preparations of the Dante Club–led by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes–to release the first translation of Dante’s “The Divine Comedy” are threatened by a series of murders that re-create episodes from “Inferno.”
    Continue »


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