The 17 Day Diet: A Doctor’s Plan Designed for Rapid Results, Dr. Mike Moreno

RM222.2.M5684 2011

If you need to shed pounds fast and in a safe, effective, and lasting way, this is the book for you! Unlike many diet programs that starve you down to size, Dr. Mike Moreno’s 17 Day Diet relies on proven methods to help you take weight off and keep it off for good—whether you’ve got 10 pounds to lose or 100. His revolutionary program adjusts your body metabolically so that you burn fat day in and day out. The program is structured around four 17 day cycles:

22 Britannia Road, Amanda Hodgkinson

PR6108.O33.A615 2011

The tale of a family desperately trying to put itself back together after WWII. Silvana and Janusz have only been married a few months when the war forces them apart. Silvana and their son, Aurek, leave Poland and disappear into the forests of Eastern Europe, where they bear witness to German atrocities. Meanwhile Janusz, the sole survivor of his slaughtered military unit, flees to France. There, he takes up with a local girl and, though he loves her, awaits the war's end so he can go in search of his wife and son. He eventually finds them in a refugee camp and they travel to England together, where they attempt to put the past behind them.

2012 and the End of the World: The Western Roots of the Maya Apocalypse, Matthew Restall and Amara Solari

F1435.3.C14 R47 2011

Did the Maya really predict that the world would end in December of 2012? If not, how and why has 2012 millenarianism gained such popular appeal? In this deeply knowledgeable book, two leading historians of the Maya answer these questions. Matthew Restall and Amara Solari introduce, explain, and ultimately demystify the 2012 phenomenon. Firmly grounded in historical fact, while also being revelatory and myth-busting, this fascinating book will be essential reading as the countdown to December 21, 2012, begins.

2666, Roberto Bolano

PQ8098.12.O38 A12213 2008

Three academics on the trail of a reclusive German author; a New York reporter on is first Mexican assignment; a widowed philosopher; a police detective in love with an elusive older woman—these are among the searchers drawn to the border city of Santa Teresa, where over the course of a decade hundreds of women have disappeared.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Seth Grahame-Smith

PS3607 .R348 A64 2010

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years.

The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook - A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, Ben Mezrich

HM742 .M49 2009

The high-energy tale of how two socially awkward Ivy Leaguers – Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg, Harvard undergraduates and best friends -- trying to increase their chances with the opposite sex, ended up creating Facebook. Before long, Eduardo’s and Mark’s different ideas about Facebook created in their relationship faint cracks, which soon spiraled into out-and-out warfare. The collegiate exuberance that marked their collaboration fell prey to the adult world of lawyers and money. The great irony is that while Facebook succeeded by bringing people together, its very success tore two best friends apart.

The (Almost) Complete and (Entirely) Entertaining Story of America: The History of the United States, Erik Sass

E179 .S25 2010

Smarter than a history teacher, funnier than the Founding Fathers, and more American than Alaska, an almost (but not entirely) comprehensive primer on American history (or at least, the good stuff) In trademark smart aleck style, this is history according to mental_floss, an insightfully accurate and incisively humorous exploration of little-known truths and widely believed falsehoods, which simultaneously exposes some of America's oddest moments, strangest citizens, most egregious frauds, and much, much more.

Always Looking Up: the Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, Michael J. Fox

PN 2308 .F69 A3 2009

The popular film and television actor evaluates the personal philosophy that has enabled his positive outlook in spite of his battle with degenerative Parkinson’s disease, in an uplifting account that considers how he has become a happier and more satisfied person by recognizing the gifts of everyday life.

American Gods, Neil Gaiman

PR6057 .A319 A84 2001

A master of inventive fiction pens the story of an ex-con who is offered a job as a bodyguard for Mr. Wednesday, a trickster and a rogue. Shadow soon learns that his role in the man’s schemes are far more dangerous and dark than he could have ever imagined.

Amerika: The Missing Person, Franz Kafka

PT2621.A26 A2313 2008

Here is the story of young Karl Rossman, who, following an incident involving a housemaid, is banished by his parents to America. With unquenchable optimism and in the company of two comic-sinister companions, he throws himself into misadventure, eventually heading towards Oklahoma, where a career in the theater beckons. Though we can never know how Kafka planned to end the novel, Harman's superb translation allows us to appreciate, as closely as possible, what Kafka did commit to the page.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara Kingsolver

S521.5.A67 K56 2007

When Kingsolver and her family move from suburban Arizona to rural Appalachia, they take on a new challenge: to spend a year on a locally produced diet, paying close attention to the provenance of all they consume. "Our highest shopping goal was to get our food from so close to home, we'd know the person who grew it. Often that turned out to be ourselves as we learned to produce what we needed, starting with dirt, seeds, and enough knowledge to muddle through. Or starting with baby animals, and enough sense to refrain from naming them."Animal, Vegetable, Miracle follows the family through the first year of their experiment.

Are you there, Vodka? It’s me, Chelsea, Chelsea Handler

HQ801 .H3193 2008

Welcome to Chelsea’s world--a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense. In this collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous. Whether she’s convincing her third-grade class that she has been tapped to play Goldie Hawn’s daughter in the sequel to Private Benjamin, deciding to be more egalitarian by dating a redhead, or looking out for a foulmouthed, rum-swilling little person who looks just like her, only smaller, Chelsea has a knack for getting herself into the most outrageous situations.

The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama, Will Bunch

E907 .B86 2010

In Nov 2008, the election of Barack Obama was supposed to usher a new age of hope, optimism, and postpartisan politics. Instead it provoked unparalleled anger on the right that eventually twisted important national discussions and pushed ideas from the conservative fringe into the mainstream. In the ensuing months, pollsters and reporters have tried to understand the heart of this mob that appeared so suddenly, but none of them has successfully accounted for the hard-right movement's growth or explained the hidden connections between its parts. Until now.

Be The Pack Leader, Cesar Millan

SF433 .M553 2007

Dog Whisperer Millan takes his principles of dog psychology a step further, showing you how to develop the calm-assertive energy of a successful pack leader and use it to improve your dog’s life--and your own. Filled with practical tips and techniques as well as real-life success stories from his clients (including the owners of Marley from Marley & Me) and his popular television show, Cesar helps you understand and read your dog’s energy as well as your own so that you can move beyond just correcting behaveioral issues and take your connection with your dog to the next level.

Beyond Tolerance: How People Across America are Building Bridges Between Faiths, Gustav Niebuhr

BL85 .N54 2009

At a time when religious conflict and violence seem to dominate the media, distinguished religion journalist Gustav Niebuhr set off across America to find people who are building, not burning, the bridges between faiths. As he travels across the country-from Queens and Baltimore to Louisville and Los Angeles-he finds Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, Baptists, Muslims, and Episcopalians reaching out to one another to find common ground between their faiths. This insightful and deeply felt exploration of the nature of community and religion is a tribute to their efforts and a boost of much-needed optimism that reminds all Americans of their common goals, no matter their faith.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell

BF448 .G53 2005

How do we think without thinking, make choices in an instant--in the blink of an eye--that actually aren’t as simple as they seem? Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others? Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, the author reveals that great decision makers aren’t those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who’ve perfected the art of filtering the very few factors that matter.

Bloodroot: A Novel, Amy Greene

PS3607 .R45254 B57 2010
Myra Lamb of Bloodroot Mountain has troubling "haint" blue eyes and a grandma whose touch charms people and animals alike. When their neighbor John Odom tries to tame Myra, he meets a with shocking, violent disaster.

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

PZ7.Z837 Boo 2006

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. Set during World War II in Germany, this groundbreaking novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself and stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist: books. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life, Steve Martin

PN2287 .M522 A3 2007

At age 10, Steve Martin got a job selling guidebooks at the newly opened Disneyland. In the decade that followed, he worked in Disney's magic shop, print shop, and theater, and developed his own magic/comedy act. By age 20, studying poetry and philosophy on the side, he was performing a dozen times a week, most often at the Disney rival, Knott's Berry Farm. Obsession is a substitute for talent, he has said, and Steve Martin's focus and daring his sheer tenacity are truly stunning.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, Christopher McDougall

GV1061.23.M6 M33 2009

Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.

Bossypants, Tina Fey

PN2287.F4255 A3 2011

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.  She has seen both these dreams come true. At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon.

Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

PZ7.C6837 CAT 2009b

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

Chelsea, Chelsea, Bang, Bang, Chelsea Handler

PN6231 .W6 H27 2010

In this new collection of original essays, the #1 bestselling author of "Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea" delivers one laugh-out-loud moment after another as she sets her sights on the ridiculous side of childhood, adulthood, and daughterhood.

Citrus County, John Brandon

PS3602 .R3598 C58 2010

There shouldn’t be a Citrus County. Teenage romance should be difficult, but not this difficult. Boys like Toby should cause trouble but not this much. The moon should glow gently over children safe in their beds. Uncles in their rockers should be kind. Teachers should guide and inspire. Manatees should laze and palm trees sway and snakes keep to their shady spots under the azalea thickets. The air shouldn’t smell like a swamp. The stars should twinkle. Shelby should be her own hero, the first hero of Citrus County. She should rescue her sister from underground, rescue Toby from his life. Her destiny should be a hero’s destiny.

A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin

PS3563.A7239 C58 1999

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men...

Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, Clay Shirky

HM851 .S5464 2010

Shirky has written an important book about an interesting moment in human history. We have arranged our modern lives to maximize free time. Now, thanks to the virtual infrastructure of the internet, we are able to collaborate and interact as never before. The question is what these collaborations will create. A surplus, after all, is easy to squander.

Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance, Alexander Zaitchik

CT275.B5463 Z35 2010

Investigative reporter Alexander Zaitchik traces Beck's personal history, from his troubled childhood through his years as a "morning zoo" DJ to his sudden and meteoric rise to the top of the conservative media heap. He pays special attention to Beck's transformation from alcoholic, cocaine-snorting, failed disc jockey without a political thought in his head to wealthy, bile-spewing, right-wing demagogue whose radio and television shows form the core of a multimillion-dollar media empire.

Crazy in Alabama, Mark Childress

PS3553.H486 C73 1994

The year is 1965. The place is a small town in the deep South. Having murdered her redneck husband, Lucille drops her six kids off at her mother's and heads for Hollywood to audition for a part in The Beverly Hillbillies . Now that his grandmother has others to care for, 11-year-old Peejoe goes off to live with an uncle a few towns away.

Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression, Morris Dickstein

E806 .D57 2009

The Joad family's epic journey from Dust Bowl Oklahoma to California, depicted in John Steinbeck's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, has become an emblem of the Depression. But as Morris Dickstein observes in Dancing in the Dark, his cultural history of the period, the Joads weren't the only ones on the move in America's novels, plays, movies, and nightlife of the '30s. Dickstein, in a sweeping, significant work, searches out the unifying themes of what he calls the "split personality of Depression culture.

A Dark Matter, Peter Straub

PS3569.T6914 D37 2010

The charismatic and cunning Spenser Mallon is a campus guru in the 1960s, attracting the devotion of his young acolytes. After he invites his most fervent followers to attend a secret ritual in a local meadow, the only thing that remains is a gruesomely dismembered body and the shattered souls of all who were present. Years later, one man attempts to understand what happened to his wife and to his friends by writing a book about this horrible night. As each of the old friends tries to come to grips with the darkness of the past, they find themselves face-to-face with the evil.

The Death Cure, James Dashner

PZ 7 D2587 De 2011

Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test. What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says. The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine. Will anyone survive the Death Cure?

Decorate: 1,000 Professional Design Ideas for Every Room in Your Home, Holly Becker & Joanna Copestick

NK2110 .B43 2011

In Decorate, the world's top designers and leading d cor experts including Kelly Wearstler, Amy Butler, Jonathan Adler, and many others come together to share over 1,000 professional tips, ideas, and solutions for every room and every budget.

Delirium, Lauren Oliver

PZ7.O475 Del 2011

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, Tony Hsieh CEO of Zappos.com, Inc.

HF5386 .H864 2010

Tony Hsieh--the widely-admired CEO of on-line shoe retailer, Zappos--explains how he created a unique culture and commitment to service that aims to improve the lives of its employees, customers, vendors and backers. Even better, he shows how creating happiness and record results go hand-in-hand.

Demons, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

PG 3326 B6 2008b

Pyotr and Stavrogin are the leaders of a Russian revolutionary cell. Their aim is to overthrow the Tsar, destroy society, and seize power for themselves. Together they train terrorists who are willing to lay down their lives to accomplish their goals. But when the group is threatened with exposure, will their recruits be willing to kill one of their own to cover their tracks? Savage and powerful yet lively and often comic, Demons was inspired by a real-life political murder and is a scathing and eerily prescient indictment of those who use violence to serve their beliefs.

Devil’s Food Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery, Joanne Fluke

PS3556.L685 D48 2011b

These days, everyone in Lake Eden, Minnesota, is buzzing with activity, and Hannah Swensen is no exception. But no matter how busy she may be, Hannah can always find time to help a friend in need--especially when he's been murdered. . .

Dexter in the Dark: A Novel, Jeff Lindsay

PS3562 .I51175 D47 2007

Miami cop Dexter Morgan and serial killer (the Dark Passenger), one-in-the-same, investigate a double murder on the University of Miami campus while the burned and beheaded body count continues to mount.

A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness

PS3608 .A7436 D57 2011

With historian Diana Bishop finds an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it’s an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she’s kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires. Sensing the significance of Diana’s discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire geneticist. Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enemies, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels.

A Dog's Purpose: A Novel for Humans, W. Bruce Cameron

PS3603.A4535 D64 2010

Told in a touching, doggy first-person, this unabashedly sentimental tale introduces Toby, who's rescued by a woman without a license for her rescue operation, so, sadly, Toby ends up euthanized. He's reborn in a puppy mill and after almost dying while left in a hot car, he's saved again by a woman, and he becomes Bailey, a beloved golden retriever, who finds happiness and many adventures. His next intense incarnation is as Ellie, a female German shepherd, a heroic search and rescue dog. But the true purpose of this dog's life doesn't become totally clear until his reincarnation as Buddy, a black Lab.

Dragon Haven, Robin Hobb

PS3588

As the dragons, the humans--including the strong and defiant Rain Wild girl Thymara; the wealthy dragon scholar and Trader’s wife, Alise; and her companion, the urbane Sedric--and their magical supply barge, captained by the gruff Leftrin, forge their way ever deeper into uncharted wilderness, human and beast alike discover they are changing in mysterious and dangerous ways ... an that all of them may not survive.

Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography, Judith & Neil Morgan

PS3513.E2 Z785 1996

In this authorized biography, California journalists Judith and Neil Morgan present a portrait of the late children's-book author and artist beloved by millions. Fans of The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and other classics may be surprised to learn that Dr. Seuss was terrified of children and had none of his own, and that writing verse was a supreme effort for him. This witty and charming biography of the highly original genius, Dr. Seuss (Ted Geisel), maintains suspense as the authors unfold the facts of his life and art. It is full of wry Seussian limericks and interesting anecdotes, among which are his failed invention of an Infantograph and the mad pranks played by Seuss on rival artists. The legions of Seuss admirers are treated to accounts of the inspiration for and the history behind each of his famous books.

Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race, Jon Stewart

PN6231.H763 E27 2010

Where do we come from? Who created us? Why are we here? These questions have puzzled us since the dawn of time, but when it became apparent to Jon Stewart and the writers of The Daily Show that the world was about to end, they embarked on a massive mission to write a book that summed up the human race: What we looked like; what we accomplished; our achievements in society, government, religion, science and culture — all in a tome of approximately 256 pages with lots of color photos, graphs and charts.

Eat Pray Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia, Elizabeth Gilbert

G154.5.G55 A3 2006

In her early thirties, [the author] had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want - husband, country home, successful career - but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This ... is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place.

Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman, Sam Wasson

PN1997.B7228 W37 2010

Audrey Hepburn is an icon like no other, yet the image many of us have of Audrey—dainty, immaculate—is anything but true to life. Here, for the first time, Sam Wasson presents the woman behind the little black dress that rocked the nation in 1961. The first complete account of the making of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. reveals little-known facts about the cinema classic.

Film isms… Understanding Cinema, Ronald Bergan

PN1995 B36 2011

The perfect small-format, one-stop resource to appreciating and understanding films from Hollywood to Bollywood. Beginning with the early silent era, it spans the entire range of movie history up to the present wave of indie films and the growing fascination with international cinema. Each spread is devoted to a distinct movement and explains when it first emerged, the principal directors, themes, and representative films, and is illustrated with film stills, posters, and photos. Important international cinematic breakthroughs are also highlighted, as well as the careers of international auteurs like Kurosawa, Fellini, and Almodóvar. From prewar Expressionism to twenty-first-century Dystopianism, Film Isms… offers an engaging, new way of understanding movie history.

Five Odd Honors, Jane Lindskold

PS3562.I51248 F58 2010

When the lands of the ninth gate are found transformed by magic that has rendered them uninhabitable, the Thirteen Orphans and their allies are challenged to breach the world’s Center within five elements from Chinese mythology, a quest that is complicated by a cruel betrayal.

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Joseph J. Ellis

E302.5 .E45 2000

An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic—John Adams, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

HB74.P8 L479 2006

"Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime? These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life--from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing--and his conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head.

From Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris

PS3558 .A6427 F76 2008

After the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina, and the manmade horror of the explosion at the vampire summit, Sookie Stackhouse is safe but dazed, yearning for things to get back to normal. But her boyfriend Quinn is among the missing. And things are changing, whether the Weres and vamps in her corner of Louisiana like it or not. In the ensuing battles, Sookie faces danger, death-and once more, betrayal by someone she loves. And when the fur has finished flying and the cold blood ceases flowing, her world will be forever altered.

Galore: A Novel, Michael Crummey

PR9199.3.C717 G36 2010

When a whale beaches itself on the shore of the remote coastal town of Paradise Deep, the last thing any of the townspeople expect to find inside it is a man, silent and reeking of fish, but remarkably alive. The discovery of this mysterious person, soon christened Judah, sets the town scrambling for answers as its most prominent citizens weigh in on whether he is man or beast, blessing or curse, miracle or demon.

A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin

PS3563.A7239 G36 1996

In a time long forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons off balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. As the cold returns, sinister forces are massing beyond the protective wall of the kingdom of Winterfell.

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Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore

PS3563 .O6225 G37 2009

Between semesters, twenty-year-old Tassie Keltjin takes a job as a part-time nanny. The family she works for seems both mysterious and glamorous to her, and although Tassie had once found children boring, she comes to care for, and to protect, their newly adopted little girl as her own. As the year unfolds and she is drawn deeper into each of these lives, her own life back home becomes ever more alien to her: her parents are frailer; her brother, aimless and lost in high school, contemplates joining the military. Tassie finds herself becoming more and more the stranger she felt herself to be, and as life and love unravel dramatically, even shockingly, she is forever changed.

Genesis: A Novel, Bernard Beckett

PR9639.4 .B434 G46 2009

Set on a remote island in a post-apocalyptic, plague-ridden world, this bold and ingenious thriller questions what it means to be human as philosophical questions collide with technology.

Georgia Bottoms: A Novel, Mark Childress

PS3553.H486 G46 2011

Georgia Bottoms is known in her small community of Six Points, Alabama, as a beautiful, well-to-do, and devoutly Baptist Southern belle. Nobody realizes that the family fortune has long since disappeared, and a determinedly single woman like Georgia needs an alternative, and discreet, means of income. In Georgia's case it is six well-heeled lovers-one for each day of the week, with Mondays off-none of whom knows about the others. But when the married preacher who has been coming to call decides to confess their affair, Georgia must take drastic measures to stop him.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson

PT9876.22 .A6933 L8413 2010

Sequel to: The girl who played with fire.

If and when Lisbeth Salander recovers, she’ll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. And, on her own, she will plot revenge--against the man who tried to kill her, and the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life.

The Girl Who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson

PT9876.22 .A6933 F5713 2009

Sequel to: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

On the eve of publisher Mikael Blomkvist’s story about sex trafficking between Eastern Europe and Sweden, two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Mikael Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander--the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid years before.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson

PT9876.22 .A6933 M3613 2008

The disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden, gnaws at her octogenarian uncle, Henrik Vanger. He is determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. He hires crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, recently at the wrong end of a libel case, to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance. Lisbeth Salander, a 24-year-old, pierced, tattooed genius hacker, possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age, assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, an astonishing corruption at the highest echelon of Swedish industrialism--and a surprising connection between themselves.

The Gone-Away World, Nick Harkaway

PR6108 .A737 G66 2008

With a fire burning along the Jorgmund Pipe, a vital protection from the bandits and monsters left in the wake of the Go-Away War, Gonzo Lubitsch and his colleagues at the Haulage and HazMat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company are hired to put it out.

Gooseberry Patch Christmas [Book 12]:

TT900 .C4 C44

Recipes, Projects, and Gift Ideas to Make Your Christmas Festive & Fun!

Great House: A Novel, Nicole Krauss

PS3611 .R38 G74 2010

Connected solely by a desk of enormous dimension and many drawers that exerts a power over those who possess it or give it away, three people--a lonely American novelist clinging to the memory of a poet who has mysteriously vanished in Chile, an old man in Israel facing the imminent death of his wife of 51 years, and an esteemed antiques dealer tracking down the things stolen from his father by the Nazis--struggle to create a meaningful permanence in the face of inevitable loss.

Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability, David Owen

GF504 .N7 O95 2009

Upending the environmentalist viewpoint that urban areas are "anti-green," New Yorker staff writer David Owen argues that sustainability is achieved in areas like New York City, while open space, backyard compost heaps, locavorism and high-tech gadgetry like solar panels and triple-paned windows are formulas for wasteful sprawl and green-washed consumerism.

The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent A Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun, Gretchen Rubin

BF575.H27 R83 2009

On the outside, Gretchen Rubin had it all--a good marriage, healthy children and a successful career--but something was missing. Determined to end that nagging feeling, she set out on a year-long quest to learn how to better enjoy the life she already had. Each month, Gretchen pursued a different set of resolutions--go to sleep earlier, tackle a nagging task, bring people together, take time to be silly. She read everything from classical philosophy to cutting-edge scientific studies, from Winston Churchill to Oprah, developing her own definition of happiness and a plan for how to achieve it.

The Healing of America: The Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, T.R. Reid

RA395 .A3 R436 2009

In his global quest to find a possible prescription, Reid visits wealthy, free market, industrialized democracies like our own - including France, Germany, Japan, the U.K., and Canada - where he finds inspiration in example. Reid shares evidence from doctors, government officials, health care experts, and patients the world over, finding that foreign health care systems give everybody quality care at an affordable cost. And that dreaded monster ‘socialized medicine’ turns out to be a myth. Many developed countries provide universal coverage with private doctors, private hospitals, and private insurance.

Heroes and Villians: Essays on Music, Movies, Comics, and Culture, David Hajdu

ML60 .H178 2009

In this rollicking collection of mostly previously published essays, Hadju combines the cutting candor of Lester Bangs and the measured and judicious cultural learning of Lionel Trilling as he takes aim at subjects ranging widely from jazz, rock and country music and cartoon characters like Elmer Fudd to broader cultural topics such as blogging, MySpace, and remixing. Hadju's essays never fail to amuse, please and provoke.

The History of the World: An Irreverent Romp Through Civilization’s Best Bits, Eric Sass and Steve Wiegand

D23 .S28 2008

An account of human civilization, presented in the series’ trademark irreverent style, features twelve accessible chapters that cover such topics as the Dark Ages, terrorism, and the unlikely namesake of the literary character Babar.

Home Land, Sam Lipsyte

PS 3662 I648 H66 2005

The Eastern Valley High School Alumni newsletter, Catamount Notes, is bursting with tales of success: former students include a bankable politician and a famous baseball star, not to mention a major-label recording artist. Then there is the appalling, yet utterly lovable, Lewis Miner, class of '89---a.k.a Teabag---who did not pan out. This is his confession in all its bitter, lovelorn glory.

How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic, Madsen Pirie

BC175 .P573 2007

This is the work your friends will wish you had never read, a witty guide to arguing successfully. Each entry deals with a fallacy, explaining what it is, analyzing an example and showing how you can penetrate it to win an argument.

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

PZ7.C6837 Hun 2009

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

I Am America, And So Can You!, Stephen Colbert

PN1992.77 .C58 I26 2007

From the host of television’s comedy-punditry show The Colbert Report, comes the book to fill the other 23 hours of your day. This book contains all of the opinions that Stephen doesn’t have time to shoehorn into his nightly broadcast, his most deeply held knee-jerk beliefs on The American Family, Race, Religion, Sex, Sports, and many more topics, conveniently arranged in chapter form. Stephen addresses why Hollywood is destroying America by inches, why evolution is a fraud, and why the elderly should be harnessed to millstones. You may not agree with everything Stephen says, but at the very least, you’ll understand that your differing opinion is wrong.

The Imperfectionists: A Novel, Tom Rachman

PR9199.4.R323 I57 2010

An "imperfect" crew of reporters and editors working for an international English language newspaper stumble toward an uncertain future as the era of print news gives way to the Internet age. The story is set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome.

The Infinity Gate, Sara Douglass

PR9619.3 .D672 I54 2009

Having raised the magic of Elcho Falling while forging new allies, Serpent Coil priestess Isabelle Brunell and Lord Maximillian assist the efforts of former god Axis SunSoar, who has revived the Strike Force after rediscovering the magical Star Dance.

Insatiable, Meg Cabot

PS3553 .A278 I57 2010

Meena Harper, forced to write about vampires even though she doesn’t believe in them, falls in love with Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side. It’s a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire hunters, would prefer to see him dead for. The problem is: Lucien’s already dead! And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare.

Knockdown: A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery, Sarah Graves

PS3557.R2897.K66 2011

They say you can’t go home again—and when it comes to someone with an old score to settle, sometimes you’d better not. That’s what Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree discovers when the past she thought she’d laid to rest comes calling at her lovingly restored 1823 Federal-style house in Eastport, Maine. Unfortunately, her old life and her new one are about to collide with deadly consequences. . . .

The Left Hand of God, Paul Hoffman

PR6058 .O3446 L44 2010

Follows the adventures of sixteen-year-old Thomas, one of thousands of imprisoned youths being trained in combat by warrior monks who becomes aware of his secret destiny after a daring escape.

Legions of Fire, David Drake

CALL NUMBER

The great city of Carce (a fantasy world based on Europe during the later Roman Empire) and all life on Earth will be destroyed unless two young men, Corylus and Varus, and two women, Hedia and Alphena, pursue the answer to the mysterious and threatening happenings that prefigure this disaster.

Little Birds: 26 Handmade Projects to Sew, Stitch, Quilt & Love

TT157 .L52 2010

This adorable book is all about the birds! From budgies to owls to peacocks, these projects will pique your curiosity and make your heart sing! Many talented designers bring you soft sculptures, quilts, ornaments, and more.

Lover Mine: A Novel of The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series (#8), J.R. Ward

PS3623 .A73227 L69 2010

John Matthew has come a long way since he was found living among humans, his vampire nature unknown. Taken in by The Brotherhood, no one could guess what his true history was-or his true identity. Xhex has long steeled herself against the attraction to John Matthew. Until fate intervenes and she discovers that love, like destiny, is inevitable.

The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption, Jim Gorant

HV4746 .G67 2010

Animal lovers and sports fans were shocked when the story broke about NFL player Michael Vick’s brutal dog fighting operation. But what became of the dozens of dogs who survived? As the author discovered, their story is the truly newsworthy aspect of this case. As an ASPCA led team evaluated each one, they found a few hardened fighters, but many more lovable, friendly creatures desperate for compassion. In this book, we meet these amazing animals. At the heart of the stories are the rescue workers who transformed the pups from victims of animal cruelty into healing caregivers themselves.

Mamarazzi: Every Mom’s Guide to Photographing Kids, Stacy Wasmuth

TR 681 C5 W37 2011

Moms, if you can't seem to take enough great photos of the children in your life, this is the book for you.  Now you can learn how to photograph children with the style, clarity, color, and beauty you see in professional photographs.  This fun guide combines humor with solid know-how to show you how to compose shots, handle cameras from basic compacts to advanced dSLRs, take portraits or candids, create prints that impress, and even work with kids! Packed with beautiful examples and written in a down-to-earth style from one mom to another, this book will help mamarazzis everywhere take better photos.

The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers: A Novel, Thomas Mullen

PS3613 .U447 M36 2010

In this follow-up to The last town on earth, Depression-era Jason and Whit Fireson appear to have met their end in a hail of bullets. Jason and Whit’s lovers -- Darcy, a wealthy socialite, and Veronica, a hardened survivor -- struggle between grief and an unyielding belief that the Firesons are alive. While they and the Firesons’ stunned mother and straight-arrow brother wade through conflicting police reports and press accounts, wild rumors spread that the bandits are still at large.

The Maze Runner, James Dashner

CALL NUMBER

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. But he’s not alone. When the lift s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift. Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris

PS3569.E314 M4 2000

This essay collection features some classic reminiscences from Sedaris' travels (particularly in France, where he struggles heroically and hysterically with the language), his deranged and drug-fuelled young adulthood, and his even more deranged childhood. The profile of his tobacco-chewing, rap-loving, foul-mouthed gangster hick of a younger brother alone will have you doing spit-takes, but the whole book is never less than painfully funny.

Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run, Kristin Armstrong

GV1061.10.W66 A76 2011

In this collection of entries from her Mile Markers blog, Armstrong writes of how running enriches her life and allows her to mark milestones.  The blogs are arranged into 26 thematic chapters, exploring topics like friendship, endurance, balance, and gratitude. Threaded throughout are universal themes of family, Armstrong's community of women runners, and her spirituality. Armstrong can be witty, vulnerable, and inspiring.

Minding Ben: A Novel, Victoria Brown

PS3602.R724 M56 2011

At 16, Grace Caton boards her first airplane, leaving her small village in Trinidad for another island: New York City. But from the moment she touches down, nothing goes as planned. The aunt who had promised to take her in disappears, and Grace finds herself on her own and working for a family in Manhattan, taking on strange job duties and taking care of their son Ben. Soon, Grace discovers that the Bruckners have secrets of their own, and her life becomes increasingly complicated and confusing. In time, Grace realizes that she's living in a city and a world where anything is possible.

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

PZ7.C6837 MOC 2010

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12.

Modern Homestead: Grow Raise Create, Renee Wilkinson

SB453 .W4925 2011

Everything you ever wanted to know about homesteading, all with a cool, modern style. From windowsills to backyards, cities hold more potential for growth than just urban sprawl. We can grow vegetables, raise small livestock, and fill our cupboards with canned decadence. Regardless of space or green thumb know-how, Renee Wilkinson offers something for everyone.

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, Joshua Foer

BF385 .F64 2011

On average, people squander forty days annually compensating for things they've forgotten. Joshua Foer used to be one of those people. But after a year of memory training, he found himself in the finals of the U.S. Memory Championship. Even more important, Foer found a vital truth we too often forget: In every way that matters, we are the sum of our memories.

The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to be Alive, Brian Chistian

BD450 C5356 2011

Named for computer pioneer Alan Turing, the Tur­ing Test convenes a panel of judges who pose questions—ranging anywhere from celebrity gossip to moral conundrums—to hidden contestants in an attempt to discern which is human and which is a computer. The machine that most often fools the panel wins the Most Human Computer Award. But there is also a prize, bizarre and intriguing, for the Most Human Human. In 2008, the top AI program came short of passing the Turing Test by just one astonishing vote. In 2009, Brian Christian was chosen to participate, and he set out to make sure Homo sapiens would prevail.

Much Fall of Blood, Mercedes Lackey

PS3562 .A246 M83 2010

A diplomatic mission leads to Prince Manfred, his bodyguard Erik, and his knights of the Holy Trinity being caught in an inter-clan civil war, rescuing a fugitive woman and her injured brother, and becoming involved in the problems of Prince Vlad, Duke of Valahia--and the ancient magical forces surrounding him.

My Hollywood: A Novel, Mona Simpson

PS3569.I5117 M92 2010

Struggling with her television writer husband’s long hours and her own lack of childcare experience, composer and new mother Claire hires Lola, a Filipino mother of five seeking to finance her children’s education back in the Philippines, who becomes privately devoted to her employers.

Mystery: An Alex Delaware Novel, Jonathan Kellerman

PS3561.E3865 M97 2011

The closing of their favorite romantic rendezvous, the Fauborg Hotel, is a sad occasion for Alex Delaware and Robin Castagna. Gathering one last time with their fellow faithful habitués for cocktails in the gracious old venue makes for a bittersweet evening. But two days later, when a beautiful young woman from the Fauborg is murdered and mutilated, Alex is shocked.  But with a mutilated body and no DNA match, she remains as mysterious in death as she seemed in life. The dark secrets that spill out could make Alex and Milo’s best efforts to close this crime not just impossible but fatal.

Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman

PR6057 .A319 N48 1997

A man goes to the aid of woman pursued by assassins and discovers an alternative City of London, a subterranean, medieval world populated by "people who fell through the cracks" from the real city above. A fantasy tale, replete with demons and wizards. By the author of The Sandman.

Night Roads: A Novel, Gaito Gazdanov

PG3476 .G38 N613 2009

Night Roads is loosely based on the author’s experiences as a cab driver in those disorienting, often brutal years, and the narrator moves from episode to episode, holding court with many but sharing his mind with only a few. His companions are drawn straight out of the Parisian past: the legendary courtesan Jeanne Raldi, now in her later days, and an alcoholic philosopher who goes by the name of Plato. Along the way, the driver picks up other characters, such as the dull thinker who takes on the question of the meaning of life only to be driven insane. The dark humor of that young man’s failure against the narrator’s authentic, personal explorations of the same subject is captured in this first English translation.

Nobody Move!, Denis Johnson

PS3560 .O3745 N63 2009

Set in contemporary Northern California, it reads like a pulp classic from an era where all men wore hats, action trumped introspection every time, and -- in an unfortunate by-product of the time -- women were relegated to the roles of prostitutes, girlfriends, or secretaries. A gambler in debt up to his kneecaps falls in with a femme fatale while trying to sidestep the gunmen on his trail. This is a novel that snaps its sentences like a stick on a snare drum and barrels through 200 pages with the accelerator pressed to the floor.

Now Eat This! Diet, Rocco DiSpirito

RM222.2 .D5785 2011

A follow-up to the author's popular Now Eat This! cookbook, this volume offers an uncomplicated plan for cutting calories and losing weight, in two sections. The first explains how the diet works and how it's possible to eat tasty foods made from healthier ingredients, offers basic advice about exercise, and delineates a "14 Day Fast Track Plan" for kick-starting weight loss by eating 1,400 calories per day (1,200 for women). The second section delivers 75 recipes designed to fit into that low-cal meal plan.

Of Bees and Mist: A Novel, Erick Setiawan

PS3619.E84 O4 2009

Meridia, raised in a sepulchral house where ghosts dwell in mirrors, spends her childhood feeling neglected and invisible. Every evening her father vanishes inside a blue mist without so much as an explanation, and her mother spends her days venomously beheading cauliflowers in the kitchen. At 16, she marries a tenderhearted young man and moves into his seemingly warm and charming family home. Little does she suspect that his parents are harboring secrets of their own. There is a grave hidden in the garden. There are two sisters groomed from birth to despise each other. And there is Eva, the formidable matriarch whose grievances swarm the air like an army of bees. `

One of Our Thursdays is Missing: A Novel, Jasper Fforde

PR6106.F67 O64 2011

All-out Genre war is rumbling, and the BookWorld desperately needs a heroine like Thursday Next. But with the real Thursday apparently retired to the Realworld, the Council of Genres turns to the written Thursday. The Council wants her to pretend to be the real Thursday and travel as a peacekeeping emissary to the warring factions. A trip up the mighty Metaphoric River beckons-a trip that will reveal a fiendish plot that threatens the very fabric of the BookWorld itself.

Original Sin: A Sally Sin Adventure, Beth McMullen

PS 3613 C585455 075 2010

On the surface, Lucy Hamilton looks just like all the other stay-at-home San Francisco moms. She takes her 3-yr-old son, Theo, to the beach, the playground & zoo. She feeds him organic applesauce and free-range chicken. She folds laundry and plays on the floor with Matchbox cars until her knees ache. What no one knows about Lucy, not even her adoring husband, is that for nine years Lucy was Sally Sin, a spy for the United States Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction. And that's just the way she wants to keep it - a secret. But when Lucy's nemesis Ian Blackford, a notorious illegal arms dealer, hits the USAWMD's radar, the Agency calls Sally Sin back to action.

Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis, Jimmy Carter

HN90.M6 C37 2005

In Our Endangered Values, Carter offers a personal consideration of "moral values" as they relate to the important issues of the day. He puts forward a passionate defense of separation of church and state, and a strong warning of where the country is heading as the lines between politics and rigid religious fundamentalism are blurred.

The Passage, Justin Cronin (LARGE PRINT EDITION)

PS3553.R542 P37 2010b

An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl—and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

The Palace of Impossible Dreams, Jennifer Fallon

PR9619.4 .F35 P35 2010

The enslaved Arkady despairs of ever seeing her husband alive again and risks everything to learn the truth about her new owner; while Stellan, in asylum in Caelum, gains the support of the returning Tide Lords.

A People’s History of the United States: 1942 – Present, Howard Zinn

E178 .Z75 2003

Consistently lauded for its lively, readable prose, this revised and updated edition of A People's History of the United States turns traditional textbook history on its head. Howard Zinn infuses the often-submerged voices of blacks, women, American Indians, war resisters, and poor laborers of all nationalities into this thorough narrative that spans American history from Christopher Columbus's arrival to an afterword on the Clinton presidency.

The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett

PR6056.O45 P55 2007c

As a new age dawns in England's twelfth century, the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral sets the stage for a story of intrigue and power, revenge and betrayal.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl, Ree Drummond

TX715.2.S69 D792 2010

The Pioneer Woman Cooks is a homespun collection of photography, rural stories, and scrumptious recipes that have defined my experience in the country. I share many of the delicious cowboy-tested recipes I've learned to make during my years as an accidental ranch wife—including Rib-Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce, Lasagna, Fried Chicken, Patsy's Blackberry Cobbler, and Cinnamon Rolls—not to mention several "cowgirl-friendly" dishes, such as Sherried Tomato Soup, Olive Cheese Bread, and Crème Brûlée. I show my recipes in full color, step-by-step detail, so it's as easy as pie to follow along.

Play Dead, Ryan Brown

PS3602 .R7228 P57 2010
For the first time in Killington High School history, the Jackrabbits football team is one win away from the district championship where it will face its most vicious rival. On the way to the game, the Jackrabbits’ bus plunges into a river, killing every player except for bad-boy quarterback Cole Logan who is certain the crash was no accident. Bent on payback, Cole turns to a mysterious fan skilled in black magic to resurrect his teammates. But unless the undead Jackrabibits defeat their murderous rival on the field, the team is destined for hell. -- from publisher description.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

PS3607 R348 P753 2009

So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton — and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers — and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield.

Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear, Dan Gardner

BF575 .F2 G373 2008

A fascinating insight into the peculiar and devastating nature of human fear.

Safe Haven, Nicholas Sparks

PS3569.P363 S24 2010

When a young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her arrival raises questions about her past. She seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store; and another with her plainspoken neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, but she struggles with a dark secret that still haunts her. With Jo’s support, Katie realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards.

The Savage Detectives: A Novel, Roberto Bolaño

PQ 8098.12 038 D4813 2007

New Year’s Eve, 1975: Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, founders of the visceral realist movement in poetry, leave Mexico City in a borrowed white Impala. Their quest: To track down the obscure, vanished, poet Cesarea Tinajero. A violent showdown in the Sonora desert turns search to flight; twenty years later Belano and Lima are still on the run.

Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, A Robot Named Scorch and What It Takes to Win, Judy, Dutton

Q182.3.D875 2011

This is the engaging true story of kids competing in the high-stakes, high-drama world of international science fairs. One of the most prominent of these three fairs, the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair, brings together 1,500 high schoolers from more than 50 countries to compete for over $4 million dollars in prizes and scholarships every year. These amazing kids are doing everything from creating bionic prosthetics to conducting ground-breaking stem cell research, from training drug sniffing cockroaches to building a nuclear reactor.

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet: A Novel, Reif Larsen

PS3612.A773 S46 2009

When 12-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian, life as normal is interrupted and a wild cross-country adventure begins, taking T.S. from his family ranch to the museum. T.S. sets out alone, leaving before dawn with a plan to hop a freight train and hobo east. Once aboard, his adventures step into high gear and he meticulously maps, charts, and illustrates his exploits. We come to see the world through T.S.'s eyes and in his thorough investigation of the outside world he also reveals himself.

Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography, David Michaelis

PN6727.S3 Z788 2007

Charles Schulz, the most widely syndicated and beloved cartoonist of all time, is also one of the most misunderstood figures in American culture. Now, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis gives us the first full length biography of Schulz: at once a creation story, a portrait of a hidden American genius, and a chronicle contrasting the private man with the central role he played in shaping the national imagination.

The Scorch Trials, James Dashner

PZ7.D2587 Sc 2010

The Scorch Trials picks up where The Maze Runner left off. The Gladers have escaped the Maze, but now they face an even more treacherous challenge on the open roads of a devastated planet. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them. Can Thomas survive in such a violent world?

The Sherlockian, Graham Moore

PR6113.O5566 S54 2010

When literary researcher Harold White is inducted into the preeminent Sherlock Holmes enthusiast society, The Baker Street Irregulars, he never imagines he's about to be thrust onto the hunt for the holy grail of Holmes-ophiles: the missing diary. But when the world's leading Doylean scholar is found murdered in his hotel room, it is Harold - using wisdom and methods gleaned from countless detective stories - who takes up the search, both for the diary and for the killer.

The Sisters Brothers, Patrick DeWitt

PS3604.E923.S57 2011

Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn’t share his brother’s appetite for whiskey and killing, he’s never known anything else. But their prey isn’t an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm’s gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to questions what he does for a living – and whom he does it for.

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The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, David Brooks

HQ801 .B76 2011

This is the story of how success happens. It is told through the lives of one composite American couple, Harold and Erica—how they grow, push forward, are pulled back, fail, and succeed. Distilling a vast array of information into these two vividly realized characters, Brooks illustrates a fundamental new understanding of human nature. We have learned more about the human brain in the last thirty years than we had in the previous three thousand. This is the realm of emotions, intuitions, biases, longings, genetic predispositions, personality traits, and social norms: the realm where character is formed and where our most important life decisions are made.

Something Borrowed: A Novel, Emily Giffin

PS3607.I28 S66 2004

Meet Rachel White, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl - until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend, Darcy, throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy's fiancé. Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness.

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Mary Roach

BL535 .R63 2005

The best-selling author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers now trains her considerable wit and curiosity on the human soul. What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that’s that--the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my lap-top?" In an attempt to find out, Mary Roach brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, David Sedaris

PS3569 .E314 S68 2010

Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new illustrated collection of animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life.

Started Early, Took My Dog: A Novel, Kate Atkinson

PR6051.T56 S73 2011

Tracy Waterhouse, a retired police detective leading a quiet life, makes a snap decision to relieve habitual offender Kelly Cross of a young child he’s been dragging around town. Tracy soon learns her parental inexperience is actually the least of her problems, as much larger ones loom for her and her young charge. Meanwhile, detective Jackson Brodie embarks on a different sort of rescue--that of an abused dog. 

The Summer We Read Gatsby: A Novel, Danielle Ganek

PS3607.A45 S86 2010

A delightful comedy of manners about two sisters who must put aside their differences when they inherit a house in the Hamptons.

Surviving The Apocalypse In The Suburbs, Wendy Brown

GE196.B76 2011

In the age of peak oil, environmental catastrophe and a failing economy, it is imperitive that we transform the suburbs into sustainable communities. This guide to simplifying suburbia and adopting a lower-energy lifestyle breaks down all our basic needs and describes how they might be met after the loss of the modern conveniences we currently take for granted. From techniques for small-space gardening and raising small livestock, to tips on cooking, heating and sanitation options, and much more, this is a complete guides to becoming more self-sufficient wherever you live.

Swamplandia! A Novel, Karen Russell

PS3618.U755 S93 2011

The Bigtree alligator-wrestling dynasty is in decline, and Swamplandia!, their island home, is being encroached upon by a sophisticated competitor called the World of Darkness. Ava’s mother, the park’s headliner, has just died; her sister, Ossie, has fallen in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman; and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, who dreams of becoming a scholar, has just defected to the World of Darkness in a last-ditch effort to keep their family business from going under. Ava’s father, affectionately known as Chief Bigtree, is AWOL; and that leaves Ava, a resourceful but terrified thirteen, to manage ninety-eight gators and the vast, inscrutable landscape of her own grief.

Sweet Jiminy: A Novel, Kristin Gore

PS3607.O5965 S94 2011

In the throes of a quarter-life crisis, Jiminy Davis abruptly quits law school and flees Chicago for her grandmother Willa's farm in rural Mississippi. In search of peace and quiet, Jiminy instead stumbles upon more trouble and turmoil than she could have imagined. She is shocked to discover that there was once another Jiminy, the daughter of her grandmother's longtime housekeeper, Lyn who was murdered along with Lyn's husband four decades earlier in a civil rights era hate crime. With the help of Lyn's nephew, Bo, Jiminy sets out to solve the cold case, to the dismay of those who would prefer to let sleeping dogs lie.

Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

HB74.P8 L4797 2009

Four years in the making, SuperFreakonomics asks not only the tough questions, but the unexpected ones: What's more dangerous, driving drunk or walking drunk? Why is chemotherapy prescribed so often if it's so ineffective? Can a sex change boost your salary? SuperFreakonomics challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley

PR199.4 .B7324 S94 2009

Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, must exonerate her father of murder. Armed with more than enough knowledge to tie two distant deaths together and examine new suspects, she begins a search that will lead her all the way to the King of England himself.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, Chip & Dan Heath

BF637.C4 H43 2010

The primary obstacle is a conflict that's built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick. Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems--the rational mind and the emotional mind--that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort--but if it is overcome, change can come quickly.

This is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper

PS3570 .R5885 T47 2009

Judd Foxman’s wife, Jen, has left him for his boss, but after the death of his father and a week of sitting shivah with his enjoyably dysfunctional family presided over by their mother, a celebrated parenting expert despite her children’s difficulties, the mourning period brings each of the family members to unexpected epiphanies about their own lives and each other.

Very Bad Men: A Novel, Harry Donlan

PS3604 O424 V47 2011

Anthony Lark has drawn up a list of names – Terry Dawtrey, Sutton Bell, Henry Kormoran. To his eyes, the names glow red on the page. They move. They breathe. Dawtrey is in prison; Bell has a wife and daughter and a good job; Kormoran lives alone. They have little in common except that seventeen years ago they were involved in a notorious crime: the robbery of the Great Lakes Bank. Now Anthony Lark is hunting them, and he won’t stop until every one of them is dead. One day, the editor of Grey Streets magazine, David Loogan, and his girlfriend, Detective Elizabeth Waishkey, discover a manuscript outside his office door that begins with a deadly hook: I killed Henry Kormoran.

A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

PS3555.G292 V57 2010

Bennie Salazar, an aging punk rocker and record executive, and the beautiful Sasha, the troubled young woman he employs, never discover each other's pasts, but the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other people whose paths intersect with theirs in the course of nearly fifty years. A Visit from the Goon Squad is about time, about survival, about our private terrors, and what happens when we fail to rebound.

The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag, Alan Bradley

PR9199.4 .B7324 W44 2010
Flavia de Luce, a dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders, sets out to solve the murder of a beloved puppeteer. All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can’t solve--without Flavia’s help.

Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything, Geneen Roth

RC552.C65 R674 2010

If you suffer about your relationship with food -- you eat too much or too little, think about what you will eat constantly or try not to think about it at all -- you can be free. Just look down at your plate. The answers are there. Don't run. Look. Because when we welcome what we most want to avoid, we contact the part of ourselves that is fresh and alive. We touch the life we truly want and evoke divinity itself.

You Are Not A Gadget: A Manifesto, Jaron Lanier

HM851 .L358 2010

Lanier offers this cautionary look at the way the Web is transforming our lives, for better and for worse. The current design and function of the web have become so familiar that it is easy to forget that they grew out of programming decisions made decades ago. Lanier warns that our financial markets and sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter are elevating the "wisdom" of mobs and computer algorithms over the intelligence and judgment of individuals. This book is a deeply felt defense of the individual, from an author uniquely qualified to comment on the way technology interacts with our culture.--From publisher description.

Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book, Patton Oswalt

PN2287.O745 A3 2011

Oswalt combines memoir with uproarious humor, from snow forts to Dungeons & Dragons to gifts from Grandma that had to be explained. He remem­bers his teen summers spent working in a movie Cineplex and his early years doing stand-up. Readers are also treated to several graphic elements, includ­ing a vampire tale for the rest of us and some greeting cards with a special touch. Then there’s the book’s centerpiece, which posits that before all young creative minds have anything to write about, they will home in on one of three story lines: zom­bies, spaceships, or wastelands.