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Month: December 2021

Back in the Saddle (Read a western)

Read a western – and your options are as wide as the landscape in which they are set! Re-visit a classic western. Or perhaps a romance or mystery? Weird western? (Yes, that is a real sub-genre). Whether you prefer contemporary or historical, the western genre is known for its strong settings and stirring adventures so grab your cowboy hat and join the ride!

True Grit by Charles Portis

This classic western is so good it has been adapted into two award-winning films. A young Mattie Ross wants justice for her father’s murder so she turns to the grizzled and gritty Marshal Rooster Cogburn for help. Told from Mattie’s point-of-view, this adventure is a hit with both western uber-fans as well as the non-western readers.

Book / eBook / Audio eBook

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

A National Book Award finalist for fiction, this story is set in 1870 and follows the travels of an elderly widower who visits different towns to read news stories to those who will pay him. When he is offered money to deliver a young orphan girl to her Texas relatives, the duo begins a 400-mile journey through unfriendly territory. They forge an unexpected bond and help each other along the way.

Book / eBook / Audio eBook

Ridgeline by Michael Punke

Historical fiction is at its best in this recounting of the 1866 Fetterman Massacre. Set in the Wyoming frontier, Punke does a brilliant job of bringing to life the varied perspectives and motives of all those involved – from Colonel Carrington and his cavalry, to Captain Fetterman and his new bride, to Crazy Horse and his men, to Kit Carson, and many others. Rich in historical details, strong setting, and plenty of action, readers will be immersed in this fascinating piece of western history.

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The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin

On several “best of 2021” lists, this novel reimagines the classic Western through the eyes of a Chinese American assassin on a quest to rescue his kidnapped wife. If you enjoy the atmospheric westerns of Cormac McCarthy then you’ll want to giddy-up and grab this new book.

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Straight Outta Deadwood edited by David Boop

A perfect example of the Weird Western sub-genre is this collection of short stories set in the wild West – with a twist. Featuring elements of horror, science fiction, or fantasy these varied authors (such as Stephen Graham Jones and Charlaine Harris) offer a different, yet familiar, look at the Western genre.

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Calder Brand by Janet Dailey

Is romance more your thing? Fan favorite Janet Dailey has several romance series set in the West, including her new spin-off series, starting with Calder Brand. This follows the story of ambitious Joe Dollarhide as he builds a large cattle ranch. Then Sarah rides back into his life…with a surprise.

Book / eBook

Antler Dust by Mark Stevens

Prefer a quick-paced, contemporary mystery? Set in the Rocky Mountains, this first book in a popular series introduces readers to hunting guide Allison Coil as she tracks a violent threat. Colorado author Mark Stevens has created a strong female character, a suspenseful plot, and a beautiful but dangerous Western landscape.

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Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

If you’ve not yet read this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic (or you want to re-read it) maybe now is the time! Appealing to a wide range of readers, this sweeping epic is loaded with friendship, humor, danger, cattle drives, love, and braving Western weather and wilderness. Come for the adventure and stay for the colorful and heartwarming characters!

Book / eBook

Paradise Sky by Joe R. Lansdale

Lansdale’s popular story of Nat Love, an African-American cowboy whose marksmanship and charm made him a legend. This novel highlights his adventures that take him West to become a Buffalo Soldier in Deadwood and befriending Wild Bill Hickok. Critics describe this as “Rowdy, funny, suspenseful.”

Book / eBook

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

How about some literary fiction? This novel won the National Book Award and will transport you to the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. Here you will journey with a boy on the cusp of manhood as he seeks justice. Erdrich is known for her ability to showcase Native-American culture in realistic and tender ways – and all her novels continue to win high praise and awards.

Book / eBook / Audio eBook

Just Add Water (Read a novel centered on water scarcity)

Water is vital for all life. So what happens when water is scarce? Read about the conflicts this scarcity creates in a variety of times and places, realistic or fantastic.

After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang

They were fire and terror to the Western world, while in the East the dragons brought life-giving rain. Now, no longer hailed as gods and struggling in the overheated pollution of Beijing, only the Eastern species survives. As drought plagues the aquatic dragons, a mysterious disease—shaolong, or “burnt lung”—afflicts the city’s human inhabitants.

Book 

Dry by Neal Shusterman & Jarrod Shusterman

A lengthy California drought—or the “Tap-Out,” as everyone calls it—escalates to catastrophic proportions, turning Alyssa’s quiet suburban street into a warzone, and she is forced to make impossible choices if she and her brother are to survive.

Book / Audiobook

The Dry by Jane Harper

After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his Australian hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Amid the worst drought in a century, as Falk and the local detective investigate to see if there’s more to Luke’s death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface.

Book / Large Print / eBook / Audiobook / Audio eBook

Dune by Frank Herbert

The best-selling science fiction novel of all time, Dune introduces the desert planet Arrakis, home to giant sandworms and the only source of the mind-expanding spice “melange,” crucial for space navigation.

Book / eBook / Audiobook / Audio eBook

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

Texas, 1934. The Great Depression, the Dust Bowl. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and livelihoods as the crops fail, the water dries up, and dust threatens to bury them all. In this uncertain time, Elsa Martinelli must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life.

Book / Large Print / eBook / Audiobook / Audio eBook

God Shot by Chelsea Bieker

Drought has settled on the town of Peaches, California, where 14-year-old Lacey May and her alcoholic mother once lived in an agricultural paradise. Now it’s an environmental disaster, a place of cracked earth and barren raisin farms. In their desperation, residents have turned to a cult leader named Pastor Vern who promises, through secret “assignments,” to bring the rain everybody is praying for.

Book / eBook

Hope on the Plains by Linda Byler

Hannah, a feisty young Amish woman, has resettled in North Dakota with her family. Just as the local Amish community begins to thrive, though, a terrible drought befalls the Plains and devastates the community. Should Hannah leave North Dakota—and a budding romance—and return to Lancaster, Pennsylvania?

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Inland by Téa Obreht

In the lawless, drought-ridden lands of the Arizona Territory in 1893, two extraordinary lives collide. Nora is an unflinching frontierswoman, alone in a house abandoned by her husband, who has gone in search of water for the parched household. Lurie is the son of a dead dockworker, a former outlaw, and a man haunted by ghosts. The way in which Nora and Lurie’s stories intertwine is the surprise and suspense of this brilliant novel.

Book / Large Print / Audiobook

L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón

In this fun, fast-paced novel, Los Angeles is dry as a bone. All Oscar, the weather-obsessed patriarch of the Alvarado family, desperately wants is a little rain. His wife, Keila, desperate for a life with a little more intimacy and a little less Weather Channel, feels she has no choice but to end their marriage. Their three successful daughters are blindsided and left questioning everything they know. Each will have to take a critical look at her own relationships and make some tough decisions along the way.

Book / Large Print

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

The states of the American Southwest skirmish for dwindling shares of the Colorado River. Into the fray steps Angel Velasquez, detective, leg-breaker, assassin, and spy. A Las Vegas water knife, Angel “cuts” water for his boss, Catherine Case, ensuring that her luxurious developments can bloom in the desert, so the rich can stay wet, while the poor get nothing but dust.

Book / Large Print / eBook / Audiobook

As Seen on Netflix (Read a book that was adapted for Netflix)

Netflix says they’re “always looking to help you find your next favorite story.” It could be argued that they find a lot of those stories in the library! Here are some excellent reads that have been adapted as movies or series on Netflix.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

It’s 1843 and Grace Marks is serving a life sentence for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Grace claims to have no memory of the murders. A pioneering doctor of mental health attempts to bring Grace closer to the day she cannot remember.

Book / Large Print / eBook

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

In this cyberpunk novel, humans are virtually immortal. The cortical stacks in their spinal columns can store their consciousness indefinitely, then be “resleeved” into a new body. Simple in theory, but it gets a lot messier in practice.

Book / Audio eBook

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Anne Shirley (Anne with an “E”), an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.

Book / eBook / Audiobook / Audio eBook

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

The first in the Bridgerton series of romantic novels introduces us to Daphne Bridgerton and her family as they maneuver the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London. And yes, there is a duke—Simon Bassett, the Duke of Hastings, who has declared himself unmarriageable.

Book / Large Print

The Last Thing We Wanted by Joan Didion

A woman journalist quits her job on a Washington newspaper to look after her father, living on a Caribbean island where he smuggles guns to rebels in Central America. When he falls sick, she takes over, entering this world of conspiracies, arms dealing, and assassinations.

Book

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

In this prize-winning novel, prejudice takes many forms, both subtle and brutal. It is 1946, and city-bred Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband’s Mississippi Delta farm—a place she finds foreign and frightening. In the midst of the family’s struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land: one is Laura’s white brother-in-law, and the other is a black war hero and son of a sharecropper.

Book / Large Print / eBook

The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis

Engaging and fast-paced, this gripping coming-of-age novel of chess, feminism, and addiction speeds to a conclusion as elegant and satisfying as a mate in four. Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. As her senses grow sharper and clearer, for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. But on the professional chess circuit, control is harder to maintain. 

Book

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…” With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead, but not forgotten.

Book / Large Print / Audiobook

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once? Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps the love letters she’s written to every boy she’s ever loved—five in all—in a hatbox her mother gave her. These secret letters are for her eyes only—until the day the letters are mailed, and Lara Jean’s love life suddenly goes from imaginary to out of control.

Book / eBook / Audiobook / Audio eBook

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, Balram tells the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in modern India, having nothing but his own wits to help him along. Winner of the Booker Prize.

Book / Audio eBook

The Novel’s the Thing (Read a book inspired by Shakespeare)

Since they were first produced, Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted into many dramatic forms: opera, ballet, musicals, and other plays. But they’ve also served as inspiration for some cleverly entertaining novels by some of our modern literary masters.

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

Kate Battista feels stuck. How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and haughty, pretty younger sister Bunny? Plus, she’s always in trouble at work—her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don’t always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner. Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler brings us an inspired, witty, and irresistible contemporary take on The Taming of the Shrew.

Book / eBook / Audiobook / Audio eBook

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

This heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1926 Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper, and Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns–and grudges–aside and work together.

Book / eBook / Audio eBook

Shylock Is My Name by Howard Jacobson

In this provocative and profound interpretation of The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is juxtaposed against his present-day counterpart in the character of art dealer and conflicted father Simon Strulovitch. With characteristic irony, Jacobson presents Shylock as a man of incisive wit and passion, concerned still with questions of identity, parenthood, anti-Semitism and revenge.

Book

Speak Easy Speak Love by McKelle George

This retelling of Much Ado About Nothing is set during a Prohibition-era summer of romantic misunderstandings and dangerous deals. After she gets kicked out of boarding school, 17-year-old Beatrice goes to her uncle’s estate on Long Island, where her cousin, Hero, runs a struggling speakeasy out of the basement. Their lives intertwine with those of Prince, a young man determined to prove his worth; his brother, John, a dark and dangerous mobster; and Benedick, a handsome trust-fund kid trying to become a writer.

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Nutshell by Ian McEwan

Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She’s still in the marital home—a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse—but John’s not here. Instead, she’s with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy’s womb. A retelling of Hamlet from a rather unusual perspective, Nutshell is a classic story of murder and deceit from one of the world’s master storytellers.

Book / Large Print / eBook / Audiobook

New Boy by Tracy Chevalier

Tracy Chevalier brings Othello—a harrowing drama of jealousy and revenge—to a 1970s-era elementary school playground. Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, diplomat’s son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day—so he’s lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular girl in school. But one student can’t stand to witness this budding relationship: Ian decides to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl.

Book / Large Print

Dunbar by Edward St. Aubyn

A scathing take on King Lear, this is the story of Henry Dunbar, once the all-powerful head of a global media corporation. In his dotage he hands over care of the corporation to his two eldest daughters, Abby and Megan, but as relations sour he starts to doubt the wisdom of past decisions. Now imprisoned in Meadowmeade, an upscale sanatorium in rural England, with only a demented alcoholic comedian as company, Dunbar starts planning his escape.

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Macbeth by Jo Nesbø

In a run-down, industrial town in the 1970s, a police force struggles to shed an incessant drug problem. Duncan, the chief of police, is idealistic and visionary, a dream to the townspeople, but a nightmare for criminals. Hecate, a drug lord, has connections with the highest in power, and his plot hinges on steadily, insidiously manipulating Inspector Macbeth: the head of SWAT and a man already susceptible to violent and paranoid tendencies.

Book / Large Print / Audiobook

The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson

A modern retelling of The Winter’s Tale moves from London after the 2008 financial crisis to the storm-ravaged American city of New Bohemia, in a story of the destructive effect of jealousy and the redemptive power of love.

Book / eBook

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood

As artistic director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival, Felix is staging a production of The Tempest like no other: not only will it boost his reputation, it will also heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. And brewing revenge.

Book / eBook / Audiobook

Manga What? (Read manga)

What is Manga anyways? Simply put, they are comics from Japan. They cover a wide variety of genres and are not just for children! These stories cover many different subjects like growing up, epic sagas, intense angst, and relationships. Anything you like in “traditional” novels, can also be found in manga! This list covers a little bit of everything. Check some out to see if it’s for you!

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

In alchemy, an equal cost must always be paid. Edward and Alphonse Elric paid the price when they failed to heed this rule. Ultimately a story about the unbreakable bond of brotherhood, they work to correct their mistake and fight against those who would continue to use alchemy for evil.

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Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura

Set during the time of the Viking invasions of England, this historical fiction saga is absolutely packed with adventure and action. It also has its share of political intrigue and human drama.

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Emma by Kaoru Mori

Set in Victorian England, this manga follows the story and romance of Emma, a governess, and William, son of a wealthy businessman. If you’re drawn to historical romance, this might be a good one to start with!

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Orange by Ichigo Takano

What would happen if you received a letter from your future self? High school student Naho is put in this situation and is given directions to help prevent a terrible occurrence. This romance manga will pull at your heartstrings.

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The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai

There’s a mystery surrounding the orphanage where it seems that the children have an ideal life with a loving caretaker. However, all is not as it seems and a nefarious purpose for the orphanage is uncovered by some of its brightest residents.

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A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima

How can someone make up for their past mistakes? Shoya bullied Shoko, a deaf girl in his class, in elementary school. When they are reunited in high school, can he make it up to her?

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Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma

An example of a slice of life manga, Yotsuba&! depicts the everyday life of a 5 year-old and how she interacts with the world. While there is no consistent plot continuity, each individual story includes a sense of adventure as Yotsuba discovers the world around her.

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Demon Slayer by Koyoharu Gotouge

A demon attack leaves a boy’s family dead and his sister transformed. Seeking revenge and a way to return his sister to normal, Tanjiro meets up with others in order to become a demon slayer.

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Lone Wolf & Cub by Kazuo Koike

A classic samurai tale, the story is told episodically to create an overall story of a disgraced samurai-turned-assassin working towards revenge while carting his 3 year old son around with him.

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Princess Jellyfish by Akiko Higashimura

Awkward and geeky, Tsukimi has an intense fascination with jellyfish. She lives in an apartment building with other geeky women who have formed a sisterhood together. This manga covers topics of friendship, gender, and relationships.

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Young and Mysterious (Read a YA mystery)

What are the common mystery motifs you can think of? A main character with keen observation skills, magnifying glasses, and bloodhounds perhaps? Young Adult or YA fiction is often driven by emotions, and their mysteries are no exception. If you’re feeling mysterious and want to know what the youths are reading, check out this list of YA mysteries! The who and the how may be easy to solve, but the why may throw you for a ringer.

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Want something based on the classics? Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson are the great-great-great grandchildren of the infamous Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. After meeting at a Connecticut boarding school, the two team up after a student ends up dead and they’re the initial suspects. The two take the case into their own hands, and from there this dynamic duo falls into an explosive mystery.

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This Is My America by Kim Johnson

After her father was convicted and sentenced to death, Tracey spends a lot of time writing to an organization which advocates for the wrongly imprisoned. When murder accusations against her brother are started by the county sheriff, she follows clues that uncover the hidden, and racist, history of her town.

Book / eBook

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Ellingham Academy in Vermont is a school for the brightest of children, whether they be thinkers, inventors, or artists. It’s also home to an infamous unsolved missing persons case. In comes Stevie, a bright student who’s motivated to solve this case once and for all. This book has a large cast of characters to eliminate and lots of puzzles to solve. Pick it up and solve them alongside Stevie.

Book / eBook

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

Looking for a historical mystery? Well, stop looking. In this gritty gothic murder mystery, Audrey, a coroner’s niece, investigates a string of gruesome murders in Victorian London. She’s aided by her uncle’s assistant, who might be an interesting beau for Audrey. Follow the two through plot twists and a steamy romance.

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Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

Summer’s body was found viciously murdered, left as a sacrifice to someone or something. Mia and Brynn, her two best friends, immediately come under scrutiny for the murder due to an obsession over a novel. On the anniversary of their friend’s death, a discovery leads them down a path to find Summer’s killer and what happened that fateful night.

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The Amateurs by Sara Shepard

18-year-old Seneca is obsessed with a website dedicated to unsolved cold cases. She’s especially drawn to the case of a rich girl who was discovered murdered five years ago. Teaming up with friends from this website, Maddy, Brett, and the murdered girl’s sister, the four set out to uncover clues.

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Think Locally (Read a book about Northern Colorado)

We live in a beautiful and fascinating part of the country. How much do you know about your local history? The people, the places, the struggles and victories of Northern Colorado can be an enlightening way to appreciate this diverse and wonderful place we call home. Dig in!

Weld County by John Fielder & Peggy Ford Waldo

Colorado’s favorite photographer has focused his lens on Weld County in his newest book. His beautiful pictures of the ranches, plains, wildlife, and towns of Weld County is accompanied by the historical text of the late, great Greeley historian, Peggy Ford Waldo.

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White Gold Laborers by Jody Lopez & Gabriel Lopez

This book offers a social and cultural history of the men, women, and children who worked the sugar beet farms and lived in the Spanish Colony north of Greeley. Thousands living today in different parts of our country can vividly and intimately relate to the history presented here.

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Good Time Girls of Colorado by Jan MacKell Collins

An integral part of western history, the stories of these women continue to fascinate readers and captivate the minds of historians today. Whether escaping a bad home life, lured by false advertising, or seeking to subsidize their income, thousands of women chose (or were forced) to enter prostitution where they faced segregation and persecution, fines and jailing, and battled the hazards of their profession.

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Confluence: The Story of Greeley Water by Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr. & Michael Welsh

This engaging book covers 150 years of water history, which began with a single irrigation ditch in 1870. Today, this system provides award-winning water to over 140,000 people. Meet the heroes who helped create, protect, and maintain this precious resource.

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A Brief History of Erie Colorado by James B. Stull

Did you know that from 1866 until 1979 Erie was one of the largest coal-producing towns in the nation? Emeritus Professor James B. Stull illuminates Erie’s earliest pioneers, houses, schools and churches and the town’s enduring evolution.

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People of the Red Earth by Sally Crum

Lavishly illustrated with maps, drawings, and historic photographs, this accessible history offers an overview of the earliest peoples and tribes of Colorado.

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Remembering Lucile by Polly E. Bugros McLean

In 1918 Lucile received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, becoming the first female African American graduate. The first-born daughter of emancipated slaves, her story is inspiring and offers a unique blend of feminist historiography as well a glimpse into major events in African American history and culture in Colorado.

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Haunted Hotels of Northern Colorado by Nancy K. Williams

Perhaps you like a little creepiness in your reading? This book highlights wispy apparitions and ghostly tales from the famous Stanley Hotel to Hotel Jerome and many others. You’ll want to read this with all the lights on!

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Bears in the Backyard by Rebecca Safarik and others

Written by a team of local history experts, this book explores the special neighborhood in and around the University of Northern Colorado. They examine how a community of determined settlers on the Colorado High Plains secured one of Colorado’s first colleges.

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Rocky Mountain National Park: The First Hundred Years by Mary Taylor Young

Yes, RMNP is a beautiful mountain escape for those of us living on the plains. It is also rich in history as detailed here in this exquisitely illustrated book. Journey back to meet the ancient settlers, Utes and Arapaho, as well as the pioneers and explorers who roamed this harsh and wonderful landscape. Meet the engineers who created the famous Trail Ridge Road. Learn about the conservation efforts to protect the land and wildlife.

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Shortreads (Read a book under 150 pages)

Reading in winter may bring to mind images of big, weighty books: classics or complex novels you can really sink into. But it doesn’t have to be like that! Celebrate the long, crisp nights with short, impactful reads. Each of the books on this list clocks in at under 150 pages.

I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land by Connie Willis

86 pages. Science fiction Grand Master and Greeley resident Connie Willis explores nostalgia and our connection to books in this slim story that packs a witty punch.

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Resume Speed by Lawrence Block

97 pages. A man on the run takes a diner job and a new name in a small Montana town, determined to start fresh. The problem is, he’s wanted for murder and can’t even be sure he isn’t guilty – because he was blackout drunk when it happened.

Book / eBook

The Death of Murat Idrissi by Tommy Wifringa

102 pages. Short books can still be weighty, as you’ll find in this compelling literary thriller. Two Dutch daughters of Moroccan immigrants take a road trip to their parents’ homeland, only to get drawn into the plight of a poor family and discover (with tragic consequences) that they’re just as foreign in Morocco as they are at home.

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Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw

107 pages. Private detective John Persons has been hired by a ten-year-old to kill his abusive stepdad. Turns out, stepdad is not only cruel and abrasive, he’s also a monster infected by an alien presence. And it’s spreading.

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The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

110 pages. This book proves that you can get even classic literature in pint-sized packages. Esperanza Cordero is growing up in Chicago, and through small stories and poems we see the joys and deep challenges of her life.

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Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

111 pages. Movie buffs will recognize this story, which inspired the Academy Award-nominated film The Shawshank Redemption. It’s a powerful and moving tale about injustice, friendship, and a prison escape.

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Death of a Telenovela Star by Teresa Dovalpage

118 pages. Fans of light mysteries take note! A former Havana police detective goes on a Caribbean cruise with her niece, only to be confronted with the unsettling, and unsettlingly handsome, telenovela star Carloalberto. When a murder occurs onboard, her experience as a detective comes in handy.

Book / Audio eBook

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson

119 pages. Every time Molly Southbourne bleeds, another identical molly is born with the sole motivation of destroying her creator. Molly lives her life on the run, with all the knowledge she needs to get rid of the other mollys, but she has a feeling it’s only a matter of time…

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The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

121 pages. In this rich fantasy novella inspired by Imperial China, a young woman is trapped in a royal arranged marriage. Kept isolated in a summer home, she is nevertheless determined to retake her own power.

Book / Audio eBook

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

128 pages. Who doesn’t love a bookmobile? In this tiny treasure, we learn that even the British Queen is charmed (and liberated) by the mobile library and all the books inside. This is a quirky pick that’s perfect for book and library lovers.

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Strangely Southern (Read a Southern Gothic book)

In Southern Gothic fiction you can find irrational, horrific, and transgressive thoughts, desires, and impulses, grotesque characters, dark humor, and an overall angst-ridden sense of alienation. All uniquely rooted in the South’s tensions and aberrations.

Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner

The epic tale of Thomas Sutpen, an enigmatic stranger who comes to Jefferson, Mississippi, in the early 1830s to wrest his mansion out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi wilderness.

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Beloved by Toni Morrison

Sethe, an escaped slave who has lost a husband and child, now lives in a small house on the edge of town with her daughter, Denver, her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, and a disturbing, mesmerizing apparition who calls herself Beloved.

Book / Large Print / eBook / Audio eBook

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to each other across time and distance. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience.

Book / eBook / Audiobook

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

The story of a deaf man living in a small Georgia mill town and the people he encounters: a daydreaming teen, an alcoholic labor agitator, the local diner owner, and an African-American physician.

Book / eBook

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy

Cornelius Suttree has forsaken a life of privilege with his prominent family to live in a dilapidated houseboat near Knoxville, Tennessee. Living on the margins of the outcast community there—a collection of eccentrics, criminals, and squatters—he rises above the squalor with detachment, humor, and dignity.

Book / eBook / Audiobook

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Returning to her hometown after an eight-year absence and a short stay at a psychiatric hospital to investigate the murders of two girls, reporter Camille Preaker is reunited with her neurotic mother and enigmatic, 13-year-old half-sister as she works to uncover the truth about the killings.

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Soil by Jamie Kornegay

A darkly comic debut novel by an independent bookseller about an idealistic young farmer who moves his family to a Mississippi flood basin, suffers financial ruin–and becomes increasingly paranoid he’s being framed for murder.

Book

The Toll by Cherie Priest

Titus and Melanie are on their way to honeymoon in the Okefenokee Swamp. But before they can reach their destination, the road narrows into a rickety one-lane bridge. Much later, Titus wakes up lying in the middle of the road with no bridge—and no Melanie—in sight.

Book

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, this gothic thriller set in Birmingham, Alabama, flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried.

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Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor

This haunting tale of redemption, retribution, false prophets, blindings, and wisdom gives us one of the most riveting characters in American fiction: Hazel Motes.

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Funny Ha-Ha (Read a Thurber Prize winner)

The Thurber Prize for American Humor is named after American humorist James Thurber and awarded by Thurber House for outstanding humor writing. Winning works include novels, essays, and memoirs, but they’re all good for a laugh!

What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker by Damon Young

A provocative and humorous memoir-in-essays that explores the ever-shifting definitions of what it means to be Black (and male) in America.

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Hits & Misses by Simon Rich

A hilarious collection inspired by a former Saturday Night Live writer’s real experiences in Hollywood, chronicling the absurdity of fame and the humanity of failure in a world dominated by social media influencers and reality TV stars.

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Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

The memoir of a priest’s daughter. Father Greg Lockwood lounges in boxer shorts, loves action movies, and jams on the guitar, while his daughter is an irreverent poet who long ago left the Church’s country.

Book

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting.

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Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

This droll and inventive novel tells the tale of a beleaguered English professor through a series of recommendation letters he is endlessly called upon to produce, each which is a small masterpiece of high dudgeon, low spirits, and passive-aggressive strategies.

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Half Empty by David Rakoff

In this deeply smart and sneakily poignant collection of essays, Rakoff makes an inspired case for always assuming the worst—because then you’ll never be disappointed.

Book

I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle

What happens when the captain of the debate team uses his high school graduation speech to proclaim his love for the head cheerleader who barely knows he exists? An exhilarating and enduring graduation night adventure!

Book

America: The Book by Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart and the writers of The Daily Show offer their insights into our unique system of government, dissecting its institutions, explaining its history and processes, and exploring why concepts like “one man, one vote,” “government by the people,” and “every vote counts” have become urban myths.

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No Way to Treat a First Lady by Christopher Buckley

Elizabeth Tyler MacMann, the First Lady of the United States, has been charged with killing her philandering husband, the POTUS. In the midst of a spat, she allegedly hurled a historic Paul Revere spittoon at him, with tragic results. And so the attorney general is forced to put the First Lady on trial for assassination.

Book

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

In this collection of essays, David Sedaris tells a most unconventional life story, from his North Carolina childhood to his eventual move to Paris, where he is seemingly incapable of speaking the language. Whether describing the Easter bunny to puzzled classmates or watching a group of men play soccer with a cow, Sedaris brings a view and a voice like no other to every unforgettable encounter.

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