Title: 

Author:  Victor Gischler

Call #:  GIS

Do you like girls with guns? How about civilization getting blasted to smithereens? A divorced insurance salesman survives the end of the world by hiding in a cave.  When he emerges he finds little left that is worthwhile except a chain of strip clubs run by Joey Armageddon and his well-armed strippers. He teams up with some lethal company and heads out in search of the Lost City of Atlanta.

Recommended by:  John

Title:

Editor:  Sara Paretsky

Call #:  M SIS

In 1986, a group of women met to discuss the unique challenges they faced as women crime writers, and subsequently founded Sisters in Crime, an organization that has grown to nearly 4,000 members. To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Sara Paretsky assembled this collection of 20 short stories written by the founding members. Look for Paretsky’s own story featuring 11-year-old Victoria Warshawsky.

Recommended by:  Bobbie

Title: 

Author:  Brady Udall

Call #:  UDA

Edgar is a half-apache, half white child whose life the reader enters when his head is crushed under the wheel of the mailman’s truck.  After a miracle recovery, Edgar is abandoned by his family and begins a remarkable journey. This is an uplifting and inspiring story of a truly unique and lovable protagonist. Fans of John Irving will love this novel.

Recommended by:  Becky

Title: 

Author:  Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Call #:  SAI

I think everybody should read this book at least once. It’s deceptively simple, but it has a beautiful and profound message. Friendship can triumph over death, and it is possible to recover the sweetness of childhood if you really try.

Recommended by:  Betty

Title:

Author:  Joyce Carol Oates

Call #:  B OAT

Acclaimed writer Oates has written a touching and thoughtful book to the memory of her husband of 47 years Ray Smith who died in 2008 of an infection he received in the hospital while being treated for pneumonia.  With honesty and deep affection, Oates describes the personal devastation she endured with her husband’s passing and how since then she has lived what she calls her “posthumous life.”  Constant thoughts of suicide, fear of addiction to prescribed medications and regrets of things both done and not done while her husband was alive haunt her throughout the book.  Agonizing that perhaps she never really knew her husband well, she comes across an unfinished manuscript he had worked on for years and by reading it she discovers several factors in his young life that leads her to a better understanding of the man he became.

Recommended by:  Mike

Title:

Author:  Dana Spiotta

Call #:  SPI

Nik Worth is an eccentric musician with a huge catalog of recordings but little success.  Yet he has created an alternate life history for himself, complete with newspaper clippings, reviews and album covers.  Nik’s sister Denise is his most loyal listener and the narrator of the story.  Not only is this a realistic portrait of a sibling relationship but a unique look at outsider art and maintaining your artistic identity in the face of a fame obsessed society.

Recommended by:  Kathy

Title:

Author:  Deborah Coonts

Call #:  M COO

When casino employee Lyda Sue falls from a helicopter and lands in the pirate lagoon during the 8:30 p.m. show, Lucky O’Toole, head of customer relations at the Babylon casino in Las Vegas, is certain it was not a suicide. Although the police are involved, she starts her own investigation along with the owner of the Babylon, who is affectionately known as the “Big Boss”. A laugh-out-loud funny mystery with quirky characters and a good plot.

Recommended by:  Sharon

Title: 

Author:  John Burdett

Call #:  BUR

The torn up corpse of a CIA agent is found in a bad area of Bangkok. The prime suspect is a prostitute named Chanya who works at a club owned by a local police colonel. When tipped off, the colonel quickly concocts a cover-up that involves Al Qaeda and Thailand’s southern border. The truth is in reach but only for those willing to dig through the drug dealers, bad cops and criminals of the city.

Recommended by:  John

Title: 

Author:  Will North

Call #:  NOR

American writer Alec Hudson returns to Wales a year after the death of his wife in order to honor her request that he climb the same mountain they had climbed many years before and scatter her ashes from its top. While waiting for the weather to clear, he stays at a local bed-and-breakfast, where he finds himself attracted to its owner by a shared history of loss and longing. A sweet, romantic story of loss and grief and the ways strangers touch our lives.

Recommended by:  Bobbie

Title:

Author:  Steven Millhauser

Call #:  MIL

Millhauser is a master of the macabre short story and this collection is a great introduction to his work. One story tells of a miniaturist, working for an ancient king, who recreates replicas of the castle and its furniture so small that he ends up in madness working in the realm of the invisible. Another imagines a community who worked for generations to build a tower that could reach heaven. Millhauser loves writing short stories, and his adoration for the form shines through in this collection. It is simply fun to read.

Recommended by:  Becky