Books
Staff Picks
Ashley
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman: "Tale about two sisters raised by their "witch" aunts. Story follows them from childhood into adulthood, about their falling out, and their bond that eventually reunites them."
Chocolat by Joanne Harris: "A women and her daughter travel from town to town - country to country, and end up in a little French village where they open up a chocolate shop and stir up trouble in the religiously devout town."
Dan
If Dinosaurs were Alive Today: "A 'kids' book adults will find equally fascinating."
Beth
The Girls by Lori Lansens: "An engrossing story about conjoined twin sisters, told alternately from each one's (very different) point of view. ong with their friends and family, they tell a touching, often funny story of essential human truths. After finishing the book, I felt a loss at not having these sweet, tenderly, irascible, loving and brave characters in my daily life anymore!"
Catherine
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald: "Though Fitzgerald's first novel, this wryly written and perceptive character study does not disappoint. Amory's exploits and slow decent into cynicism are immensely honest, (accurate), and entertaining."
Bonk by Mary Roach: "Long a considered taboo, sex is finally becoming a subject, like many other areas of human health, which science can twist, poke, and carefully document (to the scribbling of countless grad students). Roach's writing is humorous and light while still managing to convey interesting tid bits along the way. Though much about sex remains a mystery, her research and subsequent collection are a valuable addition to the existing literature."
Savor the Stories
Lush Life
by Richard Price
Thirty-five year-old Eric Cash used to have a dozen answers whenever people asked him "So, what do you do?" But he's still working in a restaurant, serving artists, actors and screenwriters - people he had always wanted to be. Ike Marcus, on the other hand, was young good-looking and going places - until two kids stepped up to him and Eric one night and pulled a gun. On the surface, New York might have a shiny new veneer, but Richard Price shows us the hidden cracks, the underground networks of control and violence beneath the glamour in his latest novel.
Unaccustomed Earth
by Jhumpa Lahiri
Pulitzer Prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri has crafted eight stores that take us from Cambridge and Seattle to India and Thailand as they enter the lives of sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, friends and lovers. She write about special bonds within a family, dark series, life, death love and fate. The stories are rich with Lahiri's signature gifts: exquisite prose, emotional wisdom, and subtle characterizations of the most intricate workings of the heart and mind.
Sepulchre
by Kate Mosse
Love. Obsession. Revenge. What more could you ask for from Kate Mosse, bestselling author of Labyrinth? Set in a sleepy mountain town in southwest France, Sepulchre weaves the lives of two women together, more than 100 years apart.
