We're busy lining up interviewees for future columns and getting the podcast version of Cover to Cover ready to make its debut. It's a great time for us to take a break and offer up a selection engaging book recommendations you'll want to hibernate with. We hope you see some old favorites and make new discoveries as you read through the list.
We'll be back next month with another great interview with a local reader. Interested in participating? Contact Suzann at sholland@monroepubliclibrary.org or at 328-7010.
"Before the Fall" by Noah Hawley
On a foggy summer night, eleven people depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: The plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are Scott Burroughs - a down on his luck painter - and a 4-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family. With chapters weaving between the aftermath of the crash and the backstories of the passengers and crew members, the mystery surrounding the tragedy heightens This one is hard to put down.
"Otis Spofford" by Beverly Cleary
This lesser-known 1953 Cleary work introduces one of her most likable protagonists. There's nothing Otis likes better than stirring up a little excitement in class. He can make a science project turn out all wrong by bending the rules. Without much effort at all, he can turn a folk dance fiesta into a circus. But nothing gives Otis as much pleasure as teasing Ellen Tebbits. Then one day Otis's teasing goes a little too far. The whole class is watching, and Otis can't back down. But now Ellen Tebbits isn't just angry - she's planning something ...
"Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis" by J.D. Vance
Vance's memoir details his childhood among white working-class Americans in Kentucky's Appalachia region, and ties it into the general decline of this culture. He writes about a family tradition of poverty and low-paying, physical jobs that have since disappeared or worsened in their guarantees, and compares this life with his perspective after leaving that area and life. It's a deeply moving memoir, full of humor and vividly colorful figures. You get a sense of how upward mobility really feels and how hard it is to achieve.
"My Friend Dahmer" by Derf Backderf
In this haunting graphic novel, writer-artist Backderf creates a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a disturbed young man struggling against the morbid urges emanating from the deep recesses of his psyche - a shy kid, a teenage alcoholic, and a goofball who never quite fit in with his classmates. With profound insight, what emerges is a Jeffrey Dahmer that few ever really knew, and one readers will never forget. There are no details of his crimes here, just an idea of who Dahmer was in his youth and how there were signs of the things to come.
"How to Fight the Presidents: Defending Yourself Against the Badasses Who Ran This Country" by Daniel O'Brien
Plenty of historians can tell you which president had the most effective economic strategies, and which president helped shape our current political parties, but can any of them tell you what to do if you encounter Chester A. Arthur in a bare-knuckled boxing fight? This book will teach you how to be better, stronger, faster, and more deadly than the most powerful (and craziest) men in history. You'll be very glad you read this one.
"One Second After" by William R. Forstchen
In this apocalyptic thriller, a high-altitude nuclear bomb of uncertain origin explodes, unleashing a deadly electromagnetic pulse that instantly disables almost every electrical device in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. History professor John Matherson, who lives with his two daughters in a small North Carolina town, soon figures out what has happened. Aided by local officials, Matherson begins to deal with such long-term effects of the disaster as starvation, disease and roving gangs of barbarians.
"Travels With Charley: In Search of America" by John Steinbeck
In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America, from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases. "Travels with Charley" is animated by Steinbeck's attention to the specific details of the natural world and his sense of how the lives of people are intimately connected to the rhythms of nature - to weather, geography, the cycles of the seasons. His keen ear for the transactions among people is evident, too, as he records the interests and obsessions that preoccupy the Americans he encounters along the way.
"The Circle" by Dave Eggers
When Mae is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. Mae can't believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world - even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. This is a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.
"The Brethren" by John Grisham
They call themselves the Brethren: Three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison. They join forces to use their time in prison to get very rich - very fast. And so, they sit, sprawled in the prison library, furiously writing letters, fine-tuning a wickedly brilliant extortion scam - while events outside their prison walls begin to erupt. A bizarre presidential election is holding the nation in its grips, and a powerful government figure is pulling some very hidden strings. For the Brethren, the timing couldn't be better. Because they've just found the perfect victim.
"The Rolling Stones" by Robert A. Heinlein
This 1952 novel describes the rollicking adventures of the Stone Family on a tour of the Solar System. The twins, Castor and Pollux Stone, have decided that life on the Lunar colony is too dull and decide to buy their own spaceship and go into business for themselves. Their father thinks that is a fine, idea, except that he and Grandma Hazel buy the spaceship and the whole Stone Family is on their way out into the far reaches of the Solar System, with stops on Mars (where the twins get a lesson in the interplanetary economics of bicycles and the adorable little critters called flatcats who, it turns out, breed like rabbits; or perhaps, Tribbles....), out to the asteroids, where Mrs. Stone, an M.D., is needed to treat a dangerous outbreak of disease, even further out, to Titan and beyond.
Looking for another great read to curl up with this winter? Check out Monroe Public Library's "Most Wanted" collection, located on the library's first floor. It features popular bestsellers and other in-demand titles, available for checkout right away. These titles cannot be placed on hold or renewed, giving you the perfect opportunity to grab a coveted book while you have the chance.
- Cover to Cover is provided by the Monroe Public Library and is published the fourth Wednesday of the month.
We'll be back next month with another great interview with a local reader. Interested in participating? Contact Suzann at sholland@monroepubliclibrary.org or at 328-7010.
"Before the Fall" by Noah Hawley
On a foggy summer night, eleven people depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: The plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are Scott Burroughs - a down on his luck painter - and a 4-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family. With chapters weaving between the aftermath of the crash and the backstories of the passengers and crew members, the mystery surrounding the tragedy heightens This one is hard to put down.
"Otis Spofford" by Beverly Cleary
This lesser-known 1953 Cleary work introduces one of her most likable protagonists. There's nothing Otis likes better than stirring up a little excitement in class. He can make a science project turn out all wrong by bending the rules. Without much effort at all, he can turn a folk dance fiesta into a circus. But nothing gives Otis as much pleasure as teasing Ellen Tebbits. Then one day Otis's teasing goes a little too far. The whole class is watching, and Otis can't back down. But now Ellen Tebbits isn't just angry - she's planning something ...
"Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis" by J.D. Vance
Vance's memoir details his childhood among white working-class Americans in Kentucky's Appalachia region, and ties it into the general decline of this culture. He writes about a family tradition of poverty and low-paying, physical jobs that have since disappeared or worsened in their guarantees, and compares this life with his perspective after leaving that area and life. It's a deeply moving memoir, full of humor and vividly colorful figures. You get a sense of how upward mobility really feels and how hard it is to achieve.
"My Friend Dahmer" by Derf Backderf
In this haunting graphic novel, writer-artist Backderf creates a surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a disturbed young man struggling against the morbid urges emanating from the deep recesses of his psyche - a shy kid, a teenage alcoholic, and a goofball who never quite fit in with his classmates. With profound insight, what emerges is a Jeffrey Dahmer that few ever really knew, and one readers will never forget. There are no details of his crimes here, just an idea of who Dahmer was in his youth and how there were signs of the things to come.
"How to Fight the Presidents: Defending Yourself Against the Badasses Who Ran This Country" by Daniel O'Brien
Plenty of historians can tell you which president had the most effective economic strategies, and which president helped shape our current political parties, but can any of them tell you what to do if you encounter Chester A. Arthur in a bare-knuckled boxing fight? This book will teach you how to be better, stronger, faster, and more deadly than the most powerful (and craziest) men in history. You'll be very glad you read this one.
"One Second After" by William R. Forstchen
In this apocalyptic thriller, a high-altitude nuclear bomb of uncertain origin explodes, unleashing a deadly electromagnetic pulse that instantly disables almost every electrical device in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. History professor John Matherson, who lives with his two daughters in a small North Carolina town, soon figures out what has happened. Aided by local officials, Matherson begins to deal with such long-term effects of the disaster as starvation, disease and roving gangs of barbarians.
"Travels With Charley: In Search of America" by John Steinbeck
In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America, from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases. "Travels with Charley" is animated by Steinbeck's attention to the specific details of the natural world and his sense of how the lives of people are intimately connected to the rhythms of nature - to weather, geography, the cycles of the seasons. His keen ear for the transactions among people is evident, too, as he records the interests and obsessions that preoccupy the Americans he encounters along the way.
"The Circle" by Dave Eggers
When Mae is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. Mae can't believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world - even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. This is a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.
"The Brethren" by John Grisham
They call themselves the Brethren: Three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison. They join forces to use their time in prison to get very rich - very fast. And so, they sit, sprawled in the prison library, furiously writing letters, fine-tuning a wickedly brilliant extortion scam - while events outside their prison walls begin to erupt. A bizarre presidential election is holding the nation in its grips, and a powerful government figure is pulling some very hidden strings. For the Brethren, the timing couldn't be better. Because they've just found the perfect victim.
"The Rolling Stones" by Robert A. Heinlein
This 1952 novel describes the rollicking adventures of the Stone Family on a tour of the Solar System. The twins, Castor and Pollux Stone, have decided that life on the Lunar colony is too dull and decide to buy their own spaceship and go into business for themselves. Their father thinks that is a fine, idea, except that he and Grandma Hazel buy the spaceship and the whole Stone Family is on their way out into the far reaches of the Solar System, with stops on Mars (where the twins get a lesson in the interplanetary economics of bicycles and the adorable little critters called flatcats who, it turns out, breed like rabbits; or perhaps, Tribbles....), out to the asteroids, where Mrs. Stone, an M.D., is needed to treat a dangerous outbreak of disease, even further out, to Titan and beyond.
Looking for another great read to curl up with this winter? Check out Monroe Public Library's "Most Wanted" collection, located on the library's first floor. It features popular bestsellers and other in-demand titles, available for checkout right away. These titles cannot be placed on hold or renewed, giving you the perfect opportunity to grab a coveted book while you have the chance.
- Cover to Cover is provided by the Monroe Public Library and is published the fourth Wednesday of the month.