By popular demand, the library staff and friends have compiled a list of recommended summer reads.
1. American Tabloid
James Ellroy
PS3555.L6274 A8 1995
“A visceral, dizzying, tightly plotted novel unfolds on a much wider stage, delivering a compelling and detailed view of America from the late 1950s to the assassination of JFK. Demythologizing the Camelot years in a prose style to die for, James Ellroy depicts a nexus of renegade government agencies, mobsters, industrial tycoons and Hollywood players fueling the rise and fall of the Kennedy administration. The holy grail of grateful readers and conspiracy theorists alike!”
2. The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein
PS3569.T3655 A88 2008
Narrated by Enzo, the family dog, during his final hours, Stein’s novel is truly unique. In a voice that is both poignant and humorous, Enzo tells his family’s story, from his first days with Denny to the death of Denny’s wife and the custody struggle that ensues afterward. The Art of Racing in the Rain is a memorable novel that is not to be missed.
3. Big Stone Gap
Adriana Trigiani
PS3570 .R459 B54 2001
A Cinderella story begins when the 35 year old spinster and town pharmacist discovers a life changing “skeleton” in her family’s closet. There is also a great character in the local librarian who drives the bookmobile.
4. Deadly Kin
Tom Eslick
PS3605 .S57 D43 2003
Local NH author Tom Eslick sets his mysteries in the White Mountains. The main character Will Buchanan is a high school teacher and outdoorsman.
5. Fever Dream
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
PS3566.R3982 F48 2010
Authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child write mysteries featuring Special Agent Pendergast, a brilliant, crime solving FBI agent. In Fever Dream, Agent Pendergast learns that his wife Helen, who died in a violent incident, was murdered and he sets out to discover who was behind her death.
6. Little Princes
Conor Grennan
HV1285.9 .G74 2010
Grennan shares with readers his struggle to open an orphanage in Nepal. What at first began as a whim becomes Grennan’s life mission as he learns more about the orphans, their struggles, and the lasting effects of Nepali Civil War.
7. Red Mutiny
Neal Bascomb
DK264 .B37 2007
Red Muntiny is a quick read and, despite its non-fiction status, its form is similar to that of a novel. Bascomb introduces the sailors and explains their dream of the entire squadron joining them in a rebellion against their oppressive lives. In addition to examining how the mutiny affected tensions in the Black Sea, it also touches upon the subsequent global ramifications for a weakened Russian Empire and delves into the social and economic issues that led to the mutiny.
8. A Soldier of the Great War
Mark Helprin
PS3558.E4775 S65 1990 (or 1996)
“Helprin's dramatic, sweeping narrative focuses on one man's experiences during a turbulent period of history. In summer 1964, a distinguished-looking gentleman in his seventies dismounts on principle from a streetcar that was to carry him from Rome to a distant village, instead accompanying on foot a boy denied a fare. As they walk, he tells the boy the story of his life.”
9. A Walk in the Woods
Bill Bryson
F106 .B92 1998
Humor writer Bill Bryson details his journey of discovery as he struggles to hike from one end of the 2,100 mile Appalachian Trail to the other. In his typical humorous style he recounts his fear of bears sniffing out his Snickers bars, discovering how out of shake he really is, the antics of his belligerent, overweight hiking partner, and learning to poop in the woods (don't worry, no graphic details there).
10. Water for Elephants
Sara Gruen
PS367.R696 W38 2007
Water for Elephants will keep you at the edge of your seat from the first page to the last. This circus adventure will make you gasp, cry, cheer, and laugh as you are immersed into the story of the profoundly beautiful love someone can have for an animal. Sara Gruen is sensational.
