Monterey County Free Libraries

	The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (also of interest to Teens) Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. To order a bag use a request form.
	American Gods: a novel by Neil Gaiman available today Shadow is a man with a past. But now he wants nothing more than to live a quiet life with his wife and stay out of trouble. Until he learns that she's been killed in a terrible accident. Flying home for the funeral, as a violent storm rocks the plane, a strange man in the seat next to him introduces himself. The man calls himself Mr. Wednesday, and he knows more about Shadow than is possible. He warns Shadow that a far bigger storm is coming. And from that moment on, nothing will ever he the same... A delight for horror and fantasy lovers. Bram Stoker Award for Best Horror Novel Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel. To order a bag use a request form.
	Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner Susan and her engineer husband live rough lives in mining camps during the late 19th century, and their marriage cannot survive... The book covers four generations of Americans living in the West and tells the story of America's own rise from unexplored wilderness to modern nation. A Pulitzer Prize winner. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (non-fiction) available today Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life--vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Atonement: a novel by Ian McEwan available today Three children lose their innocence--as the sweltering summer heat bears down on the hottest day in 1935--and their lives are changed forever. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Bel Canto: a novel by Ann Patchett When terrorists seize hostages at an embassy party, an unlikely assortment of people is thrown together, including American opera star Roxanne Coss, and Mr. Hosokawa, a Japanese CEO and her biggest fan. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Birds in Fall: a novel by Brad Kessler When a plane crashes off the coast of Nova Scotia, Kevin Gearns witnesses the bonding among the survivors who stay in his inn, while Ana Gathreaux, who has lost her husband in the crash, remembers how they worked together to save birds. Dayton Literary Peace Prize Winner. To order a bag use a request form.
	Bless me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya available today Young Antonio Márez lives with his family at the edge of a small New Mexico town and finds his life changed when an old woman named Ultima comes to live with the family.... To order a bag use a request form.
	The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan Over the course of one fog-shrouded year, mother and daughter find what they share in their bones through heredity, history, and inexpressible qualities of love. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (also of interest to Teens) Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn (also of interest to Teens) available today Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz available today A rich, impassioned vision of the Dominican Republic and its diaspora, filtered through the destiny of a single family. A Pulitzer Prize winner. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Brooklyn: a novel by Colm Toibin Leaving her home in post-World War II Ireland to work as a bookkeeper in Brooklyn, Eilis Lacey discovers a new romance in America with a charming blond Italian man before devastating news threatens her happiness. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Camel Bookmobile: a novel by Masha Hamilton Establishing a bookmobile in a destitute Kenyan village, well-intentioned Fiona Sweeney inadvertently renews a decades-old tribal feud involving a camel-powered bookmobile and prior efforts to promote local education. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Case Histories by Kate Atkinson available today Private detective Jackson Brodie finds his own need for resolution sparked by three investigations including those of two sisters who discover a shocking clue to the disappearance of their third sister thirty years earlier, a lawyer whose life is turned upside-down when his daughter joins the firm, and a woman whose past mistakes and demanding family life culminate in a violent escape. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway While a cellist plays at the site of a mortar attack to commemorate the deaths of twenty-two friends and neighbors, a woman sniper secretly protects the life of the cellist as her army becomes increasingly threatening. Evergreen Award winner Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Chocolat: a novel by Joanne Harris When the beautiful and mysterious Vianne moves to Lansquenet and opens a chocolate shop across from the church, the inhabitants of the tiny village are torn between the solemn law of religion and the rewards of Vianne's confections. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Cleopatra: a Life by Stacy Schiff newly added title The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt. Though her life spanned fewer than 40 years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky available today Raskolnikoff murders an old moneylender and her sister, and after a lengthy investigation a saintly prostitute Sonya convinces him to confess. Newly translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: a novel by Mark Haddon (also of interest to Teens) available today Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Cutting for Stone: a novel by Abraham Verghese Twin brothers born from a secret love affair between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in Addis Ababa, Marion and Shiva Stone come of age in an Ethiopia on the brink of revolution, where their love for the same woman drives them apart. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form. - For this title we are accepting reservations for late 2012.
	Daughter of Fortune: a novel by Isabel Allende/Hija de la Fortuna: novela escrita por Isabel Allende Bilingual English/Spanish available today The story of a young woman's quest for love and fortune during the California Gold Rush in San Francisco. Be aware of drastic scenes. La historia de una joven mujer en busca del amor y la fortuna durante los tiempos de la Quimera del Oro en San Francisco. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson (non-fiction) The story of two men's obsessions with the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, one its architect, the other a murderer. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Digging to America: a novel by Anne Tyler Two families awaiting the arrival of their adopted infant daughters from Korea meet at the airport (…). A penetrating light on the American way as seen from two perspectives, those who are born here and those who are still struggling to fit in. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Dreamers of the Day: a novel by Mary Doria Russell newly added title Agnes Shanklin, a forty-year-old schoolteacher from Ohio, has come into a modest inheritance that allows her to take the trip of a lifetime to Egypt and the Holy Land. Arriving at the Semiramis Hotel just as the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference convenes; she is freed for the first time from her mother's withering influence and finds herself being wooed by a handsome, mysterious German. At the same time, Agnes-with her plainspoken American opinions-is drawn into the company of Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence, and Lady Gertrude Bell, who will, in the space of a few days, redraw the world map to create the modern Middle East. As they change history, Agnes too will find her own life transformed forever. To order a bag use a request form.
	Dying to Cross: the worst immigrant tragedy in the history of the United States by Jorge Ramos (non-fiction)/Morir En El Intento: La Peor Tragedia de Immigrantes En La Historia de Los Estados Unidos escrito por Jorge Ramos (historia verdadera) Bilingual English/Spanish available today Este libro relata las muertes horrendas de diecinueve trabajadores indocumentados y los sobrevivientes de el intento de cruzar a Estados Unidos desde Mexico en Mayo de 2003. Cuando el conductor del noticiero de Univisión Jorge Ramos relata los eventos trágicos, él desafía a los lectores que reevalúen las normas de conducta de imigración de Mexico y de Estados Unidos. This book recounts the horrific deaths of nineteen undocumented workers and the survivors of the May 2003 crossing into the United States from Mexico. As Univision anchorman Jorge Ramos relates the tragedy's events, he challenges readers to reevaluate U.S. and Mexican immigration policies. To order a bag use a request form.
	Eat, Pray, Love: one woman’s search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert (non-fiction) available today After a messy divorce, author Elizabeth Gilbert commits to a year of transformation via destination. For pleasure, she visits Italy, for spirit, India, and for balance, Indonesia. In a conversational and playful style this memoir details Gilbert's travels and, ultimately, celebrates her return to self. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery The lives of fifty-four-year-old concierge Rene Michel and extremely bright, suicidal twelve-year-old Paloma Josse are transformed by the arrival of a new tenant, Kakuro Ozu. Bestseller in France since 2006. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Oskar Schell, the nine-year-old son of a man killed in the World Trade Center attacks, searches the five boroughs of New York City for a lock that fits a black key his father left behind. MOVIE ADAPTATION: Soon to be a major motion picture. Release year 2012. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris Very unusual mystery set in Saudi Arabia. When sixteen-year-old Nouf goes missing and is found drowned in the desert outside Jeddah, Nayir--a desert guide hired by her prominent family to search for her--feels compelled to find out what really happened. To order a bag use a request form. - For this title we are accepting reservations for the second part of 2012.
	The Forgotten Garden: a novel by Kate Morton newly added title Shifting back and forth over a span of nearly 100 years, this is a sprawling, old-fashioned novel, as well-cushioned as a Victorian country house, replete with family secrets, stories-within-stories, even a maze and a Dickensian rag-and-bone shop. A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book--a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday, they tell her the truth... Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg Mrs. Threadgoode's tale of two high-spirited women of the 1930s, Idgie and Ruth, helps Evelyn, a 1980s woman in a sad slump of middle age, to begin to rejuvenate her own life. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson available today In this European publishing sensation, a crusading journalist joins forces with a 24-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker to investigate the whereabouts of a missing woman from one of the wealthiest families in Sweden. MOVIE ADAPTATION: Soon to be a major Hollywood motion picture. Release date: December 21st 2011. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Glass Castle: a memoir by Jeannette Walls (non-fiction) A freelance writer and MSNBC.com contributor, Jeannette Walls has written a stunning and life-affirming memoir chronicling her upbringing in a poor, eccentric, and nomadic family led by her frustrated-artist mother, and her brilliant, alcoholic father. Although she earned the right to complain, she does not play the victim. In spite of all the hardship she and her siblings experienced, Walls shows love and respect to her abusive parents. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck/Las uvas de la ira por John Steinbeck Bilingual English/Spanish available today In the 1930s, severe drought in parts of the southern Great Plains caused loss of crops and livelihood for thousands of farmers. The Joad family, Okie farmers forced from their dustbowl home try to find work as migrant fruit pickers in California. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Waterstones Books of the Century Award. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Great House: a novel by Nicole Krauss newly added title For twenty-five years, a reclusive American novelist has been writing at the desk she inherited from a young Chilean poet who disappeared at the hands of Pinochet s secret police; one day a girl claiming to be the poet s daughter arrives to take it away, sending the writer s life reeling. Across the ocean, in the leafy suburbs of London, a man caring for his dying wife discovers, among her papers, a lock of hair that unravels a terrible secret. In Jerusalem, an antiques dealer slowly reassembles his father s study, plundered by the Nazis in Budapest in 1944. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows In 1946, writer Juliet Ashton finds inspiration for her next book in her correspondence with a native of Guernsey, who tells her about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club born as an alibi during German occupation. (Epistolary novel) Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls Presents a novel based on the life of the author's grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, who learned to break horses in childhood, journeyed five hundred miles as a teen to become a teacher, and ran a vast ranch in Arizona with her husband while raising two children. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Help: a novel by Kathryn Stockett Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including an African-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend, and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture recently made. Soon to be available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Honolulu by Alan Brennert Journeying to 1914 Hawaii as a mail-order bride, Korean-born Jin finds her hopes devastated by the realities of a rushed marriage to a bitter laborer; a situation throughout which she works to overcome limited opportunities. To order a bag use a request form.
	Hotel in the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: a novel by Jamie Ford When artifacts from Japanese families sent to internment camps during World War II are uncovered during renovations at a Seattle hotel, Henry Lee embarks on a quest that leads to memories of growing up Chinese in a city rife with anti-Japanese sentiment. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (also of interest to Teens) available today In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa A relationship blossoms between a brilliant math professor suffering from short-term memory problems following a traumatic head injury and the young housekeeper, the mother of a ten-year-old son, hired to care for him. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins newly added title Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used to be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman After a small town librarian survives a lightning strike, she seeks out a fellow survivor in a quest for meaning, only to begin an obsessive love affair between two opposites joined by a single common thread. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (non-fiction) newly added title The first immortal human cells, code-named HeLa, have flourished by the trillions in labs all around the world for more than five decades, making possible the polio vaccine, chemotherapy, and many more crucial discoveries. But where did the HeLa cells come from? Science journalist Skloot spent 10 years arduously researching the complex, tragic, and profoundly revealing story of Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African American mother of five who came to Johns Hopkins with cervical cancer in 1951, and from whom tumor samples were taken without her knowledge or that of her family. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez/En El Tiempo de Las Mariposas escrita por Julia Alvarez Bilingual English/Spanish Dede Mirabal nos cuenta de sus tres hermanas, Minerva, Patria y Maria Teresa, quienes se convirtieron en mártires durante la liberación de la Rebública Dominicana, del régimen de Trujillo en 1960. Dede Mirabel tells about her three sisters, Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa, who became martyrs during the liberation of the Dominican Republic from Trujillo in 1960. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer newly added title The brothers Andras and Tibor Levi, Hungarian Jews, are models of aspiration. As the narrative opens, Andras is bound for Paris to study architecture, Tibor for Italy to study medicine. The year is 1937, far enough along in the proceedings that neither should be surprised to learn that bad things are about to happen; yet both are so resolutely set on their paths that, it seems, the outside world does not always figure. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini available today Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son, in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the atrocities of the present day. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence available today Trapped in her sexless marriage to the invalid Sir Clifford, Constance Chatterley seeks a release in a passionate love affair with her husband's gamekeeper. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Last Town on Earth: a novel by Thomas Mullen available today Set in 1918 against the backdrop of World War I and the influenza epidemic, this ambitious debut novel draws several vivid parallels with current times. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Lazarillo de Tormes by Anonymous (bilingual – 10 English/Spanish) Bilingual English/Spanish available today First picaresque novel, from mid-16th-century Spain, tells of a rogue's adventures and misadventures. To order a bag use a request form.
	Life of Pi: a novel by Yann Martel Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain. MOVIE ADAPTATION: Soon to be a major motion picture. Release date: December 14th 2012. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Little Bee by Chris Cleave A haunting novel about the tenuous friendship that blooms between two disparate strangers--one an illegal Nigerian refugee, the other a recent widow from suburban London. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker available today Growing up in rural Aberdeen in upstate New York in the 1950s, narrator Truly Plaice is unusually large and considered ugly, especially compared with her beautiful older sister, Serena Jane. To order a bag use a request form.
	Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov available today A novel that studies the moral disintegration of a man whose obsessive desire to possess his step-daughter destroys the lives of those around him. Waterstones Books of the Century Award. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez/El Amor en los Tiempos del Cólera escrita por Gabriel García Marquez (this bag contains 7 books in English and 5 books in Spanish) Bilingual English/Spanish available today Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza consummate their passion at the beginning of the 20th century after having waited over 50 years. Fermina Daza y Florentino Ariza consumen su gran pasión en los comienzos del siglo 20 despues de 50 años de espera. Waterstones Books of the Century Award Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Loving Frank: a novel by Nancy Horan Fact and fiction blend in a historical novel that chronicles the relationship between seminal architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney, from their meeting, when they were each married to another, to the clandestine affair that shocked Chicago society. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland Renoir is inspired to paint "Luncheon of the boating party" when his other work is criticized by Emile Zola, and while doing so is drawn into the lives of the thirteen people featured in it as they enjoy a Parisian summer during the late 1800s. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Madame by Antoni Libera available today A teenage boy's doomed love for his glamorous French instructor in 1960s Poland informs the masterfully constructed debut of Warsaw critic and drama director Libera. When a beautiful 32-year-old teacher, known primarily as "Madame," takes over the narrator's high school French class, he is entranced by her combination of austere intelligence and immaculate beauty. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: a novel by Helen Simonson Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired) leads a quiet life in the village of St. Mary, England, until his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But will their relationship survive in a society that considers Ali a foreigner?. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form. - For this title we are accepting reservations for late 2012.
	The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov Set in Moscow of the 1920's, this satirical novel recounts the dealings a writer and his mistress have with Satan. "The New York Times Book Review" calls this "one of the truly great Russian novels of this century". Newly translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Waterstones Books of the Century Award. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards/Hija de la Memoria escrita por Kim Edwards Bilingual English/Spanish available today En un relato que dura veinticinco años, un doctor trae al mundo a sus hijas gemelas durante una nevada. Imprudentemente decidiendo protejer a su esposa de los achaques de síndrome de Down, que tiene su pequeña hija, él se la dá a una enfermera, que secretamente cría a la niña. In a tale spanning twenty-five years, a doctor delivers his newborn twins during a snowstorm and, rashly deciding to protect his wife from their baby daughter's affliction with Down Syndrome, turns her over to a nurse, who secretly raises the child. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides available today Calliope's friendship with a classmate and her sense of identity are compromised by the adolescent discovery that she is a hermaphrodite, a situation with roots in her grandparents' desperate struggle for survival in the 1920s. A Pulitzer Prize winner. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Moloka'i by Alan Brennert Seven-year-old Rachel is forcibly removed from her family's 1890s Honolulu home when she contracts leprosy and is placed in a settlement, where she loses a series of new friends before new medical discoveries enable her to reenter the world. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult available today Conceived to provide a bone marrow match for her leukemia-stricken sister, teenage Anna begins to question her moral obligations in light of countless medical procedures and decides to fight for the right to make decisions about her own body. (Suspense) MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro available today A reunion with two childhood friends draws Kathy and her companions on a nostalgic odyssey into their lives at Hailsham, an isolated private school in the English countryside, and a confrontation with the truth about their childhoods. (Suspense) MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Nickel and Dimed: on (not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich (non-fiction) available today Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich wanted to investigate welfare reform in United States. For several months in 1998 she left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Thus, she joined millions of American women who work for poverty-level wages, moving into a trailer and working as a waitress, hotel maid, and Wal-Mart sales clerk. She describes her experience in this eye-opening memoir. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout available today At the edge of the continent, in the small town of Crosby, Maine, lives Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher who deplores the changes in her town and in the world at large but doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her. A Pulitzer Prize winner. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	One Day by David Nicholls Over twenty years, snapshots of an unlikely relationship are revealed on the same day--July 15th--of each year. Dex Mayhew and Em Morley face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture recently made. Soon to be available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender newly added title Eating the cake her mother has prepared for her ninth birthday, Rose Edelstein discovers she has a gift: she can taste her mothers emotions in the food she prepares. Soon, every bite Rose takes is filled with feelings not just her mothers but those of other people as well and what might have been a gift becomes a burden and then, perhaps, a curse. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland A novel set against the backdrops of Rome, Florence, and Genoa recreates the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, whose search for love, forgiveness, and wholeness through her art led to her fame as a painter. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks Offered a coveted job to analyze and conserve a priceless Sarajevo Haggadah, Australian rare-book expert Hanna Heath discovers a series of tiny artifacts in the volume's ancient binding that reveal its historically significant origins. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee Hired by the wealthy Chen family as a piano instructor, Claire Pendleton is seduced by the social life of Hong Kong's expatriate community and begins an affair with Will Truesdale, an enigmatic Englishman with a devastating past. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett available today Set in twelfth-century England, this epic of kings and peasants juxtaposes the building of a magnificent church with the violence and treachery that often characterized the Middle Ages. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A TV mini series available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Platero and I/Platero y Yo by Juan Ramon Jimenez (bilingual – 10 English/Spanish) Bilingual English/Spanish The most popular work by the great Spanish writer Juan Ramon Jimenez (1881-1958), this is a series of autobiographical prose poems about the wanderings in Andalusia of a poet and his donkey. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Poisonwood Bible: a novel by Barbara Kingsolver available today The family of a fierce evangelical Baptist missionary--Nathan Price, his wife, and his four daughters--begins to unravel after they embark on a 1959 mission to the Belgian Congo, where they find their lives transformed over the course of three decades. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vangra Bennett available today In an epic tale set against a backdrop of civil-war torn sixteenth-century Europe, portraitist Hans Holbein the Younger flees to the safety of Tudor England in order to escape artistic censorship. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Reader: a novel by Bernhard Schlink available today Not until he becomes a law student after World War II does Michael Berg realize that the woman who found him ill and nursed him through hepatitis was illiterate and possibly a Nazi war criminal. (Suspense) MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Red Tent by Anita Diamant available today The story of Dinah, a tragic character from the Bible whose great love, a prince, is killed by her brother, leaving her alone and pregnant. The novel traces her life from childhood to death, in the process examining sexual and religious practices of the day, and what it meant to be a woman. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier When Mary Anning uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home on the English coast, she sets the religious fathers on edge, the townspeople to vicious gossip, and the scientific world alight. Luckily, Mary finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth Philpot, and in the struggle to be recognized in the wider world, Mary and Elizabeth discover that friendship is their greatest ally. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Room by Emma Donoghue newly added title To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Sacrifice of Tamar by Naomi Ragen available today After being raped by a Black man, Tamar Feingold, a recently married, Orthodox Jewish woman, hides her shame and brings up the child of the attack as her husband's son, but the past returns to haunt her after her son marries and fathers his own child. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult available today Robbed of his teaching career and reputation by a student's false accusations, Jack St. Bride is struggling to rebuild his life, but fresh accusations of rape by teenage girls from his former school threaten to destroy him once again. (Suspense) To order a bag use a request form.
	Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay available today On the sixtieth anniversary of the 1942 roundup of Jews by the French police in the Vel d'Hiv section of Paris, American journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article on this dark episode during World War II and embarks on investigation that leads her to long-hidden family secrets and to the ordeal of Sarah, a young girl caught up in the raid. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture recently made. Soon to be available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón/La Sombra del Viento escrita por Carlos Ruiz Zafón Bilingual English/Spanish available today A boy named Daniel selects a novel from a library of rare books, enjoying it so much that he searches for the rest of the author's works, only to discover that someone is destroying every book the author has ever written. Un niño llamado Daniel selecciona una novela de la biblioteca de libros raros, disfrutándola tanto que va a la búsqueda de los demas trabajos del autor, pero descubre que alguien está destruyendo cada libro que el autor ha escrito. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Shutting out the Sun: How Japan Created its own Lost Generation by Michael Zielenziger (non-fiction) available today The world's second wealthiest country, Japan once seemed poised to overtake America. But its failure to recover from the economic collapse of the early 1990s was unprecedented, and today it confronts an array of disturbing social trends. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Slap: a novel by Christos Tsiolkas At a festive barbecue in a Melbourne suburb a man slaps the child of another couple, triggering a court case and a variety of confrontations within the lives of the families and friends present. Be aware of explicit language. Commonwealth Writers' Prize winner. To order a bag use a request form.
	Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup available today Arrested for unbelievably answering all twelve questions on the Indian game show, "Who Will Win a Billion?" semi-literate waiter Ram Mohammad Thomas explains to his lawyer how he knew the answers due to events in his personal life. The book was originally published as "Q & A". MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: a novel by Lisa See A story of friendship set in nineteenth-century China follows an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes, dreams, joys, and tragedies through a unique secret language. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture recently made. Soon to be available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Source by James Michener An archaeological excavation of Tell Makor launches a journey into the history and culture of the Jews that includes the early Hebrews, the impact of Christianity, the Spanish Inquisition, and the modern Middle East conflict. To order a bag use a request form.
	Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (also of interest to Teens) available today Melinda is just starting high school. It should be one of the greatest times in her life, but instead of enjoying herself, she is an outcast. She has been marked as the girl who called the police to break up the big end-of-the-summer party, and all the kids are angry at her. To order a bag use a request form.
	Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky available today A story of life in France under the Nazi occupation includes two parts--"Storm in June," set amid the chaotic 1940 exodus from Paris, and "Dolce," set in a German-occupied village rife with resentment, resistance, and collaboration. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston available today Meet the unforgettable Janie Crawford, an articulate African-American woman in the 1930s. Traces Janie's quest for identity, through three marriages, on a journey to her roots. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Thirteenth Tale: a novel by Diane Setterfield When her health begins failing, the mysterious author Vida Winter decides to let Margaret Lea, a biographer, write the truth about her life, but Margaret needs to verify the facts since Vida has a history of telling outlandish tales. (Suspense) Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley available today Larry Cook, an Iowan farmer who has worked a thousand acre plot owned by his family for generations, abruptly decides to leave his farm to his three daughters and retire. His two eldest daughters are pleased with the decision but his youngest daughter has been cut out by her father and is angry. As the daughters' activity on the land progresses, they notice a change in their father. Events begin to unfold that will threaten and destroy the family and their farm. A Pulitzer Prize winner. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson (non-fiction) available today The inspiring account of one man's campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle The lives of two different couples--wealthy Los Angeles liberals Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher, and Candido and America Rincon, a pair of Mexican illegals--suddenly collide, in a story that unfolds from the shifting viewpoints of the various characters. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (non-fiction) - Large Print An unforgettable story of a young lieutenant's journey into extremity, "Unbroken" is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan newly added title Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs, confront their pasts in this story about how rebellion ages, influence corrupts, habits turn to addictions, lifelong friendships fluctuate and turn, and how art and music have the power to redeem. Pulitzer Prize Winner Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Vivaldi's Virgins: a novel by Barbara Quick A tale set in Vivaldi's decadent Venice in the eighteenth century finds elite Ospedale della Pieta musician Anna Maria dal Violin embarking on a quest of self-discovery in Venetian society and the Jewish Ghetto. To order a bag use a request form.
	Water for Elephants: a novel by Sara Gruen available today Ninety-something-year-old Jacob Jankowski remembers his time in the circus as a young man during the Great Depression, and his friendship with Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, and Rosie, the elephant, who gave them hope. MOVIE ADAPTATION: A major motion picture recently made. Soon to be available on DVD in MCFL. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The Weight of Heaven: a novel by Thrity Umrigar available today Having lost their beloved only child to a sudden illness, Frank and Ellie Benton hope to rebuild their lives by accepting a job offer in India but find their new home compromised by Frank's efforts to heal his grief through a friendship with a young boy. To order a bag use a request form.
	When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner – (non-fiction) When Harold Kushner's three-year-old son was diagnosed with a degenerative disease he was faced with one of life's most difficult questions: Why, God? This book, first published in 1981, is a straightforward, elegant contemplation of the doubts and fears that arise when tragedy strikes. Kushner shares his wisdom as a rabbi, a parent, a reader, and a human being. To order a bag use a request form.
	The White Tiger: a novel by Aravind Adiga Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life-- having nothing but his own wits to help him along. Man Booker Prize for Fiction Award. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang - (non-fiction) The story of three generations in twentieth-century China, it is an engrossing record of Mao's impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	The World Below: a novel by Sue Miller After being diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1919, a young woman is sent to a sanitarium, where she rediscovers the pleasures of unfettered youth and falls in love with a doomed man. Years later her granddaughter discovers the diary of her deceased grandmother and gains new insight into her family history. New York Times Notable Books - Fiction and Poetry To order a bag use a request form.
	Year of Wonders: a novel of the plague by Geraldine Brooks Through the eyes of a housemaid, the story of the plague is told as it ravages a small village in England in the year 1666. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.
	Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: an Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig One of the most influential and provocative books of its generation continues to attract and inspire readers of all ages. The narrative of a father on a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest with his young son, it becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions. A true modern classic with its intriguing blend of ancient and Eastern philosophy, cultural criticism, and scientific inquiry. Waterstones Books of the Century Award. To order a bag use a request form.
	The Zookeeper's Wife, a War Story by Diane Ackerman (non-fiction) When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw--and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen 'guests' hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants--otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes. Read more about this book on LitLovers To order a bag use a request form.

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