Our Patrons Pick Their Favorite Books of 2014

February 3, 2015January 16, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

For the last several years, The Department of Human Services of Cheshire has had a mitten tree in the library’s lobby, requesting the public to donate holiday gifts for needy girls and boys. Our patrons have always been very generous and we thank you very much!

This year, after the gifts were gathered up to be delivered, we turned the mitten tree into ‘what was your favorite book of 2014′ tree.

Here’s what you said:

Children:

A Cheese Colored Camper – Geronimo Stilton
Because of Mr. Terupt – Rob Buyea
Biscuit – Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Daddy Hugs – Karen Katz
Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney (3)
Dragons – Lucille Recht Penner
Frozen adapted by Sarah Nathan and Sela Roman
Gathering Blue – Lois Lowery (YA)
Humphrey Series – Betty Birney
I Spy series – Jean Marzollo & Walter Wick
I Survived Series – Lauren Tarshis
I’m Too Fond of My Fur – Geronimo Stilton
Isabelle – Lawrence Yep
It’s Hard to be 5 – Jamie Lee Curtis
Junie B., First Grader At Last – Barbara Park
Last Olympian – Rick Riordon (YA)
Little House on the Prairie – Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
Looking for Alaska – John Green (YA)
Miss Daisy is Crazy – Dan Gutman
Molly Moon Series– Georgia Byng
Number the Stars – Lois Lowry
Okay for Now – Gary Schmidt (YA)
One For The Murphys – Lynda Mullaly Hunt (YA)
Out of My Mind – Sharon M. Draper
Polar Express – Chris Van Allsburg
Rainbow Fairy Series – Daisy Meadows
Rangers Apprentice Series – John Flanagan
The BFG – Roald Dahl
The Blood of Olympus – Rick Riordan (YA)
The Fault in Our Stars – John Green (YA)
The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien (YA)
The Last Battle – C.S. Lewis
The Lost Warrior – Erin Hunter (Graphic Novel)
The Maze Runner – James Dashner (YA)
The Penultimate Peril – Lemony Snicket
The Secret of the Snow – Thea Stilton
Warriors: Bramble Star’s Storm – Erin Hunter

Adult:

A Man Called Ove – Frederick Backman
A Week in Winter – Maeve Binchy
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr
Being Mortal – Atul Gawande (Nonfiction)
Child of Mine – David & Beverly Lewis
Clifton Chronicles – Jeffrey Archer
Daughter of Fortune – Isabel Allende
I Am Malala – Malala Yousafzai (Nonfiction)
Pegasus – Danielle Steel
Ready Player One – Ernest Cline
Sin Undone – Larissa Ione
Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good – Jan Karon
Summerset Abbey – T.J. Brown
The Aviator’s Wife – Melanie Benjamin
The Bible
The Boys in the Boat – Dan Brown (Nonfiction)
The First Phone Call From Heaven – Mitch Albom
The Invention of Wings – Sue Monk Kidd
The Language of Flowers – Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Leftovers – Tom Perrotta
The Lost Empire of Atlantis – Gavin Menzies (Nonfiction)
The Silkworm – Robert Galbraith
The Spirit of Steamboat – Craig Johnson
The Walk Series – Richard Evans
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – John LeCarre
Vienna Prelude – Bodie Thoene
Written in My Own Heart’s Blood – Diana Gabaldon

If you don’t see your title here, there were a few mittens that we could not decipher.

The Wait Is Almost Over – Fifty Shades of Grey

January 29, 2015January 28, 2015 / Linda / 2 Comments

The movie, Fifty Shades of Grey, based on the books by E. L. James, is scheduled to be released to movie theaters on February 13th. If you haven’t read the books, or you read them and want to refresh your memory, now’s the time to do it! We own the trilogy in multiple formats:

Fifty Shades of Grey – When Anastasia Steele, a young literature student, interviews wealthy young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, their initial meeting introduces Anastasia to an exciting new world that will change them both forever. Book. Large Print. Audiobook. Ebook. Eaudio.

Fifty Shades Darker – After a brief break-up, Anastasia and Christian change their arrangement and both wrestle with their inner demons, as Anastasia tries to make an important decision. Book. Large Print. Audiobook. Ebook. Eaudio.

Fifty Shades Freed – Even though Christian and Anastasia are now a proper couple, they still have many obstacles to overcome, including Christian’s past coming back to haunt Anastasia. Book. Large Print. Audiobook. Ebook.

Book Club Picks – Historical Fiction

January 25, 2015January 16, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

Cold winter nights are perfect for settling into a great historical fiction book!

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro – After receiving a large inheritance from a complete stranger, London socialite and newlywed Grace Monroe searches for the identity of her mysterious benefactor and uncovers the story of a unique woman who inspired one of Paris’ greatest perfumers, which transforms her own life.

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger – Looking back at a tragic event that occurred during his thirteenth year, Frank Drum explores how a complicated web of secrets, adultery, and betrayal shattered his Methodist family and their small 1961 Minnesota community.

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman – A tale inspired by the tragic first-century massacre of hundreds of Jewish people at Masada presents the stories of a hated daughter, a baker’s wife, a girl disguised as a warrior, and a medicine woman who keep doves and secrets while Roman soldiers draw near.

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell – Captured and raised by Danes in the ninth century, dispossessed nobleman Uhtred witnesses the unexpected defeat of his adoptive Viking clan by Alfred of Wessex and longs to recover his father’s land.

The House Girl by Tara Conklin – A novel of love, family, and justice follows Lina Sparrow, an ambitious first-year associate in a Manhattan law firm, as she searches for the “perfect plaintiff” to lead a historic class-action lawsuit worth trillions of dollars in reparations for descendants of American slaves.

O, The Oprah Magazine Picks Top Ten Books of 2014

January 20, 2015January 5, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

The editors of O, The Oprah Magazine have come up with their list of the top ten books of 2014. How many did you read?

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell – A vast, intricate novel that weaves six narratives and spans from 1984 to the 2030s about a secret war between a cult of soul-decanters and a small group of vigilantes called the Night Shift who try to take them down. An up-all-night story that fluentlymixes the super-natural, sci-fi, horror, social satire, and hearbreaking realism.

Thunderstruck & Other Stories by Elizabeth McCracken – A collection of stories navigates the fragile space between love and loneliness, including the title story in which a family finds their lives irrevocably changed by their teenage daughter’s risky behavior.

The Short & Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs – Presents the life of Robert Peace, an African American who became a brillant biochemistry student at Yale University, but after graduation lived as drug dealer and was brutally murdered at the age of thirty.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – The sudden death of a Hollywood actor during a production of “King Lear” marks the beginning of the world’s dissolution in a story told at various past and future times from the perspectives of the actor and four of his associates.

The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison – A collection of essays explores empathy, using topics ranging from street violence and incarceration to reality television and literary sentimentality to ask questions about people’s understanding of and relationships with others.

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi – A reimagining of the Snow White story set in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s.

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast – A graphic memoir by a long-time New Yorker cartoonist celebrates the final years of her aging parents’ lives through four-color cartoons, family photos and documents that reflect the artist’s struggles with caregiver challenges.

Lucky Us by Amy Bloom – Forging a life together after being abandoned by their parents, half sisters Eva and Iris share decades in and out of the spotlight in golden-era Hollywood and mid-twentieth-century Long Island.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande – A prominent surgeon argues against modern medical practices that extend life at the expense of quality of life while isolating the dying, outlining suggestions for freer, more fulfilling approaches to death that enable more dignified and comfortable choices.

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay – A cultural examination of the ways in which the media influences self-perception, and discusses how society still needs to do better.

If You Liked The Book, Unbroken…

January 13, 2015January 8, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

If you enjoyed reading the book, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, here’s a selection of read-alike books that you might also enjoy.

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder – Presents the story of Burundi civil war survivor Deo, who endures homelessness before pursuing an education at Columbia and eventually returning to his native land to help people in both countries.

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall – Recounts the author’s experiences with the reclusive Tarahumara Indians, whose techniques allow them to run long distances with ease, and describes his training for a fifty-mile race with the tribe and a number of ultra-marathoners.

The Survivors Club by Ben Sherwood – Draws on inspirational stories about survivors of accidents, crime, and serious illness to investigate why some people succumb to life-threatening hardships while others rally, in a report that includes coverage of the higher survival rates of right-handed people, the science of luck, and emergency room probability rates.

Broken Jewel by David Robbins – Presents a tale of war, love, and survival set against the backdrop of the U.S. 11th Airborne’s raid on the Japanese-run Los Baänos prison in the Philippines–one of the most daring episodes of World War II.

Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides – Chronicles the daring mission of the elite U.S. Army Sixth Ranger Battalion to slip behind enemy lines in the Philippines and rescue the 513 American and British POWs who had spent over three years in a hellish, Japanese-run camp near Cabanatuan.

Krakatoa by Simon Winchester – Considers the global impact of the 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano, documenting its cause of an immense tsunami that killed 40,000 people, its impact on the weather for several years, and its role in anti-Western Islamic fundamentalism.

Lost In Shangri-la by Mitchell Zuckoff – Describes the 1945 odyssey of three plane crash survivors in New Guinea who endured a harrowing journey through the jungle to seek help, their encounter with a primitive tribe who had never seen white people, and their eventual rescue by a band of paratroopers.

Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow – Stewart Dubinsky plunges into the mystery of his family’s secret history when he discovers his deceased father’s wartime letters to his former fiancâee, revealing his court-martial and imprisonment during World World II.

The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk – Developments on board an American naval destroyer during World War II compel the crew members to relieve the captain of his command.

Pacific Glory by P.T. Deutermann – A thrilling, multi-layered World War II adventure following two men and an unforgettable woman, from Pearl Harbor through the most dramatic air and sea battles of the war.

Also, see our display on one of the end caps in our lobby.