Staff Suggestions - the Latest Books We're Crazy About
Our Staff Suggestions are the books that we've read and loved the most. Those little white tags — we call them shelf talkers — help us tell you how much we loved the book and why. Our most current list is below, but you can also browse the archives for highlights from our Staff Suggestions bookshelf in the past...
...and always know that one of our staff found the book engrossing, enchanting, enlightening.
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Listed below are the most recent staff suggestions. Click on "Staff Suggestions Archive" to see additional selections.
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The Forgotten Garden
By Kate Morton
Our Shelf Talker
This is a book I would literally dream about while reading it. The characters lived with me. I didn't want the book to end! Kate Morton delivers brilliant descriptions and weaves together different periods of time to bring us a story about a search for identity. It's a puzzler from beginning to end, with beautiful seasides, gardens, secrets, love, tragedies, and more. I loved it!- Sue
One Amazing Thing
By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Our Shelf Talker
Nine strangers are trapped at the California consulate of India by a powerful earthquake. As fear rises while awaiting rescue, they take turns telling a tale, one amazing thing from their lives. Each individual story is beautifully intertwined with the groups' quest for survival.- Sharon
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
By Heidi W. Durrow
Our Shelf Talker
I was mesmerized! Like Cisneros’s "The House on Mango Street," Durrow’s novel took me by the hand and heart, guiding me into the veiled life of a remarkable girl.- Roxanne
The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
By Bill Bryson
Our Shelf Talker
Bryson’s wit and style shine yet again as he takes us back to his childhood. What time and place could be more ripe for tender nostalgia—& razor-sharp comedy—than Iowa, 1950s? - KathrynWhy My Third Husband Will be a Dog
By Lisa Scottoline
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
By Rhoda Janzen
My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World
By Jeff Garlin
The Three Weissmanns of Westport
By Cathleen Schine
Our Shelf Talker
This novel about divorce, mothers, daughters, straying husbands, very extended family and love and loss is absolutely wonderful. I fell in love with Betty who has been dumped by her husband of 48 years. Her continuing loyalty toward her husband costs her and she loses her home. Luckily, a wealthy cousin lets her and her two daughters (unmarried adults with lots of baggage, YIKES!) stay in his run-down cottage. How Betty and her daughters find hope, love and the best of life during the most difficult of times makes this a story you will remember for a long time.- Peggy
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By Rebecca Skloot
Our Shelf Talker
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I have met a woman and her family and am confronted with the dilemma of the benefit to science vs. the pain and dismay of her descendants. This is not easy to read - not because of the difficulty of the science but the philosophical questions of "common good." We should all be aware of the consequences of the advancement of science, the benefits to us all set against the financial gain to a few, and the hardship and confusion that falls to those left behind. A wonderful book, well written - there is no finger pointing here, just a huge quantity of food for thought.- Nancy
Winging It
By Jenny Gardiner
Our Shelf Talker
This book is really funny! The title alone piques your interest. Jenny's memoir is filled with some laugh-out-loud stories about families, dogs, husbands, as well as parrots. Graycie, an African gray parrot, is quite an unforgettable character. As Jenny learned, "parrothood is harder than parenthood!"- Sue
Gator A-Go-Go
By Tim Dorsey
Our Shelf Talker
In this installment we find our favorite "bad boys" Serge and Coleman traveling around their Sunshine State making a film about Spring Break. Mix equal parts college kids, booze, shady FBI agents, drugs, sex, weapons, and lots of sunburn at the Alligator Arms motel and the story unfolds from there. Fans of Mr. Dorsey know that this will most certainly not end well.- Peggy
Shadow Tag
By Louise Erdrich
Our Shelf Talker
Ms. Erdrich is one of our more challenging authors and I must say I usually feel I must shore up my energy before I read her work. While this latest novel is no less tragic than her others, I found it an easier, more accessible story. The author has always had a knack for writing characters who are deeply flawed but sympathetic and such is the case here with Irene and Gil and their three children. Ms. Erdrich returns to themes she has used in the past, namely alcoholism, family violence, Native American culture and art, but it's her deft touch with the children that really makes this novel work so well.- Peggy
The Privileges
By Jonathan Dee
Our Shelf Talker
In "The Privileges" we have all the makings of the modern New York City family. The parents and two children (a boy and girl, of course) are blonde, exquisitely beautiful and rich, by virtue of hard work in the financial industry. They live in a gorgeous apartment and have the requisite summer home in the Hamptons. While the author provides us with a window into their world and makes us squirm with the description of wealth and the soul-less life it can bring, he turns the tables a bit and allows Adam and Cynthia to have an old-fashioned love story. I wanted to really dislike these characters but found I was kind of rooting for them by the end. This is a well-written story of the many forms that great desire can take.- Peggy
Just Kids
By Patti Smith
Our Shelf Talker
They met in NYC in the late 1060s, when they were "just kids," and became lovers, soulmates, and each other's greatest artistic inspiration on the journey to success and fame. I fell completely under the spell of Patti's elegantly written and intensely evocative memoir of her relationship with the ground-breaking photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. This is a great love story.- Lily
The Brightest Star in the Sky
By Marian Keyes
Our Shelf Talker
Lose yourself in the lilting an lyrical prose that propels the story of the Dublin residents at 66 Star Street. Something BIG is about to happen, and the who, what when, where and how's are revealed using deliberate and suspenseful pacing. In the mix is a questionable omnipotent spirit, hovering about. Will it bring joy or sorrow - or maybe a bit of both? By the end of this page turner you will feel completely satisfied, knowing that all is right in the world. Humorous, delightful, captivating, off-beat. A great cast of characters that will stay with you long after turning the last page.- Liz
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