STAFF PICKS
Books make great gifts for Christmas; but there are so many genres and titles to choose from.
How do you find that perfect book for the reader in your life?
We all know there are book readers, and there are non-book readers. As fate would have it, quite often non-book readers end up married to book readers.
If someone special in your life is a bibliophile, and you’re not, it’s hard to know just where to start.
Here are a few of our most recent favorites to consider.
Fiction
‘Sunrise on the Reaping’
By Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)
(Dystopian)
The fifth book in The Hunger Games Series, “Sunrise on the Reaping,” tells Haymitch’s story.
As the day dawns on the 50th annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When his name is called, all his dreams break. He is torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.
Published by Scholastic Press
‘The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story‘
By Mark Helprin
(Sea Adventure, Epic, Action, Romance)
A Navy captain near the end of a decorated career, Stephen Rensselaer is disciplined, intelligent, and determined to always do what’s right. In defending the development of a new variant of warship, he makes an enemy of the president of the United States, who assigns him to command the doomed project’s only prototype––Athena, Patrol Coastal 15––with the intent to humiliate a man who should have been an admiral.
Rather than resign, Rensselaer takes the new assignment in stride, and while supervising Athena’s fitting out in New Orleans, encounters a brilliant lawyer, Katy Farrar, with whom he falls in last-chance love. Soon thereafter, he is deployed on a mission that subjects his integrity, morality, and skill to the ultimate test, and ensures that Athena will live forever in the annals of the Navy. As in the Odyssey, Katy is the force that keeps him alive and the beacon that lights the way home through seven battles, mutiny, and court martial.
Published by The Overlook Press/Abrams Books
‘The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year’
By Ally Carter
(Rom-Com, Cozy Mystery)
This rom-mystery is a delight for the holidays. Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt: she’s the new “Queen of the Cozy Mystery.” He’s Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy. She hates his guts. He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)
But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.
That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone. She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test?
Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust? As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor. Assuming they don’t kill each other first.
Published by Avon Books/HarperCollins
‘Worst Case Scenario’
By TJ Newman
(Action, Drama, Suspense, Disaster)
When a pilot has a heart attack in flight and crashes into a nuclear power plant, the result is a Level 8 Nuclear Disaster — a catastrophic national crisis with implications for the whole globe. (Chernobyl was a Level 7 nuclear disaster).
But no one is coming to help or save the people of Waketa, Minnesota–because they are doomed. The fate of millions is in the hands of regular people: a teacher, fire fighter, families & power plant employees.
They work with what they know to do what they can do, but will it be enough, and in time?
Published by Little, Brown and Company
‘The Love Haters‘
By Katherine Center
(Rom-Com, Adventure, Self-Awareness & Growth)
Should Katie lie to get the assignment or wait to be laid off? She tells a little lie and takes the assignment to profile a Coast Guard rescue swimmer.
Her lie? That she can swim.
As she works on the profile of Hutch, the swoon-worthy Coast Guard swimmer, she also faces her body issues, and learns Hutch is the brother of her co-worker.
She is soon over her head. Katie and Hutch both face their struggles on their journeys to self-acceptance. A fun read for romance, learning to love yourself and others, adventure, and the beauty of Key West.
Published by St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan
‘The Wishing Game’
By Meg Shaffer
Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books — namely the “Clock Island” series by Jack Masterson.
Now a 26-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially 7-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents.
Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.
Published by Ballantine/Penguin Random House
‘One Good Thing’
By Georgia Hunter
(Historical Fiction, WWII, mothers, resistance)
Lili & Esti are best friends in pre-WWII Italy, and their lives are changed as their country is invaded.
Esti joins the resistance and convinces Lili to join, too. When Esti is injured, she must make the sacrifice no mother should make. Ask Lili to take her son, Theo, to safety–across the war-torn country.
Lili takes Theo on a harrowing journey to southern Italy towards the Allies. A beautiful story of survival, loss, challenge, and the ultimate love.
Published by Penguin Random House
‘The French Winemaker’s Daughter‘
By Loretta Ellsworth
(Historical Fiction and present day)
In 1942, Martine’s parents pin an address to her and tell her to hide in the wardrobe. When she emerges after the noises stop, no one is home. She escapes to a neighbor who puts her on the train to the address in Paris not knowing no one is there to help her. A nun finds Martine and takes her to an abbey for safety. 1990- Charlotte is a female airline pilot who bids on wine from the occupation. The label on the wine bottle will take Charlotte on a journey to find it’s origin and learn much about herself on the way.
Published by HarperCollins
Non-Fiction
‘Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia to Zion Journey Through Every National Park’
By Conor Knighton
(Travel, Adventure)
A beautiful new way to view places and National Parks. Conor spent a year traveling to all 63 National Parks. His stunning descriptions allow the reader to travel with him.
He groups the parks in a manner that allows his reader new perspectives: silence, sound, light, and more.
You learn things the average person could never see in National Parks and gives great insight into the parks, nature — and ourselves.
Published by Crown
‘Everest Inc: The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an Industry at the Top of the World’
By Will Cockrell
Anyone who has read Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air,” or has seen a recent photo of climbers standing in line to get to the top of Everest, may think they have a sense of what the world’s highest mountain is like.
It’s an extreme landscape where bad weather and incredible altitude can kill; an overcrowded, trashed-out recreation destination; and a place where the rich exploit local Sherpas while padding their egos—and social media feeds.
There’s some truth to these clichés, but they’re a sliver of the story.
Unlike any book to date, Everest, Inc. is the definitive account of how a few daring entrepreneurs paired raw courage and naked ambition to get paying clients safely up and down Everest.
Until the late eighties, such a thing was considered impossible. Within a few years, Everest guiding was a burgeoning industry. Today, ninety percent of the people on the mountain are clients or employees of guided expeditions.
Published by Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Young Adult
‘The Mystery of Locked Rooms‘
By Lindsay Currie
(Adventure, Friendship, Games, Puzzles)
When you are 12, and don’t quite fit in, you are relieved to find a friend group who likes math, puzzles and escape rooms.
When you learn that your family’s finances will split up your group, you do anything to find the fortune hidden in an abandoned house according to local lore.
Sarah, West & Hannah tackle the mazes, puzzles, ciphers, and codes to find the treasure. Along the way, they learn more about themselves and their friends.
Will they find the treasure in time? Is the treasure still there? Will it save Sarah’s family from financial disaster?
Published by Sourcebooks Young Readers
‘Such Charming Liars‘
By Karen McManus
A mother is planning to do one last jewel heist before she quits the game. Her daughter, Kat, tricks her into taking her along.
What happens when they run into the mom’s ex-husband (a con man) and his son, (Liam) — who are also attending the same birthday party?
Now the heist game is heightened. After the death of Ross Sutherland after his father’s birthday party, Kat and Liam are each trying to learn who killed Ross — while trying to also stay alive.
Can they trust each other? Who killed Ross and who is trying to kill them and why? Karen McManus keeps us guessing as she does so well.
Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House
