In Home Front, Kristin Hannah explores military females serving in war zones. Joleen, a U.S. Army reservist, has been called to active duty. She leaves behind her family, including her shaky marriage, to fly Black Hawk helicopters in Iraq, and nothing is the same when she gets home.
Miriam Black knows when and how you’re going to die. She’s a beautifully scummy woman resigned to edge-living and stealing from the dead…until she meets a trucker named Louis. For a gutter punk Dead Zone with a strong, but not infallible female lead, try Chuck Wendig’s Blackbirds.
Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert has been writing about movies since 1967. He’s described by Forbes as “the most powerful pundit in America” and is the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Check out his books, his fascinating memoir Life Itself, and his reviews online.
The End of Your Life Book Club is the true story of Mary Anne and Will, a mother and son, finding the power of books as she is dying of cancer. For two years, they read an array of genres and deeply discuss topics such as gratitude, listening, and love.
Cathleen of Fiction/AV/Teen Services recommends One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni:
No one noticed the first rumble. Lost in thought while waiting in line for visas, a diverse group of nine individuals had no idea their fates were entwined. When the earthquake hits, they find themselves trapped in the basement of the foreign consulate with no escape, little food, dwindling oxygen, and water beginning to seep in through the floor. It isn’t long before tensions lead them to turn on each other, until one suggests they distract themselves by each sharing an important story — one amazing thing — from his or her own life. The tales are heartbreaking, inspiring, and vulnerable, and they illustrate the transcendent power of story as well as the quiet miracles that have the power to transform our lives.
Augustus Waters and Hazel Grace are two of the most powerful characters in YA fiction today. They meet in a child Cancer Support Group where they begin a relationship that is deeply moving and often hilariously irreverent. The Fault in Our Stars is a love story that celebrates being alive.
Chris Ware’s 14-piece graphic novel, Building Stories, follows the lives of three households in a Chicago three-flat – an elderly landlady, a lonely single woman, and a couple with a strained relationship. Their lives are a mix of melancholy, happiness, and contentment that will hold your interest from beginning to end.
A werewolf, vampire, and ghost share a London flat. No, this isn’t a new Twilight love triangle spin-off. It’s Being Human, a BBC television show that combines drama, horror, and comedy all in one. Currently in its fourth season, it is one of those shows that you can’t stop watching.
Clara and Mr. Tiffany sheds light on the true artists behind Louis Comfort Tiffany’s famous leaded glass lamps. Meet Clara Driscoll and the other artists in the Women’s Division who have been shaded in obscurity, until Susan Vreeland’s masterful historical fiction brought them to light.
Larry of Fiction/AV/Teen Services recommends Feed by M.T. Anderson:
Computers have been reduced in size to a small chip that can be implanted in the human brain. Everything that can be done with a computer is now done by the interaction of one’s thoughts with the chip which is in constant connection with the network. Get the news, watch your favorite show, talk online with your friends, do your work, and buy products online through your brain’s connection to the Feed. No need to read, write, or dial numbers; it all comes to you automatically, including a constant flow of advertisements for products targeting your specific interests. But there’s a price to pay in quality of life and human development for a society of runaway consumerism and instant gratification.
