Willard Library

Librarian’s Picks Book List

Here are some favorite picks of the library staff.

The Road

Author: Cormac McCarthy
Publication Date: 2008-10-14

A father and his son walk alone through burned America, heading through the ravaged landscape to the coast. This book presents the story of their journey. It imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which two people, 'each the other's world entire', are sustained by love.

The Handmaid's Tale

Author: Margaret Atwood

A chilling look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States, an oppressive world where women are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction.

By Nightfall

Author: Michael Cunningham

Peter and Rebecca Harris: mid-forties denizens of Manhattan’s SoHo, nearing the apogee of committed careers in the arts—he a dealer, she an editor. With a spacious loft, a college-age daughter in Boston, and lively friends, they are admirable, enviable contemporary urbanites with every reason, it seems, to be happy. Then Rebecca’s much younger look-alike brother, Ethan (known in thefamily as Mizzy, “the mistake”), shows up for a visit. A beautiful, beguiling twenty-three-year-old with a history of drug problems, Mizzy is wayward, at loose ends, looking for direction. And in his presence, Peter finds himself questioning his artists, their work, his career—the entire world he has so carefully constructed.

Like his legendary, Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Hours, Michael Cunningham’s masterly new novel is a heartbreaking look at the way we live now. Full of shocks and aftershocks, it makes us think and feel deeply about the uses and meaning of beauty and the place of love in our lives.

Vineyard Chill: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery

Author: Philip R. Craig
Publication Date: 2008-03-06

An old friend's visit brings both pleasure & danger to Craig's laid-back ex-policeman on his twilight tour of Martha's Vineyard. The island and the people who live there year-round are described in loving detail, and there are three recipes provided for the reader's enjoyment.

Looks To Die For

Author: Janice Kaplan
Publication Date: 2007-02-13

Parade magazine editor Kaplan here offers a nice mix of glamour, mommy lit, and mystery. Lacy Fields is the wife of a well-known plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. She has a happy marriage, three relatively normal kids, and a successful interior design business. What could go wrong? Suspense fans looking for frothy, wacky fun will be well rewarded.

A Freewheelin' Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties

Author: Suze Rotolo
Publication Date: 2008-05-13

A must read for any Dylan-head! Rotolo, who was romantically involved with Bob Dylan from 1961 - 1964 has written this memoir of the rise of the folk music movement in Greenwich Village from a firsthand perspective. She vividly recreates that period in history while recounting her own growing political awareness, and explains how folk music eventually led her to a life of activism.

Interpreter of Maladies

Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Publication Date: 2002-12-30

India is an inescapable presence in this strong first collection's nine polished and resonant tales, most of which have appeared in The New Yorker and other publications. Lahiri, who was born in London and grew up in Rhode Island, offers stories that stress the complex mechanics of adjustment to new circumstances, relationships, & cultures.

Them

Author: Nathan McCall
Publication Date: 2008-08-19

Passing his time reading books & hanging out with fellow locals in his ramshackle Atlanta community, forty-something African-American Barlowe witnesses local tensions between his neighbors and white newcomers who are promoting redevelopment efforts. By the author of Makes Me Wanna Holler.

Dream Eyes

Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

Returning to the Oregon small town where fellow members of a research team were killed two years earlier, psychic counselor Gwen Frazier, convinced that her mentor's untimely death is related, searches for answers at the side of psychic investigator Judson Coppersmith, who is haunted by urgent dreams and a primal attraction to Gwen.

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