Last Staff Picks

On Wednesday, Nov. 21, I did my last Staff Picks for the library staff at Glendale. Once a quarter, I pick 15 books and do quick book chats. The other months, staff members from throughout the system bring books to talk about. I thought this was going to be a little sad because I've enjoyed every opportunity to talk about books with these other book lovers. But, they made it a joyous occasion, bringing sparkling apple cider to offer a toast. So, thank you to the Glendale Library Staff, and here's to the future at Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library.

And, as always, I'm sharing those fifteen books with you.

Quotes from Will Schwalbe – “Reading isn’t the opposite of doing; it’s the opposite of dying.”

                “Books focused her mind, calmed her, took her outside of herself.”

                “All readers have reading in common.”

Brown Bag Luncheon – Nov. 21, 2012

Adams, Jen – The Books They Gave Me  – Collection of almost 200 stories submitted to Adams’ blog, TheBooksTheyGaveMe.com to capture how books change lives.

Bowen, Rhys – The Twelve Clues of Christmas  – Lady Georgie accepts a job as hostess for a holiday party in Tiddleton-under-Lovey, where she becomes suspicious when a death occurs daily.

Cabot, Amanda – Christmas Roses  – In Wyoming, in 1882, a young widow taking in boarder tells one of them she’ll remarry when a man gives her roses for Christmas.

Carlson, Melody – The Christmas Pony – Lucy knows better than to ask for a pony for Christmas when her widowed mother needs boarders in order to put food on the table in Depression-era Arizona.

 

Hearth, Amy Hill – Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society  – The thought-provoking story of a woman from Boston who moves to Naples, FL in 1962, and turns the redneck town upside down with her book club and her radio show.

Macomber, Debbie – Angels at the Table  – Macomber brings back her angels, Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy, and adds an apprentice to interfere in the lives of another couple and bring holiday romance.

MacRae, Molly – Last Wool and Testament  – When Kath inherits her grandmother’s fiber & fabric shop, she also inherits a ghost and group of friends willing to prove her Granny wasn’t a killer.

March, Mia – The Meryl Streep Movie Club  – Lolly Weller raised her nieces along with her daughter after a car crash killed their parents. Fifteen years later, when she calls them home to reveal she has cancer, it’s Meryl Streep movies that bring them together.

Marton, Kati – Paris: A Love Story  – Memoir of her love of Paris & sharing it with her husbands, first Peter Jennings, then Richard Holbrooke.

Schwalbe, Will – The End of Your Life Book Club -  Schwalbe’s book discussions with his mother during her cancer treatments allow them to reach out to each other.

Sloan, Robin – Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore  – A clerk in a mysterious bookstore discovers an unusual group of clients, and gathers friends for a quest to find a secret.

Four of Lesa’s Favorites

Brett, Regina – God Never Blinks  – 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours

Cannell, Stephen – King Con  – The king of the con men plans one last great con to get even with a mobster.

Crusie, Jennifer & Bob Mayer – Agnes and the Hitman  – A sexy, hilarious story combining a food writer named Cranky Agnes and a hitman named Shane, mixed together with a Southern Mob wedding, a missing necklace, flamingos, a dog named Rhett, and a frying pan.

Hoffman, Beth – Saving CeeCee Honeycutt  – Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt’s tragic life is changed by her great-aunt, and an eccentric group of women in Savanna.