Suggested Titles for Community Reads Programs from Random House LLC

Recommended Titles
Ann Bausum

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Sergeant Stubby: How a Stray Dog

and His Best Friend Helped Win World
War I and Stole the Heart of a Nation

Americanah
A powerful newnovelher first inseven yearsby
the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun,
a story of love and race spanning three continents
and numerous lives, and centered around a young
man and a woman from Nigeria who face difficult
choices and challenges in the countries they come
to call home. United States and Nigeria
Winner: National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction / An ALA
Notable Book
978-0-307-45592-5 | $15.95C | Anchor | TR | Fiction
978-0-307-39792-8 | $21.00C | Vintage Canada | TR
E 978-0-307-96212-6
Themes: IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Penn State Reads Program

James Agee;
Photographed by Walker Evans; Edited by
John Summers; Introduction by Adam Haslett

Stubbys story begins in 1917 when America is

about to enter the war. A stray dog befriends
Private J. Robert Bob Conroy at the Connecticut
National Guard camp at Yale University and the
two become inseparable, eventually crossing an
ocean and going to war together. What follows is
an epic tale of how mans best friend becomes an
invaluable soldier on the front lines and in the trenches, a decorated war
hero and an inspiration to a country long after the troops returned home.
The memorable story of Sergeant Stubby-World War I dog veteran,
decorated war hero, American icon, and above all, mans best friend.
Beloit, WI
978-1-4262-1310-6 | $24.00/$24.00C | National Geographic | HC | Nonfiction
978-1-4262-1465-3 | $13.95/$16.95C | National Geographic | TR | May 2015
E 978-1-4262-1311-3
Themes: Courage
Young Readers Edition:

Stubby the War Dog:

The True Story of World War Is
Bravest Dog

Cotton Tenants: Three Families

Published here for the first time, Agees original
reportaccompanied by thirty of Walker Evans
historic photosis an unsparing record of place
and of three families who worked the land at a
desperate time. It remains relevant today as one
the most honest explorations of poverty in America
ever attempted, and as a foundational document
of long-form reporting. It is, according to novelist Adam Haslett, a poets
brief for the prosecution of economic and social injustice. Alabama
978-1-61219-398-4 l $16.95/$16.95C | Melville House | TR
E 978-1-61219-213-0
Themes: IDENTITY LOSS

Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

A phenomenal #1 bestseller, this memoir traces
Maya Angelous childhood in a small, rural
community in Arkansas during the 1930s. Filled
with images and recollections that point to the
dignity and courage of black men and women,
Angelou paints a sometimes disquieting, but
always affecting, picture of the peopleand the
timesthat touched her life.
978-0-8129-8002-8 | $17.00/$20.00C | Random House | TR
Nonfiction
978-0-345-51440-0 | $6.99/$8.99C | Ballantine | MM
E 978-0-307-47772-9 | ] CD: 978-0-307-87939-4 | ] AD: 978-0-307-87940-0
Themes: Courage Coming of Age Womens Studies

978-1-4263-1486-5 | $17.99/$20.99C | National Geographic

Childrens Books | HC | Nonfiction
Themes: Courage

Chris Bohjalian

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands:

A Novel
Emily Shepard is a homeless girl living in
Burlington. Nearly a year ago, a power plant in
Vermont had a meltdown, and both of Emilys
parents were killed. Her father was in charge of the
plant, and the meltdown may have been his fault.
Emily feels certain that as the daughter of the most
hated man in America, she is in danger. So instead
of following her classmates after the meltdown,
Emily took off on her own for Burlington. But Emily cant outrun her past,
cant escape her grief, cant hide foreverand so she comes up with the
only plan that she can. For readers of Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Strout, Sue
Miller, and Elizabeth Berg.
Lincoln, VT
978-0-385-53483-3 | $25.95 | Doubleday | HC | Fiction
978-0-385-68192-6 | $29.95C | Doubleday Canada | HC
E 978-0-385-53484-0 | ] CD: 978-0-307-91748-5 | ] AD: 978-0-307-91749-2
LP: 978-0-8041-9444-0
Themes: COMING OF AGE LOSS Courage

SELECTED BY: Forsyth County, NC; Rome/Floyd County, GA; Kankakee County, IL

KEY

] Audio

Large Print

E E-Book

Spanish

Discussion Guide Available

Katherine Boo

Geoffrey Canada

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life,

Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

Fist Stick Knife Gun:

A Personal History of Violence

From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, comes

a landmark work of narrative nonfiction. Annawadi
is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury
hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts
to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope.
But then one man is falsely accused in a shocking
tragedy; terror and recession rock the city; and
suppressed tensions over religion, caste, and sex
turn brutal. The intersection of individual hopes with the greatest global
truths. Washington, DC
Winner: National Book Award
978-0-8129-7932-9 | $16.00/$18.00C | RH Trade Paperbacks | TR | Nonfiction

E 978-0-679-64395-1 | ] CD: 978-0-307-93407-9 | ] AD: 978-0-307-93408-6

Themes: Courage
SELECTED BY: East Lansing, MI

Long before the avalanche of praise for his workfrom Oprah Winfrey, from President Bill Clinton,
from President Barack Obamalong before he
became known for his talk show appearances,
Members Project spots, and documentaries like
Waiting for Superman, Geoffrey Canada was a
small boy growing up scared on the mean streets
of the South Bronx. His childhood world was one
where sidewalk boys learned the codes of the block and were ranked
through the rituals of fist, stick, and knife. Then the streets changed, and
the stakes got even higher. In his candid and riveting memoir, Canada
relives a childhood in which violence stalked every street corner.
New York, NY
978-0-8070-4461-2 | $14.00/$16.00C | Beacon Press | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-8070-4450-6
Themes: Courage IDENTITY

Bill Bryson

Sandra Cisneros

One Summer: America, 1927

The House on Mango Street

One of the most admired nonfiction writers of our

time retells the story of one truly fabulous year in
the life of his native countrya fascinating and
gripping narrative featuring such outsized American
heroes as Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, and
yes Herbert Hoover, and a gallery of criminals (Al
Capone), eccentrics (Shipwreck Kelly), and closemouthed politicians (Calvin Coolidge). It was the
year Americans attempted and accomplished outsized things and came of age in a big, brawling manner. What a country.
What a summer. Norfolk, England
978-0-7679-1941-8 | $15.95C | Anchor | TR | Nonfiction
978-0-385-68089-9 | $23.00C | Anchor Canada | TR
E 978-0-385-53782-7 | ] CD: 978-0-8041-2735-6 | ] AD: 978-0-8041-2736-3
LP: 978-0-375-43432-7
Themes: IDENTITY

Through a series of vignettes, Cisneros tells the story

of Esperanza Cordero, a young girl growing up in the
Latino section of Chicago, whose neighborhood is
one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza
doesnt want to belongnot to her rundown
neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the
world has for her. San Antonio, TX
978-0-679-73477-2 | $10.95/$12.99C | Vintage | TR | Fiction
] CD: 978-0-7393-2279-6 | ] AD: 978-0-7393-2281-9
978-0-679-75526-5
Themes: COMING OF AGE IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Chicago, IL, The State of Arkansas; Commerce, Escondido, CA; Los Angeles, CA;
Pico Rivera, CA; Sonoma County, CA; Jacksonville, FL; Miami, FL; Multnomah County,OR; Brazo
Valley, TX; College Station-Bryan, TX; El Paso, TX; Milwaukee, WI

Jennifer Clement

Prayers for the Stolen

SELECTED BY: Tulsa Reads

Susan Cain

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World

That Cant Stop Talking
In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically
undervalue introverts and shows how much we
lose in doing so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert
Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores
how deeply it has come to permeate our culture.
Passionately argued, superbly researched, and
filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet
has the power to permanently change how
we see introverts and, equally important, how they see themselves.
ThePowerOfIntroverts.com Hudson River Valley, NY
978-0-307-35215-6 | $16.00/$19.00C | Broadway | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-45220-7 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-5912-1 | ] AD: 978-1-4159-5914-5
Themes: IDENTITY

Ladydi Garcia Martnez is fierce, funny, and smart,

yet she was born into a world where being a girl is
a dangerous thing. In the mountains of Guerrero,
Mexico, women must fend for themselves. They
live in the shadows of the drug war, where bodies
turn up on the village outskirts and school is only
held sporadically. In Guerrero, drug lords are kings
and mothers disguise their daughters as sons
anything to protect them from the rapacious grasp
of the cartels. Clement offers an intimate look at a country besieged by
violence and poverty, based on interviews that she conducted with female
survivors of this culture. Mexico City
978-0-804-13878-9 | $23.00/$26.95C | Hogarth | HC | Fiction
978-0-804-13880-2 | $15.00/$18.00C | Hogarth | TR | November 2014
E 978-0-804-13879-6
Themes: Coming of Age IDENTITY

SELECTED BY: Lane Public Library, OH

Recommended Titles
Ernest Cline

Firoozeh Dumas

Ready Player One

Funny in Farsi:
A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian
in America

Willy Wonka meets the Matrix. (USA Today) In

the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only
time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when
hes jacked into the virtual utopia known as the
OASIS. Wades devoted his life to studying the
puzzles hidden within this worlds digital confines
puzzles that promise massive power and fortune to
whoever can unlock them. But when Wade finds
himself beset by players willing to kill to take this
ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wades going to survive, hell have
to winand confront the real world hes always been so desperate to
escape.
ErnestCline.com ReadyPlayerOne.com Austin, TX
Winner: ALA ALEX Award
978-0-307-88744-3 | $14.00 $17.00C | Broadway | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-307-88745-0 | ] CD: 978-0-307-97006-0 | ] AD: 978-0-307-91316-6
Themes: Coming of Age IDENTITY Courage
SELECTED BY: One Book One Middletown, CT

Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The Language of Flowers: A Novel

In Victorian times, the language of flowers
was used to express a wide range of romantic
emotions. But for Victoria Jones, its been more
useful in communicating things like grief, mistrust,
and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster
care system, she is unable to get close to anybody.
But after meeting a mysterious vendor at the flower
market, Victoria realizes whats been missing in her
own life. As she starts to fall for him, shes forced
to confront a painful secret from her past, and decide whether its worth
risking everything for a second chance at happiness. CamelliaNetwork.org
Cambridge, MA
978-0-345-52555-0 | $15.00/$18.00C | Ballantine Books | TR | Fiction

E 978-0-345-52556-7 | ] CD: 978-0-307-87895-3 | ] AD: 978-0-307-87896-0

Themes: IDENTITY Coming of Age

Love

SELECTED BY: Palm Beach County, FL; Montcalm, MI

John Donnelly

A Twist of Faith: An American

Christians Quest to Help Orphans
in Africa
The story of David Nixon who, despite personal
struggles, the corruption of local officials, and the
heartbreak of losing orphans to the AIDS epidemic,
saves himself by saving others in a place nothing
like home. With money raised from his church
he sets off to do what so many well-intentioned
Americans do in Africa: build an orphanage but
slowly comes to realize, that he must abandon his preconceived ideas
about how to help others and listen to what the Malawians actually want
and need. Chevy Chase, MD
978-0-8070-0116-5 | $16.00/$18.00C | Beacon Press | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-8070-0133-2
Themes: Courage integrity
4

In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and

her family moved from Iran to Southern California,
arriving with no firsthand knowledge of America.
This unforgettable story of identity, discovery, and
the power of family love chronicles the American
journey of Firoozehs wonderfully engaging family
and Firoozeh herself. Northern California
978-0-8129-6837-8 | $15.00/$18.00C | RH Trade Paperbacks | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-43099-1
Themes: IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Orange County and Whittier, CA; Berkely, CA; Carlsbad, CA; Palo Alto, CA;
Dayton, OH; Bensenville, IL; Brentwood, CA; Concord, NH

Dave Eggers

What is the What

A moving, extraordinary novel about one of the
Sudanese Lost Boys and his struggle for survival.
Written with expansive humanity and surprising
humor, we come to understand the nature of
the conicts in Sudan, the refugee experience in
America, the dreams of the Dinka people, and the
challenge one indomitable man faces in a world
collapsing around him. San Francisco, CA
FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle Awards
978-0-307-38590-1 | $15.95/NCR | Vintage | TR | Fiction | E 978-0-307-39036-3
Themes: Courage
SELECTED BY: Arlington, MA Reads Together; Marin County, CA; One Book South Dakota;
Philadelphia, PA; San Mateo County, CA; Thousand Oaks, CA
Also Available:

Zeitoun
978-0-307-38794-3 | $15.95/NCR | Vintage | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-73943-8
Themes: Courage
SELECTED BY: San Francisco, CA; Greenwich, CT

Hans Fallada

Every Man Dies Alone: A Novel

It presents a richly detailed portrait of life in Berlin
under the Nazis and tells the sweeping saga of
one working-class couple who decides to take
a stand when their only son is killed at the front.
With nothing but their grief and each other against
the awesome power of the Reich, they launch a
simple, clandestine resistance campaign that soon
has enraged Gestapo on their trail.
A signal literary event of 2009.
The New York Times Book Review
WINNER: A New York Times Notable Book of 2009 / A San Francisco
Chronicle Best Book of 2009
978-1-935554-04-2 | $16.95/$16.95C | Melville House | TR | Fiction | E 978-1-935554-05-9
Themes: Courage

Sheri Fink

John Grisham

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death

in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

The Innocent Man:

Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Finks landmark

investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans
hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrinaand her
suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and
justice. In the tradition of the best investigative
journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink
reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center
and draws the reader into the lives of those who
struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amid chaos. In a voice at
once involving and fair, masterful and intimate, Fink exposes the hidden
dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals just how ill-prepared we are in
America for the impact of large-scale disastersand how we can do
better. SheriFink.net
WINNER: An ALA Notable Book
978-0-307-71896-9 | $26.00/$30.00C | Crown | HC | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-71898-3 | ] CD: 978-0-8041-2811-7 | ] AD: 978-0-8041-2812-4
Themes: Integrity CRIME AND JUSTICE

Jamie Ford

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter

and Sweet: A Novel
When Seattles famed Panama Hotel undergoes
renovation in 1986, Henry Lee, now 56 years old,
comes face to face with a relic from his past that
unearths memories of his experiences during World
War IIthe young Japanese woman he loved and
lost, the father who betrayed himand sets him on
a journey to repair the errors of his past.
Great Falls, MT
978-0-345-50534-7 | $15.00/$18.95C | Ballantine Books | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-345-51250-5 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-6209-1 | ] AD: 978-1-4159-6210-7
Themes: IDENTITY Coming of Age
SELECTED BY: Schnectady County, NY; Broomfield, CO; Our Region Reads: Coeur dAlene, ID

Viktor E. Frankl

Mans Search for Meaning

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankls memoir has riveted
generations of readers with its descriptions of life
in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual
survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored
in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while
his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished.
Based on his own experience and the experiences
of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl
argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we
can choose how to cope with it, find meaning
in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankls theoryknown
as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos (meaning)holds that our
primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery
and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress was raped

and murdered; with a case built on junk science
and the testimony of jailhouse snitches, Ron
Williamson was sent to death row. If you believe
that in America you are innocent until proven guilty,
this book will shock you; if you believe in the death
penalty, it will disturb you; if you believe the criminal
justice system is fair, it will infuriate you.
Mississippi and Charlottesville, VA
978-0-385-34091-5 | $16.00/$20.00C | Delta | TR | Nonfiction
978-0-440-24383-0 | $7.99/$11.99C | Dell | MM
E 978-0-307-57601-9 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-3307-7 | ] AD: 978-0-7393-4685-3
Themes: CRIME AND JUSTICE

Gail Gutradt

In a Rocket Made of Ice:

Among the Children of Wat Opot
Gail Gutradt was at a crossroads in her life
when she learned of the Wat Opot Childrens
Community, a temple complex nestled among
Cambodias verdant rice paddies, was once a
haunted scrubland that became a place of healing
and respite where children with or orphaned by
HIV/AIDs could live outside of fear or judgment,
and find a new family. Disarming, funny, deeply
moving, In a Rocket Made of Ice gathers the stories of children saved and
changed by this very special place, and of one womans transformation in
trying to help them. Bar Harbor, ME
978-0-385-35347-2 | $25.95/$30.00C | Knopf | HC | Nonfiction
E 978-0-385-35348-9 | ] CD: 978-0-553-54643-9 | ] AD: 978-0-553-54644-6
Themes: INTEGRITY LOSS Love Courage

Mark Haddon

The Curious Incident of the Dog

in the Night-Time
Christopher is fteen, gifted, and autistic. His
carefully constructed world falls apart when the
neighbors dog is killed. As he sets out to solve
the mystery of the dogs murder, Christopher must
fall back on his own deductive logic to navigate
the emotional complexities of a social world that
remains a puzzle to him. Oxford, England
 INNER: ALA Alex Award / YALSA Best Books for
W
Young Adults
978-1-4000-3271-6 | $13.95/NCR | Vintage | TR | Fiction | E 978-0-385-51102-5
Themes: Coming of Age
SELECTED BY: Santa Barbara, CA; Gunnison, CO; Westport, CT; North Attleborough, MA;
North Reading, MA; West Boylston, MA; Kalamazoo, MI; Wake County, NC; Cincinnati, OH;
Central Valley, NY; New Paltz, NY; Galveston, TX; Salt Lake City, UT; LaPorte County, IN;
Michigan City, IN; Falmouth, MA; South Central Pennsylvania; Winchester County, VA

978-0-8070-1427-1 | $14.00/$16.00C | Beacon Press | TR | Nonfiction

E 978-0-8070-1428-8 |
LP: 978-0-8070-0000-7
Themes: IDENTITY Loss Courage
5

Recommended Titles
Kent Haruf

Homer H. Hickam, Jr.

Plainsong

Rocket Boys

Set on the rural plains of Holt, CO, this stirring

meditation on the true nature and necessity of
family comprises several story lines that ow into
one. The seven characters featured in this tight
narrative teach us how families can be made
between people who are not necessarily blood
relatives. Salida, CO

A powerful story of coming of age at the dawn

of the 1960s, of a mothers love and a fathers
fears, of a group of young men who dreamed of
launching rockets into outer space . . . and who
made those dreams come true.
Alabama and the Virgin Islands

WINNER: National Book Award

978-0-375-70585-4 | $13.95/$21.00C | Vintage | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-375-72693-4
Themes: love
SELECTED BY: The State of Arizona; Gunnison, CO; Loveland, CO; Springeld, IL; Vigo County, IN;
Cedar Rapids, IA; Manhattan, KS; Grand Rapids, MI; Boone & Callaway Counties, MO;
Kansas City, MO; Wahpeton and Breckenridge, ND; Lincoln, NE; Dallas/Fort Worth, TX;
Salt Lake City, UT; Spokane, WA

Peter Heller

The Dog Stars: A Novel

Hig survived the u that killed everyone he knows.
He lives in the hangar of a small abandoned
airport with his dog, his only neighbor a guntoting misanthrope. In his1956 Cessna, Hig ies
the perimeter of the aireld or sneaks off to the
mountains to sh and pretend that things are
the way they used to be. But when a random
transmission somehow beams through his radio,
the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a
better lifesomething like his old lifeexists beyond the airport. Denver, CO
WINNER: An ALA Notable Book
978-0-307-95047-5 | $15.00/$18.00C | Vintage | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-307-96093-1 | ] CD: 978-0-449-01313-7 | ] AD: 978-0-449-01314-4
Themes: Loss Courage
SELECTED BY: Gulf Coast Reads; Deshutes PL, OR

Cristina Henrquez

The Book of Unknown Americans:

A Novel
A dazzling, heartbreaking page-turner destined
for breakout status: a novel that gives voice to
millions of Americans as it tells the story of the love
between a Panamanian boy and a Mexican girl:
teenagers living in an apartment block of immigrant
families like their own.
Spectacular . . . highly believable and poignant . . .
A well-written story set among unknown Americans, ostensibly Hispanic
but in many ways any family adjusting to a new culture and way of life,
regardless of ethnicity. Library Journal
Hinsdale, IL
978-0-385-35084-6 | $24.95 | Knopf | HC | Fiction
978-0-385-68073-8 | $29.95C | Bond Street Books | HC
E 978-0-385-35085-3 | ] CD: 978-0-8041-9144-9 | ] AD: 978-0-8041-9145-6
Themes: IDENTITY Loss

978-0-385-33321-4 | $16.00/$18.00C | Delta | TR | Nonfiction

E 978-0-440-33387-6
Themes: Coming of Age Love LOSS
SELECTED BY: Guntersville, AL; Jackson County, AL; Scottsboro, AL; Central Florida;
Greenwood, IN; Northwest, IN; Topeka, KS; Athol, MA; Easthampton, MA; Southwest MI;
Bowling Green, OH; Cleveland, OH; Findlay, OH; Tiffen, OH; Central Pennsylvania; Warren
County, PA; Beaford County, SC; Memphis Shelby County, TN; Portland, TN; Alexandria, VA;
Winchester, Frederick and Clark Counties, VA; Souix City, IA; Waco, TX

Naoki Higashida
Translated by KA Yoshida and David Mitchell

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of

a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism
A remarkable journey into the mind of Naoki
Higashida, a 13-year-old boy with severe autism.
Using an alphabet grid Naoki painstakingly spells
out answers to the questions he imagines others
most often wonder: why do you talk so loud? Is
it true you hate being touched? The result is an
inspiring, attitude-transforming book. Japan
978-0-8129-9486-5 | $22.00 | Random House | HC | Nonfiction
978-0-8129-8515-3 | $15.00 | RH Trade Paperbacks | March 2015
978-0-345-80780-9 | $25.00C | Knopf Canada | HC
978-0-345-80782-3 | $18.00C | Vintage Canada | TR | March 2015
E 978-0-8129-9487-2
Themes: IDENTITY

Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken: A World War II Story of

Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces
bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and
disappeared, leaving a young lieutenant, Louis
Zamperini afloat. Ahead of him lay thousands of
miles of open ocean, thirst and starvation, enemy
aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to
the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer
desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope;
brutality with rebellion. Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the
human mind, body, and spirit. Washington, DC
WINNER: Los Angeles Times Book Prize
978-1-4000-6416-8 | $28.00/$33.00C | Random House | HC | Nonfiction
978-0-8129-7449-2 | $16.00/$19.00C | RH Trade Paperbacks | October 2014
E 978-0-679-60375-7 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-6274-9 | ] AD: 978-1-4159-6276-3
LP: 978-0-375-43501-0
Young Readers Edition: 978-0-385-74251-1 | E 978-0-307-97565-2 | November 2014
Themes: Courage Coming of Age
SELECTED BY: Orange County Libraries, CA; Barrington, IL; Sarasota County, FL; Northern
Colorado Common Read; Sierra Madre, CA

Nancy Horan

Rachel Joyce

Loving Frank: A Novel

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of

Harold Fry: A Novel

Fact and fiction are brilliantly blended in this

enthralling novel based on the love affair between
Mamah Cheney and renowned American architect,
Frank Lloyd Wright, that scandalized Chicago
society in the early 20th century.
Langley, Whidbey Island, WA

Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a

small English village with his wife, Maureen, who
seems irritated by almost everything he does. Little
differentiates one day from the next. But when
a morning walk to the corner mailbox to send a
letter to an ailing friend transforms into a pilgrimage
across 600 miles of English countryside, something
extraordinary happens. Gloucestershire, UK

978-0-345-49500-6 | $15.00/$17.00C | Ballantine | TR | Fiction

E 978-0-345-50225-4 | Deluxe E 978-0-345-54103-1
Themes: Love
SELECTED BY: Wilmette, IL; Norwell, MA

Arianna Huffington

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining

Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being,
Wisdom, and Wonder
Thrive is a call to arms to redefine how we
measure success in our work lives and personal
lives. Beyond money and power, Arianna says,
is the Third Metric: the importance of well-being,
wisdom and fulfillment. The third metric is creating
a revolution in our lives, one that will be led by
women as they reinvent what it means to be
successful in the workplacebut that will ultimately affect us all, men and
women alike. Thrive is a vital next step in the debate on women, success
and the workplace. New York City

978-0-8129-8345-6 | $15.00 | RH Trade Paperbacks | TR | Fiction

978-0-385-67771-4 | $19.95C | Anchor Canada
E 978-0-679-64511-5 | ] CD: 978-0-449-01277-2 | ] AD: 978-0-449-01278-9
SELECTED BY: Lincoln, NE; Cass County, MO
Also Available:

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy: A Novel

978-0-8129-9667-8 | $20.00 | Random House | HC | Fiction | Feburary 2015
978-0-385-68282-4 | $25.00C | Bond Street Books | HC
E 978-0-8129-9666-1 | ] CD: 978-0-553-41010-5 | ] AD: 978-0-553-41012-9
Themes: Love LOSS

Tracy Kidder

Mountains Beyond Mountains:

The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who
Would Cure the World
Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder tells the true
story of eccentric medical genius Paul Farmer, an
American male Mother Teresa. Farmer shows
how one person can effect global progress against
seemingly impossible problemsTB, AIDS, poverty
with creativity, knowledge and determination.
Williamsburg, MA and South Bristol, ME

978-0-804-14084-3 | $26.00/$31.00C | Harmony | HC | Nonfiction

E 978-0-804-14085-0 | ] CD: 978-0-804-19394-8 | ] AD: 978-0-804-19395-5
Themes: IDENTITY Courage

Kristen Iversen

Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the

Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats
A haunting work of narrative nonction about a
young woman growing up in a small Colorado town
close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear-weapons
plant once designated the most contaminated
site in America. Full Body Burden is the story
of a young woman growing up in the shadow of
the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly
beautiful landunknown to those who lived
theretainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium. Its also a
book about the destructive power of secretsboth family secrets and
government secrets. KristenIversen.com
Memphis, TN
978-0-307-95565-4 | $15.00/$18.00C | Broadway | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-95564-7 | ] CD: 978-0-449-00968-0 | ] AD: 978-0-449-00969-7

978-0-8129-7301-3 | $16.00/$19.00C | RH Trade Paperbacks | TR | Nonfiction

978-0-8129-8055-4 | $18.00/$21.00C | RH Trade Paperbacks | Deluxe TR | Nonfiction
E 978-1-58836-334-3 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-4692-3 | ] AD: 978-0-7393-4998-4
Young Readers Edition: 978-0-385-74319-8 | E 978-0-307-98088-5
Themes: integrity
SELECTED BY: Concord, MA; Dover, MA; Falmouth, MA; and Winchester, MA; Syracuse, NY;
Minnetonka, MN; Sarasota, FL; San Diego, CA; Ann Arbor, MI; Southeastern, CT; Summit, NJ;
Bozeman, MT; Wilbraham, MA; August, ME; Deerfield, IL; Santa Barbara, CA
Also Available:

Strength in What Remains

978-0-8129-7761-5 | $16.00/$19.00C | RH Trade Paperbacks
TR | Nonfiction
E 978-1-58836-851-5
] CD: 978-1-4159-6344-9 | ] AD: 978-1-4159-6346-3
Themes: Courage

Themes: IDENTITY Coming of Age

SELECTED BY: Hanover, NH; State of Iowa

Recommended Titles
Herman Koch

Jhumpa Lahiri

Summer House with Swimming Pool

The Lowland: A Novel

Doctors are unassailable. Their patients, with

all their secrets, are delivered up to them body
and soul. Marc Schlosser is a family doctor to
the rich and famous, and behind his mask of
solicitude a heartless cynic. When he finds his
honour as a husband and father in jeopardy,
however, he realizes he has power over life and
death. Who could do anything to him should one
of his patients die? For readers of suspense and
incendiary novels like We Need to Talk About Kevin, Defending Jacob
and Gone Girl.
Amsterdam

An engrossing family saga steeped in history:

the story of two very different brothers bound by
tragedy, a fiercely brilliant woman haunted by her
past, a country torn apart by revolution, and a love
that endures long past death. Moving from the
1960s to the present, and from India to America
and across generations. Brooklyn, NY
FINALIST: National Book Award
978-0-307-27826-5 | $15.00 | Vintage | TR | Fiction
978-0-676-97937-4 | $21.00C | Vintage Canada | TR
E 978-0-385-35040-2 | ] CD: 978-0-385-36742-4 | ] AD: 978-0-385-36743-1
Themes: IDENTITY LOSS Love

978-0-804-13881-9 | $24.00/$27.00C | Hogarth | HC | Fiction

E 978-0-804-13882-6
Themes: Integrity CRIME AND JUSTICE

William Landay

Defending Jacob: A Novel

Also Available:

Andy Barber has been a respected assistant district

attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for
more than twenty years. But when a shocking crime
shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided
by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is
charged with the murder of a fellow student.
Boston, MA

The Dinner: A Novel

978-0-385-34685-6 | $14.00/$16.00C | TR | Hogarth | Fiction
E 978-0-385-34684-9
Themes: CRIME AND JUSTICE

978-0-345-53366-1 | $15.00/$17.00C | Bantam | TR | Fiction

978-0-440-24613-8 | $7.99/$9.99C | Dell Books | MM

Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

A Path Appears: Transforming Lives,

Creating Opportunity
Equal in urgency and compassion to Half the Sky,
this galvanizing new book from the acclaimed
husband-and-wife team is even more ambitious
in scale: nothing less than a deep examination of
people who are making the world a better place,
and the myriad ways we can support them,
whether with a donation of five dollars or five
million, an inkling to help or a useful skill to deploy.
Soon to be the basis of a PBS four-hour series. Scarsdale, NY
978-0-385-34991-8 | $27.95/$33.00C | Knopf | HC | Nonfiction | September 2014
E 978-0-385-34992-5 | ] CD: 978-0-385-36784-4 | ] AD: 978-0-385-36785-1
LP: 978-0-8041-9454-9
Themes: integrity Courage
Also Available:

Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into

Opportunity for Women Worldwide
978-0-307-38709-7 | $15.95/$18.95C | Vintage | TR
Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-27315-4
Themes: integrity
SELECTED BY: UCONN Reads; UC Davis Campus Community Book Project

E 978-0-345-52759-2
Themes: CRIME AND JUSTICE IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Sharon, MA; Brookline, MA; Abington, MA

Erik Larson

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror,

and an American Familyin Hitlers Berlin
In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning,
eyewitness perspective on events as they unfold
in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance
and complexity. The result is a dazzling, addictively
readable work that speaks volumes about why the
world did not recognize the grave threat posed by
Hitler until Berlinand Europewere awash in blood
and terror. ErikLarsonBooks.com Seattle, WA
978-0-307-40885-3 | $16.00/$19.00C | Broadway | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-88795-5 | ] CD: 978-0-307-91459-0 | ] AD: 978-0-307-91460-6
LP: 978-0-7393-7814-4
Themes: CRIME AND JUSTICE Courage
SELECTED BY: Evansville, IN; Davie County, NC
Also Available:

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic,

and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
978-0-375-72560-9 | $16.00/$19.00C | Vintage | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-1-4000-7631-4
Themes: CRIME AND JUSTICE
SELECTED BY: Lewis County, WA; Sharon, MA; Lincoln, NE; Stoughton, MA; Downers Grove, IL

Mardi Jo Link

Anthony Marra

Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass

on a Northern Michigan Farm

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena:

A Novel

Poignant, irreverent, and hilarious: the memoir

of a woman who, after ending her nineteen-year
marriage, staves off a perpetually empty bank
ac-count, saves her century-old farmhouse from
foreclosure with the help of her three young sons,
and reclaims her life. Traverse City, MI
978-0-307-74358-9 | $15.00/$18.00C | Anchor | TR | Nonfiction

E 978-0-385-34967-3 | ] CD: 978-0-8041-2073-9 | ] AD: 978-0-8041-2074-6

Themes: Courage IDENTITY

E. Lockhart

In the final days of December 2004, in a small rural

village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa flees with
her neighbor Akhmed, a failed physician-to the
bombed-out hospital. With The English Patients
dramatic sweep and The Tigers Wifes expert
sense of place, Marra delivers a searing debut
about the transcendent power of love in wartime,
and how it can cause us to become greater than
we ever thought possible. AnthonyMarra.net Oakland, CA
978-0-770-43642-1 | $15.00 | Hogarth | TR | Fiction

E 978-0-770-43641-4 | ] AD: 978-0-385-36357-0

Themes: IDENTITY Courage LOSS

We Were Liars
A beautiful and distinguished
family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate,
political boy.
A group of four friendsthe Liarswhose
friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
Riveting, brutal and beautifully told. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Brooklyn, NY
978-0-385-74126-2 | $17.99/$19.99C | Delacorte Press | HC | Fiction
E 978-0-375-98440-2 | ] CD: 978-0-8041-6841-0 | ] AD: 978-0-8041-6842-7
Themes: COMING OF AGE LOSS

Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven: A Novel

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor
slumps over and dies onstage during a production
of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it
begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in timefrom the actors early days as a film star to fifteen
years in the future, when a theater troupe known
as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland
of what remains-this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that
connect five people. Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station
Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral
nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it. For readers
of The Dog Stars and The Age of Miracles.
Brooklyn, NY
978-0-385-35330-4 | $24.95 | Knopf | HC | Fiction | September 2014
E 978-0-385-35331-1 | ] CD: 978-0-553-54558-6 | ] AD: 978-0-553-39798-7
Themes: Loss Courage

Ayana Mathis

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie:

A Novel
A debut of extraordinary distinction: Ayana Mathis
tells the story of the children of the Great Migration
through the trials of one unforgettable family. An
emotionally transfixing page-turner, a searing
portrait of striving in the face of insurmountable
adversity, an indelible encounter with the resilience
of the human spirit and the driving force of the
American dream. Brooklyn, NY
WINNER: Black Caucus Literary Award
978-0-307-94970-7 | $15.00 | Vintage | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-385-35030-3 | Oprahs Book Club 2.0 Digital Edition: 978-0-385-35029-7
] CD: 978-0-8041-2727-1 | ] AD: 978-0-8041-2728-8
Themes: Courage IDENTITY Loss
SELECTED BY: 2013 Read St. Louis

Frances Mayes

Under Magnolia: A Southern Memoir

In her Tuscany memoirs, Frances Mayes frequently
refers to her south Georgia hometown of Fitzgerald,
her memories of it, and the commonalities of what
she recalls of Southern life and life in her adopted
home of Cortona, Italy. Under Magnolia is her
memoir of growing up in the American South, of
leaving it to explore the world, and of returning to
it to start a new life there. FrancesMayesBooks.com
North Carolina
978-0-307-88591-3 | $26.00/$31.00C | Crown | HC | Nonfiction
978-0-307-88592-0 | $15.00/$18.00C | Broadway Books | TR | March 2015
E 978-0-307-88593-7 | ] CD: 978-0-804-14860-3 | ] AD: 978-0-804-14861-0
Themes: IDENTITY Love
Also Available:

Under the Tuscan Sun

978-0-7679-0038-6 | $15.00 | Broadway Books | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-7679-1745-2
Themes: IDENTITY Love
SELECTED BY: Denver, CO

Recommended Titles
Alexander McCall Smith

Paula McLain

The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency

The Paris Wife: A Novel

Precious Ramotswes keen knowledge of the

human mind and heart, and steadfast sense of right
and wrong, makes her a heroine whose personality
inspires trust, warmth, and generosity in all who
meet her. Scotland

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal

that captures a remarkable time and a love
affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest
Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. Jazz Age
Paris and the the fabled Lost Generation
Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and
Zelda Fitzgeraldprovide the vivid backdrop for
this engrossing, emotionally wrenching story.
Cleveland, OH

978-1-4000-3477-2 | $12.95/$18.95C | Anchor | TR | Fiction

978-1-4000-9688-6 | $6.99/$10.99C | Anchor | MM
E 978-1-4000-7765-6
Themes: IDENTITY CRIME AND justice
SELECTED BY: Grand Rapids, MI; Monterey, CA; Carlsbad, CA; Howard County, IN; Marquette,
MI; Pierce County, WA
Young Readers Edition:

The Great Cake Mystery: Precious

Ramotswes Very First Case:
A Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency Book
for Young Readers

978-0-345-52131-6 | $15.00 | Ballantine | TR | Fiction

978-0-385-66924-5 | $22.00C | Anchor Canada
E 978-0-345-52132-3 | Deluxe E 978-0-345-53361-6
] CD: 978-0-307-87720-8 | ] AD: 978-0-307-87721-5
Themes: Love
SELECTED BY: Nassau County, FL; Pierce County, WA

Rebecca Mead

978-0-307-74389-3 | $6.99/$7.99C | Anchor | TR | Fiction

E 978-0-307-74390-9
] CD: 978-0-449-01140-9 | ] AD: 978-0-449-01143-0
Themes: IDENTITY CRIME AND justice

My Life in Middlemarch
A book for every ardent reader who wonders
about the power of literature to shape our lives.
A New Yorker writer revisits Middlemarch, the
seminal book of her youth and now middle age,
Mead takes Eliots ideas about parenthood,
wisdom, and morality and brings them into the
present day. For readers of Reading Lolita in
Tehran, A Jane Austen Education, and How Proust
Can Change Your Life.

Colum McCann

Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

On a late-summer morning, the people of lower
Manhattan stare up in disbelief at the Twin Towers.
It is August 1974, and a tightrope walker is leaping
between the towers, suspended a quarter mile
above the ground. In the streets below, ordinary
lives become extraordinary in this intricate portrait
of a city and its people. New York, NY
WINNER: National Book Award / An ALA
Notable Book
978-0-8129-7399-0 | $15.00 | RH Trade Paperbacks | TR | Fiction
E 978-1-58836-873-7
Themes: Loss
SELECTED BY: Fort Collins, CO; Bloomington, IN; Wilmette, IL

Jerry McGill

Dear Marcus:
A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me
Jerry McGill was thirteen years old, walking home
through the projects of Manhattans Lower East
Side, when he was shot in the back by a stranger.
Jerry survived, wheelchair-bound for life; his
assailant was never caught. Thirty years later, Jerry
wants to say something to the man who shot him.
Violence, hope, despair, forgiveness, anger, and
living with a disability are explored both lightly
and deeply, humorously and profoundly, and always honestly.
Library Journal (starred review)
Portland, OR
978-0-8129-8316-6 | $14.00/$17.00C | Spiegel & Grau | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-679-64460-6
Themes: Courage IDENTITY Loss

10

Brooklyn, NY
978-0-307-98476-0 | $25.00 | Crown | HC | Nonfiction
978-0-307-98477-7 | $15.00 | TR | January 2015
E 978-0-307-98478-4
Themes: IDENTITY

Dinaw Mengestu

All Our Names: A Novel

The story of a young man who comes of age
during an African revolutiondrawn from his
university into the intensifying clamor of the
streets outside. But as the line between idealism
and violence becomes increasingly blurred, and
the path of revolution leads to almost certain
destruction, he leaves behind his country and
friends for America. There, pretending to be an
exchange student, he falls in love with a social
worker and settles into the routines of small-town life. Yet this idyll is
inescapably darkened by the secrets of his past. For readers of V.S.
Naipaul, Chinua Achebe, Abraham Verghese, and Chimamanda Adichie.
New York, NY
978-0-385-34998-7 | $25.95 | Knopf | HC | Fiction
978-0-385-67977-0 | $27.95C | Bond Street Books | HC
E 978-0-385-34999-4
Themes: IDENTITY Coming of Age

Wes Moore

Sonia Nazario

The Other Wes Moore:

One Name, Two Fates

Enriques Journey

The true story of two boys born in the same

neighborhood in the same town with the same
name, and their starkly different fates. A powerful
story about young black men in Americathe
ones who make it, the ones who dont, and the
difference. TheOtherWesMoore.com
Jersey City, NJ

The breathtaking eyewitness account of a young

Honduran boys perilous efforts to reunite with his
mother eleven years after she is forced to leave her
starving family to find work in the United States. An
intense and timely story of one familys embodiment
of a national issue, illegal immigration, and the toll it
takes on the parents and children involved and on
the nations resources and moral standing.
Los Angeles, CA

978-0-385-52820-7 | $15.00/$17.00C | Spiegel & Grau | TR | Nonfiction

E 978-1-58836-969-7 | ] CD: 978-0-307-73603-1 | ] AD: 978-0-307-73604-8
Young Readers Edition: 978-0-385-74168-2
Themes: IDENTITY Coming of Age

978-0-8129-7178-1 | $16.00/$19.00C | Random House | TR | Nonfiction

E 978-1-58836-602-3 | 978-0-8129-7580-2 | E 978-0-307-54824-5
Young Readers Edition: 978-0-385-74328-0 | Young Readers E 978-0-307-98315-2

SELECTED BY: Bakersfield, CA

Themes: Courage Coming of Age Love

Virginia Morell

Animal Wise: How We Know Animals

Think and Feel
Animal Wise takes us on a dazzling odyssey
into the inner world of animals and among the
pioneering researchers who are leading the way
into once-forbidden territory: the animal mind.
Morell uses her formidable gifts as a storyteller to
transport us to field sites and laboratories around
the world, introducing us to animal-cognition
scientists and their surprisingly intelligent and
sensitive subjects. She explores how this rapidly evolving, controversial
field has only recently overturned old notions about why animals behave
as they do. In this surprising and moving book, Morell brings the world of
nature brilliantly alive in a nuanced, deeply felt appreciation of the humananimal bond.
WINNER: An Ala Notable Book
978-0-307-46145-2 | $14.95/$17.95C | Broadway Books | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-46146-9 | ] CD: 978-0-307-97075-6 | ] AD: 978-0-307-97076-3
Themes: Love IDENTITY

SELECTED BY: Yuma, AZ; Glendale, CA; Laredo, TX; Santa Fe, NM; Sand Diego, CA

Barack Obama

Dreams from My Father:

A Story of Race and Inheritance
A memoir by President Barack Obama, first
published in July 1995 when he was preparing to
launch his political career. As the son of a black
African father and a white American mother he
searches for a workable meaning to his life as a
black American. The sudden death of his father
inspires an emotional odysseyrst to a small town
in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration
of his mothers family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the
African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his fathers life, and
at last reconciles his divided inheritance.
978-1-4000-8277-3 | $14.95/$21.00C | Three Rivers Press | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-39412-5 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-4139-3 | ] AD: 978-1-4159-4140-9
Themes: IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Kansas Reads
Also Available:

Azar Nafisi

Reading Lolita in Tehran:

A Memoir in Books
Every Thursday morning for two years in the
Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired
teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered
seven of her most committed female students to
read forbidden Western classics. A remarkable
exploration of the liberating power of literature.
Washington, DC

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on

Reclaiming the American Dream
978-0-307-23770-5 | $14.95/$19.95C | Three Rivers Press
TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-38209-2
Themes: IDENTITY

978-0-8129-7930-5 | $18.00/$21.00C | RH Trade Paperbacks | TR | Nonfiction

E 978-1-58836-079-3
Themes: IDENTITY Courage
SELECTED BY: Bloomington, IN; Hartford, CT; Rolette, ND; South Hadlet, MA; DC Public Library
Citywide Read

11

Recommended Titles
R. J. Palacio

John Elder Robison

Wonder

Raising Cubby: A Father and Sons

Adventures with Aspergers, Trains,
Tractors, and High Explosives

August Pullman was born with

a facial deformity that, up until
now, has prevented him from going
to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade
at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more
than to be treated as an ordinary kidbut his
new classmates cant get past Auggies
extraordinary face.
A memorable story of kindness, courage and
wonder. Kirkus Reviews (starred review) New York, NY
978-0-375-86902-0 | $15.99/$17.99C | Alfred A. Knopf BFYR | HC | Fiction
978-0-375-87306-5 | $7.99/$8.99C | Yearling | TR | February 2016
E 978-0-375-89988-1
Themes: Courage IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Bowling Green, OH; Sant Monica P.L.

Chris Pavone

The Accident
From the author of the New York Times bestselling
and Edgar Award-winning The Expats, an elegant
and riveting espionage thriller about spies, secrets,
and the devastating power of the truth. Powerful
literary agent, Isabel Reed, is reading frantically,
turning the pages breathlessly. This is what shes
been waiting for her entire career: a book that will
help her move on from a painful past, a book that
could save her beloved industry . . . a book that
will change the world. New York, NY
978-0-385-34845-4 | $26.00/$31.00C | Crown | HC | Fiction
978-0-385-34847-8 | $15.00/$18.00C | Broadway Books | TR | January 2015
E 978-0-385-34846-1 | ] CD: 978-0-804-16599-0 | ] AD: 978-0-804-16600-3
LP: 978-0-804-12119-4
Themes: Courage IDENTITY
Also Available:

The Expats: A Novel

978-0-7704-3572-1 | $15.00/$17.00C | Broadway | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-307-95637-8 | ] CD: 978-0-307-99031-0
] AD: 978-0-307-99032-7
Themes: Courage IDENTITY Love

Tom Reiss

The Black Count:

Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the
Real Count of Monte Cristo
Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, The Black Count
tells the fascinating true story of Thomas-Alexandre
Dumas, the son of a French aristocrat and a black
slave from the colony of Saint-Domingue (modernday Haiti), Dumas enlisted in the French army in
1786 and quickly rose to the highest rank that
would be achieved by a man of color until Colin
Powellnearly 200 years later. New York, NY
978-0-307-38247-4 | $16.00/$18.00C | Broadway | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-95295-0 | ] CD: 978-0-449-01269-7 | ] AD: 978-0-449-01270-3
Themes: Courage Love
12

Raising Cubby, Robisons third book, is a chronicle

about a different boy being raised by a different
kind of fatherand about coming to terms with
being on the spectrum as both a challenge and
a unique gift.
Funny and moving . . . A warmhearted, appealing
account by a masterful storyteller.
Kirkus Reviews

JohnRobison.com JERobison.Blogspot.com
Amherst, MA
978-0-307-88485-5 | $14.95 | Broadway Books | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-88486-2 | ] CD: 978-0-307-88137-3 | ] AD: 978-0-307-88138-0
Themes: Coming of Age IDENTITY Love
Also Available:

Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range

Aspergian With Practical Advice for Aspergians,
Mists,Families & Teachers
978-0-307-88482-4 | $14.00 | Broadway | TR | Nonfiction

E 978-0-307-88483-1 | ] CD: 978-0-307-88133-5

] AD: 978-0-307-88134-2

Look Me in the Eye:

My Life with Aspergers
978-0-307-39618-1 | $14.95/$16.95C | Three Rivers Press
TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-40572-2 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-4245-1
] AD: 978-1-4159-4247-5
Themes: Coming of Age IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Montcalm, MI; New Philadelphia, OH; Somerville, MA

Gretchen Rubin

Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump

More, Abandon Self-Control, and My
Other Experiments in Everyday Life
In the spirit of her blockbuster #1 New York Times
bestseller The Happiness Project, Rubin worked
out general theories of happiness. Here she goes
deeper on factors that matter for home, such as
possessions, marriage, time, and parenthood. How
can she control the cubicle in her pocket? With her
signature blend of memoir, science, philosophy,
and experimentation, Rubins passion for her subject jumps off the page,
and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire readers to find
more happiness in their own lives. GretchenRubin.com
New York, NY
978-0-307-88679-8 | $15.00 | TR | Three Rivers Press | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-88680-4 | ] CD: 978-0-449-01440-0 | ] AD: 978-0-449-01441-7
Themes: IDENTITY Love

Donal Ryan

George Saunders

The Spinning Heart: A Novel

Congratulations, by the way:

Some Thoughts on Kindness

In the aftermath of Irelands financial collapse,

dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town.
As violence flares, the characters face a battle
between public persona and inner desires. Through
a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to
tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale
unfolds. This novel of small-town life is witty, dark
and sweetly poignant.
This startling debut reads like a modern Irish twist on William Faulkners,
As I Lay Dying. Library Journal (starred review)
Ireland
978-1-58642-224-0 | $15.00 | Steerforth Press | TR | Fiction
E 978-1-58642-225-7
Themes: IDENTITY LOSS

Three months after George Saunders gave a

graduation address at Syracuse University, a
transcript of that speech was posted on the
website of The New York Times, where its simple,
uplifting message struck a deep chord. Within
days, it had been shared more than one million
times. Why? Because Saunderss words tap into
a desire in all of us to lead kinder, more fulfilling
lives. Powerful, funny, wise, and inspiring. Oneonta, NY
978-0-8129-9627-2 | $14.00/$17.00C | Random House | HC | Nonfiction

E 978-0-8129-9628-9 | ] AD: 978-0-804-19302-3

Themes: IDENTITY Love
Will Schwalbe

The End of Your Life Book Club

Marjane Satrapi

The Complete Persepolis:

The Story of a Childhood
Marjane Satrapis bestselling, internationally
acclaimed memoir-in-comic-strips. Persepolis is
the story of Satrapis unforgettable childhood and
coming of age within a large and loving family
in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the
contradictions between private life and public life
in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her
high school years in Vienna facing the trails of
adolescence; of her homecomingboth sweet and terrible; and of her
self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. Paris
WINNER: ALA Alex Award

Mary Anne Schwalbe was an educator and spent

ten years building libraries in Afghanistan. But her
story here begins at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center, where, accompanied by her son,
she is waiting for chemotherapy treatments to
begin. Will casually asks her what shes been
reading, and the conversation they have grows into
tradition: soon they are reading the same books
in order to talk about them as Mary Anne is given
her treatments. The books they read range from classic to popular, from
fantastic to spiritual, and we hear their passion for reading and their love
for each other in their dynamic and searching discussions around each
one. New York, NY

978-0-375-71483-2 | $24.95/$29.95C | Pantheon | TR | NonctionGraphic Novel

E 978-0-307-51802-6
Themes: COMING OF AGE IDENTITY

978-0-307-73978-0 | $15.00 | Vintage | TR | Nonfiction

978-0-307-39967-0 | $19.95C | Vintage Canada
E 978-0-307-96111-2 | ] CD: 978-0-449-80663-0 | ] AD: 978-0-449-80666-1
Themes: Loss

SELECTED BY: Chelsea, MI; Seattle, WA; Arlington, VA; Marthas Vineyard, MA; One Book, One
Philadelphia; One Great Read - Lafayette, IN, Miami, FL

SELECTED BY: Calgary Reads; Cincinnati PL On the Same Page

Also Available:

Lisa See

Persepolis 1:
The Story of a Childhood
978-0-375-71457-3 | $12.95/$14.95C | Pantheon | TR
NonfictionGraphic Novel

Persepolis 2:
The Story of a Return
978-0-375-71466-5 | $11.95/$16.95C | Pantheon | TR
NonfictionGraphic Novel

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan:

A Novel
A brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of Chinese
history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. An
intimate, absorbing story of two womens lives, and
of the secret language they used to communicate
their most private thoughts. Perfect for communities
interested in learning about other cultures through
a novel that suggests the spectrum of human
emotionsincluding love and forgivenessare
universal, despite cultural differences. Los Angeles, CA
978-0-8129-6806-4 | $16.00/$19.00C | RH Trade Paperbacks | TR | Fiction
E 978-1-58836-474-6 | Deluxe E 978-0-679-64459-0
] CD: 978-1-4159-2154-8 | ] AD: 978-0-7393-5008-9 |
LP: 978-0-375-43524-9
Themes: IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Brookline, MA; Naperville, IL; Roseville, CA

13

Recommended Titles
Jan-Philipp Sendker

Rebecca Skloot

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats:

A Novel

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

A poignant and inspirational love story set in

Burma spanning the decades between the 1950s
and the present. A successful New York lawyer
suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his
wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where
he might be . . . until they find a love letter he
wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they
have never heard of. Julia decides to travel to the
village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable
hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the readers belief in the
power of love to move mountains. Berlin
978-1-59051-463-4 | $14.95/$16.95C | Other Press | TR | Fiction
E 978-1-59051-464-1
Themes: Love integrity

Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Guernsey Literary and Potato

Peel Pie Society: A Novel
January 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a
letter from a stranger, a founding member of the
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
And so begins a remarkable tale of the island
of Guernsey during the German occupation,
and of a society as extraordinary as its name.
GuernseyLiterary.com Northern California
978-0-385-34100-4 | $15.00/$17.00C | The Dial Press | TR
Fiction
E 978-0-440-33797-3 | Deluxe E 978-0-679-64458-3
] CD: 978-1-4159-5440-9 | ] AD: 978-1-4159-5442-3
Themes: Courage Love
SELECTED BY: Rehoboth, MA; NH Lakes Region Reads; One Book, One Coppell, TX; Reading
Across Rhode Island; Douglas One Book/Carson Reads, NV; Saratoga Reads; Sandy, OR;
Sedalia, MO

Hampton Sides

In the Kingdom of Ice:

The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of
the USS Jeannette
In the late nineteenth century, people were
obsessed by one of the last unmapped areas of
the globe: the North Pole. On July 8, 1879, the
USS Jeannette set sail from San Francisco to
cheering crowds in the grip of Arctic Fever. The
ship sailed into uncharted seas, but soon was
trapped in pack ice. Two years into the harrowing
voyage, the hull was breached and the crew abandoned the ship. Less
than an hour later, the Jeannette sank to the bottom, and the men found
themselves marooned a thousand miles north of Siberia with only the
barest supplies. Thus began their long march across the endless ice. For
readers of Sebastian Junger and Jon Krakauer. Santa Fe, NM
978-0-385-53537-3 | $28.95/$34.00C | Doubleday | HC | Nonfiction
E 978-0-385-53538-0 | ] CD: 978-0-307-96656-8 | ] AD: 978-0-307-96657-5
Themes: Courage

14

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists

know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco
farmer whose cellstaken without her knowledge
in 1951became one of the most important tools
in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine,
cloning, gene mapping, and more. Henriettas
cells have been bought and sold by the billions,
yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family
cant afford health insurance. This phenomenal
New York Times bestseller tells a riveting story of the collision between
ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of
a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew.
RebeccaSkloot.com
Chicago, IL
978-1-4000-5218-9 | $15.00/$17.00C | TR | Nonction
E 978-0-307-58938-5 | ] CD: 978-0-307-71252-3 | ] AD: 978-0-307-71253-0
Themes: IDENTITY integrity
SELECTED BY: Baton Rouge, LA; Columbia, MS; Dayton, OH; Detroit, MI; Madison, WI

Jane Smiley

Some Luck: A Novel

On their farm in Denby, Iowa, Rosanna and Walter
Langdon abide by time-honored values that they
pass on to their five wildly different yet equally
remarkable children. Moving from post-World
War I America through the early 1950s, Some Luck
gives us an intimate look at this familys triumphs
and tragedies, zooming in on the realities of farm
life, while castingas the children grow up and
scatter to New York, California, and everywhere in
betweena panoramic eye on the monumental changes that marked the
first half of the twentieth century. For fans of Phillip Meyer, Louise Erdrich,
and Penny Vincenzi.
Carmel Valley, CA
978-0-307-70031-5 | $26.95/$32.00C | Knopf | HC | Fiction | October 2014
E 978-0-385-35039-6 | ] CD: 978-0-8041-9412-9 | ] AD: 978-0-8041-9413-6
Themes: IDENTITY

April Smith

A Star for Mrs. Blake: A Novel

An emotionally charged, brilliantly realized novel
set in the 1930s about five American women
Gold Star Motherswho travel to France to
visit the graves of their World War I soldier
sons: a pilgrimage that will change their lives in
unforeseeable and indelible ways. For fans of The
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,
Major Pettigrews Last Stand, and Sarahs Key.
Santa Monica, CA
978-0-307-95884-6 | $25.95/$28.95C | Knopf | HC | Fiction
E 978-0-307-95885-3 | ] CD: 978-0-8041-6625-6 | ] AD: 978-0-8041-6626-3
Themes: Loss Love Courage
SELECTED BY: Cincinnati On the Same Page

Joanne Huist Smith

Warren St. John

The 13th Gift:

A True Story of a Christmas Miracle

Outcasts United:
A Refugee Soccer Team, an
American Town

After the unexpected death of her husband,

Joanne Smith had no idea how she would keep
herself together and be strong for her three
children. But 12 days before Christmas, presents
begin appearing on her doorstep with notes from
their True Friends. This story about the power
of random acts of kindness will warm the heart,
and remind readers to appreciate the gift of family
during the holiday season. ThirteenthGift.com
Dayton, OH
978-0-553-41855-2 | $15.00/$18.00C | Harmony | HC | Nonfiction | October 2014
E 978-0-553-41856-9 | ] CD: 978-0-553-54580-7 | ] AD: 978-0-553-54581-4
Themes: Loss Love Courage

Marzena Sowa
Illustrated by Sylvain Savoia

Marzi: A Memoir
In a similar vein as Persopolis, Marzi is a coming
of age narrative that depicts childhood life behind
the Iron Curtain in communist Poland. Marzi details
the daily struggle of life in communist Poland while
maintaining a childs sense of curiosity and wonder.
Set during an interesting time in Polands history
where the workers movement was instrumental in
chipping away at Soviet control and Marzi was figuring out life.
Brussels
978-1-4012-2959-7 | $17.99/$19.99C | Vertigo | TR | Nonfiction
Themes: Coming of Age

Bryan Stevenson

Just Mercy
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he
founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice
dedicated to defending those most desperate
and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned,
and women and children trapped in the farthest
reaches of our criminal justice system. Just Mercy
is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic,
gifted young lawyers coming of age, a moving
window into the lives of those he has defended,
and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of justice.
Montgomery, AL and New York
978-0-8129-9452-0 | $28.00/$34.00C | Spiegel & Grau | HC | Nonfiction | October 2014
E 978-0-8129-9453-7 | ] CD: 978-0-553-55062-7 | ] AD: 978-0-553-55063-4
Themes: Courage integrity

The profoundly moving story of a group of

remarkable refugee kids who make up The Fugees,
a youth soccer team based in a small town in
Georgia, their struggle to make a new life in the
American South, and their astonishing Jordanian
coach Luma, who holds together the team, the
community, and the hopes of every kid in her
charge during one drama-filled season.
New York, NY
978-0-385-52204-5 | $15.00/$18.95C | Spiegel & Grau | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-375-98880-6 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-4892-7 | ] AD: 978-1-4159-4894-1
Young Readers Edition: 978-0-385-74195-8 | E 978-0-375-98880-6
Themes: IDENTITY Coming of Age
SELECTED BY: Maryland One Book; One Book San Diego; Southhampton, MA

Cheryl Strayed

Wild: From Lost to Found on the

Pacic Crest Trail
The sensational #1 New York Times bestseller: a
powerful, blazingly honest, and inspiring memoir
of a young woman, reeling from catastrophe, who
hikes more than a thousand miles of the Pacific
Crest trail to break herself downand build herself
back up again. Soon to be a major motion picture
starring Reese Witherspoon.
Portland, OR
978-0-307-47607-4 | $15.95/$18.95C | Vintage | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-95765-8 | Oprah Book Club 2.0 Selection (Special E 978-0-307-96281-2)
] CD: 978-0-307-97031-2 | ] AD: 978-0-307-97032-9
Themes: IDENTITY Loss
SELECTED BY: Dayton (OH) Big Read; Pierce County Reads; Whatcom Reads!; Green County
(OH) Reads; Eden Prairie Reads

Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge: Fiction

Deep, luminous narratives about a small town in
Maine, linked by the presence, at center stage or
side stage, of their larger-than-life title character,
Olive Kitteridge. As the townspeople grapple with
their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a
deeper understanding of herself and her life. Olive
Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human
condition, its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and
the endurance it requires.
New York, NY
WINNER: Pulitzer Prize / An ALA Notable Book
978-0-8129-7183-5 | $15.00/$18.00C | RH Trade Paperbacks | TR | Fiction
E 978-1-58836-688-7
Themes: Courage
SELECTED BY: readME stories: Maine Center for Creativity; Wilmette, IL

15

Recommended Titles
Ron Suskind

Hannah Weyer

A Hope in the Unseen:

An American Odyssey from the Inner City
to the Ivy League

On the Come Up:

A Novel, Based on a
True Story

This is the story of Cedric Jennings, an African

American teenager who is ferociously determined
to study his way out of the inner city and capture
a piece of the American Dream. Author Ron
Suskind follows Jennings from his early years in high
school through his first year at Brown University.
This updated edition includes a new chapter on
Cedric Jenningss postgraduate professional career. RonSuskind.com
Washington, DC
978-0-7679-0126-0 | $15.95/$22.95C | Broadway | TR | Nonfiction
E 978-0-307-76308-2
Themes: Coming of Age IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Watauga County, NC; Buffalo, NY; One Maryland, One Book; Willmette, IL;
Summit, NJ; Logan, UT

Jeanne Theoharis

The Rebellious Life of

Mrs. Rosa Parks
Examines six decades of activism, challenging
perceptions of her bus arrest and the Civil Rights
movement. Presenting a corrective to the popular
notion of Rosa Parks as the quiet seamstress
who with a single act birthed the modern civil
rights movement, Theoharis provides a revealing
window into Parks politics and years of activism.
She shows readers how this civil rights movement
radical soughtfor more than a half a centuryto
expose and eradicate the American racial caste system in jobs, schools,
public services, and criminal justice. Brooklyn, NY
978-0-807-03332-6 | $17.50/$20.50C | Beacon Press | TR
E 978-0-8070-5048-4
Themes: Courage integrity

Karen Thompson Walker

The Age of Miracles:

A Novel
Julia and her family awake one day to discover
that the Earths rotation has begun to slow. The
days and nights grow longer, and the environment
is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles with
an ever shifting landscape, Julia is also coping
with the disasters of everyday lifethe fissures in
her parents marriage, the loss of friends, and the
hopeful anguish of first love. Iowa
978-0-8129-8294-7 | $15.00 | RH Trade Paperbacks | TR | Fiction
978-0-385-67665-6 | $19.95C | Anchor Canada
E 978-0-385-67664-9 | ] CD: 978-0-307-97071-8 | ] AD: 978-0-307-97072-5
Themes: Coming of Age
SELECTED BY: Marquette, MI; Western New York

Willful, outspoken, and precariously naive,

thirteen-year-old Ann Marie Walker dreams of a
world beyond Far Rockaway. Then one day, while
attending a high school for pregnant girls, she
comes across a flyer advertising movie auditions
in Manhattan. Astonishingly, improbably, and four
months before shes due to give birthshe lands a
lead role. For a time, Ann Marie soars, flying to the Sundance Film Festival,
seeing her face on screen. But when the movie closes and the realities of
her life set in, Ann Maries grit and determination are the only tools left to
keep her moving forward. Strong YA crossover title. Brooklyn, NY
978-0-385-80486-0 | $14.95/$16.95C | Anchor | TR | Fiction | E 978-0-385-53733-9
Themes: COMING OF AGE IDENTITY

John Williams;
Introduction by John McGahern

Stoner
William Stoner is born at the end of the nineteenth
century into a dirt-poor Missouri farming family.
Sent to the state university to study agronomy,
he instead falls in love with English literature and
embraces a scholars life, so different from the
hardscrabble existence he has known. And yet as
the years pass, Stoner encounters a succession
of disappointments: marriage into a proper
family estranges him from his parents; his career is stymied; his wife and
daughter turn coldly away from him; a transforming experience of new
love ends under threat of scandal. Driven ever deeper within himself,
Stoner rediscovers the stoic silence of his forebears and confronts an
essential solitude.
978-1-59017-199-8 | $14.95/$16.95C | New York Review Books | Fiction
E 978-1-59017-393-0
Themes: IDENTITY Coming of Age

Markus Zusak

The Book Thief

Set during World War II in
Germany, this groundbreaking
novel is the story of Liesel Meminger,
a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel
scratches out a meager existence for herself by
stealing when she encounters something she cant
resistbooks. With the help of her accordionplaying foster father, she learns to read and
shares her stolen books with her neighbors during
bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement
before he is marched to Dachau. Sydney, Australia
978-0-375-84220-7 | $11.99/$15.99C | Knopf Books for Young Readers | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-307-43384-8 | ] CD: 978-0-7393-3800-1 | ] AD: 978-0-7393-4834-5
978-0-307-47573-2
Themes: COMING OF AGE Courage
SELECTED BY: Salt Lake City, UT; Loudon County, VA; Fairhaven, WA; North Reading, MA Reads,
Greenwich, CT; Zionsville, IN; Vincennes, IN; Richardson (TX) Reads

16

THE BIG READ

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts,
designed to revitalize the role of reading in American culture by exposing citizens to
great works of literature and encouraging them to read for pleasure and enrichment.
The Big Read supports organizations across the country in developing community-wide
reading programs which encourage reading and participation by diverse audiences.
Organizations selected to participate in The Big Read receive a grant, access to online training
resources and opportunities, and educational and promotional materials designed to support
widespread community involvement.
Visit www.NEABigRead.org to learn more about a list of eligible books, information about annual
application deadlines for grants between $2,500 and $20,000, and to browse educational resources
including Readers Guides, Teachers Guides, and multimedia about your favorite books.
The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with Arts Midwest.

Willa Cather

Ernest J. Gaines

My ntonia

A Lesson Before Dying: A Novel

In this powerful novel, Willa Cather creates one

of the most winning yet thoroughly convincing
heroines in American fiction. ntonia Shimerda
returns to Black Hawk, Nebraska to make a fresh
start after eloping with a railway conductor following
the tragic death of her father. Despite betrayal and
crushing opposition, ntonia steadfastly pursues
her quest for happinessa moving struggle that
mirrors the quiet drama of the American landscape.

This is the story of two African-American men

struggling to attain manhood in a small prejudiced
Cajun community in the late 1940s.Grant Wiggins,
a sophisticated and educated man comes to the
aid of Jefferson, a men-tally slow, barely literate
young man, who is convicted of murder and
sentenced to die, although he was only an innocent
bystander to the crime. Oscar, LA

978-0-679-74187-9 | $10.00/$11.00C | Vintage | TR | Fiction

978-0-553-21418-5 | $4.95/$6.95C | Bantam Classics | MM
E 978-0-553-90044-6
Themes: Love
SELECTED BY: The State of Nebraska; Chicago, IL; Fox Valley, IL; Ames, IA; South Dakota;
Fergus Falls, MN; Timberland Region, WA

Emily Dickinson

The Selected Poems of

Emily Dickinson
While relatively unknown during her life, the oftquoted Emily Dickinson is now considered one
of the finest poets of the 20th century. This slim
volume highlights her greatest works.
978-0-679-78335-0 | $12.00/$15.00C | Modern Library
TR | Poetry
Themes: IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: New York Botanical Garden; Sonoma County Reads; The Big Read: Tucson;
The Big Read Miami; Amherst County Public Library

WINNER: National Book Critics Circle Awards

978-0-375-70270-9 | $13.00/$16.00C | Vintage | TR | Fiction
E 978-1-4000-7770-0 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-2943-8
Themes: CRIME AND JUSTICE Loss
SELECTED BY: Miami, FL; Peoria, IL; Bloomington, IN; Northwest Indiana; Lafayette, LA; New
Orleans, LA; Newton, MA; Jackson, MS; Albuquerque, NM; Washoe County (Reno), NV; Buffalo, NY;
Rochester, NY; Syracuse, NY; Greensboro, NC; Watauga County, NC; Cincinnati, OH; Columbus, OH;
Multnomah County/Portland, OR; College Station-Bryan, TX; Houston, TX; Waco, TX; Richmond,
VA; Seattle, WA; Washington, DC; Sheridan County (WY) Library Foundation

Dashiell Hammett

The Maltese Falcon

The legendary Sam Spade tracks down a treasure
worth killing for in Hammetts indelible classic,
which remains known as one of the best detective
stories ever written. The Maltese Falcon is not only
probably the best detective story we have ever
read, it is an exceedingly well written novel.
The Times Literary Supplement (London)
978-0-679-72264-9 | $12.95/$14.95C | Vintage | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-307-76751-6 | ] CD: 978-0-7366-6047-1
Themes: CRIME AND JUSTICE
SELECTED BY: Sno-Isle Libraries, NE; Grand Rapids Public Library, MI; Phoenix Public Library
Foundation, AZ; City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, CA; Scranton Public Library,
PA; Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, NY; Peoria Public Library, NC; Champaign Public
Library, IL; Caldwell County Public Library, AZ

17

THE BIG READ

Henry James

Naguib Mahfouz

Washington Square

The Thief and the Dogs

This Henry James coming-of-age novel follows the

life of Catherine Sloper, a kindhearted, plain-faced
woman finding her way in New York City in the
mid-19th century.

This haunting novella of post-revolutionary Egypt

combines a vivid psychological portrait of an
anguished man with the suspense and rapid pace
of a detective story.

978-0-375-76122-5 | $7.95/$10.50C | Modern Library

TR | Fiction | E 978-0-679-64157-5
Themes: Coming of Age

[Mahfouz] is not only a Hugo and a Dickens, but

also a Galsworthy, a Mann, a Zola, and a Jules
Romains. Edward Said

SELECTED BY: The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction; New York
Society Library

978-0-385-26462-4 | $12.95/$14.95C | Anchor | TR | Fiction

Themes: crime and justice

Ursula K. Le Guin

A Wizard of Earthsea
Ged was the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, but
once he was called Sparrowhawk, a reckless youth,
hungry for power and knowledge, who tampered
with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow
upon the world. This is the tale of his testing.
Portland, OR
WINNER: New York Public Library Books for the
Teen Age / YALSA Best Books for Young Adults
978-0-553-38304-1 | $15.00/NCR | Spectra | TR | Fiction
978-0-553-26250-6 | $7.99/NCR | Spectra | MM
Themes: Coming of Age
SELECTED BY: Jackson District Library, MI; Huntsville Public Library, TX; Timberland Regional
Library, WA

Jack London

The Call of the Wild

This is the story of Buck, a dog stolen from his home
and thrust into the merciless life of the Arctic north
to endure hardship, bitter cold, and the savage
lawlessness of man and beast.
978-0-553-21233-4 | $4.99/$6.99C | Bantam Classics
MM | Fiction
E 978-0-553-89814-9
] CD: 978-0-307-71026-0 | ] AD: 978-0-307-71029-1
Themes: Courage
SELECTED BY: Jacksonville Public Libraries Foundation, Inc., FL, Aurora Public Library, CO,
King County Library System, WA, Hudson Area Association Library, NY; Sonoma County, CA;
Springfield-Green County Library District; Jennings County Public Library; Dearborn (MI)
Public Library

SELECTED BY: Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College, FL; Columbia University in the City of New York, NY; South Dakota Humanities Council, SD; Huntsville-Madison
County Public Library, AL

Carson McCullers

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Carson McCullers was all of 23 years old when she
finished this enduring classic, first published in 1940.
John Singer, a deaf-mute in a small Georgia mining
town, becomes the confidant of choice for several of
the misfit townspeople, all yearning for escape.
978-0-553-26963-5 | $6.99/$10.99C | Bantam | MM | Fiction
Themes: Loss
SELECTED BY: Humanities Council of Washington, DC, Lansdowne Public Library, PA; Anderson
Arts Center, SC

Julie Otsuka

When the Emperor Was Divine

Julie Otsuka paints a portrait of the World War II
Japanese internment camps unlike any we have
ever seen. In ve chapters, each awlessly
executed from a different point of viewthe mother
receiving the order to evacuate; the daughter on
the long train ride to the camp; the son in the
desert encampment; the familys return to their
home; and the bitter release of the father after more
than four years in captivityshe has created a
small tour de force. New York, NY
978-0-385-72181-3 | $10.95/$15.95C | Anchor | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-307-43021-2 | ] CD: 978-0-385-36248-1 | ] AD: 978-0-385-36249-8
Themes: Coming of Age IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Santa Barbara, CA; Silicon Valley, CA; Westport, CT; Winnetka-Northeld, IL;
Carmel, IN; Iowa City, IA; Shawnee County, KS; St. Peter, MN; Seattle, WA; Cheshire, CT;
Johnson County, IA; Topeka, KS; Concord NH; Logan, UT; Salt Lake city, UT; Ipswich, MA;
Glendale, CA; Howard County, MI; Greenwich, CT; North Mankato Taylor Library, MN

18

Cynthia Ozick

Mark Twain

The Shawl

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The story of a woman who survives a concentration

camp, losing her daughter, but never can fully
recover from the trauma, which still haunts her thirty
years later.Ozick gives us exactly what we expect:
a meditation, in gurative language at times dense
and shimmering, at times richly colloquial, of the
consequences of the Holocaust. Library Journal

One of the most splendid portraits of youth in all of

literature, the light-hearted Tom Sawyer is written just
as much for adults as it is for young boys and girls.

978-0-679-72926-6 | $10.50/$11.99C | Vintage | TR | Fiction

Themes: Loss
SELECTED BY: Gadsden Reads, AL; Caldwell Public Library, NJ; Writers & Books, NY;
New Rochelle Public Library, NY; Worchester County Library, MD; Poughkeepsie Public Library
District

Edgar Allan Poe

Great Tales and Poems of

Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poes work has been chosen by 27
cities participating in the National Endowment for
The Arts Big Read program, and only our edition
contains the poems and stories discussed in the
NEAs support material, and their ofcial readers
guide.
978-0-307-47477-3 | $12.00/$15.00C | Vintage | TR | Fiction
E 978-0-307-78140-6
Themes: IDENTITY
SELECTED BY: Jamestown, NY; Bowling Green, OH; Kenosha Public Library; Staten Island
OutLOUD; Rutgers

Leo Tolstoy

978-0-375-75681-8 | $8.00/$10.00C | Modern Library

TR | Fiction
978-0-553-21128-3 | $5.50/$7.50C | Bantam Classics
MM | Fiction
E 978-0-553-89834-7 | ] CD: 978-1-4159-2223-1
Themes: Coming of Age
SELECTED BY: Fresno County Public Library, CA; Norwalk Public Library, CT; Massanutten
Regional Library, VA; Muscogee County Friends of Libraries, GA; Heermance Memorial Library,
NY; Galesburg Public Library, IL; Davenport, IA

Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence

Whartons masterpiece: a tragic love story and
a powerful homily about the perils of a perfect
marriage, set in old New York. Adapted to film by
Martin Scorsese in 1993.
WINNER: Pulitzer Prize, 1921
978-0-375-75320-6 | $9.95/$14.95C | Modern Library
TR | Fiction
978-0-553-21450-5 | $5.95/$7.95C | Bantam Classics | MM
978-0-09-951128-1 | $10.95C | Vintage Classics (Can.) | TR
E 978-0-679-64207-7 | ] CD: 978-0-7366-8460-6
Themes: Love
SELECTED BY: Bloomsburg Public Library, PA; Parsippany Library System, NJ

Tobias Wolff

The Death of Ivan Ilych

Old School

This story of a judge who slowly comes to

realize that his illness is fatal represents perhaps
the most keenly realized melding of Tolstoys
spirituality with his artistic skills.

A brilliant literary novel about a young writer and

his secret life at a New England prep school in
the 1960s. A sharply drawn, acutely felt novel of
moral inquiry. . . . Wolff has put his readers in the
landscape tracked across by writers as different
as J. M. Coetzee, Philip Roth, and, going back,
Conrad and Hawthorne. The Washington Post
Book World

978-1-933633-54-1 | $10.00/$13.00C | Melville House

TR | Fiction
978-0-553-21035-4 | $6.95/$8.95C | Bantam Classics
MM | Fiction
E 978-0-307-27332-1
Themes: Loss
SELECTED BY: Regent University Library, VA; Champaign-Urbana Big Read

WINNER: Booklist Editors Choice for Young

Adults / PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction / A New York Times Notable Book
978-0-375-70149-8 | $14.00/$16.00C | Vintage | TR | Fiction
E 978-1-4000-9525-4 | ] CD: 978-0-7366-9880-1
Themes: Coming of Age
SELECTED BY: The Libraries of Greater Kansas City, MO; Roseville Public Library, CA;
Bellingham Public Library, WA; Ephrata Public Library, PA

19

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