LibGuides: What to Read Next?: Suggested Reading from Library Staff

Staff Picks

A Moveable Feast: the Restored Edition by Ernest Hemingway; Patrick Hemingway (Foreword by); Sean Hemingway (Introduction by)
ISBN: 9781416591313
Publication Date: 2009-07-14
Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway's most beloved works. It is his classic memoir of Paris in the 1920s, filled with irreverent portraits of other expatriate luminaries such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein; tender memories of his first wife, Hadley; and insightful recollections of his own early experiments with his craft. It is a literary feast, brilliantly evoking the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I and the youthful spirit, unbridled creativity, and unquenchable enthusiasm that Hemingway himself epitomized.
Our Migrant Souls by Hector Tobar
ISBN: 9780374609900
Publication Date: 2023-05-09
aking on the impacts of colonialism, public policy, immigration, media, and pop culture, Our Migrant Souls decodes the meaning of “Latino” as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern United States, and gives voice to the anger and the hopes of young Latino people who have seen Latinidad transformed into hateful tropes and who have faced insult and division—a story as old as this country itself.
Girly Drinks by Mallory O'Meara
ISBN: 9781335282408
Publication Date: 2021-10-19
Provides a tour through the feminist history of women drinking, revealing the untold female distillers, drinkers, and brewers that played vital roles in potent potable history, from ancient Sumerian beer goddess Ninkasi to 1920s bartender Ada Coleman.
Paris for One and Other Stories by Jojo Moyes
ISBN: 9780735221079
Publication Date: 2016-10-18
Nell is twenty-six and has never been to Paris. She's never even been on a romantic weekend away, to anywhere before. Everyone knows traveling abroad isn't really her thing. But when Nell's boyfriend fails to show up for their romantic mini-vacation, she has the opportunity to prove everyone, including herself wrong. Alone and in Paris, Nell uncovers a version of herself she never knew existed: independent and intrepid. Could this turn out to be the most adventurous weekend of her life? Also included are eight short stories featuring a cast of strong, relatable women in the midst of their everyday lives.
We Ride upon Sticks by Quan Barry
ISBN: 9781524748098
Publication Date: 2020-03-03
Helmed by good-girl captain Abby Putnam (a descendant of the infamous Salem accuser Ann Putnam) and her co-captain Jen Fiorenza (whose bleached blond "Claw" sees and knows all), the Falcons prove to be wily, original, and bold, flaunting society's stale notions of femininity in order to find their glorious true selves through the crucible of team sport and, more importantly, friendship.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
ISBN: 9780593128251
Publication Date: 2024-02-13
January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, Laura receives word of Freddie's death in combat, along with his personal effects--but something doesn't make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital, where she soon hears whispers about haunted trenches and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something--or someone--else? November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear. As shells rain down on Flanders and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura's and Freddie's deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging--or better left behind entirely.
A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn
ISBN: 9780593545959
Publication Date: 2024-03-12
"Lord Rosemorran has purchased a wax figure of a beautiful reclining woman and asks Stoker to incorporate a clockwork mechanism to give the Rosemorran Collection its own Sleeping Beauty in the style of Madame Tussaud's. But when Stoker goes to cut the mannequin open to insert the mechanism, he makes a gruesome discovery: this is no wax figure. The mannequin is the beautifully preserved body of a young woman who was once very much alive. But who would do such a dreadful thing, and why?
Leave No Trace by A. J. Landau; Jon Land; Jeff Ayers
ISBN: 9781250877338
Publication Date: 2024-02-27
In a daring, brutal act of terrorism, an explosion rocks and topples the Statue of Liberty. Special Agent Michael Walker of the National Park Service is awakened by his boss with that news and sent to New York as the agent-in-charge. Not long after he lands, he learns two things - one that Gina Delgado of the FBI has been placed in charge of the investigation as the lead of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and two, that threats of a second terrorism attack are already being called into the media. While barred from the meetings of the Joint Task Force for his lack of security clearance, Walker finds a young boy among the survivors with a critical piece of information - a video linking the attackers to the assault. As a radical domestic terrorist group, led by a shadowy figure known only as Jeremiah, threatens further attacks against America's cultural symbols, powerful forces within the government are misleading the investigation to further their own radical agenda.
Interesting Facts about Space by Emily Austin
ISBN: 9781668014233
Publication Date: 2024-01-30
Meet Enid: a lesbian who's a serial dater and deaf in one ear. She works at The Space Agency as an information architect, and when she's not obsessing over true crime podcasts, she's managing her crippling phobia of bald people. While she tries not to think about her teenage years, she can't seem to stop obsessively watching her childhood YouTube channel. But as Enid fumbles her way through her first serious relationship and navigates a new family life with her estranged half-sisters, she starts to worry that someone is following her. As her paranoia starts to take over her life, and the personal growth she's worked to achieve, she gradually discovers the one thing she can't outrun-herself. Brimming with Emily Austin's signature style, charming characters, and irresistible humor, Interesting Facts about Space will remind you to treasure the relationships you hold most dear, and will offer hope to those who seek to connect in ways they never thought to be possible
True Grit by Charles Portis; Donna Tartt (Afterword by)
ISBN: 9781585679386
Publication Date: 2007-08-28
U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn is hired by a 14-year-old girl to kill the man who murdered her father and stole the family nest egg. She accepts the help of the Texas Ranger, who is intent on the reward, ans accompanies them on the quest.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
ISBN: 9781439195260
Publication Date: 2010-06-15
Chronicles a cattle drive in the nineteenth century from Texas to Montana, and follows the lives of Gus and Call, the cowboys heading the drive, Gus's woman, Lorena, and Blue Duck, a sinister Indian renegade.
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett
ISBN: 9781668023396
Publication Date: 2024-01-23
A novel about a journalist in pursuit of a story about a child who survived a cult mass suicide, which may not be all that it appeared to be, told in Janice Hallett's signature original and innovative style of emails, messages, news clips, and screenplay excerpts.
The Prague Sonata by Bradford Morrow
ISBN: 9780802127150
Publication Date: 2017-10-03
In the early days of the new millennium, pages of a worn and weathered original sonata manuscript&-the gift of a Czech immigrant living out her final days in Queens-come into the hands of Meta Taverner, a young musicologist whose concert piano career was cut short by an injury. To Meta's eye, it appears to be an authentic eighteenth-century work; to her discerning ear, the music rendered there is commanding, hauntingly beautiful, clearly the undiscovered composition of a master. But there is no indication of who the composer might be. The gift comes with the request that Meta attempt to find the manuscript's true owner-a Prague friend the old woman has not heard from since the Second World War forced them apart-and to make the three-part sonata whole again. Leaving New York behind for the land of Dvořák and Kafka, Meta sets out on an unforgettable search to locate the remaining movements of the sonata and uncover a story that has influenced the course of many lives, even as it becomes clear that she isn't the only one after the music's secrets.
Piglet by Lottie Hazell
ISBN: 9781250289841
Publication Date: 2024-02-27
When Piglet's fiancé reveals a horrible betrayal two weeks before their wedding day, she decides to proceed with the event, but her life slowly starts unraveling in the lead-up to the big day.
Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni
ISBN: 9781662500183
Publication Date: 2023-03-28
Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family's failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family's reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career. Keera's chance to play in the big leagues comes when she's retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There's little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple's impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera's former lover, who's eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense. As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that's more than Keera bargained for. When shocking information turns the case upside down,Keera must decide between her duty to her client, her family's legacy, and her own future.
Drone by M. L. Buchman
ISBN: 9781949825466
Publication Date: 2019-11-19
A US Air Force C-130 transport plane, bearing top secret cargo, lies shattered in the Nevada desert at Groom Lake. China's prototype fifth-generation jet fighter goes missing. Far above, a US supersonic, stealth drone flies a very lethal Black Op. The CIA, the US military command, and the secretive National Reconnaissance Office are all locked in a battle for control of the nation's future. Miranda Chase, the National Transportation Safety Board's air-crash savant, lands in the center of the gathering maelstrom. Burdened with a new team and a polarizing personality, she must connect the pieces to stay alive. And she must do it before the wreckage of her past crashes down upon her and destroys US-China relations forever.
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
ISBN: 9780385546874
Publication Date: 2023-12-05
"A gripping historical mystery based on the real-life diary entries of Martha Ballard, an 18th-century midwife who defied the legal system and wrote herself into American history. Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town's most respected gentlemen--one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own. Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
ISBN: 9781250788870
Publication Date: 2021-11-02
Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He's struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents' excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what's been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he's always known. Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it-not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else. Robin's predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they've been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles-and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep
Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan
ISBN: 9780316407212
Publication Date: 2017-03-07
A world on the cusp of a new age ... The young nation of Fatrasta is a turbulent place -- a frontier destination for criminals, fortune-hunters, brave settlers, and sorcerers seeking relics of the past. Only the iron will of the lady chancellor and her secret police holds the capital city of Landfall together against the unrest of an oppressed population and the machinations of powerful empires. Sedition is a dangerous word ... The insurrection that threatens Landfall must be purged with guile and force, a task which falls on the shoulders of a spy named Michel Bravis, convicted war hero Mad Ben Styke, and Lady Vlora Flint, a mercenary general with a past as turbulent as Landfall's present. The past haunts us all ... As loyalties are tested, revealed, and destroyed, a grim specter as old as time has been unearthed in this wild land, and the people of Landfall will soon discover that rebellion is the least of their worries.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
ISBN: 9781649374042
Publication Date: 2023-05-02
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general--also known as her tough-as-talons mother--has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you're smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don't bond to "fragile" humans. They incinerate them. With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother's daughter--like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant. She'll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
ISBN: 9780374389406
Publication Date: 2024-02-20
Arthie Casimir, a criminal mastermind, transforms her tearoom into an illegal bloodhouse for vampires, but when her establishment is threatened, she forms an unlikely alliance and assembles a misfit crew to infiltrate vampire society and uncovers a world-threatening conspiracy.
Miracle Season by Beth Hautala
ISBN: 9780593463680
Publication Date: 2022-08-23
Persephone Pearl Clark has never met a plant that wouldn't bloom or bud for her. But lately, between the accident that left her older brother Levi with an irreversible brain injury and a messy fight with her once-best friend Mya, Persephone is stuck. The only things growing are the lies and secrets she's been keeping to save her family. When she finds Levi's unfinished application submitting their hometown of Coulter, Wisconsin, to a makeover show with a large financial prize attached, Persephone forges her brother's signature and sends it in.
Jumper by Jessica Lanan (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781250810366
Publication Date: 2023-04-11
What if you were as small as a bean and could walk on the walls and ceiling, sense vibrations through your elbows, jump five times your body length, see the world through eight eyes, and hear using tiny hairs all over your body? That is Jumper's world. Open this book and discover the fascinating hidden life of a backyard jumping spider.
The Mystery of the Monarchs by Barb Rosenstock; Erika Meza (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781984829566
Publication Date: 2022-05-31
Young Fred Urquhart was fascinated by insects, especially his favorite, the monarch butterfly. He wondered where monarchs spent the winter. No one knew. After he became an entomologist (bug scientist),Fred and his wife, Norah,tagged hundreds of butterflies,hoping to solve the mystery of the monarchs. But they soon discovered that they needed help. They started a "butterfly family," a community of children, teachers, and nature enthusiasts from three countries--Canada, the United States,and Mexico--to answer the question: Where do the monarchs go?
Plague-Busters! by Lindsey Fitzharris; Adrian Teal (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781547606030
Publication Date: 2023-10-10
This book delves into several illnesses that have infected humans and affected civilizations. Each chapter explores the history of a specific disease, detailing the symptoms, cures, and medical breakthroughs that it spawned.
The Little Explorer's Words by Evi Triantafyllides; Nefeli Malekou (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9798986865034
Publication Date: 2023-10-31
Lexi loved adventures. Lexi loved to explore. Whenever something caught Lexi's attention, she just had to dig into it a little bit more. One day Lexi spotted something poking up from Grandma's lawn. And when she followed it? She embarked on the most marvelous adventure of them all! A heartwarming tale of a little explorer who travels around the world collecting 30 unique, untranslatable words from different cultures and their meanings
The Kitten Story by Emily Jenkins; Brittany Cicchese (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781662651151
Publication Date: 2023-10-03
A family must learn to compromise as they set out to choose the perfect pet, in this heartwarming story about conflict resolution and overcoming disappointment until finally, an adorable kitten is welcomed into their home.
Squirrel's Sweater by Laura Renauld; Jennie Poh (Illustrator)
ISBN: 9781506472850
Publication Date: 2021-09-21
As Winter Warmup nears, Squirrel discovers that her favorite sweater no longer fits, but her friends' efforts to help all fail, until Porcupine gives her an idea. Includes directions for making a no-sew pillow.

Regional Reads Spring 2024

This column features recent and forthcoming titles from southeastern authors or books set in the region. Place any of these titles on hold online or call any Henderson County Library for assistance. The latest thriller by North Carolina author Rachel Hawkins, The Heiress, centers around an adopted son who rejects his inheritance from North Carolina’s richest woman and moves away. Years later he is drawn back to the family home after his uncle’s death as old secrets are brought to light. Set in 1960’s North Carolina, The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church is a novel that tells the story of a pregnant teen who is sent to a maternity home for wayward girls and the decisions she must make in order to move on with her life.

North Carolina author Jill McCorkle presents a varied collection of complex short stories about crimes large and small in her latest titled Old Crimes. In Devout: A Memoir of Doubt, Anna Gazmarian tells the story of her evangelical upbringing in North Carolina and her personal journey after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Asheville chef and restaurant owner William Dissen shares recipes from the traditions of Appalachian community and agriculture in Thoughtful Cooking: Recipes Rooted in the New South. Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson is a collection of family recipes, stories, and photographs that highlight the history of Black Appalachians. For fans of historical fiction with a local setting, These Tangled Threads: A Novel of Biltmore by Sarah Loudin Thomas follows the story of a Biltmore Industries master weaver who is commissioned to create an original design for Cornelia Vanderbilt’s 1924 wedding. Rednecks by Taylor Brown is a historical drama based on the 1920 events of the West Virginia Mine Wars that led up to the Battle of Blair Mountain, known as the largest labor uprising in American history. The latest Reese’s Book Club pick, Redwood Court by DéLana R. A. Dameron is the author’s debut novel. This collection of stories is centered around a family in Columbia, South Carolina, starting in the 1960s.

Happy Reading!

Lisa Donaldson