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| Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa AnapparaStarring: nine-year-old Jai, who turns detective when his classmate disappears from their unnamed Indian slum, and the two friends he charms into helping him, Pari and Faiz.
Why you might like it: The characters are engagingly complex; the neighborhood is poverty-stricken but full of life; the writing is descriptive, warm, and witty despite the heartbreaking lack of support for India's poor.
Read it if: Katherine Boo's depiction of a Mumbai slum in Behind the Beautiful Forevers stayed with you long after finishing. |
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| The Regrets by Amy BonnaffonsStarring: recently deceased Thomas, who must remain on Earth for 90 days due to a bureaucratic error; Rachel, still alive but perpetually unlucky in love.
What happens: Despite being forbidden from interacting with the living, Thomas falls in love with Rachel, and the feeling is mutual.
Why you might like it: The surreal set-up creates a humorous, one-of-a-kind romantic comedy. |
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The mercies : a novel
by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
In Finnmark, Norway, 1617, after 40 fishermen are drowned in the sea, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardo must fend for themselves especially when a sinister figure arrives, bringing with him a mighty evil that threatens their very existence. 50,000 first printing.
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| Everywhere You Don't Belong by Gabriel BumpWhat it's about: the coming of age of young Claude McKay Love, raised by his civil rights activist grandmother and her gay best friend on Chicago's South Side.
Why you might like it: Told in short vignettes and very much focused on themes of racial injustice, this debut offers sharp humor, clever dialogue, and a relatable protagonist in awkward, uncomfortable Claude.
Reviewers say: Debut author Gabriel Bump "delivers a singular sense of growing up black that will resonate with readers" (Library Journal). |
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| The Bear by Andrew KrivakWhat it is: a moving, fable-like tale of the last two humans on earth, long after civilization has crumbled and nature has taken over.
Read it for: the haunting descriptions of a world empty of humans; the depictions of nature in all its glory; the tender relationship between a father and his daughter; the interactions between the last girl and the bear who befriends and helps her.
Want a taste? "Without you I'd be nothing but alone, he said. And without you I'd be alone, said the girl." |
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| When We Were Vikings by Andrew MacDonaldFeaturing: Zelda, a 21-year-old whose fetal alcohol syndrome limits her in some ways but whose interest in Vikings leads her to strive for independence and help her caretaker brother.
For fans of: Benjamin Ludwig's Ginny Moon, Monica Woods' The One-in-a-Million Boy, or Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
Reviewers say: "An engaging, inclusive debut" (Kirkus Reviews). |
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The holdout : a novel
by Graham Moore
"It's the most sensational case of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver, heiress to a billion-dollar real estate fortune, vanishes on her way home from school. Her teacher Bobby Nock, a twenty-five-year-old African American man, is the prime suspect after illicit text messages are discovered between them--and Jessica's blood is found in his car. The subsequent trial taps straight into America's most pressing preoccupations: race, class, sex, law enforcement, and the lurid sins of the rich and famous. It's an open and shut case for the prosecution, and a quick conviction seems all but guaranteed. Until Maya Seale, a young woman on the jury, convinced of Nock's innocence, persuades the rest of the jurors to return the verdict of not guilty, a controversial decision that will change all of their lives forever. Flash forward ten years. A true-crime docuseries reassembles the jurors, with particular focus on Maya, now a defense attorney herself. When one of the jurors is found dead in Maya's hotel room, all evidence points to her as the killer. Now, she must prove her own innocence--by getting to the bottom of a case that is far from closed. As the present-day murder investigation weaves together with the story of what really happened during their deliberation, told by each of the jurors in turn, the secrets they have all been keeping threaten to come out--with drastic consequences for all involved"
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| The Authenticity Project by Clare PooleyWhat it's about: the connections made between strangers in a London neighborhood as they make deeply personal entries in a little green notebook.
For fans of: warmhearted tales of strangers coming together over shared experiences and honest conversations, like Anne Youngson's Meet Me at the Museum or Erica Bauermeister's The School of Essential Ingredients. |
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| Interior Chinatown by Charles YuStarring: Willis Wu, a stereotyped character actor who longs to break out of the role prescribed to him (Generic Asian Man) and play the hero for once...as Kung Fu Guy.
Interior Chinatown: Ostensibly playing out on the set of a cop show called Black and White, this inventive tale merges Wu's life with the script of the show, sharply indicting Hollywood clichés and racial stereotyping.
Reviewers say: "One of the funniest books of the year" (The Washington Post).
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Culpeper County Library 271 Southgate Shopping Center Culpeper, Virginia 22701 540-825-8691
www.cclva.org
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