|
|
|
|
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories
by Richard Matheson
Short Stories: Remember that monster on the wing of the airplane? William Shatner saw it on The Twilight Zone, John Lithgow saw it in the movie-even Bart Simpson saw it. "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is just one of many classic horror stories by Richard Matheson that have insinuated themselves into our collective imagination. Here are more than twenty of Matheson's most memorable tales of fear and paranoia, including: "Duel," the nail-biting tale of man versus machines that inspired Steven Spielberg's first film; "Prey," in which a terrified woman is stalked by a malevolent Tiki doll, as chillingly captured in yet another legendary TV moment; "Blood Son," a disturbing portrait of a strange little boy who dreams of being a vampire; "Dress of White Silk," a seductively sinister tale of evil and innocence. Personally selected by Richard Matheson, the bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come, these and many other stories, more than demonstrate why he is rightfully regarded as one of the finest and most influential horror writers of our generation.
Recommended by Chris, Ewing Branch
|
|
|
|
We Begin at the End
by Chris Whitaker
Fiction: Thirty years ago, a teenage Vincent King was sent to prison. But now, he's served his sentence and is returning to his hometown. The hometown where his childhood best friend, Walk, is now the chief of police. The town where his childhood sweetheart, Star Radley, still lives. The same Star Radley whose sister he killed. Duchess, Star's daughter, is a self-proclaimed outlaw. She needs to be. Who else is going to take care of her and her five-year-old brother? Star is still dazzling, still beautiful, but she hasn't shined as bright since Vincent was sent away. Too often it's Duchess and Walk who are the ones taking care of her. But when Duchess exacts her own vigilante revenge, she will set into motion a series of events that threatens not only her own family, but everyone she grows close to. A crime thriller that will break your heart and a literary novel with a mystery at its core, We Begin at the End unforgettably examines how the choices we make can nudge us into the dangerous ground between good and evil.
Recommended by Gina, Hickory Corner Branch
|
|
|
|
Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny
by Marlo Thomas
Memoir: The award-winning actress shares her funny and heartwarming stories of a life filled with laughter. Woven throughout the book are her interviews with many beloved American comedians about how they, too, found the funny in their lives.
Recommended by Kim, Hightstown Memorial Branch
|
|
|
|
Powerless
by Lauren Roberts
Young Adult Fiction: In a kingdom divided by extraordinary powers and a strict caste system, Paedyn Gray, a young girl with no abilities, must hide her ordinary nature as she navigates a forbidden romance with a powerful prince and must participate in the perilous Purging Trials that could reveal her true identity.
Recommended by Alyssa, Hollowbrook Branch
|
|
|
|
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors
by Sonali Dev
Fiction: Dr. Trisha Raje is San Francisco's most acclaimed neurosurgeon. But that's not enough for the Rajes, her influential immigrant family who achieved power by making its own non-negotiable rules: never trust an outsider, never do anything to jeopardize your brother's political aspirations, and never, ever, defy your family. Trisha has been guilty of breaking all the rules, but finally has a chance to redeem herself. So long as she doesn't repeat her old mistakes. Up-and-coming chef DJ Caine has known people like Trisha before, people who judge him by his rough beginnings and place pedigree above character. He needs the lucrative job the Rajes offer, but he values his pride too much to indulge Trisha's arrogance. Then he discovers that she's the only surgeon who can save his sister's life. But before a future can be savored there's a past to be reckoned with....
Recommended by Briana, Hopewell Branch
|
|
|
|
The Stranger Beside Me
by Ann Rule
Non-fiction: A new edition of the iconic, best-selling account of America's most fascinating serial killer, perhaps the most unnerving true-crime book ever published (Victoria Beale, The New Yorker), with a foreword by Georgia Hardstark.
Recommended by Shanna, Lawrence Headquarters Branch
|
|
|
|
My Friends
by Fredrik Backman
Fiction: The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger's life twenty-five years later. Most people don't even notice them--three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it's just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa's care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she'll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don't always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.
Recommended by Rebecca, Robbinsville Branch
|
|
|
|
The Stranger in the Lifeboat
by Mitch Albom
Fiction: After a deadly ship explosion, nine people, adrift in a raft, struggle to survive at sea and pull a strange man from the sea who claims to be the Lord.
Recommended by Christine, Twin Rivers Branch
|
|
|
|
Mu Song
by Yingtai Long
World Language - Chinese: Long is an author, social and culture critic, and professor of humanities. In this book of essays she writes about separation: her father's death, her aging mother, her sons growing up and leaving home, her vulnerability and failures, and about her friends... It is a profound notebook on life and death, on sorrow and beauty. In Traditional Chinese.
Recommended by Queenie, West Windsor Branch
|
|
|
|
The Golden Hour
by Beatriz Williams
Fiction: The Bahamas, 1941. Newly-widowed Leonora 'Lulu' Randolph arrives in the Bahamas to investigate the Governor and his wife for a New York society magazine. After all, American readers have an insatiable appetite for news of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, that glamorous couple whose love affair nearly brought the British monarchy to its knees five years earlier. What more intriguing backdrop for their romance than a wartime Caribbean paradise, a colonial playground for kingpins of ill-gotten empires? Or so Lulu imagines. But as she infiltrates the Duke and Duchess's social circle, and the powerful cabal that controls the islands' political and financial affairs, she uncovers evidence that beneath the glister of Wallis and Edward's marriage lies an ugly--and even treasonous--reality.
Recommended by Amelia, Information Technology Department
|
|
|
Mercer County Library System
2751 Brunswick Pike Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648 609-882-9246
https://mcl.org
|
|
|
|