Top 5 Classic Sci-Fi Titles Our Patrons Love

Our patrons love Sci-Fi! Here are the top five novels that have been checked out from our science fiction/fantasy collection:

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

This book was so well read that it's worn out. Don't worry, a replacement is on its way! Dune Messiah is the second in the popular Dune series and, according to Galaxy Magazine, is "brilliant...it is all that Dune was, and maybe a little bit more." Dune Messiah continues the story of Paul Atreides, better known-and feared-as the man christened Muad'Dib. As Emperor of the Known Universe, he possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremens, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne-and a conspiracy conducted within his own sphere of influence. And even as House Atreides begins to crumble around him, the true threat to Paul comes to his lover and the unborn heir to his family's dynasty.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

This cult classic, the Boston Globe called "Irrisitible" and Publishers Weekly describes as "[A] whimical odyssey...characters frolic through the galaxy with infectious joy,"was first published in 1979 and went on to become a television show, a radio show and a series of five more books.  For those unfamiliar with this book, here is a summary: Escaping Earth just before it is demolished to make way for a new galactic highway, reluctant galactic traveler Arthur Dent embarks on a series of off-beat and occasionally extraterrestrial journeys, accompanied by a variety of unusual companions.

The Seeress of Kell by David Eddingings

Time was running out for Garion and his companions in their quest to recover Garion's infant son and heir. If they could not locate the Place Which Is No More, then Zandramas, the Child of Dark, would use Garion's son in a rite that would raise the Dark Prophecy to eternal dominion over the universe. Only the Seeress of Kell could reveal the site of that mysterious place--and that she could do only once Garion and Polgara had fulfilled an ancient prophecy in the mountain fastness of the Seers. The Seeress of Kell is the fifth and final installment in Eddings Mallorean series. It is recommended to read this series in order. Start with Guardians of the West, followed by King of Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda and The Sorceress of Darshiva.

First and Only: Gaunt's Ghost by Dan Abnett

One of the Warhammer 40,000 series based on the Warhammer 40,000 wargame which is set in a dystopian science fiction/fantasy universe, First and Only: Gaunt's Ghost is the first of the Warhammer 40,000 Gaunt's Ghost Founding Series and revisits the early adventures of Commisar Gaunt and the Tanith First-and-Only as they fight for survival in their war-torn homeworld. 

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Hired to break into the virtually inaccessible computer network of a large corporation, Case, the world's finest interface cowboy, and Molly, a street-smart samurai, venture deep into cyberspace only to discover that they have become pawns in a deadly game. With Neormancer, William Gibson launched the "cyberpunk" genre and won three coveted science fiction awards for best novel: the Nebula, the Hugo, and the Philip K. Dick awards.

New Titles on The New York Times Best Seller List

Here is a sneak peak at the newest titles that will be on tomorrow's The New York Times Best Seller List for hardcover fiction. (To see the full list for 11/9/14, click here.)


Gray Mountain by John Grisham: (Legal Stories)

Losing her job at New York City's largest law firm in the weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Samantha becomes an unpaid legal intern in a small Appalachian community where she stumbles upon dangerous secrets in the world of coal mining, Violence is always just around the corner, and within weeks Samantha finds herself engulfed in litigation that turns deadly.

Wait for Signs by Craig Johnson: (Mystery, Short Stories)

A single-volume anthology of 12 short stories featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire - the character that is the basis for the hit A&E drama series, Longmire - collects the author's Christmas Eve annuals, including "Ministerial Aide" and "Messenger," as well as an original story, "Petunia, Bandit Queen of the Bighorns."

Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella: (Humorous Fiction)

Kinsella returns to her shopaholic series with Becky relocating to L.A. to join her husband who is handling PR for famous actress Sage Seymour. Becky can't wait to start living the A-list lifestyle as a personal stylist and unexpectedly is offered the chance to dress Sage's archrival. Though things become a bit more complicated, Becky has everything she's ever wanted. Or does she?

Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk: (Humorous Fiction/Erotic Stories)

Invited by notorious playboy C. Linus Maxwell to a Paris hotel, Manhattan legal associate Penny Harrigan discovers that she is a test subject for the final development of sex toys for women that will render men obsolete and make Maxwell the most powerful person in the world.

Desert God by Wilbur Smith: (Historical Fiction/Adventure Story)

Smith returns to Ancient Egypt in this breathtaking epic that conjures the magic, mystery, romance, and bloody intrigue of a fascinating lost world. Taita the fusspot slave, spiritual wiseman and advisor to the Pharaoh, is caught in a maelstrom of passion and danger in his efforts to destroy the Hyksos army by forming a dubious alliance with Crete.

New York, New York

The big city is calling! This month's display on the main floor of the library is featuring books all about, or set in, New York City including the following novels:

Dreamland by Kevin Baker: (Historical/Mystery/Love story)

Coney Island's Dreamland amusement park becomes the setting for a sweeping historical novel that follows a young Eastern European stowaway from his 1909 arrival in New York City through his rise to power in a Manhattan underworld organization to the birth of the labor union movement.

Trauma by Patrick McGrath: (Psychological Fiction)

Growing up in a severely dysfunctional family, Charlie Weir builds a career as a psychiatrist in New York City, working with victims of trauma including veterans returning from Vietnam, but the suicide of a patient, the breakup of his marriage, the growing turmoil of the city around him, and a volatile other woman lead Charlie to question everything, even his own sanity.

Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye: (Mystery/Historical)

Joining the newly formed NYPD at the height of Ireland's 19th-century potato famine, Timothy reluctantly assumes his duties in a notorious slum district, where in the middle of the night he hears a little girl's claim that dozens of bodies have been buried in a local forest.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer: (Bildungsromans/Humorous)

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is a precocious Francophile who idolizes Stephen Hawking and plays the tambourine extremely well. He's also a boy struggling to come to terms with his father's death in the World Trade Center attacks. As he searches New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he left behind, Oskar discovers much more than he could have imagined.

Librarian's Picks

Want to read a book specifically recommended by our librarians? Stop by the Librarian's Picks display on the main floor of the library. This month you'll find:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: First, there were ten - a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal - and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan: Fact and fiction blend in a historical novel that chronicles the relationship between seminal architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney, from their meeting in Oak Park, Illinois, when they were each married to another, to the clandestine affair that shocked Chicago society.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton: Abandoned on a 1913 voyage to Australia, Nell is raised by a dock master and his wife who do not tell her until she grows up that she is not their child, a situation that causes her to return to England and eventually hand down her quest for answers to her granddaughter.

In Times of Fading Light by Eugene Ruge: Visiting the Mexico region where his grandparents lived as exiles, a terminal cancer patient surveys his family's political history, from his grandparents' return to the GDR to help build a socialist state, to his father's decade spent in a gulag for criticizing the Soviet regime, to his son's desire to leave the political struggles of the 20th century in the past.

The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer: Ten years after leaving high-power jobs to raise their children, four New York friends enter their forties while struggling with the differences between their past ideals and their present realities, a situation that becomes turbulent when one of them meets a successful working mother of three who seems to have it all.

Summer Love

Check out these new romances available at the library:

The Secrets of a Scoundrel by Gaelyn Foley:
Nick, Lord Forrester, has a reputation that is legendary. But when his rule-breaking ways land him in a Scottish dungeon, he's left there to rot, until a mysterious lady offers him a way out. All he must do is risk his neck on the mission she proposes—and obey her every command.  Virginia, Lady Burke, is well aware that the powerful ex-spy will try to take command of their quest, but it's her job to keep him under control. Yet how can she keep this untamable scoundrel under her thumb when all she really wants is to unleash the smoldering passion between them? (An Inferno Club novel)

A Broken Kind of Beautiful by Katie Ganshert:
As a model of ten years, Ivy Clark has learned a hard truth about the fashion industry—appearance is everything. Nobody cares about her broken past as long as she looks beautiful for the camera. This is the only life Ivy knows—so when it starts to unravel, she’ll do anything to hold on. Even if that means moving back home to be the new face of her stepmother’s bridal wear line. If only her future didn’t rest in the hands of photographer Davis Knight, who somehow sees through the façade Ivy works so hard to maintain. He, along with a cast of other characters, challenges everything Ivy has come to believe about beauty and worth.

Emma, Mr. Knightley and Chili-Slaw Dogs by Mary Jane Hathaway:
A new and comical contemporary take on the perennial Jane Austen classic, Emma! The sudden death of her father brings Caroline Ashley back to home to care for her mentally fragile mother and their aging estate. The only respite from the eternal rotation of bridge club and garden parties is her longtime friend, Brooks Elliott. Caroline is the only bright spot in the emotional wreckage of Brooks' family life and he is perfectly happy keeping Caroline as just a friend . . .until a handsome newcomer wins her heart. Brooks discovers Caroline is much more than a friend, and always has been, but is it too late to win her back?

Author Spotlight on Cecelia Ahern

Cecelia Ahern, the daughter of an Irish Prime Minister, received a journalism degree but published her first novel, P.S. I Love You, at age 21. P.S. I Love You went on to become an international bestseller and was adapted into a motion picture of the same name starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler.  Ahern also was the writer and producer of the TV series Samantha Who? and another one of her novels (Where Rainbows End (aka Rosie Dunne)) was recently adapted into the upcoming movie Love, Rosie.

Ahern's books feature sassy humor, Irish settings, strong young female characters, and a sense of whimsy. While her first two novels were Chick Lit, her more recent books have a fairy-tale, magical quality about them. (NoveList)

Interested in reading a few? Here are her novels listed in publication order:

P.S., I Love You (Feb 2004): Devoted to her husband, Gerry, Holly has always depended on him to keep her going and is lost when she loses him to brain cancer, until a package arrives containing ten envelopes filled with practical and impractical advice for carrying on her life.

Rosie Dunne (Feb 2005): Best friends since childhood, Rosie and Alex's relationship gets closer by the day, until Alex gets the news that his family is leaving Dublin and moving to Boston. Devastated, the two make plans for Rosie to apply to colleges in the U.S. Everything falls into place until Rosie gets news that will change their lives and cause them to go their separate ways. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel, structured as a series of clever e-mails, letters, notes, and a trail of missed opportunities, Alex and Rosie find out that fate isn't done with them yet.

If You Could See Me Now (Jan 2006): Elizabeth's life is an organized mess. The organized part is all due to her own efforts. The mess is entirely due to her sister, Saoirse, whose personal problems leave Elizabeth scrambling to pick up the pieces. One of these pieces is Saoirse's six-year-old son, Luke. Luke is quiet and contemplative, until the arrival of a new friend, Ivan, turns him into an outgoing, lively kid. And Elizabeth's life is about to change in wonderful ways she has only dreamed of.

There's No Place Like Here (Jan 2007): Sometimes it takes losing everything to truly find yourself... Tracking down missing persons as a way of purging lingering demons about a childhood friend who went missing, Sandy Shortt finds herself increasingly consumed by a growing obsession with understanding how and why people disappear.

Thanks for the Memories (Jan 2008): How can you know someone you've never met? That's the question haunting Joyce Conway these days. Recovering from a terrible accident and with her marriage in pieces, Joyce is suddenly plagued by an overwhelming sense of déjà vu that makes her feel as if the life she's living is not her own. During the day she has vivid memories of things she's never seen and at night she dreams of a little girl she's sure she's never met. Joyce is convinced she's lost her mind . . . until a series of coincidences leads her on a journey to meet the one person who may hold the answer she needs.

Mrs. Whippy (Nov 2009): Emelda is 46 years old. Her husband, Charlie, has left her for a 23-year-old dancer. Her five difficult sons worship their father and blame Emelda for his leaving. On top of everything else, she has to struggle with a new job at the local supermarket. For comfort she turns to her only true friend - ice-cream. But lately there's a handsome man driving the ice-cream van. Could romance be about to blossom?

The Gift (Jan 2011): Despite job stress and a crumbling home life, workaholic businessman Lou Suffern gives Gabe, a homeless man, a job in his company's mail room; but the mysterious Gabe seems to be in two places at once and he's meddling in Lou's private affairs, in a story where Gabe eventually teaches Lou a valuable lesson.

The Book of Tomorrow (Jan 2011): Forced into a humbler life with relatives in Ireland after the sudden death of her father, spoiled sixteen-year-old Tamara Goodwin discovers a diary of future entries written in her handwriting that she hopes will reveal the truth about her mother's troubling health.

The Time of My Life (Apr 2013): A woman who has devoted herself to her friends, her cat, her family and a job she doesn't love is forced to examine the choices she has made when Life literally shows up on her doorstep demanding that she makes changes.

One Hundred Names (May 2014): After her dying mentor leaves her a mysterious list of 100 names, journalist Kitty Logan tries to locate the people and uncover their connections in a story of secrets, second chances, and the hidden connections that unite our lives—a universal tale that will grip you with its emotional power and mesmerize you with its magic.

Last Collection of Stories from a Favorite Author

Maeve Binchy imagined a street in Dublin with many characters coming and going, and every once in a while she would write about one of these people. She would then put it in a drawer; “for the future,” she would say. The future is now.

Across town from St. Jarlath’s Crescent, featured in Minding Frankie, is Chestnut Street, where neighbors come and go. Behind their closed doors we encounter very different people with different life circumstances, occupations, and sensibilities. Some of the unforgettable characters lovingly brought to life by Binchy are Bucket Maguire, the window cleaner, who must do more than he bargained for to protect his son; Nessa Byrne, whose aunt visits from America every summer and turns the house—and Nessa’s world—upside down; and Lilian, the generous girl with the big heart and a fiancé whom no one approves of . . .

Chestnut Street is written with the humor and understanding that are earmarks of Maeve Binchy’s extraordinary work and, once again, she warms our hearts with her storytelling.

"The more you read, the more you want to read, which makes the fact that Chestnut Street is Binchy’s final collection as poignant an ending as any in her oeuvre." (BookPage Reviews)

Fiction into Film

This month in the library you'll find two displays featuring books that have gone Hollywood. Here are just a few of the many titles you'll find:

Austenland by Shannon Hale: Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice which no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined. 

Austenland was adapted into a film starring  Keri Russell, Jane Seymour, Jennifer Coolidge and J.J. Feild was released in United States in August 2013.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer: Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, and pacifist. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was made into a film with the same name starring Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock which was released in 2011. 

Under the Skin by Michael Faber: Isserley is tiny, scarred and awkward, yet strangely erotic and threatening as she cruises the roads of the Scottish Highlands sizing up male hitchhikers with big muscles. As she drives them deep into the Scottish wilds, they open up to her, revealing a complex and varied picture of life on earth - but Isserley is listening for clues such as who might miss them if they should disappear. If she decides they're worth the risk, she takes them farther than they ever dreamed of going. But takes them where?

Under the Skin has been adapted into a film starring Scarlett Johansson which will be released in the United States on April 4, 2014.

For more "Fiction into Film" titles, stop by the display in the alcove by the New Book collection, see the "From Page to Screen" display in the Video Room and stop by the reference desk to speak with a librarian.

This Valentine's Day Fall in Love with The Forever Girl

"McCall Smith's generous writing and dry humor, his gentleness and humanity and his ability to evoke a place and a set of characters without caricature or condescension have endeared his books to readers." - The New York Times

As two childhood friends, Thursday and James, grow into adulthood, their lives become a star-crossed love affair as Thursday follows James around the world, from city to city, hoping that he will one day love her as much as she loves him. Back at home, Thursday's mother (who has fallen out of love with her husband) realizes that James' father is attracted to her. In The Forever Girl, the reader is taken on a moving, and sometimes heartbreaking, journey about the strange places that love can take us and how love, even if unrequited, can shape a life forever.  

New Stephanie Plum Novel: Takedown Twenty

In Takedown Twenty, bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, has her mind set on catching notorious mob boss, Salvatore "Uncle Sunny" Sunucchi. If she doesn't get to him first, he may take her out: with bullet holes in her car, henchmen on her tail and a giraffe running loose in the streets, Stephanie will have to up her game for the ultimate takedown!

Looking for more books in the Stephanie Plum series? Listed below are the first nineteen, all available at the Community Library.

One for the Money (1994)
Two for the Dough (1996)
Three to Get Deadly (1997)
Four to Score (1998)
High Five (1999)
Hot Six (2000)
Seven Up (2001)
Hard Eight (2002)
To the Nines (2003)
Ten Big Ones (2004)
Eleven on Top
Twelve Sharp
Lean Mean Thirteen
Fearless Fourteen
Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Sizzling Sixteen
Smokin' Seventeen
Explosive Eighteen
Notorious Nineteen

The Year's Best in Women's Fiction

Check out these titles that landed on Library Journal's list for 2013 Best Books in Women's Fiction:

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham - Stage and screen star Lauren Graham, best known for her work in the television series "Gilmore Girls" and "Parenthood," debuts with a novel that tells the story of a struggling actress in 1990's New York City who searches for work and the perfect hair product while befriending a rival and resisting her father's pressure to get a "real" job.

Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehmann - Amanda Rosenbloom, owner of a struggling vintage clothing shop, finds the journal of Olive, a woman who lived in New York one hundred years ago. As Amanda reads the journal, her life begins to unravel until she can no longer ignore this voice from the past. Despite being separated by one hundred years, Amanda finds she’s connected to Olive in ways neither could ever have imagined.

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore - Forging a friendship at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Odette, Clarice and Barbara Jean meet regularly at the first diner owned by black proprietors in their Indiana city and are watched throughout the years by a big-hearted man who observes their struggles with school, marriage, parenthood and beyond.

Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer - After being fired from her job, Queenie Wake returns home to North Star to cook meals for death row inmates. Hopeful that the bad memories of her late mother and promiscuous sister (now the mother of the captain of the high school football team) have been forgotten by the locals, Queenie discovers that some people are harder to forget than others.When secrets from the past emerge, will Queenie be able to stick by her family or will she leave home again?

Jeeves and Wooster Return

Bertie Wooster (a young man about town) and his butler Jeeves (the very model of the modern manservant)—return in their first new novel in nearly forty years: Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks.

P.G. Wodehouse documented the lives of the inimitable Jeeves and Wooster for nearly sixty years, from their first appearance in 1915 (“Extricating Young Gussie”) to his final completed novel ("Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen") in 1974. These two were the finest creations of a novelist widely proclaimed to be the finest comic English writer by critics and fans alike.

Now, forty years later, Bertie and Jeeves return in a hilarious affair of mix-ups and mishaps. With the approval of the Wodehouse estate, acclaimed novelist Sebastian Faulks brings these two back to life for their legion of fans in Jeeves and the Wedding Bells. Bertie, nursing a bit of heartbreak over the recent engagement of one Georgina Meadowes to someone not named Wooster, agrees to “help” his old friend Peregrine “Woody” Beeching, whose own romance is foundering. That this means an outing to Dorset, away from an impending visit from Aunt Agatha, is merely an extra benefit. Almost immediately, things go awry and the simple plan quickly becomes complicated. Jeeves ends up impersonating one Lord Etringham, while Bertie pretends to be Jeeves’ manservant “Wilberforce,”—and this all happens under the same roof as the now affianced Ms. Meadowes. From there the plot becomes even more hilarious and convoluted, in a brilliantly conceived, seamlessly written comic work worthy of the master himself