Into the Wilderness

Into the Savage Country by Shannon Burke

While on a perilous expedition into Crow territory in the 1820s, William Wyeth discovers the depth of loyalty among men and the lengths people will go in order to survive when he becomes trapped in the center of a deadly boundary dispute between Native American tribes, the British government and American trapping brigades. (Publisher Summary)

In Wilderness by Diane Thomas

After she is diagnosed with a terminal illness, Katherine abandons her successful advertising firm and seeks refuge in the solitude of her wilderness cabin. Living off the land in complete isolation brings Katherine peace - until the day she realizes she is not alone, and never was. Katherine's sudden and unanticipated arrival at the cabin unsettles Danny, a Vietnam veteran tormented by the demons of his past, who has been squatting in the previously abandoned cabin. (Publisher Summary)

The Surfacing by Cormac James

Far from civilization, with his ship trapped by Arctic ice while hunting for Sir Franklin's lost expedition, Lieutenant Morgan discovers a stowaway, who will be forced to give birth to his child in the frozen wilderness, unless he can lead his men across the bleak expanse. (Publisher Summary)

New Dystopian Thriller Novel

The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in The Bees, a brilliantly imagined debut novel by Laline Paull, set in an ancient culture where only the queen bee may breed and deformity means death.

"Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive’s survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw but her courage and strength are an asset. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect pollen. She also finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous." (Publisher's Summary)

What is Bildungsroman?

A popular label for our blog posts is bildungsromans. What is it you ask? Per the Oxford English Dictionary, bildungsroman is "a novel that has as its main theme the formative years or spiritual education of one person" Origin of the word bildungsroman is German, "bildung" for education and "roman" for novel. Simply put, it is a coming-of-age tale.

Interested in reading one? Check out one of these titles:

• One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker: Livie faces a new set of challenges as she navigates freshman year at Princeton, a time involving wild parties and Ashton, the gorgeous rowing team captain. Facing mediocre grades, career aspirations she no longer thinks she can handle, and feelings for Ashton that she shouldn’t have, Livie’s forced to let go of her last promise to her father, and, with it, the only identity she’s ever known. 
• Etched on Me by Jenn Crowell: Faced with an unexpected pregnancy in her 20s, Lesley, who has overcome sexual abuse and a troubled adolescence to become a social services success story, must fight for her unborn daughter when the same team that saved her as a teenager questions whether she is fit to be a mother. 
• Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall: Fleeing her strict grandmother's home in 1963 Mississippi, 9-year-old Starla Claudelle becomes an unlikely companion to an African-American woman at whose side she learns harsh lessons about period segregation and family. 
• Rules for Becoming a Legend by Timothy S. Lane: Destined for a legendary future in the NBA, a young basketball prodigy begins suffering the tragedies that have cursed his family for generations and destroyed his father's sports dreams, a situation that compels him to find a way to break the cycle.
• Pelican Point by Donna Kauffman: Hoping to reconnect with herself after suffering a personal tragedy, Alex McFarland agrees to renovate the Pelican Cove lighthouse and finds herself falling in love instead.

Looking for more bildungsromans? Click the label below or stop by the reference desk on the main floor of the library to speak with a reference librarian.

127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

The memoir 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston is coming soon to Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library as a movie. Both book and movie tell the story of a near-fatal accident that traps a mountaineer under a boulder in Utah, where he endures five days in extreme conditions before effecting his own rescue. Watch Dateline NBC on Sunday for an interview with Aron Ralston about the story. Interested in more true accounts of mountain climbing? Try Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by John Krakauer.