Staff Favorites of 2015 - 27th in a Series

As the year comes to a close, library staff members and volunteers reflect on the best books they've read in 2015. Here are a few more recommendations from Amy Weiler, Information Specialist  at the Sharon Forks Library:

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a Small Town by Jon Krakauer is a must-read for parents of college students. It chronicles the details of two rape cases involving female students and football players at the University of Montana.   It was eye-opening to begin to understand the trauma experienced by women who are the victims of acquaintance rape and how they were treated by the justice system.

Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg is a beautifully-written book that centers around the character of June who loses her entire family in a fire on the night before her daughter’s wedding.  Although the book focuses on how June deals with her grief, it also describes the stories of other people in the town affected by the tragedy.  Many truths are revealed throughout the book as the reader learns how the lives of the characters are intertwined and discovers what really caused the horrific fire.

The Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino is the second Detective Galileo book. Detective Galileo is a brilliant physics professor who occasionally helps the police piece together puzzles.  In this book, a man about to leave his wife, is mysteriously poisoned and dies.  Although she was hundreds of miles away at the time of the murder, one of the police detectives is convinced that the wife is guilty.  Detective Galileo is called upon to try to determine how this seemingly impossible murder occurred.  The Detective Galileo books are very cerebral, puzzle-based mysteries.

Police by Jo Nesbo is the 10th book in the Harry Hole series (my favorite mystery series).  Harry Hole is an extremely-flawed, yet brilliant detective in Norway.  The books are atmospheric, police procedurals in which the readers are taken to some dark places. In Police, the killer is targeting police officers involved in unsolved cases and killing them in the manner of the original case.

Released in 2013, The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence is a hidden gem that I discovered on an end-cap display at Sharon Forks.  It was just a delightful book of two very different people who ended being the exact person that the other needed in their life.  Alex Woods is a bookish, bullied,  introverted child who has a hard time making friends.  He then meets and forms a friendship with the  curmudgeonly, widowed Mr. Petersen.  Among their many adventures, the two of them lead a book club dedicated to reading all of the books by Kurt Vonnegut.   I laughed throughout this book and cried at the end.