Best Reads of 2013 (1st in a series)

I simply could not put down Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.  (And after reading it I couldn’t stop talking about it!)  With ultra-nasty characters and one twist after the other I’m so grateful Nick and Amy Dunne are fictional creations!




From the moment Aomame discovers a passageway underneath a Tokyo expressway leading to a parallel world, 1Q84 grows ever stranger and more surreal.   At its core, this epic novel is a story of lovers with all the odds stacked against them.  It’s the kind of story that’s made a worldwide sensation of the Japanese author Haruki Murakami and one novel literary fiction fans won’t want to miss.



Graham Joyce’s Some Kind of Fairy Tale is another story where all is not as it seems. When Tara Martin returns home twenty years after vanishing and still looks like her teenage self she relays an unbelievable story about where she’s been. 

J. Robert Lennon joins the list of my favorite authors with Familiar, another novel about a woman who finds her memories suddenly at odds with her reality.   Elisa Brown’s story raises the question, how well do you really know yourself?

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult is a rich blend of historical fiction that explores issues of loyalty, guilt, denial, and justice.  A captivating story about the modern day lives of Holocaust survivors and perpetrators and the consequences of their wartime choices.

Alicia Cavitt
Information Specialist

Staff Picks

Suzanne Collins' second novel in The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire, has been one of the most inspirational books I have ever read. It has taught me how to be courageous in the toughest of times, strong in the moments that make me weak, and responsible in the periods I find myself slacking. The main character, Katniss Everdeen, a seventeen year old girl living in the outer districts of Panem, finds herself in the worst situation she could have imagined. After going through the Hunger Games the first time, she is then asked to participate in a second games with more experienced players. I see her grow in maturity as her problems grow bigger. As a seventeen year old like myself, I can compare with her in many more ways than one. In reading the book, I have seen her strength while facing these horrible situations and have learned how to face similar ones myself. She is my role model because she encompasses everything I wish to be as a woman. I would recommend this novel to anyone searching to find purpose in their life. It is a very well written adventure novel with suspense, romance, and emotion.

Staff Picks

A timeless classic, Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, will appeal to all dog lovers.  While out roaming in the hills one day, Marty, an eleven year old boy living in the country of West Virginia, is adopted by an affectionate beagle that he names Shiloh.  The boy and dog quickly grow an attachment to each other, but when Marty learns that Shiloh already has an owner - one who is known for abusing his animals - Marty has to make some tough decisions.  The story is beautiful and this title won the esteemed Newbery Medal in 1992.

Julie Boyd
Youth Services Supervisor