OCTOBER 2013 NEW BOOKS LIST
Fiction
Allegiant, Veronica Roth. The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed
in is shattered--fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and
betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she's
known, Tris is ready.
Carrie, Stephen King. Carrie, an odd girl who is ostracized at school, has the
power of telekinesis and after being harassed by her fellow students begins to
exact revenge with violence.
Charming Billy, Alice McDermott. A young woman, cousin to the late Billy
Lynch who has just died of alcoholism, traces the story of his lost love,
discovering her own father's role in trying to keep Billy from being hurt by the
truth about Eva, and contemplating the effect her father's lie had on the rest of the
family
The Circle, David Eggers. Mae Holland is thrilled to be working for the most
powerful internet company, but as her life beyond the company campus grows
distant, a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken and her role in the
Circle becomes increasingly public.
Divergent, Veronica Roth. In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior
must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest
of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an
anomoly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is
not perfect after all
Doctor Sleep, Stephen King. Still haunted by his experiences at the Overlook
Hotel, where he spent one year as a child, Dan Torrence has settled in New
Hampshire to try to escape those and other ghosts of his past. When he meets Abra
Stone, a twelve-year-old girl who shares Dan's gift of "shining," and discovers that
a tribe of traveling paranormals called True Knot want to steal her power by
slowly torturing her to death, he becomes determined to save the child.
Eleanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell. Set over the course of one school year in
1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first
love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.
Fall of Giants, Ken Follett. Five families become entangled in events from the
beginning of the twentieth century, following as thirteen-year-old Billy begins
working in the Welsh mining pits, an American law student gets a job with
Woodrow Wilson's administration, two orphaned brothers try to leave their native
Russia for the U.S., and Billy's sister's employer begins an affair with a spy at the
German embassy in London.
Firestarter, Stephen King. Charlie, an eight-year-old girl, has the ability to start
fires by pyrokinesis. Now a government agency is after her and wants to use her as
a weapon.
Identical, Scott Turow. A mayoral candidate's brother is released from prison 25
years after pleading guilty to the murder of his girlfriend, a situation that leads to
the re-opening of the case.
Insurgent, Veronica Roth. Tris Prior survives the Erudite simulation attacks that
occur during the time she expected to be celebrating her achievement of being
ranked first among the initiate class of her chosen faction, Dauntless. Even though
the Dauntless have been freed from Erudite mind control, a war develops and
secrets emerge.
The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri. Subhash, having left his family in Calcutta to pursue
a career in science in the United States, returns home to look into what happened
to his brother, Udayan, who had joined the Naxalite Movement, and try to rebuild
his shattered family and help his brother's wife.
Out of my Mind, Sharon M. Draper. Considered by many to be mentally retarded,
a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological
device that will allow her to speak for the first time.
The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion. When Don Tillman, a genetics professor,
decides it is time to get married, he devises a scientific survey designed to filter
out undesirables, calling it the "Wife Project." When Don meets Rosie Jarman, she
is quickly eliminated as wife material, but when he assists Rosie in a search for her
biological father, he discovers that love finds you, not the other way around.
The Round House, Louise Erdrich. After Geraldine Coutts is attacked on the
Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota, her husband Bazil, a tribal judge, tries to find
justice for his wife, and their teenage son Joe tries to help his mother heal.
The Shining, Stephen King. The Torrance family, having arrived at a remote
mountain resort where they are to work as winter caretakers, find themselves in
the grip of terror when young Danny, a child with the gift of precognition, begins
having horrible visions.
The Signature of all Things, Elizabeth Gilbert. The story of scholar Alma
Whittaker. Born to Henry Whittaker, “the richest man in Philadelphia,” who rose
from his station as the son of a lowly gardener to an import tycoon, Alma has the
benefit of wealth and books, spending hours learning Latin and Greek and
studying the natural world. But her plain appearance and erudition seem to foretell
a lonely life until she meets gifted artist Ambrose Pike.
Saints, Gene Luen Yang. Alma, born into luxury in 1800, becomes a gifted
botanist like others in her family, but as she delves into the mysteries of evolution
she falls in love with a man who pulls her in the opposite direction, into the realm
of the spiritual, the divine, and the magical.
Someone, Alice McDermott. The story of a Brooklyn-born woman's life - her
family, her neighborhood, her daily trials and triumphs - from childhood to old age
Telegraph Avenue, Michael Chabon. Longtime band mates Archy and Nat preside
over Brokeland Records, a used-record emporium, but trouble arises when a
former NFL quarterback, one of the country's richest African Americans, decides
to build his latest Dogpile megastore on nearby Telegraph Avenue which could
spell doom for the little shop.
Graphic Novels
Boxers, Gene Luen Yang. In 1898 during the Boxer Rebellion a boy named Little
Bao recruits an army of Boxers to rid China of foreign missionaries and soldiers
who bully and rob Chinese peasants.
Saints, Gene Luen Yang. In 1898 during the Boxer Rebellion a girl named Vibiana
who is unwanted and unwelcome turns to Christianity, but she finds herself torn
between her nation and her Christian friends who are being murdered by bands of
young men.
Nonfiction
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. Malcolm
Gladwell. Argues that the obstacles and disadvantages experienced by the
underdog require adaptations that can lead to benefits and success in professional
life, and draws upon examples from the world of business, sports, and culture.
Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris. A collection of humorous
autobiographical essays about his experiences traveling, from the perils of French
dentistry to the eating habits of the Australian kookaburra, from the squat-style
toilets of Beijing to the particular wilderness of a North Carolina Costco.
Levels of Life, Julian Barnes. This is the author's essay on grief and love for his
late wife, Pat. He discusses ballooning, photography, love and grief; about putting
two things and two people together, and about tearing them apart.
One Summer, Bill Bryson. Chronicles the sensational events of the summer of
1927, including the trans-Atlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh, the premier of the
first "talking picture," and the beginning of Babe Ruth's home run record.
George Washington the Crossing, Jack E. Levin. Jack E. Levin now illuminates a
profound turning point of the American Revolution: the decisive Battle of Trenton
and its prelude—General George Washington leading his broken and ailing troops
in a fleet of small wooden boats across the ice-encased Delaware River.
My Brief History, Stephen Hawking. British theoretical physicist Stephen
Hawking looks at his life and career.
Thank You for Your Service, David Finkel. Finkel, a journalist, follows the soldiers
who serve in the Iraq War as they struggle to reintegrate into American society.
Men we Reaped, Jesmyn Ward. An autobiography of Jesmyn Ward, an African
American author, in which she describes how she grew up in poverty in rural
Mississippi, revisiting the losses of young African American men in her life, and
describing her community with its history of racism and economic struggle that
fosters drug addiction and the dissolution of family.
The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got There, Amanda Ripley.
Examines effective education systems in other countries through the experiences
of three youth from America that studied abroad.