Last month, more than 5,000 librarians from around the country gathered in Portland, Oregon for the Public Library Association Convention.
At the convention, internationally known literature expert and Librarian Nancy Pearl convened a group of renowned editors to give us their best summer reading recommendations. Some are listed below! You can order most of them from our catalog with just a click on the title. If we don’t have it on order yet, try back in a week!
Nancy Pearl’s Book Buzz Recommendations:
Bender, Aimee
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
A girl tastes her mother’s emotions through cake
Blake, Sarah
The Postmistress
What havoc can ensue if a postmistress keeps a letter instead of delivering it?
Brown, Harriet
Brave Girl Eating: A Family’s Struggle with Anorexia
A mother struggles to save her daughter from anorexia.
Bronsky, Alina
Broken Glass Park
A young Russian immigrant in Berlin.
Caldwell, Gail
Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship
Friendship formed over a dog walk sustains two women through life and death of one of them.
Cameron, W. Bruce
A Dog’s Purpose
What happens when a dog has unfinished business and can’t get to heaven?
Castillo, Linda
Pray for Silence: A Thriller
In Ohio Amish country Police Chief Kate Burkholder comes face to face with pure evil.
Coonts, Deborah
Wanna Get Lucky?
Set in Las Vegas with a protagonist named Lucky.
Cousteau, Jean-Michael and Daniel Paisner
My Father, the Captain: My Life With Jacques Cousteau
Just what it sounds like – a tribute to a father and his life’s work by his son. (Not yet listed in the library catalog)
Cronin, Justin
The Passage
An apocalyptic novel.
Doig, Ivan
Work Song
Author brings 1919 mining in the Butte, Montana area to life.
Fortier, Anne
Juliet
Contemporary woman finds links to Shakespeare’s tragic heroine.
French, Tanya
Faithful Place
A woman disappears and 20 years later her boyfriend, undercover cop Frank Mackey, has his life turned upside down when evidence about her surfaces.
Giffin, Emily
Heart of the Matter
A pediatric plastic surgeon flirts with adultery in a story that transcends the mundane.
Hannah, Sophie
The Dead Lie Down
British author, Hannah, provides a tale of breathtaking tale of psychological suspense.
Heath, Chip and Dan Heath
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
Personal and business life advice.
Jensen, Beverly
The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay
A big family saga of two sisters in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia in 1916 dealing with a hard way of life.
Kaguri, Twesigye Jackson
The Price of Stones: Building a School for My Village
The author’s account of building a school for AIDS orphans in Uganda.
Kay, Guy Gavriel
Under Heaven
Big, bold fantasy set in a Tang Dynasty-like country.
King, James
Bill Warrington’s Last Chance
A book about Alzheimer’s Disease. (Not yet listed in the library catalog)
Kohler, Sheila
Becoming Jane Eyre
Unravels the connections between Jane Eyre and the Bronte sisters.
Lippman, Laura
I’d Know You Anywhere
A happy woman’s life is disrupted when she receives a letter from a serial killer.
McClure, Tory Murden
A Pearl in the Storm: How I Found My Heart in the Middle of the Ocean
Tory McClure rowed across the Atlantic.
McCrumb, Sharyn
The Devil Amongst the Lawyers: A Ballad Novel
Eighth book in the very popular Ballad Series which celebrates McCrumb’s ancesters in the mountain regions of the South.
Min, Anchee
Pearl of China
In Maoist China Min was ordered to denounce Buck, now she tries to make peace with action.
Mitchell, David
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: A Novel
In 1799 a handful of Dutch traders are in Nagasaki Harbor and must deal with a very different culture.
O’Connor, Kelly
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
This novel delves into the imaginary world of the author.
O’Flynn, Catherine
The News Where You Are: A Novel
A TV anchorman’s search for the truth about the disappearances of people and what they do and do not leave behind.
Perry, Drew
This Is Just Exactly Like You
A story about family survival in suburban North Carolina.
Ross, Adam
Mr. Peanut
A strange take on the murder mystery.
Schaeffer, Susan Fromberg
Poison
An inheritance saga (600 pages) loosely based on the life of Ted Hughes.
Singh, Jaspreet
Chef
A soldier in India learns cooking from a master chef.
Stockett, Kathryn
The Help
It is 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi, when a writer begins collecting the stories of black women who have raised the children of the people who employ them.
Syjuco, Miguel
Ilustrado
The mystery about the death of a Philippine novelist.
Todd, Charles
The Red Door (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery #12)
Detective Ian Rutledge attempts to bring a ruthless killer to justice.
Valliant, John
The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
Yuri Trush finds himself hunting a tiger that stalked and ate a poacher. (Not yet listed in the library catalog)
Verdon, John
Think of a Number
Clever police work in finding a killer who is unstoppable.
Weisgarber, Ann
The Personal History of Rachel Dupree
An account of African American homesteaders. (Not yet listed in the library catalog)
