Hadley’s January Recommendation

Breed by Chase Novak

“While most would agree this book is ‘not appropriate’ for me to be reading right now (I’m 7 months pregnant), my love of the macabre wouldn’t let me wait.  Breed centers on the lives of wealthy New York couple the Twisdens, who test the limits of infertility treatments in their obsession for a child.  After submitting to dangerous, questionable procedures, the Twisdens successfully conceive children…but at a horrible, gruesome price.  Breed is original fast-paced, scary and stomach-turning, and at times also funny and sad.  Stephen King even says it’s “the best horror novel (he’s read) since Peter Straub’s Ghost Story.”

Read about this book or request it from the library catalog!

3 Similar Reads (Fiction)

A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans

The Devil in Silver by Victor Lavalle

Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

 

Margaret’s November Recommendation

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

“Tom returns to Australia healthy but haunted from WWI to become a lighthouse keeper on an isolated island.  Tom is content to live this solitary life but by chance on a shore visit meets and falls in love with lively, spirited Isabel.  Somewhat remarkably, the two create a happy life together alone on Janus Rock, and Tom realizes he may be able to have a full life despite the guilt and horrors that he has carried since the war.  But, after Isabel suffers two miscarriages and a stillbirth, a heavy sadness descends on the cottage by the lighthouse.  Then, one day a boat washes up on the island with a dead man and a crying infant.  What follows is a heartbreakingly desperate story about right and wrong, family and love.  This is a well-written and affecting novel set in an interesting time and place. Stedman does a good job of catching hold of his readers’ emotions without veering too close to melodrama. Pick it up if you like historical fiction, family stories, or just good literary fiction.”

Read about or request The Light Between Oceans from the library catalog today!

3 Similar Reads (Fiction)

1) The Sea by John Banville

2) Latitudes of Melt by Joan Clark

3) Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee

3 Similar Reads (Nonfiction)

1) In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

2) The Keeper of Lime Rock by Lenore Skomal

3) To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild

Megan’s July Recommendation

Three Wishes: A True Story of Good Friends, Crushing Heartbreak, and Astonishing Luck on Our Way to Love and Motherhood by Carey Goldberg, Beth Jones and Pamela Ferdinand.

“I picked up this book from our new book shelf at random and went on to devour it within a few days.  Three Wishes is a true story told by three women, who in their late 30s have not yet found the man of their dreams but are positive that they want to have children.  The first woman to take the plunge into an alternative pregnancy is Carey, who purchases sperm from Donor #8282.  Coincidentally, (or not) as soon as Carey has made the purchase she ends up meeting someone and getting pregnant the old-fashioned way.  She passes her purchase onto her friend Beth, who also ends up meeting a wonderful man and having a child on her own.  And so the sperm is passed onto Pam.  Guess what happens next?  This story is inspiring, honest, heartfelt, and funny.  It is wonderful to hear real women speak so openly about their journey to love and motherhood.”

Read about it or request it in the library catalog.

You can find this book in the library at Call # 920 GOL.

Pat’s June Recommendation

Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt

“Just finished Roger Rosenblatt’s family story, MAKING TOAST.  This is a beautiful memoir about how grandparents are made over into parents, how people die out of order (Rosenblatt’s young daughter and mother of three dies suddenly) and how a family grieves.   It’s a bit of a tearjerker …but I’m a fan of Rosenblatt’s.”

Read about it or request it in the library catalog.

You can also find this book in the library at Call # 306.8745 ROS, in with the new books.