At
the end of 2017, one of my colleagues in Circulation asked patrons to vote for
their favorite reads of the year. It produced an interesting and varied list,
so I decided to offer some of the winners to the group this month. We liked so
many of them that we have already decided on what we want to read next month as well!
Beartown
is the second book by Swedish author Fredrik Backman, whose A Man Called Ove we
enjoyed last year. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate has been compared to
Orphan Train and The Nightingale and won the Goodreads Choice Award for
Historical Fiction in 2017.
Both
are now available on the Nooks.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
People
say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is
slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands
an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this
town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow
will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in
the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the
hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of
teenage boys.
Being
responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the
semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl
traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a
pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
Memphis,
1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical
life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father
must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in
charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and
thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children
are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly
realize that the truth is much darker. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel
director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together—in a world of
danger and uncertainty.
Aiken,
South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford
seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome
fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to
help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with
uncomfortable questions—and compels her to take a journey through her family's
long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation
or redemption.
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