SWON Libraries

Best Books Read in 2008

Mystery/Suspense

Great website for finding the order of books in Mystery/Suspense sereis Stop You’re Killing Me!

• Precious Blood by Jonathon Hayes – told my the killers view, interesting/psychological angle
• George Pelecanus – Blended several series of his books/can be read independently - set in Washington D.C. –realistic fiction/crime fiction
• The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill – mystery is not solved at the end.
• Caroline Hart – Cozy Mystery
• They Did it With Love by Kate Morgenroth – Mystery set within a Mystery Book Club
• Green Water Ghost – By Glynn Marsh Alam - she is like Nevada Barr and Tony Hillerman
  
• Nevada Barr – Anna Pigeon Series Suspense, terror, wolves—Superior Death is a good one to start with (second book in series)
• Mike Doogan - A Nik Kane Alaska Mystery (Lost Angel and Capitol Offense) – Much like the TV show Life
  
• Archer Mayor – Character Joe Gunther, police detective in Brattleboro, Vermont.
  
• Beverly Connor – Two Series, both about forensic anthropologist
  
• Chris Grabenstein – John Creepak Series – a veteran of Iraq and his sidekick Danny Boyle in New Jersey
  
• Deanna Raybourn – Mystery, romance, and historical
  
• Don Winslow – Suspense novels
  
• Richard Price - much like Walter Mosley
  
• Alan Furst – Suspense in World War II – good for people who like spies, historical, and suspense
  
• Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Mysteries)
• A Most Wanted Man by John le Carre
  
• Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclay
• Garnethill by Denise Mina
• It’s A Fistful of Rain by Greg Rucka
  
• Black Out by Lisa Unger - psychological suspense
  
• It Only Takes a Moment by Mary Jane Clark - Suspense
• Hold Tight by Harlan Coben Suspense

True Crime

• The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi – give a great insight to Florence in the 1950s/Italian serial killer---Great for Book Clubs!

Romance/Historical Fiction/Time Travel

• The Little Book by Selden Edwards—Historical Fiction/Romance/Time Travel to Vienna 1897 – main character meets Hitler as a child and talks to Freud.
  
• When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin D. Yalom
  
• The Blue Star by Tony Ealey – Set during WWII in an Appalachian town—love story/abusive father/writing is very good/Mature Theme

Fantasy/Sci-Fi

• Jennifer Roberson - writes Fantasy and romance
  
• Damiano by R.A. MacAvoy
  
• George R.R. Martin – Epic stories
  
• Robin Hobb – Farseer Trilogy
• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Teen Fiction)
  
• The Dead and The Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
  
• World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunslter
• The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper •
• Plague War by Jeff Carlson
• Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler
  
• Sean Mcmullen – librarians and Australia
  
• Soon I will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
  
• His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (fantasy and historic)
  

Horror

• Infected by Scot Sigler
• Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert
• The Messenger by Jan Burke
  
• Dan Simmons
  
• Death: A memoir
  
• Disquiet by Julia Leigh – Great Reviews
  
• Ghost Radio by Leopoldo Gout – White noise/radio stations
  

Inspirational

• Izzy and Lenore: Two Dogs, an Unexpected Journey, and Me by John Katz – Hospice story - good to recommend for someone who liked Marley and Me
• The Dog Who Love Cheerios and other tales of Excess
  
• This I Believe – by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman
  
• Unleashed
  

Historical

• Serena by Ron Rash- Lumber Camp 1920s—
• Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher –set in the 1970s in Northern England
• The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti – Set in New England, sometime in the 19th century/Cheerful Story about Grave Robbers
• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones – Main Character becomes obsessed with Charles Dickens

Literary/Realistic

• Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon by Debbie Thomas
  
• The Condition by Jennifer Haigh
  
• Ate Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay 
  
• Run by Ann Patchett
  
• Lush Life by Richard Price
  
• The White Mary by Kira Salak
  
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
  
• The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey
  
• Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through his son’s Meth Addiction by David Sheff
  

Nonfiction/Biography 

• Panic in Level 4 by Richard Preston
  
• Versailles: A Biography of a Palace by Tony Spawforth
• The Lost: A Search for Six of the Six Million
  
• Mistaken Identity by Van Ryn/Cerak
  
• The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
  
• If I Am Missing or Dead by Janine Latus
  
• Everything They Had by David Halberstam
  
• Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We do (and What it Says About us). Tom Vanderbilt
• The Science of Fear: Why We fear the Things We Shouldn’t – and Put ourselves in Greater Danger by Daniel Gardner
• Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and The Dawn of The Global World by Timothy Brook
• Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect With Others by Marco Iacoboni
• The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale
  
• This Reublic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust
• Outliers: the Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Soloist: a Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music by Steve Lopez
  
• One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding – Rebecca Mead
• Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip – Confessions of a Cynical Waiter
  

YA/Kids 

• Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered - Grades 5 and up —Journalistic Retelling in a newspaper format
  
• The Lincolns: A scrapbook look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming – grades 6 and up
• Abe’s Honest Words by Doreen Rappaport and Kadir Nelson - Great Illustrations –grades 3-6
  
• Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out Grades 3-8
  
• Farmer George Plants a Nation by Peggy Thomas Grades 3-5
  
• Washington at Valley Forge by Russell Freedman Grades 4-8
  
• The Floating Circus by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer 
• Little Brother By Cory Doctorow