Cockeysville Librarians Share Favorite Books

Did you resolve to read more this year? Check out the following selections, recommended by staff members at the , for ideas on what to add to your reading list.

Book: The Rose Garden

Author: Susanna Kearsley

Librarian's Comments: "A haunting, romantic and atmospheric love story in the style of Mary Stewart. The author's writing is beautiful and descriptive, and the touch of paranormal is deftly woven into the story line.  I love everything this author has written!" -Janet

Book: Once Upon a River

Author: Bonnie Jo Campbell

Librarian's Comments: "Sixteen-year-old Margo Crane is left on her own in rural Michigan after the violent death of her father. Like a modern Huck Finn, she heads down the Stark River in her rowboat to search for her mother." -Julie

Book: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob deZoet

Author: David Mitchell

Librarian's Comments: "A historical adventure with superb writing, an unusual setting, and a riveting plot. Set in the early 1800s, just as the Dutch East India Company was losing its toehold in Japan, the book features explosive naval battles, a daring mountaintop rescue by an elite troupe of samurai, a sinister nobleman with supernatural power, and an ill fated romance between an earnest Dutch clerk and a gifted Japanese female doctor." -Meliss

Book: Half of a Yellow Sun

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Librarian's Comments: "Half of a Yellow Sun is based on a fascinating part of 1960’s Nigerian history when the newly independent nation of Biafra struggled to create a new nation. Although the history is tragic the character and landscape are vividly painted, and details are used to heartbreaking effect. Time magazine called it a 'gorgeous, pitiless account of love, violence and betrayal.'" -Mollie

Book: State of Wonder

Author: Ann Patchett

Librarian's Comments: "This story is about a pharmaceutical researcher, Dr. Marina Singh, who travels on a trip into the Amazon jungle to try to find a friend and colleague who has died under strange circumstances. She also goes on this quest to locate Dr. Anneck Swenson, a famous gynecologist, who is doing research on a tribe in the Amazon, in which the women can reproduce in their 60's and 70's. A fascinating adventure about life in the Amazon, and an interesting array of characters are presented by Patchett in this engrossing story." -Michelle

Book: The Art of Fielding

Author: Chad Harbach

Librarian's Comments: "A baseball thrown awry by gifted shortstop, Henry Skrimshander, impacts the lives of five characters at a small Midwestern college. A finely crafted coming of age novel." -Karin

Book: The Beautiful Life

Author: Helen Schulman

Librarian's Comments: "An affluent family in New York City finds their lives shattered when 15-year-old Jake forwards a classmates explicit video to his friends. This contemporary slice of digital consequences shows the fallout from an instant click on the keys illustrating a cautionary tale for today’s world." -Chris

Book: Marcelo in the Real World

Author: Franciso X. Stork

Librarian's Comments: "It is the story of a sheltered young man with Aspergers who attends a special school but at the insistence of his father must work at his father's law firm the summer before his senior year of high school in order to have an opportunity to experience the 'real world'. Over the summer, Marcelo will learn many things about the 'real world' including compassion for others, and how he can fight for justice for others. Although a good book to read, it really is best listened to, as the reader excellently portrays Marcelo's autistic personality." -Lisa

Book: Breadcrumbs

Author: Anne Ursu

Librarian's Comments: "In no other children’s book in recent memory have the devices of folkloric symbolism and language been so deliberately and expertly blended with the bittersweet reality of growing up. Ursu builds upon an exceedingly wide range of fairytale archetypes, both traditional and startlingly modern, to tell the poignant tale of Hazel and Jack, best friends bonded by imagination and mutual understanding, whose  friendship will be tested by the all too real influences of modern preadolescence. It is a highly symbolic tale, brushing on such issues as identity, escapism, the grief of friendship’s loss and the transition from childhood to a greater understanding of self." -Meghan