NPR just posted their choices for the best books of 2015. These
books below are available with your library card twenty-four hours a day:
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
Intended
for grades nine and up, The Walls Around Us is a mesmerizing psychological
thriller. It is the haunting story of female friendship gone wrong.
“[An] Intricately plotted psychological
horror story . . . With evocative language, a shifting timeline, and more
than one unreliable narrator, Suma subtly explores the balance of power between
the talented and the mediocre, the rich and the poor, the brave and the
cowardly--and the unpleasant truths that are released when these scales are
upset.”
—New York Times Book Review
“Gripping. . . Just try to put this down.”
—Shelf Awareness for Readers, starred
review
*******
Descent by Tim Johnston
The
Courtland family decides to take a vacation together before their daughter
Caitlin leaves for college. They arrive in the Rocky Mountains hoping for some
positive changes. Caitlin is a runner and
wants to challenge herself in
the steep roads that the destination offers. Her parents hope that time
together will help heal their own marriage difficulties. One morning, Caitlin
heads out for a run with her brother. She does not return and her brother is
badly injured.
“Outstanding . . . The days when you had to choose between a
great story and a great piece of writing? Gone.”
—Esquire
“This is much more than your typical thriller. Tim Johnston
has written a book that makes Gone Girl seem
gimmicky . . . Johnston is an excellent writer. You want to set this one down
so you can take a breath, and keep reading--all at the same time.”
—Alan Cheuse on NPR’s All
Things Considered
*******
We Were Brothers by Barry Moser
Even though Barry and Tommy were raised by the same parents, in the same house, they were very different people. As they got older, their differences broadened.They stayed in touch with each other, but their relationship was fragile. After years of living completely different lives, a particularly tense conversation ends what little connection they had.
“A complex
meditation on how two men who grew up together came away with diametrically
opposing views on so many social and civil-rights issues . . . [a] lyrical
memoir . . . [Moser] writes movingly about his rapprochement with Tommy before
his death in 2005.The brothers’ reconciliation is deeply affecting in a memoir
that Barry Moser considers an homage to Tommy ‘as well as a history of our
burdened brotherhood.’”
—The Boston Globe
"A valiantly forthright, superbly illustrated family memoir...by crisply and frankly chronicling his battles and eventual reconciliation with his brother, Moser looks to a more caring and just future world."
-Booklist
