The Star Garden: A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine

The Star Garden: A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine

by Nancy E. Turner

Inspired by the author’s original family memoirs, this book, the third in the trilogy (which includes These Is My Words and Sarah’s Quilt), is told in diary form. It tells the extraordinary story of Sarah Prine, a feisty pioneer woman struggling to make a life for herself and her family in the harsh Arizona Territory in 1906. This engaging, well-researched novel is part historical fiction, part western and part romance, and thoroughly entertaining.

- Lynn

Thirst

Thirst
by Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver has been known as the quintessential nature poet for decades. Her observations of the the most common occurrence in nature have always been revelations. In Thirst, Mary's poetry takes an important turn. Following the death of her partner of 40 years, Mary has a long dark year of the soul. The poems that are the result are nothing short of beautiful.

An Ohio native, Mary Oliver is one of our finest living poets. Her poems can be appreciated by anyone who reads poetry.

-Holly

School's Out!

School's Out!

by Wanda E. Brunstetter

Rachel Yoder is an energetic nine-year-old Amish girl from Lancaster County. School is out and Rachel is looking forward to having fun this summer, but she is full of mischief, and trouble often follows her. Will her family survive the many adventures along the way? Check out this book to find out!

- Debbie

It Happens Every Spring

It Happens Every Spring

Four Seasons Series, Book 1
by Gary Chapman & Catherine Palmer

Welcome to Deepwater Cove in Tranquility, Missouri! This first of four books follows four couples moving in and out of their different seasons; spring, summer, fall, and winter. It has the "Mitford" feel to it that Jan Karon portrays so well in the happenings of small-town life. You will meet newlyweds, blended families, couples who are deep in the throes of empty-nest adjustment, and senior couples. If you like this book, follow it up with Summer Breeze, the second in the series. Enjoy!

-Ann

Nineteen Minutes

Nineteen Minutes

by Jodi Picoult

Lots can happen in nineteen minutes. Jodi Picoult shows just how suddenly lives can be altered in this story of a school massacre that is told through not only from the point of view of the victims but also of the shooter. Very thought-provoking, Nineteen Minutes is yet another good book by this author.

-Lynn

This I Believe

This I Believe

by Jay Allison

NPR invited listeners to write a personal credo - a few hundred words explaining the principles that guide one's life. This book is a compilation of essays from those who accepted the invitation. People from all walks of life are included - famous and unknown alike.

It is inspiring to read the thoughts expressed; people's diverse writings of their most closely held convictions. You can't help but be led to the question - what do I believe?

This I Believe is also available as an audio book with each writer reading his own essay.

- Kathy S.

The Secret of Lost Things

The Secret of Lost Things

by Sheridan Hay

Rosemary, a lovely & naive woman from Tasmania, is thrust into the New York City world of eccentric book dealers & collectors following the death of her mother. Set in the Arcade (aka NYC's The Strand), she becomes entangled in a mystery involving a lost manuscript of Herman Melville. The plot thickens as staff manipulate her for clues to its whereabouts by using her as a ploy.
Full of intrigue & quirky characters, this is a novel for bibliophiles who dream of acquiring rare books.

-Holly

Bygones

Bygones

by Kim Vogel Sawyer

If you are a fan of the Amish fiction by Beverly Lewis and others, you are going to love Bygones, which takes place in a Mennonite community. Twenty-three years ago, Marie Koeppler left her Mennonite family and faith in Sommerfield, Kansas. Marie met a truck driver at her job and ran off to Cheyenne, Wyoming, later marrying Jep Quinn and giving birth to their daughter, Beth.

Upon leaving, she really hurt her family, especially her father and ex-beau Henry Braun, who never stopped loving her. Events lead up to Marie eventually coming back to Sommerfield and her relationship with God and her family.

I am looking forward to reading the second book in the Sommerfield Trilogy, Beginnings, coming in October.

-Debbie

Stormy Weather

Stormy Weather

by Paulette Jiles

A tale of the trials and triumphs of the Stoddard family, Stormy Weather is set in the oil fields of Texas during the Great Depression. The four women in this family bind together through the hard times that befall them.

After the death of Elizabeth's husband, she and her daughters return to the abandoned and run-down family farm. Together they must rebuild the farm and their lives. This is a beautiful story of determination, courage, and resourcefulness.

- Kathy S.

The Island

The Island

by Victoria Hislop

An absorbing novel of a young woman’s search for the truth of her mother’s past, The Island is the story of leprosy's touch on an extraordinary family, set in the Mediterranean during World War II.

- Lynn

Home to Harmony and Just Shy of Harmony

Home to Harmony and Just Shy of Harmony

by Philip Gulley

I enjoyed these homespun stories about life in a small town. The characters are sweet, quirky, and so believable that I checked to make sure it was fiction while I was reading it! It makes me think of Garrison Keillor and his News From Lake Wobegon. I'm hooked now - I'll be reading all of his books.

- Dixie

Cooking with Fernet Branca

Cooking with Fernet Branca

by James Hamilton-Paterson

I have many guilty pleasures. I love culinary snobbery, biting satires and witty characters. Cooking with Fernet Branca has this in spades with Gerald Samper, a ghostwriter for celebrities living in Tuscany. He fancies himself a culinary genius of great daring. His neighbor, Marta, has arrived from Voynovia, a fictitious ex-soviet region and is an earthy composer for an Italian avant-garde filmmaker. What follows is a comedy of manners told in the first person of each character.
Truly outrageous, this is one of the wittiest of contemporary novels.

-Holly

Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War

Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War
by Joe Bageant

Available through CLEVNET, Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War, a new book by Joe Bageant, is an eye-opening story of the author’s return to his hometown of Winchester, Virginia after a 30-year absence. Besides introducing readers to colorful characters, Bageant gives an educational (and heart-wrenching) account of how our society’s unacknowledged class system came to be.

- Linda B.

The Last Chinese Chef

The Last Chinese Chef: a novel
by Nicole Mones

Maggie McElroy, a California food critic, travels to China to settle a paternity claim against her late husband's estate. While there, she also covers the story of Sam Liang, a rising culinary star. As Maggie uncovers her late husband's past in Beijing, she is drawn into the sensuous world of Chinese food, and the history and meaning of each dish through the eyes of Sam Liang.

By the author of Lost in Translation, this is an intelligent love story full of culinary and cultural detail.

-Holly

The Prince of Nantucket

The Prince of Nantucket
by Jan Goldstein

Teddy Mathison is the front runner to be the new U.S. Senator from California when he is called home to Nantucket to care for his ailing mother. As a man who "doesn't do relationships", he must figure out how to reconnect with his estranged daughter and come to terms with his past. A quick read full of emotional ups and downs.

- Nancy