2019 Reading List Winners Announced - American Library Association

The 2019 selections are:

Adrenaline

Winner
“Safe Houses: A Novel” by Dan Fesperman. A Borzoi Book, published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Managing CIA safe houses in 1979 West Berlin, Helen overhears a secret conversation that sends her on the run. Thirty-five years later, a tragedy leads Helen’s daughter to dig into her mother’s secret past, unaware that her mother’s old enemies are still watching.

Readalikes:
Deutschland 83 (TV show).
“The Expats” by Chris Pavone.
“Restless” by William Boyd.

Short List
“Barbed Wire Heart: A Thriller” by Tess Sharpe. Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group.
“Bearskin: A Novel” by James A. McLaughlin. Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“Jar of Hearts” by Jennifer Hillier. Minotaur Books.
“Star of the North: A Novel” by D.B. John. Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

Fantasy

Winner
“Foundryside: A Novel” by Robert Jackson Bennett. Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

Sancia is a thief-for-hire whose latest job has the potential for a life-changing payout. When she realizes the power of the item she has stolen--a magical key with the ability to open any lock--she keeps it for herself, setting in motion a chain of events with far-reaching consequences.

Readalikes:
“A Darker Shade of Magic” by V.E. Schwab.
“Lies of Locke Lamora” by Scott Lynch.
“The Mechanical” by Ian Tregillis.

Short List
“The City of Brass: A Novel” by S.A. Chakraborty. Harper Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“The Hazel Wood: A Novel” by Melissa Albert. Flatiron Books.
“The Poppy War” by R.F. Kuang. Harper Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“Trail of Lightning” by Rebecca Roanhorse. Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Historical Fiction

Winner
“Between Earth and Sky: A Novel” by Amanda Skenandore. Kensington Books.

When Alma discovers a former classmate from her missionary parents’ Indian Territory boarding school has been arrested for murder, she returns home to defend him. Upon arrival she reflects on the heartbreaking legacy of forced assimilation and the damage done by stripping Native American children of their language and culture.

Readalikes:
“News of the World” by Paulette Jiles.
“One Thousand White Women” by Jim Fergus.
“The Round House” by Louise Erdrich.

Short List
“The Butcher’s Daughter: A Novel” by Victoria Glendinning. Overlook Duckworth.
“Circe: A Novel” by Madeline Miller. Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group.
“Dear Mrs. Bird: A Novel” by AJ Pearce. Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
“A Well Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts” by Therese Anne Fowler. St. Martin’s Press.

Horror

Winner

“The Silent Companions: A Novel” by Laura Purcell. Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

In 1860s England, pregnant Elsie travels to her deceased husband’s crumbling country estate. Kept company by only a few servants, Elsie discovers a realistic life-sized wooden figure in the attic. As the figure and others like it begin popping up around the house, Elsie begins to question her sanity.

Readalikes:
“The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson.
“The Miniaturist” by Jessie Burton.
“The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James.

Short List
“Awakened: A Novel” by James S. Murray, with Darren Wearmouth. Harper Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“Bad Man: A Novel” by Dathan Auerbach. Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
“The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel” by Paul Tremblay. William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“Melmoth: A Novel” by Sarah Perry. Custom House, an imprint of William Morrow.

Mystery

Winner
“The Widows of Malabar Hill” by Sujata Massey. Soho Crime, published by Soho Press.

Oxford-educated Perveen Mistry is the first practicing woman lawyer in 1920’s Bombay. When three widows of a wealthy Muslim businessman need legal assistance, Perveen is perfect for the job --especially since the women live secluded from men. When the widows' guardian is murdered, Perveen must unravel the mystery.

Readalikes:
“Leaving Everything Most Loved” by Jacqueline Winspear.
“A Rising Man” by Abir Mukherjee.
“The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra” by Vaseem Khan.

Short List
“The Broken Girls” by Simone St. James. Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
“Broken Places: A Chicago Mystery” by Tracy Clark. Kensington Books.
“Crimson Lake: A Novel” by Candice Fox. A Forge Book, published by Tom Doherty Associates.
“The Ruin: A Novel” by Dervla McTiernan. Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

Romance

Winner
“Intercepted” by Alexa Martin. A Jove Book, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

When Marlee Harper discovers that her NFL player boyfriend has been cheating on her, she swears off athletes forever. Or, at least, until the team’s new quarterback Gavin Pope enters the picture. Years ago, Marlee and Gavin shared a steamy encounter, and the sparks continue to fly when they meet again.

Readalikes:
“Field of Pleasure” by Farrah Rochon.
“Hooked on You” by Kate Meader.
“Nobody’s Baby But Mine” by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

Short List
“The Kiss Quotient” by Helen Hoang. A Jove Book, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
“A Princess in Theory” by Alyssa Cole. Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“Tempest” by Beverly Jenkins. Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“The Wedding Date” by Jasmine Guillory. A Jove Book, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
 

Science Fiction

Winner
“The Calculating Stars” by Mary Robinette Kowal. A Tor Book, published by Tom Doherty Associates.

In a world emerging from World War II, Earth is struck by a massive meteorite. Faced with the likelihood of total extinction, the scientific community dedicates themselves to developing space technology. The efforts of aspiring astronaut Dr. Elma York and her fellow women scientists are hampered by racism and sexism.

Readalikes:
“The Atomic City Girls” by Janet Beard.
“Doomsday Book” by Connie Willis.
“Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly.

Short List
“Noumenon Infinity” by Marina J. Lostetter. Harper Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“An Ocean of Minutes: A Novel” by Thea Lim. Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
“Stars Uncharted” by S.K. Dunstall. Ace, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
“The Wrong Stars” by Tim Pratt. Angry Robot, an imprint of Watkins Media Ltd.

Women’s Fiction

Winner
“Stray City: a Novel” by Chelsey Johnson. Custom House, an imprint of William Morrow.

In the early 1990s, Andrea Morales flees her disapproving parents and discovers a family within the Portland, Oregon lesbian scene. Betrayal causes Andrea to stray from her community, resulting in an unintended pregnancy. After ten years, her daughter Lucia discovers her father’s identity and asks to meet him.

Readalikes:
“Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl” by Carrie Brownstein.
“The Price of Salt” by Patricia Highsmith.
“When Katie Met Cassidy” by Camille Perri.

Short List
“The High Season: A Novel” by Judy Blundell. Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC.
“How to Walk Away: A Novel” by Katherine Center. St. Martin’s Press.
“Meet Me at the Museum: A Novel” by Anne Youngson. Flatiron Books.
“Women in Sunlight: A Novel” by Frances Mayes. Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC.

The winners were selected by the Reading List Council whose members include ten expert readers’ advisory and collection development librarians. The eight genres currently included in the Council’s considerations are adrenaline, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction, and women’s fiction. However, the Council is adaptable to new genres and changes in contemporary reading interest.

It has been quite a while since I have blogged, but now that I am finished with graduate school, I am going to publish a mega list of books that have been recommended by my classmates.  This first post will begin with Mystery:

The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn  

The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith  

Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely  

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett  

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie  

A Siege of Bitterns by Steve Burrows    

Last Bus To Woodstock by Colin Dexter     7

Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank  

Land of Burning Heat by Judith Van Gieson  

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich  

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear  

Eighty Million Eyes - Ed McBain  

Touch and go : a novel by Lisa Gardner   

This real sweet gentleman who comes into the library every now and then has a pretty fun blog and oh so many stories:

http://johnguylaplante.com/wp/author/jgladminwp/

Private J. Rich ...

I always thought that blogging would help me express whatever I was feeling, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like a great episode of M*A*S*H, Point of View.  Funny how someone who can't say anything, can be the more observant.  Anyway, when it comes to a blog, I feel like Private Rich in the closing moments:  "Don't know what to say!"

EBATES!!!!

Get cash back for your online purchases.  If you sign up through my link, make 25 dollars in purchases, you get 5 dollars, and a 10 dollar gift card.

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=j1xeTHuxgBmqUEg84VQ4BQ%3D%3D



Thank you!

I dont like the new blogger format, but what else is new?  Apparently not much.  I think I am done with the blogging fad.  Nobody really cares what I say anyway!

Signs of the Ag(ing)

For some reason I have just felt really old lately. It could be perhaps due to being half my life out of high school, or that no Bible quizzer was born when our team won nationals, or the increasing gray hairs.  Who knows?

I have a clue, or two.

Clue 1: A few days ago at work I complimented a customer on the politeness of her son.  Am I already turning into a grandpa, or was it a relief to see a child  in my workplace with actual manners and a parent who enforces them, and my having to say something?

Clue 2: I walked around for an hour at the cemetery looking for my grandparents' graves.  I went to information thereafter and received directions, and still couldn't find the plots. It turns out I was 20 feet from them when I first began an hour or so before.

Huh? What?

I’m of the era of the card catalog, so I’m totally lost in the library.

Okay, well, what are you looking for?

I need to send a fax.

Oops I've crapped my pants!!!

Could you go this lingerie site and look up some panties for me says the older woman to the younger librarian.

On another note, Make a Saturday!

SAY WHAT?????

These people live among you:

"Will the elevator take me upstairs?"

Deserve's got everything to do with it.

Had a great time in Yosemite this past weekend.

However:

Made it up the Vernal Fall trail head to the viewing bridge, and continued on for a better shot of the awesome waterfall.  Because of the melting snowpack, the runoff has been higher than normal. Also, due to these more wet, dangerous conditions, the Mist Trail was closed. However, group after group, parents allowing their kids,  went around the trail closed sign and made their way up the very steep path.

I can say with a clear conscience, that if someone fell off that trail, a fatal injury no doubt, that they deserved it.  You reap what you sow. I guess it touches off on another issue that I may have to get up on the soapbox for at a later time: Parents, entitlement, and the pursuit of selfishness.

Library story of the day

Ok, well, it is my quarterly blog post :)

I had a customer get angry with me today because the library was not going to be closed for Washington's birthday next Monday in addition to president's day, as if we were biased toward Lincoln or what not.  I told her we were closed for PRESIDENT'S DAY, and she walked away disgusted and baffled.

Hubert Humphrey and Zombies

So the first SuperBowl of the season went down tonight as Minnesota hosted Green Bay. I was able to watch the first half and was very impressed with the Viking defense and with Brett Favre's arm. So after catching the first half, I headed out to Huntington Beach to catch Zombieland with my friend A.K.

Zombieland was a combination of Vacation, Little Miss Sunshine, and any zombie/virus flick. You really cant go wrong with a shoot em up zombie movie. It has some good laughs and some good kills, and really good music. I dug the rules, but the narration became a little too much. I give it a 7 on the JR scale, but perhaps a 7.5 if you can matinee it.

Got home to watch the second half of the football game on DVR. The O-lines were the story. GB had none, and Minnesota had it all. Both QB's looked pretty good. Peterson couldnt do jack, but I wouldnt be concerned if I were a Viking fan.

Tomorrow on my recovery agenda I plan to renew my registration and just chill on the recliner! So boring, but so necessary. Am looking forward to the Dodger postseason and the UCLA game this weekend, although Oregon is a very hot team.

what? JR is blogging again? Something must be wrong.

I don't think i have ever been good about picking a topic and going with it. With facebook and other sites, the blog has been quite neglected over the past year. So I am resolving to keep climbing that blogging mountain. I miss my blogger pals!

I have been off work for a little while now after visiting the local hospital for almost a week. So far the recuperation is going well. Am on soft foods and a lot of liquids and meds!

So what do the days present for me until I get back to work? The schedule lines up nice. Daytime TV isnt as bad as it used to be:

TPiR
nap
I love Lucy
ESPN
MASH
some game somewhere
prime time shows.

It makes for fast days. The time goes by so quickly, but life is so boringly and depressingly routine.

I feel like I m going through just so much. I know I can handle it, but the past year has been so difficult emotionally, physically, and even spiritually. I hide it well. I've felt like I have distanced myself from so friends, lost others, and am nervous about changes coming in the next few years. Lots of starting over to do. I dont know if a blog would be the best place to reveal or vent all of this, but there you have it.

Dear Dodgers,

will you please win a game already?

Sincerely,

Jer

RFKC catorce

Dear friends and family,

In one hour from now I leave for the San Bernadino Mountains for camp. This is no ordinary summer camp, but one that was created with the intent of creating positive memories for abused and neglected children: Royal Family Kids Camp.
http://www.rfkc.org/site/c.ikIPL8MWJxE/b.4010393/k.89E5/Facts_and_Stats.htm

Being a part of this camp has been on my heart since I was in the 6th grade@1987, when through the foyer doors one night, I saw a video being shown about RFKC. To be a counselor, one has to be 18, so I waited year after year, until in 1994, I was able to be a counselor for the very first time with my home church in Lakewood.

This year I will be participating in my 14th RFKC, and my 3rd year with Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena. It is both the most fun and difficult week of my year, but I keep coming back because of the kids.

This camp is free to the campers, but if you look at the statistics link I posted, the camp is not cheap.

I wanted to use my blog to hopefully give the readers an opportunity to donate.
http://www.lakeavefoundation.org/donate

Any amount is more than welcomed!!!

Thank you so much,


Jeremy

Is a PS even acceptable in blog posts? Anyway, please keep all of the staff, counselors, and campers in your thoughts and prayers this week!!!

Your Sunday Library Story of the Day!!!!!

I just get to the reference desk from the Teen Center, and hear some lady shouting on her cell phone as she goes down the elevator. We could hear her as she went down to the first floor. A minute or two later, she comes back up the elevator, still on her angry call, apologizing and denying, and shouting.

So I get the bright idea to see how many times she will come up and down the elevator, so I push the call button to come up to the 2nd floor.

She is having this loud conversation while other customers are in the elevator! By my count, having pushed the call button 5 separate times, she made about 7 complete trips, with no regard for her fellow library customers.

On another note, one of our fave internet customers asked for more time on a computer, and I asked "are you still logged in?" followed by an immediate, sarcastic "why do I even ask?" The customer almost always comes up to the reference desk (at least 4-5 times a day) after the time has expired.

Other than that, a very calm day at the library. Perhaps the message was finally sent: "go to the freaking beach!!!!"

LJF

Here are some pics from my laptop of my nephew Landon, who could sit for hours looking at himself on the computer!

Library/bad parent story of the day

All of you parents hopefully can forgive me after this...

So, I am sitting at the information desk on the first floor, when I hear a lady cry out by the self check machines for her child. Apparently he ran away while she was checking out DVD's. It does not take long at all to check items out mind you. He wasn't just a few feet away, but halfway out in the parking lot!!!!!! So the mom runs toward the door, bangs on it because it wont automatically open quick enough and then starts yelling for her kid to "come here." I was shocked. One would think that she would at least go out and get him, but nope, she made him CROSS TRAFFIC, to come back to her, so she could finish checking items out.

So now she gets back to checking out, and decides to go to the customer service desk to have someone help her. You would think then that she could keep tabs on him after what had just transpired, but nope, she was looking all over for him again. Finally she "asks" (rather than just taking) him to hold her hand, which is what should have happened all along.

updates

It looks like I am going to be on yet another medication for my Crohn's disease. Cimzia is the name of the game this time, and it is injection based. So in a few days I plan to receive the vials, and will give myself a couple of shots every two weeks, and then every four weeks after that. Hopefully that puts me into remission soon!

This has been the major reason I haven't been able to blog much or even follow others. I just haven't had the energy.

A belated thanks to all here who supported me on my 1/2 marathon in San Antonio for Team Challenge and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. In that one race we raised almost 1 MILLION dollars for research!!!

I cant believe its been this long!

Has it really been that long since I've posted? Even with Thanksgiving, my birthday, the 1/2 marathon in Texas, Christmas, New Years all in the past? What is the deal?

Okay, here is your silly library story of the day so far.

A customer called up wanting to place requests on a couple of books. She was very anxious and excited. As per library policy, I asked for her library card number to look up the account. She said that she didn't have it because...she was walking her freaking dog! (Her chuckle almost caused me to hang up) She had time to call us while walking her dog, and expected us to cater to her lack of preparation? I get so pissed with the sense of entitlement that some of our customers have, especially those who really don't deserve it. I almost lost it, but I think it was too early in the morning to have a meltdown. So I gave in and asked for her name and address (which we normally dont do), and put the books on hold for her.