Not sure what book to read next? No worries!
We at the Norwalk Public Library have compiled some of our favorite books to recommend to you. We will often add another four - five titles to choose from, with links to reserve or read them through our catalogs. We hope you enjoy!
House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild, Pub. February 2020
Reserve your copy here
Cast of characters: two villains, damsel in distress, knight in a Land Rover, plain Jane, hapless earl, cat lady, dapper uncle.
Setting: 2008 financial crash, London, Cornwall. Hedge fund office, dilapidated castle. Aristocratic family struggling with burden and pull of the family seat, a ruin of a castle. How can they free themselves of antiquated customs and fit into a real life?
Why read it: love story, intrigue, witty dialog, amusing social commentary and gorgeous scenery with descriptions that take you right in the middle of the scene, make you forget that you are sitting on a sofa in a week-old pajama.
- Tina, Reference
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
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It is the true story of the girls who worked in radium dial factories and their incredible fight to help save millions of lives and change regulations and working conditions.
- Vicki, Children’s
Hannah's War by Jan Eliasberg
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Historical fiction based on the true story of Dr. Lise Meitner, the woman who discovered nuclear fission, and has been erased ("as so many great women are") from history. Pub. date 3/3/20.
This book is the "unforgettable" story of Austrian physicist Dr. Hannah Weiss, who is on the verge of splitting the atom in 1938 Berlin, but because she is a Jewish woman living under the harsh rule of the Third Reich, her research is belittled, overlooked and stolen by her German colleagues. She must decide what she is willing to sacrifice in pursuit of science's greatest achievement. Fast forward to 1945 New Mexico where wounded Major Jack Delaney arrives at Los Alamos with a mission: to catch a spy, with all signs pointing to Hannah as the traitor. This is truly a thrilling wartime story of loyalty and truth, and the unforeseeable fallout from a single choice. Once started, I couldn't put down this book. Eliasberg is an award- winning screenwriter and director, whose words come alive on the page, packing the story with pathos, romance, suspence and life-changing dilemmas. And this is her first novel! Looking forward to seeing it on the big screen, someday.
- Caryn, Reference
Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
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A chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction's most ingenious murders.
- Laurie, Tech
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
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Just Mercy is a book by Bryan Stevenson and outlines his dedication and commitment to fairness in the American justice system. Bryan Stevenson is the Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative. One of the Initiative's earliest cases was representing Walter McMillan, who was wrongly convicted and spent six years of his life on death row for a crime that he didn’t commit, and the hard work of the institute to bring him justice.
- Tammy, Circulation
Coding With Python by Álvaro Scrivano, Sue Downing
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In Coding with Python, you can talk with turtles, travel to South America, draw a flower, and create a caterpillar without paper, pencils, or paint. Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions will guide you through coding these fantastic projects. Once you've got the hang of it, there are different challenges you can choose to really test your coding skills and handy troubleshooting hints to help if you need them.
- Brian, Reference
The Cuban Affair by Nelson DeMille
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Daniel "Mac" Graham MacCormick seems to have a pretty good life. At age thirty-five he's living in Key West, owner of a forty- two-foot charter fishing boat The Maine. When Mac learns there is sixty million American dollars hidden in Cuba, he jumps at his chance to grab the brass ring. Demille is back with fast paced writing peppered with hilarity.
- Laurie, Tech
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
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A story of parental love, generational differences, political views and ideas, and liberals against conservatives, all as relevant today as it was in mid-19th century Russia, but without the Russian setting of aristocracy versus peasant life. It is also compassionate and heartwarming.
- Grethe, Reference
A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
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Couldn't put down this powerful novel. From the first sentence to the final one, the reader is transfixed into a turbulent tide of emotions, both knowing that a tragedy occurs, thanks to the narrator and hoping that it will not happen. A Romeo and Juliet tale of star-crossed lovers depicted in a modern-day North Carolina city swirling with change and gentrification, Therese Anne Fowler builds and builds her tale around issues of social justice, the environment, racial inequality, gender roles, religious, politics, and the role of the media. She combines these topics in a story that is classic and heartbreaking in revealing the evil and injustice lurking within "a good neighborhood".
- Cynde, Reference
Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel by Jesyman Ward
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It is a wonderful story about a thirteen-year-old boy named Jojo and his sister, Kayla, who live in Mississippi with their grandparents Mam and Pops. Their grandmother, Mam, is dying of cancer and their grandfather, Pop, teaches Jojo how to be a man. Their mother, Leonie, is black and a drug addict. Their white father, Michael, is in prison. When their father is released from prison, their mother packs Jojo, Kayla, and a friend in her car. A ghostly thirteen-year-old boy names Richie joins them and takes Jojo on a journey, teaching him about hope and struggle.
- Tammy, Circulation
Billy Martin: Baseballs Flawed Genius by Bill Pennington
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Now, with his definitive biography Billy Martin, Pennington finally erases the caricature of Martin. Drawing on exhaustive interviews with friends, family, teammates, and countless adversaries, Pennington paints an indelible portrait of a man who never backed down for the game he loved. From his shantytown upbringing in a broken home; to his days playing for the Yankees when he almost always helped his team find a way to win; through sixteen years of managing, including his tenure in New York in the crosshairs of Steinbrenner and Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin made sure no one ever ignored him. And indeed no one could. He was the hero, the antihero, and the alter ego—or some combination of all three—for his short sixty-one years among us.
- Susannah, Reference
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
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Part historical fiction, the novel takes place in the present time as well as in the age of Darwin. Two families living in dilapidated houses (during insecure personal, as well as political times) fearing they are becoming, in more ways than one, “unsheltered.” The exciting historical fiction part is when we meet self-made scientist and naturalist Mary Treat from the nineteenth century who inspires us all.
- Sally, Reference
Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian
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A realistic fiction set in a small town in Maine. The mostly white, working-class population is grudgingly accepting of newly arrived Somali refugees. Senior Tom Bouchard doesn't give them much thought until 4 of them join his soccer team. Soon, differences in language, culture and religion start to make themselves felt. Tensions start to rise in the community, and Tom is questioning everything he thought to be true.
- Lisa, Teen Librarian
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
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“Tokarczuk's protagonist is Janina — an aging astrologist who lives in a secluded Polish village right on the Czech-Polish border, who spends her time pontificating in capitalizations (Mankind, Darkness, or Perpetual Light) and translating the poetry of one William Blake. Naturally, everyone around her thinks she's an anarchic crank. It's easy to invest in Janina, so thoroughly imagined is she as a character; even easier to hope that she's right in thinking the dead bodies turning up all around her are acts of revenge — by animals, on the local hunters.” (August 16, 2019 NPR Review, by Kamil Ahsan)
- Sally, Reference
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
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This isn’t a new book, but a funny, delightful read offering food for thought. It’s a collection of entwined novellas linking stories of people working in a newsroom of English language paper in Rome. Published in 2010, the book addressed print newspapers’ fears of being swallowed by the Internet while presenting a motley crew of hilarious characters. The fact that ten years later the jury is still out makes it an interesting story to revisit.
- Tina, Reference
The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles - Historical fiction based on the WWII story of the heroic librarians of the American Library in Paris. Pub. date 6/2/20.
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Promoted as an "unforgettable" story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together, I wanted to love this book. Although I did identify with the portrayal of library staff as being completely committed to the wellbeing of their patrons during exceedingly dire circumstances, i thought the writing was too bland to convey the true depth of emotions and horror of that time period. This book's main character, Odile, charmingly Parisian and wise, will engage those who love libraries and books, yet I doubt the book will remain with you as a memorable read.
- Caryn, Reference
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
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In the “exquisitely written, consistently entertaining” (The New York Times) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the library to vivid life; studies arson and a empts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago.
- Cynde, Reference
Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of a Life in Poetry by
Donald Hall
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Donald Hall’s remarkable life in poetry — a career capped by his appointment as U.S. poet
Poet laureate in 2006 — comes alive in this richly detailed, self-revealing memoir. - Sally, Reference
Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help
Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg
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In Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg suggests a way forward. He believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, childcare centers, churches, and parks where crucial connections are formed. Interweaving his own research with examples from around the globe, Klinenberg shows how
“social infrastructure” is helping to solve some of our most pressing societal challenges.
Richly reported and ultimately uplifting, Palaces for the People offers a blueprint for bridging our seemingly unbridgeable divides.
- Vicky, Children’s The Night Fire by Michael Connelly
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Wri en with the intense pacing and masterful suspense that have made Michael Connelly "the hard-boiled c on master of our me" (NPR), The Night Fire con nues the uno cial partnership of two erce detec ves determined not to let the re within burn out.
-Sharon, Circulation
The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker
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Find out why food doesn't taste the way we oldsters remember it from back in the day. There's a bit of chemistry, but . . . flavorings made from the excretions of beaver glands??? Ewwww. Makes you rethink preprocessed foods.
- Cathy, Reference
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
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Travel forward in time to the underbelly of Scion London where clairvoyants ban together in tribes and live in the dark, avoiding the ever-watchful eye of the government who has deemed them all threats to society. Paige Mahoney, a dreamwalker, works in the criminal underground for a tribe called seven dials. When she is captured on one of her missions and transported to Oxford she is forced into servitude to a powerful, otherworldly race, but befriends her ‘master’ her mortal enemy and works towards escape to warn her tribe of what is really going on in Scion. - Carrie, Reference Beautifully Organized: a Guide to Function and Style in your Home by Nikki Boyd
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With her keen eye for detail and trademark warmth, Nikki guides readers through her five essential steps to an organized home, teaching how to graciously share your homes with family and friends to create treasured shared experiences and memories. Beautifully Organized is so much more than a home organization book—it’s a recipe for a beautiful, fulfilling life.
- Divya, Circulation
She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey
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On October 5, 2017, the New York Times published an article by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey--and then the world changed. For months Kantor and Twohey had been having confidential discussions with top actresses, former Weinstein employees and other sources, learning of disturbing long-buried allegations, some of which had been covered up by onerous legal settlements. The journalists meticulously picked their way through a web of decades-old secret payouts and nondisclosure agreements, pressed some of the most famous women in the world--and some unknown ones--to risk going on the record, and faced down Weinstein, his team of high-priced defenders, and even his private investigators.
Caryn, Reference
A Son of the Circus by John Irving
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Born a Parsi in Bombay, sent to university and medical school in Vienna, Dr. Farrokh Daruwalla is a 59-year-old orthopedic surgeon and a Canadian citizen who lives in Toronto. Periodically, the doctor returns to Bombay, where most of his patients are crippled children. Once, 20 years ago, Dr. Daruwalla was the examining physician of two murder victims in Goa. Now, 20 years later, he will be reacquainted with the murderer.
- Susan, Circulation
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Reserve your copy here The circus arrives without warning. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
Carrie, Reference
Red at the Bone: a Novel by Jacqueline Woodson
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Moving forward and backward in time, Jacqueline Woodson's taut and powerful new novel uncovers the role that history and community have played in the experiences, decisions, and relationships of these families, and in the life of the new child.
- Caryn, Reference