February 2021 - Staff Reading Suggestions
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WHILE PARIS SLEPT
(releases February 23, 2021)
by Ruth Druart
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Susan Phillip's Pick:
On a darkened platform, two destinies become intertwined, and the choices each person makes will change the future in ways neither could have imagined.
Told from alternating perspectives, While Paris Slept reflects on the power of love, resilience, and courage when all seems lost. Exploring the strength of family ties, and what it really means to love someone unconditionally, this debut novel will capture your heart.
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THE PUSH
by Ashley Audrain
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Laura Capstick's Pick:
A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family—and a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for—and everything she feared.
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THE PARIS LIBRARY
by Janet Skeslien Charles
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Morley Vahey's Pick:
Based on the true World War II story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris, this is an unforgettable story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together, perfect for fans of The Lilac Girls and The Paris Wife.
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BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS: A MEMOIR OF A LIFE INTERRUPTED
by Suleika Jaouad
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Di Grumhaus's Pick:
A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman’s journey from diagnosis to remission and, ultimately, a road trip of healing and self-discovery.
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THE FORTUNATE ONES
by Ed Tarkington
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Laura Skinner's & Di Grumhaus's Pick:
The Fortunate Ones is an immersive, elegantly written story that conveys both the seductiveness of the wealthy upper class world and the corruption of the people who see their ascent to the top as their birthright.
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THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY
by Matt Haig
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Beth Mynhier's Pick:
A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.
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THE CHANEL SISTERS
(direct to paperback)
by Judithe Little
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Eleanor Thorn's Pick:
For fans of The Paris Wife, The Only Woman in the Room, and The Woman Before Wallis, a riveting historical novel narrated by Coco Chanel's younger sister about their struggle to rise up from poverty and orphan-hood and establish what will become the world's most iconic fashion brand in Paris. A novel of survival, love, loss, triumph—and the sisters who changed fashion forever.
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THE POWER COUPLE
by Alex Berenson
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Katha Plack's Pick:
The Power Couple is both a fast-paced, globe-trotting espionage novel full of surprising twists and a nuanced look at modern marriage—the challenges of balancing career, parenthood, sex, and love.
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THE SANATORIUM
by Sarah Pearse
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Molly Forlow's & Ellie Milligan's Pick:
Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.
Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge—there’s something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.
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FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT
by Elle Cosimano
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Katha Plack's and Jackie Thorn's Pick:
Finlay Donovan is killing it… except, she’s really not. The new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband went behind her back to fire the nanny, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors.
When Finlay’s overheard discussing the plot of her new novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet... and she soon discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart.
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DEACON KING KONG
(new in paperback)
by James McBride
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Susan Phillips's Pick:
In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range.
From James McBride, author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird and the bestselling modern classic The Color of Water, one of the most anticipated novels of the year: a wise and witty tale about what happens to the witnesses of a shooting.
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MADE IN CHINA: A PRISONER, AN SOS LETTER, AND THE HIDDEN COST OF AMERICA'S CHEAP GOODS
by Amelia Pang
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Beth Mynhier's Pick:
In Made in China, investigative journalist Amelia Pang pulls back the curtain on a political prisoner's story and the stories of others like him, including the persecuted Uyghur minority group whose abuse and exploitation is rapidly gathering steam. What she reveals is a closely guarded network of laogai—forced labor camps—that power the rapid pace of American consumerism. Through extensive interviews and firsthand reportage, Pang shows us the true cost of America’s cheap goods and shares what is ultimately a call to action—urging us to ask more questions and demand more answers from the companies we patronize.
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GOOD NEIGHBORS
by Sarah Langan
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Kirsten Starr's pick:
Celeste Ng’s enthralling dissection of suburbia meets Shirley Jackson’s creeping dread in this propulsive literary noir, when a sudden tragedy exposes the depths of deception and damage in a Long Island suburb—pitting neighbor against neighbor and putting one family in terrible danger.
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WE RUN THE TIDES
by Vendela Vida
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Kathy Petray's & Lisa Dietrich's Pick:
Suspenseful and poignant, We Run the Tides is Vendela Vida’s masterpiece depiction of an inimitable place on the brink of radical transformation. Pre–tech boom San Francisco finds its mirror in the changing lives of the teenage girls at the center of this story of innocence lost, the pain of too much freedom, and the struggle to find one’s authentic self. Told with a gimlet eye and great warmth, We Run the Tides is both a gripping mystery and a tribute to the wonders of youth, in all its beauty and confusion.
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Lisa Dietrich's pick:
From the award-winning author of Snap and Rubbernecker, Exit is the story of Felix Pink, an older man with a group that helps people who have chosen to die with dignity. But there’s been a mistake, and Felix’s life is about to change forever.
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MILK BLOOD HEAT
by Dantiel W. Moniz
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Kirsten Starr's pick:
This is an electrifying debut that announces a major talent. Set in the author’s home state (she is from Jacksonville, FL), each plot-driven and novelistic story follows characters who are grappling with a key moment in their lives—traumas past or present, losses of faith, love, or loved ones—and are searching for meaning in the self.
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Address:
662 N. Western Avenue
Lake Forest IL 60045
Phone: 847-234-4420
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