Reblogged: Books to Read After Watching MAKING A MURDERER on Netflix!

If you're like me and intrigued by true crime, and the Netflix documentary, Making a Murderer, then you may be looking for more books about similar topics.  Check out these titles recommended by Book Riot's Liberty Hardy!

Michael Morton's GETTING LIFE: An Innocent Man's 25-Year From Prison to Peace: A Memoir
Morton was wrongly imprisoned for nearly twenty-five years for the murder of his wife, until he was exonerated by DNA evidence. This book was written based on journals he kept during his years in jail, and court transcripts of his trial.

Deborah Halber's THE SKELETON CREW: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America's Coldest Cases
In America today, upwards of forty thousand people are dead and unaccounted for. These murder, suicide, and accident victims, separated from their names, are being adopted by the bizarre online world of amateur sleuths. It's DIY CSI. The web sleuths pore over facial reconstructions (a sort of Facebook for the dead) and other online clues as they vie to solve cold cases and tally up personal scorecards of dead bodies. The Skeleton Crew delves into the macabre underside of the Internet, the fleeting nature of identity, and how even the most ordinary citizen with a laptop and a knack for puzzles can reinvent herself as a web sleuth.

Bryan Stevenson's JUST MERCY: A Story of Justice and Redemption

As a young lawyer, Stevenson founded an organization dedicated to defending those in need. One of his first cases was a man on death row for a murder he swore he didn’t commit. Just Mercy is a riveting look at that case, and the pursuit of justice.

Robert Harris's AN OFFICER AND A SPY

An award-winning novel based on the true case of Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer sentenced to life imprisonment for treason, despite protests of his innocence. A later investigation into his case revealed that he had been framed, and shed light on the subsequent military cover-up attempting to suppress the truth.

Adam Benforado's UNFAIR: The New Science of Criminal Injustice

Law professor Benforado argues that the U.S. legal system is broken, and how, due to human psychology, even the most straightforward cases can still result in wrongful convictions and false imprisonments, and how this harms society’s weakest members.

David DeKok's MURDER IN THE STACKS: Penn State, Betsy Aardarma, and the Killer Who Got Away

The book weaves together the events, culture, and attitudes of the late 1960s, memorializing the stabbing death of Betsy Aardsma in the stacks of Pattee Library at Penn State University's main campus in State College and her time and place in history.

Find the original post at Book Riot.

Book Recommendations for a Modern Day Belle

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Includes a father-daughter relationship.

Emma by Jane Austen

Bumbling fathers, anyone?

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Another brute of a love interest.

Rooms by Lauren Oliver

Ghost stories for settling into a gloomy castle.


Check out other titles from the original post at Book Riot.

Best Books of the Year...So Far!

Here is BookRiot's list of the best books of 2015...so far.  How many have you read?

Hanya Yanagihara's A LITTLE LIFE
When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition ... Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is [their center of gravity] Jude, ... by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome--but that will define his life forever.

Judith Mitchell Claire's THE REUNION OF GHOSTS
In the vein of such classic family sagas as Fall on Your Knees, A Reunion of Ghosts is the confessional of three sisters who have decided to kill themselves on the very last day of the 20th century; in it they tell the story of a family haunted by suicide ever since the sisters' great-grandfather, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist, developed the first poison gas used in warfare and also the lethal agent used in the Third Reich's gas chambers--inspired in part by the troubled life of Fritz Haber, Nobel Prize winner and inventor of mustard gas.


Courtney Summers's ALL THE RAGE
After being assaulted by the sheriff's son, Kellan Turner, Romy Grey was branded a liar and bullied by former friends, finding refuge only in the diner where she works outside of town, but when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing and news of him assaulting another girl gets out, Romy must decide whether to speak out again or risk having more girls hurt.

Ta-Nehisi Coates's BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME
For Ta-Nehisi Coates, history has always been personal. At every stage of his life, he's sought in his explorations of history answers to the mysteries that surrounded him--most urgently, why he, and other black people he knew, seemed to live in fear ... In [this book], Coates takes readers along on his journey through America's history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings--moments when he discovered some new truth about our long, tangled history of race, whether through his myth-busting professors at Howard University, a trip to a Civil War battlefield with a rogue historian, a journey to Chicago's South Side to visit aging survivors of 20th century America's 'long war on black people,' or a visit with the mother of a beloved friend who was shot down by the police.


Laura Ruby's BONE GAP
Eighteen-year-old Finn, an outsider in his quiet Midwestern town, is the only witness to the abduction of town favorite Roza, but his inability to distinguish between faces makes it difficult for him to help with the investigation, and subjects him to even more ridicule and bullying.



Nnedi Okofar's THE BOOK OF PHOENIX

Phoenix was grown and raised among other genetic experiments in New York's Tower 7. She is an 'accelerated woman'--only two years old but with the body and mind of an adult, Phoenix's abilities far exceed those of a normal human. Still innocent and inexperienced in the ways of the world, she is content living in her room speed reading e-books, running on her treadmill, and basking in the love of Saeed, another biologically altered human of Tower 7. Then one evening, Saeed witnesses something so terrible that he takes his own life. Devastated by his death and Tower 7's refusal to answer her questions, Phoenix finally begins to realize that her home is really her prison, and she becomes desperate to escape. But Phoenix's escape, and her destruction of Tower 7, is just the beginning of her story. Before her story ends, Phoenix will travel from the United States to Africa and back, changing the entire course of humanity's future.


Anna Freeman's THE FAIR FIGHT
A debut historical novel set within the world of female pugilists and their patrons in late eighteenth century Bristol.

Chigozie Obioma's THE FISHERMEN
Told from the point of view of nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers, The Fishermen is the Cain and Abel-esque story of an unforgettable childhood in 1990s Nigeria. When their father has to travel to a distant city for work, the brothers take advantage of his extended absence to skip school and go fishing. At the forbidden nearby river, they encounter a madman who predicts that one of the brothers will kill another. What happens next is an almost mythic event whose impact--both tragic and redemptive--will transcend the lives and imaginations of The Fishermen's characters and its readers.



Mia Alvar's IN THE COUNTRY: STORIES
Mia Alvar's ... debut gives us a vivid ... picture of the Filipino diaspora: exiles and emigrants and wanderers uprooting their families to begin new lives in the Middle East and America--and, sometimes, turning back.


Anna North's THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SOPHIE STARK
An unapologetic filmmaker uses the stories of those around her to create movies that bring her both critical acclaim and ire from the people whose secrets she has exposed. By the author of America Pacifica.

Jessica Knoll's LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE
In a riveting debut novel that reads like Prep meets Gone Girl, a young woman is determined to create the perfect life--husband, home, and career--until a violent incident from her past threatens to unravel everything and expose her most shocking secret of all. Twenty-eight-year-old New Yorker Ani FaNelli seems to have it all: she's a rising star at The Women's Magazine, impossibly fit, perfectly groomed, and about to marry Luke Harrison, a handsome blueblood. But behind that veneer of perfection lies a vulnerability that Ani holds close and buries deep--a very violent and public trauma from her past that has left her constantly trying to reinvent herself. And only she knows how far she would go to keep her secrets safe. When a documentary producer invites Ani to tell her side of the chilling incident that took place when she was a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, she hopes it will be an opportunity for public vindication. Armed with the trappings of success--expensive clothes, high-powered byline, a massive engagement ring--she is determined to silence the whispers of suspicion and blame from her past, and prove once and for all how far she's come since Bradley. She'll even let them film her lavish wedding on Nantucket, the final step in her transformation. But perfection doesn't come without cost. As the wedding and filming converge, Ani's meticulously crafted facade begins to buckle and crack--until an explosive revelation offers her a final chance at redemption, even as it rocks her picture-perfect world. Equal parts glitz and darkness, and with a singular voice and twisting plot, Luckiest Girl Alive reads like Sex & the City--if Carrie Bradshaw had a closet full of skeletons instead of shoes. In Ani FaNelli, Jessica Knoll has created a complex and vulnerable heroine who you'll be rooting for to the very last page.


Rebecca Makkai's MUSIC FOR WARTIME: Stories
The singing women -- The worst you ever feel -- The November story -- The miracles years of Little Fork -- Other brands of poison (first legend) -- The briefcase -- Peter Torrelli, falling apart -- Couple of lovers on a red background -- Acolyte (second legend) -- Everything we know about the bomber -- Painted ocean, painted ship -- A bird in the house (third legend) -- Exposition -- Cross -- Good Saint Anthony come around -- Suspension : April 20, 1984 -- The museum of the dearly departed.


Check out the complete list here.

Reblogged: 82 Books for Book Club

 

Check out these recommended books for your book club from

JulieVerse.com.

How many has your group read?

 

Reblogged: Books Guaranteed to Make You Laugh Out Loud

Warning: You'll probably want to read these in private, since spontaneous laughter can occur.

Mindy Kaling's IS EVERYONE HANGING OUT WITHOUT ME?
Kaling shares her observations, fears, and opinions about a wide-ranging list of the topics she thinks about the most. From her favorite types of guys to life in the "The Office" writers' room, her book is full of personal stories and laugh-out-loud philosophies.

Helen Fielding's BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY
On her quest for self-improvement, Bridget Jones gets hung up on chain-smoking and too-short skirts. Bridget Jones is you. Bridget Jones is life.

Kurt Vonnegut's BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS
A funny look at 1970s America seen through the scope of an unintentionally murderous aging writer. Classic Kurt satire.

Christopher Moore's LAMB: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BIFF
The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years-- except Biff, the Messiah's best childhood friend, who has been resurrected to tell the story.

Jonathan Ames's WAKE UP, SIR!
This book proves even a personal butler can’t help some people. But it’s fun to watch them try.

Jack Handey's THE STENCH OF HONOLULU
Two friends who are given a treasure map by a travel agent embark on a quest for the Golden Monkey in the mysterious land of Honolulu, where they meet untold dangers, encounter strange natives, and discover ancient ruins.

Bill Bryson's A WALK IN THE WOODS (+ Audio)
Two slightly out-of-shape hikers attempt to take on the Appalachian Trail. One of those hikers is Bill Bryson, prolific humor/travel writer. This book is perfect for anyone looking for a laugh, or to be talked out of hiking the Appalachian Trail.

William Goldman's THE PRINCESS BRIDE
Whether you liked the film adaptation or hated it, read this book! It’s the the Spinal Tap of fairy tales, and it’s much funnier on paper.

David Sedaris's ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY
Sedaris has unabashedly been called the funniest writer in America by critics and fans alike. Any of his titles will have you crossing your legs to keep from wetting yourself, but Me Talk Pretty One Day really triumphs.

Nora Ephron's I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK
Ephron brought us Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, so is it any surprise this collection of essays about being a woman of a certain age hits you hard in the LOLerbone?

P.G. Wodehouse's THANK YOU, JEEVES
Wodehouse is known for creating a cast of memorable, wacky characters, and Thank You, Jeeves is no exception. Be wary that the humor in this book was born in 1930s England, though that doesn’t mean contemporary audiences won’t enjoy the ride.

Joseph Heller's CATCH-22
This book often tops lists of the best novels ever written because of its brutally honest portrayal of the absurdities of war and its honest exploration of what it means to be “insane.” A must-read, especially if you SparkNotes’d it in high school (guilty).

Douglas Adams's THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
This book is required reading for all science fiction fans, but that doesn’t mean non-sci-fi people won’t get a kick out of it. The humor is dry and satirical in the same vein of Monty Python but still incredibly original.

Tina Fey's BOSSYPANTS
From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon, comedian Tina Fey reveals all, and proves that you're no one until someone calls you bossy.

Jenny Lawson's LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED
In an illustrated memoir, the creator of the Bloggess blog shares humorous stories from her life, including her awkward upbringing in Texas and her relationship with her husband.

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's GOOD OMENS (+ Audio)
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and the Antichrist is nowhere to be found. Pratchett and Gaiman make for a hysterical tag team, parodying everything from religion to Elvis.

Jonathan Tropper's THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU
After the death of their father, a dysfunctional family is forced to sit shiva under the same roof for seven days. You’ll do equal time crying and laughing.

All titles available for request.  Requests cost $0.50 per book.

+ Reblogged from BuzzFeed.

Reblog: 15 Books So Good, You Can't Put Them Down

Looking for a good read this summer?  Try one of these 15 guaranteed-to-hold-your-interest books!

Gillian Flynn's GONE GIRL. (Large Print) (Audio)
On the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what did really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?

Liane Moriarty's WHAT ALICE FORGOT. (Available from Bethlehem)

Vanessa Diffenbaugh's THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. (Large Print)
"The story of a woman whose gift for flowers helps her change the lives of others even as she struggles to overcome her own past."

A.S.A. Harrison's THE SILENT WIFE.
Todd Gilbert and Jodie Brett are in a bad place in their relationship. They've been together for twenty-eight years, and with no children to worry about there has been little to disrupt their affluent Chicago lifestyle. But there has also been little to hold it together, and beneath the surface lie ever-widening cracks. When it becomes clear that their precarious world could disintegrate at any moment, Jodie knows she stands to lose everything. It's only now she will discover just how much she's truly capable of.

JoJo Moyes's ME BEFORE YOU. (Large Print)
Taking a job as an assistant to extreme sports enthusiast Will, who is wheelchair bound after a motorcycle accident, Louisa struggles with her employer's acerbic moods and learns of his shocking plans before demonstrating to him that life is still worth living.

Susannah Cahalan's BRAIN ON FIRE: MY MONTH OF MADNESS.
The story of twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan and the life-saving discovery of the autoimmune disorder that nearly killed her -- and that could perhaps be the root of "demonic possessions" throughout history.

John Green's THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. (Audio)
Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.

Kimberly McCreight's RESURRECTING AMELIA. (Not currently available.)

Eowyn Ivey's THE SNOW CHILD.

Liane Moriarty's THE HUSBAND'S SECRET. (Large Print)
Discovering a tattered letter that says she is to open it only in the event of her husband's death, Cecelia, a successful family woman, is unable to resist reading the letter and discovers a secret that shatters her life and the lives of two other women.

William Landay's DEFENDING JACOB. (Large Print) (Audio)
When his 14-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student, assistant district attorney Andy Barber is torn between loyalty and justice as facts come to light that lead him to question how well he knows his own son.

Tatiana de Rosnay's SARAH'S KEY. (Audio)
On the anniversary of the roundup of Jews by the French police in Paris, Julia is asked to write an article on this dark episode and embarks on an investigation that leads her to long-hidden family secrets and to the ordeal of Sarah.

Erik Larson's THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY.

Hillary Jordan's WHEN SHE WOKE.
In the future, abortion has become a crime as a series of events threatens the existence of the United States. One woman wakes up to discover that her skin color has been changed to red as punishment for having the procedure done. Now she must embark on a dangerous journey in order to find refuge from a hostile and threatening society.

Kathleen Grissom's THE KITCHEN HOUSE. (Available from Bethlehem and Allentown)

All titles available to request.  Requests cost $0.50 per book.

+ Reblogged from Tiny Oranges.

Reblogged: 11 Books to Read if You're Feeling Stressed

Feeling a little overwhelmed? Check out one of these books from the library, curl up in front of the fire with a nice hot cup of coffee and let yourself unwind.

Bustle Presents 11 Books to Read When You're Feeling Stressed

David Sedaris's LET'S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS

Any Sedaris book will do: When You’re Engulfed in Flames, Naked, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, etc. However, those books don’t have the story about Sedaris’ colonoscopy. Read about someone’s colonoscopy, and I promise you will feel better instantaneously. Sedaris has an incredible gift; he can recall the time he worked for a moving company because he was broke and skill-less, or the relationship his brutish brother has with his dogs, and it will be the funniest thing you ever read.

John Steinbeck's TORTILLA FLAT

Tortilla Flat is so unlike any of Steinbeck’s other works, it almost doesn’t feel like this is by the same author who wrote Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden. But it is, and you’ll run into the same Californian imagery and simplicity of language; however, this book is different. It’s hilarious, and very Don Quixote-esque. Tortilla Flat, a story about Danny and his band of thieves and their love for wine and women, will make you laugh as it will remind you about loyalty at its finest (and maybe worst). 

J.D. Salinger's NINE STORIES

I often think of J.D. Salinger whenever I’m feeling crappy about myself. I loved The Catcher in the Rye when I was in high school. I thought I really identified with Holden, and I guess that’s why we read Salinger in 10th grade. But I outgrew Catcher, and started reading Salinger’s short stories, which are a lot better. They’re still whimsical, but sad and beautiful. If you’re feeling angsty, read Nine Stories (and no, not just because James Franco told you to).

Frank O'Hara's LUNCH POEMS

You know when you think of the perfect day, and sometimes it consists of just buying a good coffee and walking around the city and people-watching? Maybe I’ve just always romanticized New York, but that’s one of my fictional happy places. Lunch Poems is a collection of poems that encapsulates that, as well as a life that’s kind of frivolous and wonderful. 

Miranda July's NO ONE BELONGS HERE MORE THAN YOU

I often flip through this collection of short stories just for a sense of belonging. I think a huge part of stress is feeling absolutely helpless, and Miranda July negates that helplessness with whimsical insight and characters who boldly express themselves in tears — the universal language!

Joan Didion's SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM

Aren’t feeling your status quo? Well, explore another one. Slouching Towards Bethlehem is an awesome glimpse into ‘60s San Francisco. This book of essays is a really well-written depiction of youth, what it’s like looking into something as an outsider, the American dream, and California optimism. It’s such a cool book that really transports you to where Didion was, and allows you to see things the way she did.

Yann Martel's LIFE OF PI

Like most movies, the books that inspired them are usually better. Such is definitely the case with Life of Pi, which is a gorgeous book that transcends the survival story trope and really enters a philosophical realm that helped me out in high school and college. Life of Pi is a character transformation novel; it solely focuses on Pi Patel and how he is able to survive over 200 days in a small boat in a vast ocean with, seemingly, a crew of zoo animals. Take this story as it is, or apply it to your own life. We’re all Pi Patel on some level, you know? Perhaps to get through hard times, we need to look at them through a different perspective or lens.

Kurt Vonnegut's IF THIS ISN'T NICE, WHAT IS?

I was feeling really bummed out a few weeks ago. It was a combination of stress and plain ol’ sadness. Sometimes just not knowing where you’re going to end up, or how you’ll be paying the bills a year from now is scary enough to drive any person to have a meltdown. I had bought If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? a collection of graduation speeches by Kurt Vonnegut a while back, and decided to read it. This advice doesn’t just apply to recent college grads. Two years after graduation, most of Vonnegut’s pearls are still relevant to me, such as: “Notice when you’re happy, and know when you’ve got enough,” and “We are all experiencing more or less the same lifetime now.”

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz's THE YEAR OF NO MISTAKES

This book of poems was written after the poet’s really bad break-up. Whether you’re going through a break-up with a person, with cheese, or with a job, you know what it feels like. It hurts all over. You can’t think about anything else. The Year of No Mistakes is about a woman who is picking up the pieces, and it’s perfect because it’s what we do when things fall apart, or even when they’re just temporarily messed up. 

Sophie Kinsella's CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC

First of all, this title is interchangeable with any “beach read” you loved as a 14-year-old. Not a senior in high school. Not a sixth-grader. But that tender age right after tweenhood and before real teenagedom. You have all these notions of life through these funny, absurd books about women who spend too much money on scarves and end up destroying their lives and relationships, right? And they’re hilarious and slightly alien, since you don’t have a job, or credit card, or a real boyfriend. Looking back on these stories as an adult is a way to relive that glorious naiveté and be that 14-year-old with no money and no problems.

Beverly Cleary's RAMONA QUIMBY, AGE 8

Like the prior pick, reading a book you read as a kid is also a fun stress-reliever. Pick out a book you absolutely ADORED and read it. It should only take you like, 20 minutes. When I was little, I worshiped Ramona Quimby. I thought she was the most rebellious, relatable female character in the small literary world I was a part of. Maybe it’s because I’ve done shit like squeeze all the toothpaste out because I wanted to know how it feels. Or feel disgusted by my toddler neighbor eating graham crackers with sticky hands.

Titles can be reserved for $0.50 at any of the EAPL branches, Allentown, and Bethlehem libraries.

Reblogged: The 10 Books Every Zombie Fan Must Read

The following books are available for request.  For the complete list (and original source), please visit LitReactor's original article.

PATIENT ZERO by Jonathan Maberry
Monday, 1300 Hours: Joe Ledger kills terrorist Javad Mustapha, aka Patient Zero, with two point-blank shots from his Glock .45.

Wednesday, 0800 Hours: Patient Zero rises from the dead…

When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, there’s either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there’s nothing wrong with Joe Ledger’s skills. Ledger, a Baltimore detective assigned to a counterterrorism task force, is recruited by the government to lead a new ultrasecret rapid-response group called the Department of Military Sciences (DMS) to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies.

FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan
In Mary's world there are simple truths.
   The Sisterhood always knows best.
   The Guardians will protect and serve.
   The Unconsecrated will never relent.

And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness.

Now, she must choose between her village and her future, between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

ZONE ONE by Colson Whitehead
A pandemic has devastated the planet, sorting humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead. After the worst of the plague is over, armed forces stationed in Chinatown’s Fort Wonton have successfully reclaimed the island south of Canal Street—aka Zone One. Mark Spitz is a member of one of the three-person civilian sweeper units tasked with clearing lower Manhattan of the remaining feral zombies. Zone One unfolds over three surreal days in which Spitz is occupied with the mundane mission of straggler removal, the rigors of Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder (PASD), and the impossible task of coming to terms with a fallen world. And then things start to go terribly wrong…

BREATHERS: A ZOMBIE'S LAMENT by S.G. Browne
(Staff Pick!)
Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence. But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls in Rita, an impossibly sexy recent suicide with a taste for the formaldehyde in cosmetic products, and Jerry, a twenty-one-year-old car-crash victim with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography. When the group meets a rogue zombie who teaches them the joys of human flesh, things start to get messy, and Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take him from his casket to the SPCA to a media-driven class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.

FEED by Mira Grant
The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

Now, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives-the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.

RAISING STONY MAYHALL by Daryl Gregory (Available from Allentown)
In 1968, after the first zombie outbreak, Wanda Mayhall and her three young daughters discover the body of a teenage mother during a snowstorm. Wrapped in the woman’s arms is a baby, stone-cold, not breathing, and without a pulse. But then his eyes open and look up at Wanda—and he begins to move.

The family hides the child—whom they name Stony—rather than turn him over to authorities that would destroy him. Against all scientific reason, the undead boy begins to grow. For years his adoptive mother and sisters manage to keep his existence a secret—until one terrifying night when Stony is forced to run and he learns that he is not the only living dead boy left in the world.

WORLD WAR Z by Max Brooks
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War. 

Other Mentions from Our Staff:

THIS IS NOT A TEST by Courtney Summers
(Staff Pick!)
It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

ASHES by Isla J. Bick
It could happen tomorrow . . .
 
An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
(Staff Pick!)
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”

So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to rea

THE ENEMY by Charlie Higson
(Staff Pick!)
In this dystopian thriller set in London, everyone over 16 is dead or diseased, and youngsters are in constant danger of being eaten by boil-infested grown-ups who roam the streets like zombies looking for children to kill. Led by teens Arran and Maxie and armed with makeshift weapons, a group of kids sets out from the uncertain safety of an abandoned supermarket to travel to Buckingham Palace, where a young messenger promises that food, medicine, and a haven are available. Along the way, Arran is killed. One youngster selfishly decides to stay behind with a secret stash of food and is there to tell Small Sam, who had been abducted and feared dead, where the others (including his sister) have headed. Sam's quest to find Ella parallels the story of the large group with similar run-ins with marauding adults and mistrustful children who scavenge about the city. The bleak setting is filled with decay, danger, and puss-oozing parents who have turned into butchers. On arriving at Buckingham Palace, Maxie decides that David, the teen leader there, is too tyrannical, and she must regain control of her brood and convince them to leave for a new location.

BREAK MY HEART 1000 TIMES by Daniel Waters
Living in the aftermath of the Event means that seeing the dead is now a part of life, but Veronica wishes that the ghosts would just move on. Instead, the ghosts aren't disappearing-they're gaining power.

When Veronica and her friend, Kirk, decide to investigate why, they stumble upon a sinister plot. One of Veronica's high school teachers is crippled by the fact that his dead daughter has never returned as a ghost. Veronica seems like the perfect body to host her. And even if he's wrong, what's the harm in creating one more ghost?

ROT AND RUIN by Jonathan Maberry
In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

All titles available for request for $0.50 to any of the EAPL branches, or to Allentown and Bethlehem.

Reblogged: Read Gone Girl? What to read next!

GONE GIRL Read-a-Likes

Now that you've read GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn, what are you going to read next?  The following titles are similar to Flynn's bestseller.

DARE ME by Megan Abbott

Addy Hanlon has always been Beth Cassidy's best friend and trusted lieutenant. Beth calls the shots and Addy carries them out, a long-established order of things that has brought them to the pinnacle of their high-school careers. Now they're seniors who rule the intensely competitive cheer squad, feared and followed by the other girls -- until the young new coach arrives. 

Cool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach, Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life. Only Beth, unsettled by the new regime, remains outside Coach's golden circle, waging a subtle but vicious campaign to regain her position as "top girl" -- both with the team and with Addy herself.  

Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. After the first wave of shock and grief, Addy tries to uncover the truth behind the death -- and learns that the boundary between loyalty and love can be dangerous terrain.  

The raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in this taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power. Award-winning novelist Megan Abbott, writing with what Tom Perrotta has hailed as "total authority and an almost desperate intensity," provides a harrowing glimpse into the dark heart of the all-American girl.

CARTWHEEL by Jennifer DuBois

When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she is enchanted by everything she encounters: the colorful buildings, the street food, the handsome, elusive man next door. Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily didn’t come to Argentina to hang out with other Americans. 

Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is the prime suspect. But who is Lily Hayes? It depends on who’s asking. As the case takes shape—revealing deceptions, secrets, and suspicious DNA—Lily appears alternately sinister and guileless through the eyes of those around her: the media, her family, the man who loves her and the man who seeks her conviction. With mordant wit and keen emotional insight, Cartwheel offers a prismatic investigation of the ways we decide what to see—and to believe—in one another and ourselves.

RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA by Kimberly McCreight

In Reconstructing Amelia, the stunning debut novel from Kimberly McCreight, Kate's in the middle of the biggest meeting of her career when she gets the telephone call from Grace Hall, her daughter’s exclusive private school in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Amelia has been suspended, effective immediately, and Kate must come get her daughter—now. But Kate’s stress over leaving work quickly turns to panic when she arrives at the school and finds it surrounded by police officers, fire trucks, and an ambulance. By then it’s already too late for Amelia. And for Kate. 

An academic overachiever despondent over getting caught cheating has jumped to her death. At least that’s the story Grace Hall tells Kate. And clouded as she is by her guilt and grief, it is the one she forces herself to believe. Until she gets an anonymous text: She didn’t jump.

Reconstructing Amelia is about secret first loves, old friendships, and an all-girls club steeped in tradition. But, most of all, it’s the story of how far a mother will go to vindicate the memory of a daughter whose life she couldn’t save.

DARK PLACES by Gillian Flynn

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.

Nonfiction for Thriller Lovers

If you like to read mysteries and crime fiction, this list is for you.  These three titles are real-life thrillers and mysteries.  And they aren't for the feint of heart.

Bryan Burrough's PUBLIC ENEMIES: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI

Crime can keep a nonfiction book moving just like fiction, but you need to make sure there’s actual action and not just talk. True crime books can be painfully slow (as real crime often is) but this is one book that has bad guys to spare, crime sprees galore, and the kind of big names that you’ll recognize immediately. Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and many others make not only appearances but play starring roles. There’s much more to their stories than you’d expect: a wealth of crimes and chases and thrills. Criminals back in the day could get away with an awful lot just by leaving town, but this book follows the guys who finally started to chase them down from state to state. A really boring movie was made of this a few years ago- skip it.

Dave Cullen's COLUMBINE

Only a few years after its publication, Cullen’s book is already considered one of the seminal nonfiction works of the modern day. It deserves the accolades. One thing going for it is the vast differences between what was reported during that first year in the aftermath of the horrific shooting and what Cullen uncovers when he goes back to put the pieces together years later. We learn more about the killers than we ever did before. We also learn a lot more about the victims and just how many of their stories were mis-reported. Columbine was a big news story for the mass media, and if you’re at all worried about the evils of the 24-hour news takeover, this book is a must-read. It is constantly riveting no matter how much you think you know.

Michael Blanding's THE MAP THIEF

White-collar crime can be some of the most fascinating, and the subject of Blanding’s book is no exception. E. Forbes Smiley was a big player in the antique map dealer business- a small business, but one that deals with huge amounts of money for priceless items. And yet he stole dozens, possibly hundreds, of maps and got away with it for years. In our day of DNA and technology, it’s shocking to see the lack of a paper trail and just how easy it was to prey on map collections. If you like picking up trivia, it’s the kind of book that is full of tidbits you’ll be dying to read out loud to the person next to you. You may find yourself with a map addiction by the time it’s over.

Vincent Bugliosi's HELTER SKELTER: The True Story of the Manson Murders
   Only available from Allentown for reserve.

As a law student who started to find endless episodes of Law & Order boring and inaccurate, I decided to see what a real procedural looked like and couldn’t ignore all the positive reviews for this book. Helter Skelter is like nothing else, an intricate look at the Manson family, a methodical look at how the investigation unfolded, and a brilliantly done piece of courtroom drama as the killers go on trial. Bugliosi was the prosecutor in the case and he does an amazing job of telling this story and making the legal issues accessible for readers. It’s twice the length of any police novel, but also twice as good.

List courtesy of Book Riot.

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All books may be reserved for $0.50.  Titles are available in the Nonfiction collection at the Main Branch of the Easton Area Public Library.

Celebrating the Freedom to Read

Welcome to the Easton Area Public Library blog. We hope to go “beyond the call of Dewey” to bring you news of library events, book and movie reviews, and more.

What better time to debut our blog than Banned Books Week?  Social media offers us unprecedented freedom of expression yet schools and libraries still receive challenges to remove books from shelves and reading lists.