A Little Life- Hanya Yanagihara
Readers said:
"observational, almost detached", "raw and brutal", "a life changer", "unflinching and intense"
A stunning "portrait of the enduring grace of friendship" (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century.
A Little Life follows four college classmates-broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition-as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. ...Read More
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The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini
Readers said:
"armchair cultural tourism", "clear and poetic", "richness of cultural detail", "friendship and redemption"
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel that introduced Khaled Hosseini to millions of readers the world over.
"A vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people [of Afghanistan] have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence-forces that continue to threaten them even today." -New York Times Book Review
The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, caught in the tragic sweep of history, The Kite Runner transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. A powerful story of friendship, it is also about the power of reading, the price of betra ...Read More
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The Road- Cormac McCarthy
Readers said:
"propulsive and never meanders", "sparse and stark", "bleak and grim", "plain and poetic"
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
The searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a futur ...Read More
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The Book Thief- Markus Zusak
Readers said:
"prose like poetry", "repressed freedom and true empathy", "a girl growing up in nazi germany", "a heartwarming tale"
It's 1939 in Molching, Germany, and horror is everywhere. Nazi rule has divided the nation into those who are brutalized and those who are merely oppressed. Hunger, fear, and isolation reign. There are stories here, and who better to tell them than Death? Gathering souls, Death observes the many mysteries of human nature. How can people be cruel and kind, sad and joyful, bitter and beautiful, loving and inhumane...all at the same time? Death is especially struck by young Liesel Meminger, a nine-year old girl who faces loss, abandonment, and hopelessness. Yet Liesel finds refuge from her nightmares with her foster mother, who always seems to make the right decision, even in the face of so muc ...Read More
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The Song of Achilles- Madeline Miller
Readers said:
"breathtakingly beautiful", "authentic-sounding prose", "a retelling", "homeric"
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper - despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.
WINNER OF THE ORANGE WOMEN'S ...Read More
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A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini
Readers said:
"beautiful, beautiful book", "sobering fiction", "cleanly written", "moving and bittersweet"
THE RICHARD & JUDY NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
'A suspenseful epic' Daily Telegraph
'A triumph' Financial Times
'Heartbreaking' Mail on Sunday
'Deeply moving' Sunday Times
Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. ...Read More
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The Nightingale- Kristin Hannah
Readers said:
"heartbreaking and genuine", "tedious and immature", "very well plotted", "cliche bordering on melodramatic"
A #1 New York Times bestseller, Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year, and soon to be a major motion picture, this unforgettable novel of love and strength in the face of war has enthralled a generation.
With courage, grace, and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women's war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France-a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resil ...Read More
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Never Let Me Go- Kazuo Ishiguro
Readers said:
"interesting and enjoyable", "elegiac yet life-celebrating", "subtle and gentle", "light and entertaining style"
From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize-winning novel The Remains of the Day comes a devastating novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss.
As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special-and how that gift will shape the rest ...Read More
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A Monster Calls- Patrick Ness
Readers said:
"stories tell the truth", "the monster was real", "grief, loss, and fear", "his worst nightmare"
The monster in Conor’s backyard is not the one he’s been expecting — the one from the nightmare he’s had every night since his mother started her treatments. This monster is ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd — whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself — Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined. ...Read More
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Where the Red Fern Grows- Wilson Rawls
Readers said:
"really well written", "historical fiction", "great book of companionship and friendship", "boys'book"
When Billy's much-beloved prize dogs are killed in a tragic fight with a mountain lion, he finds solace in old legends. ...Read More
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