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| How to Walk Away by Katherine CenterThe plane crashed, with Maggie Jacobsen in it. Maggie almost had it all, until her devastating injury forces her to reevaluate everything, with help from her estranged sister and her gruff physical therapist.
Full of well-developed characters, How to Walk Away offers quietly inspiring moments and humor as Maggie's healing process unfolds along a slow and natural trajectory. You might enjoy this book if you liked Jojo Moyes' Me Before You. |
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| The Ensemble by Aja GabelThe Ensemble is a lingering study of four musicians, from college to maturing adults. While the musical motif will draw musicians, the shared pasts of the four very different characters -- and their path from youth to middle age -- will appeal to readers of character-driven fiction.
Readers who liked the evolving and close-knit relationships in Alice Adams' Invincible Summer or Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings will enjoy this pick. |
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| Mr. Flood's Last Resort by Jess KiddMystery? Gothic fiction? Ghost story? All of the above? You decide!
Take one cranky hoarder in a falling-down mansion; add an unflappable, intelligent caretaker haunted (literally) by long-dead saints; mix in two missing girls and some tragic family history, and you've got the makings of an unusual, quirky, dark story full of Irish vernacular, smart humor...and lots of cats.
Mr. Flood's Last Resort is equal parts oddly charming and deliciously creepy. |
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| The Mars Room by Rachel KushnerAfter an altercation with a stalker turns fatal, stripper Romy Hall is sent to a women's prison for life. Inside, mind-numbing routine and casual violence is the norm, which Romy narrates with heartbreaking insight.
A moving and unsettling portrayal of the failures of the American justice system, this novel "deserves to be read with the same level of pathos, love, and humanity with which it clearly was written" (Publishers Weekly).
If you are interesting in this angle, the short story collection The Graybar Hotel, by Curtis Dawkins also compassionately depicts life behind bars. |
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| After the Crash by Michel BussiAfter a plane crashes in the Swiss Alps, a three-month-old baby is the only survivor. But is she Lyse-Rose de Carville, or Emilie Vitral? When a judge releases her to the impoverished Vitrals, the wealthy de Carvilles refuse to accept it.
Told both in 1980, when the crash occurred, and 18 years later, as the private investigator hired by the de Carvilles finally determines the girl's identity, this novel by bestselling French writer Michel Bussi offers surprising twists, intrigue...and murder. |
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| Before We Sleep by Jeffrey LentBefore We Sleep is a coming-of-age story and a moving meditation on the effects of war.
Two parallel storylines unfold, one following Katey, a teenager in the 1960s, as she seeks to illuminate family secrets, and one in the late 1940s, as her father's return from World War II alters their family forever. |
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After Dark by Haruki MurakamiA mesmerizing set of novels about "night people", haunted by secrets and need in a violent and seductive Tokyo, during the witching hours between dark and dawn. Precisely, from 11:56 PM to 6:52 AM. After Dark revolves around two sisters - Eri, a fashion model sleeping her way to oblivion, and Mari, a young student, and their encounters with a jazz trombonist, the manager of a "love hotel" and her maid staff, and a Chinese prostitute brutalized by a businessman john. Recommended for people that like streamlined, metaphysical books that investigate the lines between humans 'like us' and 'not like us'.
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| Before I Go by Colleen OakleyDaisy Richmond, who the day before her third cancer-free anniversary learns that it's back -- and she has only months to live.
Though stricken by her diagnosis, Daisy is equally worried about how her husband will handle her death, and sets about finding a new wife for him.
Though an incredibly emotional read (you'll want to have tissues handy), author Colleen Oakley includes plenty of humor in this tale of the different ways that humans handle grief. |
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Read Along with Us! Book Clubs @ HPL
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Eleven Blowout Books Central Library July 12, 12 PM - 1 PM Join us to learn more about green themes including the environmental, social and economic approaches to sustainability. Held the second Thursday of the month at noon; led by Steve Stelzer, Program Director, Houston Green Building Resource Center.
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Not Your Mama's Book Club Bracewell Neighborhood Library June 28, 6 PM - 7:45 PMJoin us for a lively book discussion on Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance.
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Classic Literature Book Club Central Library July 10, 12 PM - 1 PM Do your reading tendencies lean towards the classics? If you enjoy reading and discussing classic literature, please join us for Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens.
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Heights Great Books Heights Neighborhood Library July 14 2018, 2 PM - 4 PM
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Heights Library Reader's Group Heights Neighborhood Library July 2, 2018, 6:15 - 7:45 PM
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Looscan Book Lovers Looscan Neighborhood Library June 21, 2 PM - 3:30 PM Join us for a lively discussion of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
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Mystery Book Club Morris Frank Library June 21, 1 PM - 2 PM Do you enjoy reading and discussing books? Join us for a lively discussion with the Meyer Mystery Book Club (hosted by Frank). This month we will be discussing You Will Pay by Lisa Jackson.
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Mystery Book Club Stimley-Blue Ridge Neighborhood Library July 12, 1 PM - 2:30 PM
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