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The Library will be CLOSED on Indigenous Peoples' Day, Monday, October 14. The Library is OPEN on Sundays starting October 20
Book Brunch - March Madness 2024
March Madness is in the air, whether you are into college basketball or reading!
Last Friday, Julie and I shared many, many books with our book brunch friends. We usually share up to 10 new books each, but I added the "madness" this month by adding 3-4 read-alikes for each book we highlighted. This seemed like a great idea, until I put together this mega- list of books in different genres- and realized that I have provided 2+ years of reading in one list.
I'm sharing the mega-list (every title is a hyper-link to our catalog, for you to put the books on hold), as well as the visual list with covers (if you like to "browse by book covers").
Our next book brunch will be Friday, May 17th (and I promise to make the list more manageable!).
Julie’s picks:
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store – James McBride
Read-alikes: historical fiction, race relations, community secrets
Decent People - De'Shawn Charles Winslow
Before all the world / Moriel Rothman-Zecher
Moon lake : an East Texas gothic / Joe R. Lansdale
Another Brooklyn : a novel / Jacqueline Woodson
The Clinic – Cate Quinn
Read-alikes: psychological thriller, unreliable narrator, creepy setting, estranged siblings
The Shining- Stephen King
The Institution – Helen Fields (coming out April 2024)
The Resort- Sarah Ochs
I’ll Be You – Janelle Brown
The Warm Hands of Ghosts-Katherine Arden
Read-alikes: historical fiction, bond between siblings, war nurses, magic/supernatural
London Séance Society – Sarah Penner
The Dutch House – Ann Patchett
Held – Anne Michaels
A Deadly Education – Naomi Novak
Family, Family - Laurie Frankel
Read-alikes: found family, adoption stories
Three Junes – Julia Glass
Commonwealth – Ann Patchett
We are all Completely Besides Ourselves – Karen Joy Fowler
The Last Romantics – Tara Conklin
The Fox Wife – Yangsze Choo
Read-alikes: historical fiction, magical realism
Unraveling – Karen Lord
Curse of Saints – Kate Dramis
The Fervor – Alma Katsu
The Bone Roots – Gabriella Houston
Everyone on this Train is a Suspect – Benjamin Stevenson
Read-alikes: locked-room mystery, Agatha Christie fans
There Should Have Been Eight – Nalini Singh
Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie
Mother-Daughter Murder Night – Nina Simon
The Golden Spoon – Jessa Maxwell
Three-Inch Teeth – C.J.Box
Read-alikes: atmospheric landscape, lots of animals, honorable main character
The Poacher’s Son – Paul Doiron
Tamarack County – William Kent Krueger
Cold Hearted River – Keith McCafferty
Boar Island – Nevada Barr
The Ascent- Adam Plantinga
Read-alikes: Thriller, crime novel, locked-room setting
I will Find You – Harlan Coben
Kingdom of Bones – James Rollins
November Road – Lou Berney
Device Free Weekend – Sean Doolittle
Bride – Ali Hazelwood
Read-alikes: paranormal romance, vampires, werewolves, fated mates
Wolf Gone Wild – Juliette Cross
Lover Reborn – J.R. Ward
Not the Witch You Wed – April Acher
Overbite – Meg Cabot
The Women – Kristin Hannah
Read-alikes: historical fiction, Vietnam, female friendships, war nurses
The Lotus Eaters – Emily Clements (not out yet)
The World Played Chess- Robert Dugoni
Dust Child – Mai Phan Que Nguyen
Absolution – Alice McDermott
Jill's Picks
The Fury – Alex Michaelides
Read-alikes: locked-room mystery, theatrical, false pretenses, atomospheric
Here in the Dark – Alexis Soloski
The Night of the Storm – Nishita Parekh
The Guest List – Lucy Foley
The Chateau – Jacklyn Goldis
Behind You is the Sea – Susan Muaddi Darraj
Read-alikes: Palestinian-American culture, immigrants
Evil Eye – Etaf Rum
Her First Palestinian – Saeed Teebi (on order)
Only if You’re Lucky – Stacy Willingham
Read-alikes: dark academia, psychological thriller, toxic relationships
The IT Girl – Ruth Ware
Before We Were Innocent – Ella Berman
The Girls Are All So Nice Here – Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
The Kamogawa Food Detectives – Hisashi Kashiwai
Read-alikes: cozy mystery, food-related, overwhelming emotional resonance
The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World – Laura Imai Messina
Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune – Roselle Lim
Before the Coffee Gets Cold – Tosikazu Kawaguchi
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop – Satoshi Yagisawa
The Fortune Seller – Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Read-alikes: dark academia, tarot readings, twisty suspense
The Book of Love – Kelly Link
The Rachel Incident – Caroline O’Donoghue
The Maidens – Alex Michaelides
The Moorings of Mackerel Sky – MZ
Read-alikes: magical realism, mermaids, atmospheric, local myths
Shark Heart – Emily Habeck
Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E. Harrow
American Mermaid – Julia Langbein
Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice – Elle Cosimano
Read-alikes: humorous mystery, women sleuths, action-packed fun
Play the Fool – Lina Chern
Racing the Light – Robert Crais
A Good Day to Pie – Misha Popp
End of Story – A.J. Finn
Read-alikes: literary mystery, psychological suspense, puzzles
The Mystery Writer – Sulari Gentill
Augusta Hawke – G.M. Malliet
The Last Word – Taylor Adams
Leave No Trace – A.J. Landau
Read-alikes: thriller, action-packed, National Parks, conspiracies
Wolf Trap – Connor Sullivan
Perfect Shot – Steve Urszenyi
The Switch – Joseph Finder
The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard – Natasha Lester
Read-alikes: historical fiction, haute-couture, Gilded age, Paris/NYC, families
The Winthrop Agreement – Alice Sherman Simpson
Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl – Renee Rosen
The Address – Fiona Davis
The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre – Natasha Lester
What the Book Brunch attendees are reading:
Love and Hot Chicken – Mary Liza Hartong
The Teacher – Frida McFadden
A True Account – Katherine Howe (MA author)
Yellowface – R.F. Kuang
Murderbot diaries (series) - System Collapse #7 /Martha Wells
The Great Divide – Cristina Henriquez
After Annie – Anna Quindlen
Women of Good Fortune – Sophie Wan
To Have and to Heist – Sara Desai
The Art Thief (non-fiction) -Micheal Finkel
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