Here’s a list of the latest submissions to our “Terrific Books” box, located next to the main desk. Check out what other patrons are reading, and leave a few suggestions the next time you come in!

Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Kruger:

Looking back at a tragic event that occurred during his thirteenth year, Frank Drum explores how a complicated web of secrets, adultery, and betrayal shattered his Methodist family and their small 1961 Minnesota community.

The Dissertation, by R. M. Koster

To fulfill his Ph. D. requirement, Camillo Fuertes decides to write about his father, the martyred president of Tinieblas, a country in Latin America. We follow Leon as he winds his twisted path through delinquency, learning, bravery, and incest to the presidency. At once a powerful vision of Latin American history and a brilliant parody of the academic form–complete with end notes!–The Dissertation is an essential postmodern novel in the tradition of Vonnegut, Barth and Nabokov, ready to be embraced by a new generation of readers.

Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis DeBernieres

In 1941, on a remote Greek island, an Italian artillery garrison is established to maintain order. One Italian officer, Captain Corelli, adopts an attitude of mutual co-existence with the Greeks and engages in such activities as music festivals and courting the daughter of a local doctor. In 1943, however, after Italy surrenders to the Allies and changes sides in the war, Captain Corelli must defend the Greek island against a German invasion.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by J. K. Rowling

A facsimile edition of the text required for the Hogwarts’ Care of Magical Creatures class offers alphabetically arranged entries detailing the characteristics of such mythical beasts as hippogrifs, blast-ended screwts, dragons, and unicorns.