Book Buzz: Treasure Hunts, Mysterious Games, Nostalgic Rivers, and Awkward Vacations

Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For September, we’re looking at a caper mystery surrounding artifacts, an inspirational novel about a treasure hunt in the hills of West Virginia, a fun cozy mystery series, a memoir/family history companion piece to A River Runs Through It, and an audiobook thriller about a destination wedding gone very wrong.

What a Wonderful World: August

This year, our theme at the library is What A Wonderful World. We’re focusing on a different color for each month, and August’s is sunset orange. To that end, we’re highlighting books at the library with that color (or something close to it) on the cover!

What a Wonderful World: July

This year, our theme at the library is What A Wonderful World. We’re focusing on a different color for each month, and July’s is cardinal red. To that end, we’re highlighting books at the library with that color (or something close to it) on the cover!

What A Wonderful World: June

This year, our theme at the library is What A Wonderful World. We’re focusing on a different color for each month, and June’s is promising pink. To that end, we’re highlighting books at the library with that color (or something close to it) on the cover!

Book Buzz: Bad Days, Orc Princesses, and Cold Cases

Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. Usually, I profile a sample of various random new books, but this time around, I noticed 3 books that are all the first in a series, and the summer is as good a time as any to try a new series. Starting a new one might be a wiser move than what I’m doing–rereading an old favorite (George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire . . . because I like to suffer. 😉 )

Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938)

Asking people about which book they’d select for the Great American Read has been an fascinating exercise in armchair psychology this past few months–at least for me. Some folks have an immediate answer while others take some real time thinking it through.

Put me down as one in the thinking category. I couldn’t even pick 1! I finally narrowed my picks down to 3, but that was only after coming up with some perimeters to consider and pondering whether or not it should reflect personal favorites or some grand statement about the best/most influential American novel and resonant themes in American literature. (Gotta put that English degree to work every now and then.)

But, truth be told, if I were just picking one book solely on personal enjoyment, it would probably have to be Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca.

From Page to Screen: The Girl on the Train

Rachel Watson has, to put it mildly, seen better days.

An unstable alcoholic who is prone to blackouts, she no longer has a husband, job, or home. Instead, she’s reduced to living with a friend and spending her days riding the train because she has nothing better to do with her time. She distracts herself by watching a couple who live in a house next to the railway track.

As she rides by every day, she crafts a story in her head about this seemingly perfect couple. She gives them names and occupations and hobbies. And, yes, that’s as creepy as it sounds. This unhinged respite from her own troubled life is shaken one day when she rides by and sees something that shatters the illusions she has created in her own imagination.

Even more worryingly, she learns soon that the woman who lives in the house has disappeared. Rachel starts to suspect that she may know more about the case than she realizes, but she can’t remember anything. Complications ensue.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2