By John Steinbeck

Attempts to recreate for the modern reader a rhythm and tone that matches Malory's in these six tales from Morte d'Arthur.

By Mark Twain

When Huck escapes from his drunken father and the 'sivilizing' Widow Douglas with the runaway slave Jim, he embarks on a series of adventures. Beneath the exploits, however, are more serious undercurrents - of slavery, adult control and, above all, of Huck's struggle between his instinctive goodness and the corrupt values of society, which threaten his deep and enduring friendship with Jim.

By Mark Twain

The adventures of a mischievous young boy and his friends growing up in a Mississippi River town in the nineteenth century.

Became numerous movies: Tom Sawyer (1907, 1917, 1930, 1936, 1973. 1973-TV movie, 1984, and 2000), Huck and Tom (1918), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944 and 1985), Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1990-TV movie), and Tom and Huck (1995).

By Brandon Sanderson

On his birthday, Alcatraz Smedry receives a bag of sand, an inheritance from his lost parents, but it is stolen by the evil Librarians who want to use it to take over the Free Kingdoms and it is up to Alcatraz and the freedom fighters to stop them.

By Neil Gaiman
Recommended By Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian
With Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian

Wednesday, April 25. 7:30 PM

“On the plane home to attend the funerals of his wife and best friend, Shadow, just released from prison, encounters Mr. Wednesday, an enigmatic stranger who seems to know a lot about him, and when Mr. Wednesday offers him a job as his bodyguard, Shadow accepts and is plunged into a dark and perilous world, where the soul of America is at stake (From the Publisher).”

By Dwyer Murph
Recommended By Jenn Jordan, Library Aide

A former attorney agrees to help a reclusive literary star find her missing bookseller husband and is drawn into spiraling mysteries and feeling out of his depth when the person who hired him turns out to be an imposter.

By Jeff VanderMeer
Series Southern Reach Trilogy
Recommended By Cliff Hong, Library Page
With Stacey Mencher, Readers' Services Librarian

Monday, May 18, 2015. 7 PM.

Area X has claimed the lives of members of eleven expeditions. The twelfth expedition consisting of four women hopes to map the terrain and collect specimens, to record all their observations and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

By Robert Harris

In Moscow, American history professor Fluke Kelso learns from secret papers that Stalin had a son. A momentous discovery that could revolutionize Russia by bringing back Stalinism. But first he has to find him and that could get Kelso killed.

Became the movie: Archangel.

By Jules Verne

In 1872 Phileas Fogg wins a bet by traveling around the world in seventy–nine days, twenty–three hours, and fifty–seven minutes.

By Charles Brokaw
Series Thomas Lourds Novels

When the ancient ruins of Atlantis are discovered along the Spanish coast, linguist and archaeologist Thomas Lourds joins a violent competition to be the first of its explorers, an effort marked by a series of puzzles that must be solved in order to gain entry into the lost civilization.

By Jeff VanderMeer
Series Southern Reach Trilogy

John Rodriguez, head of the secret agency Southern Reach, is charged with exploring Area X, a remote area sequestered from civilization, as his team exposes disturbing truths about the area, with far-reaching consequences for himself and his agency.

By Sidney Sheldon

In his rise to the presidency of the United States, lawyer Oliver Russell felt he had to jettison his love, Leslie Stewart. But Leslie also rose, becoming a newspaper tycoon in Washington and now she intends to even the score.

By Alisa Kwitney
Series New Avengers
Recommended By Megan Kass, Systems Manager

"When Clint Barton accompanies the Russian spy known as the Black Widow to the super-villain prison known as the Raft, a breakout occurs within the prison, and the pair, along with Spider-Woman and Luke Cage, must stop the breakout (From the Publisher)."

By Diana Gabaldon
Series Outlander Novels
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

In 1772, on the eve of the American Revolution, Jamie Fraser is asked by the governor to help protect the colonies for the King and Crown, but, thanks to his time-traveling twentieth-century wife, Claire, Jamie is aware of the ultimate result of the rebellion, a situation complicated by his discovery of an obituary, dated four years hence, that reports his own death.

By Kazuo Ishiguro
Recommended By Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian

A tale of lost memories, vengeance and war by the award-winning author of The Remains of the Day follows the experiences of a couple who journeys across a troubled land of mist and rain with the hope of finding a son they have not seen in years.

By Thomas Perry
Series Butcher's Boy

Elizabeth Waring, an investigator for the Justice Department, and the Butcher's Boy, a professional assassin, both search for the person who ordered the deaths of a United States senator and a union official.

By Jack London
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services

A classic novel of adventure, drawn from London’s own experiences as a Klondike adventurer, relating the story of a heroic dog caught in the brutal life of the Alaska Gold Rush.

By Edward Hoagland

In Africa serving as an aid worker, American teacher Hickey is asked to save Ruth, a nurse, when tribal warfare erupts in Southern Sudan, but they and the children who have joined their flight get caught in the crossfire.

By Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Lucas Corso, a rare book hunter, is called in to authenticate a fragment of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's "The Three Musketeers," found in the possession of a murdered bibliophile, and soon finds himself involved in an adventure in which life imitates literature.

Became the movie: The Ninth Gate.

By Mark Twain

A blow on the head transports a Yankee to 528 A.D. where he proceeds to modernize King Arthur's kingdom by organizing a school system, constructing telephone lines, and inventing the printing press.

Became numerous movies: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1921, 1949, 1989-TV movie), A Connecticut Yankee (1931, 1955-TV movie), A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur’s Court (1978- TV movie), Unidentified Flying Oddball (1979), A Kid in King Arthur’s Court (1995), A Kid in Aladdin’s Palace (1998-TV movie) *spin-off*, A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1996), A Knight in Camelot (1998-TV movie), and Black Knight (2001).

By Alexandre Dumas

Edmund Dantes, unjustly convicted of aiding the exiled Napoleon, escapes after fourteen years of imprisonment and seeks revenge in Paris.

By Shannon Hale
Series Daisy Danger Series
Recommended By Sharon Long, Assistant Library Director

When aspiring astronaut Maisie Danger Brown and the other space camp students get the opportunity to do something amazing in space, Maisie must prove how dangerous she can be and how far she is willing to go to protect everything she has ever loved.

By Peter Heller

Surviving a pandemic disease that has killed everyone he knows, a pilot establishes a shelter in an abandoned airport hangar before hearing a random radio transmission that compels him to risk his life to seek out other survivors.

By Jim Butcher

A modern-day mage and consultant to the police finds his stale life suddenly enlivened by the presence of a rival.

Became the TV show: The Dresden Files.

By Michael Crichton
Recommended By Megan Kass, Systems Manager

“An ambassador of the tenth-century Caliph of Bagdad is carried off by the Norsemen to endure, for three years, the harshness of their way of life and the creatures that terrorize them (From the Publisher).”

By Chris Pavone
Recommended By Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk, Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

“Newly arrived in Luxembourg, mother and expat Kate Moore suspects that another American couple are not who they claim to be and as her paranoia grows, she becomes increasingly terrified that her own past is catching up with her (From the Publisher).”

By J. R. R. Tolkien
Series Lord of the Rings
Recommended By Meghan F., Children's Services Librarian

Frodo the hobbit and his companions set out to deliver the One Ring of Power to the dark land of Mordor in order to destroy the ring in the forge of its creation.

By Diana Gabaldon
Series Outlander Novels

The eagerly awaited fifth volume in the award-winning series of historical novels takes place in 1771, and war is coming. Jamie Fraser's wife tells him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy--a time-traveler's certain knowledge.

By Jon Clinch

A novel inspired by Mark Twain's classic tales explores the mysterious life and strange death of Huckleberry Finn's infamous father, describing Finn's fearsome father, the Judge; his brother, the sickly, sycophantic Will; and young Huck.

By Natalie D. Richards
Recommended By Pam Strudler, Programming & Arts Librarian

Desperate to reach her grieving mother, Mira joins a group of college students driving home after their flight is stranded, but the road conditions are not the only mortal danger they face.

By Tim Dorsey
Series Serge Storms

When five million dollars in a suitcase is dropped into the trunk of the wrong car, a whole convoy of homicidal whackos follows in hot pursuit, with a stop in Miami to take in the last game of the Series.

By Charles Cumming
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian

When Amelie Levene, who in six weeks is due to take over as the first female Chief of MI6, disappears without a trace while in the south of France, it is the gravest crisis MI6 has faced in more than a decade. Britain's top intelligence agents turn to one of their own: disgraced former MI6 officer Thomas Kell. The trail leads Kell to France and Tunisia, where he uncovers a shocking secret and a conspiracy that could have unimaginable repercussions for Britain and its allies.

By Kate Morton
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian, Jackie, Head of Readers' Services

Abandoned on a 1913 voyage to Australia, Nell is raised by a dock master and his wife who do not tell her until she is an adult that she is not their child, leading Nell to return to England and eventually hand down her quest for answers to her granddaughter.

By Warren Fahy

Scientists have made a startling discovery: a fragment of a lost continent, an island with an ecosystem unlike any they’ve seen before…an ecosystem that could topple ours like a house of cards.

By Jules Verne
With Barney Levantino, Reference Librarian

Tuesday, July 9, 2019. 7:30 PM.

Lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club decide to build a gun big enough to shoot a manned rocket to the moon.

By Jack Finney
Series Time and Again
Recommended By Barry Ernst, Reference Librarian

“The continuing escapades of Simon Morley, a time-travelling New York advertising executive engaged in a U.S. government program to change history (From the Publisher).”

By Robert Jordan
Recommended By Megan Kass, Systems Manager

“In this epic novel, Robert Jordan’s international bestselling series begins its dramatic conclusion… The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow (From the Publisher).”

By Scott Lynch

Lynch, Scott – Gentleman Bastard Novels Set in a fantastic city pulsing with the lives of decadent nobles and daring thieves, here is a story of adventure, loyalty, and survival.

By Philip Pullman
Series His Dark Materials

Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.

Became the movie: The Golden Compass.

By Kristin Cashore

In a world where some people are born with etreme and often feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace of killing and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

By J.K. Rowling
Series Harry Potter

Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

By Natalie Zina Walschots
Recommended By Jessikah Chautin, Community Engagement Specialist, Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager

Temping for people on the wrong side of the law, Anna becomes unfairly unemployed before using her talents for manipulating data to expose how the heroes of her world do more harm than good.

By Douglas Adams
With Jackie Ranaldo, Head of Readers' Services

Monday, August 9, 2010.  7 PM.

Join Douglas Adams’s hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, gettig into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc.

Became the movie: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

By Fern Michaels
Series Sisterhood
Recommended By Marie McLaughlin, Head of Circulation

The vigilantes of the Sisterhood reorganize as a secret group called the CIC and dedicated to serving their friend, and the president of the United States, Martine Connor.

By Peter Benchley
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services

When three people are killed by a great white shark in three different incidents, the police chief of a Long Island resort town is forced to take action.

Became the movie: Jaws.

By Suzanne Joinson

In 1923, devout Eva English and her not-so-religious sister Lizzie embark on a journey to be missionaries in the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar.

By Chris Colfer
Series Land of Stories Series

Using a mysterious book to travel to a land of wonder and magic, twins Alex and Connor meet a host of classic fairy tale characters and nefarious monsters before discovering that returning back home will be more difficult than anticipated. Genres: Adventure Stories (Fiction); Fantasy; Folk & Fairy Tales; Series

By Alan Moore
Series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

In 1898, as the glory days of the British Empire were waning, an incredible band of adventurers - including Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Mina Harker, and the Invisible Man - was brought together to save England in its hour of greatest need.

Became the movie: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

By William Golding
With Jackie Ranaldo, Head of Readers' Services

Tuesday, September 23, 2014. 1:30 PM.

The classic study of human nature which depicts the degeneration of a group of schoolboys marooned on a desert island.

By J.R.R. Tolkien

With the fate of the world in his hands, Frodo Baggins must journey to Mordor with the help of his companions to destroy the One Ring of Power before Sauron conquers all of Middle Earth.

Became 3 movies: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.