"Forty-two ninth graders embark on what they think is a graduation camping trip. Unbeknownst to them, they've been taken to the practically deserted island of Okishima to serve as the next contestants on The Program, a state-sponsored reality TV show. The show's premise is simple, if terrifying (Publishers Weekly) "

Genre: Survival Fiction

" ...Envision the stirring adventures Holmes and his protégée could have as a detective duo. King has used these fanciful possibilities to create a wonderfully original and entertaining story that is funny, heartwarming, and full of intrigue ... (Booklist)."

Genre: Mystery Fiction

"The familiar tricks of the trade are refreshingly revamped in this lively contemporary romance set in Tuscany... Phillips has created a very modern and textured tale: witty, moving, passionate and tender (Publishers Weekly) ."

Genre: Love Stories

"The novelist's camera pans from the dome of King Fuad University to students streaming out of the campus, focusing on four students in their twenties, each representing a different trend in Egypt in the 1930s (From the Publisher)."

Genre: Egyptian Fiction

The Catcher in the Rye - By J.D. Salinger
Recommended By: Judy Lockman, Library Director

"Ever since it was first published in 1951, this novel has been the coming-of-age story against which all others are judged. Read and cherished by generations, the story of Holden Caulfield is truly one of America's literary treasures (From the Publisher)."

Genre: Coming-of-Age Stories (Fiction)

Dark Harbor - By David Hosp
Recommended By: Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian

" ... A legal thriller/murder mystery featuring Scott Finn, a lawyer on the fast track to a partnership in a prestigious Boston law firm. A child of the city's Charlestown projects who fought his way out of the gangs and violence, he finds his new life threatened ... (Library Journal)."

Genre: Mystery Fiction

Everything Is Illuminated- By Jonathan Safran Foer
Recommended By: Evelyn Hershkowitz, Library Assistant

"This highly imaginative debut novel features a protagonist with the same name as the author... His mission, as he ventures through the farmlands, is to find Augustine, who may have saved the grandfather he never knew from the Nazis (Library Journal)."

Genre: Holocaust Fiction

Expecting Adam - By Martha Nibley Beck
Recommended By: Jennifer Rottkamp, Library Clerk

"Wickedly funny and wrenchingly sad memoirs of a young mother awaiting the birth of a Down's syndrome baby while simultaneously pursuing a doctorate at Harvard... (Kirkus Reviews)."

Genre: Biography / Memoir

Full Dark House- By Christopher Fowler
Recommended By: Sue Ann Reale, Head of Children's Services

"A present-day bombing rips through London and claims the life of eighty-year-old detective Arthur Bryant. For his partner John May, it means the end of a partnership that lasted over half-a-century and an eerie echo back to the Blitz of World War II when they first met (From the Publisher)."

Genre: Mystery Fiction

The Garden of Last Days- By Andre Dubus III
Recommended By: Audrey Honigman, Library Clerk

"An explosive narrative employs a Florida strip club as a tinderbox of tensions on the weekend before 9/11... Dubus shows a profound empathy as he gets inside the heads of a number of characters, with coincidence, chance and a clash of cultures building to a shattering climax (Kirkus Reviews)."

Genre: Psychological Fiction

Genghis: Lords of the Bow- By Conn Iggulden
Recommended By: Megan Kass, Reference Librarian Trainee

"After defeating the last of the Mongol tribes, Genghis, with his formidable army, sets his sights toward the Chin, whom he has long vowed to conquer. He has become a fearsome force who, with his ruthlessness and cunning need to vanquish, will lead his army to unfathomable victories (School Library Journal)."

Genre: Historical Fiction

The Given Day- By Dennis Lehane
Recommended By: Ed Goldberg, Reference Librarian

"Lehane's first historical novel is a clear winner, displaying all the virtues the author has shown in his exceptional series of crime novels: narrative verve, sensitivity to setting, the interweaving of complicated story lines, an apt and emotionally satisfying denouement-and, above all, the author's abiding love for his characters and the human condition (Library Journal)."

Genre: Historical Fiction

Hot, Flat and Crowded- By Thomas L. Friedman
Recommended By: Lisa Caputo, Head of Adult Services

"Spanning the globe, he (Friedman) presents case study after case study that shows that Green-oriented practices and technologies are the key to revitalizing our country and stabilizing an increasingly energy-starved world (Barnes and Noble Reviews)."

Genre: Non-Fiction

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings- By Maya Angelou
Recommended By: Christine Kingsley, Reference Librarian

" ...Famed poet and author Angelou (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) casts a keen eye inward and bares her soul in a slim volume of personal essays ... (Publishers Weekly)."

Genre: Biography / Memoir

I'm a Stranger Here Myself- By Bill Bryson
Recommended By: Neela Vass, Library Clerk

"...A book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended, if at times bemused, love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away (From the Publisher)."

Genre: Non-Fiction

Izzy and Lenore: two dogs, an unexpected journey and me- By Jon Katz
Recommended By: Donna Litke, Reference Librarian

"Humorous and deeply moving, Izzy & Lenore is a story of a man confronting his past, embracing the blessings of his current life, and rediscovering the meaning of friendship, family, and faith (From the Publisher)."

Genre: Non-Fiction

Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean- By Edward Kritzler
Recommended By: Merry Cohen, Library Clerk

"Filled with high-sea adventures--including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates--and detailed portraits of cities stacked high with plunder, such as Port Royal, Jamaica, JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN captures a gritty and glorious era of history from an unusual and eye-opening perspective (From the Publisher)."

Genre: Non-Fiction

The Last Juror- By John Grisham
Recommended By: John Shea, Library Page

"The novel will satisfy those with an appetite for legal thrillers and those who believe Grisham possesses more talent than those breathless page-turners sometimes reveal. It ranks among his best-written and most atmospheric novels (USA Today)."

Genre: Legal Suspense Fiction

The Lost Mother- By Mary McGarry Morris
Recommended By: Jackie Ranaldo, Readers' Services Librarian Trainee

"Morris's plot, with its twists and reversals, feels tragic in its inevitability. And yet, to the reader's amazement, its message is ultimately redemptive and affirming. This may be the saddest story ever to have a happy ending (Washington Post)."

Genre: Domestic Fiction

The Measure of a Man- By Sidney Poitier
Recommended By: Christine Belling, Systems Manager

"In this candid spiritual memoir, legendary actor Sidney Poitier reflects on life itself as he reveals the spiritual depth, passion, and intellectual fervor that has driven his remarkable life... (From the Publisher)."

Genre: Domestic Fiction

My Stroke of Insight- By Jill Bolte Taylor
Recommended By: Jill Jacobson, Readers' Services Librarian

"Her holistic approach to healing will be valuable to stroke survivors and their caregivers, who can pick up suggestions from Taylor's moving accounts of how her mother faithfully loved her back to life (Publishers Weekly)."

Genre: Non-Fiction

Never Enough- By Joe McGinniss
Recommended By: Mary Szollosi, Reference Librarian

"In McGinniss's compelling account, the Kissel family-full of potential but riven by endless battles among the brothers and their sister and father-represent the American tragedy in which ambition and the pursuit of wealth turn deadly (Publishers Weekly)."

Genre: Non-Fiction

Officer Down- By Michael Grant
Recommended By: Rosemary Moran, Senior Library Clerk

"Filled with unforgettable characters and classic police drama, Officer Down is a standout in the genre, the most gripping and authentic crime writing since vintage Wambaugh (From the Publisher)."

Genre: Suspense Fiction

The Piano Teacher- By Janice K. Lee
Recommended By: Jean Buchholtz, Library Clerk

"In the sweeping tradition of The English Patient, a gripping tale of love and betrayal set in war-torn Hong Kong (From the Publisher)."

Genre: Domestic Fiction

Remind Me Again Why I Married You- By Rita Ciresi
Recommended By: Helene Pfeffer, Reference Librarian

"...A funny romp of a book in which charmingly wacky Lisa Diodetto falls in love with and eventually marries her stuffy yet sexy boss (Library Journal)."

Genre: Domestic Fiction

She's Come Undone- By Wally Lamb
Recommended By: Lisa Jones, Readers' Services Librarian

"A tremendously likable first novel about the catastrophe-marked childhood, youth, and mangled adulthood of a tough-fibered woman who almost beaches herself in guilt and grief (Kirkus Reviews)."

Genre: Psychological Fiction

Skeletons at the Feast- By Chris Bohjalian
Recommended By: Betty Petreshock, Reference Librarian

"Bohjalian's rousing tale of three young Jews-Anna, Callum and Uri-who must trek from Warsaw to reach Allied lines is stunningly vivid (Publishers Weekly)."

Genre: Holocaust Fiction

Tsar - By Ted Bell
Recommended By: Arlene Silverman, Library Clerk

"As always, Bell pulls out all the stops with terrific action scenes, fiendish murders, diabolical villains, dramatic rescues and all the cool weaponry the reader could possibly hope for (Publishers Weekly)."

Genre: Suspense Fiction

When Will There Be Good News- By Kate Atkinson
Recommended By: Susan Santa, Readers' Services Librarian

"In what may be the last Jackson Brody mystery, Atkinson deftly weaves together a series of tragic events spanning 30 years, all the while maintaining the skills that won her the 1995 Whitbread Book of the Year Award ... (Library Journal)."

Genre: Mystery Fiction

A Woman's Place- By Barbara Delinsky
Recommended By: Susan Lambeck, Library Page

"Delinsky has another winner: a woman's story of a marriage gone sour, seasoned with betrayal, disloyalty, unhappiness, and greed (Library Journal Review)."

Genre: Domestic Fiction