Librarian Favorites of 2017

Starting December 4^th and lasting for 10 days, librarians across the country tweeted their top 10 favorite books of the year. Librarians are BIG readers and a list of their favorites is sure to give me great ideas to add to my personal “to read” list. Here are a few books that made it to the very top of the Librarian Favorites list.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

This young adult novel for mature teens should not be overlooked by adults.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

The audio version of this book is highly recommended.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned — from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother — who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant -- despite her social isolation and the rules she sets to survive weekends -- insists that she is just fine. But is she really? The gentle overtures of a coworker who accepts her as she is gives her the emotional support she needs when a horrific and embarrassing event forces her to reevaluate her life. As it turns out, Eleanor Oliphant is absolutely not completely fine... Though an emotional read, Eleanor's unique take on life offers plenty of humor.

The Dry by Jane Harper

After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk returns to his small Australian hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago, as a teenager, Falk was accused of murder and Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke's steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now Luke is dead.

Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there's more to Luke's death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. 

The sequel, A Force of Nature, will be published in February 2018.

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Readers can imagine the frustration of book editor Susan Ryeland: the final chapters are missing from author Alan Conway's latest mystery manuscript starring his Poirot-esque detective! Conway’s sudden, suspicious death means that Susan must piece together the ending by interviewing his friends and family; then she realizes that the novel’s characters are stand-ins for real people and that the book may be related to the author’s death. Containing a novel-within-a-novel, suspense, and plenty of details that Golden Age mystery fans will relish, the cleverly plotted Magpie Murders has something for everyone.