Teen Adventure with Fantasy Creatures

Try these books if you're looking for:

• teen reads
• adventure
• fantasy creatures

Unwind 
By Neil Shusterman
YA F SHUSTERM
In a future world those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives “unwound” and their body parts harvested for use by others. As the suspense unfolds, three teens go to extreme lengths to uphold their beliefs…and, perhaps, save their own lives. (first book in a series)

Peak
By Roland Smith
YA F SMITH
In this survival adventure, fourteen year old Peak Marcello attempts to become the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.

The Named 
By Marianne Curley
YA F CURLEY
It is increasingly difficult for Ethan to balance life as a normal high school student and a member of the Named (sworn to fight the Order of Chaos an evil group trying to change the course of history). When he is assigned to mentor Isabel, a future Named, the quest begins to battle dark forces and protect the future. (first book in a series)

Adventure Fantasy with Historical Settings

Try these books if you're looking for:

• adventure
• fantasy
• historical settings
• world-wide settings

The Girl of Fire and Thorns 
By Raw Carson
YA F CARSON Fire & T #1
A fearful sixteen-year-old princess discovers her heroic destiny after being married off to the king of a neighboring country in turmoil and pursued by enemies seething with dark magic.

Stormdancer 
By Jay Kristoff
YA F KRISTOFF Lotus Wa #1
Sent by a murderous Shima Isles Shogun to capture a believed-extinct griffin, Yukiko embarks on her mission and is soon stranded in the wilderness with an injured griffin, with whom she makes a stand against corrupt authorities.

Throne of Glass 
By Sarah J. Maas
YA F MAAS Throne #1
After she has served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, Crown Prince Dorian offers eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien her freedom on the condition that she act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Books about People's Lives

Try these books if you're looking for:

• books about people's lives
• memoir or fiction
• read like Haven Kimmel, Barbara Kingsolver, Jeanette Walls, Mitch Albom

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels 
By Ree Drummond
DRUMMOND 2011
American blogger and food writer Ree Drummond relates the real life story of how she met and married her "Marlboro Man." Her stories about her husband, family, and country living paint a humorous and poignant picture of life on an Oklahoma ranch. You may also enjoy her cookbooks.

Season to Taste 
By Molly Birnbaum
BIRNBAUM 2011
Written with good cheer and great charm, this work is an aspiring chef's moving account of finding her way--in the kitchen and beyond--in the wake of a devastating accident that left her unable to perceive smell.

The Year of Living Biblically 
By A.J.Jacobs
220 JAC 2007
The author documents his quest to live one year in literal compliance with biblical rules, from being fruitful and multiplying to growing a beard and avoiding mixed-fiber clothing. His memoir is highly entertaining and thought-provoking.

Mao’s Last Dancer 
By Cunxin Li
LI 2003
Chosen from millions of children to serve in Mao's cultural revolution by studying at the Beijing Dance Academy, Li knew ballet would be his family's best opportunity to escape the bitter poverty in his rural China home. From one hardship to another, Li persevered, never forgetting the family he left behind.

Memoirs and Biographies

Try these books if you're looking for:

• memoirs and biographies

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon 
By David Grann
918.1104 GRA 2009
Interweaves the story of British explorer Percy Fawcett, who vanished during a 1925 expedition into the Amazon, with the author's own quest to uncover the mysteries surrounding Fawcett's final journey and the secrets of what lies deep in the Amazon jungle.

Night 
By Elie Wiesel
BIO WIESEL 2006
This memoir recounts Eli Wiesel's experiences as a young teenage boy during the Holocaust. It includes his time in a small ghetto in Hungary, his transportation to Auschwitz, his days in the Buna labor camp and the forced march to Buchenwald before it was liberated in April of 1945.

Where Nothing is Long Ago: Memories of a Mormon Childhood 
By Virginia Sorensen
BIO SORENSEN 1998
A collection of charming and delightful stories from the Sorensen’s childhood growing up in a small town in Utah.

Books Similar to Sparks, Giffin, and Gabaldon

Try these books if you're looking for:

• books that grab your attention quickly
• underlying love story
• read like Nicholas Sparks, Emily Giffin, and Diana Gabaldon

This Lullaby 
By Sarah Dessen
YA DESSEN
Raised by a mother who's had five husbands, eighteen-year-old Remy believes in short-term, no-commitment relationships until she meets Dexter, a rock band musician.

Eleanor and Park 
By Rainbow Rowell
YA F ROWELL
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits--smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

Someday, Someday Maybe 
By Lauren Graham
F GRAHAM
The stage and screen star best known for her work in such series as Gilmore Girls presents the story of a struggling actress in 1990s New York City who searches for work and the perfect hair product while befriending a rival and resisting her father's pressure to get a "real" job.

P.S., I Love You 
By Cecelia Ahern
F AHERN
Holly has always depended on her husband's practical advice to keep her going and despairs when she loses him to brain cancer, until a package arrives filled with advice for carrying on with her life without her beloved husband.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation 
By Lauren Willig
F WILLIG Secret #1
Leaving Harvard to complete her dissertation on the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian in England, Eloise Kelly discovers information about the most elusive spy of all time, a figure who single-handedly saved England from Napoleon's invasion.

Suspense, Romance, and Wit

Try these books if you're looking for:

• suspense
• romance
• wit

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure: The 'Good Parts' Version 
By William Goldman
YA F GOLDMAN
A classic swashbuckling romance retells the tale of a drunken swordsman and a gentle giant who come to the aid of Westley, a handsome farm boy, and Buttercup, a princess in dire need of rescue from the evil schemers surrounding her.

Keeping the Castle : a Tale of Romance, Riches, and Real Estate 
By Patrice Kindl
YA F KINDL
In order to support her family and maintain their ancient castle in Lesser Hoo, seventeen-year-old Althea bears the burden of finding a wealthy suitor who can remedy their financial problems.

The Goose Girl 
By Shannon Hale
YA F HALE Bayern #1
On her way to marry a prince she's never met, Princess Anidori is betrayed by her guards and her lady-in-waiting and must become a goose girl to survive until she can reveal her true identity and reclaim the crown that is rightfully hers.

Contemporary Corporate Narratives

Try these books if you're looking for:

• narrative
• contemporary
• concise
• books about success and business
• inspirational non-fiction and/or action thriller fiction

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking 
By Susan Cain
155.232 CAI 2012
Cain shows how the brain chemistry of introverts and extroverts differs, and how society misunderstands and undervalues introverts. She gives introverts the tools to better understand themselves and take full advantage of their strengths.

The Last Lecture 
By Randy Pausch
BIO PAUSCH 2008
Reflections of a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who lectured on “really achieving your childhood dreams,” shortly after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Jack: Straight from the Gut 
By Jack Welch
BIO WELCH 2001
The CEO of General Electric looks back on his distinguished career with the corporation and shares his personal philosophy of business and innovative managerial style.

Rising Sun 
By Michael Crichton
F CRICHTON
During the grand opening celebration of the new American headquarters of an immense Japanese conglomerate, the dead body of a woman is found. The investigation begins, and immediately becomes a headlong chase through a twisting maze of industrial intrigue and a violent business battle that takes no prisoners.

Top Producer
By Norb Vonnegut
MYSTERY VONNEGUT
In the wake of a man’s murder in front of hundreds of party-goers, the victim’s best friend, investment expert Grove O’Rourke, is entreated by the man’s widow for help, a situation that is further complicated by a dark secret and an expensive cover-up.

Clean Historical Fiction

Try these books if you're looking for:

• historical fiction
• clean
• adventurous
• available on CD

A Long Way from Chicago 
By Richard Peck
YA F PECK
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963 
By Christopher Paul Curtis
YA F CURTIS
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond 
By Elizabeth George Speare
YA F Speare
A young woman brought up in Barbados comes to live with her uncle in Connecticut, and finds their Puritan way of life difficult after her unconventional upbringing.





Books not available on Book on CD 

Boston Jane
By Jennifer L. Holm
YA F HOLM
Schooled in the lessons of etiquette for young ladies of 1854, Miss Jane Peck of Philadelphia finds little use for manners during her long sea voyage to the Pacific Northwest and while living among the American traders and Chinook Indians of Washington Territory.

The Shakespeare Stealer 
By Gary L. Blackwood
YA F BLACKWOO Shakespe #1
A young orphan boy is ordered by his master to infiltrate Shakespeare's acting troupe in order to steal the script of "Hamlet," but he discovers instead the meaning of friendship and loyalty.

Action, Romance & Adventure Books

Try these books if you're looking for:

• action
• romance
• adventure

The Secret Adversary 
By Agatha Christie
MYSTERY CHRISTIE Tommy #1
Set in 1919, young couple Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley form a partnership, hiring themselves out as "young adventurers". Their first case, however, is more of an adventure than they expect - working to find documents that, if they were known to the general public, would fuel a communist revolution in Britain. Undercover agents Tommy and Tuppence know that Jane Finn was carrying top secret documents when she disappeared five years ago. What they don't know is that a killer is targeting a sinister older woman because she knows all about Jane. Soon Tommy and Tuppence are in grave danger. Other fun and thrilling titles by Christie include The Pale Horse, The Seven Dials Mystery, and And Then There Were None.

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice: Or, On the Segregation of the Queen 
By Laurie R. King
MYSTERY KING Mary Rus #1
When Mary Russell meets famous detective Sherlock Holmes, she discovers that he is also a beekeeper. Soon she finds herself on the trail of kidnappers and discovers a plot to kill both Holmes and herself.

The Cater Street Hangman 
By Anne Perry
MYSTERY PERRY Charlott #1
Careless of both murder and manners, two determinedly unconventional young sisters ignore Victorian mores and actively join the police investigation into the murder of their servant girl.

The Crocodile on the Sandbank 
By Elizabeth Peters
MYSTERY PETERS Amelia #1
After her father's death, thirty-two-year-old Amelia Peabody eschews the role of Victorian spinster and travels to Egypt, where mysterious intruders, boorish archaeologists, and a disappearing two-thousand-year-old mummy test her sanity and independence.

Thick as Thieves 
By Peter Spiegelman
MYSTERY SPIEGELM
Reluctantly heading a lucrative heist involving diamonds, money laundering, and extortion, former CIA agent Carr worries about the recent death of the con group's former leader, inaccuracies in their bought intelligence, and his lover's personal agenda.

Escapist Fantasy Novels

Try these books if you're looking for:

• escapist fantasy novels

The Darkest Night 
By Gena Showalter
ROMANCE SHOWALTE Lords #1
To silence the voices in her head, Ashlyn Darrow arrives in Budapest where she, seeking help from men rumored to have supernatural abilities, is drawn to their most dangerous member, Maddox, who is trapped in a hell of his own. 

Guilty Pleasures 
By Laurel K. Hamilton
F HAMILTON Anita Bl #1
When innocent vampires are found murdered, the city's most powerful vampire hires Anita Blake, a vampire hunter known as "The Executioner," to investigate the crimes.

Dark Lover 
By J.R. Ward
ROMANCE WARD Black Da #1
In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. But, when one of his most trusted fighters is killed - leaving his half-breed daughter unaware of his existence or her fate - Wrath must usher her into the world of the undead - a world of sensuality beyond her wildest dreams.

One Bite with a Stranger 
By Christine Warren
ROMANCE WARREN Others #1
When Regina's friends insist on setting her up a "Fantasy Fix" to help her get over her cheating ex, Dmitri Vidame may be just what she wished for ... until she discovers her sexy new lover's bloodsucking secret.

YA Fiction with Fantasy, Romance, and Mythical Creatures

Try these books if you're looking for:

• YA fiction
• fantasy
• romance
• mythical creatures

Shadow and Bone 
By Leigh Bardugo
YA F BARDUGO
Orphaned by the Border Wars, Alina Starkov is taken from obscurity and her only friend, Mal, to become the protégé of the mysterious Darkling, who trains her to join the magical elite in the belief that she is the Sun Summoner, who can destroy the monsters of the Fold.

Dragon Slippers 
By Jessica Day George
YA F GEORGE Dragon #1
Orphaned after a fever epidemic, Creel befriends a dragon and unknowingly inherits an object that can either save or destroy her kingdom.

Shadowfell 
By Juliet Marillier
YA F MARILLIE
Fifteen-year-old Neryn is alone in the land of Alban, where the oppressive king has ordered anyone with magical strengths captured, but when she sets out for Shadowfell, a training ground for a rebel group, she meets a mysterious soldier and the Good Folk, who tell her that she, alone, can save Alban.

The Alchemyst: The Immortal Nicholas Flamel 
By Michael Scott
YA F SCOTT Secrets #1
Having discovered the secret to eternal youth, 14th-century alchemist Nicholas Flamel and his wife are alive and well in present-day San Francisco, California. But they won't stay well if 15-year-old twins Sophie and Josh Newman don't fulfill their prophesied role of either saving or destroying the world, starting by getting back an ancient text stolen from Flamel's bookstore. -- Description by Ellen Foreman.

Clockwork Angel 
By Cassandra Clare
YA F CLARE Infernal #1
When sixteen-year-old orphan Tessa Fell's older brother suddenly vanishes, her search for him leads her into Victorian-era London's dangerous supernatural underworld, and when she discovers that she herself is a Downworlder, she must learn to trust the demon-killing Shadowhunters if she ever wants to learn to control her powers and find her brother.

Thrilling YA Fiction Set in the US

Try these books if you're looking for:

• YA fiction
• thrilling
• set in the United States

Divergent 
By Veronica Ruth
YA F ROTH Divergen #1
In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

The Testing 
By Joelle Charbonneau
YA F CHARBONN
At the Five Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes), Sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale is chosen to participate in The Testing to attend the University; however, Cia is fearful when she figures out her friends who do not pass The Testing are disappearing.

Unwind 
By Neal Shusterman
YA F SHUSTERM Unwind #1
In a future world where those between the ages of thirteen and eighteen can have their lives "unwound" and their body parts harvested for use by others, Connor Lassiter runs away from his suburban Ohio home to stand up for his beliefs and save his own life.

Little Brother 
By Cory Doctorow
YA F DOCTOROW
After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.

Birthmarked 
By Caragh O’Brien
YA F O’BRIEN Birthmar #1
When her midwife mother is forcibly taken away by the very people she serves, sixteen-year-old Gaia Stone starts to question the role of the Enclave, a walled community built on the dried-up beds of the Great Lakes, and whether it deserves the loyalty her family has so faithfully given.